Blossom...

Couldn't resist posting some photos of our Plum Tree that's starting to blossom.

You can see from the photo below that we have these plum trees lining our fence in the back yard. We have two different varieties that we've alternated and we're hoping to receive fruit from them this summer.

Secrets about me...

I saw this on Melissa's blog and it looked like something fun to record.

1) LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE? Kung Foo Panda with Chloe, Will and Glenn (Glenn loved it and the rest of us fell asleep!!!)

2) WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? The Complete Secrets of Happy Children by Steve Biddulph.

3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? I love Rummikub (Glenn and I play at least one or two games together most nights). And we're loving Uno Attack with the kids before bed.

4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? I used to be a magazine junkie, but haven't actually bought one at the shops for ages. My favourite though, is Donna Hay (I have a subscription!!!)

5) FAVOURITE SMELLS? I love my current perfume, 'Still' by Jennifer Lopez.

6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS? That's a tough one...probably my kids when they get that real belly laugh going...I can't help but laugh too.

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Fear!!!

8 ) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE? The first thing I think of and do, is open the blinds to discover what kind of day it is...our bedroom faces east so we get the sun shining straight in if it's going to be a nice day. Otherwise we look out over the park at the dark clouds.

9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE? I do love a Toasted Chicken Teriyaki & Salad roll from Subway occassionally.

10) FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? There are definitely no future children on our horizon, but I still love picking children's names...strange hobby I have. Our new little puppy has been named my current favourite...Lola!!! And our kids names are very traditional...Chloe and Will.

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D……definitely buy a holiday house on one or two acres down south near the Wineries. We'd have chooks and a huge vegie garden.

12) DO YOU DRIVE FAST? I'm probably more on the fast side than the slow, but I don't speed!!!

13) DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Hahaha...no.

14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY? I love the loud, crashing thunder but I'm not too keen on the lightning.

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? A white Hyundai Excel.

16) FAVOURITE DRINK? It's hard to choose between a latte and an icy cold glass of champagne.

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…teach myself how to crochet...big things...not just long straight rows to drape around the Christmas tree!!!

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? Yes and I enjoy them.

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? I'd probably like to a go a bit lighter than the darkish blonde that I am now.

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN?
a) Perth, Western Australia
b) Roebourne, Pilbra region of Western Australia
c) Kununurra, Kimberley region of Western Australia.

21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I enjoy watching tennis and swimming.

22) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? Nothing....except Will right before shower time when he ALWAYS hides under there and we have to pretend we don't know where he is!!!

24) WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Weird question...yes.

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL? Morning.

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? Sunny side up.

27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX? My current favourite place (because of the cooler weather) is on the kids couch in the playroom...it's so warm and sunny in there. But when the sun is shining outside, the best, best, best place is on the bench seat out the front over-looking the kids playing at the park, usually with the toasty sun shining on you.

28) FAVOURITE PIE? Lemon Meringue Pie

29) FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR? Need you ask...Chocolate!!!

Happy Father's Day...

We had THE most beautiful day today at Kings Park for Father's Day. There was a Festival going on across the lake so we set up our picnic over the other side, away from it, then wandered over for a look.

Almost everything was free, including rock climbing, woodworking, snake handling, camel rides, funky junk making, face painting and heaps more. Chloe has been wanting to go rock climbing for a while so this was her perfect opportunity.

And Will had fun making this tiger out of little bits and pieces of junk. They had a stall with lots of tables set up with all sorts of junky bits and lots of hot glue guns for the kids to get creative. Since Will loves creating so much, he had a ball.

And these creatures were wandering around the park all day. They're dressed up as flora and fauna from the park lands. You may or may not be able to tell the guy in red is dressed up as a Kangaroo Paw.

Will was soooooooo proud of himself for doing something his mum would NEVER do!!! Brave little man!!!

We're off to dinner tonight, just the four of us for our little family Father's Day dinner!!! Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Early Signs of Spring...

Well, spring has certainly begun and the early signs are evident. Our baby cos lettuce is ready for picking and just in time for the warmer weather which means lots of salads and outdoor eating.

One of our first spring flowers on our Dietes...I love the purple and yellow.

And the first spring flower on our Cottonwood Hibiscus.

We're off to Kings Park tomorrow for a Father's Day picnic. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you wonderful dads...especially mine!!! I love this pic of my dad and Will snuggled up on a trip up the river on our boat.

Lazy Day at Home with Sick Boy!!!

Mr Monkey has been home sick again today (this is his fourth school day off!!!) so I've had to take the day off work. He's been happily playing Lego in the playroom so I thought I'd use some of Anna Maria's GORGEOUS Garden Party fabric to make a cushion. That is one talented woman...her fabric is devine. It's the perfect weight too, especially for home furnishing.

I'm loving that mustardy colour...reminds me of the sand.

We've got Chloe's sports carnival tomorrow so I'm off now to make some Anzac Slice to take. Follow the link to find the recipe (that is...if I've linked to it properly??? I'm still not quite sure how to link to previous posts on my blog)!!!

Thrifting or Op Shopping...

We say 'Op Shopping', you say 'Thrifting'...it's all the same. One person's trash becoming another persons treasure!!! I went to a couple of local Op Shops today for a look and came out with some goodies. This children's book called 'The Quilt Story' is really sweet. And who knows...maybe it will inspire me enough to have a go at making a quilt for Chloe.

I found this pyrex dish too...I'm in love with the colour...it's perfect for my kitchen.

And these are a few more children's books I found. A couple of them are going to be used as readers for Will who is just learning to read. And Chloe is currently working through the Adding & Subtracting workbook. And I couldn't resist the 'It's Great to be Eight' book for Chloe (after all, your only 8 once!!!).

I have a really busy day ahead at work tomorrow so hopefully it will go smoothly. We have a brand new HUGE coffee machine that is the size of a standard household fridge. It makes lattes, long blacks, mochas, cappucinos, chai lattes, chai teas, hot chocolates and all at the press of a button....it's the coolest machine ever and makes working soooooooooo much more enjoyable!!!

Summer PJ's...

These are the easiest things to make and soooooo useful. Chloe chose the fabric from my stash. We decided to add some lace trim to pretty them up a bit. Now I just have to buy a singlet/tshirt to go with them and we have a pair of summer pajamas!!! These PJ pants are so addictive to make because they're so quick and simple. I'll make both the kids a few pairs for summer.

I'm pretty sure the hem is even on both legs, I think they were just pulled up a bit higher on one side and now they look really wonky!!!

I'm looking forward to choosing some fabric to make Will's pants...fun, fun, fun!!!

Her Name Is Lola....

Look at our little fur ball...and she doesn't have irredescent green eyes by the way!!! Her eyes are actually really hard to see because they're black so they get hidden amongst the black fur. She's a Maltese x Poodle (otherwise known as a 'Moodle'...hubby is not happy about that at all...not a tough enough breed name as far as he's concerned!!!). We got her about three weeks ago and she's now fifteen weeks old. She's very sweet and will be a whole lot sweeter when she learns to wee and poo ON THE NEWSPAPER...not everywhere BUT on the newspaper!!!

As you can imagine, the kids think she's the best!!! They've both got their little games they love to play with her and she is her happiest when she's with them...it's pretty cute to watch.

I'm off to sew up some summer pj pants for Chloe...it's not summer here yet, but our winter weather has been sensational lately, so I'm thinking summer is not too far away.

Sketchbook Ivory...

I'm so glad to be blogging again after a long break. I've had trouble uploading photos ever since our computer crashed and as much as I could ramble on all day, lets face it...a blog needs photos!!! HOWEVER, the photo issue has been fixed and fingers crossed, we have no more computer problems for a while!!!

We've got a small lemon tree in our back garden that was full of fruit, but the tree has almost no leaves. I'm pretty sure this isn't normal!!! A friend told me you shouldn't let them fruit too much when they're new as they need to establish themselves first. I picked all the lemons off it today (they were all ripe) and am hoping it will come good again soon. I baked some Lemon and Poppyseed Muffins today to use some up. And I have to show you my very basic table runner in my most favourite fabric EVER!!! I was so excited when I received the package of fabric, that I couldn't wait to make something with it, so a quick and simple table runner it was. I've also covered a canvas in the same fabric for our bedroom and I'm going to use it as a starting point for decorating our room.

I'll be back tomorrow to post some pics of the new addition to our family...our little puppy!!!

Enjoy your Sunday evening...

Computer love...

Our computer crashed a few days ago...I turned it on in the morning and was greeted with a blue screen with lots of computer jargon that I didn't understand!!!!!!! I've now found out that if ever you see a blue screen, it's known as "The Blue Screen of Death" in the computer world!!! Luckily we have a very good and clever friend who was able to save all of our photos, documents, favourites etc. and put them onto our new hard-drive. So now we have a lovely new, clean, and non-corrupt hard-drive and I'm hoping to keep it that way for some time!!! And Todd, I promise I will ALWAYS regularly back-up my computer onto disk!!!

On a happier note, it's the middle of winter here and our gooseberry bush is loaded with fruit. It was a cutting from my mum's bush and we only planted it about six months ago. They grow very quickly and the fruit is small, juicy and delicious. I'm really looking forward to re-planting our vegie garden soon. We've already got baby cos lettuce popping up (some of it went to seed last season) and we're going to grow continental cucumbers again (they were brilliant last season), tomatoes, capsicum and whatever else takes our fancy at the nursery.

I know we all make Banana Muffins but the recipe below that I found in our kid's school recipe book is my favourite so I thought I'd share it with you. The pic below is Banana & Choc Chip Muffins.

Banana Muffins

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

3-4 ripe bananas (mashed)

2 1/2 cups self raising flour (sifted)

milk (just a little so the mixture is wet but not too gooey)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Spoon batter into muffin cases. Bake in a moderate oven for approx. 30-40 minutes.

School Holiday Fun...

On Monday we met up with some friends at our local park for a catch up. We ended up bringing my girlfriends two kids home with us for a play (not sure if your kids are the same, but whenever we get together with friends, they never want the play date to come to an end). I was more than happy to have my friends two over as they kept mine amused. The boys spent most of their time either playing Lego or kicking the footy across the road at the park. While they were all amused, I quickly made another table mat for our coffee table in the living room. I used some Amy Butler fabric together with a really heavy linen look fabric that I picked up at the op shop a little while ago. I found a huge piece of this linen that is an ugly darkish brown on the right side, but on the back is this perfect linen colour...so I use the back of it.

I set the girls up out the front with some embroidery. They look so sweet out there stitching away. (Mental note...must make some more cushion covers for the faded cushions out the front)!!!

Look at their sweet designs and very neat stitching.

Playroom...

Recently, we re-decorated the kids playroom. We sold all of the old playroom furniture on ebay and replaced it with some new bits and pieces from Ikea. I wanted to create a workstation for each of the kids as you can see below. The set of drawers in between the desks holds all their paper, colouring books and stationary (sticky tape, glue, scissors etc.). And above each of their desks you can see three green tubs that are hanging from a rail on the wall. These hold their textas, crayons and pencils. And they each have a shelf above their desks for displaying art work etc.

We now have a couch in the playroom which I love. Our playroom is such a sunny room for most of the day so it's the best place to curl up and read a book or watch a dvd. You can see some art work that the kids have done, hanging on the wall. Chloe did an aboriginal style dot drawing of a platypus and Will's is of a snake!!! The frames are from Ikea and their perfect for changing the art work around ever few months.

This little unit is from Ikea also and it has finally solved all of our Lego dramas!!! It's worth it's weight in gold!!! Every piece of lego has it's place and the kids keep it pretty tidy because they know where everything goes. When we are at home, Will spends most of his time playing with Lego so to have it so easily accessible for him is great.

And finally, this is the storage unit that holds our games, books, dvd's and other craft bits and pieces.

Not sure about you, but I love seeing other peoples playrooms, studios, lounge rooms etc (think that's the sticky beak coming out in me) so I thought I'd post some pics of ours.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Our New Toy...

This boat is officially know as "Glenn's Dream Come True"!!! We bought it about six weeks ago. Glenn has been wanting one for as long as I've known him (sixteen years) and finally, the time was right and the perfect boat was available for purchase, so that's what we did. And already, we've had some fantastic times on it. In fact, the weather in winter is so much better for boating than it is in summer (providing it's not raining). Last weekend we had a beautiful (but very chilly!!!) day on Sunday, so we took my mum and dad and my brother and his wife out for a cruise. We headed up the river into East Perth. We tied the boat up (I'm sure that's not the correct 'boating' terminology...I must brush up on that!!!) and jumped off the boat for a wander. There's some gorgeous cafes and restaurants around here so we stopped for a coffee before heading back. That's my dad there tieing the boat up.

Doesn't this look gorgeous...it was such a beautiful spot.

And the kids had a ball playing in the autumn leaves. They gathered them from all around, into a giant pile and then jumped all over it. Hey, if it means we can have a coffee in peace, they can do what they like!!!

Breaking the Blogging Drought...

I'm back!!! Not sure for how long, but we'll see how things go. This is the first bit of sewing I've done in what feels like such a long time. Life has been really hectic, but I'm thoroughly enjoying working part-time. The kids have adjusted beautifully (we had a few tears from Will for a couple of days when I dropped him at school, but all is good now!!!). And of course we're on school holidays at the moment, so I found some time to make these sock monkeys for the kids.

This one is Chloe's and it turned out really cute. BUT I definitely need to brush up on my handsewing since these have quite a bit of it!!!

And as per Will's usual style, we had to break the 'Sock Monkey Mould' and make one with extra long limbs and tail!!! How hilarious does it look. Seriously, it has the most ridiculously long legs ever!!! And they were an absolute bugger to stuff!!! But as far as Will was concerned, the longer the better. We used a pair of mens knee high socks to make him (not sure what man would want a pair of yellow and black striped knee highs???) We had a bad start to this monkey because I forgot to turn the first sock inside out before I sewed up his legs and body, so he has a few raw edges showing...just adds to his charm I think (that's what I told Will anyway!!!).

I'm hoping to find the time, enthusiasm and energy to get back into blogging again. Wish me luck!!!