My November

It really started to get hot in November with temperatures in the high 30C and low 40C.

 

Afternoon fun:

 

That meant afternoon storms which I always love.

 

Not to mention the work out my sister's pool got from the kidlettes cooling off.

 

Crafting:

 

More hooky time with my new yarn.  It's slowly being turned into a blanket.

 

A superhero costume was made.

 

More sewing of Christmas presents and a trip to the thrift shops found a treasured sewing accessories tin which now sits beside my machine and is full of all the goodies I need when sewing.  It's much loved.

 

 



 

 

November was a bit of a slower month with not as many outings due to the heat and my crafting taking up plenty of time.

 

xx Susan

My October

October meant changes for us.

 

Big Night Out:

 

Little Miss R started the term at a new school and it has been one of the best decisions we've ever made.  It goes to show that in certain cases, private schools are not always best as in this particular case, the local public school is turning out to be so much better for us.

 

Anyway, her new school had their annual Big Night Out with rides, fairy floss and fireworks.  It was a fantastic night!

 

 

Crafting:

 

Some fabulous new yarn arrived in the post to be hooked into something special.

 

I finally finished my scrap blanket.

 

The sewing machine started to get a work out with swimming bags made and other projects getting started for Christmas.

 



 

Gardens:

 

It's one of the few times a year when I feel proud of my garden as the hippeastrums burst into flower.

 

 

 

Fun and celebration:

 

It was a month of birthdays.  Little Miss R turned 7 and nephew R turned 5. 

 

We had some icing fun with biscuits and plenty of back yard fun with the sprinkler.

 

I also finally got my hair done for the first time in 18 months!  Of course it just gets shoved up in a pony tail as usual, especially in all this heat.

 



 

October ended up being another busy and fun month for us. 

 

xx Susan

A Treasure Hunt

Christmas for us was filled with the usual early wake up call from excited kids yelling that 'Santa's been!'

 

It's then time to unwrap presents, exclaim and get excited then play with new presents while Mummy whips up pancakes for breakfast.

 

 

After breakfast it's time for Mummy to pack up all we need to go to my sister's place for the day which is where we seem to spend nearly every Christmas Day. 

 

Unfortunately hubby was quite sick this Christmas so ended up staying home by himself so he wouldn't contaminate everyone else and spread his version of Christmas cheer to all assembled.

 

As he wasn't coming and we were hot and in need of a swim, the kidlettes and I headed out to my sister's about 9.30am and had our first dip of the day.  It was bliss!

 

 

More family arrived, more swims were had throughout the day, lots of food was consumed and an after lunch movie was watched on the big screen.

 

By far the most exciting thing of the day though was the Treasure Hunt my sister had organised for her nieces and nephews.  So very much something that she would think of and organise and something that everyone, especially the kidlettes enjoyed.

 

There was the gift giving and the very first clue.

 

The older kidlettes and adults helped read the clues out so off they went to find the next blue envelope with their name on it. 

 

Clues were hidden inside the Christmas tree...

 

 



 

...on the mirrors in the bathroom....

 

 

...in the front yard....

 

 

 Puzzles were part of the clues...

 

 

...to find out where the next clue might be hidden.

 

 

Sometimes other puzzles had to be worked out..

 

 

Sometimes songs had to be sung.

 

 

Eventually the final clue came....

 

 

 

...and four very happy kids emerged with a box of Christmassy, crafty goodness.

 

 

 

Pencils, pens, paints, brushes, colouring in pages...

 

... and craft books were all in the special packs designed especially for the each of the kidlettes.

 

 

 

 The kids (ok.. the adults too), really enjoyed the whole treasure hunt and the prize at the end was something that every child would love so much.

 

After that it was more food, more swimming...

 

 

...and some movie watching on the BIG screen.  A lovely, casual Christmas which is what we're all about.

 

Then very, very late in the afternoon it was time to come home to daddy who had spend his day being sick (you really don't need to know the details).

 

It was a lovely, fun, casual, family day which is another Christmas to be treasured.

 

Thank you to Aunty Sandy for the awesome Treasure Hunt you organised.  It's certainly a talking point and something to create a special memory in the minds and heart of all the kidlettes.

 

xx Susan



Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe and happy Christmas.

 

 

 

We're having a relaxed Christmas as usual with breaky here at home before heading out to my sister's for lunch. An afternoon swimming in the pool and watching whatever movies Santa has brought on the big screen or chatting with family sounds perfect to me.

 

xx Susan

 



My September

Yes you did read that heading right. It DOES say September!

 

Earlier in the year I started a mosaic post with snippets of what I had been up to during each month.  As this blog is a bit like an online journal so I have a record of our life, I wanted to continue doing this monthly mosaic even if it is a bit late.

 

So what did we get up to in September?

 

Outings:

 

There were picnics to Stoney Creek with plenty of exploring and rock throwing.

 

There was also visits to Grandma and the beach with fish and chips to top the fun off.

 

 

 

Home front:

 

There new life in the form of my brother's dog having 11 puppies.  Little did I know at the time that we would end up with one of them!

 

There was also cubby time with Little Miss R's princess tent being set up out the back for some fun play.

 

 

Camping:

 

September also means school holidays and that meant going camping.

 

There was plenty of fishing, kayaking, swimming, wrestling, playing, relaxing, entertaining and for my part - campfire gazing.

 



 

September ended up being quite a busy month but it was truly wonderful and I've loved spending time going through and sorting the photos.

 

October and November will follow when I get the chance.

 

xx Susan

Sidetracked

It's only a few days until Christmas and I still have so much to do.  I haven't even begun to think about what I need on my grocery shopping list which is just woeful organisation on my part.

So what am I doing instead of being a busy bee and getting everything ready for the big day?

Going through this of course....

 

 

My sister-in-law gave me this bag absolutely full of wool from her Mum.  There's so many different colours, textures and balls of the stuff that I'm in hooky heaven.  There's also about 20 pairs of knitting needles too so I may have to have another go at that and see if I can work it out.

 

To make me feel not as bad for being so sidetracked looking through this bag of treasures, I've been making a few little Christmas things.

 

 

Little Santa hats, stars and wreaths to go on the tree and add a bit of homemade goodness to the rest of the sparkle.

 

Of course my boy just couldn't resist......

 

 

 

I found these teeth marks and little chunk taken out of my blocking board not long ago. 

 

Have a fantastic weekend.

 

xx Susan

 

P.S. If you want to have a go at the decorations I got the Santa Hat pattern here, the Star pattern here, and the Wreath pattern here.

 

I did change my wreath pattern a little in rounds 2 and 3 but if you follow this pattern it will look great too.

Evenings out

We're not really a family who goes out at night much.  There aren't a lot of places to go at night around here which doesn't require a bit of a drive so we usually snuggle up at home once the sun goes down.

 

This last week however we've found ourselves out on a couple of occasions.

 

The first was the annual Christmas light drive where we go around our town and the neighbouring towns within a 10-20 km radius to check out the sparkles.

 

 

 

Sorry about the quality of the photo but I didn't take my camera and only thought about taking photos on my phone when we got to one of the last houses we saw on the night.

 

The kids were excited at the beginning.  There was lots of ho, ho, ho-ing and Merry Christmas yelled out the car windows at nearly everyone they saw.

 

We also headed down to Caloundra yesterday evening to meet up with Grandma as we won't see her over Christmas.  She's heading up to Cairns to be with hubby's brother and his family so we had a casual beach dinner with her last night.

 

It was the most gorgeous evening.

 

 

It's so lovely having family time like this.

 

 

 

I hope you're all having a fantastic week.

 

xx Susan



A candle lit.....

For those devastated by the senseless tragedy in Connecticut.

 

 

My heart breaks for those little ones and their families.

 

My children are the same age as those affected and I'm making sure they get plenty of extra hugs and kisses.  Sometimes we need to let some of those small dramas slide and just tell our kids we love them.

 

xx Susan

Making Christmas

I'm trying to make as many Christmas presents as I can this year. It's not only to keep the costs down but also because I don't want to buy the same old things as everyone else in the shops. 

 

Two of my nephews are getting these laundry bags.

 

A laundry bag is certainly not a fun gift but their mum did request them.  I may make some superhero masks and gauntlettes like I did for Little Miss R recently so they have something a bit more exciting.

 



 

For Little Miss R's teacher I've made a couple of Ouchie packs.  She has two small boys and I thought these would be great for them.  They're just small wheat packs which I keep in the freezer so when the kids have their bumps and spills they grab an Ouchie pack. 

 

They're cool enough and pliable enough to go on bumps and bruises but not so completely freezing that they don't want to use them.

 

 

I've also made a number of shopping bags which I'll give to various people with their presents, including Little Miss R's teacher.

 



 

 

They're really easy to make and I always fully line them and make sure everything's re-inforced so they're pretty sturdy.

 

 



 

I've almost finished 3 more swimming bags which will soon be winging their way north to Cairns for my two nephews and niece.

 

 

Yes the sewing elf has been busy around here. 

 

Don't you love these elf boots.  My nephew was going to his daycare concert dressed as an elf and my sister-in-law asked if I could sew him some elf boots. 

 

I found a couple of patterns for them but I didn't really like them too much so I just made my own up.  They're pretty awesome and Nephew R loves them.  Master M and Little Miss R now both want a pair!

 



 

 

I've also realised that there's less than two weeks to go until the big day and I'm nowhere near ready at this stage.  I'd better exercise that presser foot!

 

xx Susan

What my boy's up to now

Master M is so ready for school. We just need to survive the Christmas period and get through January without too many more disaster's.

 

Yesterday I left him outside with the dog for LESS THAN 5 MINUTES while I ran inside and wrapped my Mum's birthday present.

 

I came outside to this....

 

 

Somehow my not quite 5 year old son got some rope around one corner of the clothes line and then wrapped it around the pole of the clothes line.  I'm not sure exactly what he did to get it looking like this though.

 

 

 

It's definately snapped off.  As hubby's back at work my neighbour and his son (yes, the ones who felled a tree on my fence and gate last week), came over to look at it for me. 

 

It's now in two parts with the line section on the ground and hopefully some cutting and welding by hubby next week to get it back together.

 

Oh and he's also painted the toilet blue using the toilet brush.  It's now quite stained.

 

Family beware, I maybe in need of your assistance with sleepovers during the school holidays to help save my sanity when Shane's away.

 

xx Susan



We are now a family of 5

Meet Patch.

 

 

He's 11 weeks old and from the litter that my brother's dog had.

 

It would seem it was 3 against 1 to get a dog.  I was obviously the one. We'll see how I cope when hubby goes back to work tomorrow.

 

 

A wolfhound/staghound cross dog is not what  I would normally choose, especially with our small yard.  He is lovely though with soulful brown eyes and he seems to want to follow me around.  I think he's worked out in a short time who'll be looking after him!

 

xx Susan

Oh dear boys....

Yesterday evening I was inside, happily organising dinner for just hubby and myself.  Both kidlettes were having a sleepover at my brother's place so we were looking forward to an extremely rare night on our own.

 

I could hear a chainsaw going and didn't take much notice of it knowing it was just the neighbours clearing up some trees in their yard. 

 

Then I heard the big crash and knew something wasn't quite right so I ran outside to find the neighbour, his teenage son and lovely hubby standing around looking at this......

 

 

 

The chainsaws were then busy cutting the palm tree up.

 

We are now left with this tangled mess.

 

 



 

...and yes, Oh dear boys was the polite version of what I said to them.

 

xx Susan