messyart

family time and some help please on how to get a 1 1/2 yr old to brush his teeth?

This year i really want to be more intentional with the time i spend with my family. We have a few family traditions we do (which i hope to post about soon), but i always seem to be struggling with spending one on one quality time with my kids, especially with our newest addition in the mix.

There is this idea that i thought was simple, yet effective. Considering she's got 6 kids (!!!), you'd certainly need to be intentional about putting aside time for each little one.

WE do have this box of rewards 'tickets' that the kids can earn when they do something really good, like get an award in class or are extra helpful at home. And it includes little things they can do with us as well. But i really want  to plan something that is more regualr. That the kids can look forward to.

We also used to have meeting night every tuesday night. OUr meeting would be held after dinner and we would all get our chance to talk about things that concerned us, household stuff, family stuff....whatever. Sometimes would would make goals as a family for that next week. Sometimes we would end our meeting with dessert (dessert is a real treat in this house). It was good....i'm not really sure why we stopped. Might have to bring that one back ;)

We have been trying to have a games night at least once a week. So far, not going so well. Things just seem to keep coming up and we have to keep postponing it. But this year i want to make every friday night GAMES NIGHT...or maybe Sunday night? Give the kids something to look forward to at the end of the school week. Create memories and encourage family time together. Especially because i have two almost teenagers, and i'm afraid one day soon they wont be so easy to spend time with. I'm fearing the day when mummy is no longer 'the bomb'. When i become....dare i say....embarassing. Sigh.

We have introduced something eles this year. Every week one kids gets to spend a night with us doing something special. They stay up after thier siblings have gone to bed and we'll either have movie night up in our bed together,  (My kids would love being able to hang out with us upastiars in our bedroom, watching movies and eating popcorn in bed. I'd love it too!) Or maybe do some late night crafting :)  It's just a simple and easy way to make sure we have that time together on a more regular basis. 

Another thing i did for awhile with Berry was let her cook one night a week. She LOVED it. The only reason i stopped was beacuse i was disorganised. Definitley need to bring that one back. And maybe see if i can get Entoni into as well.

One thing we love to do together as a family is go for bike rides. I think TJ loves this the most! We haven't done it in awhile because entonis bike broke, and i haven't yet replaced it. Hopefully i'll get him one before school goes back and we can start riding to school again :)

Stayed up waaaayyyyy too late last night working on these invites. I love the quiet time i have to get things done late at night when everyone eles is asleep. 

I do not like the way being sooooo tired makes me feel the next day.

One more quick question for you before i end this kinds random post. HOW do you get a 18month old to let you brush his teeth? I know i've done this 3 times before, but it was a looooong time ago now. Everytime i try and get a toothbrush anywhere near his mouth he clenches his jar like no tomorrow! I've tried doing it with him, getting the kids to do it with him. we've tried making it fun, singing songs, bribery....please help!

 

a birthday, a green tree frog and lots of pink sweetness...

Yep, random...i know.

The kids found this little guy in our backyard. Entonis a total frog lover, and wanted to keep him as a pet. Mean mummy... i said no. But they did have a little play with him ;)

My little neice had her 4th birthday yesterday. Her fave colour is pink (of course) so i threw together and very simple little sweet table for her party...

For the jello i made little toppers with words that described the birthday girl :)

Happy Birthday sweet little girl! I hope you have lots of new and exciting adventures now that your 4 years old! You are my favourite neice in the whole world!!!!! 

xx

For her gift, i made her a little craft box using stuff i already had on hand. The box was packaging to an album i got years ago, magnets are made by me, the craft stuff is all extra stuff i buy but never use (shocking, right), and then i just made a little label for the box :)

We had fun celebrating and relaxing mostly by the pool, which was perfect on such a HOT day! My brothers got a pool table, so we played a few games of pool. I used to LOVE pool, and was pretty ok at it too. Seems when you haven't played in years you loose it all :(. I couldn't even sink a ball the first game!

Dad wasn't much better (sorry dad!). However it did start coming back, cause i won the next game! (again, sorry dad ;)

We also had heaps of fun making videos of eachother using my new favourite app! I'm sorry to anyone who has me on FB, you must be so sick of all my videos by now, lol! But i just can't get enough :) :) :)

I love days spent with the family just chilling. It's a shame we always have to wait till it's somebodys birthday to do it! 

And on a final note....is there something wrong with me? Because i bought TJ this toy (you race cars down it) and was really annoyed that it looked so ugly in my lounge room.

So i painted it to match. My lounge room that is. Is that kinda OTT?

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Bits and peices...

Warning: this is a random post.

ETA: I accidentally deleted my Valentines post, so if you are looking for it, it's gone :(

I may or may not re-post it, but you can see some pics here.

Valentines Day has come and gone. Made the family french toast for dinner...which was a hit :)

Still lingering in the spirit of love, i thought i'd share this super cute blog with you. It's one of the blogs i love to visit often, Cakies is the story of a little family 6 (well, not so little really). Theses guys REALLY know how to celebrate love! And not just on special occasions either. 

Hubby throws his wife a "Rockin Mommy" day whenever he can, just because! How sweet is that?! :)

And just look what he did for her thirtieth!

Loved their 'handmade Xmas gift' idea....so cool. What a great idea :)

Oh, and she's just as creative! LOVED this cute idea for a gift. I really want to do this soon!

And this is really cool too :)

And she throws the cutest parties ever. How she manages that with 4 kids, homeschooling and all the creativeness is beyond me!

~~~

I found this photo on my iphone this morning. Didn't even know i took it (thus the angle).

TJ has been difficult to feed at the moment. He won't eat much at all. The other day i thought if Momo and Stripes joined him for lunch he might be more willing to eat...

No such luck.

I need some new lunch/dinner/snack ideas for toddlers!

Would love to hear any suggestions pretty please ;)

Aside from that my days been filled with cleaning and organising and trying to get TJ to sleep. Oh, and a bit of drawing too...

Working on some projects and a few more prints.

Also, can't quite figure out what to do with this space here. The cupboard holds towls for our ensuit bathroom and some tioletries. On the top usually sits my perfumes and more tioletries. It's usually prettymessy.

Any ideas?

Hope your having a more productive day than i am!

DIY valentines bunting and some sweet ideas

Today was crazy busy getting ready for a little Vday party we were holding for the kids. They loved it! Will post more on that tomorrow.  I did manage to sneak it some cuddle time with my VERY NEEDY very cute little man...

Heres one of the things i made for our little party. It's heart bunting...yes i'm sure you've seen it before, it's definitley not an original idea. I, however, dont know how to use a sewing machine, so my buntings hand-sewn (which sounds hard, but is really really easy! Promise!)

Heres what you need:

some twine

pretty paperbook pages...anything you can cut a heart out of :)

needle with a hole large enough to fit twine in

scissors 

step 1: cut your hearts out of the papers. You can use a template if you want, but i just wimged it with mine. Adds more character if they're not all the same. I think anyways ;)

Cut out as many as you need. I did  7 strings with 6-7 hearts on each. I did alot because we used it as a photo backdrop.

Step 2: Cut your twine to the desired lenghth. Thread it through the needle but don't double it. Tie a knot at the bottom so your bottom heart doesn't fall off.

Step 3: Thread your twine through the centre of your hearts. I put a hole at the bottom point and the top point. You can use a peice of foam (sit it under the hearts) to poke the holes a little more easily.

Thread as many hearts as you want onto each piece of twine. When your done, just hang them! I was originally going to hang mine from a piece of driftwood that i'd painted white. 

Also, for more Valentines ideas, check out my posts here and here.

 

Shhh....it's a surprise! Oh, and i can't spell. Obviously.

So my good friend Bec and I have been busy planning a surprise Valentines day party for the kiddies today. I know Valentines is on Tuesday, but we've got school, dance, work....blah blah blah. So Friday it is. Plus, our local park is having a 'Movie night Under The Stars" so we thought it would be fun to end the night at the movies in the park :)

Because it's a surprise, i've been working on all the decorations and bits at night when the kids are asleep.

Never mind my half painted toes.

Because i've been up so late these last few nights, the Mr. has been waking up with TJ so i can have a bit of a sleep-in in the mornings.  This morning my gorgeous daughter brought me up a cup of tea....

Sweet.

Theres an idea i've had in my head for years, something i want to do for Valentines....a new tradition to start. Every year i say 'i'll do it this year' and then i always seem to run out of time. I've done it (or not done it) again this year :(

Feeling frustrated at myself....

I do have a cute little Vday tute i plan to post later today...

Anyways, got a full day of getting ready for this little Vday party of ours. Of to bake a cake .  Have a lovely friday !

wave break island

Yesterday the kids  the Mr. and i went to spend some time with my little bro and his family, who was camping out on wavebreak island My brother is a serious fisherman with a serious boat and really really into his fishing and camping. His kids are awesome. They often go out with him on the boat in crazy weather or at night...they are growing up to be fearless and full of adventure. They'll have the best childhood memories.

So anyway...we headed over to hang out with them. Tj wasn't so fond of the boat ride over and clinged  on to me for dear life THE WHOLE TIME. So cute...

 We spent ths day doing absolutley nothing. Except for floating in the crystal clear blue waters. And playing in the blow up raft. And resting in the shade eating sandwhiches and ice cream.....did you know there is an ice-cream boat? Much like the ice-cream truck...only it's a boat! And the have a coffee boat too....sells some seriously good coffee too :)

Oh, and the refrence to the crystal clear blue waters....a joke. Obviously. It's just that our brother keeps luring us down with tales of crystal clear blue waters.....but we are yet to see them ;) So we teased him about the waters most of the day :)

Little TJ found it hard to take his nap with all that fun being had. But eventually....he crashed!

Oh wait....this just in....

 Hope you had a great weekend too!

who doesn't like a good obstacle course?

So today we celebrated a special little girls birthday.... Happy Birthday Jezelle !

Jezelles mum, Mel (one of my bestest friends ) planned a simple little pink party in the park to celebrate. We had party hats, pink pom poms, an amazing cake (sadly, no pictures) and of course..... an obstacle course! It was the same one i used for Kody's birthday earlier this month, but the kids had SO MUCH FUN at his party, we thought we'd do it again today ! It was super easy to make, most of the stuff was from around the home, or really cheap to buy. The kids loved it (and some of the adults too....just quietly. Although if i post any of those pics, i might just be in trouble ;)

This is Mel...isn't she gorgeous?

The course was easy. 

• kick a soccer ball around some markers
• jump through some hoola hoops
• walk the rope (the jumprope that is ;)
• put on some mens clothes and a hat
• balance a tennis ball on a frisbee...walk to the jumprope
• jumprope 5 times
• do some golf...get the ball into the cup
• take off the mens clothes and hat
• grab a pillowcase and jump all the way back to tag your next team mate!

This course was a bit easy because most of the kids were little. Kody's course was MUCH harder! But if anyone has more ideas i'd LOVE to hear them!

Love this pic of me , Mel, and her sister Cheree. Mind you, we all look totally airbrushed....

TJ was too small for the obstacle course, but he had fun on the playground instead :)

 What a nice way to start the weekend :) 

feeling old today....

Todays my birthday :)

I should be feeling happy. 

I should be feeling spoilt.

I should be feeling lucky.

And i am, really. It's just that i'm also feeling old. And i'm not ready to start feeling old yet! I think that this last pregnancy knocked me around a bit and i'm beginning to realise that i REALLY need to start looking after myself.

I got spoilt this morning with a wake -up Happy Birthday song and breakkie in bed!

Excuse the bed air and the bags under my eyes. If i'd really thought about it i could've jumped up and fixed my hair (and my top...ooops!) but really....this is real life people!

Afterward, my friens Bec came and picked me up and we met Rozzie for lunch at The House Of Gabrielle. I love it there....it's soooooo relaxing. Except for the 3 toddlers running around ;) Maybe that bits not so relaxing! 

But the celebrations actually started on Saturday when me, my sis and a few friends hit my Fave japanese restaurant for dinner, followed by the most AMAZING esspresso martinis at Alto's and then more drinks at the Casino.... too many drinks in fact.

 

My sister almost dropped the cake....which was a BASKIN ROBBINS ICE-CREAM CAKE!!!! With a tub of my fave flavours next to it....THANKYOU mum!!! (although i may not be thanking you next week when i step on the scales ;)

Esspresso martinis......heaven!

That may or may not be some tequlia in our glasses....

Then on Sunday we had a massive lunch at one of our favourite seafood places where the food is so so good and the serves are so so big! Perfect after a night out on the town ;)

 Oh..and there was more cake! Shared with my little bear who almost shares my birthday :)

So all in all i'd say i had a pretty good bday:) My kids made me some really cute gifts. i might try and take some pics to share if i think of it.

Happy Australia Day!

We're watching the surf comp in Burliegh...what are you doing?

Hope your all having a fun, relaxing, awesome day!

happy thoughts {mini album}

It's be a VERY RAINY last few days....so much so that the kids have been home early from school everyday this week due to flooding. Perfect weather for crafting i say!

This was a class i taught years ago, called " Make it Yourself". I called it that because in this class we made everything ourselves, embellishments, pockets, tags, patterned paper, labels... Needless to say it was a long class, but one of my favourites to teach. I haven't scrapbooked in years. Life just got busy, priorities changed and for a long time there i was a single mum with 3 kids and no free time. I still have pizza boxes FULL of layouts ( i never did get around to bying albums). Occasionally i think i would like to create something, but my stuff is all still in boxes and i never remember to print photos anymore. But i have been pulling out some layouts from the past that make me smile. I might start posting some of them for old times sake. Just be kind, and remember that most of the layouts are OLD, at least 4 or 5 years old. And i haven't kept up with the scrapbooking world in YEARS! I'd have no idea what 'in' and whats not today :)

I posted a pic of this album and a couple of you said you would love the class notes. I thought i still had them, but i can't find them! However, i thought i could just post pics of the album instead. And if you do make an album inspired by this one, don't forget to share your pics, would love to see it!

Happy Crafting :)