Wonderful Weekend

I had a great weekend.  Nothing happened that was amazing but it was a good two days.  I think it was made better by the fact that I was a seriously cranky-pants mother on Friday and could have been seen ranting loudly at my two tantruming children at the local swimming pool at about 4pm!  But none of that (or at least not too much of that) was required on the weekend thank goodness.

I managed an unaccompanied browse at Spotlight and brought some new wool for a Milo vest for Kelvin.  I finished my first Milo on Friday night (using Sean Sheep wool bought at Big W - total cost about $5, for 100% Australian wool!).

Then Trev took the kids to the local football game with another family with similar aged kids.  Sarah came over to my place for a chat and some crafting (but mostly chatting, and some devine lemon tarts from Hill Street).  And because neither of us had plans for dinner so decided on pizzas to share and the kids had a lovely time - the girls decorated their feet and I couldn't help but snap a picture of their tootsies!

I finished a long unfinished quilt top during the week - part of the Fat Quarterly Quilt-along.  I love the colours in this quilt - would be perfect for a baby girl.  The colours are feminine without being too pink.  I used a Moda Jellyroll but I'm not sure what the fabric line is now!

So one quilt top finished means I have my next quilt project planned.  I cut this out yesterday and started sewing last night.  Shh, it's a secret!!

Counting Down

Well today marks three calendar months to go until our #3 baby is due to arrive - the day after Trev's birthday and the same week as my mother-in-law turns 60.  So I'm sincerely hoping that this little one arrives a bit late - like both his siblings did.

And yes, I did say "his" because we found out some time ago that we're having another boy.  Kelvin is happy to have a brother and Matilda doesn't mind, since Kelvin is OK and another one like him would be alright!

From here

We didn't find out the gender with the other two kids but this time around I have been feeling like doing the complete opposite of nesting and really want to declutter cupboards and get rid of outgrown clothing and toys.  Knowing that this little one will not be requiring "pink or frilly" means that plenty of space will be gained through the donation of 4 years worth of "pink and frilly" to the new niece.

However, this 3 month milestone also has me thinking we need to get the cot back at our place, find where all the 000 growsuits and singlets are and think about how and where we're going to house this little man!

From here

She's older than yesterday!

Happy 5th Birthday Matilda-girl!

We were really, really, really fortunate to have the most magnificently sunny winters morning to have Matilda's birthday party (with a ridiculous number of kids - note to self, just because her birthday is in the school holidays and on a public holiday does not mean you need to over-invite - I forget that families with 5 year olds don't really go away!!).  Anyway, 20+ kids descended on the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens for a Carousel Party to celebrate my daughter safely surviving (and in fact thriving) the last 5 years.

And now that I have completed my study I seem to have a bit more time to go over the top with party planning!  Apart from the obligatory cheesels and chips we made most of the other party food including the incredibly easy, ridiculously popular but stupidly time-consuming rainbow jelly cups.

I also attempted my own transportable version of a carousel cake using a cake stand (rather than trying to balance a massive cake on a cardboard tube on my knees in the car as suggested by the WW Kids Cake Book) surrounded by some cupcakes with cut-out carousel horses (yes, I was cutting those out at 11pm last night).  I think it needed the party-goers to use their imagination a little bit - but that's meant to be good for kinder kids isn't it?  The cake is a fail-safe boiled chocolate cake that can be easily adapted to be dairy-free (and works well with egg-replacer too).  I'll post the recipe sometime!

We played pass the parcel and managed to wrangle the kids up to the carousel using a photo treasure hunt around the Gardens (to run off all that jelly and cake)!

 

And the big hit for the party was a ride on The Gallopers Carousel.  I can't rave about Judy and Mark enough (they're the restorers/owners/operators of the carousel) - they were so helpful in accommodating a large group and Judy is always lovely to anyone on the ride (her day job is in childcare).

And (because this blog is all about me!!) the piece-de-resistance were the party bags which contained colouring books (thanks to the plethora of freebies images available on the internet - happy to share the pdf, just ask!!) and little boxes of pencils (thanks to Bunnings, but disguised with more carousel horses - although Trev did say the dads would have been impressed if I'd just left them as-is), and a restrained amount of lollies (I think).

Thanks to all our little friends and family for coming along and making Matilda's day so special.  I think my gorgeous girl has had a lovely day and we look forward to another year of fun together!!

Oh, and the invitations we made for the party are over here!!

Grateful for ... the end!

It's been 10.5 years since I started my Masters in Traffic Engineering.  I have been doing this externally and it seemsm to have been forever since I started it.  However, I justify the time it's taken by saying over that period I've also spent nearly three years out of the country and had 2.5 children - in fact two of my exams were completed in the middle of horrific morning sickness!

But this week, I finished my last subject - a Case Study in Transport.  The result of which is an insomnia inducing report about the merits (or otherwise) of traffic calming and its impact on residential amenity!

And like Maxabella - I work best with a deadline.  So the report was due in the post on Monday which meant a frantic weekend (thanks to Trev for entertaining the kids) and a 2am session on the Monday morning.  It's school holidays so I was meant to be looking after Matilda on the Monday but dropped her at a friends for a "couple of hours" in the morning - this turned into more than 6 hours whilst I finalised a few bits and pieces, fixed endless paper jams in the printer and bound and posted the wretched thing!  I couldn't have done it without the last minute help from K, Z & A.

Playing along with Maxabella again.

This week I'm grateful for...

This will be my first time linking up to the very popular Maxabella "I'm Grateful" series!

But I woke up this morning overwhelmingly grateful for friends who are happy to send you home with some of their tea bags because they know you've run out and how difficult it is to just "pop to the shops" to replace them when you have pre-schoolers in tow!!

Image from here.

So thanks Mards - you're a legend!!

I'm desperately hoping that next week I'll be grateful for studies completed.  There is an end in sight, submission required by Monday!  Wish me luck!!