Can't be too hard

I think I've had enough of this big school girl who is so tired she can't see straight! Here's hoping the weekend will recharge the batteries.
She's enjoying it but I feel she is quite overwhelmed by the whole change. I am too to be honest! Preschool was so cosy and familiar by the end of the year. Now we are starting over. I'm sure it won't be long before school feels familiar too.
*End of pity party*

She drives me insane with her constant questions and chatter...but man it's quiet here without her. She will always be my baby and I'm having just a wee bit of trouble accepting the fact that my baby is now my big school girl. She went off to school happily today despite complaining that she doesn't like her maroon polo. Don't blame her really. I don't like it either! Bring on the new uniform I say.
I'm so proud of her and in awe of her resilency :)
Love you gorgeous girl.

Miss Miya is now a big school girl! Here she is ready for her first day - complete with her cardboard fliptop mobile phone in case she needs to make a phone call!
Her uniform is a bit dull because her school is having a uniform change this year and we have been asked to send them in plain maroon until the new spiffy uniform is available.

We decided last week to enrol her in the Montessori program being offered at one of our local state schools and we are very excited to be part of the program.
No tears from Miya...plenty from me after I left the room. I'm so proud of my confident girl and can't wait to hear about her day this afternoon.

The shelves are a bit bare as most of the Montessori materials are arriving at the school this afternoon :)

Toby, Rob and Pa took the canoe out for a paddle last week. It was Toby's first time out and he loved it! His Pa is a keen paddler from way back so I'm sure it gave him a lot of pleasure to take Toby out on his very first trip.

someone else has done this. Decided to change the school their child is going to 4 days before she is due to start? Surely I'm not the only one????

I had been eyeing off this gorgeous Tee from Starashan for a while and I finally caved and bought it. I'm so glad I did. Toby just loves his "bike shirt" and I think he looks pretty spunky in it :) Please excuse the blurry pics. Toby's favourite place to pose is on a moving swing.

Sherrin is one talented lady! Check out her blog to see her many talents.

or as Miya put it "I'm being appetised today!"
We belong to a wonderful church and today we promised in front of family, friends and our church family to bring up our children to know God and to show by example how to follow Him.
Here's some pics with our Minister Phil out the front as church.
Miya thought she might need her goggles but it wasn't so :)
I love Toby's angelic look in his photo!

Miya wanted to learn how to sew buttons on to fabric, and of course Toby wasn't to be left out. I pulled out the threading boards lovingly made by their late Poppy and some plastic scoobie string and he was away.

Such little hands...so much to learn :)

I hate having to say this. It's usually followed by "Mummy will make you another one".
Both Miya and Toby have put in an order for Plattie - designed by the very clever Pauline over at the Funky Friends Factory.
It is so soft and huggable. I just love Miya's face in this photo. If you'd like a plattie of your own be early to the Gossamer Dreams stocking tomorrow at 8pm Queensland time.

Miya spied some spotty green fabric at Spotlight a while ago and asked for a dress. Now she already has a spotty green dress just a shade or two darker but the fabric was 1/2 price and who am I to argue.
So...here's this afternoon's accomplishment. Portobello Pixie pattern - Claire, size 5. Spotty green plus devine Sandi Henderson prints in the bodice, sleeves and ruffle. I think it works. Miya says she looks like Snow White :)

That means a Gossamer Dreams Stocking! Visit our blog for sneak peaks and updates.

Saturday was lovely and rainy! Such a nice change from stiffling heat followed by a brief thunderstorm. We did a few home things in the morning and then headed out to SouthBank to the Gallery of Modern Art. They have an awesome kids program on at the moment with heaps of activities for budding artists. We really enjoyed this darked room with UV lights and glowing cardboard shapes to fit together. No photo of Toby I know but you try telling a 2 year old to keep still for 3 seconds while the shutter stays open!

On Sunday after Church we had a bite of lunch then tackled the kids new play equipment purchased to replace the swings etc that were smashed in the storm. It took all afternoon but we are very pleased with the results. There are two more modules to add when they come back into stock. We purchased the Playing Mantis set from Muffin Kids and Ken's service was excellent!

The equipment is set up under our new shade sail that Rob put up last week. It will be so nice for the kids to have a shady place to play. You can see the new fence in the background too. To see the old fence and what happened to it (and the old play equipment) check out this post.

Rob's way :)

Rob is never one to let an opportunity pass him by. When he saw these logs on the verge of the road he just had to stop. A conversation with the owner of the house revealed the logs were his if he could move them. He managed it and before I knew it there were maybe 6 huge logs in our yard....just a few months before the storm blew half our trees down.

Anyway, several logs are now part of the new fence and the others are destined to become benches around the yard. Here's a pic of Rob doing some freestyle chainsaw work...with his chipmunk cheeked offsider standing at a safe distance.

A bit late I know but this has been my first chance to blog for a while - hence the huge number of posts with today's date! I'd like to thank Arana Hills Video for the Wubsy DVD that made today possible :)

My beautiful niece Rose celebrates her birthday on New Years Day. I hope she likes the little art folder I made using a tutorial from One Red Robin. I filled it with a sketchbook and pencils before I sent it :)

Our lovely friends from Sydney spent Christmas at a gorgeous beach house on the Sunshine Coast. We landed on them for a day and had a blast :) Thanks C and N for your hospitality!

Sorry to my family that there aren't a lot of photos. December was a very hectic month and I think we were all so relieved to finally stop we didn't think too much about photos! Anyway here are a few :)

Apparently it's against the law or something to show your teeth on Christmas day.

I just found out today that Mel from Head in the Sand tagged me for my Christmas Day menu!

Here tis:

Breakfast: Everyday cereal and toast because after a small amount of present opening there was only a tiny window of time to eat, get dressed and get to church by 7.45 in order to get a seat inside for the 8am Christmas Day Service.



Lunch: Lunatic me decided a roast lunch would be lovely! Our good friend John joined us.


Roast Turkey, Roast Pork with crackling, baked potatoes, kumera and pumpkin with broccoli and beans.
Dessert was home made individual pavlovas topped with whipped cream, mixed berries and grated chocolate. Yum :)



Dinner: Pretty much the exact same meal as at lunch!