A Different Easter 2016

This year Easter was quite different for us as we were missing one of our wee family. It was the first time one of the children has been missing for a celebratory event and was quite odd and certainly a very quiet affair.

The Fashionista went on an Easter Camp with her BFF (and their family who were there as leaders). This camp is HUGE, it's for 13-18 year olds from right up the top of the country down to Gisbourne and had an estimated 5,000 attending! Whilst looking at the photos of the camp online I came across this one of kids coming back from lunch and noticed TF straight away ... can you?


Despite TF being away, we still had our annual easter egg hunt with just Agent Smelly as it didn't seem to be right for her to miss on our annual tradition -- not that she claimed to care. She is a very cruisy child and doesn't seem to like too much of a fuss or fanfare over anything. On the other hand she does have quite a sweet tooth and loves chocolate so it's pretty easy to get her to go on an egg hunt. 

The Fashionista becomes a Teenager

I just found a pile of posts sitting in my drafts that I had written but obviously forgot to post it. This is one of them. So please check the dates to see when this was actually written as some are over a year old now. 


My darling Fashionista turned 13 recently. We are in the middle of renovations and she didn't really want a party (well anything we could agree on anyway) so I took her down to our bach with a friend for a couple of nights whilst Agent Smelly was away on camp a week later.

She is a particularly amazing young lady. She is extremely intelligent, well-mannered and a delight to have around. Her determination and courage blows me away at times and I can only look on in awe at what her Papa and I have created. 

New Years Eve 2014

For the first time ever I decided to make countdown to midnight bags. I found some easy printables from here which I came across in Pinterest (of course!).  As we had my mother-in-law, and her 80 year young brother and baby sister coming at 6pm for dinner I made the bags to start from 7pm.  I filled the bags with the activities and placed them all in a big cane basket on the coffee table. In the basket were also some things I couldn't fit in the paper bags, like a hot glue gun.

7:00 PM - Review 2014 and Set Goals and Resolutions

At 7pm we each filled in a 'New Years 2014 in Review and 2015 Resolution page' which I got from Thirty Handmade Days. The forms were perfect, great questions and not too long. When we had all completed our forms we handed them to the person on the right of us to read out.

The Fashionista's 'Greatest lesson learned' was to "not take everything so seriously" and her 'Want to get better at' was "relaxing" (something we can all learn from I think) and her 'Goals for 2015' are to "have a great first year of High School".

Agent Smelly typically made us laugh with her comments. Favourite food ... "bacon and sushi" ... but apparently if we could make a "bacon sushi" she advised us, then she would be in heaven!  Her greatest lesson learned was "Don't bug (The Fashionista) or she won't let me go on her computer" and hardest thing this year "cleaning my room" sort of summed it up for her. I was excited to see that one of the things she 'wants to learn' in 2015 is to cook properly. Guess what we'll be doing more of next year.

The girls favourite books were unsurprising but Uncle B's "turf guide" made us laugh - no guessing what his hobby is. The classic 'want to learn' for 2015 though was "sky diving". Now that sky diving might not be so odd to want to try, but considering the person who wrote it was my 86 year old ma-in-law, we were vastly amused. She confessed later that she doesn't really want to sky dive but she didn't really have anything new she wants to learn, although she does still have things she wants to get better at and goals for 2015.

8:00 PM - PHOTO BOOTH FUN

At 8pm, the activity in the bag was to take photos with some photo booth accessories which I obtained from Kristen Duke Photography's blog earlier in the day. They were an easy, free download which was pretty awesome of them as most I could find you had to pay for. Thank goodness for chop sticks.

 

 

(Sadly the only group one of us four came out blurry).

 

9:00 PM - INTERNATIONAL NYE TRADITIONS

Just before 9pm our guests left (Uncle B lives in a retirement home and they are usually in bed by 8.30pm so for him it was a big night out).  We already knew this would happen so I made the rest of the begs for things just the girls could do. My 9pm bag had international New Years Eve Traditions in it. We all read one or two of them out and I included some activities that they could do also, if they wished to. We also had the option to come up with a new family tradition to do at midnight.

So like the Italians we gals or ran off to pop on red underwear because apparently ...

Every Italian on the 31^st of December will be making sure they have some red underwear to wear to welcome the new year in and hence shower themselves in luck!

A tradition apparently dating back to medieval times when men would use a red drape over their groin area to protect themselves from the witches who at the turn of midnight would be out on the village streets looking to cast spells and make mischief.

The colour red is good luck and brings good fortune. It keeps negative energy away and calls on the protective presence of archangel Michael. 

Quick ... put your red knickers on before midnight!

For Germany we made four leaf clover badges ...

In Germany (and Austria) people take part in a form of fortune telling known as Bleigiessen. They melt small quantities of lead on a silver spoon above a candle. The molten lead is then tipped into a bowl of cold water where it solidifies. Then people try to tell the future from the shape it made. A heart or ring shape meant a wedding, a ship a journey, and a pig plenty of food in the year ahead.

People also would leave a bit of every food eaten on New Year's Eve on their plate until after Midnight as a way of ensuring a well-stocked larder. Carp was included as it was thought to bring wealth.

Many Germans give small gifts like Marzipan Pigs, four leaf clovers, horse shoes, toadstools because they are signs of good luck! 

Make a four leaf clover badge to give away as a gift.

10:00 pm - MOVIE TIME

The bag included a DVD to watch, so we all settled onto the couch to watch a movie. We actually started watching this a bit before 10pm as I noticed earlier when putting the DVD into the bag that it went for just over 2 hours and we wanted to be finished by midnight.

 

11:00 pm - SNACK TIME

This bag had a bag of funny face lollies and some popcorn to make and eat during intermission

12:00 PM - WOOOHOOOO

 

We woke the Papa just before midnight (he always falls asleep watching movies!). We popped the party poppers that were in the bag. Can you believe I have never popped a party popped before; I think they used to frighten me when I was younger. Then we completed out new family tradition. We each took a small piece of paper from the bag and wrote a wish that we had for 2015, set it on fire and popped into a little goblet to burn. We had to do it within a minute in order to make our wish come true.

As I mentioned in the beginning this is the first time we have had countdown bags and they were a resounding success. Even our visitors commented on how much they had enjoyed them. So next New Years Eve I will try and be more organised (I decided to do this all on NYE so had to make do with what I could find online) and make my own bag designs and forms.

Do you have any traditions that you follow for New Years Eve?

Wishing you all a very Happy 2015 ... I hope your year brings you much good health and happiness.

Christmas Day 2014

The hubby is working today, so Christmas has been delayed in our house until the afternoon. The Papa is working until 1.30pm so no gifts will be exchanged until he gets home.

We girls stayed up late last night (Christmas Eve), deciding we'd have a nice sleep in ... sadly I forgot to let mad dog know who was on my bed at 7am shoving a wet slobbery ball into my neck. Which somehow ended up nestled between my boobs ... got to laugh, stupid playful mutt!

We had a late breakfast so that we could hold out for a late roast lunch with the Papa. We had roast ham (which I had cooked the day before) and roast vegies. We kept it fairly low key which ended up being just the perfect amount. Enough for some left overs, but not enough to have to keep eating it until we are sick of it.

 

 

 

Due to so much going on, me being pretty much out of action, and so much being packed away for the shift (whenever that may happen!) I decided to forgo the Santa sacks (that I made a long time ago) and individually wrap all the girls gifts. Usually they go unwrapped into their sacks. Well The Fashionista was quite upset at this thought so a couple of days before the big day, the Papa climbed into the roof of the garage and finally found the right Christmas box that has all the Christmas linen and their Christmas sacks. The things you do to make your kids happy!

 

  

 

The Fashionista received a mobile for Christmas. She will be travelling a fair way to and from high school and so we got her one for safety sake (and my peace of mind). She was pretty happy you could say. Unlimited texts ... what was I thinking!

 

 

 

Agent Smelly is completely Hunger Games obsessed. She has been making her own bows and arrows so the Papa went and got her a proper one from an archery shop for Christmas. To say she was delighted and surprised is an understatement! 

 

 

The ma-in-law and entourage (her sister and brother who is staying with her for a couple of weeks) came up late afternoon with afternoon tea in toe and we spent a lovely hour or two with them.

 

It was touch and go as to whether I would make it through the day without having to head into the hospital as the wound in my belly button split the night before. It was quite swollen and bleeding slightly and I had a bit of a fever, but I managed to get through the day which is what I was trying to do. I have every reason to be very thankful this Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas Everybody.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let It Go ... Let It Go ...

As some of you know recently Agent Smelly had her 10th birthday. Now we don't do birthday parties every year (cause I feel it far too much pressure frankly as I get a bit caught up in all the fun) but we do let the kids have one when they turn "double digits", amongst a couple of other "special" birthdays. 

A.S. has been planning her birthday for the past year, if not more, and the chosen theme was "mermaids" cause she just loves them. Anyway recently she has become shall we say rather "obsessed" with the movie Frozen so I had to be silly and say "geesh maybe we should be planning a 'Frozen' party". Well oh dear, did her face light up, so despite me planning for a mermaid theme I had to "let it go" and plan a Frozen one. She was jumping for joy when I agreed to it. Thankfully nearly all of the stuff I had bought to-date was suitable for both ... gotta love blue, so it wasn't too bad a change.

So I thought I'd share our little Frozen party with you. Twas the night before Frozen ... and mama had set the table in readiness...

Those little sparkles across the table are tiny little blue gems that sparkle like frozen ice.

 

 

Two bottles of lemonade and a bottle of blue energy drink and some ice and the drink fountain looked awesome. Kids were slightly hyper but once it was finished

they got water or juice so it worked out OK.  

Found me some blue jelly beans; the kids (and adults) were in raptures!

 

Best thing ever ... everyone had a named bottle and no-one was

looking for their bottle or reusing and wasting lots of cups.

 

The first cake I have "properly" iced. Hastily made at 7am the day of the party!

Later a dear friend told me you are supposed to use this icing about 3 days

before eating so it has time to harden and set ... oops, hahaha

 

And the star of the show. Many of the guests came in theme ... oh so cute!

 

 

 

Agent Smelly just loved her Frozen birthday ... we had Olaf noses (carrots), sandwiches (we finish each others), and the general party fair. I put all the cupcakes out naked and that mess you can see on the bench behind is a decorating station where each child went crazy decorating their cupcakes however they wanted.

 

By the way does anyone want a mermaid cake tin ... hehe

 

Agent Smelly turns 10

 

My baby has just turned 10! 

 

 

 

There are so many wonderful things that I love about Agent Smelly. She is a sweet girl, generous, kind with a cheeky and rather dry sense of humour which has us in fits of laughter so often. She is very affectionate and leaves me especially lots of love notes. I am so proud of the beautiful young lady that you are growing into.

Your Mama xxx

It's all about Agent Smelly

 

 

My baby turned nine this month. 

Isn't she gorgeous!

Just love her soooo much.

She brings so much fun and laughter into our home.

Home for Mother's Day

After nearly a week in Melbourne I just made it back in time to spend the day with my lovely girls.

They rushed into the bedroom early in the morning wheeling a dolls pram with a basket on it, that had a dolls blanket thrown across it, filled with handmade goodies. Is there anything sweeter than when your young children proudly give you a present that they have made and solely put together for you. So very special.

They lovingly put in the basket handmade cards, pistachio fudge (made at GirlGuides by The Fashionista), biscuits (made at Rally by both girls ... Agent Smelly announced that she had eaten part of the one she had made which made me laugh), a homemade magnet (made at Brownies by Agent Smelly), handmade massage vouchers (The Fashionista knows how I love my shoulders being rubbed) and a lovely cork coaster. Agent Smelly made this a month or so ago doing poker work at Rally, left it in plain view on her beside table but apparently it was a surprise so I had to play dumb. She's one of a kind!

Later in the afternoon I was told I had to watch a DVD with Agent Smelly, so she put on Harry Potter (an old favourite) and drew all the drapes and lit some candles on the coffee table and I had to sit and watch it with her. I am not sure what the romantic candles were all about but they made her happy so I expressed my absolute delight with them which made her even more pleased with herself.

The Fashionista then kindly made some very yummy schnitzels for dinner and did a great job. The Papa had planned to cook dinner but after all his rushing around working and cooking and tending to the girls whilst I have been away this past week, I really felt that he could do with a break. He did make me breakfast and lunch, and if I tell you a secret you wont tell will you, but he is ever so slow when he cooks and it is so very painful to watch and be asked every five minutes where something is or if it looks right. I told him that as he had played mum this past week, that I would cook diner and let him share a bit of mother's day. He was very appreciative let me tell you.

I hope you all enjoyed a happy Mother's Day with your loved ones too.

By the way ... that fudge, OMG sooooo good!

Felt Valentine Bookmarks

Agent Smelly made these lovely felt bookmarks as part of our Valentines Day Craft Exchange. We saw similar on Pinterest and went away and had a go at working out how to make them.

 

 

She is 8 and made them by herself with just a couple of words of advice from me here and there. She is totally proud of herself and deservedly so I think. They took around 45 minutes each.

 

Instructions to make Felt Heart Bookmarks.

1/ First cut out 2 large and 2 small felt hearts

 

2/ Take some embroidery thread and a piece of ribbon (enough to go through the middle of a regular sized book) and start sewing around one heart, including the ribbon as you go around.

3/ Sew the button on. If you start sewing in the right place you can just add the button on when you finish sewing around, all in one go. Then do the same at the other end of the ribbon with the smaller heart. Make sure you have both hearts facing the same way; yes, yes she did! Thankfully she realised it before she had gotten too far around.

4/ Place fabric glue on the back of the hearts and then press the other hearts on in order to cover up the back of the sewn hearts.

5/ And there you have it. A simple but sweet bookmark. You could make these in so many different shapes and colours.

Valentines Gift Bags

Agent Smelly has made these sweet little packages, from simply postage envelopes, for her Valentines gifts to go into.

 
 

 

Instructions to make Envelope Gift Bags

Step 1.  Seal the envelope.

Step 2. Stamp both sides of the envelope with different stamps and colours of your choosing.

Step 3. Slice about a cm (half an inch) off one of the thin ends of the envelope. This will be the opening.

Step 4. Score the envelope on the remaining 3 sides. How far you score, will depend on how wide you want your bag to be. We found they sit better if they are wider on the side so we scored about 2 cm's (bit less than an inch) in from the edge of the three uncut sides of the envelope. You will need to do it on both sides or it will not bend properly when you try and make the bottom and sides open out.

Step 5. Place your hand inside the envelope and pinch the sides out on each side of the bottom to get a flat bum (oh don't I wish!). You will end up with two little triangles sticking out on the side.

Step 6. Pinch the sides, right along your scores pushing the bit in the middle inwards. Then fold those triangle ends up and glue or double sticky them in place against the sides.

 

Step 7. Cut a wee oblong of card / paper that is as wide as the bag is when it is folded (ie the bit inside the scored area). Then fold it in half and glue it to one side of the bag.

Step 8. Put some ribbon on it and voila. You can staple or use some double sided tape under the open side of the lid, to close it off once you have put your items inside it.

Remember these were made by an eight year old, so are pretty simple to make but are so darn cute, don't you think. If you need any clarification of the above instructions please drop me a line in the comments section.