Things I am Loving...

 This week.....

Baking old fashioned Easy Coconut Macaroons...recipe found here....

  At least the tomatoes are loving our heat wave.....

 Gifted cherry tomatoes to me.......and gifting a dozen eggs to someone else from our overflow ...

 Spontaneously buying myself some flowers to brighten the house......

 The new read on my bedside table....

 A gift for the family made by Meg in her Childcare class.....

.....a gift to represent family.....

 Opening up a bank account for the guy today so he can participate in banking at school....an institute that has been around since I was his age taking my coins to bank at school....oh and the cool money box the bank gave him....

 My new thrifted $1 skirt....and I didn't even go in the store...just dropping things off and it was hanging outside the store.....had to be mine.....

 Baking this Simple Chocolate slice which Catherine posted from here...I am hoping there is some left for our planned family picnic tomorrow....

 The latest drawing by the guy  that have made the way to the wall for display...

We are heading into a long weekend here in Western Australia....it is going to be a hot one.....a few plans made but hopefully making the most of an extra down day.....

Hope yours is a good one too..

Joining in with Meghan and Things I am Loving.

Thursday Thankful List

* Teen girls that were such a pleasure to host

* Uncles who lend outdoor projectors and sound gear.

* Dad's who are clever at all the technology set up.

* The warm still night as a result of the heatwave, perfect for outdoor movie nights and sleepovers in a tent.

* Little brothers who are so helpful and desperate to be apart of the action

* Air conditioning to hibernate in.

* Reconciling with a friend.

* Sunday afternoon naps.

* Catchup TV

* Backyard camp outs.

* Fresh figs

* Holding hands with my love.

* Waking up to a cool wind in the morning.

* Roast lamb and baked vegetables.

* Answered prayers.

* The ability to create a unique gift from what I already have.

* The courage of the little guy wanting to walk the short way to school by himself.

* Giving away some of our egg overflow.

* Being able to offer support and lend an ear to mum's on the front line of parenting.

* A hair appointment tomorrow.

#344 My delicious homemade muesli each morning.

You can see my other lists here ...counting my way to one thousand.

A hoot of fun...

Feeling the need to create...

Feeling the need to use materials I already had....

Feeling the need to try something new.....

I used this tutorial and made my soon to be four year old niece a birthday present...

I took one of Meg's too small t-shirts that I had in my filing

 

 I cut a rectangle from both layers leaving the neckline in place.....

then stitched the side and bottom seams...

 Using a piece from the cut off bottom I cut the shape below....

 ...to make a gathered flower....

 Found the perfect button to attach my flower.....

 Used some pink biased tape and mixed it with a grey tie from an old skirt and braided them together for the handle...

and ....... one very cute bag that I am hoping when it is filled with some special gifts will be perfect for taking to ballet class....

Joining in with Show and Tell.

Monday

Go on treat yourself to some flowers to make the rest of the house smile.

Weekend Snippets

* Birthday party sleepover preparation

* Our summer heat wave worked well for the planned outdoor movie theatre....a Disney Princess movie marathon

* Perfect balmy night for sleeping out with friends

*The lost art of shadow puppets was found

*The guy took his turn the next night...but didn't stay out all night...I guess camping on your own is not as much fun.....we will have a family camp out with him next weekend.

* Meanwhile the outdoors came in

* I love leaves with character.....OK my family think I am a little loopy.

* Breaking open a new bottle of my very favourite perfume

*Fresh figs from my dad's trees......now to eat them natural or cook them up.... that is the question .

Hope you have had a great weekend....maybe some backyard camping out or birthday celebrations going on in your neck of the woods.....hope you are ready cause a new week is just about to begin.

Joining in with Em at The Beetle Shack

8/52

Him : " Mum, I am going to be an Author when I grow up."

Her: Birthday wishes from school friends

My 52 weeks Project
{Last years project photos made their way into a photo book}

Joining in with Jodi's Project

Things I am Loving

 This week....

Turning these dates into....

 This yummy date loaf...(recipe here)

 Using these nuts to make.....

 This muesli....(recipe here)

 The arrival of Meg's birthday gift...her 52 weeks project photo book

 The eggs that are overflowing in the fridge from our hens....even a double yolker yesterday

 Seeing these two put up a tent of the first time.....ready for......

 The belated birthday party/sleepover in the tent and  Disney Princess movie marathon...

 complete with props.....what is it with teens these days.....I am loving that she is here happy with three friends and not wanting to be out on the town....

 Joining in with Meghan's Things I am Loving

so while we battle the heatwave here...hope you are enjoying some cooler climate or maybe even some rain.

Happy weekend to you

Thursday Thankful List

* Exploring beaches at sunset

* Impromptu fish and chips at the beach

*Sitting on the edge of the seat watching the excitement of the winter Olympic games

*The sneaky look around to see if anyone is looking before holding mum's hand

*Pad Thai for lunch with my love

*Drying wind for the washing

*Warm straight from the oven date loaf with lashings of butter

*Beautiful photos books arriving

*Teamwork to put up the tent

# 323 Excellent maths test results, that surprised everyone

Working towards my one thousand gifts....

My 52 Weeks Project Gift

 Last year I took one photo every week of each of my kids....so I had 52 photos of each of them by the end of the year....My aim was to collate them into a photo book as a record of a year in their life......

Well I actually did it.....prompted by both of them having a birthday in the early parts of this year......

Here is Meg's, it was a little late for her actual birthday but it is still done....

Not sure who was more excited about flicking through it more, me or her.....

 I kept it really simple....I wanted the black and white photos to speak for themselves.....plus it was my first attempt and I wasn't very adventurous.....

I used a discount code with Snapfish....it was easy to complete and was delivered easily.

Being sneaky and using this as my creative project this week....joining in with Show and Tell

The Day the Bees....

Sadly the bees that have been making a home in our backyard dwelling, have gone.....we were hoping for some honey at least.....not to be.

My husband is very sad that we had to have our bee keeper friend come and destroy the bees. They were too difficult to remove as a whole hive....they were becoming aggressive and taking over more of the garden.

My husband is very determined now to get a proper bee set up.... a hive that we can harvest the honey and manage them properly. They love our garden and keep returning. They love the gum tree blossom...and all the flowers but they choose the trickiest places to call home.

My husband feels like bee enemy no.1 and he is keen to right the wrong........

Stay tuned......