Weekend Snippets

* Some gardening unearthed what could belong to a "minimoy."..or maybe a long lost and long ago played with Barbie shoe.

* The rains came.....

*...and stayed around for the weekend.

* A family afternoon tea to celebrate the March Birthdays...how to protract a 9 year old birthday

* I was in charge of the birthday cake.....will share in another post

*  Everyone else pitched in with the goodies for the afternoon tea.

* Luckily the rain eased long enough to sit in the garden for the festivities...helpful when you have 11 kids running wild.

* At long last the first true signs that the lime tree may be useful after all.

We are so glad to have had the rains....today it is dark, still and quiet...well here in this house anyways.....enjoy your week to come.

Joining in with Em @ The Beetle Shack

13/52

Him: It's time for a haircut when the bed hair appears.

Her: I am sure there is more paint on her, than on the wall she and her youth friends were painting.

My 52 weeks project

Joining in with Jodi's project

Things I am Loving....

 This week.....

Sneaking a picture through our front screen door of Fraser playing footy in the street with one of our teen neighbours....he was so excited.....

 The beauty in our garden...roses never cease to make me stop and smell them....

The beauty of a sunset this week......the rains did come.

 Simple meatball pizza dinners to take the pressure of the end of a busy week....

{our gratitude writing tools close by for what has become a really nice way to finish our dinnertime}

A freshly baked and bought Boston Bun to share with my two sisters over a cup of tea...we had some celebrating to do....

 Our wall of gratitude's growing.....it is not fancy to look at but if you get closer enough the writings speak volumes.....

Maybe like us you need some of this infuse into your inner beings.....

 Joining in with Meghan

Thursday Thankful List

* A dinner for two...received as a gift...

* Ready and Willing babysitters

* The excitement of spending birthday money.

* Cooked eggs for breakfast.

* Celebrating an engagement.

* Having a teen who is very capable of babysitting a younger brother.

* Rain and a thunderstorm after 106 days.

* Sunday afternoon naps.

* Free WIFI while waiting for a party to finish.

* Monday's without a car.

* Kick to kick in the street with the neighbours

* A clean Bathroom.

* A shrinking ironing pile.

* A basketful of clean washing.

* An advert for a part time job in the store highest on the teen's wish list.

* Living the perfect distance from shops, post office, schools,library and public pools.

* Tall young men to collect arrows off the roof.

* Family gratitude lists covering the wall

* Kids playing cricket in our front yard

* The end of the week is nearly here

* New chocolate cake recipes to try

* The hooray that went up from little people when they saw the craft of the week.

* A new road open to make the daily trip much quicker

#427 Blogging friends connections

My other thankful lists are here

Funky

There is plenty of funkiness going on around here.....

We are struggling under the pressure of the last two and a bit weeks before school holidays...

The rain has finally arrived after 106 days of drought.....but with it is heaviness....storm clouds that have bought humidity.....

Every one of us is tired....it's harder to get moving in the mornings...they are so much darker all of a sudden....

Work pressures are mounting and the battle to stay on track and see the end of projects is hard..... trying to find solutions when they just don't seem to be there....

The burdens we want to share of those around us, struggling with heaviness....

The sadness of tragedies filling our airwaves ...

Thoughts of time slipping through our fingers and so much more wanting to be achieved...

Those wandering thoughts of what it would be like to be a bit nomadic....not so reliable or dependable....all of which goes against all we are...but thoughts none the less....

Trying to see the gratitude and abundance in our palms.....

Wondering why some move on out of our lives ...trying not to feel let down or deserted.....

Maybe a break from routine is what we all need.....maybe the transition of the seasons has been a strange one....  maybe it is the transitions in our lives from one season to another...not really knowing what the next holds.....

or is it all because we just need some earlier nights and slower mornings...

I am just so thankful that in all that we are feeling and grappling with ...we have each other....the greatest gift....kin who though can irritate us the most are what make us keep going  and search for the lightness ahead.

Intresting on Pintrest

 I am sure you all "do" pintrest well......so here are a few fun things that have shown up on my pintrest this week......

{click on the image to head to the source}   go and check them out for yourself....

Found anything interesting on Pintrest you want to share??

Weekend Snippets

We made a start at uncovering/rediscovering our secret garden AKA "Taylor's Fairy Garden"

our back yard

First stop was to remove the old beehive......and all that glorious honey that was destroyed with the removal of the bees.....{insert very sad faces}

There was much lamenting  being done by the hubby...

Once we were sure most of the bees were gone it was onto the real gardening....

It is amazing what a difference clearing away the jungle can make you feel...rediscovering the pathways, roses and......realising how much more there is still too do.

I will get around to telling you sometime about how we came to have a back yard like we do.

Joining in with Em at The Beetle Shack

12/52

Him: Helping dad with an outside project

Her: With her dad (his favourite pic in her book from last year was of the two of them so here is one for this year)

My 52 weeks project

Joining in with Jodi's Project

Things I am Loving

 This week....

Lists made by the little guy.....My favourite things to do.....I especially love number 6..... 

It was written after a little driveway cricket was played between him and I....
 

We woke on Friday morning with the promise of some rain...to break our 106 or so day drought....the skies were dark , the clouds were spectacular.....

Then this was the sky by lunchtime.....and not a drop of rain seen this side of the city!!!
 

I sat in the quiet of the house and finished a gift I have been working on.....then straight to the post office it went.....hopefully the receiver will have a little smile when it arrives....

I love Fridays and the quiet of the house.....a day to try and do some pottering.....I indulged in some scrap booking...and of course lots of reminiscing...yay 2009 is documented!

There is always something in the garden that I seem to overlook....and then suddenly after what seems like such a short period of time.....there it is.....

Loving our new citrus/veggie patch that is almost complete and ready for winter veggies...it may be Kale this year.

....and this is so worth a watch......if you watch it over in YouTube you cab get the transcript ...even without that I think you can get the gist.......

  

Joining in with Meghan

 

Thursday Thankful List

* The braveness to hand make birthday gifts for friends

* A boy in his onsie off to have fun with friends

* A car full of 9 year old boys, singing at the top of their voices to the radio

* The fun you can have jumping for an hour.

* The easiest ice cream birthday cake ever

* Lunch with good friends

* The excitement of receiving birthday gifts

* Cooler mornings

* A tiny hand picked wild flower given to me by a shy 2 year old

* Baby cuddles

* BBQ t-bone steaks

* New unique items to add to my wardrobe that were found on the specials rack

* Lists made by the little guy of his favourite things

* Sweet compliments

* Dark mornings that make everyone sleep in longer

* Driveway cricket in the late afternoon

* Finishing The Book Thief

* A text from the husband saying all was OK.

* Family gratitude lists

* Delicious spaghetti bolognaise not made by me

* A garden full of noisy frogs

#404 Work mates that can offer lifts

My other lists are here

Our Thankful List Making

Each Thursday I have been posting my thankful lists.......these are lists that I write as the week goes along.....I keep track of them in a notebook that I keep handy.

When Thursday comes along I then write a post listing and numbering all the things I am thankful for here on my blog.

I was inspired after reading 1000 Gifts by Ann Voscamp. If you haven't read it, treat yourself. She encourages us to keep track of thankful and gratitude moments making our way to 1000.

So after reading this post on Ann's Blog this week.....I was challenged to expand the thankful recording to my family.....so a couple of nights ago I popped some sticky notes and pens in the middle of the dinner table.

I encouraged them to think while eating of one thing they were grateful for that day....at the end of the meal they wrote it on a sticky note and we stuck it up on our wall...(nothing fancy)

We did it the next night and I am hoping it will be something we can continue to do.......

I will still continue to keep my own list....#382 and still counting.

Maybe this is something you already do with your family? or maybe you too will take the challenge and reap the many benefits of gratitude counting.

Do share if you do.

Back later tonight for my Thankful Thursday List for the week.

Weekend Snippets

 This weekend........

....was all about our newly turned 9 year old.....

an outing to "Bounce" an indoor trampoline centre with a couple of friends, three cousins...oh and a big sister.....

home for the quickest easiest cake I have ever made.......tub of ice cream up turned and lollies squished in it....the best for our ice cream loving little guy.

and then lots of pressies......I was so excited with his reaction to one of the gifts...his own photo book with his 2013 -52 weeks project photos .......

"Oh yeah I have my own book"     does my heart well to know that he loved it.

Happy Birthday Guy......

Joining in with The Beetle Shack