RIP Ben

A few days ago a sweet little kitty was hit by a car. He died instantly. Even though his life was short, it was filled with love and adventure. Ben was adored by his family and friends and will be greatly missed.

Top cat

Our very cute little kitty cat turned one this week. He has grown a bit, well quite a lot actually, but he remains as cute and playful as ever (although we would prefer it if he were a bit more affectionate).

Ben got special cat food treats for his birthday and we celebrated with cat cup cakes.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

Happy Birthday Dezzy Delightful

So sweet on her 4th birthday; and still cute today.

Happy birthday Eade. 

Love

m, xox

Happy Easter

When I saw these bunny jars I couldn't resist making my own.

I used some old apple sauce jars (yes, sometimes I take shortcuts) and bought three different Scheich bunnies. Super glued them on. Gave them a few, and by a few I mean several, coats of white spray paint. Different colors would have been nice but I didn't want the project to cost too much. Let dry. Fill with eggs.

Happy Easter everyone!

Pyramid advent calendar

When I saw this pyramid advent calendar over at Mini Eco I just couldn't resist doing it. I won't be putting the Christmas tree up this year as we are heading to Oz so I thought this was a nice way to get into the festive spirit.

The end result may look more like an arrow than a Christmas tree which is what I was aiming for. Maybe it would have looked better if I'd just made it random. Nevermind, I'll try to remember for next year.

I love...

Terrariums. Not really ones with lizards and frogs inside. More the funky dinosaur variety.

I know I could make one but if I decided to do that it would just get added to a long list things. It would be really nice if someone would do it for me :D

Scooting

Something to put a smile on your face while you're waiting for the Sri Lanka pics.

Our second car :)

Jumping for joy

Pretty Bunting

I've got a bit of  a thing for bunting at the moment. I think it's a great way to decorate and I've found some great website where you can download cute designs for free. Of course the paper variety isn't going to last as long as fabric, but when it's cheap, easy and pretty – who cares!

I got our Christmas bunting from the folks at Team Kitten.

This Happy Birthday bunting banner was part of a complete birthday set from Draw Pilgrim.

This alphabet bunting from Ruffled can be used to spell out anything. I used it for a simple Happy Birthday!

There's also this "compliment" bunting from How About Orange – one of my favourite websites!

A Google search coughed up heaps of results too!

A little notice board

Ruby got this idea from reading one of my Frankie magazines. It was a fun, easy project for her. And I got to put the first note on it!

Happy Birthday Snowy!

A few days ago Ava announced that Snowy's birthday was coming up. She was busy making party invitations for us all. And so, today was the big day – except the party is actually tomorrow because Steve was away for most of the day. Still, pancakes for breakfast is a birthday ritual in our house, so pancakes it was.



Happy birthday big fella!

Another party...

This time it was Ava's turn. We threw her a little party after school last Friday. I had a cunning plan to keep the girls busy and under control with modelling clay. The idea was to make little creatures which I would then bake in the oven. The end result was cute magnets to take home.




It all went really well, and the kids were right into the clay project but they still wanted party games [damn it]. Luckily I had a few ideas up my sleeve, such as Wrap the Mummy.


I'm not sure what Ava was so excited about in this pic. The birthday cake was an easy peasy ice-cream cake. It didn't look like much but was a hit with the kids [phew!].


I think the only way to guage the success of a party is the pester factor. If the kids don't pester you too much; it's a success. I think I passed.

pARrtY giRL

Ruby had to wait 'til school went back before she had a birthday party. Little did I know that a lot of people do that, consequently there were a few girls who couldn't make it. Not to worry, she had a great time with a lovely group of girls.

Unwrapping some awesome presents:


The cake (darn that colour bleed!):


The construction site:


Some examples of the masterpieces:

Dog days are over

Sad but true. I can say with some confidence, these holidays will forever be known in our house as the Dog Holidays. We spent three and half weeks in Australia visiting family and friends and there was a resident dog at every house. In no specific order, they were:

Charlie (again–after a bath)


Otto


Max


Jack (not your best side Jack–sorry)


and Eddie


Sorry Chester, we didn't get any photos of you :(

The girls have become real dog lovers. Geez, there was even an outing to the RSPCA and Ava took heaps of photos but I'll spare you this time!

O' Christmas tree, o' Christmas tree

No green branches here. There was no way I was going to drag out the tree and decorate when we're off to Oz tomorrow! But this little twig was my compromise.


And after a spot of shopping and wrapping, there are now even a few surprises under it!

A personal touch

Now, I'm not suggesting you print all your wrapping paper on your home printer 'cause that could prove to be rather expensive and leave you with empty ink cartridges. But this is a cute idea for one or two small pressies.



PS. I hope my kids don't see this because I happen to know Santa had the same idea!