Macca Family

The absence....

2012-02-07T10:57:00.003+13:00

Well you have all probably been wondering what on earth I have been doing. Or maybe not just enjoying your summer. Well this is the reason for my absence....

We are in the middle of building a house and between that, the kids, school holidays , sewing. I seem to have no spare time to post. But I need to make an effort to do this. It keeps me sane.
So we are just about finished. Painter starts this week. I can't wait to see some colour on those walls, we have a bit of a red theme running through the house. We are having a red feature wall in the Kitchen with a red splashback and red pendant lights - can't wait to show you how it looks. We are mostly keeping it pretty neutral with a few splashes of colour here and there.
Here is our RED, the boys are having a feature wall each - Charlie is having blue and Jack is having green ( very dinosaur like don't you think??) Charlie is having a construction themed room and Jack is having a dinosaur themed room. They are so looking forward to moving in and seeing their new rooms come together. I am also loving lighting plus's new limited edition light shades that match perfectly with our resene colour.
Our neutral colour is half napa. I promise I'll try to be a bit more active here over the next few weeks updating you with how it's all going.

Winners

2011-11-29T19:55:00.004+13:00

I have finally gotten around to drawing some winners for the Eczema cream. Sooooo who are our winners you are wondering....

Well they are
Aimee
Tanz
and
Jess
I will Email you all now - I really hope this makes some difference for you.

Eczema remedies - and a giveaway!!

2011-11-15T21:19:00.005+13:00

Now some of you that know me may have heard me talk about the amazing Eczema creams that I have been trialling with Jack. Well I can now tell you a bit more about them. For those of you that know Jack IRL - will know that his legs were totally covered in Eczema, so bad that he used to scratch till he bleed most nights. I had tried everything in the way of creams - most offered some relief for a short time and then stopped working. I tried double rinsing all our washes, i tried not having baths everyday, tried oils etc in the bath. but nothing worked... til now.
BEFORE

After a week of using the cream his legs were pretty much healed up. There was a bit of scarring that took a bit longer to deal with. BUT his skin felt smooth - not bumpy, red, scaly and dry. We now only use this when he gets a bit itchy.
AFTER:

Check out the website
I have 3 tubs of this cream to give out to 3 lucky people.
For 1 entry - follow my blog and leave a message saying you are following
for another entry leave me a message telling me why you would like to try this cream and check out www.sodeenaturals.com and tell me what other product you would like to try

They are currently doing a great shipping deal of $15 to NZ no matter how much you buy - so gather all your friends together and try them out.

Last day at Kindy

2011-11-11T09:46:00.004+13:00

Last weekend we celebrated the 5th birthday of the big sproglet. He had a few rough days leading up to it with nerves about going to school but once the birthday was here he was very excited. He woke up with a spring in his step for his last day at Kindy. We had a very special party at kindy with a playdoh cake that they make specially for their last day at Kindy and we made a rainbow cake to take to kindy to share with his friends.
I used this tutorial The teachers at kindy had put together a slide show of photos of his time at kindy which was lovely to see.Stay tuned for the pirate party post

Been a while

2011-10-21T14:18:00.002+13:00

I have been AWOL. What have i been doing you ask? Well there has been alot of visits to here.
My Mum had a brain haemorrhage 5 weeks ago. She was transferred to Auckland Hospital to have surgery and ended up having 5 surgeries over 4 weeks. My brother and Sister and I have been doing shifts travelling up to Auckland to be with her. She is now back in Dunedin she has had another surgery since and is now up in a rehabilitation ward to get her back to eating and walking and all those normal things. She will be there for at least 3 months.
It's going to be a long hard road for her and us and we would appreciate any thoughts or prayers.

On a crafting note, I have a new toy.

It is awesome and I LOVE IT!!! It was an early birthday pressie. A friend was travelling to America for work and he brought it back for me.
I have been doing lots of cool things on it. Will try and update with projects at some stage.
In the meantime here are some dresses i have been making for orders and markets that are coming up. The owl ones are a owl quilting cotton. The Aqua coloured ones are made from a gorgeous Linen with vintage doilies appliqued onto them.

Busy, busy busy.

2011-08-09T15:58:00.003+12:00

Is how I feel like I've been lately. Although I am coming to the end of a run of sewing that has needed to be done so feeling slightly less stressed about that. I recently finished 20 wet weather ponchos for Jack's Kindy.

I trialled this one with a placket and snaps but I am not sure that it is strong enough to stand up to the constant pulling from kids. So have only made the 1 at the moment.
Now i just have dress ups to go which will be fun and not quite so monotonous and mojo killing.
I am working on a new spring and summer range for my kids label - Two little Taniwha, which is fun. I am trialing a clothes party to release my new range on the 15th September. If this party goes well it might be the first of many.
Stay tuned for some sneak peeks.

Mackenzie frock stars

2011-08-02T11:59:00.007+12:00

I really enjoyed this years Frock stars. for those of you who don't know what it is. It is a competition where you take an ugly dress and give it new life by turning it into something amazing. I shared with you a couple of months ago about the UGLY dress I had chosen. I mainly chose it for the gorgeous orange Linen that it was made from.
So here is what i did. I turned this
into this

front

Back

I used the sew serendipity book and made the skirt from one of the patterns but alternated the panels between the Joel dewberry Aviary 2 fabric and the orange linen as i didn't have enough of the orange linen to do all of the skirt.
Here are some highlights from the show - Photos stolen from my friend Kirsty (well technically not stolen as they are of me- hehe)

Me strutting my stuff

my accessory fabric flower brooch

From left - Me, Sarah, and Kirsty.
Kirsty entered too. She made the amazing creation that Sarah was modelling for her. A floaty Tunic with a Obi style Belt and matching fabric knot necklace. Ladies hope you don't mind being famous on my blog.

It was a great event - shared with awesome friends.

Once upon a time swap

2011-07-26T22:12:00.007+12:00

On a forum I am on we recently did a Once upon a time swap. The guidelines were something for your child that had something to do with their favourite books. I got given 2 wee girls to do swaps for - one that was 15months so wasn't totally into books yet but loved Ladybugs - so I googled ladybug books and came up with Ladybug girl so i took my inspiration from this picture and I made a merino top and attached some satin ladybird wings and made a pair of undies and attached a tutu. SIMPLE... hmm well the tutu was an interesting experience. I used my friends tutorial and that made it very easy to do. I would have struggled without it i think.

The other wee girl is 4 and she liked books about princesses. I wanted to make something that was practical to wear out but also a bit princess looking. So I went with a drop waisted peasant dress, and made a princess hat to match.

Then it was time for my boys to receive their swaps.
I had put down the Jack liked "Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs" books. So Jack received a Bagfull of dinosaurs and a dinosaur costume, all beautifully made. He absolutely loved all of it. He wore the Dinosaur mittens for most of the day every now and again he would "Rawwrrrrr" at us pretending to be a dinosaur.
Thanks to Louise for his awesome swap.

Charlie received an awesome swap too. I had put down that he loved reading books with diggers, trains, planes, helicopters, buses etc in them. So my swapper Viv made the most gorgeous wee quilt for Charlie with transport vehicles on it. he loves it so much. Thanks Viv.

I was so impressed with the level of workmanship of this swap - it was awesome!!!
Thanks guys for a great swap

Latest creations

2011-06-30T21:10:00.005+12:00

I have been meaning to post about some creations that I have made lately. And I know that I STILL haven't posted pics from the fashion parade. Well today is the day. Although I still only have 1 picture so i can't show you the models in their second outfit - but you get to see the first one.
Jasper is wearing a merino hoodie with a helicopter print, it also has a green and black striped cotton knit for binding on the arms and around the hood and as the inside lining of the hood.
His twin Kitty is wearing a pink merino top with an apple print a double layered skirt and red merino leggings. Aimee is wearing a red merino hoodie with a rainbow cotton knit for binding on the arms and around the hood and also as a lining inside the hood.

Know I have also been doing some custom orders. Here are two tops for someone in size 8 one with a T rex and one with a ballerina (both very popular prints)

I have also been making some ponchos and dress ups for Kindy - I must remember to take pics next time I am there.
I do have a post saved about another wee project but it needs to wait till the recipients have received their items - don't want to spoil the surprise.

Flea Market Finds

2011-06-16T16:33:00.003+12:00

A wee while ago while a friend and I were on our way to a girls crafty weekend. We just happened to stop at this little shop which had always caught my eye as we drove past. It was a goldmine of gorgeous vintage/retro finds and we had a field day in the fabric section of this shop. I couldn't buy it all though so i chose carefully. I eventually chose a piece of linen and a piece of thick printed knit, well it's actually more like a sweatshirting with the terry back rather than the fleece. I also couldn't pass up some gorgeous trims and a couple of wooden car display shelves which I am going to do a wee project with very soon (which i actually didn't take a photo of either - you'll just have to wait for the before and after pics ;-) )

Goodies from Ireland

2011-06-14T21:13:00.003+12:00

Look what arrived in my mailbox this week. I won a giveaway on Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day from Cindy over at fluffy sheep quilting.

It is the most gorgeous bag and so well made. I have been taking it out and receiving lots of lovely comments about it.
And Cindy included a few wee treats for the boys too - which went down very well.

Guess what time it is...

2011-06-08T10:49:00.004+12:00

Frockstars time!!!! For those of you who don't know frockstars is an event run by some locals girls from Fairlie where you get an old frock and turn it into something beautiful. You can see my entry from last year here .
This year I am going to be far more organised and not do it the night before they are due - oops.
This is the dress I have chosen. My husband refers to it as Mrs Clause's nightie. It is a reddy orangy linen. It's actually lovely fabric and the whole reason why i chose the dress.

I have great plans for it. But sorry you'll just have to wait to see what i do with it. I will give you one clue though - this year it's going to be something that I will ACTUALLY wear, probably to school. AND even funnier - I am hoping to model it myself this year - ARRGGHHHH.
You can check out some of the other entries from last year here

New books

2011-05-31T14:57:00.002+12:00

With the book depository 10% off this month, i took the opportunity to purchase myself a new book. This one from Kay Whitt.
I am hoping it will arrive tomorrow as one of the kids books arrived today. Then I can get started making some clothes for myself.

Helicopter Party

2011-05-26T21:41:00.004+12:00

Well Charlie has turned 2, and apparently he can get up to more mischief now that he is 2. Well actually technically he wasn't quite 2 when he got up to the most mischief. The night before his birthday party he decided to play with the bike chain and get his finger jammed/crushed in the chain - well mainly because his brother was pedalling it backwards while it was leaned against the wall. I honestly thought he was going to lose his finger - of course Steve and Mum had gone to get Fish and chips hadn't they - so I frantically rang our neighbour who whipped down and demanded a wrench which is actually easy to find in our house thank goodness, and he managed to get the finger out. So a trip to the doctor and a bit of strapping and he's all ready for a second birthday party the next day. So this is actually where the real post begins. He is mad about Helicopters - or "choppers" as he calls them. It just so happened that one flew over head on the morning of his party and his little ears prick up and off he runs yelling "chopper, chopper, chopper " you get the picture. So a helicopter party was in order
I made a rather lame cake - just a square turned helipad with Steve's remote control helicopter on top. - I know lame eh....

Anyway I made some cute cupcakes and some chopper pops (need to do a tutorial on those - super cute eh) and of course all the other cute party food.
We hired a Quad bike - simply because hiring a helicopter proved to be a bit harder than a Quad.

KCWC day 4 and 5

2011-05-22T19:35:00.002+12:00

Got lost in transit... I got so busy and ran out of time to post.
But here are some pics for you - a Merino hoodie that I made Charlie. Isn't he just so darn cute.

I also made Mum a set for her kitchen for mothers day and couldn't blog about it till she had it - which happened while she was up for Charlie's birthday - something else I need to blog about - oops
so here it is - a double ended pot holder copied from the one I have here - but changed slightly to a round end rather than a hand shaped one - easier to do the bias binding on. I even quilted the pot holder. I also made her a matching tea towel. I used a layer of insul-bright as the batting on the pot holder.

KCWC day 3

2011-05-15T21:12:00.003+12:00

Sorry I am a wee bit behind thanks to the lovely blogger being out of action for a couple of days.
I spent some time this week making a wee Dinosaur top for Jack to give to one of his friends for his 5th birthday. It is a lovely soft blue merino and I printed a "rhino dinosaur" in the words of Jack on the front.
Jack's wee friend is mad on dinosaurs. He absolutely loved the top. :-) And it should keep him nice and warm on these frosty autumnal days.
Sorry about the shocking shadows.

The Soup Project

2011-05-14T08:43:00.002+12:00

thanks to the lovely Blogger having a meltdown - I am way behind on my normal KCWC posts so thought I may as well post this while I am at it. Then I will post the rest of my KCWC stuff.
I have been a part of the S26 Soup project lately. Soup is a website where you can be a part of various trials and samples. I was lucky enough to be picked to do the S26 trial and seeing as my darling little boy won't touch cows milk this was the perfect trial for us. It was quite interesting watching his response as he has mostly been on the same 2 formulas since birth mainly for fear of trying a new one and him not liking it. He took a suck and then looked at me like "what is this?" then took another taste and then guzzled the bottle.
It's definitely something that we would buy again and I love the little ready to go milk cartons for when you are going out. Although the little sachets are also great for taking out places. Charlie is nearly 2 but is quite attached to his bottle. Jack was the same but finally decided he'd had enough just after 2 so will be interesting to see if Charlie does the same.
They also sent us a wee cookbook which was awesome - with lots of recipes with S26 in them, great if you have picky eaters and need to get those nutritional bits into your kids diets.
Thanks Soup and S26!!

KCWC Day 2

2011-05-11T21:35:00.006+12:00

I didn't have much of a chance to get much sewing done yesterday -
but I thought I'd share with you the Heidi and Finn hoodie
that i made Jack a couple of weeks ago.
It's the first time I have made the Heidi and Finn Urban Hoodie pattern.
I LOVE the style but found that the sizing is really small and the arms are really
skinny. I had already been pre-warned about the sleeves so I cut them quite a
bit wider.  I made Jack the size 5 - he is 4 and it's quite short on him.
I will make another for Charlie and see how the size 3 is on him at just about 2.
I used some fire engine buttons made by a friend Nicci Buttons by benji.
They finish it off so beautifully - Nicci makes the most amazing buttons.
I have some Robot ones still to use and then have plans to get
some more especially some of her dinosaurs and i might need to
persuade her to make some helicopters for Charlie.   
I made it with a lovely soft Charcoal coloured terry backed knit and a 
red, black and grey striped lycra as the lining. I used a black ribbing on the sleeve
cuffs and the bottom cuff.  And of course buttons from buttons by benji.
It also has a gorgeous wee fire engine Applique on it - this is thanks to my lovely
friend Claire and her wonderful embroidery machine

Day 1

2011-05-10T09:32:00.005+12:00

Well day 1 of kids clothes week saw me spending a few hours finalising things for a Fashion parade that was held last night at the Musterers Hut. I have sewed about six outfits for this in the last week and the kids did an awesome job - it was a showcasing of different clothing designers from around the area. I had 3 kids and sewed 2 outfits each for them. They looked gorgeous. Now of course i took photos right - ummmm ooops NO. I forgot my camera. Typical I was in such a rush to get out the door I forgot to take it. However there were lots of people there taking pics and have asked a friend to forward some on to me. So as soon as I receive them I will update this post. The oldest wee girl (A) was wearing a Two Little Taniwha red merino hoodie with her own skinny jeans. The other wee girl (K) was wearing a Pink merino top with apple print and a double layer skirt and red merino leggings. The wee boy (J)was wearing a green merino hoodie with a helicopter print on it. Both merino hoodies were lined in the hood with a stripy Cotton Lycra and i also used this to bind the arms and the hood.
The second outfits were (A) a pillowcase dress with her own leggings and a pink merino top with a ballerina print (not that you could see the ballerina). (K) was wearing a retro round yoked dress made with a gorgeous Michael Miller cord and a lovely Aqua cord to match. She was wearing the same wee pink merino underneath and some Aqua and cream striped merino leggings. (J) was wearing a merino top with a Robot print on it. Now you are probably wondering why my boys weren't up there modelling - well Jack plain refused to do it and Charlie is just a bit little yet.
Stay tuned for pics.... (providing it's Ok with the kids parents ;-))

Kids clothes week

2011-05-08T19:50:00.005+12:00





I am going to try and take part this year. 
All I have to do is commit to sewing kids clothes for at least 1 hour a day.
Not so hard eh.....  

The only thing that will throw me off is if I get called in to work.
I'm looking forward to it.

Homemade kids clothes swap

2011-04-12T20:26:00.005+12:00

On TNN we did a Homemade kids clothes swap. I was given 2 wee girls to sew for. One being very little - only 4 months old and one being 18 months. I love sewing girls clothes for a change from the boys clothes I always seem to be sewing. So I knew I would have fun with this one.
My swaps have been sent off but not quite received and I know they will be received in the next day or so. So lets hope the recipients don't look here.
For the 4 month old girl i made a very cute and teeny tiny little dress from 2 different lots of corduroy. This is a similar pattern to the ones I shared about a couple of months ago. I changed a few bits and pieces with the pattern.

I used cute little flower snaps for the closures.
I ran one corduroy sideways and one up and down for something a bit different.

For the 18 month old girl I made a wee Merino Tunic from a pattern I made up. I kinda went along the same lines as the Charlie tunic but obviously without sleeves, but I liked the way the quilting cotton was a feature.
If I had girls I would have struggled to give these away - they are just soo lovely... Just as well we don't have girls eh....

HELP!!!!

2011-04-10T18:24:00.004+12:00

Jack and I have been reading this book called Nat Fantastic, which he loves.
Nat turns into a superhero at bedtime when his Mum leaves the room.
Great story by the way. And this is the HELP part of the post... Jack asked me yesterday - "Mum can you make me some of pyjamas just like that?" Hmmmm So where will i find silver fabric suitable for pj's???????? I have had my thinking cap on thinking of all the different ways to do this - Dye??? Won't give the same sheen as a nice silver fabric, If i can find silver fabric suitable for sleeping in then i could print stars on the fabric.... Possibly....
Then I also have to find something similar to the pants....... So hence my HELP moment - any ideas out there?????

I won something!!!

2011-04-10T14:41:00.003+12:00

From Wildflowers and Whimsy blog. It's a lovely necklace and 2 cute wee hairclips. I am thinking about giving them as a gift as I know the perfect person to pull them off.
They are a lovely turquoise colour - which just happens to be one of my favourite colours at the moment.

They arrived beautifully packaged up with pink tissue paper and a ribbon around it.

Wildflowers and Whimsy is an awesome blog - go and check it out.

Flea Market Finds

2011-03-25T15:43:00.002+13:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to a garage sale run by the school to raise money for the Christchurch earthquake fund. It was great we made over $3000 for the Red cross fund. Anyway I managed to pick up this awesome Dick and Jane book and these cool stencils. Jack has been having a ball reading the Dick and Jane book and writing his name with the stencil. He can actually read the Dick and Jane stories by himself which is so cool. He is so ready for school and he still has to wait for another six months. I was originally going to cut the book up to make cool vintage story book blocks - but how could I do that when Jack loves reading it so much, + the fact that it's almost a little wrong to cut up such a beautiful old book.

March - the month...

2011-03-02T11:53:00.002+13:00

March is going to be an awesome month - yesterday I won a weekend away at Bluewater resort in Tekapo - Yes the very one that Steve was construction manager on. So one weekend this month we will whisk our little family off to Tekapo for a weekend away, which will be lovely. I would like to think that this month is going to be a productive month for me - but I see myself probably working a bit more than my 2 days a week that I normally do with an extra 50 students that have enrolled at school from Christchurch.
My project list for this month consists of
Finishing 20 Ponchos for kindy and that is it. If I get time which I doubt I will then I will start some winter clothes for the boys and some extra stock to put on Felt or in the Musterers Hut.

1 week on..

2011-03-01T19:54:00.002+13:00

from the terrible earthquake that rocked Christchurch and people are still being pulled from the rubble unfortunately not alive like the first couple of days. This tragedy has rocked our world down here - we are 3 hours south and inland from Christchurch... but still own a house there and have the majority of our friends and family there. My Mother in law had just arrived in Twizel at the time of the quake to help look after the kids as I was teaching all week. Father in law rang to say there had been an earthquake but he was OK. However at that stage he couldn't get hold of Steve's sister or her husband to know if they were OK. I had felt the earthquake while sitting having lunch in the staffroom. And today exactly a week after the quake the whole school and staff and community stood outside the school near the marketplace and showed our respect for the Christchurch Quake victims with a 2 minute silence. The church bells rang, the firemen sounded their siren as a mark of respect that echoed through our wee township. We also had the families and alot of the parents that have fled Christchurch there too. It was a very somber and reflective moment. I sit here very grateful that all our friends and family are alive. Though some have lost houses, they are still with us - the most important thing. I also feel for those families who have lost everything or someone and know that with Christchurch being the community it is we will know at least one person that has perished in this awful disaster.

Kia Kaha Christchurch

Declutter and organise - month 1

2011-02-18T12:29:00.003+13:00

So you are probably wondering how I am going with my declutter and organise goals from this post.
Well we are just about at the end of the first month and I have been busy in Charlie's room. Although not quite busy enough to post pics just yet. However you need to see the before pics first.
So here goes

and I know what you are thinking - "it's not that bad" Well this is true - it's not - however the wardrobe is a problem with a birthday coming up i feel there will be another inundation of toys so i need to clear some space for some toys to go before his birthday arrives. Also half of the stuff that is in the wardrobe is stuff that he doesn't use anymore - mostly baby stuff. The capsule is going to my sister for her baby so that's one thing out of the way.
So next time you hear from me i should be back with after pictures

So clearly...

2011-01-30T14:01:00.006+13:00

I suck at schedules.... In my last post I had scheduled to do the Kitchen declutter and organise further down the track. But with school starting again tomorrow - my mind has been trying to find things to do that somehow drag my mind away from lesson planning and the reality that I DO in fact really have to go back to work tomorrow.
So anyway I started trying to sort out the pantry. Here are the before photos - sorry the first one is so bad - not sure what happened there

I am currently working on reorganising it. I purchased some sistema containers and have been busy putting things into containers and I also hope to convince my wonderful man that he could build me a vegetable box for the bottom of the pantry. I will update soon with photos and we will see how the convincing goes.
oh and while I am at it - i have been working on some dresses as presents for a couple of special little girls. The first one is for little Lily for her first birthday, and the other is for a friends wee girl Georgia who is turning seven. They are as always for me a hash of a few different patterns with several changes to them. - I can't seem to stick to just one pattern at a time. Hopefully i will have some modelled pics for you at some stage too.

Accountability

2011-01-23T13:21:00.003+13:00

Right I am writing this here so you guys will be able to keep me accountable. One of my goals this year is to declutter and organise big time in this house. So what I am planning is to give each room a month to get decluttered. So I thought why not start now. So I started with Charlie's bedroom yesterday. I cleared out 4 bags of baby clothes for my sister, listed a whole lotta stuff on Trade Me, and took a bag of stuff to the op shop. Charlie's wardrobe is looking so much better, actually so is our walk in wardrobe. So this is my schedule: Technically I wasn't planning on starting till February, but started Charlie's early - probably just as well cause his will take the most work as it has all the baby stuff to get rid of.

February: Charlie's room
March: Jack's room
April: Our room
May: The Kitchen
June: Lounge and dining room
July: the sewing room/sunroom
August: The bathroom and ensuite.

So technically by the end of 2011 this end should be well and truely decluttered and organised, which I am looking forward too.

Hmm a bit sad really

2011-01-19T19:12:00.002+13:00

After just doing a post I looked at my blog and the little followers badge on the side and realised it really is quite sad that I only have one follower - I am thinking that maybe I need to bribe people to follow my sad, lonely old blog. What do you think, a competition in order....?

Look what arrived

2011-01-19T18:54:00.004+13:00

in my mail box.....
These ones are for a skirt for me

These ones are for the peek a boo bags for Jack's hot wheels stuff and his marble run stuff.
This one is for some girls dresses
And these ones -well i just liked them and it's so hard to find nice boy prints I thought they'd be nice for pockets on some pants etc.

New Year, new organisation

2011-01-18T14:23:00.004+13:00

I have been undertaking a big reorganisation of the sewing room - I was a bit to eager to get into it and kind of forgot to take before photos but do you want to see what it looks like mid organisation.
Here you go

I purchased a whole load of new magazine boxes for organising my sewing mags and books etc. I need to collect some more jars for small things. I also need to make some fabric baskets for storing cards of ribbon and trims etc.
I will update you on progress when it is finished

I also plan on reorganising my pantry as it is so messy - oops. Need to buy myself some mew containers and relabel etc. But might wait till i shout myself a label maker so i can label them all nicely.

First fruits of 2011

2011-01-09T17:27:00.004+13:00

This afternoon Steve dug up the rest of the potato crop which was awesome a whole supermarket bag full. Last crop before on Christmas Eve was 2 shopping bags full and 14.8 kgs worth.
And On the sewing front I have sewn up a few wee bits for Jack lately. between his birthday in November and Christmas he has lots of new toys that need a storage spot in his room so I found this tutorial and made him one of these for his dinosaurs. I plan on making a few more yet.

He also requested a Dinosaur tee shirt so last night while he was sleeping I whipped up this one
What do you think?? He loves the rainbow dinosaur.

January's project list

2011-01-09T09:05:00.003+13:00

I seem to be on a roll at the moment with my sewing - might have something to do with the fact that it's school holidays so i therefore don't have any work. Although I DO need to get into some planning very soon...
However I seem to be zooming through my project list this month so i thought I'd post it to keep myself accountable.

-Finish at least 10 Ruby dresses for markets
-Finish 10 singlets for markets
-Finish 3 peek a boo bags for Jack's toys
-sew some covers for Jack's big Euro cushions
-Finish 20 Rain ponchos for Jack's Kindy
-sew a Lego mat for Jack (although may not be till next month depending on fabric availabilty)

Notice that the operative word is Finish (might indicate that I "may" have a whole load of UFO's (Unfinished Objects- for those not up with sewing terms).
I must say I'm not doing to badly so far either
have finished
4 Ruby dresses another 2 just waiting for binding
5 singlets just waiting to be printed or appliqued
1 Peek a boo bag
also a dinosaur T shirt for Jack ("might" have been something to do with a bit of bribery and corruption to get the boy to go to bed without calling out)
Stay tuned for some pics when the camera battery is charged

Some highlights of the Christmas holidays so far

2011-01-01T21:01:00.008+13:00

Friends, family and good food always make for an awesome Christmas time. We had a pretty relaxed Christmas Day. And by relaxed I mean really relaxed - well enough for me to fall asleep on the couch in the afternoon only to be shot in the eye by my darling son with his new water pistol. And his answer was "Daddy told me to". He's learning really quickly about shifting blame.
Christmas Day involved a very excited 4 year old running down the hallway checking the tree then running back to our room to very loudly exclaim that Santa had left lots of presents under the tree.
I asked him if perhaps he had seen the huge sack on the end of his bed as he jumped up out of it, and so off he ran again to find it..... the rest of the day consisted of opening pressies, church, eating, water fight, sleeping on the couch (well me anyway) and then eating some more.
It was a lovely sunny day amongst a week of not so flash weather that caused floods around the country.

We had Steve's parents here for Christmas day which was lovely. We had managed to have an early christmas with my Family in Dunedin due to a sad occasion which was the death of my grandfather. We traveled down to his funeral and had an early christmas with everyone the night before the funeral. It was lovely to have a Christmas with all my family together despite the circumstances. Here's some pics from the Dunedin Christmas....

The boys all dressed up ready to go to the funeral.

Well here's the rest of our holiday in photos
Puzzleworld

Kids fishing day out - Jack's first Salmon

Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew

2010-12-15T17:06:00.004+13:00

I have made a pact to try and revive my blog and post at least once a fortnight. so here goes my first post and it's all about the sew Mama sew giveaway day. Over at Renovating our Foursquare she is giving away some lovely fabric of your choice from the sew mama sew shop. I really want too win it.
Check it out http://woodlandfoursquare.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway-day.html

check out all the other giveaways over at sew mama sew.

What a slacker

2010-01-14T20:45:00.009+13:00

I have been. I haven't updated for ages. Life has been really hectic around here lately. So much has happened I almost don't know where to begin. Charlie is just about 8 months and is into everything. He got his first tooth on Christmas day.

I have officially started selling my kids clothes although at this stage it is still low key, I have some stock in The Musterers Hut here in Twizel and in Ecomoon Boutique in Nelson. My label is called Two little Taniwhas. I am currently working on more stock for Ecomoon as I have only managed to get a few samples sewn for the shop so far.
I am currently working with a designer who is designing some labels for me. Looking forward to getting those printed, and will be working on getting a website/blog up and running some time soon.
We had some Our friends Jason, Tracey, Cass and Thomas come visit the week before Christmas which was great. We spent time at the lake, the river feeding the salmon. We met them at Antenatal group when we had Jack. It was great, Jack and Cass play so well together and apparently Jack is planning on marrying Cass.

We also spent alot of time leading up to Christmas making pressies for everyone. We had decided that we would attempt to make the majority of pressies. So Steve made Jack, Reuban and Sam some handy Manny toolboxes. I made Here are the christmas Photos we took of the boys. I made Riley some Clothes, and Brayden a Lego mat. I made Mum and Marilyn a merino top each. I also made some crayon rolls - 1 for Daniel Robertson, 1 for cass and 1 for Thomas.

Here are our christmas photos of the boys

Christmas here was a very laid back affair. My mum joined us and then Steve's parents joined us for tea. We had a lovely lunch sitting out on the deck in the lovely sun.
The boys were very spoiled, but they had a great time. We spent some time down at the Lake in the afternoon to burnoff some of that Lunch.

Marilyn and Stewart arrived down for a visit over New years. Steve and Stewart did some firewooding and took Jack fishing. We went down to the lake and had a picnic and a play.

This week the Cropps visited and we spent time doing all the same stuff. It was just like old times sitting out on the Deck having a BBQ with the Cropps and the Thompsons, only there were 10 Extra children and we were eating way better than in the old days. There was 10 Extra children because we also had our nephew Ethan staying as well. (normally only 9 children)

So things have finally settled back to normal, Jack is back at Preschool, Steve is back at work, and I am frantically sewing, packing and de cluttering as we are moving again in another month to a long term rental as this one has been Sold.

Steam and crafts

2009-10-31T11:26:00.003+13:00

mmmm crafts. With crafts in the title - I had to go... plus it was a long weekend so was a good excuse to do something. So last Monday we all piled in the car and drove down to pleasant point to go on the steam train. "me go on train" Jack said the whole way. Which kinda wore a bit thin after about half an hour. The train was the old Fairlie Flyer and it has been so well looked after. It steamed into the station with a big puff of Steam that billowed up and sat just under the ceiling of the station. We got on and Jack was soooo excited. The carriages were lovely inside with beautiful big leather seats. There was a bit of a queue getting on so we missed out on getting one of the private carriages so we sat in a public one - but managed to get our own wee private one on the way back.
Jack was very impressed when the train let off a big puff and a toot toot.
We got to the other end and looked around the crafts stalls and bought some devine chocolate brownie Fudge. mmmm Fudge. Jack played with the Alpacas and went on the jigger and the wee play train and we looked through another train. we also had a wee look at the railcar which we were going to try and go for a ride on - but always seemed to be full.
So Jack spent the rest of the day shouting "All aboard, toot toot".

Waitaki power station 75th Anniversary

2009-10-29T13:10:00.004+13:00

Last weekend was Labour Weekend so we packed up the car and a picnic and headed to Kurow to go through the Waitaki power station. They had a free open day because it was their 75th anniversary. It was a really cool experience. It 's hard to believe the stuff that the construction workers that built it went through. Although as Steve points out it was during the great depression and they were probably the lucky ones, because at least they had jobs. Some of the conditions that they worked in were horrendous. You wouldn't even dream of building a dam with a pick and shovel these days.
Here are some pics from our day ( it was a lovely day although a tad windy)

Well we made it...

2009-10-29T12:59:00.002+13:00

to Twizel. The day we arrived it was snowing ( not very heavily - but still snowing) which reminded me of how extreme the weather can be here. We have been so busy since we arrived - unpacking, sorting, exploring, enrolling and more. Jack has just started preschool on Tuesday. We couldn't get him into Kindy as there is a rather large waiting list. So hopefully he will start Kindy next year, but in the mean time he is doing 3 afternoons in preschool ( afternoons was all that was available) He seems to really be enjoying it. It's always a mission trying to get him to leave. We moved into a house which was on the market and has now been sold. Although the new people sound like they might be keen to keep us on as tenants, but we have also put an offer on a house - so a bit unsure as to what is happening with the living arrangements at the moment but hopefully things will be sorted soon and we can start to settle down. I have started a sewing class at the school to meet some people and have just started sewing some stuff to sell at the local christmas market they have here. Looking forward to the summer and lazing around at the lake.

Family photos

2009-09-17T17:22:00.003+12:00

We had some photos done by Natasha C photography and they are great photos -only problem is now we have to choose which ones to get. would highly recommend her for all you canterbury people.
Check them out here
http://www.natashacphotography.com/index2.php

Go to the client login - password is melissa. There are 22 pics. Use the wee arrows in the circles at the side of the photos to go down.
make sure you comment and tell us which ones you like - might help us make a decision. ;-)

Summer is a coming

2009-09-14T14:52:00.010+12:00

Well I have been busy sewing and thinking about summer clothes for the boys. Especially over the last few days as it has been about 24 degrees. Also we have a stack load of birthdays in September and October, so have been making pressies for everyone.
Here is an outfit for Charlie for Summer
I am loving my coverstitch machine at the moment it - just makes everything look so professional.

An outfit for one of Jack's wee friends 3rd birthday.

Nappies for Charlie - these are made from Minky and PUL film. Minky is the softest most divine fabric I have ever seen and felt. I used the PUL film one the inside to make them waterproof. Alot of people had been having trouble sewing the PUL film as it is just a thin layer of Polyurethane laminate. But I glued it to the Minky with a adhesive spray and overlocked together and had no issues what so ever sewing it.

Some normal nappies and some bibs for a friends baby who was born 5 weeks early.
Oh and an All black nappy for a nappy swap that o was a part of. And I got a large Minky desert camo nappy back.

All of the kids from our antenatal group are turning 3 so we have had heaps of birthday's - here is a barbie outfit for one of their pressies And a skirt for Barbie - I used a barbie from when i was a kid to get the sizing right.

I also made these biscuit mixes and matching teatowels for Jack's preschool teachers when he left his preschool in Rangiora. I got the idea from this website - Bakerella

And some shorts for my nephew Riley's 1 st birthday.
And just cause I can and because they are so cute - a photo of the 4 boys together (our 2 and my brother Gary and Kerri's 2)

On the Move again

2009-09-06T20:55:00.002+12:00

A lady at Church today called us transients - well I guess she may be partly right. We are on the move again. Not that we planned it this way, but after Steve was made redundant in February all our plans went out the window and we moved into survival mode. And anyway God has plans that we don't know about obviously. Anyway Steve got a job as a Building Inspector for the Mackenzie District Council based in Twizel. It seems we can't stay away from the area. It is a fantastic career move for him. And a fantastic move for us as a family - we really enjoyed some fantastic family time while we lived in Lake Tekapo and plan to enjoy the area again. It's a great area and there are so many things to do - we already have plans to apend alot of time at the lake over summer and enjoy some walks, hunting and probably even fishing even though neither Steve or I really enjoy fishing - Jack came home form Preschool after they had been playing a magnetic game of fishing and wanted to go "real fishing", so we will give it a go - although to be honest I don't think Jack has the patience for fishing.
Now to sort out all the finer details like renting our house (which is pretty much done) sorting moving companies and finding a house to rent. All this with a 2 year old and a 3 month old. The thought of moving makes me feel exhausted just thinking about it. but I am looking forward to the other end when we can sit back and enjoy the lifestyle.

Been sewing again.

2009-08-13T10:39:00.004+12:00

Well it's been a while since I updated here with any crafty updates probably because we have been a tad busy with Charlie and Jack. Anyway i have actually been sewing. I sewed a sling for my Midwife for her scales. She was fantastic so i thought i would try and make her a wee gift. Jack and I also baked some yummy Strawberry and choc chip muffins for her.

I have also been busy sewing a birthday pressie for Leanne and Andrew's wee girl Emily as she turned 5 in July. So I found this awesome bag in a magazine and decided to make it for her. She loved it and took it to school to show everyone.

Jack was in desperate need of some good pants - We seem to have heaps of trashed preschool pants and only a couple of pairs of good pants for wearing out. So I whipped him up a pair of cords with little pockets down the front - apparently the perfect size for Matchbox cars.

Right place at the right time

2009-08-07T10:41:00.003+12:00

I had placed an auction for a photoshoot on my TM watchlist last week and had completely forgotten about it until this morning when I checked our watchlist looking at a slide for the fort Steve is building and noticed this auction was shutting in about 20 mins so kept an eye on it and won a photoshoot for $6.50. YAY can't wait - it will be sooo nice to have some nice pics of the boys. Check it out
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=233916228

Another Builder

2009-07-29T08:14:00.003+12:00

Jack is really into his blocks at the moment. Maybe we will have another builder in the family. He was building the other night and this was what he came up with. Sorry about the terrible pics.

A crane

A gun

2 Months Today

2009-07-22T09:34:00.004+12:00

Since Charlie was born. Can't believe how quickly time flies. I thought I should update with some pics so everyone can see how he is growing and changing which happens so fast at this stage.
He is a good wee boy who sleeps and feeds well. We are in a pretty good routine at the moment. he sleeps pretty much through the night from 9pm to 5:30 am - just need to drop the 5:30am feed :-)
Jack is a great big brother and he loves Charlie and playing with him.
He is weighing just on 5kg although should be about 5.4kg so we will be checking in with Plunket for a weigh in on the 30th July as he had dropped from the 50th percentile to the 15th at his last visit. Hopefully he is back up where he should be, otherwise we will be starting to supplement with formula - providing I can get him to take a bottle. He has taken the bottle once - but I think it was a fluke as he just rejects it normally - even though most of the time it's expressed milk.

Thrifty Thursday

2009-07-12T18:41:00.003+12:00

I know it's not Thursday. But last Thursday I made a trip to the op shop looking for clothes for Charlie as we were short of long sleeve tops. Anyway I didn't find any long sleeve tops - but I did find this Freedom furniture curtain for $5. Unfortunately there was only one. We have a construction theme in Jack's room so I figured I could use it in there. Now I have to make decisions about what to do with it. I was thinking that I could re cover his toy box with the embroidered bit, or I could make a sheet to go with his new quilt that is still in progress at the moment, so what do I do - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh and here is a pic of the quilt - I am making progress slowly. I am up to quilting which is taking a while as I am doing free motion quilting around all the vehicles.

We have been spoiled

2009-06-26T14:10:00.005+12:00

I have some amazing friends and I know that we have been very spoiled since Charlie has been born. Our friends have sent gifts, cooked us meals, taken Jack off our hands for a few hours and probably many other things I can't think of right now. Yesterday we received an awesome pressie from our friends Summer and Matt and their wee girl Grace. Summer knitted these awesome wee overalls as she knows that I love Classic Pooh (and Charlies room has a classic pooh theme). They also sent some cute T shirts for Charlie and Jack.

On a forum that I chat on we are doing a Mid winter Secret Santa and our presents arrived by courier today and they are awesome. Jack was soooo excited to get pressies. Jack got a Matchbox car, Playdoh, a Love to sing CD, and a digger Puzzle. Charlie got a puppet and a teething key set. And I got lots of yummy goodies - lactation cookies, chocolate, fudge, and trade aid Hot choc - yummm. Now i just need to get the ones I am doing in the mail. ooops running a bit late.

WOW - Where did a month go???

2009-06-26T13:45:00.003+12:00

In a blur of feeding and sleepness nights. No seriously I can't believe that Charlie is over a month old (5 weeks today in fact). He is growing quickly and changing with every day. He is very aware of things going on around him. He smiled for me the first time yesterday. He is a great sleeper at night ( and getting better during the day) he has slept 7 hours in one go, 2 nights in a row now (9:30- 5am) then he generally goes back to bed until just after 7am. Here's some updated pics of him

Introducing Charlie.....

2009-05-29T15:46:00.003+12:00

Well our new wee man finally arrived on 22nd May at 3:51pm. He weighed 7lb 13oz and was 55 cm long. He arrived into this world pretty quickly. My waters were broken at about 1pm and contractions started- I walked up and down the stairs till 2pm to get things happening a bit faster. Then things started to happen and contractions came about 2-3mins apart until he was born at 3:51pm. I was really proud of myself for doing the whole thing with no pain relief.
We named him Charlie David. Charlie was a name we really liked and David is my Grandfathers name.
Charlie and I spent 3 nights in Rangiora Hospital, while Steve and Jack had some father/son bonding time. He is absolutely gorgeous and is already doing amazingly well waking only once in the night for a feed. Jack absolutely loves his little brother and keeps saying "It's OK Charlie" and gives him kisses.

Just born

getting ready to leave CWH

Jack meeting his little brother
The Boys

Well in truly Overdue

2009-05-21T21:01:00.002+12:00

Well this will probably be my last post as a mother of 1. Tomorrow is D-day. I honestly didn't think that I would make it this far this time. But it looks as though my babies are quite happy to just stay warm inside of me. Jack was 10 days overdue and this one (depending on which scan dates we go by) is anywhere between 5- 14 days overdue. So tomorrow we head to the hospital to be induced. I am hoping and praying for a good nights sleep and lots of energy tomorrow. And of course everyone wants a nice quick, not to painful birth with no complications. Not too much to ask is it lol.
So next time Steve or I update this will be with pics or at least news of our brand new wee man. Stay tuned :-)

One Toilet Trained 2 year old and a whole lotta nappies

2009-04-24T15:01:00.010+12:00

Well on Sunday afternoon Jack decided it was time to use the potty - despite us trying every month since Christmas to get him on the potty. he had a couple of accidents on Sunday but by Monday he had it sussed, no accidents, went to Preschool on Tuesday - no accidents. I was amazed that it happened so quickly. People had told me that they will do it quicker when they are ready, which is apparently quite true. This morning he woke with a dry nappy even. I wasn't planning on thinking about training him at night at least until we can wean him off that huge drink of milk he has right before bed :-) Anyway I had to go out on Thursday and was a little nervous taking him out as he was happy to use the potty but not so keen on the toilet, so I whipped up a pee pad for the car seat on Wednesday night in anticipation.

And Jack went to Gran's while I went and bought an all important Wiggles seat for the toilet. With that sussed he is now using the toilet as long as he gets to sit on Murray lol.

So I guess I get I get a couple of weeks off washing nappies until the baby arrives.
And on that note I have been busy sewing nappies for the baby. I am trying fitteds and covers and pockets this time

3 fitteds

2 Covers

2 OSFA Pockets

Only a week late

2009-04-20T07:05:00.003+12:00

On easter Sunday Jack had his first easter egg hunt. Last year he was a bit little to understand what was going on so this year we hid a few eggs around inside and outside and told him to find the eggs - well he has eagle eyes and while Steve was giving him clues for one he had found about 3 others . He now knows what chocolate is. lol. We hid 6 little ones and his big one with a cool breakfast set. He had a great time. Then we headed off to church where he got more eggs.

Finally some sewing finished

2009-04-11T18:37:00.006+12:00

I feel like I have a million unfinished projects at the moment and so many more to do. I have 4 weeks until my due date and so much to do. But finally I have some finished. I did a swap with a friend on TNN. She sent me a merino gogo bag for the baby. So now I have 2 gogo bags - can wash 1 and still have one to use. I made her some clothes for her little girl, who is a little bit younger than Jack. So here they are a V neck argyle vest and long sleeved merino top and black trackpants made using a double sided polypropylene knit - so cosy and warm. I put little velvet flower iron ons on the trackpants and top. It was my first time using the grommets for the cord elastic but it was sooo easy to use and makes them look sooo much more professional. The trackpants pattern was one I invented myself ( I kinda morphed a couple of patterns together so hopefully it fits well) . It was also the first time I used a Guide foot on my coverstitch machine (thanks to Claire letting me borrow hers). It gave a much more professional finish and know I know I NEED to buy one. ;-) So i had to put a close up of the stitching and the grommets and cord elastic.

Also made a little bolero and pair of cord pants. I also found this funky elastic at Kutwells on my last trip and thought it was the perfect finish for the pants. I finished the bolero with a cute wee crocheted flower over the closure. Obviously it needs a top underneath too - but I don't really have girls tops to use for photos (only little boys clothes in this house)

My next projects to finish are nappies for the baby, Winter Pj's for Jack, trackpants and hoodie for Jack, bassinet blankets and hopefully a finished quilt some time soon.

Jack goes Quack

2009-04-05T19:29:00.005+12:00

Well the Wiggles are in town and of course Jack is a huge Wiggles fan. So we headed to the Wiggles concert this morning for the first Chch show at 10 am. Well Jack had a great time.
We arrived a tad early which was good as we got a chance to get Jack a big red car and a Captain feathersword Hat to go with his Feather sword he had bought from home.

He loved seeing all the characters - but I think Captain feathersword was his favourite.
He enjoyed watching and dancing but his favourite song was the Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack Cock a doodle doo song. The whole way home in the car we heard "Quack, Quack mummy". "Daddy - Quack, Quack"

Patchwork and other works in progress.

2009-04-03T08:25:00.006+13:00

Well I finally took my camera to patchwork class and took a photo of Jack's Quilt in progress. Still have to trim up edges, sew blocks together and put a border on, then the batting and quilting begins - which I am a little nervous about. I was hoping to have it finished before the baby arrives but might be pushing it now. We will see how I go.
I also have been doing sewing for the baby - I made him a merino wrap and hat. And have finally made a start on his nappies, which I started to sew on Wednesday and then realised that I didn't have enough Microfleece so made a trip to Kutwells yesterday with a friend from TNN which was fun.
I also have a bassinet blanket to make. And little baby gifts as 2 friends had their babies this week one on the 30th and one on the 31st.
I have also been working on some clothes for a swap with a friend from TNN but I'm not revealing those until she has received them - don't want to spoil the surprise :-)

A pic for Mum

2009-03-31T12:53:00.003+13:00

Mum knitted Jack a jersey and sent it up the other day. And it finally got cool enough to try it on for size. And yes Mum it fits perfectly. So here's a pic for ya. He is just about to wear it out to preschool.

Vintage Country Fair

2009-03-29T07:57:00.002+13:00

Yesterday we headed to the Vintage Country Fair at McLeans Island. It was really cool - felt kinda like being in a time warp - everything was really old - even had old fashioned candy floss. We went with some friends and the kids had a ball. The kids rode some penny farthing bikes, and went on the old train. They also rode the little model railway ones - which I think they enjoyed more than the big train. Jack went on a carousel - which Steve and I both thought he was going to fall off- but no he held on for dear life (was having a ball as well - grinning at us every time he went round). There were heaps of old cars, motorbikes, machinery - It was boys heaven. We have a busy week ahead of us with the wiggles Concert next weekend so expect photos next weekend. I am hoping to post some pics of some sewing I have been doing at some point during the week as well. And of course only six weeks till this baby is due to be here - not that I expect it to come on time :-)

Patchwork and an update!!

2009-03-14T08:54:00.003+13:00

Well I have started patchwork classes in the hope that I can make a quilt for Jack now that he is in a big bed. And then hopefully I can post some pics of his cool decorated room. The quilt is coming together nicely and hopefully on Friday after class Thursday night I will be able to share some pics of some of it. I should have a couple of blocks together by then. I am slightly nervous as this is my first quilting experience and I am worried that I will hate it when it is finished.
It has been ages since I updated as I have been doing heaps of relief teaching before this baby makes an appearance. Hard to believe that I only have 8 weeks to go. I have so much to organise and make. Jack starts preschool next Tuesday. Which is exciting. He will be doing 2 afternoons, so hopefully that will be my sewing time, and it just happens to coincide with him dropping his afternoon sleeps. He has had 1 afternoon sleep this week and a couple of little naps in the car, but we tried for an hour and half to get him to have a sleep the other day and he was still quite happily reading and talking to himself after that time so I decided it was probably time to get up :-)

YARN SWAP V0.3

2009-02-20T09:22:00.005+13:00

Well mine arrived on my doorstep yesterday. It is Gorgeous. I reallllly love the wool.
The theme was "Easy as" So the wool was dyed in my favourite colours for little boys - blue and brown (there might possibly be some black in there too). There was a book of family friendly recipes - always useful especially when Steve needs to cook when the new Baby arrives ;-) There were some little magnets with little sayings on them and some gorgeous girly stitch markers - as mothers of boys need some girly stuff - very cool. The pattern was for the Pure and simple baby cardy http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/babycardi.html which I think I might get Mum to knit up as I think I am too slow to get it finished before this baby arrives. There was also a pattern for some booties. There was also a little pressie in there for Jack and the new baby which was a book and a Gwenda Turner Frieze. We were sooooo spoiled.

I also got my Swap sent away. The theme I did was Winnie the pooh and the Blustery Day. I printed out a picture and took the colours from the sky of the pic. I dyed the wool in shades of pink, blue and greyish purple (actually used black dye but tried to make it quite weak to make it greyish). I made a wee book bag from Pooh fabric and found the Winnie the pooh book (had to buy a second hand copy as it is really hard to source - Whitcoulls could have ordered it from the States but was going to take 3 weeks to get here). The pattern I sent was for a Stormy rose girls vest. I also sent a Winnie the pooh colouring book for the recipients kids. The picture of the wool is not flash - the colours are better in the pic with the whole parcel.

More pics from Oz

2009-02-08T21:25:00.002+13:00

Our Ozzie Adventure

2009-02-06T21:53:00.004+13:00

Well last Saturday we boarded a plane and flew over the ditch for a late summer holiday. It was rather warm leaving Chch and I was hoping it wasn't going to get to much warmer, as pregnancy and heat don't tend to mix well. It was a nice 29 degrees which was bearable compared to the 40 degree temperatures we had been getting in Chch. We spent days shopping, swimming, visiting Dreamworld, Seaworld and the beach. Jack was fantastic and loved every minute of it, although we did learn that he is fearless and will give anything a go. He is a complete water baby and would spend all day in the pool given half a chance. He absolutely loved Wiggles world at Dreamworld and had a ball on the big red car ride and Dorothy's teacups. He also loved seeing the kangaroos or "woos" as he calls them. He rode the rapids ride and loved it. At Seaworld he loved the sharks, the dolphin show and the water park (of course). We went to a 4D show which was a tad scary for him, but he seemed not to bad once we took the 3d glasses off him. Although he certainly didn't scream like the 6-10 year olds around us.
We stayed at the Paradise resort which had a fantastic Kids club - which Jack loved - he had a couple of sessions while Steve and I did some shopping. It was all going to plan until we got to Coolangatta to check in to come home and our flight had been cancelled due to Birdstrike - seriously BIRDSTRIKE. The plane coming over had hit a bird leaving chch and had to turn back. So we had 2 options -1- bus 1.5 hours to Brisbane, stay night and catch direct flight at 8:10 am next morning and arrive home at 2:40pm 2- go to Coolangatta - 5 mins away and stay night and catch flight to Auckland at 8:10am, wait a couple of hours then fly to chch. and arrive home at 5pm. So we chose the direct flight, toddlers and airports don't really mix well. Apart from our flight dramas we had a fantastic time.

It's coming to an end...

2009-01-23T22:07:00.004+13:00

The building at Bluewater resort that is. This is what Steve has been working on for the past 18 months. This was his first project as a Construction Manager, and it certainly has been an experience. We shifted our whole life for this project and it was a great experience. We really enjoyed the 18 months we spent in Tekapo.
So here it is - obviously the landscaping is not quite finished so it looks a tad sparse at the moment.

101 in 1001 days

2009-01-23T09:20:00.002+13:00

Well with the start of a new year I feel like I have a million things that I want to achieve in the next few years so I found this online and thought this is a good way to order my thoughts and make me accountable to meet those goals that I have. Hopefully by achieving these it will help me to become a better wife and mother.

The Mission:

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).
Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

So this is the start of my list - I still have a few to make up.

Body/ Health and fitness

1. Lose 10 kgs
2. reach Goal weight of 61 kgs
3. Maintain Goal weight for at least 6 months
4. Join a sports team or club
5. get a mole map done
6. get my hair cut/done every 4 months
7. get a smear test done once baby is born

Family
8. have a baby
9. toilet train J
10. teach J to swim'
11. read the bible with J
12. Have one date night with S every month
13. eat at the table 5 nights a week
14. 1 Tv free night a week
15. Do 1 family activity each weekend
16. make sure kids see my family every 2 months
17. Beat S at Settlers of Catan
18. get some family photos on the wall

Domestic/Organisation
19. maintain a successful vege garden
20. Organise photos
21. decorate Baby's room
22. make wills
23. sort out my sewing stuff
24. sort out my teaching stuff
25. keep the dining room table clear for 30 consecutive days
26. plant a blueberry bush
27. Update blog at least once a fortnight
28. sort filing once a month
29. Get rid of 101 items that I never use or don't need (0/101)
30. organise a successful organisation system for paperwork
31. get a shed for outdoor toys.

Travel
32. Visit the north Island
33. Go to Australia
34. Take J to Dreamworld
35. Take J to Seaworld
36. Visit P and A in Wellington

Money
37. Pay off credit cards
38. Pay off all debt apart from Mortgage
39. Save $1000
40. buy nothing unnecessary for 30 consecutive days

For me
41. Buy myself some sexy lingerie
42. Take a patchwork class
43. Take a dressmaking class
44. Make a greedy list
45. Get a manicure
46. No chocolate for 30 consecutive days
47. have a girls weekend once a year
48. Make a new friend
49. get eyebrows done at least 2 times a year

Crafts
50. Make myself 5 items of clothing (0/5)
51. learn to knit properly
52. knit at least 5 items (0/5)
53. make a quilt for J
54. make a quilt for baby
55. Make Steve 3 things (0/3)
56. give handmade gifts for 1 year
57. Update J's Scrapbook
58. Start scrapbook for baby
59. Start a memory box for baby
60. make 10 Christmas decorations (0/10)
61. Have a go at felting
62. make kids some dress ups
63. make an outfit to bring baby home in

Food
64. bake at least once a fortnight
65. host a dinner party
66. try a new recipe once a month
67. plan a shopping list/ meal plan for a month and don't buy extras
68. buy a slow cooker
69. get mum to teach me how to make plum duff

General Good
70. give blood
71. Give a RAOK every 6 months
72. Have 1 car free day a week
73. Make a gift for the wishing tree each year (0/3)
74. keep cloth bags in car and use at supermarket at least half the time

Professional
75. Write a teaching resource
76. Get my teaching resources published

So I have 25 more to write

Sneak Preview

2009-01-15T17:16:00.002+13:00

We have been redecorating Jack's bedroom. He has a construction theme. We got new lamps for our bedroom so I used our old one and recovered the shade for Jack's room. I also have made him a pinboard for his photos. I will post pics of his room in a couple of weeks when it is completely finished - just a couple more things to go - cushions to cover and a piece of artwork to do. Oh and I plan to make him a quilt but that will be a long term project so we may buy him a cool duvet cover in the meantime.

TNN pincushion swap

2009-01-15T17:11:00.002+13:00

I am taking part in the TNN pincushion swap - so I looked through what i had in my fabric stuff and found this wee Quilting panel which i thought would be perfect. So I sewed it up then had to go shopping to find a funky button for the middle. Hopefully the person receiving it likes it.

Harvest Time

2009-01-11T22:37:00.002+13:00

We dug up our first row of potatoes just before christmas so that we could have some for christmas day. They were really yummy. Then we dug up another row which filled our kitchen sink - we are still eating these ones but have another row to dig up soon. Our strawberries have been going nuts lately (which Jack has been loving), and we are looking forward to harvesting our Broccoli, Cauliflower, corn and tomatoes soon. Our Capsicums seem to be a bit slow this year and our carrots were a complete failure (not sure what happened there). We transferred a raspberry cane this year so hope to see fruit from that next year and we also bought a Feijoa tree, Tamarillo tree and Thornless Blackberry plant so will be looking forward to fruit from them too. Need to plant some more lettuces this week as the others are finished. We are really loving eating our own produce.

Summer Holidays

2009-01-11T22:11:00.002+13:00

We spent 5 nights in Hanmer Springs with our friends Jason, Tracey and their kids Cass and Thomas. We had a great time. We went to Waiariki nature park, went for walks, spent heaps of time at the Hanmer river swimming and keeping cool in the 38 degree temperatures, we drove up the Molesworth Road to Acheron house ( had to take a pic at the Jacks pass sign too) and just generally lazed around and enjoyed being on holiday with friends. Cass, Jack and Thomas lived outside in the paddling pool most of the time. We had a great time and can't wait to do it all again. Maybe we will attempt camping next year.

Christmas Day

2009-01-11T21:43:00.003+13:00

Well we had a great Christmas day. Jack woke up at 7:15 and jumped into bed with us to open his stocking. I am extremely grateful for a 7:15 wakeup call, when Trudy and Billy and the kids were opening presents at 5:30am. We went and opened presents under the tree. He got a running bike which he loves riding around on, some bob the builder tools, a paddling pool, a camp chair etc. He chose to take his Bob the builder angle grinder to church ( as each kid takes a new toy to show off). He was very cute as he stood at the front of church and showed everyone his angle grinder with his safety glasses on. This is the first year he has been old enough to really take any interest in christmas, and he has certainly got the hang of opening presents. We had lunch with Steve's family and opened more presents. Jack had a great time hanging out with his cousins.

Merry Christmas from the Macca's

2008-12-18T07:37:00.003+13:00

Well we did some christmas photos the other day. Jack wasn't particularly impressed by the reindeer ears or the hat.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy new year.

Singing in the rain.....

2008-12-17T22:08:00.003+13:00

well I don't know that he was singing - but he was certainly enjoying himself. We had a downpour here today - and before I knew it Jack was out the door and jumping in the puddles. Seeing as I was going to have to change his clothes anyway I decided to let him enjoy himself.

Christmas Craftiness

2008-12-17T21:58:00.005+13:00

Well I have been busy at the sewing machine since I managed to get it all unpacked and set up. I finished 5 peasant tops for a friend on TNN and a wee outfit for her niece for christmas. The shirred top can also be a dress to start with and then a top.
Before I left Tekapo I also whipped up some beanbags for the playgroup there which I had been meaning to do for ages. I only took a pic of a few of them. I had also finished my Wool swap and sent that off early October as i knew we were shifting and didn't want to get caught up in the craziness, but no thanks to NZ post as they managed to loose it in the post, so I am busy trying to dye some more wool etc before Christmas. I took a pic of the wool I dyed last time and I am going to try to recreate the same look and colours - wish me luck.

TNN Secret Santa

2008-12-17T21:43:00.004+13:00

Well i finally sent my presents for The Nappy Network secret santa which were only a couple of weeks late. Ooops Sorry to my secret santa person. Anyway I made a pair of shorts and a singlet set stencilled with a little helicopter (or chopper, chopper as Jack calls them) for a little boy who is a couple of months older than Jack. I made his mother a necklace in a little calico bag and bought some yummy Lindt chocolate. Mmmmmm.
And a few weeks ago we arrived home from Steve's work do to our secret Santa parcels on our doorstep, maybe someone local. Anyway I put them inside and went and unloaded the car and came back inside and a certain 2 year old had already ripped into mine. We got some lovely gifts - I got a knitted bag which has become my knitting bag, some yummy chocolate ( Lindt - my fav), a mag, some cool christmas soaps and a treasures the first years book. Jack got a pair of Joel eze training pants - which will be perfect for our upcoming toilet training adventures.

Big Update

2008-12-07T20:58:00.003+13:00

WOW it has been ages since I have updated this - You would think that I am getting really slack - but we basically haven't stopped since the last post. We had Jack's 2nd birthday party and all our friends and family converged on Tekapo for the day. It was an Awesome day - about 30 degrees and not a breath of wind. There were about 15 - 20 kids in total, with 2 of them being girls (poor things).
Then we went into moving mode. Jack had his last day at Preschool in Timaru and I had a couple of weeks work teaching an hour a day at Tekapo school and finished the last day the day we shifted. We shifted last weekend. Although at the moment Steve is still working in Tekapo and travelling home at weekends. Jack and I miss him lots. He will be home for good at Christmas.
We had an exciting 18 months in Tekapo and we met some great people. We were sad to leave as it's such a lovely place to live. But on the other hand glad to get home to our house and friends and family. And we have 18 months of babysitting owing. ;-)

This weekend we went to Steve's work Christmas do. It was great - we had lunch at Orana Park where we were based. Jack spent most of the time chasing around the ducks and another wee girl about the same age as him. We then headed to Tanks for everything and had a ride in some Tanks. Jack loved the Haaglund ride. He almost fell asleep when we were riding in the back of an armoured personnel carrier, so wasn't overly impressed when we stopped for a look and had to get back in it. It was a great day although we had a very tired little boy at the end of it.

My big 2 Year old

2008-11-06T07:35:00.003+13:00

Wow 2 already. Where did 2 years go? Yesterday was Jack's 2nd birthday. We all had a fantastic time. Steve and I had spent Tuesday evening setting up his Train table and train set. Which I think Steve quite enjoyed - as he changed the track set up about 3 times. Jack got up about 7:20am and we took him out to the lounge - he opened one pressie and played with that. We had put a sheet over his train table. So he poked the head under and came out exclaiming "Toot, Toot" with great excitement. So we pulled the sheet off and that's pretty much where he spent most of the morning while I baked a cake to take to Playgroup. At 10am we headed out to Playgroup. and he had a cake there. He didn't seem to overly impressed that he was the centre of attention.
We were planning on going out to the community bonfire and fireworks but decided it was too windy for fireworks so settled in for a early night. At 1:30am the Fire siren went off. Luckily Steve isn't a volunteer fireman (was thinking about it) so didn't have to get up.
Anyway here are some pics of my big boy.

Well it's been a while ...

2008-10-29T09:31:00.002+13:00

It has been far too long since I updated our blog. The reasons being - we are expecting our 2nd child on the 9th may 2009, and I have been very tired and not sleeping well - hence very little time and energy to update here. It has been a very busy few months with a new nephew being added to the family. Riley Allan Bridgman was born on the 23rd of September. He is very cute.
Our friends Andrew and Leanne also had their 3rd child - William Andrew - born on 15th September. And last of all, our friends Steve and Mid had their 2nd child - Caleb Samuel -born 12th September. So it has been a busy few months with lots of baby boys. We have done numerous trips to Dunedin, Chch, and Timaru. It will continue to be busy from now until Christmas. We have Jack's 2nd birthday in a week - wow I can't believe he is 2. 2 years have flown by. We also move back to Rangiora on the 28th November. Which is exciting - can't wait to be back in our own house. We spent last Saturday planting the vege garden there. I can't wait to have a vege garden again as it is just about impossible to grow veges here - with a short season and frosts and possibly snow right up to Christmas.
Anyway will try and post some photos next time.

And just because I can - A beautiful View

2008-09-09T21:08:00.002+12:00

These are some photos we took on the way home from Mt Cook - It is Lake Pukaki looking very reflective.

Mueller Glacier Lake Walk

2008-09-09T20:44:00.003+12:00

Well we decided a father's day adventure was in order so we hooked up with Team Thompson and walked up to the Mueller Glacier Lake at Mt Cook. The journey started somewhat slowly with Daniel noticing that the Thompson V Wagon had a flat tyre. Apparently Grant had been complaining about the wheel alignment all the way to church. hehehehe.
Anyway we made it to Mt Cook, had some lunch and started our walk. That part of the country is so beautiful. We stopped at the monument with all the plaques of people that had lost their lives in the National Park. A bit sad. Then we continued to the massive swing bridge which is quite high and a bit freaky ah Sarah. Had a great time, wouldn't wanted to have walked to much further as I think the kids (and the adults) were done, It's hard work carrying an extra 15 kgs on your back.

HOME at last....

2008-09-08T11:49:00.003+12:00

Well we got home Friday afternoon, and Pete, Lizzie and the kids stayed the night, to break the trip up. We headed to round hill on Saturday to take the kids sledding. They had a great time - Dominic didn't want to leave. The snow was great compared to Concrete Peak, so the boys stayed on for a ski and board and Lizzie and I took the kids home for a sleep.
Oh and the view was beautiful from the top of the hill.

Last of the Arrowtown antics

2008-09-08T11:32:00.003+12:00

Well Friday we spent cleaning the house before we left. We headed into Arrowtown to get some Lunch before we left. And of course we couldn't leave without having one of the world famous hot chocolates from the Patagonia chocolate shop. They are the best hot chocolates in the world, made from real belgian chocolate and you can get them with chilli too. Mmmmmmm. We also had to have another Jimmy's pie for lunch before we left Central Otago. Time to go home.........
Oh and i couldn't finish without including the cute pictures of the boys playing with Steve's snowboard. And the excitement was all a bit too much for one little boy.

Arrowtown Antics Part 2

2008-09-08T10:44:00.004+12:00

On Wednesday we spent the day in Queenstown doing some shopping. We were planning to go up the gondola and go luging but the Luge was shut. So we just cruised around town and then took the kids home for a sleep.
On Thursday there had been some fresh snow overnight so we thought it was a good day to go skiing. Pete and Steve headed up in the morning and I was planning on going up for the afternoon as Ben had been vomiting all night, and didn't really want to leave poor Lizzie with 3 boys ALL day. Anyway the boys were back by 11 as the snow Or ice as it was, was terrible - They are naming it Concrete peak. Must have been bad for the boys to head back, they had been soooo looking forward to skiing. So we decided to go luging. Pete stayed home with poor Ben and we all headed to the gondola. Jack loved the Gondola - he spent the whole trip up yabbering and pointing at stuff he could see. We had 5 rides on the luge which were awesome. Jack loved it. he has no fear. he also loved the little chairlift that you have to ride to the top of the luge track. I think he's going to be an adrenalin Junkie.

Arrowtown Antics Part 1

2008-09-08T10:10:00.003+12:00

Well from Dunedin, we travelled to Arrowtown to meet Pete and Lizzie and their kids. We rented a holiday house for the week. We spent most of the day travelling through Central Otago. Which was great as we hadn't been through there for such a long time and it's an area of NZ that Steve and I both have great memories of and love. We really enjoyed reminiscing and of course we stopped in Alexandra and got a Jimmy's pie for Lunch - Mmmmmmm Jimmy's. We would have stopped at the Jimmy's factory shop in Roxburgh but Jack was asleep. We arrived in Arrowtown and went for a walk down to the shops and discovered the Remarkable sweet shop all over again, and they had Mag fizzy wheels. YUM. so had to stock up on them.
On Tuesday we headed over to Wanaka to go to the Puzzling world. We stopped and had Lunch by the lake and Jack and Ben chased the ducks. Poor Ducks.
At Puzzling world we did everything. The illusion rooms were awesome. The room on a slope messed with our balance and we all wobbled around in there for a while bashing into walls. It was funny watching Jack.
We successfully completed most of the maze challenge by getting all the corners, then Jack had a meltdown and was sick of being carried around in the back pack so we didn't find the exit, instead escaping out an emergency exit.

Dunedin

2008-09-07T21:11:00.005+12:00

Well we are back from a week away. There is too much to tell you about so I might update in a few different posts when I have time. So first of all we travelled to Dunners for Gary and Kerri's baby shower.
Apart from going to the baby shower which Jack had a great time at grooving to Hi5. We caught up with Gary and Kerri and Lana on Sunday and took the boys to the Park. They had fun, but we spied a model railway which we had to go and look at, and we found opened between 1 and 4pm So later in the day we went back and Steve took Jack for a ride - he was soooooo excited, all we heard the whole way home was "Toot, toot".

YAY - winter holiday

2008-08-29T09:21:00.004+12:00

Well we are finally off for our much anticipated winter holiday. Every year for about four years we have headed to Queenstown with the same group of friends for a winter holiday. Skiing and lots of fun stuff - YAY. We couldn't make it last year as we had just moved to Tekapo. And this year Steve and Mid can't make it as they are due to pop out a sprog any day now. So us and Pete and Lizzie and their kids are off. We are heading to Dunedin first for Gary and Kerri's baby shower on Saturday then up to Queenstown to meet the others.
Here are some pics of some of the stuff I made for Gary and Kerri's baby ( another nephew- yay)
I made a little merino top, sleeved bib, fitted nappy and cover, pocket nappy with insert, wipes.
I also included Lamaze toy, woollen hat, socks, booties, Osh Kosh outfit, bib, and little cleaning things for bottles etc.

Well we are off, shall update you when we get back, there might even be some baby news from Mid and Steve and Leanne and Andrew by the time we are back....

Mystery Parcel

2008-08-22T14:15:00.004+12:00

Jack and I went to collect the mail yesterday and we were greeted with a nice Yellow card in our PO Box - which means you have a parcel that doesn't fit in your box. So we went inside to the post shop and the lady there presented me with a massive box and she said "sorry it's not addressed to you it's for your husband". Gutted, all these thoughts had been racing in my head about what exciting parcels I might have. I did however notice that it had a 1 Day sticker on it.... Aha busted. Anyway I rang Steve and he said i wasn't allowed to open it until he got home. So it sat there all afternoon and I wasn't even tempted to open it. Steve got it out when he got home and Jack's eyes lit up - he loves parcels. Jack and Steve ripped into it and it was A MASSIVE SLOT CAR SET. Hayden was around for dinner, So the boys spent most of the evening racing.

Sorry about the bright spots in the pics - Steve's reflective vest was hanging over the chair.

Better late than never

2008-08-03T16:23:00.003+12:00

Well I finally managed to get up the mountain for the first day this season. I had bought new boots and ski's earlier this year and was really looking to using them. Steve and Jack had a Daddy and son bonding afternoon while I went skiing with Hayden and Fraser and Catherine. The snow was fantastic (as you would expect after such a big dump) and the weather was beautiful too. My new boots just about killed me though - OH MAN did i have some sore feet.....
It is the first time i have ever skied at Round hill. It is a fantastic field. And another south Island ski field ticked off my list of fields to ski. Just need a few more days this season to wear my boots in.... Next time it's Steve's turn.

The big snow of 08

2008-07-31T13:44:00.003+12:00

Well today is Steve's birthday and I gave him what he really wanted for his birthday - 1/2 a metre of snow. What a cool scene to wake up to on your birthday!! Anyway on the way home from netball last night it started to snow. It was quite thick and I wondered momentarily if we might be in for a big one. We couldn't believe it when we woke up this morning to that much snow. It is still snowing, but has slowed down a bit. Jack, Catherine and I went for a walk down to the church to take some pics. We just about lost Jack in the snow. Nah just kidding - we could still see his upper body - lol.
It crazy how hard it is to walk in that much snow - especially when you are the size of Jack.
I think that this would be our 12th snowfall this year.

More Craftiness....

2008-07-31T13:27:00.002+12:00

Well my TNN friend now knows that I was her secret santa, so I thought I should post some pics. I had so much fun making these and they turned out so cool. I almost didn't part with them they were so cool.
I made a hoodie and pants for her wee boy who is the same age as Jack (which was great for sizing) and I made her a really cool bag with some awesome handles I got from the op shop. I love op shops!! Then I put some wool and soap in it for her - she's a knitter.

Craftiness!!

2008-07-23T15:04:00.003+12:00

Have been feeling pretty crafty lately - so have been making lots of cool stuff.
I dyed some wool - but wasn't really that happy with the way it turned out. It was supposed to be Green, brown and BLACK, but somehow the black decided to turn purple ( maybe not enough dye I think)
The rest of the crafting I have been doing lately can not be revealed until the recipient receives her parcel. - hopefully Friday if NZ post are feeling nice.

Rugby + Chocolate Mmmmmmm

2008-07-14T08:09:00.003+12:00

We went to Dunedin in the weekend. Steve and a workmate were going to the SA and All Blacks test. It was also the opening weekend of the chocolate festival.
We headed down on Friday - Jack slept to Oamaru, so we stopped there to find a playground to give him a bit of a run around - we went to the botanic gardens and found an awesome playground and an aviary and a duck pond. he didn't want to leave.
We headed out to the Mad hatters Tea party at the Dunedin Museum on Saturday Morning. There were tables and tables of chocolate, chocolate milk, ice cream etc. They had activities like face painting, art activities, a story teller, chocolate games and a visit from Shrek and his friends. I was really annoyed I forgot to take the camera. Because there were so many awesome photo opportunities - Jack absolutely loved the story teller and her monkey puppet. Then Shrek and friends came out. Jack was watching puss in boots and laughing at him when Shrek was behind him and he tapped on Jack's shoulder a couple of times and Jack turned around to see him and completely freaked out. I think it just gave him a fright to see a big green thing so close to him when he turned around because 10 mins later he was up dancing with Shrek and friends.
We caught up with some friends we hadn't seen for ages later in the day. and then Steve headed out to the Rugby. He went out with the Arrow guys from Dunedin for a drink first and then he came home and got me and we headed to the referees association for a drink. We came home at 6:30 and mum had made a roast. Then Steve headed back out to the game. The joys of mum living so close to Carisbrook. The other joy is you can see the score board from the end of her driveway. Mum and Lana enjoyed catching up with Jack again. We headed home Sunday, but stopped at Twizel to catch up with the Thompson Clan who had just moved to Twizel from Dunners on Saturday. They were amidst a sea of boxes. Don't you love moving....

9 years ago...

2008-07-13T20:47:00.003+12:00

on the 3rd July we got married. Wow 9 years have flown by. Last weekend we dropped Jack at Gran and Grandad's and escaped to Hanmer for a night to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We had booked a pamper package through the Hanmer visitor centre. Which included a night at the Heritage Hotel and lots of pampering at the Hanmer springs pools and spa.
We left Chch amidst threatening reports of snow and wind etc. We arrived in Hanmer to a couple of inches of snow on the ground already.
We had a walk around the shops before we had to check in at 2pm at the Heritage.
While we were wondering around it started to snow again. We checked in and headed for the pools. It was lovely sitting in the pools with the snow falling around us. We had a sauna, and a massage -which was soooo relaxing. We went out for tea and to watch the rugby.
It was a great weekend.

Visitors From Home

2008-06-23T19:22:00.003+12:00

On Friday Jase, Tracey, Cass and Thomas came down for a visit. They also brought with them Tracey's sisters Tania and Paula and Paula's Husband Thad and kids Michael and Blakeley.
We went ices skating on Saturday. We tried to take Jack on Ice skates but he was less than impressed and didn't want to go near the ice. Cass quite happily skated along with Jase.
We had an awesome Roast Lamb and chicken on Saturday night and settled in to watch the All blacks thump England.
On Sunday we went up to the cafe at the top of Mount John. We had a drink while the kids happily played. Then we went to Lake Alexandrina to feed the ducks.

Outfit for Ava

2008-06-09T21:25:00.004+12:00

I made this outfit for a friend on TNN's wee girl Ava. I really hope she likes it. Printed Corduroy pants lined with pink merino, and a merino top with a velvet iron on and cute lettuce leaf edging on the bottom - done on my new overlocker.

First Snow fall

2008-06-08T14:49:00.004+12:00

Well we got our first snow fall for the winter yesterday. It started at around 4:30 and snowed heavily through the evening. When we went to bed it was already -2 degrees. Today we headed out to play in it. quite a bit had disappeared overnight - but we still had fun. we built a snow man on the deck. All Jack wanted to do to it was push it over. We went sledding in the back yard, but decided it wasn't enough of a hill, so we headed across the street to an empty section which is a bit steeper. Our friends came over and we had sled races.

Feeding the Ducks

2008-05-25T14:49:00.002+12:00

Today we went out to Lake Alexandrina to feed the ducks. Jack was a little cautious to begin with but soon got used to them. They certainly were not shy ducks - they came really close and tried to steal the bread out of Steve and Jack's hands. One of them was so friendly he gave Steve a wee bite on the finger. Jack had so much fun throwing the bread into the water, that he didn't want to stop. He broke his last piece of bread into crumbs to throw to the ducks, and when that had run out he decided the ducks might like some stones to eat.

Our Search for Snow

2008-05-25T09:00:00.002+12:00

On Thursday Jack and I got a sled out of the Toy library in the hope that it would snow. MetService had predicted snow above 400m. Anyway it didn't snow. So on Saturday we went searching for snow. We drove up to Round Hill ski area and found some snow and played on the sled. First time down Jack was not so enthusiastic - but after that he loved it.

Autumn Leaves

2008-05-25T08:02:00.003+12:00

Last week Jack and I went outside as it was lovely day - not too cold (which happens rarely here at the moment) and we played in all the leaves. Jack had a ball. he was sitting in the leaves and throwing them up and running through them.

Been sewing again...

2008-05-15T13:18:00.003+12:00

I had these nappies ready to make for Jack for ages - so I thought I had better finish them.
one has a digger embroidered on the back - thanks to one of the lovely ladies from The Nappy network and one is a Bob the builder one.

James' 2nd birthday

2008-05-15T13:01:00.002+12:00

Well James turned 2 on the 5th of May - the same day Jack turned 18 months old, as they were born 6 months to the day apart.
James had a wee party on Sunday and he got a guinea pig for his birthday. Andrew made him a red gumboots cake. The kids had so much fun playing with the guinea pig.