time with the kids

ive really been focusing on enjoying some time with the kids this month. so im sorry for the lack of posts! i was just so busy in nov and dec that i took a month off from all my "work" and just did family stuff.

here are some pics of the some of the stuff we have done since my last post.


we had a wedding to prepare and organise :) brianna and liam got married (briannas idea). liam was SUCH a stud ...






we had some fake smiles ...


some even faker smiles ...


and some real smiles ...


liam proved that "white men can jump" ...


and also learnt how to use a potty (apparently its easier to pee in a potty while wearing stilletos" ...


liam and oates found their best friends - each other ...


and oates learnt to sit on command (thankyou puppy preschool!) ...


we did finger painting (and liam did face/leg painting) ...


i got a second-hand double jogging stroller. this isnt my exact one, mine is fairly faded and doesnt have these inserts on the seats. plus mine only cost me TEN DOLLARS from lifeline. so now i can walk the dog and the kids together.



the only thing i didnt do this week was go to WW! (eep my bad!)

i do actually have scrap shares (shock horror) i will post them up tonight :)

have a great weekend!!!


xxx K

Alice in Wonderland Garden Tea Party

brianna's official party has now finished :) it was yesterday and it was SO worth all the effort!

i normally invite over all the family friends with their kids so we end up having 20-something kids. but this time i decided to make it a "big girls only" party, and i narrowed the list down to 8 girls. this way i could focus more on doing individual treats for the 8 girls and it wouldnt blow my budget!

my fav aspects of this party:
- i did everything girly! so much fun!
- i LOVED the hanging paper lanterns and paper flowers
- i learned how to do a topsy turvy cake
- my mum and dad came!!!!!!!!!! this is HUGE cos my mum doesnt travel well. so she has only visited moranbah a three times since we moved here. so that was a huge blessing that she not only made it out here, but she also got to enjoy the party :) i really appreciated that mum!
- all the girls got presents during the games, these included barbies, colouring in books and fancy shoes. i kept my eyes out for specials leading up to the party so each girl got a nice toy to take home.


here are some pics:

the paper lanterns, fairies, glass candle hangers (i love these so much!), and crepe paper flowers. the pink tulle in the background is from my daughters bedroom. i hung it from the roof and draped it around the food and cake table to stop the flies getting on the food. was so handy - ill definitely be doing that again!


another shot of how i set it all up. i had heaps of teapots everywhere. on the sitting table i had them down the middle and i had coloured pencils, darryl lee large lollypops, lollypop sticks, massive sherbet straws and colourful fake flowers in them. i also had them on the food and cake table.

each setting at the table had their own lace placemat, mismatching teacups and saucers from Lifeline, their goodiebags and M&Ms. the goodiebags didnt have lollies in them, they had bracelets, necklaces, and lots of cool hairbands, clips and a scrunchie.

i did a doughnut tier instead of a cupcake tier for something different. ive done cupcake ones before but doing it this way made me realise just how much easier it was to fit the donuts on then cupcakes. i always seem to have the icing not quite fit when i make cupcakes.


this photo looks really pink cos of the tulle behind the table. but this was the cake i made. the top tier is buttercake, the bottom one is mudcake. colouring the fondant took awhile but was worth it. i had so much fun doing it cos i havent done anything like that before. the sticks on top were candles i found at coles. the teapot handle isnt part of the design, i shoulda moved the teapot behind it before photographing. oh well :)



my mum took pics of brianna so once i get those ill post those up. i didnt take any cos she was and she is fab at photography. but here is one i snapped of my neice Hula that afternoon after everyone had left while we were all relaxing beside the slip'n'slide. shes so cute :)


thank goodness the next birthday is at the end of 2009!! yay!


xxx K

What a beautiful day!!!

Brianna turned four today :)

(warning: longest blog post EVER - for the family's benefit)

yesterday was NOT so wonderful!!!! i spent the morning cooking a cake, but it was one of those chocolate cakes where u cook most of the ingrediants in a saucepan, then u let it cool, then u mix in the flours and eggs. so i did the first bit in the morning - then it cooled while the kids slept - then in the arvo i added the other ingrediants. i was planning on icing and decorating the cake at nighttime. but when i added THE LAST EGG it was ROTTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was soooooooo spewin. i had to throw the whole thing in the bin. i was tired and emotional too, cos my hormones are crazy with this new pill im on.

so i gave up and i got packet mixes and made it lastnight. i was pretty disappointed cos i like to make the kids cakes. i had to stay up till 10pm to get it out of the oven. then i had to get out of bed at 2am when it had cooled (it was a HUGE cake) and wrap it in cling wrap. then i had to get up AGAIN at 4.30am to ice and decorate the cake cos i wanted it all to be done before brianna got out of bed.

i was SO tired!

but today just got better and better. brianna had an amazing day filled with friends, love, laughter and fun. i was so glad that troy and i got to give her such a fun birthday.

basically today brianna called the shots. anything she wanted to do ... she did! so here is the low-down:'


4am - brianna remembers in her sleep that i said her presents would be out in the hallway so promptly decides to wake up in the middle of the night for them!!!!! "go back to bed brianna!" haha.


5.30am - brianna wakes up again, this time we let her get out of bed for pressies from us :) she got three boardgames, 2 dressups, a red and white polka dot party dress for today, a gorgeous purple ballerina tutu, a cash register for the "shop" she set up at home out of cardboard boxes, a hi5 DVD game, a barbie, some little pet-shop dogs and her big pressie was a barbie doll house. she wouldnt stop playing with it all day!

her barbie doll house:


one of her new dressups:

this is the party dress and the register. its amazing how u can find presents for kids that are SO cheap, and they just adore what they get given. after getting her other presents and buying food for the parties, i only had a few dollars left out of her "birthday party budget" so i ducked into the local Salvos to see if they had anything in there. being a mining town its amazing what u find in there!!! i quite often get name brand clothing in mint condition there for $1. anyways, the register was only 50c and the dress was $1!!!!!!!!!!!! Gods blessing hey. He knew what would make brianna happy :)


9am - breakfast while watching Tinkerbell. i love that movie!!


10am - her "cake party". her alice in wonderland birthday party is on saturday morning, but today we had a morning tea at the local cafe so brianna could have a birthday cake on her actual birthday. kinda like a mini-birthday-party. some of her friends were invited and we just basically hung out and ate too much cake. very relaxed. i so enjoyed it!

here is the cake i made for this morning. she loves Tinkerbell so i couldnt resist that cake transfer!!! mind you, i ripped it a bit while putting it on (oops). its a bit hard to tell from the angle of the pic but its a two tier cake.


i found these cute edible icing frangipanis for the cake im making on saturday, so i stole some for this cake.

poor brianna actually put her mouth ON this candle when she was blowing it and she burnt her lip a little bit on the wax. poor little silly billy.


a few of her closest friends.


Midday - Home for a rest. she was exhausted.

3pm - We cracked open her new boardgames. They were awesome!!! she was so excited about them, and wanted to play all of them more than once. mummy needs a longer attention span haha. but i survived - barely. My favs were the Dr Seuss ones!! If you have young kids i highly recommend checking them out. We got the "ABC Game" and the "Cat in the Hat game". Brianna is pretty good with letters and numbers so picked it up quickly. They will help her practice her alphabets while also being fun.

5pm - Pizza at the park. Brianna got to choose the "what and where" for dinner. Family tradition. whoever's bday it is gets to choose. she loves pizza but doesnt have it often so i knew she would pick that. and cos it was a special occasion we let her have softdrink. she isnt allowed it normally. so she thought she was the queen. she doesnt like alot of softdrinks anyways, only raspberry lemonade.

liam with his pizza face. he thought it was awesome that he could have softdrink. he guts it more than brianna. typical boy! he was such a good boy today.


brianna giving me a dazzling smile for the camera haha:




Then it was just the normal routine of showers, milk, teeth and into bed. they got to stay up till 7.30pm tonight.

and thus ends my long long LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG blog post. i wanted to record it all for future reference!!!


xxx K

My exciting news ...

... well, its exciting for me and my fam anyways! :D Here is my new little poochie named Oates. He is an alaskan malamute and he is 6 weeks old.

He is just a complete joy! Oates has a lovely nature and is very cuddly. Troy and I have wanted our kids to have a dog for awhile, but it was never the right time for a variety of reasons (eg. no fence) but im very excited to have taken the step now.

My two fav things about Oates are that (1) he looks like he is always wearing a batman mask, and (2) the fact that one ear flops over, and one stands up straight. They are always like that!! You can see it above.

Anyways, just a quick entry cos Troy called me from work asking me to post up a pick of Oates so he can show his mate :)


xxx K

Im back!!

Wowza - im never going to move house over the Christmas/New Year period again. It was chaotic and terrible!!! Anyways, ill be back tomorrow with a proper post with some very exciting news :)

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that im still alive!


xxx K