A bit of fun!

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You'd think we'd learn...

What is it with our kids and zinc cream???
All these pics have been taken over a long time but they have a very obvious theme..... we really should learn to put the cream in a much harder to get to spot!




Have a happy week xxxxx

'The Great String of Bunting'

Hooray!! I have just opened my emails to find one from the gorgeous Lauren of Belle Laide Events. Lauren is the person I worked with to make 'The Great String of Bunting' - 60 metres of bunting in soft yellows, blues and a touch of red.
The beach side family event that the 60 metres was needed for was held last Sunday. Lauren tells me (even in the stinking hot weather) the day was a great success and that the bunting "looked gorgeous" - Yay!
Lauren was also very lovely to attach some pics that were snapped at the event of 'The Great String of Bunting' in use.





Fingers crossed I get asked to make bunting for future events xxx

Milla's Kitchen - handmade by Papa & Grandma Barbara

About 6 or so months ago I was floating through 'blog land' as I do from time to time and somehow I stumbled upon Sutton Grace blog, where a particular blog post jumped out at me: A repurposed play kitchen. The very clever Erin of Sutton Grace blog had taken a 2nd hand TV entertainment unit and turned it into a mini kitchen for her little girl. I LOVED this idea sooooo much and sat looking at the blog post for the longest time trying to work out if I could do it myself.... I decided in the end mine would never look that amazing. So after sending the link onto mum to show her how cute the kitchen was I continued on floating 'blog land' and kinda forgot all about it.... Until, the weekend just gone.
Mum and Dad were making a special trip to Sydney for Milla's party, or so I thought. In fact they had a special delivery to make to the birthday girl...


Yep, that is Milla's very own repurposed play kitchen!! Mum had taken the link I had sent her, oh so long ago, and showed Dad and together they made this truly one of a kind and absolutely gorgeous play kitchen!!


It all started with this pre-loved TV unit that they got for $30!


The dvd player shelf was removed and all the doors were taken off for sanding and the first coat of undercoat paint.


Shelves were added to what was the cupboard to make it a fridge & freezer. Then another coat of paint.


A hole was cut in the shelf where the TV once sat ready for the sink and a tap was added. The fridge and freezer were fitted for their doors. Then another coat of paint.


Dad removed the entire back of the unit and replaced it as their were holes in the original back for the TV and DVD player cords. The microwave was added to the top corner of the TV space. Then another coat of paint.


The fridge, freezer and cupboard doors went on.
The microwave and over doors have dark perspex in them to add to the real look. A 'window' was added by placing a photo behind a piece of clear perspex with a frame around it and attaching it to the wall (the view from the window is very familiar...). Mum made curtains and matching tea towels. The stove top is a piece of timber with four coasters glued on it to act as hotplates the four knobs were added down the side of the stove top that all turn so Milla can 'really' cook. Dad even added little baskets to the inside of the fridge door soit looked just like a real fridge. Then with a printed out keypad added for the buttons on the microwave and a few hanging cooking utensils the amazing transformation was complete!!



Milla LOVE, LOVE, LOVES her fabulous kitchen and so do I!!! We went through our real kitchen cupboards and found all kinds of boxes and bottles to put in her fridge, freezer and cupboards and we have baked non stop since the new kitchen was 'installed'!


I can see many, many, many years of fun with this handmade with love treasure.
Thanks Papa and Grandma Barbara xoxox

Party Pics

Just a few photos from Milla's 2nd birthday party today.... lots of you who get this email were able to come to the party and share the fun, but there are a few who receive this who weren't with us so we thought you'd like to see some of the happy snaps!


We had a fun and happy lunch time party at the Ettamogah Pub in Rouse Hill where there was a jumping castle, pony rides, face painting, cake and water spray bottle fun to help stay cool in the 41 degree heat!!

Happy Friday xoxo

Milla, Harrison and I went for a walk down to the post office the other day so I popped Harrison into the backpack carrier and we started on our way... Milla had decided to bring her much loved 'Puppy' for our walk. By the time we were at the end of our street Milla decided that she wanted to carry Puppy on her back just like Mummy was carrying Harrison so with a scrounge through the few things in our bag I found a piece of string and we were off again... Mummy with Harrison on her back and Milla with Puppy!!


No walk to the post office is complete without a stop at the park.... and this time was extra special with Harrison having his first go on the swing all by himself!!


Happy Friday everyone,
xxxxxxx

Happy 9th Birthday Flissy!

Another year seems to be passing by so quickly! We celebrated Felicity's 9th birthday on Friday just passed with presents, visit's from Grandma, roast chicken dinner (Fliss' favourite) and of course a (gluten & dairy free) birthday cake!
The celebrations don't stop there - we are having a small party with all of the volunteers in Felicity's program at Tanya's house next Sunday too... so more fun and cake to come!!

Where did September go?

Wow - it has been a loooooooong time since my last post! Life has been busy, busy, busy!
There has been our week long family holiday away at Southwest Rocks with a stop into visit Papa & Grandma Barbara...


There was our late night visit to the Children's Hospital Emergency room for Milla's fall in the shower...


We had our two day 'Outreach' with Sean from the US for Felicity's program...



A fun filled night celebrating Grandpa's 65th...


And a trip to Taronga Zoo for Oskar's 2nd birthday...



with general shenanigans in between...




Phew - no wonder I haven't had the chance to post anything! We are looking forward to the long weekend ahead to take it slow and relax.
xoxox

The week that was... and the week that is...

What a full week we have just had!


Auntie Erin was in Sydney for a few days so stayed with us on Monday and Tuesday night before heading home on Wednesday. We took advantage of her being here and managed to get all four 'Spencer' kids (and any available attachments) together for a bite to eat on Tuesday.


Tuesday night Matt and I went out to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary with dinner and a movie (thanks Erin for babysitting). We even managed to get through most of dinner without talking about the kids! hehehehe.


Wednesday Milla, Harrison and I spent the day at Featherdale Wildlife Park with some of my old school friends and their little ones. Featherdale is so much fun for kids as you pretty much walk in the front gate and then the kids can run wild among the Aussie animals. We chased kangaroos, had a chat with a sleepy Koala, fed an emu, and saw all kinds of birdies and snakes.



Thursday we had nothing planned which was perfect for Milla and Harrison who slept the day away catching up on missed snoozes.
Then next week Matt has been given the entire week off work so at the last minute we decided to take a little holiday! Yay! We will drop Fliss off to Tanya like normal this Saturday then head north. We are planning to stay at Mum and Dad's place on Saturday night then we have booked a cabin near the river at Southwest Rocks for three nights. We'll then head home via Papa and Grandma Barbara's place for one more night and be back in Sydney to pick up Fliss as always on Thursday afternoon.
Of course we'll take the trusty camera with us and I'm sure holidays photos will be shared soon.

Sad to say goodbye...

This week is the last week our wonderful, fabulous, amazing, loving and fun Heather will be working in the playroom with Miss Fliss. Heather has been an awesome part of the playroom team for over the past 12 months and is very much loved by Fliss.


From starting as a volunteer after spotting a poster looking for people to be a part of Felicity's Son Rise Program to working two full days every week with Fliss in the playroom. Heather is originally from the United States and has a trip planned to head back there in a few weeks to catch up with her family then will return home here to pursue a new career. We wish Heather all the best and thank her so VERY VERY much for all the effort, support, time and love she has oozed for Felicity.


When I saw this piece of artwork while trying to find a thank you/goodbye gift for Heather I just had to grab it! Not only does the little girl in the picture look like Fliss but the words down the side read 'She Believes in Spontaneous Dancing' - a perfect way for Heather to remember Miss Fliss who definitely believes in a spontaneous dance or two!

Crazy Quilts all finished!

With winter almost half way over I figured I better get a move on the unfinished Crazy quilts for the girls.... to refresh you memory this is Harrison's, made from all my 'boy' fabric cut offs.


So this is Milla's, made from some of my 'girlie' fabric cut offs




Originally I was going to use all my polka dots and stripe fabrics to make Fliss a quilt but when I went through my off cuts I noticed allot of red, black and whites and thought they looked perfect for her.



I was rather chuffed when we headed out on Saturday morning and all three kids were under their blankets in the car!

Makin' & Bakin'

This weekend we had Fliss with us so we were able to get in a whole lot of playroom time. We have noticed that Fliss is playing and experimenting with 'turn taking' in communication. She hums a line or two of a song while looking away from you then stops humming mid song and looks directly at us with full eye contact waiting..... we then hum the next line of the song back while looking at her then stop... Fliss then takes over and hums the rest of the song with a big grin! This has been happening just in the past week or two and has been completely initiated by her.... it seems she is feeling rather proud of herself for working this out.... clever!!


Because of all the singing and cheering that was coming from Felicity's room on Sunday Milla of course was very interested and stood at the door wanting to be a part of it so to distract her we did some baking.


I pulled a chair up to the kitchen bench and had my very our assistant. Milla poured, mixed, nibbled, and beat then even helped with the washing up! There be many more cakes being cooked from now on.