Potato people!

No.. not the book!  Just the timeless classical toy: Mr Potato Head.

It is also a miracle that we still have all the bits and bobs after all these years.  I attribute that to the big container it came in.  I just love toys that come in their own container.  It makes cleaning up so much easier!

Spot will sit and play with this toy for ages!  And they like to make up little stories with them.  Another toy where the kids can change it around and make hilarous things.  I love the one on the end with the horn for a hat!

Magnet toys

I have to admit that I am sad I cannot include the beautiful, smiling faces of the little ones in these photos, I post these photos so that our families and friends can have an idea of what we get up to.  (Or what the little ones get up to...!)

Within these parameters I can at least use this blog as a way of allowing the kids to look back on these little things they did when they were younger.  And add that I just loved spending the morning playing with Spiderman and Spot, and watching Spiderman do these pictures entirely on his own! 

And together, Spot and I created these:

I know I shouldn't say 'create' because we're really just following the card, but the beauty of this toy is that it allows for the older ones to make up their own animals/scenes etc.  It's a toy that really grows with them.  I also can't believe that we still have all the pieces and cards after 2 or 3 years.  That is definitely a miracle!

Blooming roses...

...are greeting me everytime I walk out the back door.  They are just beautiful.  I thought I'd snap these before I pick a couple for a vase inside.  They are delicately fragranced and absolutely perfect. 

We were lucky enough to score 3 rose plants when our friends were extending their house.  As you can see they survived the trauma of being uprooted and replanted very well!  Thanks J&P!

A beautiful white rose

Birthday cupcakes

Last week was a really incovenient time for me to have my birthday!  Even though we posponed it for a few days, it was still very low key due to everyone feeling poorly.

Nevertheless, the kids helped to bake a batch of chocolate cupcakes.

Mmmm!  We baked a double batch so there were lots and lots and lots...!

I photographed these while little people were busy decorating the others with fairy dust:

And voila!  Birthday cupcakes for dessert, following a delicious dinner cooked for me by mrmac!  Thankyou darling!

A sick week...

As we have been sick this week with a nasty tummy bug, here are just a couple of points:

• beach towels make great bed sheets in the middle-of-the-night-emergency-sheet-change scenario.  They also double as blankets, and couch protectors!
• I have found you can never have too many buckets.
• the washing machine has been going non-stop.
• the "Get $ 1.00 for everytime you get it in the bucket/toilet" is working a treat.  However we are down quite a bit of money.  The count so far rests at: Tinkerbell - $5, Transformer - $ 12, Spot - $ 3 although he has missed a few times bless him :(  and poor Spiderman is on $ 0 .  He hasn't vomited as yet.  Touch wood.  At least the money is a little silver lining for the poor little souls.
• and finally, hydralyte, hydralyte, hydralyte!!  Those iceblocks have been really good.

I'm sure this coming week will see us in much better health.

Bathrooms Part 1

Lots of family members have requested some photos of the new bathrooms, so here I am to oblige!  We have been enjoying these newly renovated bathrooms for nearly 3 months now and they were worth every penny.

If you want to know where Mrmac sourced some fittings/fixtures just post questions in the comments section.

We're starting here with the main bathroom. 

I've taken this standing at the doorway.  If I included anything higher you would see the lovely green paint remaining from our old bathrooms.  This is the most glorious bath to soak in.   Yes it is stone.   My photography does not do it justice.
Also in this photo are the heated towel rails.  We are still convincing little people (namely Spiderman and Spot) NOT to use them as a ladder!  (We have already had a little person get too excited and one came off.  They are fantastic as they just clip on again.)

loving this spout... especially the lovely reflected green colour from the skylight...

Moving on now to the shower.  Features to point out here include the recessed shelf which looks awesome, and the glorious shower head. 

Here is the wall hung vanity (custom built) and the recessed mirrored cabinets.  Both give the illusion of space, but once again, my photography is letting us down here.

The switches include downlights with dimmer and an over the vanity light, as well as underfloor heating.
 
Last but not least is the main toilet.  We completely redesigned this bathroom from a 3-way walk through including toilet.  We added a wall and included a small vanity to wash hands.

In-wall cistern with handy storage shelf  - and also the lovely pale green paint which will soon be gone (thank goodness!)
NB - the tile colour in these photos is showing up much darker than what we chose.  The tiles are a match to the colour of the vanity, and not this terra cotta thing that's happening in these photos.

Stay tuned for part 2!

Bathrooms Part 2

Ensuite city...!

Here is the ensuite.  We included the same fittings and fixtures as in the main, except for the basin. 

Love not having a centre drain.  And I also love not banging my elbows on shelves and soapdishes!

Again the heated towel rails are behind me as I took this photo, and we also put underfloor heating in here.  It is sooooo nice on those cold winter mornings.  And surprisingly, we haven't noticed it too badly on the electricity bills.

I'm still loving the round taps... and the basin... and the floors... what can I say?  It's a pleasure to clean!

So there you have our new bathrooms.  Bring on the kitchen!

Spiderman's creation

This is Spiderman's 'robot spaceship' that is really cute. 

He did this 100% by himself, and is zooming around me with it as I type this post!   He has parked it next to the mouse.  (At least he hasn't left it next to my bed on the floor so I step on it as I get up in the morning, or next to the toilet, or outside so it gets wet... I could go on and on so best to stop now.)

Beautiful birds.

We're so lucky here to have a huge array of birdlife that loves our garden.  This morning the boys and I heard this bird, I think it is some kind of lorikeet.  Unfortunately I couldn't zoom in any closer, but the boys were transfixed by it.  Spiderman found it very opportunistic to practise his bird calls!!  It was hilarious.

Look who's been busy!

We walked out onto the balcony to see Spot having an absolute ball by himself.  Mrmac was only a few metres away getting dinner ready while I was getting some washing off the line. 

In just a few minutes we had this:

In these photos it looks morbidly like blood, but alas (and that goodness) it's just water based acrylic paint.

End of an era...

Just a quick post to say that the cot has come down for storage under the house.  Even though Spot has been in a big bed for quite a while now, it's still quite significant as there has been a continual stream of babies in there since Tinkerbell.  So under the house it goes...

Spot's room seems so much bigger now, which great.  Now if only we could also get rid of the change table!!

Tinkerbell's 8th birthday!

It was a wonderful day for Tinkerbell.  I just can't believe she's 8 already.  We just had a little gathering for her to share her special day with her friends.

First they painted little star bags to hold the jewellery they would be making later in the day.

While the bags were drying, the girls went in to make their bracelets.  Here is Tinkerbell holding the beading pack (they each got one) wearing a couple of the beautiful bracelets that she had made.

Then we had the cake that was in the shape of an '8' but due to the decorating, it is hard to tell.  Tinkerbell had a ball decorating the entire thing herself!

Bushwalking bliss.

We have just completed a wonderful bushwalk up at Springwood.  It was so lovely to take the kids out, get them active, and have a ball all at the same time.  Let's face it, I needed the exercise too, and I really enjoyed it.

We did NOT (I repeat, NOT) enjoy the leaches!!  I had four on me, and Tinkerbell had 2 (although the leaches had only fallen into her shoe and were not attached to her, as they were me!) and she certainly screamed the forest down each time!

Transformer and Spiderman didn't get any, but baby Spot did... and we didn't discover it until we were on our drive home.  Tinkerbell saw in and screamed blue murder in the car!

A truly good day was had by all.

Rainy days and jumping castles...

... go together in this house!  As a Christmas present from their aunties, the kids absolutely adore jumping on this castle.  As it only comes out occasionally, it is always a big hit.

The kids also like to get on in their sleeping bags and use it as a cubby (another rainy day 'toy') and also make other houses using those other pop up tents that we have accumulated over the years.

From deflated to this in under one minute!

How have your holidays been so far?

We're on school holidays in this house.  Actually into our second and final week now :(  I'm allowed to be sad as I'm on holidays too, and the end of the holidays means it's back to work for me. 

It has also been quite wet outside, and the following is a good rainy day activity.

With school aged children and toddlers at home, it's tricky to find crafty things that all will enjoy.  That's why I was thrilled with the way our masks worked out.  I saw similar masks for sale at Spotlight (NOT cheap) and thought it would be easy enough to do something similar at home.  We used the cardboard from ice cream cone boxes as they are very sturdy, but my daughter liked the craft so much she made extras out of paper and they worked a treat.

So cut out your shape, let the kids paint, and we stuck chopsticks on the back, and then used wooden skewers when we ran out of those.  And voila!  Puppets!

And, of course, a wonderful puppet show created by my four fabulous kids!

I had to laugh when my 4 year old had his cat 'falling upside down!"

So cute!