Easter 2013

Well the Easter long weekend has come to an end ~ I am all chocolated out & cannot believe it's only been a few short days since the kids started school holidays and there are still 2 weeks left to occupy them {more on that later!}

 

This year we had all of the kids home for the whole of Easter (we get every second year) so it was nice to have them all wake up in one home & celebrate together.  It was the first Easter we have been at home in 4 years, so a day at home to kick back and enjoy was long overdue!  On Friday I spent the afternoon finishing off the shopping (mainly for my Mum who uses me as her personal shopper) my task was to get the kids an Easter present each but avoid chocolate, preferably slippers.  Target, however, at 2pm on Easter Eve was not cooperating size wise for slippers only & I ended up instead with a selection of slippers, coloured skinny leg jeans, hooded jumpers and flanelette Pj's plus a small chocolate side accompaniant all for $100 the lot!  Mum & the kids were most impressed. 

 

Sunday we spent the day celebrating at home, we had plans on going to the park or the beach, but the rain soon changed our minds and the kids didn't even want to go on a drive so a home day was settled upon.  The kids played up a storm and watched the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, they also watched Men in Black 2, but I fail to see the Easter significance in that one.  Do you know Foxtel only had Christmas movies on Easter Day????? Odd. 

 

And on Easter Monday we went to Alma Park Zoo for the day followed by a local beach for a wander, play at the park and some shell collecting. We went to Alma Park Zoo last year and the kids thought it was great, so this time when I saw a Scoopon I decided to purchase another family ticket for $34 and go along again.  This time Mr 1 was a little older so really enjoyed his day and the others enjoyed revisiting the animals and we even saw a few we missed last time such as the spotted Quolls and all of the Monkey/Orangutan area that was closed last time we went.  I got a kick out of the Monkey's, they are so funny to watch - rather amusing, but the Baboons really freaked me out, he was so person-like, it was like seeing an old man locked up in a cage (although Iv clearly never seen this in real life to compare it to) he seemed too wise the old monkey.    The food at the Zoo was even reasonable (thank goodness because I forgot to bring our lunch along!) with each of our lunches costing $5.00-$5.50 and the kids got a Fanta Slushee at the end for $3.00 each. 

 

So all in all we have had a great weekend with just the right measure of busy, fun and rest. I hope your family had a Happy Easter also!

 

Happy Birthday to Me. Turning 32..

A birthday shot c/o Hubby :)

 

Yesterday I turned 32, I had a lovely day down the coast with my wonderful husband & children who treated me to a shopping expedition & an afternoon at the beach.. Very spoilt :) Theres just something so relaxing about an afternoon spent at the beach. The kids playing in the sand & paddling in the water, so peaceful. A lovely way to spend one's birthday..

Soaking up the Sunshine..

 

Having fun at the park @ Broadbeach GC

 

 

Our Little Water Baby

 

 

Heads down, bums up.. the boys loved playing in the sand & water

 

If I look at where I am today I am happy with my life in most respects. I have a wonderful husband, have 2 wonderful boys (and the honour of calling 3 others my own), my family is great (although we don't catch up often enough), we have a comfortable home & I'm fortunate enough to have a great career under my belt with teaching (even though I don't do much with it at present) So where I'm sitting at 32 is pretty comfortable.

So furthering this, today I sat down & contemplated my 33rd year of life.. What do I want to accomplish this year? Where do I want to be in 1 years time from now.. Do I want to improve things, are there things I need to change or are there things that need to be eliminated from my life?

This year I would like to focus on reducing the stress in my life.. I feel that stress is making me feel ten times older and it's something I need to address. There were a few hurdles in the past year that I jumped & although I stumbled from time to time I was thankfully able to land on my feet in the end. Setting regular routines for the Children, getting Miss 11's ADHD better managed and working on being more organised overall will help I am sure.

Eliminating debt.. Due to some poor judgement calls I made in my early twenties I had some personal debt that followed me about for quite some time. I found out the other day that my credit rating resets itself in March this year, so im rather pleased about that! :) This year it is my goal to start putting aside some savings.

 

I would like to start up a hobby or a sport.. I dont really have any hobbies or sports under my belt as I stopped playing sport back in year 11, however, last year I took my son to Tae Kwon Do and really enjoyed it. Perhaps we could start up again when the term starts and take it from there. I did martial arts for 9 years when I was younger so it was something I felt comfortable with.  Other than that, walking and swimming are going to be high on my agenda this year too!

 

Catching up with friends and or making friends would be nice.. I dont really have a great social life as my Husband is my best friend & my family are my friends LOL.  The only friends I do have I rarely see, so I would like to forge some friendships based on common interests or even with fellow Mum's that 'get me' this year.  I plan on branching out to a playgroup now that Mr 1 is a little older so perhaps I will meet some like minded people there (although it's scary to think there may be people like me in the world out there somewhere! LOL)

 

Aside from that, I dont see any babies in my future this year although I have been thinking more and more about 'finishing' our family with one more addition and getting increasingly cluckier as Mr 1 gets older, however, the other night I decided  to wait until next year (and then i'll see how I feel about baby #3/ child #6)  Increasing my health, finishing off the reno's to our home, sorting out some of the kids issues, running after a very active toddler and spending some time with my boys will keep me well and truly occupied enough this year I feel.. and then some! 

 

So Happy Belated Birthday to Me, See you at 33! 

 

 

Kicking off the New Year in a Great Way!!!

 

I got very little sleep on New Years, sadly I wasn't out partying.. although we did have a fantastic night at home with the boys having a BBQ dinner, sparklers, Christmas crackers (that we forgot to bring out on Christmas) and lots of dancing (Mr 1 loves to boogie). 
 

 

 

We watched our local fireworks at a family friendly time and were later disappointed that they didn't do midnight fireworks this year (because it was the first night we'd stayed up to watch them..) so that was an interesting drive home with an upset Mr 7 (who was quite overtired by midnight but desperately wanted to see the new year in!)

 

After everyone else was tucked into bed.. I lay awake.. wrestless.. so I played too many apps on the Ipad until the early hours of the morning and fell asleep somewhere around 5am.. partied hard.

 

I woke up again at 8am.. to a new year.. 2013.. what do you have in store for me?  I think that is what I lay awake pondering so many hours before.. although one can never really predict what the year is going to bring/hold so I probably shouldn't have lost so many hours sleep..

 

But whatever the year was going to bring, we decided to start it off on the right foot and head to the beach!  Beautiful weather, the sun was shining and the boys were nice and happy, despite their late night antics so we headed up the coast to beautiful Mooloolaba on the QLD Sunshine Coast to go to Underwaterworld.

 

 

Iv been to Underwaterworld a handful of times, but I particularly love taking my boys when they are young.. Mr 7 first went when he was 11 months old and I loved seeing how in awe he was of everything (particularly the vending machine and the cane toads back then..) there is just so much for the little ones to see.. Mr 1 (17 months) had an absolute ball yesterday, checking out all the fish, calling the seal a 'goggy' (dog) and was absolutely mesmerized by all that he saw.. Mr 7 loved his return visit (having not been in about 3 years..) his favourite was of course the sharks and the otters. 
 

 

  

 

I personally love the turtles they are just so peaceful.. quite the opposite of my life I guess, hence the attraction.. :)

 

 

 

After Underwaterworld (and a quick stint in their gift shop where Mr 7 got a huge soft toy shark and Mr 1 got a soft toy stingray) we walked the dock and had a look at some gorgeous little shops that are there.  My favourite was Marine Dreams and after writing this I MUST go and see if they have a Facebook page because they had the absolute best beach homewares I have seen in a long while.. they were truly gorgeous! Im sure if they do have a Facebook page or a website Hubby will cringe because I believe I could spend a lot of $$ in a shop like that!  He was just thankful we live a fair way from it.. LOL.


So after shopping we then headed to Maroochy Beach for a picnic lunch and some beach play.  We didn't go into the water due to the 'marine stingers' warning (and we saw a few blue bottles here and there on the beach) so instead we built sandcastles (that Mr 1 destroyed), hunted for shells and rocks (to add to our 'beach bottles' keepsake) and went for a long walk admiring the beautiful sea and got our feet wet.. 

A beautiful day and a great way to start the year.. There should be more days like this one in 2013.. I hope 2013 brings you great health and happiness and that your new year kicked off to a great start xxx Dani xxx

New Space for the Boys.. Ideas!

2 years ago Indigo & Nicholas started sharing a room they are 19 months apart in age difference so we thought the combination of the two of them sharing the same room worked well as they had many of the same interests, toys etc. 2 years on at 7 & 9 they are still great roommates but their room is in need of an update. About 12 months ago my eldest stepson, now 12 also moved in with them, we are fortunate to have HUGE rooms in our house which easily accomodate 3 beds (I think even 4 could fit if Hayley was a boy, but no such luck, so no seperate toy room!) But Im in the middle of moving Tyler who is 12 soon to start highschool next year into his own room again..

 

Last time I decorated the boys room with a space theme, aliens and the like. I found a quilt I loved by Hiccups and worked the rest around it, finding great coordinates at the time at K-Mart for a great price!

 

Stock photo from Hiccups. Ill see if I can find a photo of the way our room is set up shortly..

 

 

However, the look is a little 'young' and I'd really like to explore something different, so this time iv decided to go with a beachy/surfy theme! Excited!

I always tend to start with the bed linen when decorating a room, so I went online to look for a doona cover but didn't have much luck. I was either going to go with a surf like print or a basic stripe that would last a little longer age-wise.

I'm drawing inspiration from the gorgeous beach house we stayed at in 2010 on Stradbroke Island, the beds in each of the kids rooms over there had striped quilt covers and they felt so relaxed and inviting! Vibrant & peaceful all at the same time :)

I found the following quilt covers at Pillow Talk, I'm a big fan of Hiccups linen, the boys old doona covers were Hiccups brand and they have most certainly stood the test of time but im unsure if this one is a little young, for the record I absolutely LOVE the KOMBI cushion and im trying to hunt that down, but have so far had no luck..

 





I really liked this next one, simple but still bright and effective with the surfboards at the end of the doona. But since the boys beds have bed ends, im not too sure if alot of the design will be 'lost'... The curtains they currently have in their room are green, so either of these 2 quilt covers will still allow me to keep the original curtains, which is a god send because the windows are HUGE.

The next two quilts are striped quilts which I dont mind and will still have a beachy feel..

I think I like the 1st quilt better than the second one..

 



 



At the moment the boys have a few corkboards in the room and they used to have a canvas with each of their names in chunky white letters, I will now put those letters onto the wall behind their beds, iv asked Hubby to install a large cork panel behind their beds for art work and such (as they get older i'd imagine a poster or two) and as far as canvas prints go, the funny space alien creatures might have to go for things more like;

 

I saw these prints in Loot and it was love at first sight!

 

 

Aside from that im going to be adding an expedit where there low line bookcase is in black/brown which will store some of their toys, books and keepsake/ornaments that are in the room.  We already have some funky red shelving on the wall, so ill give that a dust off and a redecorate and I think the room will feel so much more 7/9 year old :)

 

Ill be starting to do up the room later this week. I had a massive cleanout over the weekend to rid the room of some of it's clutter so im all ready to start ill put up some before/after progress pictures as I go.. so stay tuned :)

 



 

 

 

 

 



A Little Mini Break..

We just got back this afternoon from a 2 night mini-break after heading to the coast with my Husband's family. It was nice to take time out and catch up with everyone, which is something we haven't done much of this year as life can sometimes lead everyone in very different directions and things get busy. But a couple of days of bbq's, swimming, fishing, chatting and a deviation away from the regular routine was nice and probably just what was needed. After all, who could say no to such a beautiful view...

As much as we love getting away, we are big homebodies and enjoy coming home just as much! My Brother stays at our place whilst we are away to both housesit and petsit and this is a wonderful arrangement that works for all of us. He does a wonderful job and we go away reassured that our pets are happy, fed and comfortable and that our house is in safe hands.

Another thing that made our homecoming so nice was being able to unpack our bags without the burden of a million loads of washing piling up as I thought ahead last night and washed and dried everything before we headed home. Something I will definitely do in the future! So nice to not have wet, sandy washing to wake up to in the morning!