Hop To It

I can't believe it's that time of year again, April is here and so is Easter. 

As usual we don't do things the simple or easy way in our house. I could easily have given Ol a couple of eggs to take and give to his kinder friends, but instead I turned it into a craft activity for us to do. It was pretty easy and kept him (and me occupied for some time yesterday whilst Imogen  was asleep. 

I originally tried cutting out the ears myself from plain white paper. The perfectionist in me wasn't happy with the mismatched ears I was getting, so I quickly jumped into the computer and created some templates to print out. So much easier for Ol to them colour in (or dictate to me to colour in). There were specific requests for his best friends to have custom ears - Spider-Man, Captain America and Optimus Prime. 

I gave Ol the job of sticking the bunny's tails (cotton wool balls) on the back of the eggs. I then got the fiddly bits of sticking on the ears and whiskers (some white 4ply cotton yarn I had lying around from previous projects). Pretty happy with how they turned out and he was so excited to get to kinder and hand them out to his friends. 

A Room for a Birthday

We've recently started to put together the nursery for our latest little addition to the McWoodstree family. There's still a few little things to tweak before it's finished and I'll pop it up. It made me realise that the last bedroom we did was for O almost 2 years ago. Where has the time gone?

We had made the decision that for his second birthday we would buy him a big boy bed, mainly because he'd discovered how to climb out of his cot. Instead of just buying a bed we thought it would be even more special to move him out of the nursery and into his very own brand new big boy bedroom.

The initial inspiration came from the curtains. I had made these (my very first attempt) for the nursery when he was a baby. These set the colour scheme for the room. I took a left over swatch of the material off to Bunnings to colour match the paint so it would be an exact match.

For the lettering it was as easy as searching online for a font I liked. I can't remember what the font was, but my favourite website for free fonts is fontspace. I printed the letters out and traced them onto the wall before I painted the. If I were to do it again I'd paint them in white first before painting the colour over the top. Though I think it turned out pretty well anyway.

Of course the room has developed and grown over the last almost 2 years. Mum's beautiful quilt has been finished and completed my vision. We've also added an Ikea toy holder as somewhere to keep the millions of his stuffed toys and a rainbow mosquito net that was handed down to him from his cousin. The most recent addition has been the shelves as somewhere else to keep some of his more special toys and all important money box.

I'm now contemplating buying a big decal of either a pirate ship, robot or dinosaurs to go on the blue wall. This is the best thing about the room that we initially created - whilst it had enough character it is still such a blank canvas to be able to add things to as his likes change and he grows up. We started with a Thomas doona cover for his 2nd birthday, but his favourite characters now are Octonauts and half the Marvel universe. Luckily it's pretty easy to change.

A
xoxoxo

Mmmm...muffins!!!

It's been a bit of a miserable week in Melbourne - lots and lots of rain. I love it when it rains, but makes it a little difficult with a toddler. Whilst the skies seem to have dried up a little today, our backyard is a bit of a quagmire, so what am I to do with him other than watch Cars for the 671st time?

I had almost a whole punnet of blueberries in the fridge that I knew weren't going to be eaten (I attempted to give them to Master O in a fruit salad Monday morning, but were spat out even hidden amongst all the yoghurt). So I decided why not do some baking? Great activity to do with a 2 year old, as long as you're in a patient mood.

I have quite a few wonderful cookbooks around the house (including my all time favourite Women's Weekly 'Cook'), however I always seem to turn to the 'Taste' app on my iPad first. I love it when you're in the mood to cook or bake and you have all the ingredients already at home, which is what happened this morning. I made these blueberry muffins, but did substitute one cup if wholemeal self-raising flour for one cup of the plain sr flour and added a bit of vanilla, just because. They turned out very yummy, and I don't feel as guilty eating them knowing they've got a bit of wholesomeness to them (my logic). 

Master O loved getting his hands in the bowl to help rub the butter into the flour and then stirring everything together, but think licking the spoon at the end was definitely the best part. 

So we're now off to Ikea to grab some coat hangers (and maybe some meatballs). Kati helped me go through my wardrobe Wednesday afternoon and there is a lot that is no longer in there, so I now know exactly how many I need to but. I also Need to get onto eBay to sell some of the clothes I'm getting rid of, and drop the others off to an op shop somewhere. Could be a busy day ahead...

A

xoxo

Better Late Than Never, School Holidays Round Up.

So as the school holidays came to a close, I finally found time to write my first post and FINALLY post it!

Here at the McWoods household it was busier than the Bertie Beetle showbag stand!

Other than our family Oktoberfest/Shepkids festival trip to Pucka, we enjoyed many, many special treats!

The first Tuesday A, Mum and I took our 2 year olds and Master 7 to the Royal Melbourne Show. 

Oh boy was it a long day! 

We managed to see the animals, crafts, a few rides, lots of showbags and of course lunch with the CWA. 

I think we need to plan our day a bit more if we are going again.

But at the end of the day we had 3 happy and tired kids, and 3 exhaisted adults!

Then it was back to Pucka for Miss E, Master A and myself for a few days.

The highlight was Master A having a try at rock climbing at the army gym and discovering he really DOESN'T like heights.

Grand Final weekend came - a weekend of friends, drinks and apparently a footy game somewhere.

We woke up Monday and it was time to travel to the hills for the Tesselaar Tulip Festival. 

It was a first for both A and I, as well as the kids, and it was a fun day out!

We arrived about 11 and left just after 3. 

Even though it was the children's day, We could not believe the amount of people there!

It was great to see the kids run around and spot all the things to see, to touch, to pick (oops!) and play.

There were games along the way,along with a fairy and gnome garden to discover. 

As is normal, we couldn't leave without a trip to the souvenir shop where we ended up purchasing a $2.50 lucky dip for each of the kid.

They all LOVED the lollies and the toy animals, Master A scored with both a bird whistle and a gnome on a toadstool figurine!

Then came "calm down Tuesday"... or so we thought! 

A trip to the cinemas to see "Planes", who would have thought it would have ended the way it did!

Master A was excited, as was Mister O, and Miss E had no idea what was happening. 

It was at this point I would like to point out that this is the 3rd trip to the cinemas with all 3 kids this year!

It then started and Miss E was up, ready to play. 

I took her up the back to the door, but that didn't quell her playful ways so it was out to the foyer the torment the One Direction teens.

All in all, Master A was entranced, A and Mister O saw about half of the movie, Miss E and I saw more like 20 minutes. Definitely a movie I will be trying to see again for sure!

It was then time for lunch and the Pancake Parlour was calling! 

2 coffees, 2 babycinos and 1 hot chocolate and then the sugar hit! Wriggles everywhere and flying the 2 planes that came with the movie combos, I'm sure we were driving everyone around us nuts!

However, more sugar was to be had with the kids eating pancakes with syrup, ice cream and fudge sauce. 

After that indulgence we checked out the Lego area that Eastland had set up for the school holidays.

It was something so simple, but kids were quiet impressed!

There was a large lego 'ranger' and a love boat model to look at.

There was a duplo area and both the "babies" were ready to run amok, stealing other kids blocks and building fantastic towers! I had never seen Miss E build more than 3 blocks together!

Over at the "grown up" Lego area Master A was creating an Egyptian Pyramid masterpiece, complete with a pool!

After prising the kids away, a little running around at home for my two eventually tired out.

Then the rest of the week was spent cleaning, organising and getting ready for the new school term.

Friday night Master A and I went out with my in laws to the WORLD PREMIERE of "The Magic Pudding" opera, we were even seated in the FRONT row!

We felt so special and had a great night!

We got to see the conductor and all the musicians.

It was great timing too as Mum and I had just finished reading the book with Master A.

As my parents-in-law have both been involved in the opera field, they knew quiet a few people and Master A thought it was amazing that their names were (again) in the program!

To cap off the full of fun holidays, we were off to Westfield Southland for Master A to take part in the (highly anticipated) Lego Chima Champs competition. After getting there at 10.50 we rushed to find where we were meant to be, fortunately it was NOT hard to miss!

After waiting approximately half an hour in a massive line (with miss E not really wanting to be in her stroller!), we FINALLY got to the front of the line where Master A received a wristband and lane number. 

He was in a group with three other 7 years old, he didn't really pick up that they were his competitors, so was trying to help them as much as he could. 

In the end they all received on 'Chi' and tied, so the prizes were split between them all and Master A received a key ring.

Master A was then told that if he wanted to win a better prize, he could line up and try again.

So off we went to grab some lunch (and a BIG coffee!) and to the back of the line.

After a 20 minute wait we were at the front again, only to be told he could have another go, but he would NOT be able to win another prize.

So a disheartened master A had another go, and he WON! 

The instructor went to give him a prize, but being who master A is, he explained to the man that he couldn't have another prize and ran to me in tears.

After explaining to the instructor the situation, and that would have left it if he hadn't won, he chatted with his boss and gave Master A a show bag. He was VERY appreciative, it made his day! We did have a look at some shop and ended up getting Miss E a play school sticker book for being such a good girl and sitting in her stroller while Master A enjoyed his championship. She was over the moon with this book, I had never seen her react like this to anything! It was priceless!

I'm not sure if I am looking forward to getting back in routine - the house being kept clean and having some quiet time with Miss E while Master A gets back into school, or if I will miss all the smiles, laughs and fun these holidays have brought...

But only time will tell.

K. 

Pucka (and Shepparton) in the Spring

School holidays in Victoria are underway, and what better way for them to begin than our annual trip up to Mum and Dad's at Puckapunyal for Oktoberfest. This year we left the big boys to go have the alcoholic 'fun' whilst mum, Kati and I took the kids up to Shepparton for SheppKidsFest. 

We could not believe how many people there were! For only $2 for each adult to get in and the kids free it was a great way to spend a gorgeous spring day. First point of call after a most important coffee stop was the miniature railway, though the queue to get the tickets probably took up more of our time than the actual train journey. The kids did love it though, and Ollie didn't want to get off. 

After some nostalgia with a Humphrey show the kids pretty much spent the remainder of the afternoon playing on all the different playgrounds. I doubt there was a slide left the Ella had not slid down. 

We could not leave without visiting the animals, though they were mostly goats. The kids loved it and Ayden was super excited to see a turkey. 

The most exciting part of the weekend was definitely still to come. Sunday morning before we all headed off home we took all 4 puppies for a walk round the base and came across the CFA doing their training in the yard of the fire station. After walking over to take a look at the fire truck we were offered the opportunity to climb all over it. Given Ollie is adoring Fireman Sam at the moment there could not have been a better offer made to him. 
 

  

And after lunch that was another weekend over and one tuckered little toddler who slept the whole way home. 

A

xoxo

Stripey Crochet Giraffe

We had a very BIG day yesterday taking the kids to the Show. So with Ol off at crèche today and me feeling horrid after coming down with a horrible cold it's going to be a day on the couch trying to knock off the edging of the remaining 10 squares of my textured knitted throw. I have been working on this for months and once I finally stop procrastinating and get it finished I look forward to sharing the final result.

When I began this throw I'd never crocheted before. Whilst all the squares are knitted, the edging is crocheted. With mum not being around and easily accessible for a lesson I went searching the net (as you do) and have managed to teach myself mainly off the wonderful thing called YouTube. In my searching, however, I came across some gorgeous things to create. And me being me, instead of finishing what I'd started before moving on to the next thing I decided to give this little cutie a go.

I found him here at this blog called I Love Buttons By Emma (and I love the name). The instructions were pretty easy to follow as a newbie and she's made some changes to where the pattern was wrong since. Given it was my first ever attempt at crochet I'm pretty pleased how she turned out. Whilst I could have kept her I felt she needed to be with a little person that will hopefully love her the way she deserves, so I packed her up as part of a welcome to this world present for our neighbour's newborn baby girl.

I have plans to make another, possibly for Ollie in some blues and greens, but I keep finding more and more different things I want to make. My list just keeps getting longer and longer, but first I have to get back and finishing the edging on those knitted squares...

A
xoxo