Autumn, you are welcome here...

 

I am longing for the days of Autumn to roll around. I can feel they are getting closer. The mornings are cooler, the leaves are turning lovely shades of brown, yellow and red and falling to the ground and the winter fashions are in store!
My little man and I have been collecting Autumn inspired things from our walks to the beach and around our house and I decided to put them all together to make an interest table (something I would have done with my pre primary kids when I was teaching).

We collected pine tree leaves (I don't know if leaves are the right word for the spinney things but it will do), pine cones, magpie feathers and fallen leaves and we displayed them in our living room. I also added some Autumn colour scarves and a paper bunting that I whipped up quickly.
We also love to paint and we just bought a new painting easel from Ikea so I put out some Autumn coloured paints and we used the leaves we collected to do some paintings to add to our display.

Autumn time is also Easter time so we added a wooden cross to remind us about Jesus love for us and the sacrifice he made for us. To all my Aussie readers, do yo have any great Easter art projects for little ones that are not spring related? So no chicks or bunnies and stuff like that. I would love to hear your ideas.

We finally have our internet connected, yay! We are just waiting for our new modem to arrive which will make everything a lot faster and I am still waiting for my camera to be fixed. It is really starting to bug me that I have no camera. I am always taking pictures of my little guy and it is just not the same having to use my phone. Please hurry up camera repair people.

My little boys creative space...

It has been so much fun unpacking all of Williams toys and things and setting up his play room. He is now starting to really get into imaginative play so I have been setting up invitations to play that involve toys that he can role play with. One of his (and mine) favorite things at the moment is his farm house.

I found this cute little wooden doll house in the thrift store for $2 and thought it would make the perfect farm house for Will. We already had 'The Little People' farm set which includes animals, farm fence, people and tractors and I added some green felt pieces for the grass.

I bought the wooden house furniture from Spotlight (craft store) and he likes rearranging the furniture in the little house. I love to hear him making the animal noises and tractor noises as he moves them around his little farm.
We also like to take our play adventures outside. We spread out a blanket under the shady trees and we sit and play with the zoo animals (Will just loves animals of all shapes and sizes).

We fed the animals leaves that we had collected from under the trees and made the animals eat and splash around in our blue felt water hole. I am really enjoying Will at this age. It is a world of discovery and he is learning so many new things.

If you would like some more fun play ideas for children head on over to Childhood101 and check out the We Play post. Or if you have some great ideas you could share and link up as well.

Babies Proms

Sorry about the quality of my photos but I am still without my camera and I am working with my iPhone at the moment. It is nice to be rocking my sweet vintage dress again and I managed to find the perfect belt and shoes to go with it. I picked up the belt the other day a a thrift store in my local area that I had not visited before which now will be added to my list of stores to hit once a month. I also picked up these shoes for $5 at Kmart, great bargain. 

I wore this outfit yesterday to take my little boy and my niece to the listen to the WA Youth Orchestra.

It was a special performance put on just for little cherubs and it was just delightful. They played music for the children and introduced them to the different instruments - their names and the sounds that they made and some children got the opportunity to conduct the orchestra.

Despite the picture of Will with his fingers in his ear he really enjoyed the performance. It was lovely to see him watching eagerly and clapping along with the audience. In the last song they allowed the children to come down from their seats and go and stand next to their favorite instrument. Will jumped out of his seat and ran straight down and stood next to the big bass drum. He watched the girl play and then he had a turn at hitting the drum during the song. I may have a nother musician on my hands (the hubby plays the drums, guitar and piano). It was such a lovely afternoon spent with my sister and our kiddies.

My most prized possessions is my red arm chair. I acquired it from a second hand furniture shop and I just adore it. It is red, vintage and and the most comfortable chair ever. I used to sit in it and breast feed my son when he was little, when I am feeling unwell or just plain tiered I love to snuggle up in it with a blanket and a cup of tea and watch Seinfeld episodes. It is my happy place. 
If I could be one age for the rest of life it would have to be 30. I have had a fantastic 30th year. Life is and has been pretty wonderful and I am very contented with my lot in life at the moment. I have a loving husband and a wonderful little boy. I love my family, I love my friends and I love my job. I have and will continue to travel the world, I am pretty fit and healthy and I am just having a great time right now :)
The best way to spend a weekend is with my little family. I love family time where we go swimming, get take out and eat it at the beach or go shopping together. As long as we are together I really don't mind what we are doing.
My outlook on life is you only get one life so you better live it right. It is as simple as that. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind is good advice as well. Remember the bettles song 'All you need is Love'?
If you want to annoy me, just touch my feet, why am I telling you this, nobody better annoy me by touching my feet! You will probably get kicked for it if you do :)  
I am completely defenseless when it comes to shopping, I love it and I do it where ever I go! I have shopped my way around the world and I will probably continue to do it. I even love window shopping, I love looking at all the weird and wonderful things in quirky antique stores, checking out the new fashion trends in clothing stores and I love perusing the craft stores as well.
When dressing for the day one should always check themselves in a full length mirror before going out in public. Check that your skirt is not caught up in your knickers, that you don't have lip stick on your teeth and that there is no toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe!  

Check out more blanks at The Little Things We Do... 
Hope you have a lovely weekend xoxo 

Things I am loving...

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is. 

Paisley Jade

Here are the simple things I am loving this week...

 I am loving tinted moisturiser. Why didnt I start using this earlier, I have no idea but I am sure glad that I have discovered it. I love it, I now dont have to wear foundation everyday and this gived me a good even skin tone.

I am loving being reunited with the rest of my clothes after having them packed away for 6 months. They have all survived being in storage for that long and it is just like wearing new clothes.

I am loving $10 shoes from Kmart. Cute shoes and at a cheap price that is the kind of shopping that I like.

I am loving my new Ikea bookshelves and my wonderful husband for putting them all together (we bought three last weekend and he finally put them all together for me). I have one in my bedroom and I am now one organised chickydee :)

And of course I am loving my new beach shack, I love it, love it, LOVE IT :)

Pop on over to Paisley Jades blog to check out more of the things people are loving this week, you will be glad you did bcause you will come across some more lovely blogs to read :)

Summer is still trying to hang on here in the land of Oz. Technically it is Autumn but today we had a temperature of 35 degrees and tomorrow it is going to be 36 degrees! Since I missed out on most of the summer this year because we were in the states I dont really mind that the warmer weather is still hanging around. It still gives me the opportunity to wear all of my summer dresses and that is always a good thing.

I picked up this cute little bag at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago and it is just like Mary Poppins carpet bag, bottom less! It looks small but it can fit a while lot of stuff in it. I was able to fit 3 CDs and my lunch box in it this morning along with all my other junk, now that is impressive.

Absence only makes the heart grow fonder

Well it has been awhile since last posted so let me tell you what I have been up to. We have moved into a new house and at the moment we have no internet so at the moment I am at my in laws house borrowing their computer. Also to add to having no internet my camera is busted and it has been sent away to be repaired so I cant even take any happy snaps.

So the lack of internet and camera means I have been hard at work. I have been working at school a lot, working out like a mad woman at the gym and I have also been unpacking and sorting out our house.

I am in love with our new home. It is the cutest little old beach shack. It has high ceilings, wooden floors, large rooms, the cutest little kitchen, a big back yard with lovely trees and it is about 150 meters from the beach. We love sitting in our living room (which is a converted veranda) on these warm evenings with the windows open wide and the gentle sea breeze blowing in to cool us down.

It has been fun unpacking all of our stuff, discovering old treasures. William has especially loved it - t is just like Christmas time for him!
Also I have been reunited with all my lovely clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories. They were one of the first things I unpacked and I am very excited to be wearing them again. But can you believe it, I have yet to locate my tripod so still no outfit photos. 

Our house feels like the little old holiday home we used to stay in when we used to go down to Peaceful Bay at Christmas time. So we feel like we are still on holidays when we are home it is great. I am having a great time decorating our little cottage and cant wait to show you some pictures. Here is a few I took of our little kitchen before the camera died...

Hope you are enjoying life as much as I am right now and have your fingers crossed that I get my internet up and running, that my camera gets fixed ASAP and that I can find my tripod :)

My biggest accomplishment in life thus far... ummmm, I thought about this one for awhile I guess one thing I am glad to accomplish was getting my university degree. In high school I hated studying and I never completed my university entrance exams. I did not believe that I was smart enough to go to uni. A few years after high school I decided that I wanted to study to become a teacher so I sat my mature aged entrance exam and I passed with flying colours. I then went on to study for four years and I did reasonably well. I actually enjoyed university and I love teaching so I am really glad that mu hubby encouraged me to give it a go.
 

My favorite place to sit in my house is in my red rocking chair. I t is super comfy and I love to sit back, put my feet up and drink tea. I also love it because it was where I used to sit when I breast feed my little boy and I would sit and have cuddles with him and every time I sit in it I am reminded of those precious moments with my son.

My fashion philosophy is everything looks better with accessories! I love accessories and I have a lot of them.

 

Something every girl should have is probably a million different things but if I had to name one it would be a good hairdresser and beautician. A good hair cut and lovely shaped eye brows really make the difference to your face. 

If you looked in my purse right now you would find ... well I have just been to work today and I was teaching sport, so in my bag you would find my work keys, water bottle, whistle, hat, suncream, deoderant, purse and my phone. If I was out with my little boy you would then find snacks, nappy's, wipes and toys.

My favorite music right now is anything by Elton John. I am loving that guy right now.

My favorite part of my body is my eyes. I actually have terrible eye sight and I have worn glasses ever since I was 4 years old. And when I say terrible I really mean it. I truly can not see a thing without them. Despite my poor sight I really like my eyes because they are a brilliant shade of blue. I see them every time I look at my son because he has the exact same colour as mine. I love them.

Happy weekend everybody!
xoxo

Things I am loving

I am loving second hand toys. This week I picked up a few toys from the op shops and the flea market for my little man and he has been playing endlessly with them all week. I also went on a trip up to Toys-R-Us to have a look at their stock and see if I could score any bargains. The toys were reasonably priced the cost just adds up when you have a few items to buy. So I am so grateful to be able to find some pre loved toys that my little guy loves.

I am loving not having to cook. At the moment I am living with my hubbys parents and they love to cook so I have been lucky enough not to have to make any meals for the two and a half weeks I have been here, but don't worry I don't get out of it that easily. Who ever dose not cook has to clean away and do the dishes.

I am loving  gumtree.com.au. Gumtree is a free classifieds website where you can find stuff available in your local area. I have been scouring the pages looking for bargains on household furniture and children's toys. There are lots of great things available at great prices. My hubby set one rule for me though, I am not allowed to buy anything until we have a house so I have just been browsing.

I am loving these suitcases that I found at the thrift store yesterday. After a good clean they will find a home in my little boys bedroom next to his bed. They are going to be perfect for storing blankets, toys and out of season clothes in them. I am also loving the little old ladies that were working at the thrift store. I took William with me yesterday which I don't normally do and the little ladies were so kind and sweet to him. They sat and chatted with him and even gave him a free toy to take home. I don't usually take Will to the thrift stores because I take such a long time looking at everything and he gets bored of waiting for me, but yesterday he was so good thanks to the shop ladies :)

Head on over to Paisley Jade to see more lovely little posts about the simple pleasures in life.

gone fishing...

On Sunday evening we went out fishing on the boat and William caught his very first 'real' fish. He was so excited as he helped Daddy to reel it in. I am really glad that he loves going out fishing as Greg and his Dad enjoy fishing together and go out all the time and now the Will is old enough he will also be able to join them. They can have some great manly bonding time!

On Monday the rest of the family (the hubbys family) joined us out on the boat again. This time we tried out the ski biscuit for the first time and we took it in turns to ride in the boat or to be pulled along behind it.  We set up our sun shade on the sand and sat and watched the boat whizzing around the bay and we ate snacks and watched Will play in the sand and surf.

I have had such a great long weekend and now we are all exhausted. At least there are only 4 more days until the next weekend where we will probably all need a sleep in and a relax :)

Weekend Adventures and more thrifty treasures

We live in a little seaside city in Western Australia. On the weekend the place comes alive and especially this weekend as it is a long weekend here. The beaches and down town are always packed full of people.

On Sunday morning the hubby, little man and I headed down to our local flea market which is in the old part of town down by the foreshore. After finally finding a parking spot, we stopped off in Dome cafe to pick up a coffee and then we started browsing the stalls.

I am happy to say that the market has grown in size since we were last there and there was lots to see and buy. There is always a great assortment of people at the market too so it was a good people watching event! 

We came away with a few bargains - a solid wood coffee table which we struggled to fit in the back of our car, a basil plant, a road mat and some toys for the little man. The market is pretty god for finding secondhand kiddies stuff. Some of it needs a good clean and you can always barter with the vendor (which my hubby is awesome at) to get a better deal.

We stopped half way around for fuel for the little man, a good old sausage in a bun cooked on the BBQ, how very Aussie. We then headed home for our lunch and a rest before we headed out again in the afternoon, there will be more on our afternoon adventures to come.