O-Oh!

We have a witch stuck in our fireplace;

And her cat doesn't look very happy!

Halloween Bunting

Halloween Gnomes

After a week of no sewing, I was feeling the urge to make something yesterday, but inspiration just didn't hit. Until, I saw the blog of creative Gingercake who shared her gorgeous Gnomes Tutorial.

There was no way I was going to bed last night until I had made some Gnomes myself and luckily (by some miracle!), I had all the materials on hand. I decided to go with some Halloween-themed fabric this time, but I plan to make many more to attach to Christmas presents as well.

They are too cute! Especially this one...

I love that little bendy hat!

Even my husband was impressed, 'You should make more of those' were his exact words.

(I will remind him of this, when he complains about the whir of the sewing machine while he is trying to watch Ice Road Truckers!).

Baby's First Halloween

I loved dressing up my babies for Halloween...

Livvie at 2 months old.

And Elly at 8 months old;

Aww...

Which soon became;

'Wah!!!! Get this ridiculous thing off my head!'

And now, somehow, Pre-schoolers aren't quite as cute when they cry about their Halloween costumes.

Halloween Fruit Cups

Last year, we had a day-time Halloween party for the girls and their little friends.

I had grand plans of Nick carving some jack-o-lanterns from Oranges (as Halloween pumpkins are hard to find in Australia!), but I suddenly had a great late-night-idea (or so I thought) and asked him to just draw jack-o-lantern faces onto some orange plastic cups...

...which became fruit cups for the kids, filled with grapes, strawberries and celery sticks.

Much less time-consuming and just as effective.

Which was good, considering not a single one was eaten... due to the enormous amounts of sweets and candy on offer too!

Salt Dough Decorations

Sticking to 'quiet activities' has been a bit tricky with two {sometimes} energetic little girls, but this is one activity that kept the girls very busy at the craft tables today;


We made Salt Dough Decorations, using the basic recipe:

2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water

Mould into desired shapes, then bake at 120 Celcius (250F) for 2.5 hours.

We made some Halloween decorations...

Some fruity pendants;

And a whole range of oddities from our play-dough cutters, cookie cutters and anything else that could be used for an imprint. In fact, I made up 3 lots of salt dough, they loved it so much.

I highly recommend this activity - you will wonder where the afternoon has gone and the children will have a whole collection of lovely little treasures and keepsakes.

The Big Day

Livvie had the operation to remove her tonsils on Monday. She was so excited about it; I must have done too-good-a-job keeping it all positive (and she'll probably never believe another word I say!). Also, the hospital had a great 'Orientation' last week;

Meanwhile, I was terrified... about the anaesthetic, the procedure itself and of course, her recovery (ie everything!). However, on the day I was pleasantly surprised when told Liv could choose the flavour of the gas in her mask...'Chocolate? Strawberry? Bubble Gum? Pink Lemonade?'

She is definitely her mother's daughter; 'Chocolate!' was her excited reply.

She was so brave and went off to sleep beautifully. The operation was only half-an-hour [ie. 30 minutes of torture for parents!] and when she woke up, she was given a lemonade icy-pole to suck on. The nurse moved away as I greeted Livvie and the very first thing she said to me was 'Where has that nurse gone? Has she gone to get me an ice cream?'. Needless to say, she was still quite affected by the anaesthesia and fell asleep mid-suck a few minutes later.

Two hours later she woke up and told me all about a dream she had about 'a big paper clip that was opening and closing and it was all dressed up in fabric!' . Awesome!

The rest of the day was spent resting, being given pain medication, eating ice cream (I stopped counting at 5), more icy-poles and playing with her little sister who didn't want to leave her side, even for a second. It is amazing how intuitive little ones are, when it comes to things like this and Elly was particularly clingy to her both before and after the surgery. Very sweet.

And they both loved listening to this book, that her Grandmother gave her for the big day;

(She kept asking 'Is there really a hippopotamus on the roof? This roof? A real hippopotamus?')

Livvie and I stayed overnight at the hospital. Before drifiting off, I texted Nick at home;

'Give Elly lots of kisses from me. I am so muddleheaded - I didn't even pack a bag for myself (no jammies, toothbrush etc)'.

Then...

'I think this is the closest I will ever get to camping - roughing it on a parent's bed, in the children's ward of the SAN'

Then...

'Goodnight! I love you the muchest, as Liv would say. Beep, beep, beep goes the childrens ward. Clang, clang, clang go the trolleys. Chk-chk boom! go the auto lock doors... How's the serenity at home?'

Despite all this, we were both asleep by 6.30pm and actually had a good night's sleep. Anything would be better than the wake-ups we have had, all night long, for the past two and a half months!

Now we have two more weeks of being quarantined at home. 'No Pre-School' ('boo' says Livvie) and 'No visiting busy public places like shopping centres' ('Hooray!' I say - Grocery shopping is the bane of my existence).

So we'll be doing 'quiet activities', resting lots and eating tonnes of ice cream and other frosty delights. Elly can't believe her luck.... She gets all the perks and has none of the pain!

And I am in awe of Livvie; she hardly ever complains and is the best little patient ever. (Although when she was in quite a lot of pain today, she did ask if the doctor could put her tonsils back IN because 'it doesn't feel very good having them out').

The doctor predicts she will be 'miserable' on Day 4 (that would be tomorrow), Day 5 and Day 6. I had better start planning my distractions now...

Friday

After being cooped-up for so long at home, I took the girls to the beach for some fresh air, a play on the sand and a [little] splash in the water;

The doctor warned me that the medication Liv is on, would 'ramp her up'. He was right! In addition to being over-tired and sick, she also has endless energy. Not a great combination!

The beach was the perfect place to go... lots of space to run around and play, without the fear of her catching any more bugs before her op on Monday (we had to cancel preschool and sadly, a playdate with cousins from Queensland - who are themselves sick with the flu - this week).

We went to Manly, for the softest sand, the best icecream and the most scenic swings;

I parked the car about a block from the beach, in a parking station opposite a strip of cafes and this vacant lot;

We crossed the road to get a closer look;

And found this 'Flip Flop Art Fence';

Mamma Bear

This was what I worked on during nap time this week...

The ears are not quite round enough and her arms are quite thick (I didn't realise how stretchy felt can be!), but that's ok. She's supposed to look a bit odd. I do like her little apron and stripey tights;

When I showed the girls, they thought she was cute!

Then Liv asked 'But where is the Pappa Bear and Baby Bear?'

And Elly asked 'Where is Goldilocks and the house?'

Sounds like I have a bit more work to do!

Fond Memories

[Exactly one year ago today, I wrote this post on our private, family blog]

It's Wednesday Night...

One hour until bathtime ...

36 degrees (96.8F) outside...

Time to get out the paints;

(They thought they were painting rocks)

Until I told them to strip off...

and get creative!

I showed them how to paint their arms and tummies...

It didn't take them long to join in;

Liv has always loved painting her feet and toes...

And this time got to decorate her little sister's too;

Elly looked a little bit unsure about all the extra attention she was getting;

I hope you know what you're doing with that paintbrush!

I soon had a request for face-painting;

And seeing as Nick was so hard at work 'supervising' the kids

(ie. lying down with his eyes closed)...

...I thought he could do with a moustache too!

He forgave me...

And we all had...

the best evening ever!

A Chill-out Craft

Something relaxing for little hands...

Simply winding some wool around a stick.

Although it does require some concentration, it is not too tricky and has a beautiful calming effect, watching and feeling the wool go around and around....

Good for winding down at the end of a long day too!

Nick often spends time drawing with the girls when he gets home from work. He finds it relaxing and they can tell him about their day in words and pictures. However, I think this might be the new favourite activity.

I put together a little basket of sticks and wool and left it by our fireplace;

It is amazing how often it has been used lately. Elly often picks up a stick and says she is being 'Knitty Kitty', a character from a book we read recently.

Such a simple, lovely little activity. Try it for yourself and see how soothing it is!

Thanks to Kids Craft Weekly for the inspiration in their "Chill-out Crafts" newsletter

A home

for our cuddly creations;

Picnic

Livvie is in quarantine at home until her operation on Monday and so she missed out on the Teddy Bears Picnic at PreSchool today.

So it was decided that we would have our own little picnic at home...

The girls had their own ideas about organising this!

Special friends were invited;

(Party hats were worn by all)

Bunting - from Elly's 2nd birthday - was strung up;

There were toadstools to sit upon...

And music was played...

Fairy biscuits were eaten and refreshing Iced Tea (water) was sipped...

And a good time was had by all!

The picnic is still set up and I expect there will be another one tomorrow...

Mister Rooster

This lovely fellow should have taken me about an hour to make. Instead, it took me three days! Craft time has been seriously curtailed by looking after two sick little girls.

Liv saw the ENT yesterday and is booked in for a Tonsillectomy later this month. Hopefully that will cure her snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (Hallelujah!). In the meantime she needs to get well and was prescribed two more antibiotics (this is after 6 rounds of antibiotics which have not worked!).

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, Elly has come down with a nasty cough. She coughed all night long last night. I think we were up with her every half hour or so! So...we are all sick and tired of being sick and tired! A puppet show with Mister Rooster cheered them up a bit this afternoon. That, and the ice-cream. Doctors orders.