She's like Neon

What colour describes my girl?
She is sweet and generous, but she's no pastel.

She is bright and original, but she's no primary colour.

She is a pop of happiness, a spark of brightness, a flash of fun.

She is cheeky, dramatic, radiant, and big-hearted.

(And she is occasionally so lively that it hurts the eyes!)

She is neon.
And today we celebrate 5 years of fluoro pink, orange, green and yellow in our life.

A Watercolour Party

Jump in and enjoy the cool of India's 5th birthday party...

 Watercolour invitations (painted by India).

 Blue and green fruit cups

 Salted malted blue macarons

 Dolphin biscuits

 Peppermint patties

 Swimming with friends

An ombre iced cake

 Making wishes!

 Very tall slices

 12 mermaid take home gifts...

...made with this free Wee Wonderfuls Mermaiden pattern

A happy gorgeous girl!

Aga oven dreams

We've been dreaming of a tree change for a couple of years 

(maybe more?)

Plenty of families do. 

Escaping the stress, the rushing, the 'neighbourhood', the extra-curricular activities, and their everyday normal.

Just dreams, right?

But this one is is sticking. And we are thinking seriously. 

Talking, investigating, planning and dreaming. 

It can get overwhelming. 

So I need to lay out why. Keep a hold of it. 

Make sure it's not lost in the dream chasing.

I want my daughter with asthma & eczema to breathe fresh air.

I want to raise creative, imaginative children who have room to run and dance and explore outside.

I want my kids to learn resilience. To learn to cope with a new home, school and friends.

I want creation to feature in my 'everyday', 

and to remember to worship it's Creator.

I want family time to be defined. (Yes, a tree change will mean Tim living away from the family for the working week, which we do currently anyway. But work-free weekends? Wonderful!)

I want to grow veggies. I want to eat simple and fresh.

I want less stuff to occupy the brain of my "I'm bored" daughter, and more adventure to occupy her heart.

I want a house that needs colour, love and laughter.

I want to practice some real hospitality. We will be far from family and those we love. It will be hard. But it will be so pleasing to say 'Come and visit us. Rest. Renew.'

And one last thing. 

I want simple, but not the easy road.

I always do.