Christmas Plans and a Boy

It's a non conventional Christmas lead up for us.

I would like to be decorating the house.

I would like to be making and assembling gingerbread houses.

I would like to be catching up with friends and celebrating.

I would like to be writing lists and dreaming of food.

I would like to be making merriment and enjoying the children's anticipation of Christmas.

Oh I had plans.

But.

A trip to the ER happened. More than once.

Erythema Multiforme happened

and will be happening for a few more hot weeks.

Itching. Fever. Swelling. Bruising. 

And a boy who needs special care, happened.

So I have to lay down my Christmas plans.

Pare it back.

Love.

A baby boy.

Thankfulness.

And if that is what Christmas is all about then perhaps I'm closer than I thought.

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.

Spring break wraps up

Exhausted: Ourselves at Seaworld and Wet 'n' Wild
Sipped: Salted Caramel frappes and banana smoothies
Read: Snow Falling on Cedars, Nancy Drew, and Fancy Nancy
Practiced: Handstands, ballet dances and swimming skills
Stomped: Through rainforest walks and in cow pats, at Murwillumbah NSW
Watched: Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings, Downton Abbey season 3
Created: An art gallery, a chicken hackey sack, and a ballet bag
Listened: To Of Monsters and Men, and Jewel's The Merry Goes Round
Played: The There's a Monster at the End of this Book app, and Mancala
Ate: Sushi, and dinners cooked on the Weber (with no oven or stove at the moment)
Enjoyed: Slow mornings, and the company of good friends and family
Built: A super awesome cubby, lego houses and gardens and vehicles
Shopped: For new togs and some fluro
Savoured: All three kids at home, well and (mostly) getting along

Zeb's room

Two years on from this post, 

and it's time to show you our not-so-baby-anymore boys room.

A new bed.

A new print (Desert camping by thelittlecanoe),

covered canvas,

and homemade ikat quilt.

But, the Combis have stayed.

The colour scheme has stayed. 

The calm but adventurous mood has stayed

(Because the boy hasn't changed that much after all.)

And it was all Yellow

There are a few people who radiate brightness and happiness into my days.

So I decided to send them some sunshine in a box!

(The idea came from this lovely blog!)

I've used:

Caramel buds in a striped bag

Bubble blowers

Passion fruit macarons* from here

Homemade hair bows

Homemade lemon butter*

Burt's bees cream

Cupcake wrappers

Twinings Camomile teabags

 Lemon sherbies

Yellowglen Yellow bubbly*

House notelets from here

Mini Nerd boxes

Cocktails umbrellas

Chi Chi yellow nail polish

Balloons

Stripey straws

(*these ones for hand delivered boxes only!)