Happy Holidays

Yip, the time has come... we're off on to visit my Mommy & Matty in Germany! 

Looking forward to some snow (we put an order in for Sunday) and the Markets, Christmas Eve Dinner and seeing the kids faces on Christmas morning.  I also wouldn't mind some pretzels, wine, cheese and a good game of "Siedler von Cataan".

Even though there hasn't been much activity on the blog in the run up to the holiday, there's plenty to look forward to when we get back, such as:

Sophia's (long overdue) Birthday Party post

Christopher's Horse Show (yes, another one)

Renovation updates

The impending flight/journey with two kids to Germany 

and of course Holiday Pics!

a small section of the Christmas Market in Stuttgart

Wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a safe Silly Season.

See ya'll in the New Year!

Much Love,

Only at work

I've been scarce, I know.  But for 2 good reasons, and 3 not-so-good reasons; the latter being:

5.) I'm a queen procrastinator! {...um, I'm convinced that I work better under pressure?} 

4.) If I can't keep all my ducks in a row, I try to loose them altogether {that way I don't have to count them later}

3.) I keep on getting interrupted by people/projects {ok, maybe this is actually a good reason, BUT I'm sure that with better time management this can be improved on}

My good reasons are:

2.) organising my crazy life to allow a worry-free holiday in Deutschland! so excited to go and see my mommy & matty, but wrapping up all kinds of to-do's at home is keeping me really busy.

1.) my number one reason is that I'm actually WORKING too... yip, doing some freelance jobs turning VBD's {very boring documents} into FFP's {f&*%ing fantastic presentations} - the problem with actually finishing these projects, which would allow me more time to blog is = see first reason listed #5 = PROCRASTINATION! vicious circles.

So in the spirit of office work, which I'm actually quite enjoying, even though it's mostly from home ;) I wanted to share some gems picked up from Pinterest, I'm sure a lot of you can relate:

This is my favourite ;)

Wishing you a very productive Thursday with very few office-dinkies to deal with! 

Halloween Party!

My friend, Nicola, decided to throw a little Halloween Party for our little people, so on a sunny Saturday morning, sitting in the garden with a glass of bubbly and good company... we celebrated the good life!  Again ;) 

The kids had a great time too, they got to dress up and ran around screaming and shouting... although this is something that they tend to do a lot of lately, with or without the scary outfits.

These kiddo's have been friends for most of their lives!

Nicola, Melissa, Jane and Hot-stuff-Sophia

Everybody: JUMP!

Thanks so much Nix for another great day with great friends; the décor, treats and cake were all awesome xxx

Little People - Big Changes

The arrival of my daughter's second birthday, marked her official transition to toddler-hood (well in my eyes she'll always be my baby).  Along with this significant milestone, come significant changes - one of them being the transition from cot to bed... or as we call it "little-big-bed".

This had a domino affect on the sleeping arrangements in the house which resulted in a very excited Christopher graduating from "little-big-bed" to "big-big-bed" and while we talking about musical beds, let me at this stage mention that these bed assignments bear no weight to where they actually spend the early hours of the morning sleeping; namely in "mommy-and-daddy-big-big-bed".  Knowing the way from their beds to ours like a homing beacon, they can walk the path in their sleep... and often they do!

Actually this change was a bit overdue, Sophia had for the past few weeks already claimed Christopher's "little-big-bed" as her own, and climbed into it every night before we had to pry her out kicking and screaming and put her in the cot... and after the move, she has not once asked to go back to her old nest and is quite good at staying in her new bed and falling asleep in it by herself (one of my original concerns).  Christopher is just as proud of his upgrade and he was the one to insist on staying in the same room as Sophia; we had to put together during renovations, and now they refuse to stay apart.  So now they share a bedroom, and we're creating a Playroom (yay!).

A momentous occasion; my little people are growing up so fast I can barely catch my breath!

Last night in littler beds...

...first night in bigger beds!

Have a happy weekend!

Kids Activity: Chopping!

I wonder if there are any other Mommies who face the same challenge just before suic... ahem, I mean crazy hour. You know, that time of the day when everything just collapses into chaos, and no matter  how much you plan ahead and prepare things to make your life easier, somehow it all just ends up in tears anyway?  

Often whilst I'm making dinner the whining/moaning/crying starts. Not ACTUALLY being a real-life octopus with 8 arms, I'm unable to play referee, nurse and chef at exactly that same minute. So I've had to rope them in to help me cook, in a desperate attempt to keep things under semi-control. 

Enter = Chopping!

An activity that they don't seem to tire of is cutting.  

Armed with their "baby-blunt-knives" and little boards, they helped me make supper by chopping up some mushrooms.

I'm thinking that it's a good skill to teach them (I may be wrong?) but at least they having fun and it keeps them busy for at least 10 min so that I can get some of the "real" cooking done.  I'm slowly running out of ideas for mushroom dishes, and will have to look into other possible foods that they could chop up for me, that aren't too hard or tricky to cut.

Suggestions anyone?

Homemade Play-Dough Tutorial

I think I may have come across the best home-made playdough recipe EVER!  Really easy & fast to make and way cheaper than the store-bought ones.
Whilst making a batch as little gifts for Sophia's birthday party packs,I quickly grabbed my camera to take pics to share the recipe with you:

Ingredients:
250 ml Flour
125 ml Salt
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
250 ml Water
30 ml Veg Oil
Food Colouring 

 1.) Add "dry" ingredients to Pan: Flour, Salt, Cream of Tartar 

2.) Mix "wet" ingredients: Water, Oil, Food Colouring (the more you add, the more intense your colour - less you add, the more pastel the colour)

3.) Combine liquid with contents of pan, turn the stove on ;)

4.) Stir it up, it will turn into a gloopy mixture

5.) After about a minute of stirring, it will become more stiff and after a few more seconds it will start binding into a ball of dough

6.) Remove from heat

7.) Knead the dough until you get the consistency that you want
I usually make the play dough with my kids, let them pour the contents into the pan before I stir it up... so when I start kneading it, they can't wait to have a turn! Be careful because it will still be hot straight from the pan... give it a minute.

I made a few batches, measured out 100g balls, and put them in plastic containers labelled Sophia's Playdough.  I still wanted to add some glitter to the mix to make it all sparkly for the occasion, but didn't get there - next time.

 They were added to the party packs... more on that in another post!

Give it a try, it really goes so quick and will have your little ones occupied for at least 30 minutes before they demand your attention again ;)


Let me know if you make it, and how it turns out!

Snippets of Sophia

Kids will be kids, and kids will do what they do... and well, if Sophia wants to empty the entire jar of E45 cream onto the bed because she wants to feel the squish of it, then she will do so - there's no stopping this little girls' craftiness.  I probably should have seen the signs a while ago - always grabbing the pot off my dresser, claiming that it was hers, showing great interest in using it on herself.

Big brother came along and was very concerned with Sophia's "naughtiness" and promptly brought a tiny piece of toilet paper to wipe up the mess, not sure if he should back her up by explaining what she's done or scold her for doing it. I can foresee many more such moments :)

Luckily it was laundry day and the covers were already off the bed, so not much mess to clean.... Just another one of those priceless moments that needs to be taken with a good dose of humour! 

Some Pooh wisdom on a Wednesday morning:

Sweet Sophia

This past year has flown by... today's the last day of my baby-girl being ONE... tomorrow she turns TWO! *gasp*
When did that happen?  to remember the past year... a few pics of her growing from a baby to a fully fledged toddler, showcasing her many smiles, frowns & expressions!

What a beautiful little princess!

In Good Company

Sometimes when you least expect it, you have the best of times... during the last school holidays, we went to the Company Gardens in town. 

Filled with a sense of nostalgia from when I was a kid I walked through the gardens with some serious deja-vu. The restaurant hasn't changed its décor since the 80's, the aviary's still the same and the statues are all there... the grass is greener than ever, the flora is beautifully maintained and the local wildlife are still nuts about the nuts.  We loved it! 

Good friends enjoying a morning in town, feeding squirrels & running through the sprinklers...what more could we ask for!

I realise that this may be photo-overload, but I couldn't decide which pics to leave out and there were so many more I wanted to include.

I wonder if there are some photos in a box somewhere of me running around Company Gardens, and if there are... I'm sure they'd look a lot like this!

Ring-a-roses

Chasing birds

how big are you?

following the baby chicks...

bench time

a few ducks in a row

imitating old Cecil

I'm pretty sure I may have climbed that same tree at the restaurant

friends having fun

moms and babes

I'm also pretty sure I sat in this tree when I was a kid

ROAR!

in deep conversation

sprinkler fun!

the long goodbye...

my boy and me x

What a great way to spend the morning with the kids... a real walk in the park!