Day to Day

Thursday magic.

My Thursdays with Bonnie seem to never come around quick enough.  Today she arrived in a divine denim pinafore, cute stockings, lush ribbon hair tie and those sparkly shoes of hers that I love so much.  Ofcourse I told her how lovely she looked and how sweet her dress was, just like I do every week.  She gets the biggest smile going when I tell her that she's beautiful, so that's a favourite thing of mine to do too.

Each Thursday passes quickly and before I know it the clock is on 11.30 and it's time for her nap.  By the time she wakes up and eats her late lunch it's nearly time to collect the kids from school.  Then it's home for afternoon tea and a quick play with James and Bella before her Nan picks her up again.  So, really I don't have a lot of time with her.  Regular blog readers will know that we enjoy going to the library on Thursdays, but this week I asked Bonnie if she would like to go to the library or cook.  She told me that she wanted to cook, so cook it was.

 

 

 

 

 

I measured the ingredients and Bonnie tipped or put them into the saucepan.  We made honey joys, which is a great recipe for little ones to help with.  While I was melting the ingredients Bonnie played and consumed copious amounts of cornflakes.

 

Please excuse the 'Isabella' apron, it really is Bonnie under there ;)  While the honey joys were baking we set up Bella's play food on a quilt.  Bonnie cooked me a pizza, sandwich and a birthday cake using felt lollies - mmmmm.

There was also some sorting and folding of my crochet squares going on this morning.  Which reminds me that I must get out some buttons for her to play with next week, I think she would enjoy sorting them and putting them in different containers.

 

 

And while I'm on the subject of blankets and quilts, the super lovely and talented Sonia Bowers has just released her very own quilt pattern!!  I had the pleasure of reading through the pattern a couple of weeks ago and it's really simple to follow, with some great tips too for beginner quilters.  You can find the pattern HERE.  Here are some sneaks of the quilt:

  

Easy bean enchiladas + cute garden mushrooms.

Today is freezing. 

So cold that you need warm socks, warm food and a nice, cozy environment indoors.  While I was sitting at my computer wondering about my blog post for today and watching the rain outside, I looked out the window and noticed some curious looking mushrooms growing underneath the cubby house.  I ventured out in the drizzly rain to take these pics. 

 

 

 

So, there you go - mushrooms on a cold, winters day growing in my garden.

 

I also have to mention this yummy recipe that I found HERE and cooked last week.  It was so good.  The recipe actually called for black beans, but I used a four bean mix instead.  I also left out the jalapeno and guessed the quantities of the remaining ingredients (throwing in what I thought seemed about right) rather than following the exact recipe.  We'll definitely have it again and Rich (who was slightly whinging when I told him the enchiladas didn't have meat in them) actually loved it. 

While, I'm writing about food, does anybody have a fabulous risotto recipe that's easy and fabulous?  I'm on the lookout for a good one.

Home and happy.

We're home, safe and sound.  Not a lot of photos, but plenty of board/card games, beautiful food, great company and a fabulous time.

Scrabble, Black Jack and Spit were the most popular games we played.

 

Bella loved meeting Millie the dog.

 

Mum knitted, while Beth and I crocheted.

 

All the girls doing some early morning snuggling.

 

At the airport on the way home today.

 

A few purchases, sitting on the first block of my crocheted blanket.

Leaving on a jet plane.

 

My suitcase is all packed because tomorrow morning I'm flying over to visit my brother and his family in Goulburn, New South Wales.  I'm going with three of my favourite girls too - my sister Beth, Mum and Bella.  Rich and James are going to have a boys weekend together, no doubt full of dvds, junk food and fun!

Seeyou all on Tuesday :)

P.S. Do you see that sweet, tiny birdie necklace at the top of the pic?  It's my most favourite necklace at the moment - you can buy one from HERE.  I especially adore the blue birdie one, which I would love dearly (but hey I already have two of them, so I've been restraining myself).

In the post.

Two lots of happy post for today:

 

This beautiful tape arrived from Tapeswell.  Incredibly funky and gorgeous.  Bella's brown paper bag lunch orders are going to look amazing when I tape them closed with this :)  Click HERE to see all the other tapes that you might need (actually, you'll want them once you follow the link!).  I really love the birdy bright one too, it's super cute.  Thanks so much Tapeswell, I'm looking forward to having a play.

 

Something that's always yummy to receive, the latest issue of Cotton Time that I picked up from Corrie (Thanks so much Corrie!).  Here are a few of my favourite pages:

 

 

 

 

Did you notice my crochet squares poking out from under the magazine?  30 squares down, a million to go - more pics HERE.

@ the park

 

 

 

 

Today seemed like a good day for the park.  James headed back to school and Bella had a student free day, so we drove down to visit Kama, Oscar and Bonnie.  Kama lives in the Huon Valley and the park is right on the river's edge - such a pretty setting and a brand new park, good stuff!

Addictions.

See the resemblence?

 

My husband has a new hobby - winning those flipping junky stuffed toys out of the claw toy machines everytime we go to movies.  Last movie trip he managed to win 3, our trip today (to see Race to Witch Mountain) he won another three.  The kids think it's awesome and if you could see the look of excitement on Rich's face everytime the claw picks one up and drops it in the hole, you'd have a little giggle to yourself.  He's like a kid winning something special at the show.

 

Another new hobby for Rich (and James) is the Rubik's Cube.  They've both been having major battling competitions over the last two days to see who can finish it first.  Actually they're having another battle right now as I type.

 

And, since this post can't be all about the boys and their new addictions, here's Bella starting a new knitting project this morning.  This one is going to be a woollen coaster to sit our hot drinks on.  I can't wait for it to be finished.

Taking it easy.

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging out at home, still trying to catch up on all that Easter washing.  Feeling sad that Bella's black knitted scarf I just finished is far too wide for her little eight year old body.  Enjoying the boys trying to master the Rubik's cube via a You Tube tutorial.  Wishing I was still camping, but trying to soak up the last of the Easter holidays before the kids go back to school.

Yummy fabric

 

Before Easter some lovely fabrics arrived in my mail box via a new Etsy seller in Australia (originally found via Belinda at Tutti Frutti).  They arrived so quickly and are just beautiful - how good are the apples!?

 

Also these Japanese prints from the lovely Leslie in her moving/closing down sale.  I haven't been able to stop looking at these either - just trying to figure out what I'm going to sew with them all :)

A few layouts.

A few layouts that I designed for the Aussie Scrap Source blog recently:

 

 

The bunny layout was an Emily Falconbridge scraplift.