9 Years

To My Love: Cant wait to spend the next 9x9 years with you!
L xx

Stickmen to Love

Happy Friday!
Loving things over here with Meghan and other lovely people today.


Stickman/girl
My girls adoreThe Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child stories. ADORE.  This week Heidi started building 'stickmen' with her lego...  For those who aren't familiar... The Gruffalo has a girl child and the girl child has a stickman as her friend (Stickman has his own story too...).  They made me smile : )

Mmmm, now what does this remind me of? 

A day or two later Anya walked into the house with a collection of sticks from outside.  I was requested to help cellotape her stickman together please...  It's not a stickman though... it's a stickgirl....  complete with leaves for hair and then she appeared with two seedy nut things for the eyes too...

Heidi made herself one too... but didn't feel the need to make it gender specific or pimp it at all.  : )  Stickman and stickgirl have both suffered broken legs but cellotape is like magic around these parts and can fix anything in their eyes.

Birthday Preparation:
This growing collection of colour preparations makes me feel happy each time I see it...

Little scribbles:
Every now and again I find Anya or Heidi have scribbled their names or drawn little pictures in unexpected places.  Sorting through my filing pile i glimpsed this flurry of activity.  So cute (and luckily not on anything important!) : )

Hope you've had a love-filled week!
L xx

Loving- my girls

Warning: this is all about my children and the mushy squishy feelings I'm enjoying at the moment!  And I will add right now, that yes, they have had their moments and there have certainly been a day or two where they've woken up seemingly with the sole purpose of making sure I pull my hair out...

But mostly it's been a really awesome week...  Watching new movies, shopping, working on birthday plans...  Filled with lots of iceblocks on sweltering days...

Lying on blankets, eating popcorn, watching clouds and planes in the sky.  We've just had such a lovely time playing and having fun.  Playing 'house', mummy's and babies...

Anya loves picking Liezel up and carrying her around.  Of course Liezel loves her doing this.  It is hilarious.
Heidi tries but she's not much bigger than Liezel - which also makes for great entertainment.
The two older girls dote on their little sister... always holding her hand, leading her around, looking after her, giving her hugs, cleaning her scraped knees and so on.
And Liezel loves her big sisters.  More and more I find her watching and looking at them for guidance.  On how to do something or how to react... whatever her big sisters are doing she will do too.

Little things they've been saying:  Anya calls the other two sweetheart, darling, etc all the time.  and the other day my hubby was showing her different types of speakers.. tweeters, subwoofer, etc... when he moved on to a different grouping she proudly showed him which one the "birdie" speaker was... :) too cute!

Liezel's talking more and more and starting to string proper sentences together.  "Mine" has become "I've got it" in just the last couple of days.  This kid... she is one heck of a character... and has a face that can get her out of anything... it takes alot of suppressing smiles and laughter to keep a straight face sometimes : )

Warm and fuzzies : )
Have a great weekend everyone!
L xx

For more loving head over to Meghan's : )

Loving A Month of Adventing Joy

The Advent Swap finished this week. It has been such a lovely month of unwrapping gifts, emails and lots of warm fuzzies.

Day 18: Delicious Muffin and Cupcake Recipe book

Miriam was a fantastic swap partner and I feel lucky to have been paired with such a thoughtful person. Back when we were first assigned our partners, she sent me a whole list of extra questions.

Day 19:  Yummy Chocolate :)

I have been saying ever since, that even if there were no gifts I would have been happy as these extra questions showed so much thought, care and consideration for the person and process. She had already exceeded my expectations before we had even begun!

Day 20:  Gorgeous Handmade Flower Yo-Yo Cushion!  The girls: look Mummy! There's 5 flowers, just like us! Same same!  Proudly on display in our living room :)

We have emailed each other every day with thanks and stories of present opening and children.  It has been one of my favourite parts of the day.

Day 21:  A cup with a special message baked on :) But Miriam was concerned time took it's toll on it and sent up some additional goodies - way too kind!  Books for the girls, mallowpuffs, white chocolate, jaffas and spearmint leaves (ironically I was heading out that same day to purchase those very items!), an angel decoration and bookmark.  Such loveliness :)

This process has allowed me to get to know Miriam and her family a little more.  And although in different cities, and not having met her boys, the glimpses into their lives has made me feel like I know them.

Day 22:  A NZ wine, food and art book.  Immediately claimed by my husband who has since used one or two recipes in it!

Thank you Cat for hosting a great swap and pairing us together.

Day 23:  Handmade pouches, fabric, ribbons and thread!  Bliss!

Warm and fuzzies on a daily basis - to know someone thought of you with every item.

Day 24:  A book with a lovely message for us all.

True Christmas spirit experienced daily - special.

Day 25:  Gorgeous silk and pashima scarf, necklace and novel.  Loveliness :)

All the quotes have been put on a wall.  Encouraging and uplifting.  Perfect for me :)

It has been a wonderful month of joy in which we have felt loved.  Thank you Miriam for being such a kind thoughtful person and swap-partner.  We have loved every moment. : )
L xx

Linking up with Meghan over here for a lot of loving.

Loving...

This week I am loving lots of things.  A few of them are:

- Awesome Bought Christmas Presents that are arriving and for a short while will be mine to oogle...  Like this fantastic print by Sweet William:

- Handmade presents that are complete... Like these 5 personalised children's placemats:

- It's basically the weekend with fish and chips and also a barbeque are on the cards if the weather holds out for us.  Sooo looking forward to the smells, sitting outside, relaxing.

- Online grocery shopping... I have converted and am not looking back... time, so much time, saved!

- My big girl getting bigger.  Two solo morning school visits this week and she loved it.  Heart swells (sob sniff...)

- 3 Girls creating together - amazing what they come up with! 

Happy Friday Everyone!  Hope it's sunny warm and festive where you are!
L xx

Linking of with lovely Megan over here.

A time to Love: My Man

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.

Time to laugh:  An evening of comedy with my hubby thanks to tickets from friends.

Time to notice: The increasing amount of white/grey hairs he has appearing among all the jet black ones.  

Time to appreciate:  We are getting older, and hopefully wiser.

Time to consider:  How fortunate we are to still be together.

Time to love: This man who is my constant, my best friend, my rock, my love.

L xx