Our little foster puppy

http://www.safe.asn.au/avon_valley_listings.htm
This week we welcomed "Hank" into our home to stay for a little bit until he finds a new forever home. He is such a sweet little chap and I struggle to understand why people wouldn't want him.
Next week he will go to the vet and have his little boy bits snipped off and be micro chipped and hopefully he will gain a little bit of weight too. He is not very food motivated which is good - but makes it difficult to beef him up like I want to.
We think he is about 12months old and has basic training. He get along extremely well with our big boy Ozzy, and is superb with our kids too.
He is more than happy to be outside all day, but is loving being able to be an inside dog at our place. Plus he is happy to do his own thing during the day so I think if his new family is out during the day he would be a great dog too.
Ask around and see if anyone is looking for a new best friend or could make room for a truly lovely little soul.

DIY cupcake pick decoration

A very good family friend is turning 2 this month and I offered to make these for her party. Miss S' mum is making and ultra cool butterfly cake so I thought these would keep with the theme for some extra cupcakes. They are super easy to make. First using a cutter punch (or precut shapes if you have them) cut double the amount of circles from your chosen card.

Next I like both sides to have something on them so that no matter what angle a photo is taken on the day a little something is seen. So on half of my circles I stamped a little message

Next I glued on some butterfly embellishments that i found at the craft store. Then I folded back the wings of a second butterfly and glued only the body strip so that the wings stood up like so:

the next step was to assemble the picks. So I place one stamped circle face down and glued the back making sure the message was the right way up first.

Then pressed a butterfly circle on top and used some clips to pinch the base closer together. The drying time would all depend on the glue you use, however i used a diamond glue so it was dry very quickly

And here is the end result.

I hope you enjoy making them as much as me. I keep them very simple as they usually end up in the bin within seconds after the candles are blown out. But they really help keep the party theme alive and keep me out of the kitchen on the day.

A lovely way to start April.

This weekend has kicked off well. We started Friday night with a"picky' dinner of pastry parcels and cheeses and dip and bikkies etc, on the outside couch around the coffee table. We didn't pressure the kids to have to eat anything they weren't interested in or sit still the whole time. SO basically they just ate dip (not even the biscuits just used them as spoons really) and some cheese and cabanossi. And between each bite they'd wander off and go on the swings and return when they were ready. Was nice not to have to stress. Then yesterday morning we did separate girls and guys things. Lucy and I went to the hairdressers and Flynn and Clint went to bunnings to get boy things i guess. We all then went up the hill to see our good friends that we haven't seen in far too long and they cooked us a really nice BBQ tea and the kids ran amok around us as we had a few bevvies and caught up. This morning I let the kids have hot cross buns for breaky and we set up a new little sandpit type play area for them. It didn't take long for Fly to pour a whole bucket load of sand onto the paving. Bless the little rascal. Really we are just waiting to find it in the water feature. No doubt he'll have that done by tomorrow. And today's lunch was Korean bulgogi beef and we made little parcels just like when we go to Arirang. I also marinated some tempeh and zucchini which was just as yummy and gave a bit of variation to each one. I really need to hunt down some quality kimchi as that was the only part that I really missed. It was so nice sitting out under the patio just with our little family. I have been trying to encourage it more as otherwise we only do it when we have guests. Plus it almost feels like an escape without having to get in the car or put makeup on. Tonight is dinner at the in laws, BBQ again I think. Such a bloody good way to start the month.

Busy hands...

"you're in pretty good shape, for the the shape you are in"

Dr Suess

Well right about now the shape I am in is.. portly. But I have been portlier (is that a word?) so I am not hating myself completely.

So to keep myself busy to avoid overeating etc I have started planning Fly-boys 2nd birthday party even though it is almost over a month away.

We have decided on a construction/bob the builder theme. Perfect for the little bruiser really.

I have made the lolly bags which are bought black paper bags with coloured paper tools on them. I'm really happy with how they have turned out:

Today I made some cupcake topper-picks. You know the little toothpick things to stick in the cupcakes to keep the theme alive.

I have also order the hats and caution tape and we will be using this Photo board on the day

This is just how we roll on a monday....

Who would eat inside when its this lovely outside. A little bit of tandoori pork fillet on the BBQ and a glass of sparkling pear juice and this mumma is happy.

new photo boards

Here are some pics of the latest photo boards: I have a couple in production including Abby Cadabby too. They are so much fun and I am so pleased when they are finished. It's just finding the time at the moment.

7months on

I know it has been forever since I visited here last. Everything and nothing has been happening around here lately. But I'm here know and armed with some updates. Firstly my rescue mission on some discarded chairs is complete:I'm pretty proud of them. They fit into every room in our house so we are never short a chair when needed. Also this year my marvelous started kindy. She loves going, even though some mornings it feels like we'll never get out the door in time. I am using tricks like premaking lunches and filling the freezer with them. It has been so hot here his year that they are definitely defrosted by the time she eats them. Also a ban on telly and computer games on school mornings mean there is a few less distractions. She has been bringing SO MANY of her creations home. At least 1 large painting every school day. My fridge door was overflowing so I have come up with something I like to call the "table of Honour". Our dinner table has a clear plastic protector mat on it. The plastic itself is getting pretty beat up due to the fact that I seem to think that means I can go to town with all my arts and crafts on it as the table won't get wrecked. So I have started sliding all of her and the cheeky boys artwork under it so we can admire it at dinner times etc. I think it looks really cool and we can fit a lot under plus be able to open the fridge door. What do you think?