Fairies in the garden

For my daughters fifth birthday just before Christmas I set up this little fairy garden. I always imagined that fairies would be attracted to lavender like this one in the background.

And here is my own little fairy out playing treasure hunt at her party. This was the game the kids enjoyed the most, running around the garden collecting gold chocolate coins in cups with the child who collected the most winning a prize.

Summer colour a great distraction from the build

Already mid way through January, so by now was hoping to have a build date for stage two of our renovation, our rear extension - but alas we don't. I was told yesterday by our Building Manager that he hasn't confirmed a carpenter yet, the first trade we need on the job. Others are lined up but can't do anything until the carpenter has started. I am assured though it will be sometime soon, whatever that means!

Good thing is every time I go to the fridge I get a glimpse of the calendar my kids gave me for Christmas and it instantly cheers me up. The picture for January is of a Provincial market in France, love the colour and the gorgeous terracotta houses that surround the market square.

A wander in the garden in its full Summer bloom also helps. These beautiful Saliva's greet me as I come in the front gate......

and this gorgeous fuchsia hangs over the iron railing on the front porch.......

a wander around the back garden and I smell and admire the Lavender.....

and love the tall Agapantha flowers against the green backdrop of the Canadian Maple and Jasmine.

A house with kids

I love to look at houses in magazines and there is always at least one in every issue of Home Beautiful or Real Living (my two favourites) that I think is close to perfect, a dream house and more often then not they are family homes with young children. So I wonder when the photo shoot is over how long does the house stay looking that way?


A friend recently posted the following on Facebook -

The Movement to Restore Children’s Play Gains Momentum

www.nytimes.comAdvocates are reaching out to parents, who are not always comfortable with the chaos and disarray caused by unstructured play.

And even though I am not a big fan of mess and like things just so, I love my kids making up games and setting up their imaginary Worlds, so much fun to watch. I often even leave it that way until the end of the day and then we have a big clean up (as long as my bench tops and dining table are clean I am happy).

These boxes bought from Go-Lo in the Christmas week are great for toys

So these photos of my house today, having fun and enjoying being with my kids. These are the things that make a house a home.

Drawing mermaids and fish in the mermaid cave underneath the dining table

My thoughts are with you

As so many of you have already expressed in your blogs the devastation that the floods in Queensland are causing is horrific. I am glad to see a number of my blog friends in affected areas are safe.

My thoughts are with you all. Stay safe.

Gxx

New bathroom with a splash of red

Well the ensuite is fairly much finished. We still need to put in hand towel rails either side of the vanity and the toilet roll holder. Minor things so thought would share some pictures with you with my new red towels bought especially for the ensuite.

Those of you that read this blog regularly will know that I am a blue girl but do love splashes of red here and there.
Loving the walk in shower and the new gooseneck showerhead. Certainly appreciated it even more after not having a shower in the house for over seven weeks!

The kids are missing their bath as this is our only bathroom at the moment. The builders will be starting again with the rear extension which includes the family bathroom at the end of January. It is nice having these few weeks with just us in the house and not having to deal with builders mess.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussycat collection (all from Freedom) that my daughter got for her 5th birthday and then Christmas looks great in her bedroom and she loves it. A nice change from all the plastic toys my kids got.

My daughter has already put money in this gorgeous money box and turned the lamp on and off many times. This year I plan to teach her how to read the alarm clock.

The Eiffel Tower

(picture from old edition of Home Beautiful from what I can gather)

My five year old daughter announced recently that she would like to go to the Eiffel Tower and could we go within the week! - "Would love to sweetie but unfortunately it is not that easy (especially as it is a 24 hour flight away)."

Since this announcement she has become very interested in the Eiffel Tower and Paris, probably because we have pictures of it around the house and small model of it on our mantel and books on France. There is just something about it. It is amazing to think that when it was originally built it was only meant to be there for about 20 years and the French weren't happy about it. Now it is one of the most recognisable man made landmarks.

Coffee break inspiration

I am not sure if this cafe can claim the best coffee in town but it was a great place to stop, watch the World go by and have one (sorry for the photo quality was taken on my iphone).

The cafe is located on the main street of Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, a picturesque colonial style town well worth a visit. I love the exposed red brick at this cafe, the wrought iron tables and chairs, the vine and roses. We just had to stop and have a coffee.

http://www.southaustralia.com/9003122.aspx

Summer Holiday

Happy New Year everyone. Hard to believe it is already day three of 2011!

We have just returned from our Christmas / Summer holiday and so I have been offline for a while. As I mentioned in an earlier post we organised a house swap with friends in Adelaide, so we could have Christmas with family and catch up with all our old friends.

Just before Christmas my daughter wished for a white one, hoping it would snow and even though we had cold wet weather on the lead up the only white we will probably ever get is flowers, blossom and sandy beaches.

I think her wish was very quickly forgotten though when we got to the house we were staying in for our Christmas break. We were lucky enough to swap with wonderful friends who have a beautiful house and a pool and we swam everyday, the weather was fantastic. Living in Melbourne I miss those amazing blue Adelaide skies. So advantages of having Christmas in Summer.The week leading up to our trip was busy with birthday parties, fairy gardens and painting. And as the week goes on I will share some photos.

So now a New Year and today we have been moving furniture in preparation for the next few months. This year will be an exciting one with the next stage of our renovation and completion of our extension. Plus it is the year my daughter starts school and lots more.

Hope whatever this year holds for you it is a good one.