Are you listed???

I am now #989 on the Million Blog List. Are you listed?

Just go to the link below and add your name!




Be back soon with more updates ------------> I PROMISE!

Long time, No see!

Hello everyone! Have you missed me ..... LOL!

My poor little blog, I've sooooo busy I haven't had a chance to update you!

Ok, so what have we been up to since I last post....??

I had a birthday! On February 26th....I'm now 26 years young. Happy birthday to me :) I celebrated this by doing nothing. Yes, thats right - nothing. Come to think of it I was a crook as a dog on my birthday and bearly wanted to get out of bed let alone celebrate. Also Brett was away working.

Also in February Anna celebrated a mile stone - she can now sit, all by herself! Nothing else going on with her. She is in great health now and we have had no problems. She smiles, laughs, gets excited to see me. Anna loves her food, she will eat anything, anywhere, anytime. In fact she can be quite the pig. But its all good, considering she was so small at birth I'm happy with her last weigh-in off 7.4kg.

Zachary is still as cute as ever. He is now 8.4kgs and nearly crawling. Although he is not sitting yet. Just not really interested, he much prefers to stand. Zach now has 3 teeth and one more cutting through now. Its amazing how different they are, its just so hard to keep up with them ... LOL

Some great news is that Zach and Anna are 10 months and 1 week old and we are still breastfeeding! I'm soooo happy. They have now out done both Ashlee and Mitchell at 8 months. I'm hoping that they will continue for some time yet, I love feeding them.What else is going on ... ??? On March 29th my brother Daniel married the woman of his dreams. I say this because he has been chasing her for at least 10 years and finally they are together. I'm really happy to now have Melissa as my sister-in-law and really look forward to the day they give us some little neices and nephews! Ashlee was junior bridesmaid for their wedding and she looked stunning (will be adding a pic at the end of this post). I just looked at her and forgot that she was only 10 years old! Quick - buy the shot gun! LOL.

Mitchell is really turning into a little boy, no longer my baby :( He is so active and full on. On days like today when it is cold, wet and windy outside he just drives me insane but I love him to death and love watching him learn new things everyday. Currently he insists on doing everything himself. He can get his own cordial and make sandwiches. He loves to help you take washing out to hang up and he loves to help sweep and vacuum. Lets just hope that this continues for years to come.

There is probably so much more I could write but I better cut this post short unfortunately. Its getting late and I need to get a few things done before I head to bed. Washing, ironing, folding clothes, putting away toys etc etc it never endeds. But would I have it any other way ..... ?? I think not!

Lastly, just a shot of my 4 beautiful children.....not a great one causes its so hard to get them all together at the same time but sweet.

Ok maybe two...

Some sewing

This is the dress I made for the wedding I went to a couple of Saturday's ago. It is a horrible photo I think but you get that. BBL ~

Valentines Day

Today is Valentines Day. Although Brett had to go back in the truck again today we had a nice morning. We don't 'do' gifts as we have better things to spend our money on and we also have our anniversary on the 19th (6 years!!) and my birthday on the 26th so buying yet another gift is just way to much.

I cooked Bacon and Eggs for breakfast (Brett's fave) and even turned the bacon into a little heart - corny I know! But he did notice :) After that we just spent some family time together before he left just after lunch. Don't you just love those kind of days ;)

Very pleased with myself

I made a decision a little while ago to cut down on some unnecessary spending and to also try to help the environment a bit. When I sat down and had a bit of a think about what exactly I could do I found a huge amount! A bit of web surfing also helped. I wanted to 1. Spend less cash on things I really don't need to buy 2. Reduce the amount of rubbish we output here and 3. Be more environmently friendly. We already do a HUGE amount of recycling at the moment to the point were our recycling bin is over flowing and our rubbish bin isn't even half full but there was still more I could do.

First things first, I went from disposable nappies to MCN's (Modern Cloth Nappies). First we started out with about 40 Mandy Mac fitteds with Snappi's and 9 BBH (Baby Beehind) PUL covers. I loved them so much I moved onto AIO's (All in ones) and pockets that don't require a cover and come in amazing different fabrics and designs. After that came my obbession with making my own AI2's (All in two's) as I found that they dried alot quicker. We have now built up a stash of about 70 nappies (and the addiction continues!). Zach and Anna are in full-time MCN's at home and out 'n' about, Mitchell even wears one to bed with a Bamboo booster! I haven't purchased any disposables for months!.

The next thing I did was decide to use cloth wipes. Having twins and a 3 year old we would go through an enormous amount of wipes that aren't cheap! I was given a stack at chrissy time so I finished those off and went using fleece wipes. I purchased 24 fleece nappy liners from Oztion , cut them in half to make 48 and there you have it, all for only $4!! We just use water or a little bit of JnJ cream and it works great.

Other ideas for money saving that I have taken on board are:

• 
  
  Shopping at Aldi instead of Safeway or Coles
  
  


• 
  
  Buying in bulk - I now purchase most of my meat in bulk at great savings
  
  


• 
  
  Walking more places - living in a smallish town has its advantages
  
  


• 
  
  Ashlee catches the busy home from school - cost less then driving
  
  


• 
  
  I make most of Ashlee's lunch stuff i.e Muesli bars
  
  


• 
  
  Homemade snacks and yogurt
  
  


• 
  
  We converted our 4x4 to gas a little while ago - we have a late model Prado and it was really consuming the petrol. Brett has a late model LC Ute that is diesel - not so cheap :(
  
  

To name a few.....

I make my own cleaning products (its amazing what vinegar can do!) and have begun sewing a lot of the kids clothes. Ashlee thinks this is great as she gets what she wants in the fabric she choses.

So that is my contribution to the environment and also our hip pocket!

Some excellent sites to help you out if you would like to make some changes are:

Saving Mums - A1 Top Site!

Simple Savings

Green Living Australia

Thrifty Fun

Till next time, take care everyone!

WELCOME!

Hello and welcome to my new blog! I was getting a little bored with the last one so I decided to import all my posts over here. Wordpress has a lot more add-on options and it also gives me something else to do. (Not that I'm not busy enough as it is!) Short post, gotta go. See you all again soon.

Just another Update

A few things to share, where do I start??

I have decided to start knitting.....yes, knitting!! I used to hate knitted things but I'm really growing to love them. I am starting with a really easy pattern for a nappy soaker for Miss Anna. Its just finding the time to start it!

I wanted to turn this.....


Into this....


Once I get this one done I'll knit a blue version (without the frill) for Master Zachary.

I'm still in nappy making mode although I haven't had time to get much done! Here is one that I'm nearly finished. I just have to put the snaps on and sew it up.



It is a pocket nappy. I have really grown to love pockets, I find them a lot more user friendly. I have a few AIO's & fitted's but I keep coming back to the pockets. They dry quicker, don't need covers, can be stuffed with almost anything and are really easy to sew!

A quick photo of the Santa Sacks that my mum made the kids. I really love them, and the kids thought they were great too!



Thats all for tonight I think, hopefully some more interesting news to share next time. Till than, take care.

Time for an Update

Hello everyone! Time for an update from me.....

Well, we have had a terrible start to the year. On January 4th we had Anna admitted to hospital with broncolitis. She had been sick for about 6 weeks before a doctor finally decided to have her admitted. After 5 days in our local hospital on oxygen Anna was transferred to a larger hospital (about an hour away) to be cared for by our usual Paed. With in half an hour of being there he had her on ventolin and antibiotics (to treat a secondary bacterial infection caused by having the mucus sitting in her lungs for so long without treatment!). The differences was amazing. Even though she was definately not 'better', you could see a marked improvement and she finally was able to have a decent feed and a decent sleep. We were all soooo relieved! She is home now although still not 100% but a lot happier. Here are some pics of her while she was in hospital.... Oh and used the hospitals Huggies nappies the whole time we were there and found out how much I love my MCN's!!!

You can see by the look on her face she was really not well

A 'famliy shot' & Anna sleeping in hospital cot

So what else have we been up to? Haven't had a chance to get any sewing done but hope to get back into it soon. Here is some other news....

Finally here is a photo of the finished dress I made for Anna ~ with Anna modelling it!

Used my flybuys points to get some Gift cards. Here are a couple of adorable t-shirts I picked up at Target with some of them today for Zach and Anna. Just couldn't resist!

Finally took a photo of my growing nappy stash (although there were still a few in the wash) - for twins its not that big but we are working on it! LOL!

We have:

40 Mandy Macs - our workhorse nappies
2 Pookey Pockets
1 Nappy Chappies - Sandman(?)
1 Ummm...not sure what this one is - blue with green frogs
3 BBH Magicalls (although only 2 pictured)
2 Home made fleece pockets (all homemades are made by me :)
1 Home made terry fitted (not pictured)
4 Peapod hemp boosters
1 Peapod bamboo booster
4 Home made boosters
6 Target brand nappy wraps (Not to bad - going to add some extra elastic around the legs)
9 BBH PUL Covers (not pictured - all in use or in the wash)

We also have on the way:

2 x Nappylicious 'My little pony' & 'Icecreams'
1 x Bubblebubs Green Dot Minky AIO
1 x Mandarin Daiquari Wild child Dreamy Night Nap

I think thats it. Really would love more ..... hehehe

I'm in the process of making Anna a 'Dora' fleece pocket and Zach an 'ABC' print fleece pocket. I'm also making Mitchell a 'Wiggles' Night nappy fleece pocket. He is still in nappies at night and loves the wiggles!

Ok just looked at the time - 2:30am!! Going to bed!!! Good night (morning LOL!) everyone.

A finished lamp at last!

Just a quick post to show my finished lamp - finally! BBL with more!

A Happy New Year to All!!

Firstly, the lamp will be finished tonight and should be on my blog by tomorrow - just the little bits left to do....

How hectic has the last few weeks been?! I'm soooo glad it all over, its so tiring ..... hehehe.

I have had two sick bubs lately so I haven't had a lot of time to get anything done - The desire has been there though! I'm really hoping to get a whole lot more done now that the festive season is all over and we are back to normal (at least we will be when my eldest, Ashlee, gets back from holidays with her Nan.

Christmas was great here. Had the family here from interstate to celebrate and we all had a wonderful time. It was lovely to spend time with them. Christmas morning was so special as this is the first year that Mitchell really understood what its all about (well, the Santa part anyway). Also it was Zach and Anna's first christmas. A very special day. Coming into this world 11 weeks early could have really had a very different outcome to what we have and I thank God everyday for two healthy little babies! After a beautiful lunch for all different kinds of cold meat and some yummy salads, christmas afternoon was spent in the pool at the caravan park where my brothers were staying.

Ok, so here are some photos from Christmas day of the kids....

Ashlee was a few of gifts from Santa

Mitchell with a few of his gifts from Santa

Zach & Anna in some outfits they got for christmas. (Well, Zach is in half an outfit - holding hands too :)

Anna first thing in the morning (with bedhead :)

We also had a visit from a good friend of mine that her little boy at 31 weeks on the dot and he came home at 34+5 weeks! Here he is with Zach and Anna at about 5 weeks. (Weighing what Zach and Anna did when we brought them home at 8 weeks old! About 6lb)

So thats what we got up to, hope everyone else had a lovely day.

Today has been a cooking day for Mitchell and myself. We have been having fun! Here is the yummy 'White Choc Chip Cookies' that Mitchell made

I also have been cooking up vegies for Zach and Anna now that they are finally on solids. That really takes the pressure off me and hopefully we will continue to breastfeed for many more months to come! Here we have carrots and carrots & sweetpotato. They both LOVE these :)

The last thing we made is Banana Muffins - YUMMY! A great treat for the kids without feeding them a whole heap of sugar. Healthy.

While I was grocery shopping this morning I found these patty pan cases with little bananas on them - very cute and just what I was making!

Some photos of my 2 beautiful babies enjoying some lunch

And then when we ran out of food in the bowl ...... Anna was not to happy!

Ok, better go. Welcome 2008!

An Update

Hello everyone! Been extremely busy over this christmas period so I just thought I would do a quick update for you all. I haven't been doing much sewing over this time, haven't really had the time! Went to the Spotlight Boxing day sale and brought a new sewing machine - $500 reduced to $239!!!! Bargain, more about that and pics in the next post.

Firstly, Mitchell got a Thomas games drawer for christmas from his Nan and it had all these little pieces that would go EVERYWHERE! So I sewed up a few little cases that close with velcro to keep everything tidy.



Went to spotlight and brought a pattern and some material to make myself a top (hopefully I will get time soon!)



Ok that pretty much it for now, I have run out of time and need to go and get stuff done. I'll be back soon!

A Re-vamped Lamp Shade & Extras

Ashlee knocked over her lamp and broke the shade. I thought 'oh well' I'll just get another one. Then my new found love for sewing got the better of me and I decided I would try my hand at recovering it. It was actually a great idea as Ashlee was than able to choose the fabric she wanted for the lamp and I even had enough left over to make her a matching pillow case too!

So here is the lamp shade, recovered with (I'm not sure what it is called but it starts with 'b') a stiff fabric as a base. I'm still waiting for the glue to dry.

This the lamp shade cover that I am in the middle of sewing together. I'm just making it so it can be pulled over the top and at a later stage we can just change it if we want to.

Oh, and a photo of the lamp that it will actually go on.....




























Lastly, this is the finished matching pillowcase that I made. Not to bad for a very first time and completely freehand too!















I'm pretty happy with my progress so far and hopefully I will have the lampshade finished before bed tonight. Ashlee is very happy and thinks its great that the cover can just be pulled off and changed as she feels like it!

School lunches and this & that

Yesterday afternoon we did our grocery shopping **exciting I know!**. All 6 of us went down as a family and I was so surprised when we returned home having spent nearly $100 less than I normally would! I think I'll take them all with me every time. This week I did a meal plan and a shopping list and really tired to stick to it (although we did purchase a few items not on our list). I also decided that instead of buying all my daughters luch items even week that we would start making things to have for lunch. I think that went a long way to bringing down my grocery bill.

Firstly we (Mitchell and myself) whipped up some Banana muffins and some Chocolate Choc-Chip muffins. We also made some mini ones just for Mitchell. After that we made some 'Weetbix Slice'. It is made with Weetbix (well dar!), sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, a little bit of sugar and golden syrup and a few other things. It didn't turn out to bad, and tastes yummy!

We really have packed up a yummy lunch for Ashlee tomorrow and Mitchell was really stoked to have a little lunch box packed up for him too! We packed in a Sandwich, some weetbix slice, a banana muffin, a banana and an apple, some cheese and biscuits, than the unhealthy stuff - a packet of chips. Over all its pretty good.

As for everything here at home, I have cut out and pinned a nappy (still trying to get time to get near the sewing machine). I am going down today to grab some button and I'm determined to get Anna's dress finished so I can wrap it up for christmas. I also need to find a pattern for some shortalls to make for Zachary so he gets some too. I have pretty much finished my christmas shopping and just need to buy some stocking stuffers for the kids - oh and pick up DF pressie (must not forget to do that!). My mum, 2 brothers and one brothers DF as well as my SIL and nephew are coming on Monday to have christmas with us. I haven't had to do anything though which has been great. It has all been organised by my mum. It will be great to have christmas at home this year, having the twins (who really don't like being away from home) it will be good to be at home and not have to travel.

Also today we finally got the shots we had taken of the twins 2 months ago back and I just love them! Zach was extremely happy for the shoot but Anna on the other hand really didn't want to know about it.

And lastly I just had to share this one . . . . . . . .