Mini Fashionistas

(Photo courtesy of Pinterest)

Ok, I'll be the first to admit it. (Well, it's something I'm sure my friends and family are already aware of!) I have a thing for mini fashion. Not quite Suri Cruise mini-fashion-extent, but close. (My eldest daughter would give her whole piggy bank for Suri's wardrobe though).

I think it started the day my daughter was born - maybe that's the problem here. Had I given birth to a little boy first, would I have been spared of this infatuation? Unlikely. Rather than sticking a lacey, frilly headband on my 12 hour old baby, I'd have found an equally adorable boys' hat for him. (Actually, when he was born two years later, that's exactly what I did!)

I trawl through mini fashion blogs, impatiently await the next issue of 'Shop 4 Kids' magazine, pin latest styles to Pinterest. It's just my thing. I have my favourite brands, I know which ones are going to have the 'same but different' outfits that I can match my kiddies in...so many people cringe at the thought of dressing their children in matching outfits - I embrace it! Hell, I even tie in the little man to match the girls sometimes!

I could wade through a pile of tutu skirts, pinafores, electric blue boys skinny jeans, frilly hair pieces and fedoras all day and not be bored. I'm not talking 'Toddlers and Tiaras' type of stuff here - it's not about boofy, curly hair, makeup or high heels. (Ew!)

I just love having an event coming up and look forward to what to 'style' the kids in. Even just a day at the footy - if it's cold, adorable boots, scarves and hats will make an appearance!

One thing I'm starting to notice as my kids are growing up though, is how very different their own styles are. Sienna is very much a princess and will choose a dress or skirt over pants any day. She'll only wear her school pants to school on PE days, otherwise she's in a skirt and tights. Chace most days, will be found in his beloved Hawks football guernsey and not much else...sometimes his undies too, usually not! Alexis is my free-spirit who will grab the first brightly coloured thing she can get her hands on. Usually something purple...I hate purple.

I've recently found a blog called 'The Baby Blackbird'. Brandy is a Mummy of two little ones and is very much the mini-stylist. So much so, when she blogs about her day, it usually includes a fairly detailed snippet of what her kiddies wore that day - brand, style, etc. Of course, I absolutely love it!

Here's the link to her blog:

http://www.thebabyblackbird.com/

Now...don't get me started on mini furniture...!

 - Mem

Let the challenge begin

Well I am down to no sleeps! My holidays are here and so too are lazy pj days, lunching out, sunny walks with my boys and most importantly gourmet meals every night that we are at home!

 So I set myself a challenge to cook something new every night that we are home while I am on holidays. The rules are pretty simple. The meal must be something we have never cooked at home before and just in case I have a craving for a good old 'safe' meal I have added the rule that if I dont have a new dish for our evening meal I have to make a new dessert or some sort of baked goody for Ryno's smoko.

 Achievable I reckon so now I have pulled out my recipe folder and have started flicking through my cut outs, print outs, photo copies etc and am salivating just thinking about the week ahead. I have a beautiful Cath Kidston recipe folder that was a pressie from my Mum. It is fab and so user friendly. It has pockets for all your recipes and they are catergorised too. Plus a huge section for shopping lists and hand written recipes. It is perfect for me as when it comes to recipe collecting I am definitely a hoarder. There are recipes from over 12 years ago in there that are sooooo involved and probably completely out of my depth but you never know what I might do on a rainy day!

 I am kicking off the challenge with a family dish; 'Layer Casserole' from my CWA cookbook. It sounds easy but yummy too. The other reason for choosing this is the fact that our fridge almost resembles Old Mother Hubbards cupboard and I really dont feel up to a trip to Woolys today! Mince, vegies and rice are all it requires and they are staples in my house.

Hope you are having a happy start to your week and if you are lucky enough to be starting annual leave like me Happy Holidays !

Boo x

The Drop Off Zone...

Parents fear it...kids are drawn to it. It's even a taboo subject in 'Finding Nemo' - it's the Drop Off Zone at school.

I'm pretty new to all this school stuff, Sienna only started in Prep this year. It's a big school of around 800 kids and for fear of her getting lost in the crowds, I was more than happy to keep walking her to her classroom each morning and help her with her morning tasks before the bell went.

Then one morning in the second last week of term 1 as I was helping her get her reader out of her bag, my big girl said to me, "Mummy, I can do it myself. I don't need you to do it." Well! It was like a slap in the face! My first-born suddenly didn't need me for this! I was almost a bit teary walking back to the car that morning. (Luckily, the little man managed to trip both himself and his younger sister up on the way out, so my mind had to be busy consoling the two of them on the walk out!)

Then the biggest shock - on the way home after school that day, Sienna tells me she doesn't want me to walk her in and out of school anymore either. She wants to use the 'drop off zone' (pick up zone at home time I guess) and be a big girl. "I can do it Mummy, I really can!" she cried!

I didn't really answer, but I thought about it that night and talked it through with hubby. We both agreed that in her teeny (almost) 6 years, we've taught her to be a confident, aware little girl. This is proof that we're doing well, we're on the right track!

So the next morning, that's what we did. I had to do two trips around the block because we were too early for drop off...! Then we lined up with the other cars and crept along until we reached the front of the line. I helped her get out of the car and after a quick cuddle and kiss, she was off, zoom! (Yes, the tears flowed that morning! Little brother and sister were bawling in the back seat also because they didn't get to hop out of the car for a play on the school playground...) But you know what? Sienna was fine. Of course she was fine.

But gosh I was so happy at pick up time to get to the front of the line and see her happy, smiling face waiting for me! "I did it Mum!" she said proudly.

So I've got the timing right now (I leave at 8.35am in the mornings and 3.28pm in the afternoons). I still have issues with pick up times - do 80% of the other parents turn crazy at this time of day?! There's tooting, 'pushing in' (hence the tooting), parents who get out to yap to other parents (big no-no, it's a 2 minute time limit there...hence the pushing in), illegal u-turns (cue the dirty looks) - you can imagine, it's chaotic.

But my big girl is always waiting at the gate with the other 'drop off kids' - always smiling, waving and excited to tell us about her day. The only minor mishap we've had so far was when four identical black Territories were lined up in a row (mine included) and four kiddies (Sienna included) freaked out about which one to get into!

So I've come to realise, I'm not 'letting go', it's just another little part of one of my babies taking another big step into the big world.

 - Mem x

5 Sleeps

My life seems to be a constant countdown. I countdown to Christmas, once that arrives its a countdown to my big boys Birthday, then to Easter, then onto my baby boys Birthday and before you know it I am back where I started counting down the sleeps until Santa arrives yet again. Also thrown in there is the countdown to holidays, countdown to weddings, expecting friends due dates and so on and on and on.

If I ever get a shower to myself which may happen once a week, I stand under the boiling hot water and think about all these count downs. I count the weeks to go then I count backwards as well. I hope I'm not alone out there in doing this???? I even countdown to hair appointments and count forward to plan my next one!

Anyway so to get to the point of all this, my latest countdown is to my holidays. I started back at work in January this year and ever since day one I have been counting down to this upcoming break. I have only 5 sleeps to go and if you change it into work shifts it sounds even better as then it is only 2 night shifts to go! 

I am busy making a list of things to do in my holidays. The notes section in my iPhone looks really exciting at the moment with lots of things planned. I have decided to do lots of kiddie friendly things as my time with boys is precious and they deserve a few treats. The last few months has been so hectic for them with early morning drop offs. Sometimes they are plucked out of their beds at 6am to drop off at Nanny's so Daddy gets to work on time, all while Mummy (me) is still at work. So yes they certainly need some days at home and days out and about just having fun. So a few items on my list include a date with Blake to 48Flavours (the grooviest ice cream parlour in town) and maybe our first ride on a paddle steamer!

Also while on holidays I have set myself a special challenge. Julie and Julia style except minus the french. Every night that I am on holidays we are going to have something we have never had before for dinner. I can use recipes books, magazine cutouts whatever but it has to be something new. I invited Ryno along for the challenge, not sure how keen he was and he did ask how many times I expected him to go to Hungry Jacks for a quick emergency dinner dash (only ever done this twice ever so my track record is pretty good!). Anyway more details on this will come in a later blog.

Some may consider this all this counting down a waste of time and a way of wishing my life away. But I see it as a wonderful oppurtunity. At least I have exciting things to countdown to.

Righto I'm off to have a shower and maybe countdown to Logan's Birthday party!

Boo x

Party Princess

(Photo courtesy of Pinterest)

Gone are the days when 'pin the tail on the donkey' and a round of musical chairs were the highlight of a child's birthday party. The goody bags were simple plastic-type bags with a brightly coloured clown on the front. Party pies, sausage rolls, little franks - the standard party food - it's all gone out the window. It's retro.

I remember rocking up to parties in my childhood itching to get my hands on a chocolate crackle. No one cried playing pass the parcel when there wasn't a prize in every layer for every party-goer, we all cheered for the winner at the end. And I'd proudly wear my Strawberry Shortcake party hat for weeks afterwards.

It's all about 'styling' the parties these days. Vintage fluted plates of delicate cupcakes; old-style candy jars filled with lollies; buntings, lanterns and tissue-paper pop-poms.

And yet...I'm no different! My eldest daughter's 6th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and we're currently planning an 'afternoon tea' style party for her and her friends. She wants lots of pink, lots of flowers, butterfly cakes - basically a party fit for a princess. Oh, and paper chains - which is actually kind of cool!

There will still be lots of fun, lots of yummy food. It's just different to what we were used to growing up. And I'll indulge her in it...because being so girly myself, I can't help but love it all!

So wish me luck!  The little man's birthday is also in a few weeks (he'll be turning 4)...he's having his party at McDonalds...well, that's what he wanted!

 - Mem

Here We Are!

Well, where to start?! We're two sisters Meredith and Bronwyn (AKA Mem and Boo; Mez and Bron; Merri and Bronny; Flea and Bronwink...you get the picture!)

Pretty dorky and cliche, but we can pretty much say that we've very rarely disagreed or bickered much in our whole lives...we have always been best friends and our Mum boasts about rarely ever having to referee any screaming matches when we were growing up!

When we were much younger, we used to play 'Aunties' - which really was just us being Mummies, our many, many 'babies' (cue the Cabbage Patch dolls, My Childs, pre-Baby-Born-type era dolls), pretend cups of teas and lots of giggles. We did have make-believe husbands too, but they were doctor-types and never at home, of course!

Life's funny though...we're still playing that game. Only, we married tradies and our real-life babies are definitely more livelier than those Cabbage Patch kids! We're also both working Mummies and learning to be experts at juggling absolutely everything!

Boo has two gorgeous boys - one wants to be a superhero and can dance the 'Travolta' with the best of them; and the littlest little man has almost found his feet, but in the meantime can still get into everything with a cheeky smile.

Mem has a little boy sandwiched by two girls - the eldest is in her first year at school and wants to sing like Barbie when she grows up; the teeny girl is a real-life tinker fairy with a witty sense of humour; and middle boy is a snuggler and aspires to play footy for Hawthorn.

We have pretty different styles, yet really complimentary too. We like similar things, and we're kind of addicted to Pinterest at the moment too...!

So here's our little place in the world, our spot for recording things about us, our families or just little things that we like or find amusing.

Enjoy!
xxx