Tooooo Cold!

I normally love Winter. Love uggies, hoodies, snuggly blankets, tights/boots combo, laying in front of the heater with a good book.

Not this year!

I seriously think this is the coldest Winter we've had since I moved to Mildura 11 years ago. It's seemed endlessly, bitterly cold. There's hardly been a drop of rain, just yucky, grey days. The kids (and us!) have had coughs and colds on and off for months, not to mention bouts of tonsilitis and ear infections. It's been a shitty Winter.

I've got a wardrobe full of pretty Summer dresses that I look at longingly - I can't wait for the Springy warmth to arrive.

A lot of the Mummy Bloggers I follow are currently jetting off to New York for the annual BlogHer conference. http://www.blogher.com/blogher-12 I'm INSANELY jealous! Not just because New York is my absolute dream destination, but because of the beautiful warm weather they've got there at the moment! Their adventures do look absolutely amazing, I must say.

Anyway, back to cooking dinner - at least it's warm near the stove! (Some one kick me and remind me of this post in a few months' time when I'm whinging about the 40°c weather!)

 -Mem x

Purple Pants

I love tuning in to the backseat banter between my kiddies. Their funny little conversations make me giggle but are oh-so-important and serious to them. They think I'm not listening, but I do take it all in!

Waiting in the school pick up line is filled with entertaining one-liners and long-winded converstions between my two youngest kidlings.

A few weeks ago it was looking quite grey and stormy at school pick up time. Chace is a bit of a storm tracker himself and predicts the weather most days. His younger sister is quite the happy-go-lucky, airy-fairy type - nothing much bothers her.

So it went like this:

Chace: "Hey Lex, I think there's a storm comin',"
Lex: "Yeah?!"
Chace: "Yep Lex, there is. And you know what? They is danger those storms."
Lex: "Awww."
Chace: "You know, you will get very hurt if you're out and the lightening storm gets you."
Lex looked thoughtful: "But I wearing my purple pants!"
Chace: "But the lightening can still get you."
Lex: "No...purple pants!"
Chace became frustrated: "Lex, it's a storm!"
Lex: "Umm...purple pants!"

So it went on and on. My fairy insisting that all will be ok in the world if she is donning her purple pants. My sensitive little man in a flurry of tears, frustrated that he can't reason with her. (I'm thinking he's going to spend many frustrated years not understanding why his sisters, or girls in general, can't be reasoned with!)

Sienna jumped in the car amidst the howling and cackling. She gave me a funny look. I shrugged.

Purple pants trump lightening. Simple as that really!

 - Mem x

Living With Allergies...

It's amazing how many children these days have allergies and anaphylaxis. My Sienna is one of them. It's opened our eyes to a whole new world. I recently wrote a guest blog article for Lime Tree Kids on our family's experience with allergies, which you can find here:

http://www.limetreekids.com.au/news-living-with-food-allergy-siennas-story-31.aspx

Be sure to check out the rest of the Lime Tree Kids site - Shelley and her lovely team have some amazing products!

 - Mem x

Wrinkles Anyone?

I've come to realise, I'm no Spring chicken anymore...

I remember coming home from school one day to tell my Mum that I was worried about my Grade 2 teacher's hands. The skin on her hands was always a bit wrinkly and wobbled around a bit when she pointed to things in a book or on the blackboard. Mum explained to me that wrinkly skin is just something that happens as we grow older. (Bear in mind that my teacher was probably only around age 40 at the time!)

Fast forward 20-odd years, and now here's my hands starting to get a bit of the 'wobbly skin' look to them! Not to mention the crow's feet near my eyes and the little pigmentation spots on my face.

I can justify them. Really I can.

The crow's feet must be evidence of every smile I've ever done; every single bout of laughter - right? Has to be! So I don't hate them that much. It's kind of like getting stretch marks after having a baby - the good old 'baby stripes'.

Mum would slather us in sunscreen and zinc cream as little girls. And as we got older, hounded us to wear sunscreen under our make-up. I did...mostly. Well, maybe just sometimes. I wish I'd listened to her back then, because now I wouldn't have the little pigmentation spots on my face! (Mum also warned me that squeezing and picking my pimples would result in scarring...of course she was right, oh I really regret that one!)

Since I've had my babies, I've found my skin has changed dramatically, in just a number of years. I've even had to change the way I do some of my make-up, mainly to accommodate (hide!) those damn wrinkles!

I've found a few great little products recently that seem to be doing my skin the world of good! A new Loreal serum called Youth Code Luminosity - specifically targeted for women aged 25-35 years. It's given my dull skin a healthy glow that I haven't seen in years. And good old Rosehip oil - that stuff is amazing! I think I'm starting to see it working.





Another great little find is Zoe Foster's book 'Amazing Face'. Wow, this girl really knows a trick or two about make-up and beauty products! I highly recommend it.


So this seems to be the regime that's going to work in helping my skin to 'age gracefully'...for now! Who else has some handy little beauty/make-up tricks up their sleeve?

 - Mem x

Loving Lark

(Photo from www.larkmade.com.au)

Here's another little favourite of mine. An absolute gem of a store called Lark. It's located in Daylesford, Victoria - and also has an online store at www.larkmade.com.au

It's packed full of gorgeous homewares ranging from quaint to quirky, modern to vintage. There's something for everyone - partyware, grown-up styles, kids ranges. Amazing things. I honestly can't get enough of their beautiful products.

My cousin is getting married later this year in Daylesford and I really can't wait to pop in to visit the real Lark store, rather than just browsing their online store.

Here's a few of the products that I recently 'had' to buy!

Retro hair bobbles for my girls in various colours - just like Boo and I used to wear in the 80s

Vintage-look bunting for Sienna's birthday party

Pretty washing-up brush (who says dishes have to be boring?!)

Retro canisters (and their matching spice tins)

Vintage bath dolly for Lexi - which she has affectionately named 'Honey'

Diner/station clock - in pink of course!

 - Mem x

School Holidays

I'm loving the school holidays!

It's not a huge deal in our house yet - I've only got one at school, my other two littlies are at 3 year old kinder and part-time daycare. But last week I booked holidays from daycare for Chace and Alexis too and it's been absolute bliss! No running around getting kids here and there on time; no rushing to get me to work on time; no nagging the kids to get dressed/brush teeth/get in the car. It's been jarmies until mid-morning (ok, until lunchtime some days!) and pottering around doing bits and pieces.

I'm pretty lucky that my boss allows me to work from home from time to time. So last week that's exactly what I did. I spread my work hours across the whole week to work around lots of playtime with the kids. It's been fantastic!

I'm a bit of a neat freak but I've sent my inner-freak off on a holiday this past week too and let the kids get into some messy activities. We've been Masterchefs, Picassos and playdoh extraordinaries! We've built Lego cities that would make New York look boring! (Seriously, where in the world would you find a pink/red/yellow skyscraper with flower-clad wheels on top?!)

I've discovered that no one ever really grows out of the Muppets...and now my kids will be forever fans. Every few hours either myself or one of the kids will belt out a rendition of 'Am I a Muppet or a Man'...! Much like when Boo and I were little - we drove our own parents crazy singing 'Together Again' from Muppets Take Manhattan.

There's been hardly any fights, apart from a running race between Sienna and Chace to get to the first cupcake out of the oven last week...Chace won, Sienna got elbowed into the wall and has a considerable eggy bruise on her forehead to prove it!

Today it's catch up day before I head back to the office on Wednesday. Daycare bags need to be re-packed, routines need to be back in place. And they're still all being so good! Even being stuck inside with a rainy day threatening, at the moment all three are playing dress ups and giggling like crazy. It makes me realise just how fast my babies are growing up!

 - Mem x

Hair Envy

Hands up if you have hair envy? This blog topic is perfect in our family at the moment. Last week my poor little sis had her first encounter with peroxide that went very very wrong and today I am having a particularly bad hair day. It resembles a birdnest with a headband wrapped around it!
Anyway so who do I envy? Lots of people. I am one of those people who was bornn with horrible wavy hair thats not curly but not straight so of course I envy those with straight hair.
I envy colours too. I was a very vibrant Ranga until a few months ago. I decided my fire engine red was too 'in your face' so opted for a brown with some warmth still in it. Every time I look in the mirror I think 'BORING'!!!! But its not boring but if you know me you will know that I am pretty out there with my hair and for me this is very boring.
I do love my short style though. Short one side and a bit longer on the other. It is super easy to style compared to my long locks that I had once. I used to book in for a blow wave before going away just so I had nice hairdresser hair the whole time.
Ok so time to share my latest favourite celeb styles and who I am turning green over at the moment.




My absolute fav is Danni. I am mad about her. I think I really do have a crush on her!!!!

and what about this next one. Do you think I could pull it off for a wedding?

My next fav is Reese. I will probably never be able to do this but i can dream.........

This next one makes a bit sad!!! Its my old colour and I miss it soooooo much!

And lucky last is a bit crazy but probably something I would do. Why not match your hair to your outfit!!!

So I'm feeling pretty envious but to finish I must say at least I have hair so I'll take what I'm given.

Happy Monday everyone, hope no one is suffering Mondayitis

Boo x