Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

 

Lots of smiles and giggles from my beautiful baby girl.

A husband home on holidays

New art supplies

The warmth of a fire on cold nights

Beautiful sunsets

Wonderful learning experiences with our homeschool co-op

Making new friends

Sleep overs

Paper aeroplanes 

BBQs with mates

I hope there are many things that bring you joy too this Friday. Sending love to you all. X

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*A day to recover and rest for the kids
*Toy Story 3 that kept the kids happy while they rested
*No one vomiting today just a general unwellness and one kid who woke up genuinely frightened of their pillow
*All the exciting things happening around us
*A new baby to arrive in February
*The morning sickness that is slowly fading
*The energy to cook (which has been hiding away for at least the last 3 months)
*The beautiful sunny weather we've been enjoying
*The parks we've been visiting
*The friends and family we've been spending time with and all the blessings they bring to us

I hope you have had a good week too! Sending out some Friday Love to you all! x
 

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*A baby that reaches for me for comfort when he needs it.
*The screams of delight when my girls are playing in the playground at the bookstore.
*The wonderful friends, both old and new, that I am surrounded by who encourage me and inspire me.
*The gorgeous kids who come to visit.
*The family we spent the weekend with and the country escape that always brings peace to our busy lives.
*My girls whom I'm so proud of, who are always surprising me with their energy, joy and love of life.
*The warmth inside a cosy house on a cold night
*The shouts of joy when our song plays on the radio and the dancing and singing, with all the excitement of sharing the same love of music, that follows.
*Hearing my kids make up their own lyrics to the songs!
*New pillows
*A room to hide the piles and piles of washing in
*Having all I need and much, much more.

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for ...

*Crazy creative kids who love to get messy
*A beautiful sunny day that followed the coldest day in 11 years (or so my neighbour tells me)
*First days of football, I'm a proud Mama!
*A clean house! OMG! Yes, today it was apparently 'fun' to help mum clean the house.
*3 sleeping kiddos! still can't believe that one. Its rare these days.
*A happy and productive day, just the four of us. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Kids Craft Idea - String Art

Here's a fun activity for young kids. All you need is a ball of string some nails and hammer and a peice of wood. It makes a great decoration for the home or kids bedroom and a great alternative to a hung canvas.

You can choose any shape you desire plus there are lots of fascinating patterns you can create which may suit an adult or an older child. Here are some free patterns http://www.stringartfun.com. For a younger child such as mine, it is best to keep things simple. My little sweety chose to do a heart shape. I simply drew the shape and hammered the nails in around an inch apart, tied the string in place and then let her go crazy weaving the string in and out of the nails and 'go crazy' is exactly what she did. She was so excited to create an intricate web out of string and nails and on a large scale it was quite a physically engaging activity. We used a multi coloured wool but any colour or fibre would be fine too.

I love the texture and pattern and have placed it in our living area for everyone to appreciate. The wool paired with the grainy wood brings a warmth to our home. It reminds me of the kind of art I grew up with from the 70s and 80s. I'm so glad this trend is back. Have a go. Get retro.

Blackboard Paint Drawers

Chalkboard paint has changed my life. You won't believe me but its true. In my home, drawers can be a blessing and a curse. See, I figured some time ago that my habit of hiding my toys under my bed, when I was a child, in order to 'clean my room' has translated into putting random things in random drawers and cupboards in adulthood in order to 'clean my house'. The problem with this is when you go to find a toy or, in my case, a receipt or battery or screw driver... it could be anywhere! And God forbid if you opened a drawer anything could spring out at you. If the space I live in is unorganised and chaotic it spreads into every other area of my life. This is true for many people, I guess thats why the saying "a place for everything and everything in its place" is so catching. If you know where that place is just by reading it on the front, things get a little easier. 

Chalk board paint is a great solution to labelling things. You can paint it on just about anything and you can label things and relabel them just by writing with chalk and wiping clean.

This is my balinese style wall unit. It has plenty of drawers and I used to spend quite a while searching through every drawer to find something. I simply removed the handles, sanded the front of each drawer down and painted them with two coats of blackboard paint which can be found at most hardware stores and craft suppliers. It is quite cheap and dries quick. After I labelled all my drawers and cupboards with chalk, I was able to keep things in their place and find them so easily. It is a great way to organise your home and so easy, so I recommend giving it a go, it may change your life too...

Friday Love

So much has happened while I've been away. About a month ago my computer just stopped working so I took the opportunity to take some time off. I have been thinking about what I do here at Krafty Guts, How much I love to share creative projects and document the things my children and I do but much more, how I have so much opportunity to connect with so many other creative people in cyber space and have been inspired and challenged and above all, encouraged by the journey and the process. I really do enjoy it. So now I am dreaming of something even bigger... its gonna take more time more effort and more creativity so in the meantime I am going to stop and reflect and be grateful for now (and pray for a fancy computer to fall into my lap, I feel naked without photos on here...)

 I am grateful for...
*A computer on loan from Mum and Dad
*Sleeping children
*A great day with my sister
*A quiet car trip to listen to my own music instead of Justine Clark on repeat! no offence Justine...
*Two weeks shared with my husband and kids
*Peeps who believe in me and encourage me
*Mums who inspire me so with strength when times are tough, with love when they seem all loved out.
*kids who challenge me and make me want to be a better me
*moments when I turn to mush: a giant leap-into-your-arms cuddle from Angus, a joyous belowing angelic mash-up song of all her favourite tunes from Ruby or a loud, unrestrained squeel of delight from Poppy.
I hope you too, have so much to delight in tonight. x

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

Friends and family who enrich our lives so much, most of whom celebrated our children's birthdays on the weekend with us and made the day amazing.
Friends who are far away, who are still close to my heart, Stacey, Josie and Katherine. I miss you guys! x
Happy, healthy children.
Down time to stop and appreciate it.
Neighbours who don't complain about the kids screaming (or the mum screaming)
A homeschooling community who encourage me and inspire me and who make this decision to homeschool a little easier.
Beautiful weather
A great babysitter
A good book
A pantomime
Angus' constant exclamations of "OH WOW!" (so cute it makes me cry)
My girls who are truly blossoming and getting cheekier everyday.

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*A return to the blogosphere after my many preoccupations including the Breaking Bad Tv Series on DVD, a bout of some seriously addictive book reading (The Hunger Games Trilogy and various Jane Austen books) followed by the movies of the afformentioned books, glandular fever, a lack of motivation, early nights to bed and the obvious tending to kids and housework.
*A great Daddy to take all the kids out so I could sleep in peace, oh yeah!
*Some beautiful sunny weather amongst some very cold days
*A lovely day at the library and the local park
*Our art sessions at the park and in the front yard
*A house that was clean for at least 10 minutes at one point today
*Playschool
*A slowcooker

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

Toilet paper
A cheeky baby
Op shops
Buttons and doilies
A new ride!!!
New homeschool friends
Sunday cook ups, I did a big cook up on Sunday and we are still benefiting from all the meals I made
Paint. Just putting a new coat of paint on something makes me feel great, yeah just short of painting a masterpiece!
Having my husband home early... time to finally clean the house
Tying up loose ends

I hope your week has been great too. X

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

Tea parties
making cubbies
long walks
sleeping babies

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

All the lessons learned this week
The lovely rain
Heaters and ugg boots and the layers of blankets that kept us warm
A crawly baby to keep me on my toes and always make heart skip a beat with the sheer cuteness of him
Poppy who learnt her that all her hard work paid off when she went and bought her play makeup table with the money she earned doing jobs around the house, (a lot of lessons learned here)
the kindness of strangers
My husband who did so much kid wrangling to give me a break even when he has been so short on time and breaks himself
The spaghetti he made at 6:00 in the morning so I wouldn't have to
Despite the hours spent sitting by the toilet and the piles of washing, the progress Ruby has made toilet training
Potato stamps, play dough and collage
A good book to read
Wine and chocolate to relax after a long week.

$10 Worth of Faith

A stranger gave me $10 yesterday. I know it sounds silly but that $10 was worth more than it could buy that day. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I'm pretty sure everyone feels like this at one time or another and these last few weeks, it has been my turn. Wearing your heart on your sleeve all the time is painful, trying to love the people around me and connect with others only to face a brick wall all the time. Just being a loving parent and being strong has lately been very challenging. As I looked around, I could see the balls dropping around me. Yesterday, at Poppy's swimming lesson, I broke the bad news to the girls that not only had we shown up on the wrong day and that I had forgotten my daughters change of clothes but I had left my wallet at home and we couldn't get a milkshake from the coffee shop, which the girls had been looking forward to all morning. I had no idea at the time that someone had been listening to me and as we left the change room she slipped the money into my hand and told me to buy my girls a drink. She would not take no for an answer. The tears welled in my eyes as she left and I realised this is what I had been waiting for, someone like this to restore my faith in people. A small act of love suddenly made me feel as though me and my children were not an inconvenience, we were appreciated. That someone wanted to build us up and not watch us fail. That someone did not expect anything in return just for us to have a little piece of joy that we might have missed out on. The world was not going to end if the kids did not get a milkshake. The kids knew that and so did I, but this stranger gave me more than she might have realised when she handed me that money, she gave me faith to get through another day and plenty more to come.

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*Knowing how far I've come
*Realising I only have to take life one day at a time
*Moments of pure joy among screems and tantrums and spills.
*Good company and coffee (and a conversation when we can manage it)
*A husband who takes over childminding duties when I am hiding from my children...
*The 8 piles of washing that I no longer have to fold
*The way God orchestrates meetings, moments of revelation and words of wisdom when I trust Him
*So many women in my life whom I respect, who are honest about their struggles and their triumphs
*When nothing else seems to work for him, the peaceful night sky and a rocking chair to rock my baby to sleep
*A glass of wine and a good chat (or should I say, debrief) with my soul mate
*A nylon string guitar and time to myself to sing a few tunes

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*Storytime at the library
*The exercise running to get there on time, pushing over 30 kilos worth of kids up a hill!
*Red Radish cafe... One of the only cafes I have ever been to that has a huge play area for kids and I am not worried about the kids getting bored which means fun for kids and relax for Mum!
*Cute kids to play with. Angus had heaps of fun playing peek-a-boo behind the bean bags with a 3 year old boy we met. (He is growing up so quick)
*Such happy kids
*Clay
*Couscous
*Guinea pigs
*Chalk for drawing roads and zebra crossings on concrete. Bike circuits rock.
*Togetherness (even if I had to lock myself in a cupboard at one point for some personal space)

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*A fantastic holiday in Boonah, full to the brim with Easter craft, playing with cousins, exploring the farm, reconnecting with family, learning from wise friends, performing at 'Variety Night' (and laughing our heads off), eating chocolate, making chocolate, avoiding chocolate, experiencing the epic Easter Story at Lake Moogerah, all the help at hand in a large group with kids (if only I had a village like this everyday)
*A home to return to
*A great book I can't put down, "Unschooling Rules"
*Friends who put up with it all and can laugh at most things
*Children who teach me things everyday
*Drive through Coffee Shop
*My True Love who brings flowers home for not only me but for my girls too (Lord please bless them with a love such as this)
*For the generosity of those around me
*Reconnecting with old friends who in 10 years have changed but somehow stayed the same (and multiplied)

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...
*all the help I can get, my hard-working hubby who always thinks of me and gives me time to be alone and recharge... sew.
*no one drawing attention to the 3 or 4 baskets of washing waiting to be folded for the last week.
*play dates and park meets with so many kids this week, new friends and old.
*the school holidays, time to escape again.
*the mornings a spent drawing and painting with my girls this week.
*the generosity of others, I feel so blessed when others give so freely of themselves, I only hope I can do the same.
*my big girl Poppy who became a real encourager this week
*my little Ruby who completed her potty chart today and is now officially trained
*my baby boy Angus who learned to dance this week - heart melts every time!
I am a lucky girl indeed!
I hope you have all had a lovely Friday and have a fantastic Easter break. x

Friday Love

Friday, you have not been kind to me... I've had a shocker so the love is gonna have to wait until tomorrow when I have some perspective! ....back to my wine and chocolate and tacky romcom. blah

************

Today I am grateful for

*A good sleep in and a level head to look back at my week with gratitude 

*These little cuties that I shared my week with

*Little Dragon music

*A Night out on the town with my man (he had to tackle me to get back in the car to go home)!

*Our wonderful babysitters

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*Good mates to share the day with
*Three sleepy angels on the drive home
*Health after two days of feeling rotten
*The help of my mum so I could spend a whole day in bed yesterday!
*Two little girls, learning to look after one another... Playing doctors (we have seen a few lately)
*Our lovely new guinea pig additions to our family, Mike and Knight. For the first time in a long time,  there are now more boys than girls in our household.
*Sleep after such a busy week

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...

*Rain and plenty of it
*Chocolate Cupcakes and my two little cooks who consumed way too much chocolate icing than the recommended daily intake...
*Storytime online for snuggling up in bed to a good story that I didn't have to read... ah.
*No cook playdough with sparkles less mess for mum, more texture, a little extra sparkle and plenty of squishability for kids.
*The leather belt Angus played with for half an hour
*A very lovely baby sitter who made it possible for me to take down the wet washing and vacuum pathway through the mess.
*Pizza, another favourite cooking activity for a rainy day.