A ROARING good xmas

So, this is the first year we've done a proper christmas tree (I know, I've been such a slacker up till now). But living in small apartments and then overseas meant that I... well, I just didn't bother with the whole thing. But now we have the space, and a toddler who is SUPER excited for Christmas I knew it was time to bite the bullet and get on the festive wagon!

And number one on our list was to make dinosaur christmas tree decorations! We found quite a few blogs online that had done similar things which gave us a great starting point and then we tweaked a few things along the way to make it suit us :)

The materials we used: cheap plastic dinosaurs, small screw hooks, white paint, gold spray paint and gold string.

First thing we did was find some cheap plastic dinosaurs at the local $2 shop. Then we did 2 coats of white paint as a base. 

Next step was to spray them gold. Having the white under as a base worked so well with gold, giving a bit of contrast and helping the shimmer to POP a bit more. (I also sprayed a heap of other things gold - yes I got a bit excited with the spraypaint lol - you can just see in frame some nuts and twigs I used to decorate presents).

So most of the blogs I read suggested using a drill to drill a hole in the dinosaur for the screw. And in our (not so handy) household using a drill seemed like a bit of a task. If this isn't you, go ahead and drill away! Instead hubby just used the screw to poke a little hole in the dinosaur and screw it in. A lot easier for us than using a drill (when we would have no idea what we are doing!)

Then all we did was add a gold string and voila - dinosaur decorations!

All up it did take a bit of time to do all of the different stages to create the dinosaur christmas decorations BUT it was a lot of fun and Austin really enjoyed the process. We did quite a few other DIY decorations too (because who wants to spend a fortune when you have little hands ready to tug and pull at the tree?). I wouldn't say they are quite as fabulous as the dinosaurs but they fill the tree for now, and then my plan is to slowly add some more sentimental and special decorations each year (remember, I'm just a Christmas tree novice, ok? Gimme a bit of time). 

We purchased this wooden garland from BIG W then cut it apart to make indiviual decoartions with each of the pieces. 

Here you can see a gold star (yep, more gold spray paint!). This is one of the pieces from the BIG W garland. Comes up alright, doesn't it? And we also got some rolls of ribbon and went nuts with tying bows all over the tree. Easy peasy!

And here is one of the pretty gold bows.

Pretty happy with our first proper christmas tree! And even the more special because we all helped to create most of the decorations :) 

Fresh summer hair - oh yeah!

Wearing: Dress by Tobi, belt from Zimmerman - similar here, Jord watch, Mimco bag - similar here , Sachi shoes - similar here and Clinique Pop Glaze lipstick in fireball

Sooo, as you all know I'm just a littttle bit (ALOT) excited for Christmas! Austin and I just had our fresh summer hair cuts (WOOP - first hairdresser visit in 6 months for me). He looks SO grown up with his hair all chopped off and we are all ready for our first CHRISTMAS PARTY of the year!

Its our big family Xmas do on my dads side and Austin is going to have sooo much fun. There are 14 great-grandkids (of my nana!) going, and at least over 40 people all up. Its going to be EPIC but alot of fun. 

Here's to some very tired kiddies tonight ;)

Arty Farty

When it's been raining all week, and you’ve run out of all of the indoor rainy activities you can think of….time to commission your (nearly) 2 year old son to make a piece of art. Posca on canvas. I had visions of an abstract art piece to hang in the lounge room. Don’t get me wrong, I think he did pretty damn good, and if anything else he hella enjoyed it (and it occupied him for a good while). Maybe we can hang it in the hallway?

And daddy's poor posca’s. I think Austin sent them off to art heaven. It was a sweet death. 

I like to move it, move it

Ok, that is a complete lie! Well at least when the 'move it, move it' is referring to moving houses. Which is probably pretty obvs from the photos because we were only in the new place for 24 hours when I thought it would be a fabulous idea to go explore the park down the road. And wear a pretty dress. And take some toys. And have a picnic. Because I am totally practical like that.

Let me just say moving homes with a toddler is nowhere near as hard as moving homes with a toddler and a baby, or a toddler and several kids or even a toddler while being pregnant (which I'm not)... but it is most def harder than moving without any kids.

So if you are about to do the big ol' move yourself and wondering what to expect, a little list for you:

1. One thing is for sure when moving houses with a toddler you can feel confident that as soon as you've done one task your toddler will create an equally as big if not bigger task for you (woooo isn’t this fun?!) My favourite from the weekend was when Austin found the box of rice bubbles (why did I think they would be safely hidden under the sink? Why???), poured them on the couch and then tried to see how many he could push in to the cracks of the cushions. Turns out he is pretty good at pushing them in to the cracks. And they are so damn small. Even after vacuuming I’m still finding them hidden everywhereeee. 
2. Toddlers will not nap on this day (or if they do it will take a HUGE amount of effort to get them to do so) so don’t under any circumstances rely on this precious time for unpacking (or resting yourself).
3. If you let your toddler watch the van being packed, in particular his unboxed toys being carted off (wooden trike, push oven, scooter) he will go BANANAS over the horrible men who are TAKING AWAY HIS TOOOOYYYYSSSSS. Damn. Letting him watch at the window seemed like such a good idea.
4. Although you will finish the day exhausted but satisfied don't get overly excited for bed and sleep because you know that there will be little of it with the small one in a new area waking through the night calling out for maaaaaaaa
5. The toddlers room will of course look pristine and perfect by end of day one while the rest of the house is a maze of unopened boxes and piles of 'things to put away'

Here's to the next three weeks (or months... or ever??) of getting the rest of the house in order. 

They see me rollin'

Best £4 we've spent and he hasn't even worked out how to scoot on it yet. He does lurrve to push it, and point at it and get excited about it. And in his usual style, it probably looks like he is so very unimpressed here, but I really promise this is just his 'concentration/super interested/I've got a new thing to look at' face.

How is that less than two years ago this boy was a little helpless blob and now he's his own proper little human, with a scooter and all. Time really does fly when you're having fun. 

Homeboy

So when you have plans to sightsee the whole god damn town... what happens? BOOM toddler flu. Bye bye London Museum, bye bye old London wall and HELLOOOO a weekend at home watching Paw Patrol on repeat, nutella toast all day long and general spoiling of the sickly one. Jumping on the bed YES, doona forts YES, pancakes YES (well for us, not Austin, no matter how hard we tried to convince him they weren't poison pies he wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.)

Hey and you know, it was pretty fun. The last time Austin fell asleep sitting on my lap was about a year ago, probs longer, aww the kid melts my heart. And it didn't last too long, he's already back to his old self, pretty much running around flatstick all day long (the kid is BANANA's, B-A-N-A-N-A'-S... you get the idea). 

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

There’s a small little man in our house just swimming in new toys. Unlike last year, when he really had no idea what was going on, this year he knew enough to know that something good was coming, something REALLY good. And yep when he saw all of the gits wrapped under the tree he was READY to get at em.

We were really hoping he would crack a smile, or you know, look like he was enjoying himself when he was opening all of his fabulous gifts, but he was far too focussed on the job at hand: tearing off the wrapping paper, inspecting the wares and then moving on the next package of kiddy heaven.

There was a lot of interest in the fire engine, and the big double decker bus but the best reaction had to be when he opened a package to reveal a little Elmo… and it scared the hell out of him. Poor little man, we’re still working on getting the two of them to get along….it may take a while.

Some toy makers have a lot to answer for why, oh why do they insist on using all sorts of ridiculous packaging that you can’t get off, or that you need scissors for, or a screw driver (yes, a screwdriver) to remove the packaging (yes, I am serious). But I would personally kiss the feet of the man (or woman) who included a mute button on his noisy as hell ambulance and fire truck (oh THANKYOU you amazing son of a gun).

And of course when there is extreme excitement (yes I promise, there was extreme excitement even if it doesn’t look like it) there are also tears. Ah the highs and lows of toddlerhood. In the photo of the three of us with Austin laying down he was actually mid tantrum, pretty much just screaming his head off. And you know, we’re just smiling, because sometimes the best thing to do with a toddler throwing a tanty… is well… nothing. 

But the one tanty aside, Austin was a fabulous little trooper. And oh, can’t wait until he is old enough to be bribed with Santa’s naughty or nice list.