My Ballerinas

Did you do shows as a kid?  I remember putting together little puppet shows and having my parents sit and watch.  My girls love to put on shows!  

They had rules for this show.  No iphones except for photography!  

Looking at these pictures reminds me how different these girls are from one another - physically yes, that's obvious, but their personalities are also so different.  I love to see them developing into their own little person!

I had no idea what to expect from them at this age as far as getting along together, particularly as I did not have a sister, but they get on so well!  

Happy Birthday Sarah

This beautiful girl is 10 today!

2002

Double figures!  Now that's pretty exciting!  I had a brief moment of tears yesterday as I remembered the early moments when I held my first born through to her toddler years.  It sounds so cliché to say that 'time flies' but it does!  The past 5 years at least have just gone by in the blink of an eye and while I would love to go back in time and cuddle the cute little toddler I'm so happy to see a young girl, growing up, loving Jesus and developing her own strong personal values.

2005

2006

2008

We are so proud of this young lady! 

10 Things we love about her!

1.  She is very kind hearted and loves to make new friends, young and old.
2.  She is adventurous.
3.  She is a book worm and can devour about 3 (fairly long) books in a night!
4.  She cares about us if we are upset (Hannah)
5.  She plays outside with me (Olivia)
6.  She loves Jesus and wants her life to be pleasing to him.
7.  She is an excellent story writer and works hard to write very good quality stories.
8.  She is quick to forgive others and make things right with those she loves. (Daddy)
9.  She is very affectionate and still loves to climb on our laps for cuddles. (Daddy)
10.  She is very lively and enthusiastic about everything.

Holiday Plans

We are so excited around here about the school holidays!  We've only just now finished breakfast and are getting dressed!  We all love slow mornings!

The older girls have each chosen two goals for the school holidays.  Sarah would like to learn to knit and do hairstyling and Hannah would also like to learn to knit and ride a bike.

Sarah is making good progress on her Granddad's scarf!  She's quite a good knitter and quite quick too.  I can knit but unfortunately I do not know how to fix her mistakes so I will be heading over to grandmas so she can teach me!

The girls also have goals to get better at something.  Sarah is working on her maths each day in a Maths Mentals book and Hannah would like to ready for Naplan next year and is working through a Naplan exam book.

I also have a goal, which I have wanted to learn since my first year of uni!  I'm going to learn how to make our own pasta!  So far I've found this recipe and this video so I'm hoping it will work!  If you have any tips for making your own pasta I'd love to know!

Tomorrow is Sarah's birthday so we will be heading out to the city to get her a new outfit! 


I hope you have a wonderful week!

Bedtime prayers

Every night without fail we say bedtime prayers.  Usually I go from one room to another beginning with Olivia, then Hannah, then Sarah.  I love bedtime prayers for so many reasons and I'm not looking forward to the day my children decide that they are too old for me to kneel beside their bed and pray.  Having said that, maintaining such a routine can also be frustrating at times.  At this stage in life, the girls refuse to go to sleep without their prayer.  It's those days when I'm so tired that I just wish they would put themselves to sleep and say their own prayers, but somehow I manage to pick myself up and follow through.

Bedtime prayers are different with each child.  With Olivia I kneel beside her as she lays.  She melts my heart every night!  Her prayers always begin the same - word for word.  She says:

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for wonderdul world and
Thank you for this wonderdul day."

She will then pray for her cousin Lachlan and his family, for preschool and anything else that has been on her mind.  When she's finished I say "Jesus loves you, Olivia" and she will look up with the cutest, melt-your-heart smile and voice and say "I love you too Jesus."  This often leads on to a little conversation about Jesus and that he's watching over her as she sleeps.  It's such a beautiful moment.

Next is Hannah.  Hannah is my super routine girl.  She has to be laying in her bed while I hug her in a particular way as I kneel beside her.  I pray first and must pray for at least 5 things or it's too short (Hannah will say). I always begin by praying out loud and thanking him for something specific she has done that day or something to do with her character.  For example, thank you Jesus for sending me this angel.  Thank you that she was so willing to help set the table and is such a hard worker.  She always squeezes me a bit tighter right then!  I love it!  It's such a beautiful way of showing Hannah how much I'm thankful for her.  After I finish Hannah will say her prayer.  We then have about 3 big hugs, a few kisses each and she will go off to sleep quickly.

Next on to Sarah!  Sarah is changing at the moment and is so keen to grow up, but I still see glimpses of the little girl in her.  I pray for Sarah much the same as Hannah but Sarah will say a quick prayer.  Sarah's will always include, "put the angels at the doors, the windows and every entrance" and will finish with "oh, and forgive me for my sins."  Sarah will then want me to linger beside her as she tells me how lucky she is to have me.  She always asks for a song and sometimes I sing her a lullaby (with funny little inserst about her) or a church song like 'flow through me'.

Bedtime prayers can very often be a near-perfect ending to a much less than perfect day.  It's such a good time to thank God for them while they're listening and to pray for some of the things we're working on.  I'll often ask God to give them strength not to lie or not to follow the wrong crowd.  This is also a perfect time where the girls will open up and talk about things that are bothering them.  I know this a time the girls will never forget and will then go on to do with their children.

And just to include some photos, I found these on my iphone.  I think they're very clever!  

I'd love to hear if you have a bedtime routine.

Sarah's 10th Birthday Cake

I can't believe Sarah is turning 10!  I can't believe I have a nearly 10 year old!  That's just crazy!  Time is flying by and I'm seeing glimpses of her growing up... :(

This is the cake Sarah has chosen.  She is having a slumber party so as the guests arrive I'm going to take them aside to write a message on her cake.  The inside will be shades of  purple and turquoise (I hope that looks ok!)

Source for above photos.  I love this blog!

I created Sarah's invites in Adobe Photoshop Elements using Mel's Free Brushes.

 You can download the free printable invitation shown below here.

This is Sarah's first sleep over party so it's pretty exciting!!  We've got plans of home made pizza, pancakes and lots of fun games, and hopefully some sleep!

Turquoise and Pink

Well I think it's time for an update on Sarah's room.

The plans were all going along well in my head, but Sarah had a different idea.  She wanted a bright turquoise!  I'm not a huge fan of bright colours but I could see it working and would really like her room to be a reflection of what she loves, not what I love.  Anyway, yesterday I bit the bullet and bought her this beautiful new doona cover. The picture does not show just how bright it is.  It looks lovely with bright pink also so we have decided on a bright turquoise and pink room. 

  

Today I went and bought her paint for her feature wall - half strength dulux tapioca.  It's a pale bright turquoise....  I'm just hoping this all comes together in the end!!

Here are some inspiration pictures for turquoise and pink...

I love the Coloured silhouette cushion

Pretty!

Where do you find carousels like this?!

Different shades of turquoise

Gorgeous tea party!

I love this cake!!

Light and airy

Let the fun begin :)  I hope she loves it!

This girl.

Sarah is growing up so fast at the moment.  I look at her and it boggles my brain that I have a nearly 10 year old!!

The other day she was a bit sick and came home from school early.  I did a quick little photo shoot with my little camera.  She looks really sick doesn't she!  LOL

Sarah has been making some very wise choices recently and I'm so proud of her.  She's is a very kind girl.  I always say there's not a mean bone in her body.  She does not tolerate it when people pick on others and will always stick up for the underdog.  This makes me proud.  Sarah recently got a plate to straighten one of her teeth and was picked on by some of the kids at school.  It seriously broke her heart (and mine!)

Sarah asks a lot of questions, really thoughtful questions.  She does her best to please God and that means a lot to us.

Last week Josh and I went to the school for an interview.  Her behaviour is excellent and she tries her best.  That's what is important right?!

Sarah day dreams a lot.  A whole lot!  At the moment her dream is to start a shelter for orphaned animals.  She has thought it through and has drafted a letter to Julia Gillard to ask for a donation of land.    I am hoping to send it off.

Sarah's latest obsession in horses.  She drew this picture for Josh and I.

Sarah can not wait to be a teenager!  I can.  She still plays pretend and gallops around on her pretend horse.  Girls can grow up too fast these days.

Did I mention how much I love this girl?  I do!  She's gorgeous in and out.

She makes us so proud!

I hope you're enjoying a lovely weekend!

I'm back!

Well here I am, back sitting at Olivia's door as she goes off to sleep!  She had been doing so well, going to sleep on her own, before we went away!  It's my fault I'll admit.  She fell asleep every night of our holiday on my knee.  She was sharing a room with Sarah and Hannah who were chatting so it was the quickest way of putting her to sleep.  I'm a softy when it comes to letting my kids fall asleep on my knee.  Maybe I'm subconsciously making up for when they were babies!

We went to Tarthra for 5 nights and stayed in a little cabin.  It poured, and I mean POURED for 3 of the 4 whole days we were there!  I loved it!  I loved having all my little ones couped up in a cabin with the wood fire burning.  I was totally at home!  The other day and a bit we squeezed in everything we could such as canoeing, swimming at the beach, swimming in a pool, a trip to Bega etc.

I'm not sure Josh loved it as much as me.  I could sense he was itching to get out.  He's not a big fan of being couped up in a cabin with 5 girls!

I didn't manage to take many photos as the weather was gloomy or raining so this is about all I got!

Here are some more photos of my big girls who went out to one of the Canberra Day festivals today with a friend!  I would have loved to go but Jessica was running a pretty high temperature by lunch time!

Why do they pose like that?

Sarah's new obsession horses!  First it was cats, then dogs, now horses!  I told her she can have a horse....when she has a car and a well paying job!

Hopefully I can finish uploading pics from Olivia's birthday almost a month ago later tonight!

Have a good week!

Tween room makeover.

One of my ongoing projects is Sarah's room and I am making it my focus for a few months.  It's all a bit thrown together an squished in a fairly small room.

Before beginning I need to consider a few things:
-  she's a book worm and always has piles of books that she is reading
-  she needs somewhere to do her homework
-  she needs something that will cross over into her teen years without being to old or young
-  she has a heaps of stuffed toys
-  she is not naturally tidy and therefore needs everything well organised
-  her favourite colour is turquoise (no persuasion from me I promise!)
-  she wants her room to have a wow factor
-  she loves to display her and her friends' artwork
-  she is a hoarder and sentimental.
-  her room is small.

Ok, so what now?

I took some photos this morning to show you what I'm beginning with  and for the sake of keeping it real I did not clean it up.

Her bed.  Stuffed toys definitely need a new home!  I think they're breeding!  She has a lot of room under her bed for storage if necessary.  We like the picture on the wall but it is looks very lonely.

Here we have her curtains which I found at Salvos for $15.  They will move into Hannah's room.  Her bookshelf is overflowing and has all sorts of random things stacked on top of each other.  I love her lamp but it is very unsteady and falls off the bedside table all the time.

Overflowing chest of draws and memo board. 

 

Messy desk and a chair that needs replacing.

Ok, so you get the picture.  A lot can be done with a good throw out and tidy up but still the overall room needs work.

I spend a bit of time and tidied up her bookshelf and felt better about her room already!

The first thing I want to do is get some inspiration!

Ok, so I know this first room is not very much a 'tween room' but Sarah has always wanted a canopy!  Is 9 too old to have a canopy?  I don't think so, plus I can easily take it down when she's grown out of it.  I like the sheerness of this canopy.

Source

I've seen this picture pop up so many times all over the Internet.  I love this office.  I love the colour of the walls and chair against the white!  Sarah needs this chair!

Source

I love these blinds, colour and all!  I think they would look stunning in her room.  

Source

Or ruffle curtains?

Source

Fabric pom poms to add colour to a corner to brighten it up if necessary.

Source and pom pom tutorial found here

Ok so I have some serious planning to do and a lot of work but I'm looking forward to it!  My mind is racing with ideas and I just want to get started right away!

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!