He's 6

Gosh, it feels like only yesterday he was a tiny little nestling, now he's my big strapping school boy. Time certainly does fly.

Happy birthday Biggest Boy. It's been a wonderful 6 years... :) xx

How to spot your husband in the throws of a mid-life crisis

He'll come home with one of these:

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm off to update his life insurance...

Pirate Party

Matthew went to his best friends 6th birthday on the weekend. BF's dad put A LOT of work in to this party - so much so that when it is my turn to provide an elaborate party for the boy in 2 weeks time, I fear he will be the laughing stock of the school yard. (Aside: good thing it was a pirate party - eye patches are the one thing there is no shortage of around this place...)

Meet the pirates:

Pin the eye-patch on the pirate

Fishing for treasure maps

Small pirate captured by big, drunk, bush-whacking pirate

Climbing across ladders spanning large, crocodile infested creeks.

They also had an open fire for the kids to toast marshmallows, a treasure hunt in a snake-infested gully and a home made pirate ship to decorate. The kids had a ball.

For Matthew's birthday I planned on throwing the boys in the backyard with a pinata & a lolly hunt and calling them back inside to have cake at some point before loading them up with lolly bags and sending them home to their parents. I may need to review my plans... help please?

A little trip down memory lane

Love that eyebrow - he still gives it to me on occasion.

We stumbled across some old photos of Ryan last night that we'd forgotten even existed. Awww, so cute.

I really ought to get the boy a photo album so we can admire his pictures more frequently. The poor kid suffers badly from "second child syndrome"...

6 Random things

I was tagged by Ellie to write 6 random things about myself.

Here are the rules ...
1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Right, well lets get started...

1. I have never lost a molar tooth naturally. All of mine were pulled before they were ready by my dentist to stop my over crowding problem.

2. I have moved house 13 times in the last 10 years.

3. The longest I have ever lived in the same house is 2.5 years (current house)

4. I once pierced my ear with a safety pin – no ice.

5. There are a pair of suicidal ducks that race out in front of my car at the same time & same spot each day when I’m on my way to work.

6. I once set my hair on fire trying to light a cigarette when I was drunk.

Okay, I'm tagging (sorry girls...) :

Jenn
Little White Dove
Sarah
Ruth
Car
Red Haired Girl

The blog list sucks

Why does mine never update reliably?

Photographic evidence of our boganity...

Dream on

It’s been a busy few weeks here at The Shack. Lots of grown up decisions to be made which never makes for fun times. Some of you know we recently considered relocating the family (yet again…) and were very close to actually doing so when all our plans fell apart at the last minute. To say it was rather fucking annoying is somewhat of an understatement… It was at this point T & I did a bit of soul searching and made the decision late last week to pull the house off the market.

So now what? Well, I guess we stay put. Disappointing as the whole situation was, it has in a way inspired us to continue with our own plans. Plans we’d almost forgotten we had made. It’s so easy to lose sight of your goals if you don’t keep them foremost in your mind and easier still to become focused on the seemingly endless long commutes to work, slap-dash dinners and piles of washing.

So for now, here, the fire has been re-ignited and we are at ease with our decision. The days are once again looking rosier and we are both excited to once again be back on the same page with our ideas. Now, to stop procrastinating and actually carry them out… (See, some things never change.)

Finally...

It’s finished! Took a long time though, I must admit and there was even a stage when I wondered if it was destined to become another one of my many half completed projects stuffed back in the sewing box. It did take me many weeks to psych myself up to do the binding – for some reason I was terrified. First I wasn’t sure if I would have enough of the fabric I wanted to use and next I was put off by the thought of having to hand stitch the back of the binding. Ugh, boring…

Anyway, I learnt many things along the way:

1. Hand stitching the binding is not that hard after all.
2. I really need a thimble.
3. And a walking foot.
4. During the quilting stage, even when you think you have more than enough pins to keep it all from moving, add 10 more.
5. 3 year olds should not be allowed to “help”.
   
   Here’s a close-up of the binding from the back:
   

Probably not perfect, I imagine the CWA ladies would have a field day with the faults but there has been too much self-congratulating going on for me to worry about that sort of nonsense… ;P

Lovely friends

Aren't they nice to have? One of mine has just sent me an enormous stack of ill-gotten sewing patterns. God love her & her loose morals... ;P