Happy Easter Every Bunny!!

So Easter is this weekend, so I thought I'd dedicate a post to my little girl's Easter Hat Parade she had at daycare yesterday. 


Miss M's Daycare has their Annual Easter Hat Parade the week before the Easter Weekend. After making Miss M's hat for her last year being only 1 and a half, and her winning for her room, I decided this year Miss M could decorate her own hat that I made from cardboard I had laying around the house. 

Miss M placing her 1st piece on her hat

Miss M's hat about halfway through

Miss M took about an hour to decorate her hat, carefully placing each item onto the hat. She used Easter wrappers, sequins, feathers, bells and gems. All these items we already had around the house from previous art activities. 

Miss M's completed hat, doing her parade at Daycare :)

The Daycare even put on an Easter Egg Hunt for each age group, Miss M had a blast finding her eggs, she found 5 and was extremely proud.

Miss M didnt win the best hat, but she had a blast decorating her hat and she is a winner to us. We didn't give her a prize, because that's not teaching her anything about being a good sport, but she got lots of cuddles and everyone told her how beautiful her hat was, and the smile on her face, the smile of accomplishment was the reward.

I will post again after Easter of our Family Easter Celebrations. We are not religious but we use these holidays as a way to spend time as a family.

How do you celebrate Easter in your family?

Do you reward your children if they dont win something?

Does your children have Easter Hat Parades at school?

Until next time,

Keep Smiling.

Kirra :)

A Gift for A Naming Day

Wow, 2 posts in 1 day, I'm on a roll here!


My niece's Naming Ceremony is on the weekend, and instead of the traditional gifts that many give at a Naming/Christening/Baptism of the pewter that just sits and collects dust and no-one wants when they're a teenager, I decided to make my little niece something special that can be used in 2 different ways, adapting as she gets older.


A Hair Clip Holder / Memo Board.

 The whole board, I think my niece will get plenty of use out of it

 A close up of the fabric I used, it will match in with her pink/purple room with butterflies and flowers

And a picture of the Brads I used on the cross section.

I could have done the ribbon just vertical or horizontal like I have seen done many times, but I figured by criss crossing it, my niece can use this after she has finished wearing hair clips and put up photos and notes etc.

This was a really simple project, the longest part was choosing the fabric and hot gluing the ribbon on. 

Does your family have Naming Ceremonies to welcome little ones into the world?

Do you like to make gifts for your relatives for special occasions, birthdays, christmas?

Until next time, keep smiling,

Kirra :)

2012 - A New Year, Some Changes and Our Baby!

Welcome to 2012! I know its already half way through February but hey, better late than never right!


Our 2012
Well our 2012 is going to be a mostly quiet one but we will be making a couple of changes. 
1. Quitting the main social media - FACEBOOK! As of February 14th I deactivated my account as I found myself spending too much time prying into the lives of the others and not focusing on what I had in my own house. Its only been 2 days but Im already feeling less stressed, and a whole lot happier!


2. Going back to the old fashioned way of keeping in contact with Friends. Yes, thats right, I've picked up the old pen and dusted off my writing pad and have started writing my friends letters and posting them. It feels great! It may take a week for more to get a reply, but the thrill of opening the letter box to find a hand written letter instead of just bills is the best!


3. Living a little more healthy and growing our own herbs, attempting to grow tomatos and hoping in the near future we'll expand our patch and get some strawberries for Miss M to plant and enjoy :) We also have expanded our pets to include 8 chickens (unnamed as there are 4 red, 2 white and 2 black, they all look the same as the ones of the same colour haha), and another 3 ducks, taking us up to 5 ducks. The 2 older ducks have recently started laying, I dont think Ill ever go back to eatting chicken eggs again! Duck eggs are so beautiful! We are planning on sharing our chicken eggs with friends and family.


4. Saving! We have been doing our best to cut out the unneccesary spending, including takeaway. We have been big takeaway eatters for a long time, usually at least once a week, but when you sit down and think about it, you can spend anywhere from $20-40 on one fast food meal. And quite often we look at something we're going to get alot of enjoyment/use out of and look at the price and say NO WAY! but we never think twice about spending up to $40 on takeaway. So by cutting the unneccesaries is giving us more savings and also a little extra to spend on hobbies, mine is cardmaking and other general crafts like sewing, Mr S' is collecting Bundaberg Rum bottles and also likes to play darts with his friends (you'd be surprised at the extra bits and pieces that need replacing on darts all the time!)


5. Buying a house. We are trying our absolute hardest to get our deposit up to buy our first house later this year. It is our dream to own our little piece of land that we can plant in and make our own. We're hoping to have our own place by the end of the year, we are just hoping the Bank agrees and will help us out with a loan.


6. More Family & Green Time. This year Im planning on incorporating more family and green time into our daily lives. Less 'screen' time (tv & computer) and more outside time and time together as a family. Miss M loves playing outside, so it's not going to be a hard change for her :)


Our New Addition
So as you've previously read we were expecting a new little bundle of joy! Well on the 11/11/11 our precious baby arrived at 7am weighing 6lb 6oz. Another beautiful little girl 'Miss I'. Miss I is now 3 months old and going fantastic! She's gaining weight perfectly, shes a calm content little doll and she even sleeps through the night! We've been lucky enough to have 2 great babies! Everyone said you get one but not 2, we are the odd occasion with 2! Miss I is settling well, Miss M loves her little sister so much and I can't wait until Miss I is old enough to play with Miss M, Miss M is also looking forward to when that day comes aswell! They already get along famously with Miss M "reading" Miss I books and talking to her and trying to calm her when shes upset and Miss I already watches Miss M and gives her the most smiles out of anyone, she adores her big sister and the 2 together are going to be the best of friends, I can just see it!

Miss M (2yrs 4mth) & Miss I (6wks) at Christmas time.

Have you made any changes in 2012 or plan to?

Looking for another interesting read? check out my favourite blog Little Eco Footprints, I always get great ideas from this blog and its just a great read!

See you in the next post!

7 Weeks To Go!

So as the title suggests, I have just 7 weeks of this pregnancy left. 7 weeks of feeling like a while. 7 weeks of sweating like a pig and 7 weeks of feeling like complete crap, aching all over, feeling all these weird and wonderful feelings that are associated with Pregnancy.


My little baby has everything all ready for it. I made a 'Winnie The Pooh' chair cover to match the nursery theme and to cover up the unsightly rocking chair fabric. And I have also made a skirt for the bassinett that was my little sister's when she was born, coming up to 18 years ago. The original skirt for it is a little worst for wear, a few holes appearing around it and looked extremely tattered, so I grabbed some 2nd hand fabric and set to work to make the new skirt. Both these projects (the chair cover and the bassinett skirt) took less than a day! I was so super proud of myself! 


I have since not touched my sewing machine, but I am seriously considering going up stairs and making the nappy covers I said I was planning on making back in August! I have 7 weeks until baby is born, maybe I could put them off for that little bit longer?? But I know I really shouldnt haha.


Ok Im out to decide if I want to make them today or not.


Until next time,
Keep Smiling
Kirra :)

Father's Day

So Father's Day is this Sunday! YAY! It will be Mr S's 3rd Father's Day and the first one he is actually spending at home, instead of doing the markets which is a nice change! :D


So far Miss M has painted his wrapping paper, painted a 'Paint-A-Plate' for him, made him a little something at Day Care and I choose some Hair Clippers (since he now likes to keep his head shaved after getting rid of his dreadlocks earlier in the year), Jocks (everyone says dont buy jocks or socks, but Mr S loves getting Clothes, Jocks and Socks as gifts, it means he doesnt have the worry of buying them himself lol), The Tourist DVD (he collects Angelina Jolie Movies and needs it for his collection), Walk The Line DVD (he loves this movie and has wanted to buy it for ages but never has) and a bucket of Malteasers (because I know he loves them lol). I think someone is quite spoilt this year! Makes up for us not getting him a birthday present though (we went to Australia Zoo instead). 


Since Mr S will be at home for the first time on a Father's Day, I am most definately making him a yummy cooked breakfast - Bacon & Egg McMuffins (minus the Mc since Im making them not Maccas lol). He loves them, so hopefully I can pull it off and he loves these ones too! Then we are gonna head to the local Markets (we just cant keep away lol) for a nice family wander around, then most likely to his Dad's house then I'd love to have a picnic lunch just the 3 of us and then to my Dad's in the afternoon. 


I hope all the Father's out there have a wonderful Father's Day and get just as spoilt as Mr S is getting! Dad's do alot of unrecgonised work and this is a great opportunity to say 'Thanks for everything Dad!' 


Until next time, Keep Smiling :D
Kirra :)