Our month of December

Well hello there....It has been a very long time since I have been in this space.  I am sorry for not posting regularly for those who still like visiting blogs which sadly seems to not be the trend these days.  I have spoken about it before here too that I too am guilty of going over to instagram, it seems to be the way of connecting these days.  But I am determined that next year I will be back here in this space more often, posting I hope once a week.  I am sure I can do it, I once used to post daily which seems hard to believe.... I don't think I quite have the same amount to blog about these days but you never know. So here is a little blog catchup from the month or two that have passed. There has been a bit of crafting, Christmas, my littlest finished primary school and my oldest has just one more year of high school and now it's school holidays time for fun!! I hope you have had a great Christmas celebrating with your loved ones and that you have had some time to relax over the holiday season.  I will be back to do one last post of the year to chat about my goals I hoped to have achieved this past year.  See you again soon and thank you to those who still visit and are following along.

x

318-323/365 'Life this week'

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone. How has your week been? I've had my oldest home for the last couple of days unwell, she's feeling much better today though which is good as exams are starting tomorrow. I bought myself some peonies when I went grocery shopping Monday, one day though I'd like to grow my own flowers. It has been so dry here lately, the sky was dark and grey today, there was thunder but hardly a drop fell here.  I am really missing the green grass, I'm hoping we get enough rain to green things up in time for Christmas. I have plants waiting for me to put into the garden, thankfully they are still alive, I am watering them at least. There's been a bit of crafting going on lately.  I've started my Christmas cards, not quite sure about the design yet I think I need to change it up a bit, it's looking a little too clean and simple... There's been some Christmas making too, another little bag for my friends daughter and a little handmade gift for my girl.  On her Christmas list she has requested a handmade gift from me, she is so cute.  There's been lots of relaxing too with homework done for Miss 10, so she has been reading up a storm.
If you are after some inspiration for dinner I made this Pumpkin, Lemon and Broccoli Risotto, it's super yummy.
Enjoy the rest of your week. 

Cooking, Cards and Christmas Craft

The advent calendar is up again this year, I can't quite believe there's less than a week left to go until the big day.  Today's activity was baking ginger bread men with a twist, they had a couple of tablespoons of cocoa in them, yum not that you can tell in the pictures.  The girls have so much fun doing this activity especially the decorating part which they can spend quite a bit of time doing.

That wasn't the only bit of productivity that happened in the house today.  I finally got around to making some Christmas tags after much procrastination, but they are done now.  There's been a bit of wrapping done too and tomorrow I'll do the posting.  I'm not sure the presents will arrive in time but if they don't I suppose Christmas Day will just last that bit longer.

The girls have also been busy creating. Each year they make a Christmas decoration to give to the grandparents.  Today they did some more work on it and the end product will look like this, except with their pretty faces in there of course.

And lastly some Christmas cards.  These are two different styles for family and friends this year, after much internet inspiration..

How are your Christmas plans going? I hope that you are enjoying the lead up to Christmas.

And wanted to say a big thank you so much for the kind and thoughtful words you left for me on my last post, they really meant a lot to me.

xx

This week

・we went up to my parents home for a visit.  This is my Dad's latest project, a hot rod in the making, something he's always wanted to do after selling his many years ago.
・Miss Maggie one and two waiting to be finished.
・arms and legs needing to be filled and attached to the little grey bunny, a Christmas gift for my niece.
・I've started making Miss 9's birthday quilt, here are more rows pinned, waiting to be sewn.
・bird watching. If you look closely there is a silhouette of a small bird in the branch.  It's a little baby black-faced cuckoo-shrike ready to fly from the nest. Only today has it made it's first short flight.
・card making for her class.  She will be finished year 4 in just 3 weeks so we're starting early so we're ready in time.

I hope your week has been lovely, may the week ahead be a wonderful one.

Joining the lovely Em this week.

Hello

I'm still here sorry I have been absent from this space.  Tonight I made myself sit down and answer emails that have been waiting patiently a little too long, still one very overdue one to go.  There has been lots of making and shopping done, wrapping and Christmas cards and presents have now all been posted. There is still a list of to do's but that's less now so I can see that light at the end of the tunnel.

So here's what I've been up to, making and posting off these cards as well as these.

Finishing off one of the two babushka dolls I sewed up last week, the other is waiting for me to fill.

Making this for one of my hubby's relatives as a family gift.  I first saw the idea here and then here on Emma's blog.

And enjoying the new visitors that have taken up residence in our tree up the back yard, three tawny frogmouthed owls.

I hope that you are all enjoying the holidays and that things aren't too frantic. ♥