Family photos

We attended a family wedding on the weekend and I am sad to say but these are our first family photos :-(

I am not sure why we haven't managed to get any before and I think ???? someone may have one of us altogether but the only one we have is the one that appeared in the birth announcements in the newspaper. Oh well it is better than nothing.

We had a great time showing off our newest family member and I loved seeing all of my boys looking so handsome.

Jack behaved beautifully throughout the whole day except for dinner and speeches at the reception, he woke up with tummy pains right on cue when entrees were served, so I fed him while I attempted to eat my dinner (seems to be the case more often than not lately) and then tried to pacify him while he made himself heard over the top of the speeches oh and then cried while he was passed around too. But once the music started he decided it was a great time to go to sleep, as you do because no-one can hear you crying over the top of the music anyway so why waste your breath ;-)

The wedding was in Berry NSW so we rented a holiday house that was able to fit 12 adults and 5 children, perfect for all of the family. It was lovely to spend time together but also very tiring, a big weekend with late nights and 5 hours drive each way. I am rather tired and trying to settle Jack back into a routine but he is really uncomfortable with colic and just not happy today so we have spent a lot of the day cuddling. 

Jack is now 7 weeks old, not smiling yet (we were all trying to get his first smile over the weekend but no luck), he was weighed a week ago and put on 2 kg's since his birth, he had his immunisations last week and a check up with the Dr confirms that he is all good with no problems other than colic. We are using drops from the chemist and the Dr and the midwife assure me that he will most likely get better by 12 weeks as his system gets stronger. I can't wait, I hate seeing him in pain and not being able to fix it.

Time is speeding past and we are all loving our little boy, he is changing all the time and we love watching him grow and we are all looking forward to him reaching his milestones.

xx

20 Weeks Pregnant

Yay, we've made it half way and I even remembered to take a photo to document this point in the pregnancy!

Who knows, by the end of this my self portraits may even improve :-)

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

We had a fabulous time celebrating the baptism of our friend's baby boy and also celebrating my nephews 5th birthday. It was wonderful catching up with my family, four out of the five sisters and their families were able to make it, unfortunately my youngest sister missed out though  :-( 

Families, gotta love em!

Enjoy your week

xx

Busy Days

We are having a busy time here lately but it is all good and very exciting!

We had 4 birthdays to celebrate in our family last week and that  is always fun :-)

Nicholas has made it to the Zone athletics carnival for 4 (maybe 5) events, yay! So we are off to Dubbo tomorrow to watch him compete  

and today I had the pleasure of working with some fantastic ladies and some gorgeous girls.

If you follow me on Instagram or Face book you may have already seen this sneak peak of our day today.

I have some behind the scenes photos to share with you next time.

Hope you all had a great weekend and a fabulous start to the week.

xx

Under the Weather

My cold has gotten worse today, so no dog walking and I even had a nap here on the lounge for a couple of hours this afternoon.

Our Nan & Pop have been with us for the week, so lucky for me they are taking care of dinner tonight and I am just going to relax.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend

xx

Winter Weekend

Our weekend was very wintry, it rained and the wind howled and it was a pretty good weekend to stay inside.

I did venture out a few times

Our trivia night on Saturday was fantastic, our result wasn't so great (3rd last) but we had a ball!

I meant to take photos as it was a 70's dress up theme but I forgot :-(

I visited a new cafe for coffee with a friend and wondered why I haven't been there before. 

It isn't new to town just to me.

They sold some lovely things too, it's always good to check 

out the competition. 

My things are lovelier ;-)

I hopped  on the scales for the first time in months and I have decided that despite the weather the dog needs to be taken for a daily walk even 20 minutes would be most beneficial, for him of course.

So I rugged up against the cold and off I went. 

The worst thing about walking/exercising in winter is half way through you are wishing that you weren't wearing quite so many layers.

Oh well the dog appreciates it and perhaps I might get some benefit from it too.

How do you go with exercise in winter?

xx

My House, My Weekend

My weekend was fabulous! How about you?

We caught up with family and friends, relaxed, cleaned and stayed warm!

On Friday (not technically the weekend but I start early) my nephew and I baked.

We made cupcakes from here

and we decorated them. 

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my nephew Vlad decorating each cupcake with lots of love and concentration. 

(If you don't follow me please look me up I only just joined but it is lots of fun)

He did so well.

We also made Michelle's fantastic Sticky Date Pudding you can find the recipe here.

My brother in law who was a chef said it was the best Sticky Date Pudding he ever had (maybe he has never had it before) and I think it was good even if  I say so myself.

For dinner we made pizza using Jo's dough recipe, that you can find here.

It also was a hit and we will definitely be using it again and again!

My new kitchen aid mixer that I got for Mother's Day works so well and I just love it!

Love 

Love 

Love

On Saturday we cleaned and I rearranged, as I do quite often

I am loving the lanterns, the horse head bookends and the clock.

All available in for purchase in my store by the way ;-)

Hope you have a great week and please pop in tomorrow for the start of my Guest Blogger series!

Tomorrows guest blogger is Michelle from 

Home, Love & Life As I Live It

Have a  great day

xx

 PS. You may or may not have noticed that there are no photos or the yummy food we made, you see, even though it tasted fantastic,I could not photograph it so it looked as good as it tasted or any good at all really. So I think I need to practise baking and cooking pretty looking food then I need to practise photographing it. I think I may also need to start exercising regularly as well :-)

Sydney Weekend

Nick & I had a lovely weekend away in Sydney. When we got married we decided that we would try and get away alone together at least twice a year. I think it is important for all married couples to make an effort to keep the romance alive and your friendship strong and there a lots of ways to do this but for us getting away together works. Nicholas our son, is from my first marriage and he lives with us 100% of the time. He may see his birth father for a week a year so Nick and I never had a time when it was just the two of us. We both look forward to our mini breaks so we can just hang out and not 'parent' for a few days.

Our favourite mini break destinations are Mudgee, The Southern Highlands and Sydney. They are all 2 - 4 hours drive from Orange and means we can get there easily in the morning and spend two days and nights away.

We both have family that live in Sydney so we visit often but when Nick and I go by ourselves we stay in the City and play tourists, something we don't do when we go to visit family.

This trip is the first time I can remember that I have been to the Royal Botanic Gardens. I think we will have to go again and spend a little longer wandering through them. We arrived at the gardens a little late and the gates shut at 5.30pm so we didn't get to explore as much of them as we would have liked.

On Saturday we walked from our apartment on Kent Street to Pitt Street Mall (have to shop a little), wandered through Martin Place, past the historic buildings including Sydney Hospital, the National Library and into the gardens. From the Gardens we meandered on to Circular Quay and around the opera house.

Watched the sunset over the harbour 

Enjoyed the atmosphere along the quay, live music, tourists, wedding parties, there is certainly lots to look at. 

Another first for both of us was a water taxi trip around to Darling Harbour

Somebody's feet were getting sore and this brought us back much closer to our apartment.

It is a spectacular harbour, so pretty when it is all lit up.

Later on we ventured out for dinner, only when we stay in Sydney do we find it normal to head out for dinner at 8.30pm :-)

On Friday night we ate in one of the restaurants along Darling Harbour Walk. It was nice but nothing spectacular. After dinner we had dessert at the Lindt Cafe, again nice but not spectacular. 

On Saturday night we headed off to our tried and tested favourite. We seem to have a new tradition of dining at the Bavarian Bier Cafe on one of our evenings out, great meals and a fun atmosphere, it can get pretty noisy so not a good choice is you are after a quiet, intimate dinner. 

We always eat too much and next time I need to say no to the pretzels before dinner. Fortunately Max Brenner's is a few blocks away and by the time we walk there I can fit in dessert. The photo doesn't do this justice at all but the waffles are sooooo good! Waffles with chocolate, ice cream, strawberries and bananas for two, delicious. Every time we visit Max we buy waffles and chocolate to take home and recreate this fantastic dessert. 

How was your weekend? Did you do anything special?

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

xx

Cold winter Monday

Yes, it is definitely winter! It is so cold here today I am hoping we may get some snow!

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How was your weekend? Mine was way to short as always!

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I was painting stuff yet again and I still don't have anything worthy of sharing!

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I seem to have a few projects going at once but none of them are finished yet!

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Young Nicholas is getting a room makeover, including new bed and desk, so we are busy painting his furniture and because of the weather it is slow going.

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We are completing minor makeovers in our laundry, toilet and bathrooms including wall panelling, new shower screens and painting!

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We have also started on the kitchen makeover including new bench tops, sink and more painting.

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So all these projects are happening but none of them are finished!

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All of the lovely snow covered photos are taken around Orange NSW where we live. We haven't had a decent snowfall yet this season, it would make the cold worth while if we had something pretty to look at!

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Have a great week everyone!

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xx

White Lounges

I love a white lounge

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I love how a basic white lounge creates a great platform from which to decorate

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I love how you can add any accent colour you like to white and it looks good

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I love how you can switch your soft furnishings and accessories to suit the season

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* I love black and white

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I love a room filled with natural tones

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I love how a great rug can make a room come together

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I love how a white lounge looks in a room painted with bold colours

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What do you think?

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I hope you have all had a great week and that your weekend is fabulous!

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We will be working on the never ending renovations amongst all the usual weekend stuff!

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xx