Lovely Weekend...

We had a very lovely weekend. I'm always happy when weekends roll around, but after having had Mayana cry to me twice this week not wanting me to go to work, I was especially looking forward to this one.

This weekend had such a lovely, fun, weekendy vibe to it. A whole two days stretching us with no big plans, no traveling... Just the three of us and anything we wanted to do... After being away for the last three weekends in a row, that felt awesome.

Our one downer of the weekend was going out to let the chooks out on Saturday morning and finding that our poor Nana Joy chook had passed away during the night. Nana Joy was the boss of the two, and poor old Aunty Judy seemed to be very withdrawn and lost without her. We called the local feed barn, expecting to have to go on the wait list for some point-of-lay pullets, but they just happened to have some in, so we went out and got two new friends for Aunty Judy. After much deliberation, Mayana finally landed on two very cool names for her new girls: Olivia, who is white, and Hoot, who is red.




Aunty Judy was a little wary to begin with, but certainly hasn't been backwards in coming forwards about establishing the pecking order. I never knew she could be so vocal! While we are all extremely sad to have farewelled Nana Joy Chookie, we are happy to have our two new girls join the family... One of them has even laid an egg already!



The rest of the day I just relished my time with my lovely husband and daughter. Mayana and I played play dough, made drawings, watched Tangled (a new favourite), painted our nails, and played in her new kitchen. We also went to a birthday party and watched our brother in law's hockey final.

I learned something important this weekend; you know that scripture in Proverbs, the one that says a harsh word stirs up anger, but a gentle answer turns away wrath? In all my quality one-on-one time with Mayana this weekend, I learned how much those words ring true in my interactions with her. The moment any harshness enters my tone, she is crushed, and tears quickly ensue. But if I work to make my tone kind, and to explain things to her, she responds beautifully. I enjoyed every minute of my time with her this weekend, my daughter truly is a delight.

We had a great church service today, too.. Where I led worship for the first time. It's so great to really feel involved and a part of a church again. I think it's helping us to feel settled here, more quickly than what we did in Toowoomba. We lunched with my sister and her hubby, then came home and crashed for a while, before my parents rang and announced they were coming over for dinner! Which being that they live an hour and a half away was a very lovely surprise, and a great way to finish off what has been a fabulous weekend.

Hope yours was great too!

I'm a little teapot

Who now has a deliciously cute tea cosy to keep my tea lovely and warm until the very last cup...





Aah I love creating pretty things!

Me... In A-Z

I haven't done a blog meme for a while, and I'm feeling too shattered from my crazy busy week at work to be creative enough to come up with my own blog post ideas.... So, as stolen from my lovely cousin Louise's blog:

All about me; in A-Z




Age: 24. And I just had to really think about that... Freaked me right out..

Bed size: Queen. I need enough space to be not touching my husband at night... He's super hot (as in warm-blooded... And in the other way too)

Chore that I hate: Washing up. The rule in our house is that whoever cooked doesn't have to wash up.... I cook a lot.

Dogs: I'm super dog clucky at the moment. My sister just got one and it's really cute. We would eventually like to rescue a dog from the RSPCA.

Essential start to my day: A snuggle with my two favourite people. Mays comes into bed with us in the mornings and tells us about her dreams and what she wants to do that day. I love it.

Favourite colour: pink and green, and purple, and certain shades of blue.. I love lots of colours and combinations of colours.

Gold or silver: I mostly wear silver, though my wedding rings are gold.

Height: Short. 160ish centimeters or so.

Instruments I play: The flute, keyboards, and drips and drabs of the guitar.

Job title: Mama, wife, teacher.

Kids: Mayana - 2.5 years old and a bundle of total awesomeness.

Lives: in a little town, in Queensland.

Mum's name: Tambrey

Nicknames: Zoz, Zozzie, Wifey

Overnight hospital stays: One night, the night Mayana was born. Next time I'm hoping to not stay overnight... I hated it!

Pet peeves: My sister always beating me on Words With Friends. Grrr. And autocorrect on my iPad not understanding what I'm trying to write.

Quote from a movie: "I like your sleeves... They're real big" I'm a sucker for Napoleon Dynamite.

Right or left handed: Right.

Siblings: Two sisters and one brother, all younger than me.

Time I wake up: 6.30. And then we press snooze once or twice.

Underwear: Whatever is clean on the day...

Vegetable I hate: raw carrot. Though I'm not sure if my feelings about carrot are strong enough to be classed as 'hate'.

What makes me run late: life. I hate running late but we tend to run late a lot. It shames me. Often it's because Mayana chooses incredibly inopportune times to do ploppies. As does her father.

X-rays I've had: teeth, ankles (multiple times), foot (the only thing that was actually broken), wrist, knee.

Yummy food that I make: I make a pretty special homemade fettucine with creamy mushroom and white wine sauce.

Zoo animal: I love elephants. They are beautiful and so fun to watch. I even bought elephant earrings from the Perth Zoo, I was that much of a fan!

Now, why don't you copy and paste all of that and play along too!











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{Point + Shoot} Generations

We spent the weekend on a long overdue visit with my Nanna and Pop, who are affectionately known to Mayana as Nana Joy and Poppy Goose.




Mayana spent lots of time shadowing Pop, just like I used to when I was her age. He told her a story about her catching a great big fish... The third generation he's told that story to! Using her name in the story had her mesmerized, and she spent the rest of the afternoon telling Nana and I about her big fish- it was that real to her!



Mayana and Nana always enjoy every minute of each other, and lots of cuddles are always shared. Mayana was intrigued by Nana's piano accordion, and enjoyed dancing and 'helping' Nana play.

Mayana was sad to leave Nana and Pop at the end of the weekend, but excited and full of anticipation at the promise of a holiday at the Beach with Nana and Pop in their house with wheels.

I get so much joy from watching Mayana loving the people who I love so dearly.

I'm playing along with Louise for Point+Shoot.. You should too!

Love you, Maysi-Moo

Precious daughter, do you know how much I love you? You're growing up so fast these days, and your Papa and I are loving every minute.

You're such a toddler now, and no terrible twos for you! You're a delight to us, and to everyone who encounters you.

Yesterday, we went with Nana to the church service at a hospital nursing home, where you solemnly walked around the room, giving each person there one of your princess stickers. You made sure you cuddled everyone before we could leave, as if you knew how it would make their day.

For the first time in your life, people are starting to say, "wow! Hasn't she grown!?" ... And it's true. You've left your baby days behind you, and we're seeing glimpses of the big girl you're growing to be.

You talk all the time these days, and your sense of humour is developing beautifully. Every night, we climb into your bed and read a book together (your most requested is the story of Noah). When we're finished, you call in Papa to pray with you. You've started a little tradition where you call out a different animal for him to be every night. Tonight, he was Papa Turtle, and other days this week he has been a bear, a tiger, a cat and an elephant! He's such an awesome papa, and he always plays along, much to your great delight. Each night you pray for every single person in our family, and pick a few of your many best friends to pray for, too. You love to tell God about the things you've done, and whatever else happens to be on your mind at the time.

Every day with you is an adventure, and you make the most mundane things fun. I love it when we go shopping, and you continuously exclaim, 'Ooh! I like that one!'
When something especially tickles your fancy, you peer up at me and say, 'We get this one for Maysi-Moo-Moo??'
It makes me giggle every time.

I love the way your imagination is developing. You cook us elaborate meals in your kitchen, constantly talk to various family members on your hand phone, and are such a mother hen to your babies.

You love animals, and at the moment you ask us daily when we're going to get a doggie, who you tell us will be called Humpty Dumpty.

You love music... Singing it, dancing to it, making it! The highlight of your week is Mainly Music, and I love how you show mw the songs and dances you've done. You always want music on in the house, and can't go yo sleep without it. You sing songs all day long... Nursery rhymes, Wiggles and your most requested song is the Glee version of the Beatles song 'Hello Goodbye".

I love starting my days off with your, 'Good morning, Mama!' and the feeling of those two little arms clasped around my neck, and nothing makes my day more than that face-splitting grin when I walk towards the car when you pick me up from work each day.

I love you, Mayana Joy Shanae, you are the sunshine of my life. Don't ever stop being you, my darling girl.

Love Mama

Fancy Feet

After having finally finished my very long-term crochet project (my very first granny square/hexagon rug!) I am soooooooo ready to move onto something new! I'm very proud of my beautiful blanket, but crocheting 98 hexagons became somewhat monotonous after a while. I'll post pictures of my rug once I've finished the terminally boring and annoying task of weaving in the ends... Lesson learned to do that as I finish each piece instead of having 300 odd tails (literally) to sew in when I just want to celebrate finishing!

I've done a few different winter hat projects in-between hexagons... Including owls and even a cow! I have grand plans of creating a bright and wonderful cardigan for my girl. And just for something different I'm wanting to have a go at making a couple of things for myself! To start off with, I decided to have a go at some very cute granny square slippers, which I found on pinterest (which by the way, have you joined yet? If you need an invite let me know. It's a truly wonderful place, if a little addictive...) We've had a few hours in the car this weekend - about 9 all up - so I was able to get a good start, and finished them off last night while enjoying spending time with my lovely Nana and Pop.




I am in love! They were so easy, and such a satisfying project, I'm already thinking of people who might appreciate them as gifts for Christmas or birthdays.




I miss sewing, and miss being able to work on my little business, but between working full time and trying to squeeze every spare second into being a wife and a mama, there just aren't enough hours in the day. Plus I kind of don't have a working sewing machine at the moment. I think that's why I'm enjoying crochet so much at the moment, because it's easy to pick up when I'm watching tv in the evenings, or if we're driving around the countryside (obviously not while I'm driving!). Another plus is that there's no cleaning up to be done when I'm finished for the night. Either way, whatever craft it is that I'm doing at the time, I think my favorite thing is that awesome feeling out of having made something out of what was practically nothing. One day it's a couple of balls of left over yarn, the next I'm wearing a pair of gorgeous slippers!


So keep an eye out, because you just never know... Maybe my little Facebook and Madeit shops will be restocked yet, and maybe you'll be able to have some of these super cute slippers too!

Alive...

Just so you know.... I am alive. I have heaps to tell you. Eleventy-billion photos and stories of our very first family holiday to beautiful Melbourne...
Building projects... Crafts I've been working on... I've been a busy girl!!

My problem is that I have the kind of job where I sit in front of a computer pretty much all day long, and when I get home I struggle to find the motivation to get back in front of one again.

The good news is, we have this fabulous new toy... A little thing called an iPad (yay!!!!!) with this nifty little app called blogpress, and it's super handy for sitting on the couch, watching my favorite tv show (Chuck, in case you were wondering) and blogging... Which is exactly what I am doing right now! So with any luck, you might see a little bit more of me!

And I'll get to working on that Melbourne post, before I forget all my stories.

For now, I'll leave you with this photo of my gorgeous girl, who is getting cleverer and more beautiful by the minute... And boy, you should hear her talk! Enjoy!