Terrific Two!!

Our youngest had his second birthday today.

 He was much more interested in the bottle of balloons than the new duplo!!

 We made 'Frank' the header for the cake - he loves riding on 'Frank' with dad.

Having fun playing trains with Pa.

This kid is so special - he brings so much joy to our family.

Happy Birthday Eli!!

3 Things Thursday - Chick Peas

~ In the paddock
~ Coming out of the paddock
~ Getting ready to add to a salad

Yellow and Grey

On the weekend I hosted a baby shower for my sister - I chose grey and yellow for the theme as we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet.  (We like the surprise).

Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the table all set out or of me and my sister together.  It seems that once the event started I was too busy enjoying it to remember my camera.  

Anyway here are some of me preparing.

We had bottled water with the labels covered by grey paper with a yellow punched circle.  

I also made the hanging circles using a large punch and simply sewed them together at random intervals.

I found yellow and grey straws and made traditional lemonade

A lemon and sour cream cake with cute little bunting (that's a bit hard to see) 

This was the present table.

I happened to find a perfect pack of singlets with grey and yellow for the 'clothes line'.

I made grey and yellow bunting.

This is going to hang in the babies room (so are the hanging circles)

I first saw this on Sewliberated and have wanted to do it ever since.  

This was the perfect excuse.

We had a great day and I had heaps of fun preparing all the little details.  Did you notice the piece of farm equipment?? Apparently it is a foot valve, that goes over the end of a pipe, to stop stubble & rubbish from getting into the pump.  I think it makes a great drink dispenser stand.  I'm not allowed to keep it so I told the farmer that is fine, as long as he isn't using it when I want to have a party.  We can share it!!

Happy Baby Shower Jen - feel free to have the baby anytime now.

3 Things Thursday ... Herb Love

• The healthiest herb garden I've ever had (amazing what happens when I remember to water it!)
• Gathering herbs for dinner in my beautiful thrifted 'garden produce' basket
• Adding freshly picked mint to our breakfast - love any reason to be outside early in the morning (and to grab few minutes on my own before the day starts)

Gentleness Activities

Let your gentleness be seen by all.  Phil 4:5

We have been (haphazardly) working on gentleness in September/October.  Today I wanted to do an activity with the boys that showed them what exactly gentleness is.  I was planning to do a rubbing of some leaves or an onion bag and show them that if you did it gently it would work but if you were rough and scribbled hard it wouldn't work.  However, when I tried it myself to check it actually worked better if you did it harder!!  Lucky I checked before showing them!!

So I needed a different activity.  A quick internet search and I came up with these.

We did a Banana Relays just before morning tea and the idea is that you have to be gentle with the 'baton' because its about to be your morning tea.  We don't want to eat mushed banana!!  This became a little more real when I peeled the banana before the race.

We then sat at the table and while they were eating, I explained that when we are gentle sometimes it means being slow and careful.  So we did some Spaghetti Threading.  Each get a couple bits of uncooked spaghetti and then they thread buttons on to it.  You need to be really gentle so the spaghetti doesn't break.  Also great for fine motor skills.  To make it a little easier for each of them, I stuck the spaghetti into a piece of fruit.  That way the buttons stayed on.

I love these pictures - Jai completely absorbed and concentrating and Isaiah's joy as he watches the button spin its way down to the bottom.

Mud, Mud, Mud...

Saturday afternoon - enjoying the world where God's placed us.