Natural Arch, naturally!

We have taken the opportunity to visit Natural Arch in Springbrook recently... in fact we have been there twice in the last few weeks, we enjoyed ourselves so much. The first time we went as a family and found a little creek bed beside the road to splash around in afterwards. The second visit we invited Uncle Peter, Aunty Jen and Matthias to join us. We tried out a new little creek which turned out perfect for the young un's.

The Natural Arch Bridge itself is spectacular... Dave tells me he used to swim in this water hole as a child... and some even dived through the hole in the top of the cave. It is now all off bounds to any (or at least those who observe the signs - did spot a couple of swimmers further down...)

We had lunch at Natural Arch and then went for a drive to find a little creek where we could cool off....

0r help others cool off;)


Daddy made a little "rock pool" where the little ones could paddle... perfect Daddy!! They loved it (even Rosa who is usually a bit fearful in water...)


Matthias wanted to grab the sun... here he is on his way up

First attempt failed - let's try it again! Never give up sonny!

These photos sum up the personality of my boys quite well.

Josh, our friendly, chatty boy - made a new friend...

Owen, when placed on a rock just broke into joyous song!

Playing "horsey" on a fallen branch...

And a shot of my spunky while totally unaware!

Searching for life at the bottom of the creek bed...

Daddy and Josh, up to no good.... might make a runner....!

Nativity

Christmas nativity in the cubby house. We started off reading the Christmas story.









Thanks Lauren for this idea - it was lots of fun.

We did have to convince little Rosa that her little dolly was ok and didn't need to be rescued from the rough prickly hay!

Nice to finish our day with celebrating the Lord's birth in this way

Christmas together

It seems we have unintentionally started a tradition. Over the past three years we have always managed to share one seat at the Christmas table with someone from another country. Initially it was a lovely girl from the Bahamas, in 2007, a good friend from Czech Republic. This year we were treated to having a girl from southern India. It has been so lovely to learn a little bit about these parts of the world, share together and get to know each of these ladies in turn.



My beautiful mother-in law... the one some of my friends envy because she is simply the best mother-in-law ever!! I honestly don't know how I would manage without her! Yes, she is the one who constantly offers to help by minding the children, comes and cleans my dishes, finds a job needing doing ... yeah all that and loads more! Please pray for my precious Mum as it must be jolly tough losing your beloved - and especially at occasions like Christmas with family all together...pray that the Lord would surround her with His loving kindness and tenderness...


I am sure I have more photos somewhere... or do I?? I think I was having too much fun - forgot to get more pickkies!

embellishing

Another thrifty idea...

I bought a plain dress in Big W - simple, striped red dress which was only about $10. I decided to add a little embelishment to dress it up a bit.

I added a big, black button, threaded with some coordinated ribbon I had (scrapbooking places have a lovely selection of ribbons).

I added some bows to each sleeve.

There you have it, a lovely, semi-christmassy dress...

Not quite as thrifty as my second-hand shop finds, but just another idea to dress up something simple.

Christmas thrift

This year we have already told the children that their Christmas present is the lovely Cubby House which we put up earlier in the year. Perhaps we will have some afternoon tea there on Christmas Day to celebrate the Lord's Birthday... If anyone has any ideas of making it special and involving the Cubby House please add a comment below. Would love to hear.

I decided to use the Christmas money from my mother-in-law (as it has been her suggestion before as well) to make the money stretch and have a peek at some second hand shops - particularly for clothing for the children.

I had in mind a little dolly for Rosa this year and was quite delighted to find one at Salvos. She looked very cuddly and just the right size for my girl. She has a couple of very tiny marks on the back of her head but overall very clean.

Once the kids went off to bed for the night I dug out some scraps of Lycra fabric and made her a little outfit. (Yes, I have a snap press so any of you who may want snaps put on anything - feel free let me know... they are very handy for many projects)

and blanket

I think she is going to like her! And all for about $2. And the ones I was looking at in the shop were in excess of $20 - gasp!

I also managed to find some really lovely girls clothes for Rosa to grow into, too...

Like this gorgeous smocked dress. I couldn't find a spot on it...

And another - which simply needs a new ribbon threaded around the waist

A summer top

And any girl has to love these dainty slippers! Lots of fun to clomp around in, calling the servants and sipping a cup of tea with the queen of England herself!

Admittedly I do not always find such lovely items in such good condition - especially for boys (they tend to wear things out faster) but I have been inspired to think thrifty, avoid the business of shops as much as possible and be more creative in the use of making money stretch.

... and to be honest, I had a lot more fun too!

A visitor for Bear

We had a lot of fun with this book this evening.

Bear doesn't like visitors. He even has a sign to warn them off. So when a small, grey, bright-eyed mouse appears on his doorstep while he's making breakfast, he is furious. ...

Little mouse is quite a persistent little fellow who keeps reappearing in various places. Eventually the bear reluctantly agrees to entertain his guest before he shoos him out the door...

The bear sits down before the fireplace with the mouse and shares some tea and cheese and

even offers some entertainment... The bear decides that he really does want the company of the little bright eyed mouse after all...

I thought I would have a go at some 'Art Dramatisation' - an idea I picked up from my friend, Cath.

here is Rosa letting out a 'throw back your head with a good belly laugh'.

And Owen doing a handstand like bear.

I also got some great video of their sharing tea together so I hope to attach that when we can sort out some computer issues...

Ah - it was great fun Cath - will try it again!

Printable pre-writing sheets

Any Mums out there with little ones - here is a great site of printable pre-writing sheets (in colour if you wish) for little ones. Simple activities like tracing over dotted lines to connect pictures, tracing shapes .... eventually gets a little more difficult as activities progress.

Came across this in my holiday plans to find activities for little ones to do.

Hope it might help someone

Special Children's Christmas Party

Every year at the Brisbane Convention Centre there is a huge Christmas Party for special needs children of Brisbane. One carer/parent is allowed to come along. There are motor bikes, police men everywhere, shiny motorbikes embellished with tinsel, rides, fluffy animals to pat and pressies!

Daddy took Owen this year (couldn't make it last year) and by the look of the photos and the comments we heard later - they had a blast.

He came home with a big bag of presents and even a box of fruit!

Not bad for a totally free event!

Saying goodbyes

... and a few of the recievers of the previous gifts...

Owen has had a fantastic year at Prep (he attended Thurs. and Friday) and has been taught by a lovely bunch of ladies.

Here is Owen's teacher from last year

And Owens teachers this year

... and our handsome Owen soaking in the Christmas break-up party!

There are so many other wonderful ladies, too. We have been invited along to various school events like the Teddy Bears Picnic, Music lessons, etc. They have also been most friendly to Josh and Rosa who they were happy to have along as well during school hours. I have been very grateful for their inclusion as I wondered how the staff might respond to the weird 'homeschooling' thing...

A number of ladies asked if we would keep in touch. There is always a special encouragement to see how a child you have taught has grown and developed. We'll have to get Owen on his new bike and cycle down there from time to time next year!

Christmas gifts or gifts for ladies any time!

Another Christmas gift idea. I made quite a few of these for the lovely teachers/therapists and aides at Owen's Prep.

They are magnetic shopping lists. I have been using mine and hope it is helpful for these ladies.

I bought a pack of thin craft wood rectangles, covered them in pretty paper using a glue stick. I coated them with 'mod podge' (this step isn't essential but just makes them a little more durable). I covered a basic note pad with card (scoring card to fit over the top neatly) and then embellished the front. I attached the pad to the back using a little silver clip. I also added a few ribbons to the top of the clip to match the papers.

On the back I put a poem and photo of Owen. In each corner I put a small circle magnet (attached with superglue as this seems to be only glue which really holds it on)

Here they are ready for Owen to deliver.

Oh, and they are easy to refill when you run out of pages - just replace pad with same cover and off you go again (I guess you do have to find the same size pad or be happy to discard the cover)

sorry the photos are not the clearest - camera doesn't like close up very much.