Some lovely links - 12

- how amazing is this museum in Paris! Image from Paul & Paula

- yummy tomato tartlets (must remember to make these in summer!) from abbey goes design scouting

- this photo really hits the spot for me. Senkki, via the red thread

- sweet plaid dress from Little Eero, via Little Miss Heirlooms

- mmm, this Moroccan Eggplant Bruschetta sounds delicious!

- interesting post titled 'are we teaching our children to be greedy?'

- how did I not know that Stuart Little is a book! Evie & I love the movie, I might have to try reading it to her.

Saturday night in

We've had big days today; Roger spent it painting our bedroom, I went bridesmaid dress shopping (not successfully, still looking!) with my mum-in-law & sis-in-law, and Evie was spoilt by Nanna & Pa & Auntie Mena. Now we're heading into a quiet night at home.

What do you do at night, after dinner, once the kids are in bed?

There's nothing to watch on tv & the dvd shop looked boring. Maybe we could bake together? play a boardgame? read books? any good ideas??
(ha, I feel lame just asking!)

Niddle Noddle

So, I'm pretty excited because I won a competition on another blog! I always enter with the thought 'well, someone has to win, why not me', and this time I did! I read this cool blog called Paul & Paula, the tagline is 'International kids design & lifestyle' which, as you can imagine, fits me to a tea. (I've also thoroughly enjoyed their recent Breakfast International series, very interesting!).

So this competition was for an outfit for Evie from Niddle Noddle, here's what we won!

pretty cute, huh!

(all images from Niddle Noddle)

Adventure day!

After a couple of days at home Evie & I decided on an adventure on Friday. Here is what she wore (and yes, this is the best pose I could get!):

Dress: thrifted

Cardigan: Seed, a gift

Socks & Shoes: Target

What you can't see here is that her darling dress has a white peter-pan collar & puffed sleeves, and a little red flower embroidery that matches her hair ribbon & sparkly shoes. Evie picked this pretty outfit herself.

On to the adventure - we caught a train into the city, something that Evie last did when she was a baby & doesn't remember, very exciting! We had morning tea with Roger which was really lovely & then headed to the museum. We spent ages looking at all the animals, the Mawson exhibit and 'digging' for bones in the interactive archaeology spot. We had a food-court lunch in the city & looked at pretty dresses for a while before heading home on the train again, with our chocolate frogs from Haighs!

It was such a perfect day. I was so proud of my girl for being on her best behaviour & so friendly & lovely!! (mind you, we paid for it today with heaps of tired behaviour!)

Anyone else had an adventure lately?

Photos from lazy sunday

We ended up at a local park on Sunday afternoon, exciting because we hadn't been there before. We were joined by Roger's dad & puppy Harry - it was perfect!!

yes, in this last one, I may have focussed on the background instead of the fore, but you get the idea!

Lazy sunday

We've got a lovely 20 degree (celsius) day today - I'm on my second load of washing already! We're just hanging around the house this morning, I'm writing the weekly shopping list, Rog is studying & Evie is trying on summer dresses in hope of wearing them all soon! I'm hoping to take Evie out somewhere a bit more exciting this afternoon, perhaps a playground or walk at the beach.

ps - a little news, I'm pregnant!! Most of my 'real life' friends already know, but it's time that I told my 'blog friends'! I'm 13 weeks now and due in mid February (which is good timing, because I'm a bridesmaid in mid January!!)

I haven't taken any of my own photos in a bit, so here's some lovely baby clothes I've found lately on Pinterest.

1. from lemlem, via pauletpaula
2. from quinceandco
3. from kitlili
4. from limobasics , via pauletpaula

Census time

Here is where I admit that tonight I've totally geeked out about filling in our census form (and hogging it to myself). I'm a little freaky, I love filling in forms! I even did it the old school way, with pen & paper, rather than on the internet, ha! Anyone else loving the census tonight? or geeking out over something just as mundane?

ps - speaking of geeking, I have to tell you about my weird dream last night. I was on a tour bus in London where you followed around the stars of all Jane Austen movie & tv adaptations. Of course we were all trying to spot Mr Darcy (Colin Firth). Where does this stuff even come from!!

Some lovely links - 11

- love this striking bear table at Napalm, via freshome

- darling kids clothes (Australian designed)! by baobab, via bloesem kids

- really cool handmade modern birdhouses from burd-haus, via the constant gatherer

- ha! cheeky light switch stickers from henrietta swift, via Charlotte's Fancy

- a post on how to deal with fussy eaters on Little Scandinavian

- in a blog I love, for me, for you, Kate reveals her apartment building used to be owned by Clark Gable, ooh!! The article she linked to about him was so fascinating!

- interesting view on 'how to talk to little girls' on Cup of Jo

A hint of spring

Today was 22 (degrees celsius) and sunny, what a treat! I know that rain & cold are coming again at the end of the week, but what a tease of spring!! We spent some time out in the yard today, and wore skirts & dresses to the beach (with my sis-in-law) for some lunch & a wander - perfect! I tried to capture some of the glorious afternoon sun with our new lens:

 I know, boring, but I love hanging washing out to dry on a sunny day!!

 Some of our tasty rhubarb

 I did some weeding around the onions & kale

 Somehow this pic doesn't quite capture the gorgeous blue of the sky!

Camellia just beginning to bloom, lovely

ps - I made this Chocolate Beetroot Cake last night, surprisingly delicious. I think I'll sweeten up the next one with some chocolate icing, but for now smothering it in cream is good enough!