Would you like some scone with that cream?

I've given up chocolate, AGAIN. 

I know, I can see the collective eye roll, "suuuure you have, mmm hmmm, how long will it last this time?"

To be perfectly honest it most likely wont last long what with Easter just around the corner and all, but I had to do something. I had stooped to new lows in my chocolate addiction and although I managed to give it up easily before, once the 30 days had past I didn't just fall off the wagon I jumped off, did a stunt roll, landed on my feet and ran straight to the nearest Cadbury's stockist I could find.

Anyway my concern in giving up only chocolate is that i may be substituting one addiction for another.

Did you know strawberry jam is over 50% sugar (well the one we buy is) and that could possibly be the reason why I have started slathering it on just about any edible surface.

On a positive note my need to find another way to eat more jam inspired me to try out a scone recipe I had previously been afraid of. 

We were all suprised at how delicous they were, and I qoute...."Wow, they're actually really nice" :)

Good morning sunshine.

I was meant to be making the beds and other domestic chores but got totally distracted by this cute little red head. 

Can you blame me, it's a wonder anything gets done around here!

Boo!

Looks like we'll have to move the cot mattress down tonight, a new skill discovered just this morning, standing up in her cot. 

They just grow up too fast. 

Shop update.

We've added a few more things to our madeit store.

'Run, run, run as fast as you can' coin purse

'Ahoy there' Messenger Bag

http://www.madeit.com.au/detail.asp?id=221003

'Run, run, run as fast as you can' Messenger Bag.

More to come a little later in the week.....

"lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

It's been a little quite around these parts lately, we've been busy though, very busy. School holidays came to an end last week, that six weeks just went by so fast, I can hardly believe they're over already. The weather has been crazy, the holidays were mild, chilly some days, but as soon as school went back we sweltered through a week of record breaking high temperates reaching a peak of over 40 degrees on Saturday, with the nights so hot and the humidity sooooo high it was near impossible to get a good nights sleep. Now we're snuggling under doonas, crazy.

I love this photo! My sister took it of Molly holding the very first Strawberry of the season from their garden.

Zero has been loving her afternoon walks. I love how everyday the view can be totally different.

A crazy sea fog that enveloped our little part of the coast on Australia Day. 

What can I say. This just cracks me up :)

trying to get a better view. 

♥

This cake was so delicious  I made it three days in a row. From this book.

Charlotte just loves bugs and spiders, she is always spotting them around the house and garden and insists that we all come and see them too :)

We have also been working on setting up a little madeit.com.au store. It's a bit of a slow process, but we're going to be adding more stock whenever we can. it would probably help if I stopped treating my sister like a personal seamstress and claiming all of her beautiful clothes for my own girls. I honestly had to ask her to stop showing me things in their sizes or there will never be any stock in our store.



Here's a little peak at a couple of things that have gone in already, there will be lots more to come soon.......

'Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Messenger Bag.

The sweetest dress in a summery vintage print. 

better late than never.

Looks like we've totally missed the boat on the whole summer/new year/fresh start post. January is almost over already. I haven't made any resolutions this year, as I, like many ( i think/hopefully I'm not the only one) never stick to them and then spend the rest of the year feeling really bad about myself. Not this year.

The only thing I'm going to make a concerted effort to do differently this year is to be brave. There are so many things I haven't done because of fear. Not like Skydiving or bungee jumping or anything wild like that I mean really basic everyday things. I've already tackled one of my major fears......the ocean. Totally crazy really considering we live minutes from the most beautiful beaches. I have swum in the ocean three times already this year, I even caught some waves, with a little help from Oscar :)  Sounds pretty lame I know.

A little bit of what we've been up to so far this summer.......

Happy happy day

I find December birthdays always get lost amongst the chaos of end of school year and Christmas preparations. And despite promising ourselves we would never be as unorganised as last year, Oscars 8th birthday was less than a week away and nothing had been planned, no invites had been sent.

At the very last minute we decided to go to Luna Park. 

The odds were stacked against us, we had two days to prepare, the possibility that noone would be able to come at such short notice, an hour and a half road trip there and back and a weather forecast for rain and thunderstorms. I packed ponchos. 

Amazingly almost everyone could come, they were even all allowed to leave school early so we could avoid the worst of the peak hour traffic. We discovered Charlotte is an absolute daredevil and if she wasn't restricted by height I think she might have taken on the Wild Mouse. 

Everyone had an absolute ball, and for Oscar I think it was a birthday he won't forget for a while. 

Possibly the best party ever, or at least thats what I heard :)

And not a drop of rain fell, now what to do with all those ponchos........

around here....

We've been crazy busy this week trying to get ready for our second Olive Tree Markets in Newcastle. So excited to be going back, just hoping this rain holds off for a day or two at least.  

She never fails to fall asleep on the morning school run.

 This girl could eat her weight in plain pasta if we let her....

...but her first chocolate biscuit (snuck off her big brother while he wasn't watching) didn't live up to the excitement "no, no, I no like it!" seriously thinking she may have been swapped at birth :)

Trying to get an early start on the Christmas decorations.

It hasn't stopped raining for days.

Sweetness.

Pretty dresses for the market.

Little treasure holder.

:)