& the school holidays continue . . .

Greetings all,

I'm all about free fun for children during school holidays.  I guess it stems back to when we first had children we didn't have cash to throw around, so we made the most of free activities or hanging at home.  Personally i use school holidays to clean out the children's rooms & they need them to relax from going hard at school all term.  Staying home is not a chore, it's a pleasure.

So here is a typical free fun day at our place . . . 

starting with a dose of home juiced goodness.  I did wash these celery sticks again!!

 Nothing wrong with window shopping & not spending, my children are largely unspoilt with stuff, this Santa falls under the category of unnecessary stuff, no dropped lips or tantrums, she completely understands the word 'no'.

 This is our 3rd school holidays now with chickens, they are the pet that doesn't get old.  Chickens have so much personality.  Pets are the ultimate school holiday activity, to feed, play & nurture.  Dare i suggest our chickens have a fabulous diet.

 I have always found that my children naturally pair up, or enjoy a good dose of solitude in their own rooms during the break.  I have strived to make their rooms inviting & cosy, so they want to be in them.  Actually my twins have talked about moving back in together. 

School holidays are the perfect time to exploit child labour - gardening, cleaning, tidying, baking & cooking.  My guys make a mean chicken schnitzel.  As a housewife, these jobs are normally mine during the day, so i trade with them . . . i unpacked the dishwasher!!

 Then there are the not-a-school-night treats like sleeping out in the lounge or siblings bedrooms.  This is still a huge hit with my son, he's 8 & will bring half his bedroom with him too.  He got a bit cold one night so slept with ear muffs on.  I cannot get enough of this little fella.

So we've stayed home these holidays, one trip to the cinema - with $6.50 tickets - it was hard to resist while i was recovering from a migraine, in the dark with quiet children.  This is how we roll almost every school holidays.  We're not massive must-go-away people, it's too expensive for a family of 6 on a single income, we remain realistic & homey.  Love Posie

my creative space 'the colour of my family'

Greetings all,
Nothing new in the sewing department for My Creative Space this week, typical after a HUGE Handmade Market.  So i was thinking, what can i offer up for a creative blog post today??  Then i remembered something my eldest daughter asked earlier in the week . . . "if our family was a colour, what would it be??"  I instantly thought of red.  I asked my husband, he said red too.  We're all drawn to blue, but red is at our heart.

 touches of red for my girls

 red trinkets

 red Le Crueset

 red, red, red

 my first large quilt, red & white

 red Christmas ornaments

 memories of Venice in red

 red KitchenAid

 this toy box will be re-oilclothed in red & white stripes shortly

my son's red study area
This was a really fun little adventure, i'm a blue girl for sure, but the heart of our home is most definitely red!!  I can imagine a colourist talking of love, strength & various other red related emotions, but i just find it the most attractive accent colour of all time.  I can picture our homestead being painted in cool whites & blues, what better combination to dot all of our red accessories around the place??  Even our son's name means red.  Love the idea of a red letter box & a barn too.  Love Posie

light fingered children

Greetings all,
We've been to Sydney twice in two weeks, we stayed with my parents.  Upon arriving home the first time, i discovered zillions of small Disney toys stuffed into my girls' bags??  They said Grandma told them to take him.  I explained my sister had collected them & they were not for us (+ i was turning out bedrooms, last thing i needed was more toys).  I bundled them up & returned them, done, gone, dusted, over. 
So imagine my shock after bunk construction this afternoon to tuck my 3rd daughter into bed & finding this staring back at me from under her twin sister's mattress above . . .

 there were more in a bag!!  Hmmmm, they knew they couldn't have them, will have to nip this in the bud as they've never taken things like this before!!

Bunk building, look at that girl go with the Allen key (i had the Makita) 

 this girl started off keen & interested, passing drill bits . . .

 then she got distracted . . .

 making outfits for her new doll.

Back to school tomorrow, the children can't wait, they love school, friends, sport, languages . . . i love 4th term & the build up to the Summer holidays & Christmas . . . swimming after school + it's the ACT Athletics finals at the AIS this week.  Watching the Commonwealth Games, i wonder if my guys will ever compete??  Proud mama.  While they're out of the house, i'll collect up all the toys who don't live here & post them back to Sydney.This term is very special as my husband starts 3 months leave.  He's all set to garden & take school runs, yippee + get me in shape as 9 months on my own this year, i haven't had time for Yoga or running.  We have to turn out the garage too, such fun.  I'm back at Shop Handmade tomorrow (fun fun fun) gosh i should be sewing, that Shop is such a success.Have a fantastic week, i'm off to a head start of happiness, love Posie

Canberra . Goulburn . Sydney . IKEA . Husband

Greetings all,

So i'm back in St Ives, again, these school holidays.  Have i ever mentioned my home town before??  I love it here, leafy, quiet, family, shopping, space, restaurants . . . i do love visiting Sydney.   
On the way up the Hume Highway last night, we climbed inside the world's largest Merino in Goulburn & left with obligitory snow dome.  Check out that late afternoon Spring sky!!

 you can only climb half way now, this was met with much disappointment

 lots of giggles at Rambo's giant concrete testicles

 Today i took the boy to IKEA for new bookcases, side tables, desk lamps, bins & round rugs for those bedroom makeovers.  He was brilliant, adding up prices, making suggestions, testing out chairs, pretending to use the toilets in the display bathrooms (that will turn you grey i assure you) & by the end, he had a lie-down-silent-protest (the best kind of demonstration of anti consumerism a boy can do).  He came alive again at the self serve check out - shooting that beeper gun at all the barcodes, brilliant stuff, speedy, simple, love EFTPOS efficiency!!

So tomorrow my husband will meet us in Sydney (yahoo) for dinner, ahhhh, on his way back from Brisbane with his Jeep & i'm kind of hoping he'll take a child or 3, a side table or 3, a desk lamp or 3 . . . those bookcases require 3 rows, ooppss.  We could drive home with our heads to one side??  Non??  I love travelling with the children, they are my company & i don't know how to work the iPod in those 'radio dead zones' without them, so i might keep a few for conversation value. 

 I've never driven in convoy before, i expect to be assessed.  Handsome soldier is a professional driver of all things from scooters to tanks!!  It's only 3 hours & with the promise of finishing off the childrens' bedrooms (their furniture has arrived while i'm not there) we have things to do before school resumes Monday morning so we're heading off early.  
Have lovely weekends, love Posie

my creative space 'handstitched lampshade cover'

Greetings all,
Remember these free lampshades i got from Revolve a few MCS posts ago, tossed in with that cabinette??  I finally got around to covering them & put them in the girls' bedrooms.
I have THOSE kind of children who can't resist fooling around, like pretending to be a lampshade??!!  Trust me, she was very quiet & still, our 3rd daughter makes a good floor lamp.

 it was 10C yesterday so my children were in bikinis with no where to swim

 imagine this sweet print in a pink, red & white bedroom

 making crude measurements, circle sewing is always deceptively greedy with fabric

Ok, so this is NOT the Babushka print, instead it's the one my eldest daughter chose, she just loved the greens in this fabric.  I hand stitched them completely from the comfort of my lounge - tacked the hem then turned it over & anchored the top & bottom in place to the wire, easy peasy speedy project. 
Happy Creative Spacing, thanks Kirsty for hosting.  Love Posie

& posie has fallen off her trusty workaholic steed at the last hurdle . . .

Greetings all,
This will be the last post on the children's school holiday tidy up, redecorate & relocate for now.  The furniture hasn't arrived & i'm at a stalemate with how i felt at 3a.m. when i left my son's room like this, with a migraine - this was as good as it was going to get for the boy for now.

Two of my favourite things in the world - a trusty Dyson vacuum & super stylish Little Nest mini-e Chair & Ottoman.  FYI Sam from Little Nest hasn't asked me to plug her products, i just thoroughly believe in promoting what & who you love!!  'tis how we mums in business roll.  The detail, quality & design are amazing, keepsakes for sure!!

 So while this workaholic mummy isn't quite finished - curtains need to be made, furniture chosen/ delivered/ assembled . . . & i desperately need to rest my hands.  I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, i sleep in metal hand splints (yeah baby, sexy as, no wonder my husband has spent less than 20 days at home this year) & scrubbing walls & sorting a billion Lego pieces has left me in agony.  Basically when i was 28 & pregnant with my 4th child, my carpal tunnel would leave me numb, unable to hang out nappies in the morning or pick up my twin toddlers, it was painful.  Surgery is an option, but i'd rather play princess & stop when they hurt for now.  Something to watch you crafty handmade types - i have the hands of an 80y.o. leather factory worker, i blame 6 years of scribbling notes at University & hand quilting & changing half a million cloth nappies - all repetative strain acts, hmmm, how do you get compensation or sue yourself??

So good time for a break & trip to Sydney to meet up with my husband (on his way home from Brisbane) spend more time with my elderly parents, visit friends & IKEA.  I'm not kidding, sometimes it hurts to hold the steering wheel when my carpal tunnel is messing with me.

  Does anything beat white leather & walnut 1960's style??

While blogger is messing with my images, i'll leave it here.  Seeing the boy is the last child, he has been lumped with all the toys from his siblings collective childhood.  I could cull more but he genuinely still plays with everything in turn, why ditch them now??  Anyway, this is all inside his wardrobe, who else is going to see them when the doors are shut?? 

Any one else have a wardrobe full of those giant black school art folios folders, they are so heavy with sharp corners & no child can lift them!!??  Owww, i have scrapes down my shins to prove it from 6 of the bloody folders.
So as i tidy up the boxes in the garage, pack for Sydney & lug 4 garbage bags of goods to charity, i bid you a lovely weekend.  I will be having dinner with my husband on Saturday night, in a real restaurant with make up & heels on, ahhhhhh, love Posie

& it's Giddy Up by Little Nest winning the race . . .

Greetings all,

So it's day 2 of the psycho clean & the giant puzzle of moving 4 children around 3 bedrooms.  By midnight i was in the garage smashing open the crate (i said psycho) to reveal a pink Giddy Up chair by Little Nest, to surprise the girls in the morning.  So happy i woke up before them so i could hear them squeal with delight when they opened their eyes!!

 I met the gorgeous Samantha Firestone from Little Nest at the Sydney Magnolia Square launch & bought the Arne Jacobsen replica children's size chair in red for my eldest daughter.  I've been repressing the dream of also owning a Giddy Up since, until last month when i thought, bugger it, she's discontinuing the pink, i want one!!  Thanks Sam, we love her & guess what the girls have named her . . . Samantha, ahhhh. 
I had to take these shots quickly as the children have been playing on the Giddy Up all day, they're running around in knickers & it's not that kind of creepy blog!!  One child has warned she WILL be sleeping on it tonight, hmmm . . .

The Little Bert wire chairs are also from Little Nest & fit perfectly under this IKEA coffee table which is perfect for a doll's house.  I even transferred the Djeco wall stickers from room to room (my husband will cringe, he doesn't understand why all the walls can't be bare??!!)  My twins will be in this room, which is slowly coming together.  They have a pink, red & white colour scheme.  I'm not obsessed with white furniture but it's such no brainer & easy to compliment with colour.  I'll source a desk this weekend which the girls can share as the move into senior primary school next year, i know there is a lot more homework. 
Next stop tomorrow, the boy's room, it's going to be my favourite.  When all their new beds arrive in the next couple of weeks, i'll reveal the finished products & you can start paying me millions for my decorating advice, he he.  Love Posie

& the bedroom makeovers are off & racing . . .

Greetings all,

For those of you who might not have school age children yet, we school mummies tend to go a bit postal on the children's bedrooms in the school holidays.  More than just a good clean, it's a "don't talk to me OR look at what is in the garbage bags" frantic situation.  These school holidays i'm quite literally turning out the bedrooms as if we were moving (we will be moving in the next 3-12 months) & to add a new degree of difficulty - just for fun i'm roatating all 4 children into different rooms.  What else would you do when your husband is away for a week??

 My secret weapon to keep the children away from their rooms while i psycho clean & to avoid the irrating "i'm hungry" moan, is to put out a picnic spread.

 Really annoyed these images are not grouping & are all spread out BLOGGER (??!!) anyway, you can see where i'm going - the first room is evolving & attracting silly children (FYI neither of these two are in this particular room, this is our eldest daughter's room with a red & blue theme, i said evolving!!)  There are still electronics to plug in, pictures to hang & a book shelving unit to collect, which will be perfect for the French wooden doll's house, as she said "it's a nice memory from my childhood".  

I love love love the chess board, shall take a close up image later, the pieces are Alice in Wonderland, it makes playing chess even more of a pleasure. 

Oh, now what's on that pallet in the garage??  I have new chairs from Little Nest for the children's 'play area' of their bedrooms, i can not wait to unload these, one by one as i complete the rooms.  So hope the new bunks for the twins arrive soon, we've also decided to get the big & little ones new beds too, so their rooms won't be 'perfect' for a little while longer.  Back to it, there are two children dispersed right now, who will sleep on the lounge tonight, good incentive to finish their rooms for a head start on those twins & all their bits & pieces tomorrow.  Love Posie