book week

it is no secret that i am a giant book nerd. i looove books, so of course i automatically love bookweek. i am 100% not that mum that gets cranky and complains that it's bookweek and i have to find a costume... i am the mum that's excited to see what we can come up with. i would just like to point out though, that there is nothing that irriates me more than kids dressing up in costumes that aren't a book. no further comment. just know i am judging you if you do this in your home.

maddie has been super keen on harry potter lately so i nearly died of happiness and low key excitement when she told me she wanted to be ginny weasley (cause her hair is red of course!) but then got cranky with me because aunty had borrowed my straightener and ginny has straight hair, so now i can't be ginny and i'll have to be hermione! oh dear. she still looked cute! the tie is an old brisbane lions one of doug (that is burgandy and conveniently has lions on it - gryffindor yo!) one of joseph's church shirts, black skirt, shoes and stockings, a cape borrowed from a friend who has done harry potter before andddd a wand that my friend made for me (which just by the way is amazing and i love it, she did such a beautiful job and it even has a glow in the dark stone at the end!) 

this little monkey wanted to be where's wally, which was also a breeze... big w sell the costumes, but even better, someone on marketplace had one - super cheap! winning! all we had to add was jeans and boots of our own and a walking stick that nanna kindly provided.

it rained for part of the parade and then was so cold that all us mums seriously thought we were dying, but you do these things for love... the kids were happy and so was i. another excellent bookweek done and dusted.

book week 2017

we love book week! it's no secret that i am an absolute book worm, so i get super excited when it's time for the kids to dress up and show off some love for books. i love seeing the costumes all the creative mums come up with, i always do something a lot simpler, but definitely recognisable.

i came up with all kinds of suggestions for joseph, the green sheep from where is the green sheep, the lion from dear zoo... and the phantom from the phantom of the opera (yes! it was originally a book!) but he hated all of those ideas, especially the phantom - when the mask i ordered arrived in the mail he just cried at it. haha. then i stumbled across an idea on instagram, a rapper from the ab to jayz book that he's obsessed with reading. without a second of hesitation, he was in! easy.

all clothes we already owned, including his straight outta kindy shirt, with a chain added from nannas house.

maddie was easy too, i suggested dorothy from the wizard of oz, prepping myself to have to paint a pair of shoes to make them ruby slippers... only to find we had a pair in her "too big box" in the shed. perfect. another case of having everything, including the basket (mine when i was a kid!) and a little "toto" that she got for her birthday from a friend. so so cute!

they were both really chuffed with their outfits and went off happily to their classes for parade. joseph even had the vice principal stop and admire his and tell him what a cool idea it was. yay! i felt like that was a personal win right there, even if i did get the idea from the internet haha.

hooray for bookweek! 

trunk or treat

at the disgust of my children (mostly madeline) i decided that we were not going trick or treating this year and instead decided to go to the madeley ward (other ward that meets in our chapel) trunk or treat. it had been opened to anyone that wanted to attend as they were doing a sausage sizzle and games etc to raise funds for their end of year youth activity.

i'm not anti halloween, i just find it hard to get into it, being that i've grown up in australia (and country australia at that!) but i donned my costume (which took me all of 3 minutes to put together, all opshopped and things i already had - and actually a remake of a fabulous halloween here) helped the kids into theirs and off we went.

out little one armed ninja turtle in an opshopped costume complete with the shell and accessories madeline got a few christmases back...

and rainbow dash... we already owned everything she is wearing, and added little rainbow tattoos to her face and hands

for those of you not familiar with the trunk or treat concept... it's a safe option for kids. it's generally done with a group of people, in our case a church group, who park their cars and decorate the open trunk (we call it a boot in asustralia) so that kids can go from car to car in the carpark and trick or treat. i was particularly keen this year, being that one of my kids is sporting a broken bone. i couldn't even imagine having to chaperone that around the neighbourhood.

there was some pretty amazingly decorated cars, but this was madelines favourite, decorated with her latest obsession, the disney descendants (don't know what that is - have a look at the preview here) she was so thrilled to see someone else loves them too!

joseph and his best friend, aunty dom ♥

madeline and her friends hannah and hayley

and catching up with old friends, here i am with my friend jamie-lee. we had an awesome night and i think i may be trying to talk my kids into trunk or treating every year... i felt so much safer in our gated carpark. hooray for the church community! 

book week 2017 - i'm madeline!

my heart was full to bursting today as madeline went off to school for book week today dressed as none other than madeline herself! it was possibly the cutest thing i have ever seen in my life. 

such an easy costume too, that was the best bit! the dress was actually mine as a little girl (my amazing mum made it!), it has a smocked bodice, but was quite long, so mum cut some off the bottom to tack over the smocking just for the day. it looked great!. 50c hat from the opshop with a bit of black ribbon and another piece of ribbon to make a bow at the neck... done!

how i wish she could stay little forever... i love my madeline! ♥