skatt autumn show

last night jamie-lee and i went to a skatt event - the autumn fashion show. i love the skatt parades, their salons have a giant pink bench that runs all the way down the middle, which becomes a catwalk for such occasions. the clothes they showed were from local boutiques and some of them were pretty freaking nice. maybe one of these days when i win lotto i'll go on a big spend up :) i always appreciate a good night out with mates and had a heap of fun ♥

nine months

can you believe it's been nine whole months since this little munchkin arrived and threw our lives into turmoil. haha. i can't imagine life without her though!! she is so adorable, and everyone just loves her. i mean really loves her. we walk through a shopping center with her and people stop to talk to her. hilarious.

she is so mobile now and gets around the house getting into everything, chatting to herself and just generally loving life. this week passed with her standing up at her mini wooden activity table and when it slid away on the floor, she quickly tried to keep up and took a few steps. i am sure from that display that it won't be too long until she decides to start walking on her own.

everything lately is dad dad dad dad-dad dad. she's been making mummmmmm noise for ages but now it's all about dad. he loves it. we even managed to get something that sounded like bye this week. it's so exciting to see her growing and learning, even though on the inside i am so sad that my baby is growing up far too quickly

x

pirates

arrrrrr me hearties! mum and dad are off to michelle's pirates of the caribbean party for her 30th birthday. mum never, ever misses an opportunity to dress up and i was pretty damn impressed with the results. especially after i made dad change his gumboots (ewww - gumboots are only acceptable when they are high fashion printed ones!!) for my gorgeous sportscraft ones. bet he wishes we weren't the same shoe size! haha.

we did get an invite but weren't able to go; i was bummed. :( i bet it'll be an awesome night! i was especially impressed with mums wrapping skills - she got her a mini treasure chest with gold coins ($1 & $2 coins) such a funky idea!!

he is risen!

he is risen! he is risen!
tell it out with joyful voice.
he has burst his three days’ prison;
let the whole wide earth rejoice.
death is conquered; man is free.
christ has won the victory.

come with high and holy hymning;
chant our lord’s triumphant lay.
not one darksome cloud is dimming
yonder glorious morning ray,
breaking o’er the purple east,
symbol of our easter feast.

he is risen! he is risen!
he hath opened heaven’s gate.
we are free from sin’s dark prison,
risen to a holier state.
and a brighter easter beam
on our longing eyes shall stream.

just in case any one thought easter was only about the eggs - here's the reminder you might have needed.
i know that my redeemer lives!

family easter

we had a beautiful easter sunday yesterday starting with church where my choir (i hope i am allowed to call it my choir... seeing as i am the director after all...) sang "how great the wisdom and the love" during sacrament meeting. considering we were down to an entire 10 people due to so many people being away for easter it was incredible. i can't believe how well they have taken to the songs and have put so much effort in - i was so proud. :)

i dragged poor doug over to the trees across the road when we got home from church and took some pictures. i am a sucker for a cute family photo. ahhh love!

we went down to mandurah and had an early dinner with mum, dad, isaac and renee, pam and bob, and jared, donna and the kids. it was great catching up with everyone and maddie had a great old time with the chocolate. i've been pretty strict about it most of the time because i don't want her to end up with a sweet tooth, but i let her have a munch on the end of the one zac and renee bought her and gave her a chunk of the one we bought her before we left.  

 so so so adorable! i could have watched her eat this egg all day! she is such a crack up - and those huge eyes just make me melt.  

maddie having a munch on her easter egg with daddy

miss madeline with her easter egg from mummy and daddy

little bunny onesie for a perfect easter sunday

i am so in love with my little family. life just couldn't be any better

x

basketball

last night at about 5:30 we got a call from tracy from my work... offering us tickets to the wildcats semi-final - that started in just over an hour. um yes please!! how exciting - maddie's first basketball game :)

we had the best time - and maddie babbled the whole time and threw her hands around like a crazy - loving it. so much fun ♥

here's a cheesy photo of our little family after the perth wildcats took out the game! can't wait for the next one.

cousins

cousins are usually the first friends we have as children no one will ever understand your crazy family like your cousins do - even if it's been some time between catch ups

(-adapted from a post on pinterest.com)

madeline's cousins have been down in perth the past two weeks or so and she's had a few chances to see them. it's been lovely - although my brother that has children (five i might add - he's very brave - or crazy - one of the two...) is almost 11 years older than me - so maddie's closest cousin in age is miss emma who is three years older. not that it will matter soon enough - as donna said the other day - it won't be long until they are teenagers and off to dances, parties, school balls. yikes! it's kind of funny how it's worked out though - donna (my oldest brothers wif)e is 15 years older than me, i am 15 years older than laura and sh'es just a bit less with maddie, i only hope maddie has as much fun with laura as we've all had so far!

grace came to have a sleepover with us this week and we went out for the day - hitting up the local save the children in joondanna and heading up to hillarys boat harbour for a look around and some general fun, although poor madeline slept through most of it haha.

grace with the sculpture at hillarys

grace with uncle doug and madeline

we had a great time - i love spending time with my nieces and nephews, they are so much fun...

thank goodness for cousins!