costume check

today was maddie's dance school end of year concert costume check. oh my gosh. what an angel. doesn't she look beautiful?! she was happier than i have ever seen her dancing around in her tutu just  on top of the world.

a few months ago, the letters for the end of year concert went out and madeline didn't want to do it. she had stage fright and was terribly shy at the thought of being on stage in front of people. so we returned the form with "no" on it. for the next few weeks we had begging and pleading to change the form and she told us over and over she wanted to be in it. only the date for forms being handed in had passed. luckily to her delight, one of the teachers found doug when he picked her up after class one saturday, to ask if we would reconsider and allow her to be in the concert after all. apparently her dancing was very good and they didn't want her to miss out. so the second chance came and here we are!

watching her today in her tutu, showing their dance to the mums at costume check was something else. she had a look of perfect concentration on her face, carried herself beautifully and did her steps perfectly. she just looked so so happy and i am thrilled beyond words. she may be a pain sometimes (most of the time) but she has really found something she loves and somewhere she wants to be. let's hope she sticks to it and keeps trying her hardest ♥

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! 

letitia + jordan are getting married!

our great friends the fepulea'i's are marrying off another one of their kids at the end of this year and this past weekend was allllll about it. on friday night we got to be there as letitia received her endowment in the perth temple - which was such a special experience. it's always so nice to be there with someone as they take it all in and remember my own first experience at the temple. afterwards all of us had dinner together at a local chicken place... yum!

then the following evening, i headed down to mandurah (kid free thanks to my amazing mother in law, with my personal minder darrio... grandma kendall and nanna pinker are petrified i'm going to deliver this baby at any time, i'm sure of it) to help set up and then attend jordan and letitia's engagement party!

tay hired this amazing flower wall to have photos in front out throughout the evening, which looked so cool! ♥

and a family friend put together this cool engagement cake for them!

i arrived with tablecloths, runners, vases, flowers and these gorgeous birdcages that we originally sprayed for dominiques wedding (almost 2 years ago now - where has the time gone?!) set up looked great, and the party went off without a hitch! i love this time of year for free flowers... i grabbed all these from a local spot, with a set of secateurs... what a laugh though, i was almost home and heard a buzzing in the car. even though i'd been careful checking, there was a couple of bees flying around the back of my car. i pulled over quick smart to get rid of those!

tay did such a good job of prepping everything... she had organised a video with people answering questions about jordan and letitia which was an absolute crack up... i could not stop laughing! especially seeing as wade (the bride to be's oldest brother), was "working out" for show, through the entire thing every time the camera was on him. it was hysterical.



and as an added bonus, one of my besties melinda was there, so i got to hang out with someone awesome all night. score!

thanks for a great night guys! ♥

mission conference ❤️

my last official act as relief society president was on wednesday... (only because it had been planned months ago and i thought handballing it toour new rsp would be terribly poor form) catering the mission zone conference luncheon. i feel like it was a little too easy to be honest... all we had to do this time around was have 4 sisters prepare some lasagnes and then appear at the stake centre with them. set a few tables, cut some salad stuff to assist the mission presidents house keeper/ function co-ordinator... i don't know what her actual title is haha (who is the reason it's all become so easy... it's my friends mum and she is so organised it's insane!) then cut and serve them at lunchtime. it was done and dusted before we knew it and we were off home again. joseph was a little gem, sat and played quietly with his lego in the room off the kitchen... and i barely heard a peep out of him the entire time. winning!

i love being around the missionaries... there's such a wonderful spirit to be felt there. when they had finished, they gathered for their zone photo and then sang called to serve to those of us there assisting. it was so lovely. i will miss things like this. ♥

doug’s bday

yesterday this guy had his birthday... disclaimer: i generally get it right, get the best presents and never have any complaints. but this year, i was at a complete loss. he's just been to brisbane to visit his best mate james, bought himself a heap of stuff while he was over there and had a good time... what's a girl to do/buy? sooooo i actually bought him nothing. however, we went off to eb this morning after my hospital appointment to get one of the two xbox games he plays (maddeninsertyearhere and nba2kinsertyearhere - which is out next week) as a birthday gift from the kids. he seemed happy enough. and he went and got his hair freshly cut at his new favourite barber in caversham - prestige barber lounge. the guys there seem lovely and he's been very happy with his last two cuts. lunch at the coffee club here in ellenbrook then picking our monkeys up from school. all in all an uneventful day, but we got to spend it together and that was nice.

butttt tonight was the highlight for him, dinner (with his mother's instruction to order whatever he wanted - don't need to tell him twice!) at hogs breath steak house in midland with his parents and some mates of ours. best bit was me going to pay and finding out that the kids got to eat for free. woo! i've made a mental note of that, if we want hogs breath in the future, mondays and tuesdays are the way to go.

as you can see, he's got his head tilted just right here to show off his fresh fade... what a dag. butttt i love him. happy birthday to the love of my life. another year older - another year stuck with me ♥

it's the end of the world as i know it...

and i feel weird.

it's game over... last sunday i was officially released from my position as the president of the ellenbrook ward relief society. (basically meaning i ran the womens auxiliary at our church) i spent two and a half years serving alongside these amazing, strong women who i can't even say enough nice things about and i have to admit i feel so sad about it. i know there are many other things i need to focus on (ie. this baby that's arriving in a months time!) but i have to admit i feel a little useless right now no longer being busy busy and not having something that constantly needs my attention.

the lord knows what's up though and i have to trust that there's something else in store for me... it's just a matter of time ♥

kindy father’s day morning

oh kindy... it's certainly never boring. today was josephs father's day morning and although daddy couldn't come because he's busy at work, i went along and we built this adorable tool caddy together! how cute is it? or more so, how cute is the child holding it?!

he was so proud of himself and whacked the living daylights out of the thing with the hammer we'd brought along... and although i had to start each nail for him, he did a pretty good job. i was watching my fingers though, he was pretty hammer heavy!

concentration plus... that little tongue of his was hanging out as he hammered away! way too cute. i am sure daddy will love his little caddy ♥