vintage love

can i just take a minute here to talk about how much i love this dress madeline has on? i picked it up at the local salvos in ellenbrook just after we moved here about 2 years ago. it was absolutely love at first sight and i have (very impatiently) waited for it to fit her! today was the day and thankfully she loves it just as much as i do. it's a genuine vintage dress, complete with a scratchy tulle lining (she wore another favourite skirt underneath it) old labels and buttons and hooks up the back. absolutely perfect and just my thing.

maybe this opshopping is hereditary cause she seems to be picking it up just fine. i found a letter in one of her notebooks to one of my friends who promised her a girls day out soon, including a list of possible options for their day including: we could go opshopping. definitely not my friends thing, but it sounds like it is maddies! ♥ 

sometimes we bowl

tonight we went bowling with dougs parents, his sister (who amazingly avoided any pictures, she is here i promise) and the kids. we used to go bowling quite regularly back in the day when i lived in qld and we all loved it, so it was great to do it again all these years later, especially with the addition of the kendall kids!

little poser!

i had quite the lead until the 5th frame, until doug decided that he was going to slaughter me and from then on in it was an absolute fail. i must day i have never been good at bowling anyway, i think if i ever managed to win, i'd have a heart attack.

doug giving madeline and joseph some help. we didn't actually put joseph in the game this time around but will absolutely have to next time as he was right into it!

dinner afterwards at grilld in midland? it was pretty much the perfect night! ♥

beach family photos

i had a blast a few saturdays ago, taking photos on a beach down in mandurah with a friends sisters family. it was full on, 15 adults, 3 kids... and just for good measure: a dog. but it was fun! there was lots of laughs and some great pics. ♥

12 years down, eternity to go

on friday doug and i celebrated 12 years of marriage, at home on the couch... with a grumpy little boy who had been to the doctors for his needles that morning. sigh. i guess that's how life as a parent goes hey! but... saturday night, we got a babysitter (dougs sister, how convenient) and headed out to the mahogany creek inn, with our friends who live next door to dougs parents, and just happen to have their wedding anniversary the day after us! it was a great night, good food, good company (half her family showed up, she kept apologising, but it was great, they are good value!) and lots of fun.

we've been to the inn multiple times and would still highly recommend it to anyone. their service and food is excellent!

one step closer to heaven

my sweet friend aniwa made it one step closer to heaven yesterday as she went through the temple for the first time and received her endowment, before being sealed to her parents along with her brother. it was such a beautiful moment to share with her and be a part of... she asked me to be her escort (the person who sits with you and helps you through). it's the first time i've had such a privilege and i felt so loved to be asked.

watching this sweet girl come back to church, be married just over a year ago and now this, has my heart bursting with love! there is such joy to be found from the blessings of the temple and i know she is so happy to be closer to her father in heaven.

some of the lovely girls from our ward... there to support our girl! ♥

joseph is four!

happy birthday joseph!! ♥

this sweet little boy turned 4 today! he is cheeky, funny, loves to laugh and play tricks, be around his dad, anything to do with cars and eating.

much as he had a planes birthday party, it's still all about the cars... and he was thrilled to pieces when i allowed him to open just one of his gifts before madeline went to school, even though doug was at work. we finally found him the dinoco helicopter from the original cars movie (on facebook marketplace in the end... i don't know if you can even get them new anymore!) and he loves it!

all his other presents were something to do with cars as well, it's so easy to make this kid happy!

especially with this jackson storm hauler that he had been asking for for quite some time, that i found on sale at our local big w after christmas!

we celebrated at the local nandos (by the little mans request) with chicken and chips and red velvet cake! when i asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he was very quick to answer - "a red one!" and seeing as woolworths sell these adorable mini decorated layer cakes that come in red velvet and are only $7... it was the answer (and the answer to 99% of the worlds problems haha.)

the happiest boy alive! we love you little man. it is the best thing in the world being your parents! ♥

joseph’s planes party

this little monkey had a disney planes birthday party today for his fourth birthday (which is this coming tuesday) and loved every minute of it. i am fairly certain he would have killed for a cars one again, but seeing as he had that for his second birthday and then a cars cake again last year while i was away in america, he allowed it haha.

hanging with his little bestie kaiden as the party began

my friend jennifer made his cake (yet again... we've now had 9 birthday parties between the kids and i am yet to make one... and yes, i can cook haha!) and it was amazing. vanilla layers, with swiss meringue icing and little fondant clouds, topped with a die cast dusty crophopper. easy! it looked and tasted amazing!

party setup... we love planes and have watched it over and over, then a few months before josephs third birthday (and before i knew i was going overseas) i went into the local big w party store and discovered that they had all their planes party things on clearance! $2 and under per piece and there was even a "pin the tail" game in there! i snapped up one of everything and then when i bought a framed planes poster on one of the local buy sell swap pages a few months later, i turned up to collect it, only to be offered (for free!) a huge bag of plates, cups and napkins, all with the planes print! score! i was indeed thrilled and have had them all on standby waiting for this day. all i had to do was grab a few more things on ebay (all under $3) and we were set.

josephs toy planes helped out with the decorating, hanging from the light fitting above our dining room table

the abovementioned poster, which worked perfectly with our theme...

plus lemon water and lemonade with about 2 drops of blue food colouring, just to make it look more appealing to kids.

we played a few games, including pin the patch on dusty, this kid of mine had it in exactly the right spot, so i assumed he must have been able to see, only to move him slightly to check (he wasn't!) and then he refused to try again... oh well, i guess only we will ever know who the real winner was!

pass the parcel (had a yo yo in the middle and a page of plane stickers (i always buy the $2 pads fromt he local cheap stores and stick a page between each layer) and a lollipop or skydiving man at random) which was a big hit as always... i can't see it ever going out of fashion!

having a great old time

the feast!

mum was on duty and made us meatballs, sausage rolls and pikelets and i spent the day before making everything else. i can't deny it, i love doing all the party prep! i especially loved the little cups for the popcorn, with fighter planes all over them.

checking out his options :)

this was the best idea i've had for a party yet... after having their "lunch" all of the kids were given a piece of paper with a fold your own aeroplane template on it (which i just found on google, downloaded and printed off) which they folded with an adult, before we raced across the road to throw them from the top of the stairs. whoever managed to get theirs to fly the fastest won a prize!

the kids were so into it and cheered loudly as they threw them, it was great!

finally it was cake time and we all sang loudly away before he blew out his candles and got to work cutting it up. and i mean actually cut it up. i think i better watch my back cause my kid really likes knives! 

happy birthday little one! 

we had such a good time and feel so blessed to have been able to spend time with family and friends... it was a perfect day!

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by request ( i have a friend that's always interested to know what i put in the kids goodie bags) this years bags were dusty crophopper bags with:
a blue and white balloon
mini kit kat ( i really wanted aeros, sticking with the aeroplane theme, but apparently they don't do them in minis anymore!)
mini smarties box
lollipop
planes sticker sheet
planes blowout
planes tattoo
mini plane (pack of 6 from the local cheap store for $2) and
3 jet plane lollies (these are a nz lolly and come in a multipack from coles... i nearly lost it, the packet is five dollars and eighty cents! what the heck!! sometimes though, you just have to suck it up and pay for what you want... which i did this time.)

all very fun!