A snapshot of August

• The kiddos finished up their Winter sport-soccer for both big kids
• The weather remained cool, we had three sick kids with Lulu's lurgy hitting her hard. It's been weeks and still the chesty cough for all three lingers on. Ick! There's no such thing as 'just a cold' at our place. Bella had a fantastic review at cf clinic in July! It's amazing what a cold and a few weeks make. The rollercoaster. We are hanging out for the school break when we can all rest and recharge.
• My gorgeous niece tried her hand at candle making and gifted me a lovely soy candle in one of Nanna Belles glasses.
• We visited Junee Licorice factory after soccer one Saturday.
• Little love and I enjoyed a country drive to Lockhart. We headed to 'Ginge and Fluffs' second hand store to find a gift for a lovely friend. The canola crops were a huge highlight of the day out. I've never seen a yellow so cheery.
• I made banana bread over and over.
• Grandy lit the bofire. There was soup, a camp oven roast, motorbike riding and marshmallow toasting with family and friends.
• The bigs had friends sleep over.
• Special mail from a thoughtful friend..Wrapped in vintage wallpaper no less.
• Lulu rode her bike without training wheels for the first time!
• I squeezed in a bit of running.
• We celebrated Kyle's 21st birthday.
• Belle got accepted into selective class at her high school of choice. She is very happy which makes us very happy.
• And finally and thankfully...there were signs of Spring. 

July-a snapshot

Flannel sheets of the lovliest kind.

Rainy days.

A new old chair.

Daffodils.

String of Pearls in bloom. A wee bit excited about that.

In our crazy and wonderFULL family life, I am grateful to have had a few days this month to fill my cup. A special day shared with my gorgeous friend Karlyn celebrating her 40th birthday. We spent a day in the country, there was coffee, pumpkin scones, fruit cake too. We wandered and foraged about the junk shop and enjoyed some uninterupted conversation.  In the late arvo we headed out to the farm for a cuppa and early dinner around the fire with our boys and the kiddos. A lovely day will with lots of lovely.

I was also lucky enough to spend a few days away in Melbourne. I had the very best day wandering the Finders Keepers Markets. I have wanted to attend forever but have patiently waited until the time was right. I spent the day wandering and eating and drinking. Latte and gumbo-not together, red vevet cupcake and coffee scrolls. I enjoyed my own company and came home with a nice haul. Some new discoveries included Little Quarters, Bonsai Kitten and Ellery Fox. I was also able to visit Emily Besser's art exhibition at Hut 13 and am now the happy owner of a lovely new artwork (that still awaits framing!).

 That's me recording July in September pfft!

For the love of happy mail-Part 1

A while ago I hosted a little mail swap in the hope of connecting with others through smail mail, kickstarting some creativity and making someone's day a little bit happier.
Initially, I thought it would be fun to see what I could rustle up and stuff into an A5 envelope but then I sat down and began to write the letters. I felt a wee bit overwhelmed for a second or two because I had a few to write...but once I put pen to paper, the words flowed and I really enjoyed the process of writing a good old fashioned letter. Each letter was very different. Some of the letters were written to real life friends, others to long time blog friends and others to brand new blog friends who had read about the swap and joined in.

Over the past couple of months I have been so blessed to have a steady flow of happy mail arriving in return.
I am so grateful for the wonderful letters and amazing treasures I have been gifted through the swap. Seriously, I have been completely and utterly spoilt! If you want all your Christmases to come at once, then I strongly recommend you host a happy mail swap!

I really, really LOVED reading your letters. It was so nice to connect a little more personally and share and hear a little bit more about our offline lives. I made myself a cuppa and sat quietly opening your packages and reading your mail. There was so much thought put into each and every happy mail. I can only hope everyone felt the same way about the mail they received.

This is my outgoing happy mail. I sent cards, both bought and handmade, fabric, teabags, seeds, notebooks, vintage treasures, mixed media packs, pretty papers, confetti, origami, giftwrapping supplies, feathers, bookmarks, recipes, quotes that inspire me, photographs... gosh so much fun choosing things for the recipients. I'll be posting a part two soon with a bit of a show n tell of the happy mail I received plus some of the fun packaging!

A snapshot of June

The cold snap arrived and my stress levels rise a notch as we work a bit harder with Boo's health regime.
We have all had a fair share of icky colds and chesty coughs.
I spent two days in bed and am so grateful to have become unwell on a weekend. I was able to sleep on and off, read and rest while the Mr held the fort. I watched episode after episode of Twin Peaks. Have you seen it? I can't say I'm loving it but of course I've been sucked in now and have to find out who killed Laura Palmer.
There's been making of muesli bars and comfort food like pumpkin risotto and chicken soup-I used Lisa's recipe here.  It was absolutely delicious and how clever she was to slow cook it on the fire place. I just used my regular old slow cooker and it turned out GREAT! It has pumpkin in it too and I threw in a handful of quinoa for good measure. You should definitely make it.
Saturday morning soccer has been followed by visits to the Artisan Bakery for baked treats and hot chocolates. Our boys headed to Melbourne for a night to watch their team. Grammy and Grandy sent us some bagpipes they bought while in Scotland. We spent a happy but chilly weekend with friends in Tumut.

Tonight we have plans to don our beanies and polarfleece, light the fire and toast some marshmallows.
Happy Winter! Stay warm!

A snapshot of May

May was a big month.

• There were all the usual goings on... work, school, preschool, the to and fro of kids sport, music, activities.

• The Mr went away on a ten day fishing trip-the longest he has been away from us. I tell ya' I was daunted but surprisingly we moved along like a well oiled machine. Early nights were a key factor.

• We waved goodbye to Grammy and Grandy as they headed off on their UK holiday.
• The first lemon!

• Fundraising was BIG on the agenda forMay. Gah to be honest..It puts me out of my comfort zone at times. I'm sure we've all dodged a fundraiser in the street before. It's a tricky thing asking people for money or their time. But until there is a cure for cf..well, we'll just keep on keeping on. One day. If not for our child, then someone elses. All this fundraising..it helps. It really does. The advancements in treatment and outcome for cf and a range of illness/disease/conditions is truly amazing. Everytime you throw a buck into a charity, please know that it absolutely counts.

As many of you know, our big girl lives and breathes every day with cystic fibrosis. Living with a chronic illness is a roller coaster..for Bella and for us. It is part of our every day life. We try not to let it consume us..but there are times when it does. The rollercoaster. 

May is the month for our national awareness campaign and while we have always been involved in fundraising for cf..our big girl said 'mum, this year I want to do something' and thus 65km for cystic fibrosis was created. Throughout the month of May, she rode her bike a total of 65km to raise much needed funds and awareness for cf. We are incredibly proud of her positive attitude, maturity and commitment to keeping as healthy as possible. Kids with cf have a lot to take on. They need to manage treatments, medications, health and hospital admissions and they live with the knowledge of a shortened life expectancy. As parents, we try not to dwell on this and take each day as it comes but it is always there-in the back of our minds, in the bottom of our hearts.

Every weekend during May our girl rode her bike around our local lake. Sometimes with her dad and me running along behind, on Mother's Day, she and I rode 15km together and sang songs along the way, sometimes she rode with friends. But every weekend she headed out to the lake to clock up her 65km with enthusiam. 
I helped her to set up an everyday hero page where she shared her story and watched in amazement as funds rolled in.

This one little girl managed to raise $4752.39!!!

A HUGE thank you to each and every one of you who took a moment to read Bella's story, who shared her everyday hero page, offered encouragement, joined her for a lap or two or donated to her fundraiser. We are totally gobsmacked by your support. THANK YOU!!!

Milk glass

Hello!
Some lovely new milk glass to show and tell. Just the nudge I needed to get me blogging.
I am pretty darn excited about these pieces. They all found their way to me over the past few weeks.

Firstly, the sweetest little pear dish. So different than anything else I have in my collection. This was gifted by the lovely and generous Kylie. I especially love the back as well. Such a pretty little piece.

This goblet was picked up at my local oppy for $2.00 and these pretty bowls were also thrifted, $2.00 for both.

And lastly, a special little vase that came all way from England. My inlaws have just returned from a one month holiday in the UK. They found this in a second hand store and were not even certain it was milk glass. Thank goodness they decided to snag it. I am absolutely thrilled to have this well travelled piece in my collection. 

Garden Journal

Snapshots from our garden. Just because.

1. String of pearls
2. Little Gem, always lovely..even as she becomes brown and tired
3. The first nasturtiam. And just like that Miss Five picked that first little bud even before she opened.
I was watching her out the laundry window and I called out 'noooo' but it was too late. And she handed it to me saying 'I picked it for you Mummy'.
4. Autumn
5. The last of the roses