a few of my favourite things

A few weeks back, there was a challenge going around to share some of our favourite things.

It has taken me some time to think long and hard about what are my favourite things, but here they are to share with you:

1. Family is my number one. So, here's to you the love of my lives: Steve, Kelly, Leah and Madison. I could eat Madison's cheeks, they are so delicious (the girls may not find that so acceptable though!).

We have a beautiful old home that is in the process of being lovingly restored. So there aren't too many beautiful things in it and the walls are still bare and lonely. But the transformation has begun and there are now a few pockets of the home which I really love.

2. Recently, Steve's grandmother gave us her piano. She is 99 and still going strong. She has just recently started living with Steve's parents and her house is being cleared up for tenants. We were the lucky ones who received her piano, which means so much to us. It is something that Steve has to remember her by, her grandchildren can learn to play on it, and I play it very frequently.

3. My darling husband who is good at pretty much everything has restored a kitchen buffet and a side table. The side table turned out to be blackwood and is now in our hallway. It has our wedding pics on it (including my favourite pics of our girls) with some flowers I was given last week. Now everytime I walk into the hallway I feel all warm and fuzzy.

4. Secondly, the buffet is still a work in progress and needs some company in our bare kitchen (like a dining suite!), but I just love the whole 'thrown together look' of the hutch. Steve recently gave it another coat of paint which has given it a little bit of shine. And I polished the brass handles. Good as new!

5. Lastly, I splurged a couple of weeks back and bought us new linen for the master bedroom. We have just inherited a lovely brass bed (that's still coming), but I love the colours of the bedspread and how much it goes with our room which has a bright yellow ceiling and white ceiling rose!

lots of love

Call me soppy or sentimental, but I have just gotten off the phone to our eldest daughter, and gosh - I really miss her.

We have just chatted about life, her work, being a mum and of course Madison's progress.

She can't wait to be a mum and be at home. That is really great and I just love that she isn't going to try and fit the mould of the working career girl like the Generation Xers who were told we could have it all. Well, that's a load of rubbish. It seems that anything goes these days.

I just did a little quick digital scrap which shows how I feel about our kids. It's short and sweet...

happy birthday

It's now a year since Madison was born (well, tomorrow anyway). As most mums say, "the time has just flown by" and reflecting back, it's been a busy year.

How anyone can believe in evolution still has me stumped, and now I am more sure than ever that it isn't possible. Especially when I see the miracle of a baby growing into an adult. The learning curve is amazing.

Just today I visited a friend who has just had a baby. Holding this precious little bundle brought back to me that only a year ago, Madison was that small and helpless. Now he can get himself around and continues to delight in the Education Game called Discovery.

He continues to dazzle me with his fascination with life and it helps me to appreciate the little things all over again.

My best friend Janine was over last weekend and for those of you who know her, she is a scrapbooking addict. She loves it so much she owns her own scrapbooking store and is on an elite design team for her designs (go to ScrapbookStation if you're interested!). She is also published regularly in the scrapbook magazines. Anyway, she has been convincing me of scrapbooking, and thinks I could be good for it.

Well, she hadn't convinced me until now as I just don't have anywhere to store lots of papers and pretty embellishments, until she told me about digital scrapbooking. I did some googling and was quite impressed at what you can do. And it seems to be more my price range (which always helps!). Even though I haven't bought anything 'scrappie' just yet, I have been fiddling with my newfound knowledge in Adobe Illustrator and think that this could be my new hobby! It's the beginning of something beautiful, I think!

Happy birthday Beautiful Sunshine. May there be many wonderful birthdays to come...