Pierre de Ronsard Roses & Happy New Year!

After seeing all the beautiful roses in bloom in my dad's backyard I decided to get going on my backyard and order my roses...but today I picked up my Pierre de Ronsard climber as well as some white icebergs and ordered 3 huge weaping Pierre de Ronsard roses. I think they are the most romantic roses available by far and are beautiful! I can't wait to get them all in the backyard needless to say the climbers were planted in the garden right away as I was a little impatient and want to see them grow lol.

The year is coming to a close and a new one will begin before we know it so I would like to wish you and your families all the very best for the new year. We will be going to Albert Park Lake where our little family sits by the lake with our picnic and bring in the new year watching the fireworks. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

P.S. I would like to thank you all for your best wishes on Jake's little hospital trip and let you know he is doing much better today.

A Christmas To Remember & My Dad's Garden

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas with their family...WOW, what a Christmas to remember for us!!! Here was our day...

Our Christmas Tree.


Oh...and it looks like Santa has been here as all the milk is gone and the shortbreads have mostly been eaten!!!


Isnt it funny how children jump out of bed Christmas morning and not on a school morning? I wonder why??? Since Jake was born I have always taken photos of him upwrapping his presents under the tree...I love looking back at them. Jake recieved a trampoline this year from Santa which we ended up putting up on Boxing Day.


After all the unwrapping and singing carols we headed up to Riddles Creek where my Dad and Jenny live...such a pretty little town. We had lunch at a little restaurant called Buds...it is such a lovely place and has beautiful food. I love family time!!!


We had a yummy traditional lunch and even got a visit from Santa...how excited the children were!


A little present from Buds to take home with us complete with a little message and the family name. How sweet!


Then we headed off back to Dad and Jenny's house and spent the afternoon together. The kids seem to love it up there as there is so much land they just run mad...well my Jake does anyway! Photo below is Jenny, Dad, Lucinda & Jake.


I prommised for a while to take some photos of my Dad's garden which I just love so since I had my camera on me I decided it was time to do so. A very tall birdhouse on of their side garden out back.


The side garden with the front garage in the background.


Birdbath...


This is one of the little retreat areas...they seem to have so many different areas in their garden you can never get tired.


Some rosellas come to visit for the day...seems every day they have someone visiting...


And the rose garden I have spoke about with the BEAUTIFUL garden arche that I would LOVE in my backyard!!! Still working in that one, lol. The rose garden was planted last year so it is still very young but coming along nicely. No standards in here...just David Austin bushes and the ones that have been choosen are just unbelivable!!!


This is my favourite garden of the whole backyard!


Look at the roses...so frilly!!!


OOOH!!!!


These are my favourite!!! I am redoing my backyard and putting new roses in so I am hoping to get some of these in there somewhere.


Very soft and dainy!!!


Now, I said this was a Christmas to remember and it sure was...when we came home from my Dad's we had planed to have my mother and father in law over for dinner...well...they did come buy no dinner was served as Jake ended up tripping over Rocky and hitting his head on the concrete. We heard him scream and ran out to find him on the floor so my husband picked him up but Jake's eyes were rolling and he could not stand up on his own. We took him inside to lay him down and I thought I would ask him some questions to make sure everything was ok....well...he said Christmas day was yesterday and not today, could not remember what Santa gave him, could not even remember what we had done today!!! I wanted to cry as I was so scared to say the least!!! We took him straight to the hospital where Jake was scen straight away thank god. After checking him over they said there was no sever head damage but because he knocked himself very hard he had a concussion. OH MY GOSH!!! It was so hard to see my little boy saying things that I knew were totally wrong...it turned my stomach! We were able to take him home after a few hours but I had to watch him all night to make sure there was no change...lucky he is on the mend now...still a sore head but he is getting there.


We put the trampoline together on boxing day for him but he was not alowed to use it till a few days latter...my poor baby! :(


We ended up having our Christmas dinner on Boxing day with my in laws...we actually got to sit down and eat too...hows that? lol. I can not belive it is nearly 2008...how scary to think my little man will be in grade 2 next year...he is growing so fast!!!

On another note I would like to thank Barbara for featuring my mosaics during her mosaic festival...THANKYOU SO MUCH! Barbara's blog is so lovely and packed full of lots of interesting articals so do pop by. You can visit Barbara HERE.

Merry Christmas

I have been shopping my little heart out today...left home with Jake at 2pm and came home at 11pm! We bought more Christmas decorations...yes more!!! Anyway, I better be getting to bed as we have big day ahead of us.

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday with your families.

Scrooge Yourself

I have found yet another christmas site called Scrooge Yourself, same makers of Elf Yourself but a little more cheeky...I love these sites!

I hope you like it Dad xo

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE TO MY DAD THIS TIME!

Treasures, Traditions & A Special Thankyou

Well, December is flying and before we know it, it will be Christmas Day...how exciting! We spent the past Saturday night out looking at Christmas light yet again...well that is what we do on Saturdays night in December...a bit of a tradition now I suppose. We are having a big night out looking at Christmas lights this Saturday so I will be sure to take some photos.

Anyway, on another note...today I found these pretty teacups, I am going to get my hubby to hang them in the kitchen...well...hang three of them since I broke one tonight...grrr!!!

I also found these vintage light up candles with little santas and tinsel on the front of them...I only paid $1 for both of them and they were still in the original box!


A vintage Santa in his Sleigh and dont forget the reindeer. I bought this one at the market last time I attended. I remember having the same one in our home when I was a child so I had to get it. I find myself buying alot of items because of memories...I love thinking back to my childhood days while looking at these pieces!!!

My little set of nutcrackers that my husband bought for me this year...I think they are so cute and a great size for putting on the tree if you wanted too.


Jake was also lucky enought to get his own nutcracker but in a larger size...he loves it!


And this...I JUST LOVE!!! This is Santa's special key as we dont have a fireplace so this magical key helps Santa make his special delivery.


We always leave the key outside for Santa, a bucket of water for the reindeer and some carrots...inside we leave Santa some milk and cookies. How magical!!!

Oh...and yesterday I went to Flemington Market...look at the beautiful roses I bought!!! They were selling them off at the end of the day for $4 a bunch so I decided to get two bunches and put one in the kitchen and one on the table.

Oh boy was I a lucky one yesterday...I thought I was lucky with my roses but it did not stop there...my lovely friend Gail gave me a beautiful Christmas gift which was so very sweet of her. A basket full of so many wonderful things!!! Take a peak...


And look at the cute little vintage photo frame she added in there as a special suprise...even has a little photo of Jake at his concert which was so thoughtful!

Thankyou so much Gail, you are a wonderful friend and I do not know what I would do without you! I consider myself so blessed to call you a friend, thankyou for just being you!

Our Little Puddings

Every year Jake and I make our little puddings so we have them ready for our family and friends during the festive season...Jake is not a lover of the 'traditional puddings' as I am sure many other children would be the same, so we go for a different option while still getting the same look.

You will need- Arnott's Royals biscuits, mint leaves cut up into 4's, choc jaffas and melted white chocolate.


All you need to do it wait for the melted chocolate to cool to room temp and poor a little over the top of each biscuit, add a jaffa and two pieces of mint leaves to the sides.


Thats all! So very simple and the children love them since they do have marshmallows inside and not fruit! lol.

Enjoy your little puddings!

Thankyou Mary for kindly passing on a link to a yummy recipe for little reindeer cookies. You can view the recipe HERE.

Meet Rosie...

Today is the day Rosie finally came home!!!

Rosie is 8 weeks old, a purebred Jack Russel and very cute I must say...just like Rocky...I cant forget him can I?

Our friend bought little Rosie to school (her daughter goes to the same school as Jake does) so Jake could have his show and tell before I went home.

When I bought Rosie home Rocky was so happy once he noticed what I had in my hands...like a child on Christmas morning! They had a little play but she was a little scared after all she just left her family so its allot to take in. She had a little nap and then went back outside for another play...Poor Rosie...Rocky would not leave her alone...trying to jump on her but she has learnt well...she growls at him like a little gremlin and then chases him away!!!

I can not wait for the new adventures we will have in our backyard...hopefully not too much damage! lol.

My Christmas Star!

Yesterday was a huge day, Jake's school had a shifted school day where instead of starting their classes at 9am they started a 1pm...no school work...just a whole lot of Christmas activities that finished up at 5.30pm only to follow with lots more fun and surprises! All the families came together for a lovely picnic...well some bought fish and chips, mc donalds etc but I wanted the traditional picnic with the homemade salads (Jake's favourite pasta salad), a chicken platter, watermelon, and camember cheese with crackers.

Once we had our dinner the children got together in their year levels and sang Christmas Carols to us...I must say each and every year level done a fantastic job but my little man was defiantly the star of the show with his stand up performance that shocked me to bits!

Each year level told a part of the journey that lead to Christmas day rather than the Christmas songs like Jingle Bells and Santa songs...it was a nice way to finish of the year as sometimes people (especially children) forget the real meaning to Christmas.

How cute!!! Where do you think he gets his Christmas Cheer from??? Hmmm??? Jake started Guitar Lessons this year but I think we might have to start Singing Lessons as well since he enjoys it so much!


These two bottom photos are ones of Jake and his classroom friends...just some fun snap shots to remember. Love the smile on my little boys face!

To Jake's left is his best friend Bailey and too Bailey's left is Isabella who is Jake's little girl friend...how cute!

I do hope everyone is enjoying the festive season with all their friends and family...we sure are!!!