~ that was September ~

September always means spring, flowers and birthday celebrations.
This year there were vignettes, a mini holiday in WA, mail exchanges and purple fever as well.

This is how it all looked on instagram.

What does October bring ...more flowers, school holidays, my baby turning 5...who knows what else?I'm looking forward to it.

♥

~one day ~

Super excited today as lovely Pip from Meet Me At Mikes has featured some of my instagram snaps on her fabulous blog.

Woohoo!

This was my June 3.  It was a pretty nice day.  Today's turning out great too.

What's made your day today?

♥

~ may vignettes ~

 

{day 1: hanging.  Rainbow brights, whimsy and hearts in my daughter's room}

{day 1: hanging (version2)  - On our colourful hooks in the foyer}

{day 2: labels.  The Scarborough Fair version}

{day 3: timber.  Seeing the wood and the trees}

{day 4: colourful.  Imagining a new corner in our dining area}

{day 5: porcelain/ceramics.  Some favourite pieces on my table}

{day 6: dining.  A seasonal offering}

{day 7: travel.  I'm a traveller (and a collector)}

I've just enjoyed another week playing #7vignettes along with the fabulous IG community that the lovely Jen from the Interiors Addict blog has created with her monthly competition.
Lots of gorgeous, inspiring, fun shots.  
Lots of chat and encouragement. 
So much creative fun.

I didn't go with any over riding theme (or forward planning).  
I got up each day and searched the house for inspiration. 
I think I'll try and be more organised next time - I get a bit frustrated when I can't find what I want/need or the light changes or it just isn't working. 

My favourite day was dining - I think keeping it simple works for me.
I loved colourful too - I want our house to look like this all the time!

♥

~ last week ~

1.  The windflowers are beautiful even when they're dying

2.  When he's not writing and drawing he's playing cars - the go-to toy ever since he was tiny.

3.  Cooler mornings mean our windows end up like this - great opportunity for more drawing.

4.  Beautiful afternoon autumn light

5.  I won a stickygram competition with this shot (hooray).  I've ordered my magnets (made from my instagram shots - I've done some before and they're fab)...if you'd like some they are $2 off with this code ( FRIEND0U01). (I get a little credit too if you do this!)

6.  Remember those lemons from last week?...we made lemon drizzle cake from the Perfect Cookbook and it was so yum that I didn't get any photos before we ate it all.  Next time I make it I'll take some shots and put the recipe up.

7.  More dahlias from my lovely neighbour. 

I'm joining in with  the lovely Em to share some bits of our week.
One more week until the holiday and a bit of a break from the routine... I can't wait.
What does your week look like?

♥

~ snap it ...wrapped up ~

I love a nicely wrapped present.

It makes the whole experience nicer I think

Here are some of my recent wrapping efforts as shared on IG

I'm joining in the last snap-it game for the year here ...with a huge thank you to Sarah... its been lots of fun.

 

♥

~ snap it ... three ~

{holiday rainbow toes are becoming a family tradition}

{they have fun together...that makes my heart sing}

{still happy to pile in the bath together...I love that}

{first day back term 3}

My 3.
Who carry my heart (so unknowingly, so fearlessly, so joyfully) with them where ever they go.

Playing along at faith, hope and a whole lotta love with weekly snap-it themes.

♥

~ an instagram catch-up ~

{my june}

{my july}

Here are my June and July instagram mosaics.  I love how they look grouped together. 

These months have flown by  - it's good to look back and remember.

I'm seeing lots of colour to make up for the grey days outside. 

Lots of pics of the little people too - they love to be involved in helping me decide what to do for theme of the day...and they've all been home sick so much they've just been round more. 

I'm 6 months in now - managing a photo every day and still enjoying it. 

I'm determined to do the whole year.

I'm heading back to the fire and the couch now - its freezing in my office and I haven't mastered blogging from the ipad yet.

Back to the Olympics.

I'm enjoying it but wanting more from the coverage.  

More sport {less commentary}.  More variety {less swimming}. More new stuff {fewer repeats}.

Are you watching?

What's your favourite event?

♥

~ photo a day... May ~

My snapshot(s) of May...there's lots of pink and red....as usual.

We've had a busy weekend - my in-laws arrived unexpectedly on Friday afternoon (they apparently arranged it with our 3yo and assumed he'd pass the message on!).  

They did come bearing gifts - fresh eggs, 10kg of parsnips and a cherry cake so we forgave them the booking faux-pas.

We've done lots of eating, raking up leaves and crafting to get us through a chilly start to winter.

Tonight we've had roast lamb (loads of parsnips) and self-saucing chocolate pudding...I'm such a fan of winter comfort food.  Now we're dreaming up recipes to use up those parsnips...any ideas?

I'm looking forward to the school holidays....no frantic morning rush, no packed lunches and no forgotten library books/homework/tennis racquets etc.

What are you looking forward to this week?

 ♥

~ Photo a Day (April) ~

Still really enjoying the photo a day challenge on instagram.

I love seeing other people's shots too...so let me know if you're on IG

I'm seriously thinking this could become a 366 project.

 ♥

~ snapshots of March - the IG version ~

March via photo a day on Instagram

(minus a day because I couldn't make 31 photos fit into a mosaic)

2 months in and I'm already thinking that a photo a day for a year is within the realms of possiblity.

My DSLR is feeling very neglected though.

Do you use a camera other than your phone anymore?

♥

~ hello, my name's Ally and I'm addicted to instagram ~

Do you instagram?

I've fallen for it completely in the last month. 

(I'm waaaay beyond a crush...its more like stalker territory)

I jumped on the February photo-a-day challenge from fatmumslim and am loving it.

I'm relishing the challenge of coming up with an idea to fit the word of the day and really enjoying seeing what others are doing too.

I'd always looked at those 365 challenges on flickr and found them too daunting...but a month...or more....that I can do.

If I can work out how to make a little button-y thing on the side of the blog I'll put my link there (but if that's beyond me you can look me up on instagram...I'm sapa there).

Are you playing already? (What's your username?)

Do you like little challenges like this? 


♥

~ and now he is 3 ~

I love birthday #3.  Its when they get it.  When they realise the presents, the cake, the fun is all about them.  He revelled in it.  Squealed for the presents.   Screamed with joy at the balloons.  Looked fit to burst as he ate his 4th piece of kite cake. (So glad he finally went for this and not the fairy princess castle - not because of the whole boy thing but because the kite was far more my skill level).  Started planning birthday #4 as soon as we got home.

We didn't go all out for this birthday - the little man only wanted "my best friends" and in the end this turned out to be our regular Tuesday morning park gang with a few almost-family friends thrown in.

So it felt casual and relaxed.  Just perfect for him.  And for us.

We made waaay too much food. This is a family tradition.  We had fairy bread and striped jellies, choc crackles, honey joys and strawberries.   I tried some new things too - the little teddy cars and the grissini wands were hits (thankyou Emma and your wonderful blog ). The girls made the lolly boxes.  We marvelled at how rich he's made our lives and how much joy and love he brings.  We had fun.

I'll write him a letter tonight.  I have a special book for each of them where I write a letter each birthday and record the highlights of the year and my thoughts on how they are growing.  It makes me cry each time I write it (or glance through it).  Its such a bittersweet experience watching them grow, knowing that they'll never be THIS perfect age again but hoping the next one will be fabulous too.

♥

~ today was school vaccination day ~

Today was a work on wordless Wednesday day for me.

Sharing the fun with faith, hope and a whole lotta love

and my little drummer boys

~ one of those days ~

I sat down to write tonight full of the gripes.

To tell of all the little things that went wrong today - of the spilt milk (but we remembered to say "there's no use crying over it"), the ruined jigsaw, the endless whine of the-not-quite-sick-but-not-well 2yo, the spilt cream  all over my new shoes(the "no use crying over it" line came out again but through gritted teeth), the tissue in the wash.....it was truly one of those days.

And then the Doc came home halfway through my little rant and as I reheated his dinner (and broke to him the news of his jigsaw) I very wifely asked about his day - the telling of the diagnosis of cancer to a bloke our age certainly added some perspective to my day.

And so here is the other version of our day. 

The one when I put on my new shoes and felt happy cos they were the perfect shade of corally watermelon. 

{they came out ok after a wash}

Where a little gift arrived in the post and put a smile on my face.

{thanks Helen}

{pretty lanterns inside the package}

The one where we walked to the park and played and I got to grab coffee on the way. 

{my fix}

The one where little hands picked a small bouquet.

{pretties from our garden}

Where we ended up healthy and happy and I was reminded of gratefulness all over again.

One of those days.

♥

~ tonight at mum's house - glimpses of my childhood ~

owl and tiny ted

part of my mouse collection(and that wall paper that I still see in my dreams)

my dad's teddy (Stuart)  and friend

grandma's mouse

Joining in the wordless fun at faith, hope and a whole lotta love

and my little drummer boys






♥