Puppies and Children

Not sure which is cuter… puppies or children – I’m also not sure which is more work – we don’t have a puppy (yet), but I’m convinced the puppies are harder work (which is probably why we don’t have one yet, even though we’ve been threatening for literally years now). I think what would convince me for sure is if I could get my hands on one of these Labradoodle pups. (Yup, they’re a cross between Labs and Poodles and flip aren’t they cute… (if anyone in SA knows where we can find one to add to our family do let me know)

This pic comes from Pinterest

How much of cuteness are these two… (Image from Patagonia Gifts)

Growing up we had Boxers, and I just love them. I would so love to get a Boxer, but don’t trust the height of the fence that surrounds our property…

(Image from Better Photo.com)

Doesn’t this image just make your heart jump for joy…

(Image also from WeHeartIt)

(Image from WeHeartIt)

And while we’re on the topic of cute little puppies… remember that your local SPCA will have so many animals that are desperate for a family that will love them. If you’re thinking of getting a dog for your family, think about rescuing a dog…

You make me happy when skies are grey

I just love love love these words….. this song… My little monkey really is my Sunshine and I try and tell her every single day…

Print available from Etsy

How amazing is this birthday cake for a ‘You are my sunshine birthday party!’ from The Party Wagon

These amazing biscuits are from the same party from The Party Wagon

How cute is this “you are my sunshine” dress up costume from Parenting

(Image from Tumblr)

Family photo shoots

Do your family shoots in time for Christmas? I’m super excited cause we’re going for one in November, the last time was when our monkey was just 4 days old…

Gorgeous Photograph from Caroline Tran

Was wondering how to do this with just one babba, and suddenly had a brainwave that we could do this with mom, dad and bubs instead of three kids! Lovely pic by Life Captures by Kriscinda

Image from The Berry

From Demotivation

Isn’t this just the most beautiful photo from Style me Pretty with such a powerful message…

I remember when I was living in London, getting on one of the red buses one morning and in front of me was a couple probably as old as the couple in the photo above. The gentleman told his wife to go on ahead and find a seat, and I remember him so clearly asking the bus driver for two tickets “One for me and one for that beautiful woman going on ahead”… Isn’t that so special… When I’m old and wrinkly, I don’t want to I just still be married to the man I promised to be with and love forever, but I want my Gav to be telling random bus drivers that I’m his beautiful wife, wrinkles and all  x

Hold me closer Tiny Dancer

 

I was never much into my ballet as a kid, I think partly cause I looked and felt more like a tiny little elephant hopping around, rather than a petite little nunu dressed in pink, flitting around. Only time will tell whether my little dancer will pirouette around the show, either way – I can’t wait for the obligatory ballet lessons all dressed in pink looking too cute…

Such a cute little ballerina 1st birthday party from Pizzazzerie

(Image from Tumblr)

(Image source: We Heart It)

You can get the pattern for these adorable knitted leg warmers from Smashed Peas and Carrots

Oh the fun you can have while a new born sleeps!

(Image from Pinterest)

How’s this cute ballerina card you can make with your kids (from Simply Modern Mom)

Baby Shower Gifts

Anyone want to invite me to their baby shower cause I don’t have any coming up that I can think of, and seriously want to make one of these as a gift… (and with the step by step tutorial available from Sweet Aprils I’m hoping it’ll be a success!)

AND….. then I came across this cake for a baby shower from Chef Sam! How real does this look… (and did I mention that what makes it even more fabulous is that this talent is 100% local (Cape Town)… just love home grown)

The A-Z of Us

Two lovely blogs that I follow, Cupcake Mummy and C is for Cape Town did posts of the A-Z of them…. love the idea and so here is mine..

A is for Aeroplanes…. What we have to get on whenver we want to see our extended family

B is for Books… I love that you are mad about books…. Long may that last

C is for Curls… you’ve got so many and they’re C for Cute.

D is for  Ducks… who knew that one bathroom could have SO many ducks in it..

(Ducks from Pinterest)

E is for Everything…. You are my Everything

F is for Five Roses Tea – mommy’s favourite.

G is for Gladys or Gogo, perhaps your 3^rd (often 1st) favourite person in the world and a woman your mommy loves and respects and who couldn’t live without. She teaches you, loves you, looks after you and even cleans mom and dad’s house and does the ironing.. perhaps G should be for GOLD.

H is for Hugs… we love hugs

I is for I love you… so so so much

J is for Joburg, where Daddy and Mommy lived and first fell in love

K is for Kloof where we live, KZN… K is also for Kenton-on-Sea where mommy grew up. K is also for Kasouga where we got married… lots of important places starting with a K!

L is for Love – I love you to the moon and back and back again.

(Image from Scrap Studio)

M is for Monkey, that’s what you are… (we also have lots of these coming through our garden every week and you just love watching them)

(Monkeys from Colourinc)

N is for  naps…. I miss those on a Sunday afternoon!

O is for Opportunity…. I hope your Dad and I can give you as many of these as possible

P is for Peas… you’re absolute favourite food ever.. who would have thought!

(Peas from Edible Crafts)

Q is for Quintessential – Q is a difficult word to come up with and this is the first word that came to mind. FYI – It means typical..

R is for rugby…. I’m glad you’re a girl so that you don’t have to play rugby. Rugby also happens to be your Dad’s favourite thing to watch on the TV (well, not recently with the Rugby World Cup!)

S is for slide…. One of your favourite things to do…

T is for T-Rex…. Some of our friends actually think your dad’s name is Rex.. That’s how good he does the T-Rex J

U is for us… that’s our family, you, me, dad and of course chilli

V is for Very…. That’s how much I love you…. But more like very very very very very very very very very

W is for Wine… your mom likes that…

X is for Generation X…. that’s the generation your mom and dad belong to..

Y is for You…. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine… you make me happy when skies are blue…

Z is for Zippity Doo Da, cause you make our days wonderful

Memo to the Mommy

I came across this pin on Pinterest, it looks like it’s a scanned in page from a magazine ‘Parents’ from Sept 2008. I did like the ‘memo’ and so thought I’d use the words for my post today.

“You have a lot of lessons to teach your little one, but she has a few words of wisdom for you too.”

1.) Stop freaking out about the mess. There’s always time to clean, but how often to we get to make mud pies?

(Image from Rhythm of the Home)

2.) Love me, even when I’m naughty. I’ll only be this age once.

(Photo from Under the Sycamore)

3.) Be patient, I do everything for a reason, but I don’t know enough words yet to give you an explanation.

(Photo from Under the Sycamore)

4.) Let me do it. I know you can do it faster and better, but sometimes experience is the best teacher.

5.) Don’t expect too much of me. I want to do all that you ask and make you happy, but I’m still little.

6.) Keep your promises. It’s all about trust. When I’m a teenager, you’ll understand why it’s so important.

7.) Don’t try to reason with me when I’m having a tantrum. Trust me – I can’t hear you over my own screaming.

8.) Don’t let me think that you’re perfect. I’ll feel a lot better knowing I’m not the only one making mistakes sometimes.

(Image from Flickr)

9) Set limits, I can’t actually eat a whole box of cookies – I just want to see if I’d get away with it.

Gender Reveal Party

I’ve never been to one myself, but I’ve heard great feedback from friends who have. I guess it’s a very personal choice – either finding out the sex of your unborn child or not. We decided not to find out and for us it was the loveliest of suprises when the doctor told us our monkey was a girl… The moment is so massive that it still takes a while to sink in, especially as I did think we were having a boy! I’m sure this would be true for when ever you find out – at the doctors rooms, a reveal party or at the birth…

I reckon if I could throw another stork party soon, I’d quite like to throw a gender reveal for someone else Some of these ideas were for the parents revealing the gender to their familes, and some where revealing the gender to the parents themselves. ie – get your doctor to write down the sex of the baby and put it in an envelope, not to be peaked at and handed over to the party organizer!

How about some of these for cool ideas….

I guess this couple where having a …….. boy!

(Image and ideas from The Cake Blog)

(Image from Volume 25)

Or imagine cutting into the cake to reveal the gender for yourself… Oh the suspense, not sure I could cope!

You can find the recipes over at Babble

Have any of you hosted or been on the receiving end of a gender reveal party?

 

Cake Smash

It’s the Dad of this Family’s birthday today and I’m wondering whether he’s too old for a Cake Smash… I could use the cake that he left behind this morning when he walks in the door this evening. ha ha.. Love ya Gav

Anyway, I’ve been noticing the term ‘Cake Smash’ quite a bit recently, and I know for sure it’s certainly not a new concept (I have photos taken of me 33 years ago to prove this), but I do love the way families are capturing the moment more now…

Here are some photos I’ve found recently for some ideas… nothing cuter than seeing the birthday babies getting stuck into a cake like only they know how!

I just LOVE this picture from Jasonangelini.com

Photo from www.sarahwilkesphotography.co.uk

Photo from Kelly Decoteau Photography

Photo from Katie Baldi Photography

Love this montage from Karen Halbert Photography

I could go on and on posting pics cause they really are the cutest and there are just so many different ideas. I would love to know if any of you have done a Cake Smash?

Happy Birthday my Gav… thanks for being the bestest Husband and Daddy in the whole world. For taking care of our family, for protecting us, for loving us, for making us laugh SO much, for everything you do… Wishing you so much happiness in this next year.   Love Me and your Monkey x

So many ways to use a Pin Wheel

For some reason pin wheels remind me of ‘childhood’ – I’m not exactly sure why this is, because if I’m honest I don’t think I’ve actually ever even made a pinwheel – don’t judge me . Anyway, they do remind me of childhood, maybe it’s the simplistic pleasure they can give you (she says not having much experience with them!). Needless to say I’m going to add this to my list of things to make… and when you see some of the pictures and ideas below I’m sure you’ll also be giving it a bash.

For starters, how stunning are these gift boxes (seen on zsazsabellagio) with a simple pin wheel on top!

And then as soon as you’ve stopped thinking “what a good idea”, pop on over to Chic Cheap Nursery for some true inspiration for the most stunning nursery where they’ve made a pinwheel mobile (amongst a stunning nursery!)

Love this idea for that special day (from Oh Lovely Day)

Or to be used for a table number (pic from wedding chicks)?

Teacher gift idea from The Twinery Blog

And how lovely is this bunting available on Etsy

Follow this link to The Crafty Chicks on how to actually make a pin wheel!

Cute party packs from Ko Jo Designs

And how cute are these hair clips from The Mother Huddle

And lastly a pin wheel path from this Curious George Party on The Hostess Blog