Boo!

Happy Halloween!  (Not very scary!)

Abi  had dress up at daycare today. This is what I pulled together at the last minute.
Top and tutu was a birthday gift and the wings and wand a total of $8 from the shop down the road...

Sadly Abi has conjunctivitis and didn't make it to daycare today. But we popped our 'costume' on for a few quick snaps anyway.

We don't really celebrate Halloween here. I see it as more of an American tradition. What about you?

mummy & daughter

Here are a selection of photos from the photo shoot on the weekend.

You can see those and more! On Kath's blog HERE.

I'm really happy with them. Can't wait to see more! And here goes the spending AGAIN!

photo op

On the weekend Abigail and I are heading to Sydney for a visit, to catch up with lots of our friends and to also have her '1yo photo shoot' a little late considering she is nearly 14 months! But I haven't found someone in Melbourne to do them as much as I love ALL of Kath's photos.
Kath did our newborn shoot and even came and took some more extra special shots with my sister and mum when they came to visit.

Remember when she was this small!?!?!

Just 9 days old!

More shots HERE & HERE

This is what Abi will be wearing (well if it arrives in time!)

It's Purebaby and I got it from Baby's Got Style

I think I will wear my soon to be new/old dress...
Hopefully it turns out! Basically what I have done is got a dress from my wardrobe that I wasn't wearing and could never see myself wearing again because it was just way way too short! Add Abi onto my hip and I would have been showing my knickers for sure!
It's a lovely white dress and I have bought some very similar black material and currently have a dress maker turning it into a maxi dress for me! Very 'colour blocking'. I'm also doing something similar with a few other dresses. So I'll post about those another time (and once I get them back!)

Can not wait to see the rend result! I trust Kath implicitly! She is actually the wife of one of the GM's (not mine) at work. I've always loved her work. I think she does an amazing job!

Kath Ellis Photography. - Abi and family feature quite heavily in her NB section on her website! And well why not she is so adorable!

Flying Family Fun

My parents birthday's are within a month of each other.
They have everything! Buying gifts for them is hard!

This year we decided to all pitch in (my sister and two brothers) and organise something a little different for them.

All of last year our youngest brother was training to become a pilot. And most of this year he has been training to be a 'training piolt' in Shepparton VIC.

So yesterday Jack took mum and dad flying! And they landed at Milawa at Brown Brothers Winery. We had arranged to take them to lunch at The Epicurean which is the restaurant at Brown Brothers.

My sister, other brother, the two little girls and myself drove up to meet them and surprise them for lunch! They had no idea we were coming!

It was a long drive for us, but was really worth the effort and fun that we had! The meals were very very nice! The wines lovely (Brown Brothers OBVIOUSLY!) The service ok. BUT! No Beer?!?!? Now I understand it's a winery, but no beer? Really? And such a shame for dad as he doesn't drink anything else.

We still had a great time though. Here's a few shots from the day. (no food photos - I always forget!)

The table looked great! Abi hanging out with her pop! She just adores him! My dads sister and husband (known now as GUG & GAR - long story) came along as they live quite close to Milawa.

Those glasses are lined up! All food is served with a 'complimenting' wine and theres a glass of sparkling on arrival.

Camera show off and hanging with pop!

Shoes off (she hates them!) and having some park fun with nana! (She says nana more than mum at the moment!)

Sisters and Cousins!

Love this kid! But can never get the sparkly blue of her eyes to stand out on iphone pics

The pilot (or the joke is 'pirate') and his little nieces.

An actual family photo! (minus my sister and my working husbands) - I can't not remember the last time we had a family photo! So this is pretty special! (And Alexandra is 'out' not 'in' now too!)

Abi has this thing that if you say or she says "HOORAY" she put her hands in the air. But we couldn't get her to do it! Just us! - Gosh! How short as I compared to the rest of my family!

The drive home and we were all pooped. I was in the back of my sister 4WD with the two little ones who both slept pretty much the whole way home.

If you're happy and you know it...

CLAP YOUR HANDS!

Up until a few days ago Abi couldn't/wouldn't clap hands...
I was a little worried to tell you the truth. Don't kids normally start clapping hands at 8-10 months?

Anyway. Now she can and wont stop!

Off to a very special lunch today. Must take photos!

(Please excuse my voice in the video... Not sure what's going on there??? I don't sound at all like that!)

the randomness of a WINNER!

So. Earlier today as we were preparing a Bathurst lunch I was thinking how was I going to draw the winner of my giveaway?

Then it hit me! dependant of the winner of Bathurst I could pick a winner!

Add numbers till you get a number between 1-9 (the amount of entries)...

So. That was decided.

And the winner???

Team Vodafone and Jamie Wincup and partner!

So... That means NAT! FROM IN THE NIGHT SKY! YOU ARE MY WINNER!

How easy was that! They were car 1...

send me an email at samanthaolson79@gmail.com with your address so I can pop your book in the post.

I'm not a rev head. Not really at all. But I come from a sport loving family. Went to a sport loving school and married a 'car dealer' so I have no choice...

Happy weekend everyone.

xxx

Giveaway!

So ever since I found out how easy caramel slice was to make I have had a little bit of a love affair with it! I think I have already made it about 4 times!
That then means that condensed milk doesn't seem to last very long in our pantry!
What was once a pantry staple that could sit there for yonks without being touched seems to be being replaced a lot more often that it should!

Out and about the on Saturday, grocery shopping... I spotted a cookbook in Woolies and I was intrigued... Buy 3 Nestle products and get a free cookbook!
Well. Seeing as I stocked up on 'essentials' like condensed milk and choc bits (to make more caramel slice!) I was entitled to 2 books!

What that means is... I have one to give away! Seriously this book is awesome! I would be happy to try to make one of everything in the book!

This IS the caramel slice recipe!

Think this will be the next one to try!

And not to forget mum's birthday cake! (Which I STILL don't have photos of and didn't get to try any just yet... But that's just irrelevant and a long story...)

So! To 'win' this fab book, just comment on my blog something happy and nice that you say to someone to help lift their spirits. Why? Well Why not! And it's sunny and lovely in Melbourne today!

Have a fabby day everyone!

I'll draw a winner on the weekend and have the book popped in the post by Monday!
(Oh! And 89 followers today! - I wonder how long till 100 !!!)

the best mum going around

A big Happy Birthday to the best mum going around... My mum!!!

Here she is with her two grand daughters!
Abi and I went and surprised her this morning with a cake! a helium balloon, muffins and croissants for the the family for breakfast! (She was very surprised!)

Of course in the moment I didn't take a picture of the cake. Oops. Mum isn't a real fan or chocolate cakes and the like, so I decided to make a carrot cake from my new recipe book!
It really did look just like this!

Today I noticed that I have 88 followers! And seeing that 88 is full of 8's and 8 is a lucky number I thought I would have another little giveaway... So tune in tomorrow and be in with a chance to win a copy of the new recipe book I have just got...

Have a great day everyone!