Carols in the Domain

Thanks to our generous friend Robyn Hobbs, founder of Carols in the Domain, we were once again able to experience all the excitement and wonder of this annual Sydney performance last Saturday from some of the best seats in the house park.

From meeting up with little friends

to the face-painting

to meeting Santa

to the beautiful carols, dancing and fireworks

– it was a night of pure pleasure.

Especially for one little Princess!

Thank you, Robyn

 

Di

Mothers’ Day – for the “sandwich” generation

My morning was spent visiting my darling mother (and father).Then they were whisked off to a secret destination by my sister for a celebratory Mothers’ Day lunch. Then this afternoon my own children spoiled me with flowers and gifts – including 4 of the latest quilting magazines!!! – and our precious little Princess presented me with a beautiful card that she and her Mummy had made together. This smile just melts my heart every time.  Thank you, my darlings, every one of you, for all the joy you bring us.

[This was the perfect end to an unexpectedly wonderful weekend.  But you’ll have to wait just a little longer until I have time to tell you all about it.]

Channelling Martha Stewart – A Princess Cake!

Last week The Princess turned 3 (Apparently you grow blue fairy wings when you turn 3) and the task of making the birthday cake was entrusted to me.

After a frantic and fruitless last-minute rummage among the recipe books for that “bible” of party cakes, the Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book, I found myself working without a safety net!
Since anything princess-related makes her little face break out in the widest smile I decided to make a Princess Cake.
Who’d have thought a grandma could have such fun with a pressure-pack can of pink icing and a jar of assorted pink sprinkles?!
  I think they liked it!  And you have to admit it’s an improvement on last year’s caterpillar cake!

Note: The Princess does not have overly rosy cheeks! - her talented and artistic Mummy face-painted her and all the party guests.

Today I am thankful for ... The Princess!

She brings joy and laughter to our family every day.

Scatterday X - Week 32

Yikes - the letter X!!!!

I'm so glad we Scatterdaisies been set free this week to simply find 3 objects beginning with X. No categories to confine us. I found 3 without too much trouble, but I was grateful I didn't have to present 4!

Xylophone

X-ray

Xan

And the Winner is....

Drumroll....................


Studio Christine! I'll be in touch with you by email, Christine, to find out your snail mail address, and will be popping a fat quarter of one of my favourite Moda fabrics in the mail to you.



Thank you all for giving me such fun (but rather too much stress trying to choose a winner!) and entering my very first blog competition. Have a look at all the entries in the comment box for "Life's Little Mysteries #1"

Life's Little Mysteries #1 - Competition results

Quality, rather than quantity, was the best way to describe this competition's entries, as a handful of keen blog-buddies exercised their imaginations to suggest how a huge bunch of fresh lillies came to be dumped over my front fence last week.



Suggestions were varied - jilted lovers, a shy suitor, God, and the Easter Froggy! All made me smile, and I found it impossible to choose the best. So I felt it was fairest to decide the winner by a draw.



I wrote the names of every entrant on a card, and popped them into a shopping bag.







Then I asked my favourite barrel-girl to draw a card out of the bag. As you can see, she took her responsibility quite seriously.

(It's all in the way you hold your mouth)

Can you see whose name is on the card?

A visit to Nana and Pa

Yesterday The Princess and I went to visit Nana and Pa.
There were plenty of cuddles....



and games ...


and mischievous looks...

and she sat in the little pink chair that Pa has freshly painted for her - the 4th generation to use it.

...followed by a BIG sleep in the car on the way home.

Scatterday U - Week 22

Scatterday U - Week 22
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

This week's Scatterday letter is U, with the categories...

Street -
Here is a photo of Underwood Street, not far from me. If it seems slightly un-composed or out of focus that's probably because it was (as a friend of mine is fond of quoting) a "drive-by shooting". Stopped at the corner, would down the window, and snapped!!! Wonder what the drivers of the cars behind me thought.

Cartoon Character -
I have to admit I Googled "Uncle Scrooge McDuck" to find this photo, not having a stash of comic books in my storeroom (wish I did, they've got to be worth a fortune on eBay!).

Things people pay a lot of money for -
This ultrasound of my precious granddaughter (at 12 weeks' gestation) cost quite a lot of money. If you look carefully you can see that, even though our darling was only 2 inches long (!!!!!!!) she was already sucking her thumb. Don't you just love modern technology that allows us to observe such wonders!

Presenting ... Miss Christmas 2007!!!

A very Happy Christmas to you!

I pray that you will be very conscious of God's deep and unconditional love for you as you hear again the wondrous story of His coming to dwell with us.

~ Have a wonderful day of celebration tomorrow ~

Scatterday S - Week 18

Scatterday S - Week 18
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

This week's offering comes with sincere salutations of the season to all my savvy Scatterdaisies - and is brought to you by the letter S.

Medical
Firstly I have a patient's-eye view of a saline drip, taken one-handed with my little digital camera as I lay in the intensive care ward of a private hospital in Cairo in September 2005, suffering from severe dysentery. Obviously the treatment (and the home-made fruit jellies Jenny Bowker brought me) was beginning to work!
In addition - if you can cope - here is a photo of the scar on my wrist, a legacy from an accident when I put my arm through a plate glass door at the age of 4

Beverage
My favourite soft drink - Coke Zero.

Christmas
Some sparkling starry sequins.
Our own little Christmas 'star', Alexanne, hanging on the Christmas tree.
A shepherd and his sheep from my Fisher Price nativity set.
And the stable (or shed) with the rest of the nativity figures.

Have a wonderful Christmas - but keep those 'digis' at the ready!

A Christmas Tree kind of day

Our real Christmas tree arrived bright and early this morning from Sydney Christmas Trees carried in by two strong lads who cheerfully set it up in its base and left us to give it a drink - or two.



It's a beauty - 7 feet tall and perfectly shaped, with lots of dense foliage and branches - and the house smells so Christmassy!


Tonight we will decorate it with as much bling, lights, and tinsel as its branches will hold. As usual, my mother has bought a new ornament for each member of our family, with a very special one from Harrods for Alexanne's first Christmas. Over the years we've built up quite a collection, and the children, grown-up though they are, always delight in once again seeing "old friends" from Christmases past.


This afternoon was spent with three generous friends packing sequins, beads, needles, threads and felt Christmas tree shapes into kits to give out at our church's Women's Christmas Craft Morning Tea this Saturday. After a short talk by Michelle Underwood we'll all turn our hands to creating a sparkling Christmas brooch to take home, in one of 3 patterns.






Not something you'd wear every day, but hey, at Christmas I don't think there's such a thing as too much bling, do you?


And Christmas came early for me when Lindi told me I had won (drumroll here) a fat quarter from her stash! Have a look at her pretty, festive blog - it'll get you in the Christmas mood!

Scatterday H - Week 13

Scatterday H - Week 13
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

Posting my Scatterday at the eleventh hour, but at least it's still Saturday!

This week's letter was H, with the categories Human, Toys and Soft.

For Human we have a hand, mine.

The Toy is a little plastic helicopter I borrowed from our church creche.

And for Soft I have a photo of Alexanne, wearing a headband over her fine, soft, whispy, sticky-up, lavvy brush hair. The mosaic has cropped much of it, but I think I can safely predict we won't be seeing curls here.

She's so cute I hope you'll forgive me using her in Scatterday yet again. It's been a few weeks, and if Pennie can introduce her babushkas in 100 different ways into Scatterday, I reckon I can do the same with Alexanne!

Scatterday P - Week 9

Here you go - All three categories wrapped up in one photo!

RED - Alexanne is sporting her favourite red pants.
SWEET THINGS - She's our Princess, of course!
METAL - In her chubby little hands is a Georg Jensen stainless steel pen holder.

Nice, eh?

However, lest you label me lazy, and begin to pelt me with post boxes, poppies, pavlovas, passionfruit, peaches, posts, pipes, and other sundry objects, for not keeping to the rules, here is my mosaic.

RED - An assortment of red packets from my pantry.

SWEET THINGS - A pear.

METAL - A potato masher.

I'll try to be a good girl next week - but I'm not making any promises!

Nana and Pa get a visit from Alexanne

Alexanne, Sunny and I enjoyed a lovely visit with my parents - her great-grandparents - today.

When it was time for her to have lunch she sat in this very special little chair which has been in our family for 5 - maybe even 6 - generations. Following on from his father, Pa used it when he was a tiny tot (some 84 years ago) and Alexanne thoroughly enjoyed her little throne! Over the years the chair has undergone many colour changes, and now Pa has decided to paint it pink for our little Princess.

Here is our very proud Pa with his tiny great-granddaughter. And below is an equally proud Nana. What a blessed little girl she is!