Gems of the week

Everything seems to be getting bigger this week. My baby bump, my butt, my boys...

Even being nearly 36 weeks pregnant doesn't stop me being used as a human bouncing board/climbing frame, even when trying to have a wee nap on the couch. *le sigh*

Excitement is growing by the day (it really is!) of our new arrival. We have Granny & Pop arriving in just over 2 weeks (WAHOOOO!!) and then anytime after their arrival baby is allowed to come.

This has been one of the quickest pregnancies I've had, probably because I haven't had time to stop and think. It's busy (and admittedly rather hard work) running around after two active, cheeky, hilarious, challenging boys. It's always a moment of celebration for everyone when Austin comes home from work to lend a helping hand - it's all I can do not to retreat into our bedroom and let him deal with dinner clean-up, baths, books and bed...

Anyway, onto the GEMS!

:: The generosity of friends... has absolutely blown me away! Check it:
- Generosity No.1: one designer bag GIVEN to me by a dear friend who bidded ferociously to win this item at a charity auction we had for our church's women's conference. Retails at £285. A M A Z I N G.

I think I'll definitely be able to fit the baby in here at the very least!...
- Generosity No.2: my husband arrived home from work yesterday with a 'present' for me...

That's right. You are seeing this correctly. One MacBook Pro which was GIVEN to us by our incredible Swiss friends just because they read my blog, heard about our computer troubles and wanted to bless us. WOAH! Yep, I'm feeling blessed. Still in shock actually. I love the way the keyboard purrs as I type. Just beautiful. This little beauty is like the Ferrari of laptop computers (for me anyway). I'm feeling the love people!

:: This cool little dude... who manages to keep his sunglasses on, come what may. I think he knows he looks pretty cool with them on.

:: Homemade marmalade... 

:: Loving that it's summer PJ time... especially when those summer pj's are in the style of a french wrestling onesie. Too blimmin' cute!

Yes, a slight graze on his forehead - that's what happens when one face-plants the concrete :(

:: The Crochet squares pile for the baby blanket is growing... only have 8 more to do and then I can start joining them all up. I've got good feelings about this project, think it'll be a goodie!

:: Royal Wedding Fever... it sure is rather incredible being in London at the same time as a royal wedding. Loving the countless forms of memorabilia on offer, but mostly, just the wonderful Britishness that is on display.
Regent Street is spectacular with hundreds of flags hung above the street.

Thought I'd throw in a pregnancy shot for you

And today a young lady married her prince. Just lovely.

I felt myself getting all teary when the Queen did her drive-by before the ceremony. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones...(?) but I thought it was so great to hear the crowd of thousands cheering for their Queen. YAY!! Wishing I could have made it into town for the very grand occasion but it just wasn't going to happen today... so we settled for streaming it on the net which was almost just as good. We all sat on our bed and watched the goings-on, the boys getting very excited about the police motorbikes that went before and after the royal cars...

Joining in with Paisley Jade Things I'm Loving

Gems of the Week

Luca has started the question of "Why?"
"Why did you put water in the plant Mamma?"
"Because plants need water to live"
"Why?"
"Because if we don't water plants they will die"
"Why do the plants die Mamma?"
"Because they are thirsty and noone has given them water"
"Why thirsty and no water?........(after no response).....Mamma? Mamma?"
*Sigh*
Conversations like these usually end with a "Just because!" response or a "You'll have to ask God that question" or a subtle 'Trail-Off' technique I have mastered is used e.g. "Because that's wah wah waaaa wa waaaa waaah wah blah blah blah..." And by that point he's lost interest.
Millions of questions. Every. Single. Day.
I've been waiting for him to go through this stage so it hasn't been too much of a shock to the system.
I'm hoping I can look back on this 'development stage' and laugh, or at least have a wee giggle.

Gems
The special 1-on-1 time I get with Luca while Beni naps in the mornings. We have two and a half weeks of school holidays over Easter. I've been loving having time with just my Lucsie for a good couple of hours each morning. I miss him when he's at school.
Our 1-on-1 time usually includes: tickling, tickling, colouring-in, tickling, snuggling to play games on my phone, building blocks, tickling and just a bit more tickling. He can never get enough of the tickle loving and I love his gutsy laugh and how he lays on the floor completely 'done in' by the end of a tickle session and does big happy sighs.

I love how Luca always has time to stop and smell the roses. And I thrive on giving him the space and freedom he needs to be able to stop and smell the roses.

{Speaking of roses} Oh how I love London in the Springtime tralalaa tralalaaaa tralala la la la la laaaaaa!

 

I caught Luca crossing his legs while sitting in the buggy on the bus, eating an apple. As you do.

I though it was rather delightful, that's all.

Loving how my boys get stuck in to colouring, reading books and generally making a mess on our visits to the Library. No holding back, it's all or nothing.

Beni-Boo is confident in the world around him and I adore watching him discover things and figure out how they work and what they can do, all on his own.

Ingredients for marmalade - ok so I haven't made it yet but as you can see it's all ready to go! That's my little project for tomorrow morning. YUM! (hopefully)...

I'm very proud of my latest thrift-shop find - a vintage/retro/old New Zealand tablecloth. I stumbled across it in a little independent thrift store in little ol' Roehampton {a little ol' suburb of London}. £2. Thanks for coming.

My husband asked me what I plan to do with it..... to which I replied "It's a tablecloth. I think I'll use it as a tablecloth".

I happened to go to a Brooke Fraser concert on Wednesday night with my best friend. My husband got us tickets. He's good like that. It was awesome, beautiful, breathtaking, inspiring, like sitting down to an exquisite feast.
I love my husband. I love my best friend. I love Brooke Fraser.

Yes, this truly is Brooke Fraser. She's the blur in the middle.

We weren't allowed to take photos or any other form of recording device (what?) so I quickly {illegally} snapped a shot on my iPhone camera... best I could do, sorry.

Linking up with:

Paisley Jade Things I'm Loving

Changing Lanes Blue Plate Special

Gems of the Week

Linking up with Paisley Jade for Things I'm Loving.




During the day I had been thinking about how I would usually be doing a 'Gems of the Week' post this evening and joining in with the 'Things I'm Loving' linky-party. Unfortunately the time that I was pondering this was also around the time when I was, once again, dealing with public tantrums and a time-out battle.

Funny {not really} how a bad 10-15 minutes during the day can really bring the dark storm clouds in which will do their best to ruin the day.

But I am pleased to say I didn't let the rainclouds settle over my day. I deliberately chose to start snapping away at things that I have been loving about this day and this week.

Funny {and it is} how once I started looking for all the great moments/things to capture it was hard to know where to stop!

So friends, allow me to inform you of the splashes of goodness found in my day and throughout the week.

:::

Firstly, let's start with the weather - here's the forecast for the weekend {according to iPhone}. Lovely!

Note how it was still 21 degrees at 6pm. Liking this a lot!

Loving my little guys in singlets/vests. Not only do they look incredibly cute but it also means SUMMER IS HERE!! I hadn't realised just how much I have missed the warmth of the sun on the body, being able to open all the doors and windows and let the warm fresh air fill our home.

LOVED the early-home-from-work surprise from my husband this evening! It didn't take long for the boys to join their papa on the balcony with their sunglasses on and shirts off.

I've been struggling with inspiration of what to make in advance for bambino numero tre. The only bummer about not knowing the sex is that it's hard to make/buy clothes etc.
I don't know why it took me so long to come round to it but yesterday the penny dropped and of course I would crochet a blanket for bubba which will be perfect for summer days and winter layers when sleeping.
I'm pretty certain that, be it a girl or boy, that it will be happy with the colour selection.

Luca and I tried a new recipe from one of my most favourite cookbooks  called "Nainoma Bars".
Oh. My. Word.
FABULOUS is what they are. Cut into bite-sized pieces they are very delectable.

I loved watching our television-deprived children watch a couple of episodes of Pingu on papa's computer this evening. Hooked up to the larger monitor they were transfixed.

:::

 

I am pleased I didn't let the storm clouds roll in and ruin my day. Otherwise I could have missed out on these precious moments. 

And that would have been really dumb.

Gems of the Week

Precious, Priceless, Pockets of Happiness during my week.

"Mamma you look like a princess!"
Such were the words of Luca TJ today when I wore this skirt. Bless his dear little heart. I don't think anyone has ever told me I look like a princess before.
And a pregnant princess at that - SCANDAL!
  

 
Playing 'Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf'
I don't know how it came about but Luca often asks to play through the scene of the Big Bad Wolf dressed up in Grandmother's clothes when Little Red Riding Hood comes to visit.
Whoever is playing 'Grandmother' sits on the bottom bunk bed with some form of fabric draped over their head to look like Grandmother's sleeping bonnet and then Little Red Riding Hood comes knocking at the door.... and so the story unfolds which ends in "All the better to EAT YOU WITH my dear!" and then screaming, chasing and pretend eating ensues.
Beni joins in by standing in the room watching and listening to the dialogue and then joins in with the screaming and chasing at the end.
They are cute little guys.

Yogurt face...
The only part I love about this is when Papa is home to clean up the yogurt face for me.
But he's very cute and loooooves his yogurt {which he calls "Go Go"}.

A fresh smelling house...
I'm LOVING these little puppies - Honeysuckle & Jasmin scented oils. My overly-sensitive-due-to-pregnancy nose is loving the clean and fresh fragrance of our home.
AND the fact that our home is clean and fragrant due to the good ol' "Nesting" instincts which have kicked in over this past week. Detail cleaning has become my favourite pastime!

Brothers and Best Friends...
These two are loving each other's company and it makes my heart swell with happiness when I see them chuckling away together, reading books together, playing cars together {which is a major feat in itself as Luca is very precious about his cars...}. Luca was instructing Beni on colours today as they read.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies...
I have an addiction to making these at the moment. Can't get enough can't get enough no.
They are made using a classic Kiwi recipe which includes adding condensed milk and they turn out oh so tasty!
I use dark and white chocolate chopped into rough chunks. Goodness and Loving Kindness manifests itself in this cookie.

My Anthem song for this week {and probably many more to come}...
"God, I look to You" from the Bethel Church 'Be Lifted High' album, featuring Jenn Johnson.
The video is nothing to look at so just set the song playing through your stereo and soak it up.



Joining in with Paisley Jade's Things I'm Loving

Gems of the Week

Precious, Priceless, Pockets of Happiness during my week.

:::

It's all mostly about the children. They rock my world you see.

They keep me on my toes, exhaust me, frustrate me, make me laugh more than I have ever laughed before, make me cry, make me want to be a better person, wife and mamma.

Here's the precious, priceless, pockets of happiness that have occurred this week.

Luca learning very patiently to do his own buttons on his clothing...
The triumphant smile on his face once the task has been completed is priceless.

Big boy tools and little boy tools...
When papa needs to fix something {which is most days that something gets broken by little hands...} Luca is always quick to grab his box of plastic tools to 'help'. 

I just LOVE that these little guys LOVE to read...
Trips to the library to get new books are the highlight of their week. This has been encouraged by the fact that we don't have a TV nor a computer to entertain and occupy the boys with children's channel when I need to get things done or run out of ideas for keeping them busy and happy. I thought it would drive me mad when our home computer died and was in quite a panic about how I was going to cope...! Sad, I know.
Books have come to the forefront of our everyday life and I love it.

The fabulous view of the city we have...
This is taken from our bedroom window so is just a portion of the view we have of the great city of London.

Lunches on the balcony in the sunshine...
Before lunch is ready they have taken to sitting at the outside table reading books while waiting to eat.

See the way Beni crosses his feet? Both him and Luca used to do that in the womb so it is their 'comfy & happy' position. Makes me smile when I see it :)

 The Boxing Glove.

Mr. Cool with his sunglasses and carpet-burn nose...

Loving the fragrant spring flowers and sunshine...
Daffodils in all their canary yellow glory are everywhere and the cherry trees are in full bloom - the ground underneath them covered in a blanket of fallen blossoms, more floating down gently to the ground resembling snowflakes but without the zero degree temperatures.
Oh I LOVE Springtime!!

The little boy who loves to cook...
He is helping papa make Boston Bun (you know, the one with mashed potato in it?).
His latest favourite book to read is "The Cook's Book" which is a massive 648 page recipe book. He flicks through it, finds a recipe with a photo that looks yummy and declares "Let's MAKE IT!"

Oh I'm LOVING getting stuck into summer salads once again...
It's very satisfying to fill up on a large plate of tasty salady goodness, knowing that it's, well, good for you!

Getting the new baby's newborn clothes organised in the designated chest of drawers...
This may seem freakishly organised to you (I've still got 9 weeks to go!) but I was sorting out the boy's summer clothes and putting into storage their winter clothes and decided to do the new bubba's clothes at the same time. Seeing as we don't know the sex of the baby I obviously only got out the gender-neutral ones and put the baby-boy-blue items aside...for now...?

Linking up with Paisley Jade's Things I'm Loving