Before finishing school the boys had their end of term disco which was a dress up night. They could go as either a Surfer or a Biker. In our house we had one of each, with Preston dressing as our surfer and Addison our biker. I think they looked fab, with their cool hairstyles to match. Some how we manged to give Addison a mow-hawk (or at least an attempt at one).

Preston is settling in very well at school and doing extremely well with all his reading. Reading like a little champ!! I got to visit his classroom and see all his work and progress for the term. I think this year is going to be amazing for him.

I tried my hand at sewing some bags this month using free patterns from Swoon. I made my first ever bag as a 80th birthday gift for my Nana. I also used some left over Dr Suess fabric from other projects to try making myself a bag. This one was more structured, using some foam interfacing for the sides and base. I really love how both of them turned out. It was really interesting to sew something that wasn’t clothing. I also made some adjustments to my Harry Potter dress, by adding straps, and the fit is much better now! I did another type of sewing this month. Something extremely special and rewarding. I was part of a large group of ladies from my church who did some sewing of reusable and sustainable maternity sanitary pads for the women of Vanuatu. It was wonderful that I could use my hobby in this way to help so many women.

Charles and I finally got to go to Aladdin, which we treated ourselves to for our anniversary (in May). We booked it for the final show at QPAC. It was really spectacular and Charles thinks it is the best one he’s been too. They did have a technical difficulty with their magic carpet but the show was still wonderful and I absolutely loved the Genie. I wore my 1950s dress that I made, and it fitted perfectly. I felt very glamours in it. I dressed up in another way this month too, this time for the school playgroup superhero day. I was their Wonder Woman! I did however try to cover up the best I could, in somewhat of a disguise with my black trench and sunglasses, sneaking the boys into school and of course it just happened to be the morning they had assembly! At least all the playgroup kids loved it, and I gave all the other school kids, parents and teachers a bit of a kick for their morning. It’s not every day you see Wonder Woman at school!

When I first found out about this dress up I was super excited. I did what I always do and went straight to Pinterest. I found a whole bunch of ideas for different costumes that fit the theme. It’s actually a little tricky trying to find good ideas for boys, particularly original ideas so you won’t have 10 other kids dressed as the same thing. I saved a bunch of pins for Addison to look at, and let him pick from the ideas and suggestions I’d selected. I was over the moon when he picked Flynn Rider, the male main character in Rapunzel (or for our Disney fans.. Tangled). Tangled is one of my favourite Disney movies so I love that he wanted me to make this costume.

Now that we had that out the way, it was time for more pinterest. I had to gather all the different images and ideas of what I would need. Obviously this wasn’t going to have an available pattern, so I had to do what I do best and make my own from images. Now honestly, I really don’t know how I managed it, I basically was winging it for the entire time.

For Addison’s complete costume he needed a teal colour vest with an awful lot of pleating and little cuffs at the shoulder seams, with buckles and studs (I ended up drawing up a pattern to make this and really just worked out what I needed to do using photos of the vest). He needed tan pants which thankfully we already owned. A long sleeve white button up shirt (which for some reason we don’t have already in his wardrobe! This wasn’t all that tricky though, as I could get a pattern for this. It was still a learning curve having never made one before). Boot Covers which I luckily found a free pattern online from a pirate costume someone had made, I just made the adjustments needed to suit the Flynn Rider style. And he needed some props, a ratty leather bag with patches and stitching (I was able to make a satchel rather easy from some faux leather), some wanted posters (I found the images I needed online and was able to print this out on brown paper for that weathered look), a mini fry pan (after all, who knew!?!) and a brown belt to complete the look (for some reason we only have black in this house, so this was a huge hunt to find a cheap brown one!). We even put a tiara in the bag, after all he wouldn’t make much of a thief without the famous tiara.

He was the only Flynn Rider in his class which I think was even better. He loved his costume and so did I. Very proud of how this one turned out!

We had Grandparents day, and Addison was lucky enough to have all 4 of his grandparents visit his school. They had a lovely morning tea and watched him perform on stage. They visited his classroom and received some art he had made.

Speaking of art, I’ve been testing out some watercolours I bought and experimenting for the first time using them. I’ve never tried water colours before but have been very interested, seeing many beautiful pictures on Pinterest.

Addison and I went to his friend Leo’s birthday party where we got to hold snakes and crocodiles, we had a great time! He was so brave too.

We had school holidays as well and got to have some play at the park and do some baking.

Today we are making a lady bug with painted Styrofoam balls.

Like a lot of the things I make for the boys, I also made the pattern myself (and if I ever get time, I will share it with you all). I got the inspiration from another company that makes and sells them, but wanted it to be made by me, so gave it a go I’m over the moon with the results.