I did some further research on knight costumes and decided to combine ideas from all different costumes I had found. The hardest part was I didn’t want to spend a fortune on fabric, so I went on the hunt in my stash and the clearance fabrics at Spotlight. Turns out I still had plenty of left over fabric from making Addison’s Willy Wonka costume and thought purple was quite a regal colour for a night to wear. I got lucky with some other fabrics I found at Spotlight, in particular some unusual fabric that looked perfect for chain-mail.

I was able to draft a pattern for the costume myself and used a hoodie jumper pattern to make the hood from “chain-mail”. I lined the hood with soft felt I had in my stash. I made a sort of tunic, pull over and added chain-mail sleeves so it was all one piece. I found a lion image that i printed out and used as a template to make a crest for the front of the tunic. I found some more fabric in my stash, this time some crushed velvet and black satin. I have now decided after making the cape that these two fabrics are the work of the devil and I will never sew with them again!!! Horrible and slippery, extremely hard to work with and this cape certainly isn’t my finest work, but it looks ok, so that’s all that matters. I decided to use buttons and buttonholes as a form of attaching the cape to the tunic, that way after the parade is finished he can remove the cape and hood (which is one separate piece, that simply tucks into the tunic) and remain somewhat comfortable in the rest of the costume for the remainder of the day at school.

I made boot covers in a metallic looking fabric, using the same pattern I found for Addison’s Flynn Rider costume. He wore some plain black long pants with the boot covers over the top.

What “kings man” would be complete without his very own Humpty Dumpty to rescue! I bought a Styrofoam egg from Spotlight and decorated him, dressing him in clothes I made using felt. Stuffing the arms and legs with toy fill to make his body and of course a little hat with feather. Some googly eyes and drawn on face and cracks completed Preston’s Humpty Dumpty!

A great and versatile costume that could be used for many other Characters and dress up occasions. I hope you like this DIY Knight in Shining Armour costume, I think Preston looked fantastic.

I did some more sewing during May, which actually saw me sewing a dress that I wore to my very first Emmanuel Mother’s day Lunch. I have always had Jasper home with me and this year it just happened to fall on a kindy day, so I was able to attend. I made both the boys matching hoodie jumpers, which was another first, working with a stretch material and making them on my over-locker. They got to wear them when we attended the Junior School Musical, The Lion King. The Emmanuel students should be so very proud of their performance, it was so entertaining and absolutely perfect. The best experience for the kids first time watching a musical. I made my first bucket hat, this time for Jasper, using some dino fabric. I also sewed a vintage inspired dress from some beautiful fabric I was gifted. This dress is really stunning and I can’t wait to wear it when we go to see Aladdin at QPAC for our anniversary gift.

We continued with some house renovations this month, continuing working on the kitchen. After finishing the tiles in the Christmas break we wanted to make some more progress at changing the kitchen. We were able to update most of the doors and timber stair panels in our house to this amazing black. The difference is incredible. We just have a few more pieces to replace on the kitchen island, near the bin and the drawers.

Jasper has been enjoying his last year at playgroup, recently using the dress up box and wearing the most adorable lion costume. He sure looks cute in it, suits him to a T.

The boys had their school fun run, but not many photos to share there because there were too many other children in them. The video of Preston was so adorable though, and really quite funny. I’m not really sure if he knew where he was supposed to be running, as he was heading in the wrong direction. I’m surprised he managed to catch up a little after going the wrong way. Both the boys did well considering they are not really runners. They sure give it their all, and that’s the important thing. After all it is a “fun” run.

The first little bit of excitement that we were exposed to was the Baton Relay which was happening a matter of streets away, so close in fact that we walked to watch it. All of us watched as they passed and ran the baton for our area, all of us of course, except Jasper who fell asleep on the walk to the relay.

The school holidays were wisely planned around the Commonwealth Games, thankfully as the boy’s school is a mere stones throw away from the stadium and getting to school would have been next to impossible. Our school was also the home for the emergency services during the games! There was excitement all around us really with the buzz of it all.

While we spent some of our school holidays in Toowoomba with Gran and Grandad, I made sure that I took the boys down to see some of the activities that had been set up for the Commonwealth Games. There was a lot to see and do, particularly for the kids. They had shows on and craft, some of which we were able to take part in.

One of the first things we saw was a fish net wall where everyone could write a little note, anything they like and pin it up for others to read. I was extremely proud of Preston’s note, he wrote “I love God”. It was a hot day, so I treated the boys to ice blocks while we waited in line to walk through the Arboria; an interactive installation “Architects of Air” a luminarium, walk in sculpture of light and mazes. It’s hard to explain the experience, but the kids thought it was great, all the colours created by the light coming in, a different effect in each space and room. Pockets of air rushing in and an overall calming experience and space.

We walked around seeing the Borobi Mascot statues, went on the beach to chill out and play with our new volleyball, had some sushi for lunch and chilled out on the beanbags watching the games.

One of the most time consuming but very worthwhile activities we took part in was the sewing craft. The craft was to make a flag. Our flag was designed by us all, and I did the sewing. It’s got what we thought to be all the important things to include on a flag. We have the sky, the land and the sun. We have a fruit tree to represent paradise. We have hearts for love. The Cross and rainbow to represent Jesus and God. And our hands to join us all in unity. Ideas from all the boys and myself. We could have brought it home with us, however they did say we could leave it for display, so we decided to leave it there for others to see. I’m very proud of my little men and their flag design. What a great experience for the Comm Games 2018.

Where else to look for inspiration, but my favourite place…Pinterest of course! Oh the myriad of photos and ideas that can be found on good ol’ pinterest. I gathered all my ideas and came up with a couple ideas, mostly for props and the over all look I wanted to achieve. I decided to go for a natural look and I have a couple of places at home that I could achieve this. I just needed a decent spot with a nice backdrop. Well I set it all up on one of our outdoor spaces all to find that the sun was bothering the kids and they were all squinty. I was beyond frustrated but determined to not just toss the idea out all together, I put my thinking cap on again and decided to move everything to my front deck. There was enough timber around to give that natural look I was going for. I might have to do some editing but it would be ok.

I decided to do some with Christmas props and some without, so it would also be an updated photo of all the boys. I also got them all to jump in Christmas clothes right at the end and do some fun ones with our Christmas hats and sun glasses. Once we all calmed down after the initial freak out and location issue, the kids all had fun and especially enjoyed the milk and cookies.

Honestly, I’m over the moon with the results. I did actually take a lot more than what is in this post, but these are my favourites of them all. I think these photos will be cherished for years to come. Hopefully I can manage to update them again next Christmas!

It was an exciting end to 2017 with Preston having his last week at kindy and his Christmas concert and graduation. He’s off to big school next year!!! Where does the time go?!

In December we did some fun Christmas activities, some baking and craft, went to visit Santa (most of those photos were taken on my phone, so are not part of this post), Mummy finished a painting, we had Nanny and Mummy’s birthday on the 9th and of course had lots of fun Christmas Day with Nanny and Poppy.

I Can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store for us.

Let’s talk party ideas! from the start I knew that I wanted to do something extra special for the kids to take home from the party that was related to the theme and particularly because it was a small party with just a few friends. That’s when I came up with the idea to make all of the kids a jedi tunic! Because I sew I thought it wouldn’t be such a big deal and I knew that I could make them rather cheaply from Cotton Poplin for only a few dollars a metre. I also got lucky when shopping and found this brilliant studded ribbon that i could sew on to make the belt ties. The idea for the tunic was so it would be basic to make and pretty much be a one size fits all. The birthday boy and his big brother were dressing up in their Star Wars costumes so it only made sense that the rest of the kids had something to wear too. Plus while I was at it I thought I may as well make myself a Rey costume to wear and make Daddy a tunic too. The kids also were given bubble wands (light sabres, with may the force be with you tags), Star Wars masks, colouring in sheets and party blowers. Every child at the party was given “Jedi Knight Training Academy” certificates once they completed their Jedi Training (playing all the games at the party).

The party games were all themed around their jedi training and included – A Jedi Must Fight Well (Light Sabre Training – foam light sabres and a balance beam, if they step off the beam they lose), A Jedi Must Be Strong (Death Star Pinata – rather simple to make – you can buy perfectly round balloons for the over all shape and then you simply fill the hole you leave with a paper bowl to make the crater), A Jedi Must Be Precise (Storm Trooper Shooting Practice – shoot the storm trooper water bottles with nerf guns), A Jedi Must Have Focus (Storm Trooper Egg & Spoon Race), A Jedi Must Be Quick (Defuse the Thermal Detonator – popping balloons to find the winning balloon), A Jedi Must Play Fair (Death Star Pass the Parcel), A Jedi Must Be Agile (Musical Jedi Statues) and Jedi Wars! (Musical Cushions/Chairs – we did cushions due to space).

For the decorations we stuck with a very space look, plenty of black, white and silver. I was able to hang silver stars and had silver paper lantern planets. I was lucky that it is quite easy to find Star Wars themed table cloths, posters and banners. For the back drop of the party food table I used a plain black table cloth attached to the wall and printed out large letters in the Star Wars font to make Preston’s name, I love adding those personal touches to the decorations. We also had a light up letter P as a decoration on the table. We already owned quite a few star wars toys which made decorating the table very easy. We had lots of Star Wars Mr Potato Heads. We hung storm trooper balloons and black marbled balloons.

Keeping with the theme all of the food was Star Wars related, and probably one of the most fun parts for me. The cake was a light sabre which was extremely simple as i used sponge rolls for the cake and simply had to decorate them. I made Death Stars which were caramel cake balls dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with silver edible glitter. Wookie Cookies, which are basically chocolate flavoured gingerbread men decorated using a fork to make the furry look and chocolate and sprinkles to create his armour strap, eyes and mouth. Obi-Wan Kabab-ies, mini fruit kebabs with strawberries, grapes and watermelon – you could use any fruit you like. Thermal Detonators – Cheeto balls. C-3 PO Pcorn – yummy flavoured popcorn. And to finish of the food table decorations, personalised water bottles with my personal favourite, the back of the label saying “Luke I Am Your Water” and a place for the kids to write their name. On the table for the adults I served sushi, a dipping platter and spring roll Lightsabers.

In our home theatre we had one of the most recent star wars movies playing too for the adults or kids to have a chill out and watch. We also had a craft available for people to do while we waited for the guests to arrive.; there were Princess Leia Buns or Yoda Ear head bands to make. Over all it was a fun day for everyone involved and quite a simple party to throw considering this was only one week after Addison’s Mario Birthday Party. I tried to keep all the food super simple, buy would I could and make things in advance. The kids all enjoyed a pizza lunch and lots of yummy star wars food. If you would like to know anything about the party feel free to comment below.

As you know, I do love a good party. And better yet, one with a fun theme. Thankfully the Mario games have so many different characters and lots of bright colours, that it made planning the decorations, food and games ever so easy.

For the party food I did my best to stick with very easy to prepare (or store bought) themed food. The birthday cake was of course the centrepiece for the party table, and I kept the rest of the food rather simple (we had organised for pizza’s – Luigi’s Pizza’s to be exact, for lunch for the kids). We had “Fire Balls” which were Cheeto balls, “Ice Balls” which were popcorn, and a fruit & veg platter in the shape of a “Fire Power Flower”. We had “Piranha Plants” made using marshmallows on sticks, gold chocolate coins scattered all over the table, and bananas with eyes drawn on for “Mario Kart Bananas”. I designed personalised themed labels for the water bottles, just to add to the overall look of the table.

Decorations were all fairly simple, made out of paper to create a Mario world as a backdrop for the food. I used white balloons to make boos, hanging them throughout the house.

All the games were themed too, with Stomp the Goombah (goombah balloons), a gold coin treasure hunt, Yoshi egg and spoon races and a chain dog piñata that I made myself.

The cake was three massive tiers that I made at home. The bottom was a Mario level, the second was a question box piñata cake with gold chocolate coins on the inside and the top layer was a Mario tunnel with a Mario figurine popping out the top. I found 7 star shaped candles and a colourful number seven that all added to the theme.

The thankyou party favours (which took forever to cut out) were chocolate bars wrapped inside a Nintendo controller cardboard box wrapper, all personalised of course. We also had take home Yoshi Tongue party blowers and various Mario colouring in sheets.

Addison wore his brand new Luigi costume (unfortunately I couldn’t get Mario) and although he was actually unwell on the day of his party he still had a really fun time with his friends. And I’m pretty sure they all at a great time too!

We also celebrated Addison’s 7th birthday at the end of the month. Addison decided on a Mario theme for both his cake and party (I’ll do a seperate post for his party).

We also enjoyed the Kindy Halloween Party again this year. Addison and I had matching costumes, he wore his mummy made Gene Wilder inspired Willy Wonka Costume and I dressed as the “I want it girl” Verruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Charles was dressed as a Roman. Preston went as Venom and Jasper was our little skeleton. It’s always lots of fun with face painting, games for the kids, jumping castles, craft and their very own trick or treating.

What a party filled month!!

During the September holidays we also made a Toowoomba trip for the Carnival of Flowers and to visit Gran and Grandad. The flowers were beautiful as always. The little two were quite tired though, so after seeing the gardens as a family, Addison and I watched the parade on our own.

We also had our Toowoomba friends Deena and her daughters come for a visit to our house on the Gold Coast. They were staying at a little apartment opposite Surfers Paradise so we also had a play on the beach in the late afternoon. Gee was it windy, but all the kids had a fun time running around on the sand and playing together. We always cherish our time with the Jones family.

For Father’s Day we took Daddy to Paradise Country. The kids had a great time jumping in hay, rolling on the stacks and patting all the animals. It was a hot, but fun family day.