Mid-September to Mid-October

I actually sat down to write this post about... ahem... an hour ago... but I got side-tracked on Pinterest. Man, that site is so cool, and has so many fantastic ideas and photos... but if I go there, it's never just a quick visit. I keep having to save amazing ideas for playroom/household organisation, gift ideas, home remedies, frugal recipes, home decor, sewing patterns, kids party ideas, art/craft, Christmas decorating.... you name it!

Anyhow, I haven't posted for a while, but we've just been doing life really. Anthea is 13.5 months, and has just this week started doing a wonky kind of crawl/drag thing - one foot, one knee. It looks really awkward, but she can move around a little more now. Her favourite thing to do is take her shoes and socks off. She also does this fake coughing thing, with her hand over her mouth, which is really cute. Except when it goes on and on when we're doing the groceries, and every person we pass in the trolley gets a demo...

We bought a little kids table and chairs set off eBay for our "lounge room", for when Annie starts needing to have somewhere to draw and colour in and stuff like that. Also, since we don't have room for a dining table (and so Alastair and I just sit on the couch), we can use it for meal times with kids, and still teach table manners and stuff - if we are on the couch, we can have one side of the table, and two chairs fit on the other side. It works in theory. :)

What else since my last post? We've been to two 30th birthday parties (one of which included a trip to Cooma to see dear friends we haven't seen for ages), I've been on two 12-hour shopping trips to Sydney (!) (just for fun, but Christmas shopping 98% done!) (one was a girls day out with Mum and Meaghan, and the other was a fundraiser that a friend's pre-school was doing), Annie's enjoyed seeing more of Aunty Meaghan in the school holidays, and I've done some organising and spring cleaning around the house here. Now photos:

Anthea's birthday morning, still sleepy.

Yum, cake time!

Just chillin' in the pram at the Spring Festival   * * *   Chatting with Grandpa

 All dressed up for Aunty Carly's circus-themed 30th birthday party!

Practicing with the elephant ears headband before the party

School holidays with Aunty Meaghan - Annie loves getting into bed and watching TV in the mornings

 Left: Our little potty-sitter, complete with upside-down dummy! 

Right: Watching Play-School whilst on the potty - good job it has back and arm rests!