Birthday !

J comes home from the US today woohoo !! - so we are celebrating his birthday very soon. 

All hands on deck this morning - Oliver and I made a cake and wrapped pressies. 

The little climber

Went to the mall for the last bits and bobs for Jonathan and to get out of the house.

Shopping with Oliver is not relaxing so today I decided to be quick and then let him play. I had planned everything in detail, in shop x , then shop y then to the play ground. I had a coffee and the 'm onkey' played lots. Then home for a sleep!

Nana is coming for dinner tonight so whilst he is sleeping I thought I'd prepare and clear up...
Excited, have not seen her for ages...

Slowly but surely ....

It's getting there....

Productive evening

I'm not sure how is survived without a sewing machine ! 

My beautiful green one ( After grandma!) is in Sweden and it took me until 2 years ago to get one. Sometimes I wish I had the green one here. Good make lasts forever. However it's metal and weighs a ton! 

This one is NOT in any way shape or form a good make. But does the job.... 

Happy birthday !

My wonderful J ! It's his birthday today and he's in the US - we miss him terribly!

Happy Birthday hun, when you get home we will spoil you all day and celebrate all over again!

xxx

Lemon tree

My lemon tree is doing well ! So excited about it, it's only 6 months old and growing rapidly.... 

Birthday party

Birthday party for Arden (the neighbors son) at Manly Dam. Oliver loved being by the water and played lots at the playground with the other kids, even though, frankly , I think the highlight of his day was feeding the birds.... 

Forget speaking to the other guests or getting to know anyone, it was all about not getting Oliver to throw himself in the water or getting bitten by any swans. Swans are evil. Ok that is not necessarily true... I have a fear of swans! But you get the picture. Water - toddler - swan. En Garde!

Lovely day with lots of playing!

Very cute

Love the seasonal shopping bags from Woolies ! 

The artist

My son is an artist ! 

Lots of fun with finger paint this morning ! 

Note Frida on last picture - with her toy as always eager to play .... 

Friday night BBQ

Friday night BBQ at the house....

Frangipani

My frangipani is in bloom. Dead ( or near death ) when we moved in , now growing and blooming.  Maybe I have a green thumb after all.... 

Banana bread

Made banana bread with Oliver this morning. He loves it! So much fun stirring and pouring.  

Now to be honest , nothing you make with a toddler will be perfectly measured. Lots of sugar on the floor I later found out as my feet stuck when I cleared up. Heston Blumenthal would for sure have a kaniption! 

However I'm sure this one will taste fabulous and we shall have a taste this arvo. A Fika - as the swedes would call it! 

Flowers still going strong

Murky day - 19 degrees and rain... Not used to that, has been so warm lately...

Not much to report, a 'running errands' day with Oliver. He is not to be trusted and runs around like a mad person. My biggest fear is that I lose him at some point! Touch wood, not yet...

The flowers I got from J are still going strong. Looks great and smells lovely in my Kitchen!

The Old Civic

Found a 'new' cafe in our Shopping Centre... It is 'on the other side ' of my usual route so I have never seen it. Love Campos Coffee and I have to say the whole place looks great too. We must have breakkie here soon.....

IKEA and lost - as usual

I went to IKEA today... it is getting close to Christmas and one must stock up on very important things before the 24 December - such as FOOD and candles... etc. We are now stocked up on ginger bread, hard bread (knacke), sill and lots of other things... can't wait! i also managed to get some very cute Christmas decorations. Oh and it is 1st of advent on Sunday so I got 4 candles, one for each Sunday. All Swedes do this, the rest of you, start doing it, it's lovely!

I very often get lost in car parks. Yes, i know for someone like me, I consider myself a very organized person, this is disturbing. It happens with regularity and it is very annoying and time consuming...
Anyway, today I took a photo of where I parked, so that I REALLY WOULD FIND MY WAY BACK...

After a few hours in IKEA (yes I was on my own, J would have shot himself if I made him shop for hours in IKEA) I was tired , hungry and wanted to get home asap.  I look at my phone and I am in the right place. Was my car there - no... Oh I am so useless at this, took a different elevator down and all of a sudden I couild not find the car! After 10 min - I actually had to go to the other elevator and then walk to the car - I found it!

For all you freezing in Europe, note my thongs (flip flops) in one of the photos below! Summer is here...

Weird sleeping position....

Sunday

The day did not start too well...
Jonathan has a very bad back... It has been going on for a week or so but today it was just excruciating even walking around.... or shall I say hobble around.
We went to get him a massage and to his surprise he felt very much better afterwards...
he is going to go to the physio several times this week, but he is also traveling abroad twice (!) this week so i am worried about him...  Hopefully he gets help... ! Below he is doing some 'yoga' before we are heading out for the massage...

After the massage we all went for coffee at Providore. Oh oh such lovely things they sell, quite frankly there is nothing in there that i don't like... yuuum!  

Breakkie

It's 38 degrees today so we had breakfast outside early before the big heat.

Bacon and eggs today. Oliver is very fond of bacon ! 

Dinner

Lovely dinner with Luke and Chloe last night! 

Beautiful man

My wonderful man brought me flowers today. ' for working a lot and seeing me so little ' 

Oh he is very romantic and he knows I Loooove lillies! Xxxx lucky me! Xx

Cooking and guests

Cooked my heart out today. Then to Bunnings the hardware shop with the wild one. Oliver that is. 

Luke and Chloe about to walk in - all prepared with time to spare yeah haaaa ! 

38 degrees today!

38 degrees - it's a scorcher... 

When you go outside it's like an oven, or like blowing a hair dryer straight into your face. No work in the garden today ! 

The only way is to close ALL windows and doors and stay downstairs. When I lay my hand on the windows (even in the shade) they are actually hot to touch. So windows stay closed a bit longer and we will have a snooze and wait for it to cool down ! 

Later in the afternoon there will be a breeze ( every day there is one! ) and that's when I open all thd windows and get some air through the house. Can't wait! 

Tonight a quick catch up with Clair , then dinner with J who is back from the conference.  

Sweating on walk at 8 am ; 

Frida in front of the fan...

Rose geranium

Potted my Rose Geranium today. 

I stole a tiny piece of one big plant as I walked by one of the houses in the neighbourhood. A few weeks later ( in water of course!) it had roots and voila in my pot. 

I love rose geranium, it reminds me of Sweden and growing up. Everywhere I live I sooner or later get one. It's a must for me....