Thrifty Thursday

Squeezing in my last thrifty post for the year :)  These are just a few goodies I have found over the last month when I've had the chance to pop into the shops.

Dinosaur cake mould 50c, 2 pack light / cable caddy 20c and elf 20c (this was in a bag of ugly Xmas decorations / baubles that I donated straight back)

Nautical cushion - Sheridan brand $5.  A little expensive for me, but it was perfect for Clay's room :)

Large quiche dish (to replace my gorgeous yellow quiche dish that broke recently) $5

Thongs $4.  It's unusual to find larger size shoes at op shops and these ones were in excellent condition, plus they fit - so I snapped them up :)

Visitors

It's been like a mini school reunion here recently :)  Becca and another school friend Kristy (plus kids) have been visiting for a few days!   Bec, Connor & Bella arrived Sunday and we spent a few days together - girls Christmas party, visit to the park, painting / DIY puff paint, swiimming in the pool, playing with Clay, shopping, catching up, etc.  Then Kristy & Boo arrived - more catching up, a few drinks, a game of trivia and lots of photos :)  It was a wonderful few days and I can't wait to all catch up again!

Annual Christmas Party

We had our annual Girls family Christmas party last night - Becca and the kids are visiting so they joined us too :)  Drinks and nibblies by the pool - lots of catching up with how everyone's Christmas and Boxing Day went.  The rain didn't deter the kids - they all went swimming.  Then a delicious meal and into the lounge room for presents - Clay knew what to do with his presents ;)

New Shade Sail

We were so excited to get our new shade sail installed just before Christmas!  The large concrete slab in front of my scraproom was unused due to being so hot.  Since the sail has been installed - we use it daily for Clay to have a nice, cool shaded area to play under.  We are looking forward to doing more entertaining now we have a lovely space to do so :)

Clay's First Christmas

What an exciting, amazing, fun filled, busy day!!  We were up at 5.30am for Clay's first bottle, then all snuggled up on our bed so Clay could look at all the goodies Santa left in his Santa Sack ;)  

Then out to the lounge room so we could all unwrap our gifts to each other.

Gifts were packed in the car and we headed off to Ma Ma's to unwrap more gifts and to have delicious BBQ breakfast.  Kate, James and the boys were home for Christmas - so there were 3 excited little boys ripping open gifts :) 

After an enjoyable morning, we headed over to Nan's for lunch and more gifts :)  By this visit Clay was a professional at opening presents LOL  We had a delicious traditional roast lunch with all the trimmings - Clay's first taste of turkey (loved it).

After lunch it was back home for a rest / nap, before heading back out to Mum's for a casual dinner -  a perfect way to end a wonderful day!  We put an exhausted little boy to bed early that night :)

Elf on a Shelf Day 19-24

The last adventures of Peppermint before he goes back to the North Pole :)

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Professional Photo

The same day we did Clay's Santa photo there was a children's photographer in the shopping centre.  They were offering a free photo session and 5x7 print, so we thought "Why not?!? He's dressed up nicely!" LOL  This cute photo was the free one they selected for us - we got it printed and framed for the grandparents for Christmas.   As cute as the other photos were I just couldn't justify the expense, so we didn't buy any.  We will be hiring a local photographer to take photos for Clay's 1st birthday and will get some outdoor / natural photos.

Chris' Visit

I haven't seen my friend Chris for years - with his transfer to Perth and then overseas deployment and my pregnancy / baby, we just couldn't co-ordinate a visit.  I was so excited when Chris called to say he was finished his deployment, was back in Australia and was visiting family in Rockhampton for Christmas before he transferred to his next post and wanted to come and visit us!!  He could only catch a train down and back the same day, so we only got a few hours together, but it was so lovely for him to meet Clay and for us to catch up :D  Unfortunately Craig had to work, so he couldn't join us.  After we met Chris at the train station, we had lunch at one of my fave taverns.  Clay absolutely adored Chris and it was pretty mutual from Chris too LOL  After a delicious lunch we walked down to the shopping centre - we wandered around chatting before Chris grabbed some snacks and headed back to the train station.  The visit was too short, but I'm so happy we got to spend those few hours catching up and that he got to meet Clay :)

Christmas Decorations

This year's tree - same pink, purple and silver colour combo.

I know I have plenty of decorations, but I couldn't resist adding a few more cute / trendy decorations to my collection :)

Loving the shaped marquee lights!

How cute is this advent calendar?!?!

Can't say no to a metal decoration ;)

I found a sweet Santa's Workshop decoration last year - it lights up and moves.  I mentioned to Craig that I would love to add a new decoration every year to make a mini village scene and he brought me this :)

Another cute set of Babushka dolls to add to my collection!

This wooden box is so cute and will be perfect to store Clay's Christmas story books in every year :)

This tree is from Kylie's baby shower - I knew it would be a cute Christmas table centrepiece /decoration!