It has been a while, yes I know but we have traveled from our little home in Dunedin to the other side of the world to Scotland. The kids did amazing on the trip and I'll be doing a lengthy post when we get back all about the highs and lows of travelling with kiddies long haul! But right now it's someones birthday!
Our little miss Button turned 2 and what better way to celebrate the big day in Scotland than with a Brave themed party compete with a mini highland games. Brave  is a favourite in our house, mostly as it's nice to hear a Scottish accent now and again when we are back in New Zealand. So we got our thinking caps on, grabbed some cardboard boxes and set to it. 

Trying to find something tartan for little miss in such a small size (she may be two but she still wear 9-12 months) was near impossible. Well this cute wee skirt was the best we could find unfortunately it only stayed on for this picture and she enjoyed the day in just her top. 

A brave party wouldn't be complete without a few Brave quotes and this cute wee doll below was from the Disney store, it has Buttons quizzical look down to a t. 

While all this was going on our Birthday girl was fast asleep, I thought she might actually sleep through it, well she awoke but the party started like this. See perfectly captured picture below.

A few Brave themed treats and she was set, Granny had a perfect pot for the cauldron and those target cookies were a pain to decorate but came out great. 

The cake, well the cake was a last minute decoration job, I just didn't get inspired with what to create but thanks to granny's perfect chocolate cake and aunties decorating skills (she cut out a stencil and sprayed on gold food colouring) the cake was success and tasted extremely yummy! 

Now it was time for the mini highland games, we had a caber toss (a piece of foam wrapped in brown paper), a haggis toss (a box for the target and the haggis were just oats sewn in to an old pair of tights) the oats did make quite a mess though when thrown but it was such a fun game. 

Last but not least in our games was the archery tournament. Buddy obviously wasn't shooting for the hand of the birthday girl but for a bag of sweeties and a medal. 

Towards the end of the day though a bit of cheating was going on. 

 Even the grown ups enjoyed the Brave printables. 

And finally after the games were finished the kids ran off to cast some spells in the Crafty Carver, compete with it's own wee bear. 

It was such a lovely day and everyone seemed to have a great time, now we are off to watch Brave again cause soon my little Button will be grown and telling me she wants to let her hair flow in the wind as she rides through the glen firing arrows in to the sunset.

Happy Face!

Jurassic Park : The Lost World of Cardboard

As you well know we love a good rummage around the recycling to do a little UPcycling as often as we can. Buddy & Button love cardboard boxes, what kid doesn't and Mum is a big fan of making those boxes in to something a little bit special. 

This was a good haul today and some had already been painted, I don't remember doing that? So what to do? After a wee think, I remember going out with Buddy and he found some toy dinosaurs well you can guess what happens next.

I cut up three cereal boxes, added a few pieces of cardboard for fenced off areas and two plastic containers for an entrance.

Paint, paint, paint. Get the paint out and let them go wild(ish).

I painted the fiddly bits, the borders and the entrance.

Finally a little decoration. I hand drew this, quite proud of myself actually. Go me!

Add in the little dinosaurs.

A plane and a truck is a must.

Buddy taking one of his dinosaurs for a tour around the park. It was so much fun to make and Buddy is loving his new home for his dinosaurs. Button was less than impressed, I may need to make a zoo for her.  

Happy Face!

Back with a Button Photo Shoot

With some much needed personal time I am back with those cuddly and very cute wee ones Buddy & Button. What have you missed, just a lot of planning! In 3 weeks we leave on our adventure to Scotland where Mum and Dad are finally getting married and Buddy & Button have a Scottish cousin to wait for. So we will be having a very busy 3 months and lots of travel and special moments to blog about. 

This is what happens when I try and get in a photo, why I stay behind the camera. Ha! It's a great photo of Buddy though. Speaking of which, he is away at his Nana's house today so I'm going behind the camera one again and taking photo's of our beautiful wee Button. 

That girl is just naturally photogenic, I have no idea who she gets it from, certainly not me. Buddy & Button are going to steal the show at our Wedding in November. Though I am very much looking forward to having a family photo. FINALLY!

Happy to be back, Happy Face!! 

It's been a while ..

Well it has been a while hasn't it but we are back. Thought not all of us are 100%, poor Buddy has the kiddie flu and is not a happy camper. Now mum has a clingy wee man to give plenty of cuddles too and a little miss who is set to wake up from her nap any minute. 

So it's time to go into crafty mum mode and set out some fun for Button that she can do on her own while I sit with Buddy all snuggled up.
A few favourites came out, ziplock painting, those good old motor skills activities are always a winner. We had some ribbons in a bottle, two tubs, a peg and some cotton balls and connect 4. Add some crayons, paper and envelopes and she should be a busy little Button. 

Oh and mum set out the Trunkie for a ride every so often so she didn't think I was ignoring her.

Great job mum, it worked and Buddy started to feel better suddenly with all these fun activities for him and Button to get stuck in to. 

Happy Face!

Catch Up : Papercuts, tantrums, a road trip and a wedding

After months of hard work making a lot of paper flowers for a friends wedding the day finally arrived. We had a wee drive to Cromwell but looking forward to the journey with Buddy & Button. 

I made flowers for Button's first birthday and now I got to do a whole bridal party. I love making them and hope I get to do it again.

 We had a few tired tantrums along the way but Buddy and Button had a great time and looked so cute.

Buddy was especially excited as his girlfriend Lily was beside him the whole night.

As most parents at a wedding we were busy, busy, busy (my heels got taken off too early), but they had so much fun.

We had some great family fun and in such a wonderful setting. 

Happy Face!