Buddy, totally original right? But S loves Will Ferrell and the movie Elf so my suggestion of Twinkle got overridden pretty quickly.

We introduced Buddy last year when E was just 2 and lets just say, it was a good idea to start while he was young and not really all over it because it taught us we'd better lift our game for this year and make sure we're on the ball... panicked Elf placement while the other distracts the children is not going to cut it this year.

With this in mind, I've decided to get prepared, did some research and have come up with a list of placements and gimmicks for our Elf along with a purpose.

We love Christmas, like really really love Christmas - our tree has been up since the 8th of November! But the things we love most are the cheer, the giving and the spirit of the season more so than the presents and its really important to S and I that we teach the boys about this.
We want our boys to have a strong social conscience and be aware that while they are very blessed to be spoilt by those around them and want for nothing, others aren't so lucky and its important for them to do what they can to help others, especially at Christmastime.

We have a wooden Advent calendar of little boxes and a hanging fabric one so my plan this year is have Buddy make a big arrival and with him he'll bring a list of tasks for the boys to complete each day of December.
Once they complete Buddy's task, they can check the stocking and see if he's left a treat - a sticker, matchbox car, chocolate elf etc.


The tasks we have this year are:

1. Choose a Christmas book to give to the Wishing Tree
2. Bake and deliver treats to the local Police Station to thank them for looking after us
3. Leave a thank you card and gift to the garbage man for collecting our rubbish each week and always smiling and waving
4. Choose a gift for a little boy and for a daddy to leave at the Kmart Wishing Tree
5. Christmas cards for kindy friends
6. Bake and deliver treats to the local Ambulance station to thank them for looking after us
7. Choose 5 toys and books to donate to charity 
8. Choose and give gifts and thank you cards to kindy teachers for educating us
9. Visit Santa and have a family photo taken
10. Attend Christmas Carols with family
11. Make a donation of food/blankets & toys to the local RSPCA
12. Make & decorate a gingerbread house
13. Write a letter to Santa
14. Go to the park and pick up any rubbish to help keep our environment clean
15. Light candles and talk about great grandparents
16. Choose and take some non perishable food items to a local Christmas food drive
17. Make a list of 3 kind things to do for others before Christmas Day
18. Say good morning to everyone we see and wish them well
19. Visit local Christmas light displays
20. Leave a candy cane on 5 cars at the shopping centre
21. Give swimming coach a thank you letter and small gift
22. Take a cold drink to someone working in the hot sun
23. Donate some money box money to a charity at the shops
24. Buy a bunch of flowers and give them out to make people smile

And for Buddy's morning arrivals from the North Pole so far we have:

1. Decorate the boys' rooms with tinsel, swinging from the end of one piece in Cs room
2. Riding in Mack Truck with snowman drink cups for the boys (from Kmart - $3 each)
3. Sleepover with the Ninja Turtles in Es socks
4. Swinging from the Christmas decorations
5. Popping out of the Christmas stocking that hangs on Es bedroom door - spoilt first child has 2 stockings
6. In the fridge drinking from the boys' milk
7. Riding a reindeer (decoration) on the shelf
8. In the Christmas lolly jar
9. Being eaten by a toy shark
10. Riding the boys' toy train with the animals
11. Camping out in the mini teepee with the Dino Train crew
12. Taking selfies with the Toy Story camera & Toy Story crew
13. Making a snow angel with 100s & 1000s
14. Reading a book in Cs reading corner
15. Colouring in a colour book with crayons
16. Flying with Toothless the dragon
17. Tea party/picnic with Olaf
18. With a rolled up Christmas scavenger hunt for E

and I have to come up with a few more in the coming days. Any ideas or suggestions?

Some might think I'm exaggerating when I call E the world's most spoilt toddler but I'm really not joking. This is his playroom ... And doesn't include the toys in his bedroom and the outdoor gear he has (balls, bikes, scooter, Cozy Coupe truck, sandpit, Tonka trucks, trampoline etc):


Those boxes are jam-packed with Little People sets, talking dinosaurs and giant rubber animals, cars - both wooden and die cast, crafts, puzzles and anything else you've ever seen in the boys toy section at your local store. There is also a home corner to the right beside where I took the pic from with Little Tikes BBQ, food etc and dress up boxes.

There are a handful of toys that can be packed away as they are older baby aged but there is not a lot of point given Charlie will be into them in no time and we have two of the cubes dedicated to just Lamaze pram toys and rattles. And bright side, we don't have to re-buy any age appropriate toys for our littlest guy.

Cube storage is a godsend for playrooms and helps keep it all grouped in some semblance of order and packed away neatly... its also fun for toddlers to pull out every cube and dump the contents then exclaim 'A MESS, EINY MADE A MESS' with an oh so proud smile.

As much as I love to have a clean tidy home, I find toys strewn everywhere and all over my house doesn't bother me as much as I would have expected. I think I accept that this is my life for at least the next 5-10 years with young children and I'm happy to see the gifts he is given bring E so much joy. I'd hate to pack to pack things away from him and forget about them when they were chosen with such thought and care.

Our prerequisite with future house hunting is a dedicated children's space or family room for the boys and their toys. Somewhere located centrally in the house to the kitchen that they can play in together and when they have friends over with loose supervision. I have pinned a million playrooms on Pinterest and have some fabulous ideas I can't wait to put in place but for now, this space is fun, keeps E busy and I can close the door on it if I don't feel like facing it at the end of the day.

Little early to be posting about Christmas you say? Not really given it's less than 22 weeks away until Christmas Eve and the toy sales are already well underway if not almost over. If you're a long time reader here, you also know that I'm big on lists and organisations so I like to get a jump on Christmas and add slowly over a few months than suffer the mad last minute scramble.

I haven't done a wish list in a while (which could have a lot to do with getting most of what I wanted for Christmas) so here are a few things I have been wishing for... given my birthday is 8 months away and I was more than a little spoilt at Christmas, I don't like my chances of being gifted anything in the near future but a girl can live in hope right? Oh, and Valentines Day is coming up in a few weeks... we shall see.

It was my birthday this week... another year passed already. Where do the years go?

As usual, S bought me the perfect gifts without a huge amount of guidance on my part. My wishlist was relatively vague including a new watch and a black leather bag. He surpassed all expectations with a beautiful Michael Kors rose gold watch and the Oroton Alpine Hobo. Both entirely practical and gorgeous. He also surprised me with a drinks urn he knew I had been mulling over to buy for awhile. He picked the perfect style and I can't wait to fill it with water, ice and fruit slices for hot Summer days and entertaining.






I had the pleasure of starting my day with my two boys and Ethan loved getting in on the gift giving and unwrapping. There was something so perfect about having him come running into the bedroom shouting 'mumma mumma mumma' with glee, arms outstretched with my birthday card. It reminded me how truly blessed I am.

Rather than head straight to the office, I attended a morning tea meeting with the Moncrieff women of the LNP at Evergreen where we had coffee and cake while discussing the latest news... a pretty fun way to start work really. When I finally did make it to the office, my very thoughtful boss and assistant had beautiful flowers and assortment of tarts and muffins to acknowledge my birthday and I got to leave a little early too and spend the afternoon with my boys before we headed out for Mexican with my family.

It was a wonderful birthday and I had a lovely day but like I said earlier, where do the years go? In some ways it feels like I was only celebrating my 23rd birthday a couple of years ago, not almost 10 and it reminds me, the days are long but the years are short so make the most of each minute.

With this in mind, I have a few things I want to do before my next birthday:

1. Be thankful - everyday write a list of 10 things in my life I am thankful for and take the time to reflect on those.
2. Take a family holiday - we have two booked already so this one is easy
3. Host a Halloween themed celebration - this is in the works so stay tuned
4. Spend the day at a spa with my mum and sister
5. Have a proper date night every fortnight with Scott 
6. Broaden my cooking horizons by trying one new recipe each week - I used to be good at this but have stuck to what I know the past year
7. Make time to exercise and make healthier food choices
8. Keep striving to be the best wife and mumma possible
9. Go to bed earlier
10. Have baby #2 God willing
11. Challenge myself ... with a new hobby or interest, study ... I'm not quite sure how what or where, this is something to work on
12. Declutter my life in ever area and surround myself with only that which I need or makes me happy