Packing and leaving Sydney

Last night we stayed up late. Last minute packing, organising suitcases and cleaning kept us going. I had spent the day buying little gifts for the kids and wrapped and labelled them. A little like Christmas! Then I stuck them in the kids bags. I'm sure the airport screening of bags will mean I have some explaining to do. Each gift is labelled with a number and an LA time. I hope the little packages help keep us going over the 14 hour flight! Or at least act as a circuit breaker along the way.

A Lego Mat

I've kept hold of a box of Lego that has been hanging around our house for years. It usually comes out when we have visitors and each time I take it out I'm reminded how difficult it is to pack it away, how much it hurts when you step on a stray piece of Lego and how the box that it's in is just not doing the trick. The Lego only just fit in the box and because the box has handy handles, bits of Lego would inevitably escape through those handy handle holes.

Last week I was given a couple of dinosaur doona covers for a single bed. Hamish is a long way off using a bed and it was a lot of free fabric. I decided that I would cut up one to make into a Lego mat. It looks great! The Lego is now nice and tidy, hanging from a hook on the top of our bookcase.

I've done a step by step photo tutorial below. Pretty much I folded the fabric in half, quarters and then eighths and then cut it in an arc. I hemmed it and measured the circumference of the circle and then bought 5.5m of blue cord and a toggle. I used a safety pin to thread the cord through the hem. Attached the toggle and then tied the cord afterwards. Tipped the Lego into the middle of the mat and then pulled on the cord to tighten the bag around the Lego. Hung the bag up. Simple!

Getting ready for the new year

Christmas has come and gone...
The older two spent Christmas with their father for the entire day for the first time in about 10 years!! Usually we would share Christmas day. Either we would get Christmas Eve and Christmas morning or the rest of Christmas day and then Boxing day. It has worked for us for a long time. It was a way for us to both enjoy Christmas time with the children without either of us feeling like we were missing out.

Their dad had asked me about a month before Christmas if it was okay to do alternate Christmases with the children. I hadn't thought of it until he asked, but I thought it was a good idea. We both have little children and the travelling on Christmas day was getting trickier for both of us. This is the first year that the older children don't believe in Santa anymore. A very sad state of affairs!!

So I decided that we'd have a Christmas Eve brunch. I emailed Santa so that he would bring Sammy and Josh's presents on the morning of Christmas Eve. It was so nice to have them open presents in front of us. Santa even brought a present for Dave and us and even for Isabella and Hamish. Isabella was most impressed!!

We had about 20 adults and about 18 children from 10am until about 6pm when the last of our guests left. I used a website called 'Perfect Potluck' to organise what everyone brought. It was easy to use and you could even send it through Facebook. Easy!!

It was a wonderful day, but it meant that we were all very tired on Christmas day. I'm looking forward to next Christmas when the kids will be with us for the entire day.

I've finally put together my calendar for 2012. I have used the same calendar for the last four years and absolutely love it! You can get it here at the Flylady website. The Flylady is a women that helps organise your life. I felt very lost after I had Isabella, stopped work and moved to the country and I needed some help to get me out of my funk. I liked the way that the Flylady sent emails to me giving me a routine to my day and week. I knew no-one and other than looking after a baby felt like I had no purpose. She was helpful in getting me to establish routines that helped with everything from cleaning to cooking and even teaching, coping with holidays and looking after yourself through exercise. Although I don't feel like I need the site so much anymore, I've really taken on board many ways to simplify my life with routines.

I've got all birthdays and anniversaries put into the calendar, I've made a family fun day alternating Saturdays and Sundays each month, date nights for Dave and I fortnightly throughout the year, all the weeks and terms for the year, public holidays and school holidays and a cleaning roster. I've also given each person in the family a colour on the calendar and also a colour for general stuff and then family stuff.
Dave - dark blue
Me - orange
Josh - light blue
Sammy - red
Isabella - pink
Hamish - green
All of our family - purple
General - grey

I've got a gorgeous set of Kikki K coloured felt tip pens which I love and are perfect for this job.

I'm hoping that this year I'll be even more organised than last year. I'm going to stick labels on everything!!