A 3 year old and her handbag

Yes. We are still alive. We are safe and well and loving Indonesian life thus far. But before I go into all of that, it would be amiss of me not to post about my littlest girl and the day she has literally been waiting for for months.

Her birthday. Or in her words; "ma birfday". Since about mid March she has been telling people almost everyday "it's ma birfday" which is usually followed by "oh happy birthday Lily". She beams everytime, even when I explain "it's not actually her birthday today", she just insists it is...

And now, somehow this day has finally arrived and the baby I held in my arms not so long ago is 3.

T.H.R.E.E.

Because my posting has been so sporadic over the last couple of years I sometimes wonder at the accuracy of the portrayal of my littles. Especially this little lady.

If you know Lily from the blog, she is cute (I'm her mother) sweet, and adored by her siblings. All true.

If you know Lily in real life you know that this girl gives me a run.for.my.money!! She is adored but she is tough (said with total love :) She was born with the freest of free spirits and while I want this girl to soar high, I also want to help her follow the 'rules'. Even just sometimes. We're still working on that one :)!!! 

So the morning of her 3rd birthday we all woke up with much excitement, because it was finally 'ma birfday'. My excitement was in watching Lily delight in her day of days, but I may or may not have also been celebrating the departure of the terrible 2's :)!! A mumma can dream right? :)! Her siblings showered her in love all.day.long and I think it's entirely accurate to say that she had the best day ever.

 
I even bought her a lollypop. All her dreams come true!

Sporting her new handbag that sat on her shoulder for a large portion of the day and her new dress from Grandma...

Happy Birthday 3 year old! We love you!!!!!!!!

A long time Ago...

A long time ago, back when I was just a young teenager living abroad attending Church College New Zealand, I heard the most incredible song. A song that stirred my soul to its very depths.

It was a song that sung of a Mother and her son. A son who was also the mothers King. Eventually it sings of the mother kneeling by the cross of that very king. 

So on this beautiful Easter Sunday, I share with you the most amazing song {click on the title below}. This is the original artist singing, and I won't lie, it's not quite the same as my Incredibly talented New Zealander friends version :) but it doesn't change the beauty or the significance of the words. 

A Long Time Ago

A long time ago, a mother lay by the side of a tiny King
The wisemen would come, the shepherds kneel,
And the angels in heav'n would sing:
Hosannah! Alleluia! For unto you this night,
A babe is born upon the earth to bring the world His light.

A long time ago, a perfect man walked the shores of Galilee
He taught men of faith, to forgive, to love,
And bade them, 'Come unto me.'
Hosannah! Alleluia! How great were all His days,
For He had come to show to all the strait and narrow way.

A long time ago a mother knelt by the cross of the chosen King
The soldiers were there, men mocked His throne
And the angels wept at the scene.
Hosannah! Alleluia! How much He must have cared
For all our sins He took upon, then hung and suffered there.

And not long ago a mother knelt by the side of her child each night
She taught her to pray, to worship God, and to follow the Saviour's light.
Hosannah! Alleluia! Now when each day is through,
The love I have for Him above, I'll teach my child...to you.

Gethsemane

Golgotha

The Garden Tomb

He is not here. He is Risen!

Heart day

Chad and I have never really been big celebrators of Valentines Day in a couple sense. Sure, we give a card here and there or a little note, and there's always love-heart chocolate or ferrero Rochers thrown in there somewhere. But we've never felt the need or pressure to buy into all the commercialisation that surrounds this one glorious day of love. I know it's cliche - but shouldn't we show love everyday?  And you are most welcome to bring me flowers (or a candle :) any day of the year, not just on Valentines day :)

But as our family has grown, so too has the idea of celebrating the love we share together. Not just as a couple, but as a family. And so 5 years ago our V day celebration was born (has it really been that long?)!

A 'fancy' dinner (oh I love that a wine glass, not even used for wine, and chocolates on the table make our dinner appear fancy to our littles :) followed by our favourite part of writing kind things about each other on love-hearts.

This year we added love heart pancakes for breakfast! They were an interesting yummy concoction of flour, milk, banana and frozen berries!

My little love!

Hang on. We can do better than that........

That's more like it :)

 

And then we stick our hearts all over the hub of our home. A gentle reminder of the things we love about each other that we leave up for the month of February. 

How I love these Valentines of mine!!!

Inspiration Board

I know with a title like that it sounds like I'm about to delve into some serious aspirations and how I plan to achieve them, but, I'm not. I'm talking inspiration for a 3rd brithday party here. Serious business I know :)

Before I share some of my favourite party stylers, I'd love to know how my girl has gone from this....... 

 

to this.....

It hardly seems possible that it's been 3 years already.  {sigh}

Anyway, as planning is underway for our little party to celebrate my girl, here's some of the MANY pictures I'm loving and feeling inspired by.....

{Jasmin keeps asking for a "lady bug cake please" so just think red and white for the colours}

I'm pretty sure this one is Martha but I couldn't find the original link for the picture.......

My friend Sally who is a 'Martha' in her own right put on this sweet party for her daughter a couple of years ago - she is amazingly talented (and I WANT that clock on her wall :)  More pics from her party HERE

The food styling master Amy Atlas - oh how I love her clean, straight, white lines (you must check out her eye candy and blog if you haven't already seen them

I LOVE these pics from Alannah Rose but there will be NO fake green grass or florals on our table ;) everything else is gorgeous!! 

Ruki from INVITEDbyRUK Is also AMAZINGLY talented (and happens to be the daughter of the lovely Shamala Maddison if you happen to know her). Here's a taste of what she did for her son's birthday (amazing right!) you can check out more of her gorgeous projects and ideas HERE

 I'm thinking we might take the party to the park again like we did LAST YEAR because it made it SO easy and enjoyable for everyone (read: pregnant.sick.tired. let's go to the park and decorate a table so the 'entertainment' is built in :)

I can't wait to help my girl celebrate her day!!!


POST EDIT - I've had a few people ask about the clock on my friends wall, I'm pretty sure it's from Freedom furniture and it's the Arles clock $129 click HERE to view it otherwise I found another one very similar to it HERE :)

Last love sentiments

A last look into some of the love shared on heart day 2011.....

We've been doing the 'heart attack' thing for about 4 years now and I LOVE seeing how excited the kids get  and love hearing the kind things they say about each other and themselves! (I especially adore the 'baby' love comments like; "you are the cutest chubba bubba in the world and I want to live with you forever")

Before dinner chocolates and lovely flowers

and the love of two where it all began......

This was my favourite 'gift' :) 

Just don't tell Jasmin it's actually me in the picture not her ;)

Easter Planning!

Although I find there are times I spend way too much time on this computer of ours, I have to say i'm so grateful for all the fantastic ideas that are shared on this world wide web and what we all now know as 'blog land'!

Last week I was reading one of the blogs I frequent and the author of it had opened up a little forum about Easter Traditions (and don't we all love traditions :) So suddenly I was inundated with all these great ideas of how people celebrate Easter and what they do to make it more meaningful and significant for their families (and not just about a giant Easter Bunny that hops from house to house delivering chocolate eggs)!

Although we already have our own little Easter traditions, I came across THIS blog and LOVED what they had to share about how they celebrate Easter! Their tradition is based on the book 'A Christ Centered Easter' and takes you through the last week of the Saviors life with daily lessons and activities.

It has been so lovely to sit with the boys and dedicate our little devotionals to the Savior's last week and talk about the things He has done for us and what it all means. I love that Rylan is at the age now where he is really starting to get things. Where he can share his feelings and recognise truth in the things we talk about.

I can't remember after which lesson it was, but one morning while talking about why Jesus died for us, Zahn said so sincerely, "I want to live in the Kingdom one day so I know I will follow Jesus" (love that he called it 'the kingdom" :). And Rylan also shared his sweet testimony about 'what he knows is true' and said he was going to try really hard to not make Jesus feel anymore pain by choosing the right. It's these kind of tender moments where you realise that all the little things do actually make an impression on these growing little spirits.

Here's a short 'child friendly' clip on the Resurrection that can be shared with kids. Beautiful and touching. (The instrumental parts are particularly beautiful.)

Whatever your traditions are we hope you had a lovely Easter. 

Pink party in the park.......

I'm not sure if it gets any better than this for a little girl that turns 2 on Tuesday.

Pink balloons. Cup cakes. Family. Friends. New 'girl toys' and the Park. All WAY up there on her list of things she LOVES.

There are so many things I could share about how we feel and why we love this little (getting-big-way-too-fast) girl. But. I'll save all that for her special day and instead share some pics from her 'pink party in the park'!

 

"Can you believe my mum and dad are letting me eat all these treats. I think I am in heaven"........

enjoying her cup cake

If you look closely in this pic you can see how sticky and dirty her hands are.......

playing with some of her 'big' friends

this is how I found her after returning from a trip to the car. Eating yogurt with a paddle pop stick. completely covered in sticky-ness, dirt, sticks and yogurt. She was so free and happy :)

let's move in for a close up of her sticky hands.

And as a result of her blissful 'free' morning, this is what she looked liked right before we left......

happy, clothes free, somewhat clean and ready for a 4 hour sleep (she played really hard :)

Thanks to our lovely friends and family, the Ligits, The DeGaris's and the Smiberts for sharing part 1 of Jasmin's special day. She was thrilled that Hannah, 'Bamon' and the 'Brim' brothers were at her little party!