Zoe - 28 months

Little Zoe - my how you have grown. You are becoming quite the little lady now.

You love being outdoors - and you especially love using your little watering can.

Reading time is still a favourite - especially when Pop is around to read with.

You are starting to get a bit of an appetite for food - perhaps there is hope at meal times after all.

You are starting to get very involved in your play time and quite often will tell me to go away so that you can play on your own. Little Miss Independent.

You somehow put up with mummy giving you very crooked fringe cuts.

You love to paint and draw - you are quite the budding artist.

You are looking more and more beautiful everyday. I love you little lady - can't wait to see what this next month brings!

Crafty WIP

I've decided that 2011 is the year for me to be a creative gal and so I signed up for the Valentine Craft Swap being put on by Becky at Strumpet's Crumpets and Amber at Hoot-n-Annie. So I have been busy designing a little pattern, buying materials, cutting up my material and now I am ready to get sewing. I won't say what I am making just yet, but it does look super yummy :P

I'm not the only one getting creative in this household either - check out the drawing Zoe did with her crayons...

If you can't tell it is a drawing of me. She has been very busy lately trying to draw faces - and she told me that this one was a drawing of mum. So super cute!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Zoe - 27 Months Old

It has been a very long time since I have posted about my gorgeous little Zoe - I think the last time was way back in February 2010 when she was just 15 months old! Now Zoe is 27 months and quite the little lady. She loves talking, jumping, dancing, wearing pretty skirts and dresses, singing, cuddling and kissing. She is quite simply gorgeous! Don't get me wrong she can also be a handful, but in general she is a very well mannered and lovely little lady.

Zoe has had a very exciting month this month. Not only did we enjoy her third Christmas we also had family staying with us - my sister (otherwise known as Em) and my dad (otherwise known as Pot, since Zoe has decided that pop is too hard to say). Zoe had an absolute ball having so many people to play with - unfortunately she is stuck with me now :P

Here are some photos of what the little lady has been up to...

Going to the beach with Auntie Em.

Doing a gazillion crayon drawings.

Constantly counting.

Chilling out with Em and Pop.

Getting into the play dough with Em.

Can't wait to see what the next month will bring us!

I'm Back!

Well my friends I have been gone for a very, very long time and for that I sincerely apologise. Life got very busy there for a while, we had my sister and father come to stay with us for a while, Christmas came and went, New Years Eve went off with a bang and Zoe and I have been very busy little beavers!

So let me catch you up on what we have been doing for the past month and a bit...

First of all there was Christmas. Santa left Zoe a lovely set of 150 blocks (I bet he didn't realise that I was going to probably enjoy them more than she did)...


We had our first trip to the beach together as a family...


Zoe absolutely loved the ocean, I don't think I have ever seen her so happy before...


Zoe finally mastered walking, there is no stopping her now...


We had our first trip to the zoo, and saw a lovely big giraffe...


Auntie Emma made sure that Zoe could see all of the good stuff...


Aunty Emma and Zoe had lots of cuddles, laughs and kisses together...


Pop spent lots of time with Zoe at the park, helping her out on the slide...


And having cuddles on the grass...


Zoe created her first crayon masterpiece...


Zoe spent a lot of time outside playing with water during the hot spells...


Zoe created her first chalk on concrete masterpiece (with the help of mummy)...


So we have had a lot of fun during my little blog break, but it is time to get back into it. I will post my first recipe for the year tomorrow night. Until then...


Thanks for sticking around - from Zoe and me :)

Zoe's 1st Birthday Party

Last Saturday was Zoe's first birthday and it was such a fantastic day. We had friends and family over for a relaxed barbecue and some Beatles Rock Band later in the night. Zoe was brilliant all day long, she even hung out in the shed with the boys to dance and sing to Rock Band - so cute!

And of course you know there was cake...


I made 24 chocolate cupcakes and 24 vanilla cupcakes, each cupcake was topped with orange coloured vanilla butter cream and then topped with a green or blue fondant star.


I even made a little cupcake tower using this great tutorial from Cake Journal - it was pretty easy to do and it looked great. I definitely recommend it if you have a particular colour theme you are trying to follow for a party.


Then of the course there was the cake, a 6" chocolate cake filled with vanilla Swiss meringue butter cream then covered in fondant and topped with a fondant replica of Zoe's favourite toy - Eric the Elephant.


A little close-up of Eric - he was a lot of fun to make!


Cupcake time for Zoe - we lit a candle for her and sang happy birthday. I thought she was going to freak out but she loved all the attention!


Then once the candle was blown out (thanks to me) she had a little taste of the butter cream.


Zoe then continued to destroy the rest of the cupcake - she loved it!


And the all important sliced cake photo - I love those yummy looking layers!


This is Zoe very smily and happy with her grandma.


Zoe opening presents at the end of the night after a quick nap.


After a big day, Zoe gave her new toy puppy a big hug and then went to sleep.

Can't wait for the next birthday party :)

Happy 1st Birthday Zoe!

You've come along way baby girl - mummy and daddy love you very much!

We are looking forward to many more wonderful years with you.

Love + 1

Giveaway Winner

Thanks for all your entries - now it is time to declare the winner!

I put all the entries in a bowl...


Zoe came to inspect...


Drawing the winner...


And the winner is...


Congratulations Virginia from mum/toddler/babe! If you can email your address to alicia@thereddeer.com we will get the package off to you.


In Zoe's eyes you were all winners ;)

Happy 11 Months Zoe!

Zoe is 11 months old today, it is really hard to believe that in one short month she will be 1 year old! Where has all that time gone?

This past month has been a good one Zoe is getting a lot more vocal - she is now saying dada, nanna, mumma (rarely though), ya ya and bubba. Her favourite at the moment though is definitely nanna - very cute! She is starting to get a good head of hair, which looks just adorable and she has also got 8 teeth now - and they really hurt when she bites, ouch!


Zoe has become obsessed with standing as much as possible. Most of the time she is holding onto something, but increasingly she is standing unsupported which is pretty cool. Most of her days are spent playing with pegs (best toys ever by the way), reading books, dancing in the lounge room, talking and waving to mummy and "helping" mummy around the house. By helping I mean she pulls all of the wet washing out of the wash basket and on to the floor, pulls out all of our DVDs and helps rearrange my tupperware cupboard - yep that is my little helper.


One of the best things of all is how much Zoe loves to give nice big open mouth kisses - mummy and daddy can't get enough of them! I also adore the giggles when I chase her around the house and tickle her tummy.

Love you baby girl!

What I Love Wednesdays - Family Holidays

Well we are back from our little trip away to Melbourne. We got up super early last Thursday and headed off on our way at 4:30am. It was a 10 hour car drive in total - including a few stops to feed Zoe and change nappies.

Mat and Zoe at our first stop in Bordertown.

Zoe handled the drive there and back really well, she was quite happy munching on arrowroot biscuits, cheese sticks and sandwiches, playing with her pegs and toys, having nice long naps and chatting away to us from the back seat.

The Navman came in handy for our trip - it even told us what lane to be in on the freeways in Melbourne, very handy.

This was our third time driving around Melbourne and we did really well. The streets are much busier than Adelaide so it is a bit scary, also everyone seems to beep and speed more. We got the hang of it though (and when I say we I mean Mat, he did all the driving).

Driving through a tunnel in Melbourne.

We were in Melbourne for four nights and I managed to take very little photos! So I'm sorry about that. Mostly I didn't think to take photos when we were relaxing with family and when we were out and about we were either driving (blurry photos) or it was raining! I promise I will be better next holidays.

We stayed at my sister in law's house along with her husband, 5 kids and my parents in law. So all up there was 12 of us in the house! There was a lot of Rock Band playing, movie watching, shouting at Australian Idol and lots of great food. It was great. We also got a surprise tooth pop up on Friday - so now Zoe has 4 teeth and more on the way.

Zoe on our shopping trip in Melbourne City.

We ventured into the city on Saturday to do some light shopping. I found a cake decorating shop and got some supplies - a new icing tip, some couplers, circle cookie cutter set, disposable icing bags, a serrated pastry wheel and a pastry mat. Yay! We also stopped by our favourite art gallery - Outre gallery and ogled the artworks, but we decided we should pay off my oven and digital camera instead of buying anything :(

Zoe eating her crumpet.

Sunday was the stand out day for us I took my sister in law to a retreat for her birthday and we enjoyed a 3 hour pamper session - including morning tea, a spa bath, a facial, a massage and a pedicure - lovely! After that Mat, Zoe and I visited some wonderful friends of ours in Sunbury and then finally enjoyed a lovely roast at home with apple pie for dessert. Can't complain!

Monday we headed off at 9am and finally got home at 6:30pm - and I have to say it is good to be home! Now I have to catch up with my Google Reader - only 510 posts to check!!