Lovingly grateful

There's plenty of things I'm loving right now. And much that I'm grateful for.
To begin with, I haven't shown you my duckegg blue living room yet have I?
Oh I love love love it.

This colour is my favourite in all the world. Soothing, soft, fresh, refreshing, beautiful.
Kind of hard to tell from the photos, but you get the idea.
I had to take down the 90's print drapes. Ugh. Replaced them with curtains constructed from a mosquito net.
No sewing required, you know me.
Love.

Don't they make the light so soft?
Isn't this a room you can retreat to for peace and quiet?
Almost makes me like my tired couches all over again.
They look nicer after I took off all the cushion covers and washed them. Scrubbed the grubby arms with carpet cleaner. Added a soft cream throw to disguise the worst of it.

And look at my new lamp! the old one blew up. I scored this one half price with a bit of wheeler-dealer-ing.
And see my picture hung behind it? I requested the frame for Christmas.
In the frame is my promise:
"All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace."
And mine. Hear hear.

I am loving my "grownups room." Its a toy-free zone.
So beautiful and peaceful. So grateful, I am for this room.

I'm also loving Gluten-Free all over again.
After quite a while of slacking off, bloating and weight gain, I've decided to ban "Gloot" (as Dash calls it) for me and Miss Fab. Makes it so easy to say no to donuts and pies when you are gluten free.
But there's nothing stopping me baking beautiful gluten-free cupcakes for a summers day treat. Mmmm.
Which of course makes me grateful for my trusty gluten-free baking mix. Use my standard recipes and substitute this stuff. No-one would ever know they're gluten-free, it's so good.

{Also loving that bit of extra room already in my waistband. Just a little. But enough so my hubby has noticed. ♥}

Loving my girl and her love of music. Love that she knows all the words to Brooke Fraser, Stan Walker.
I love the way she sings all day, dreaming of her chance to be on X-Factor.
"Listen mum," she says, "Do I sing this one good...?"
She warbles her voice like an opera singer. Its very cute. I try to keep a straight face.
We love watching X-Factor together. We have our favourites, and play the part of judges, wishing we could vote.

Love her doofy attempt at a vlog... {she didn't want it on her own blog, so I might as well put it on mine, right?}



{I also Love that when there's a bug in the house we call Miss Fab who is fearless.}

Love my scooter-boy.
He waited and waited for his MGP scooter. Now he practically sleeps with the thing.
On his MP3 player Stan Walker reigns supreme. Dash thinks he's way cool. I'm thinking I should introduce him to Toby-Mac too.

What I really love? Discovering where all my cushions have got to...

On scooter-boy's bunk bed. Yep, that's right.
Dash has been watching plenty of 60-Minute Makeover and apparently he now has a thing for cushions.
Move over John Amabile*!

*{a 60-Minute designer who goes overboard with hundreds of cushions}

I also love that my cool-dude Scooter Boy missed his daddy when he was away in Wellington - so much so that he cuddled his daddy's childhood teddy bear to sleep. Awwwwww.

I also love Daddy's farsightedness. Investing in a double kayak so he can do daddy-bonding with the Boy before those puberty-blues hit. Buying him a fishing rod. Creating a way for them to spend time together in such an amazing way. O the adventures they will have. So grateful for a wise daddy who invests in his kids.

Love this photo of my boys. Brothers.
Wrestling comes with the territory.

Love this cheeky little face. He's a Scrag through and through. Keeps us laughing. Has us in stitches. Has been voted "Most Likely to Make Us Go Awwww". Also very loud. Very snotty. Very cheeky. But kisses me a lot. And snuggles me and holds my face when he wants to get my attention. Like "LOOK AT ME! IN MY EYES! I WANT YOUR FULL ATTENTION MAMA!"
Love that Scrag.


This Summer has been plenty rainy. We've spent our holidays at home so far.
But I'm loving them. Mostly. Apart from the occasional bug.
Ah yes, apparently Miss Fab is scared of large praying mantises after all. There's one holding them to ransom in the hallway and  they need me to go get rid of it.
Oh dear.
Better go pretend to be fearless.

Did you see these Posts from the Past Week?

• An Impromptu Garden Party
• Just Down the Road
• Cancer is Ugly but This was Beautiful
• Ten Cool Things About Motherhood