Loving on a Monday

It feels weird. My two big kids are off at school after seven weeks of Summer Holidays. I'd gotten used to having them around, hanging out, sleeping in.
Having to be organised with lunchboxes made, breakfast eaten and out the door at 8.15... that's just weird in itself.

But the weirdest part was driving up the road and feeling like Summer had never been.
Like it was just last week we were doing this already. Like it was last year still and no time had passed.

Two months gone in a flash. A new Year. New classrooms, new teachers. It all starts to roll together in a blur, doesn't it? Where is the time going so fast? Why is it in such a rush lately?
Slow down, already! I'm not ready to wave goodbye to this stage of life yet. But I know that in another 11 weeks it will be my baby I am waving off to school.

You might think I would be turning cartwheels at the thought of all that free time... but strangely I am a little reluctant. A little nervous. A bit scared even.

I wish I could just grab onto Time's collar and yank it hard; maybe trip Time up and send it sprawling so it could carry on with a nice slow limp for a bit.

I'm not ready for my eldest to be done with primary school. I'm not ready for the puberty blues which are waiting for us just around the corner.

Surely it was just mere months ago that we moved into this house. I can almost see the ghosts of my toddlers running up the driveway at times; I hear the echoes of the trailer trike rumbling over the concrete. The days when all we had to worry about was "Will he make a friend at kindy soon?" and "When will she be out of pullups?"

So that I don't scare myself too much this first day of Term, I will focus on some things I'm loving while Scrag watches Space Jam for the fifth time in the last three days...

Loving DIY Book Covers

Gone are the days when I used to have to spend half a day wrangling Duraseal onto exercise books. Thanks to the fabulousness of EZCover, this is now a job the kids can do all by themselves.

Dash recycled his skater covers from last year (he's very eco-friendly) just adding a few new ones in the super-cool Cartoon design. Miss Fab wanted a new look, and chose Retro Circles and a hippie Combi Van design. It was bliss for me to sit there sipping tea, while the kids did the work themselves.
I am NEVER going back to Duraseal.

Loving My Etsy Shop

My little Etsy shop is starting to hum. I have added some new designs, other personalised printables and created some new *BONUS FREEBIE* Printables. My most popular Design is the Boy vs Wild one, followed by the Star Wars. I love the feedback I'm getting from my customers. And I love that my idea is working. I'm a shop owner. And people are actually buying my stuff.

Loving NZ's First Blog Conference
It's been talked about and dreamed of for years: a bloggy conference/get-together right here in New Zealand. The Christchurch Bloggers took the bull by the horns and initiated it, putting together a weekend with a mix of a few workshops, a Q&A panel and the option of "just hanging out" with your fave bloggy friends if workshops don't appeal.

I am so unbelievably excited.
A whole weekend with some of my favourite bloggy peeps in the world! A bunch of us are hiring an apartment, so it will be like a giant girls weekend. Imagine!

Staying together will be the lovely Widge, Leonie, Kristy a.k.a. PaisleyJade, Jacksta and Meghan of MNMs... beloved Sammy and my new friend Rachel... we even managed to twist Gail's arm to come (we can't have a girls weekend without Gail, right??!!!)

Can you imagine???
All of us together under one roof??? So So So Excited.
I can't wait to meet and hang out with some of my other bloggy faves (SophieSlim and Miriam to name a few). Miriam (who I have met once and who is FAB and HILARIOUS and COLOURFUL and LOVELY) is hosting a Panel. And guess what? I was invited to be on it.
Me. Little me. On a Blogging Panel. Helping take a Workshop even. I'm even on the website.
There are only 60 spots in total and registrations are filling up fast. As of Saturday there were only 15 spaces left.
So if you want to come and join us, you have to go here and register.

It's April 12-14th, down in Christchurch. GrabaSeat still have some cheap airfares if you're quick.
See you there???

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Well that has cheered me up alright. Reminded me that I have lots to be thankful for (and look forward to). Now it's time to go and get my big kids from school; find out how their first day went.
I really should have baked muffins...