Artsy birthday party

 And so she turned 3. I can't believe how time has gone so fast and what an individual she's become. She's been looking forward to this party for months now so I wanted her to enjoy. We had a big artsy birthday bash for her with all her friends there.

 Let's start with the food shall we. We had jelly cups as paint cups, perfect party food for kids party as they absolutely love jelly. The paint brushes were a hit too, you can find the recipe I used from HERE. The crayons gave me most work. I loved the idea though so I had to make them. I got the idea from HERE, but instead of pretzel sticks I used chocolate bisquits and instead of candy melts I used coloured white chocolate. The best part is that you can actually print the labels if you don't feel like making your own. For the printable crayon labels go HERE.

Then I thought we'd have an artsy activity at the treat table, so we made biscuits in different shapes, put just white icing on it and got the kids to decorate them.

I got a bit carried away with decorating the biscuits, but it really was a lot of fun. The bread stick pencils were a bit sad sight, a classic example of what happens when you get a last minute great idea that doesn't work out as well as you saw it in your head.

Just like on her previous birthdays, I wanted to have cupcakes instead of a cake. I think cupcakes work so well with little kids, they are rather easy to eat and they are not very big. Yes the fact that I'm not a very big cake person had something to do with this decision as well. The cupcakes worked great on this occasion and the icing was plenty of messy which was part of the theme.

I made 4 art smocks so that the kids wouldn't get too much paint on themselves. Emma had hers on the whole time where as the other 3 were going around to who ever was having a turn at painting. On Emma's art smock under the picture it says "Allowed to get messy". I realised after the party was finished that I don't have any pictures where you could see that text, what a bummer.

We emptied Emma's room and made that into an art studio. There we had a painting stand, a spot to draw with chalks, playdough and a necklace spot where all the kids were able to make THESE necklaces. Also my amazing sister-in-law painted cute butterflies to all the little cheaks.

Of course we also had to have some funny frames to get funny pictures of our little people, and the big ones as well. All the frames were made of cardboard, so very good recycling and low cost way here.

As a party favor all the children got to take home a paint bucket. I spray painted old formula tins (milk powder tins) and my brother drilled some holes for the handles, great recycling again. Inside the paint tins was some stickers, cute colouring sheets from made by joel, a big chalk and tiny watercolours that I brought back from Finland. Cute ay?

Happy 3rd birthday my darling baby girl!

Thank you Finland

Thank you everyone who made our holiday back in Finland so great.

It was wonderful to visit family and friends and we wish we could have seen more of you.

Thank you Finland for showing us your best parts, giving us plenty of sunshine.

It was great to visit and can't wait to see you again.

With cousins

We're already back in Australia, but I thought I'd share a few more memories from our vacation in Finland.

Running competition was so much fun, 

especially when Emma's cousins came along too.

 She would have wanted to keep running. 

Then on the cruise ship she got her first face painting,

that was exciting too. 

Again wonderful time with the cousins.

About trust

We were at a friend's summer cottage last weekend, so relaxing. Not a single thing that we had to do, not a single place we had to hurry to get to. We were able to just relax. A little bit of sailing and sunny skies, oh it was so peaceful to be in the nature. I was able to do a bit of good old pondering and I'm just going to share some of it.

Even though the wind was very strong, Emma got to go on the boat as well. She was so excited, but we couldn't find any life jackets at the cottage. Jeremy said he'd just row close to the shore and not go very far. Yet there I was standing on the jetty, fearing for her sake. I was so scared every time the wind picked up even though they were right there in front of me.

All this got me thinking of trust. Oh how much trust she had for her father. She wasn't scared at all, she trusted that he would keep her safe. In fact she kept waving to me and shouting "See you soon mummy, see you soon". I tried to keep a happy face for her even though on the inside I was afraid that something would go wrong. Her trust never failed, even though the wind was rough, she never got scared.

Her strong trust got me thinking about the trust we should have for our Heavenly Father. That kind of childlike trust is what we need to have for Him. Sometimes over lives can be very stormy and we might wonder why these things happen to us. We might get scared and at times and think that He's forgotten us. But at those times we might only see the smaller picture when He can see the bigger one and know what's best for us, or what we need at different times. All we need to do is show faith and complete trust in Him just like Emma trusted her father.

Hug attack aka our trip to the Moomin World

Ok people, yesterday was the best day of our holiday so far. We went to the Moomin World. Those of you who don't know who Moomins are, well you soon will. They are very lovable creatures who live in the Moominvalley. They live their lives by being kind to one another and having adventures together. Their house is a big blue one (above) and guests are always welcome.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but Emma went absolutely crazy with love for this place and most of all for Moomins. Watch out, here comes the hug attack!

This is Moomintroll, main character. He loves to play with his friends and explore the Moominvalley.

Here's Moominmamma and Moominpappa. Moominmamma is a great cook and never gets angry with anything, she's always happy to have visitors in their home. Moominpappa spends his time writing his memoirs and dreaming of big adventures. He always has his hat on just like Moominmamma always has her apron and handbag.

This is Snorkmaiden and her brother Snork. Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll love spending time together and Snork her brother is very talented in building things and inventing things.

Little My (on the left) is probably Emma's favorite characters. She lives with the Moomins and is rather wild at times. She says what she thinks and isn't afraid of anything. Sniff on the other hand is scared of many things, but he loves treasures and money.

This is Stinky, he's always up to something naughty and was totally taken off guard when Emma gave him a big hug.

The Hemulen (on the left) collects flowers and butterflies, you can always find him at the fields trying to find new species. The witch (on the right) can be a bit scary, but Emma wasn't scared at all and gave her a big hug. She complemented her in being so brave.

The one on top is Too-Ticky and they made a bracelet together with Emma. She was allowed to choose the colours and then keep it on her wrist when it was finished. Then when she saw Snufkin and showed her bracelet, they realised that they both had chosen the same colours for their bracelets, special moment that there. Snufkin is Moomintroll's best friend and he leaves every Autumn to hike somewhere warm and comes back on the first day of Spring.

There you go, you're a little wiser now that you know about the Moomins. If you're ever in Finland and have small kids, I highly recommend this place. It's on a small island and feels so magical. There were a lot of families there, but it didn't seem to bother Emma at all.

Friendly dragon in the water. I can't remember his name, Edward maybe.

Girls in the prison where the policeman takes Stinky quite often.

Pretty views from the other end of the island.

Thanks for the great day and a good chat Moomintroll! We forever love you.

Daddy's girl and mama's boy

We decided to go for a run last night, but found a cute little playground just 500m from our appartment. As we had played a little while, we started exploring the surroundings. Beautiful pine trees and everywhere so green. I'm breathing all this green in me.

I love this holiday, spending time together, cuddles, no stress. Emma, our big time daddy fan, is so happy to get so much of dad's attention. We've got him right where we want him. Oh holiday, thank you, he's got no where to go.