It surely is the busy season and we have finished off our school year and dived straight into a galactic spring clean. This year I really focused on getting school done and projects that I would normally let slide I put to the side… not the best “getting it done” strategy… but it did mean that a lot of school got done, and I’ll take that. I always spend a week or two cleaning out before Christmas, it is just the sort of reset I need to see things rolling around here. Not to mention all our jars are prepping for our Christmas gift making days…
Se7en Things You Need to Know…
- Firstly, let’s talk about our fresh blog look: Thank you so much to all of you who stopped by and said they loved it!!! Otherwise, I should mention a couple of features: The search button works(!), you can look for anything on our site and it finds it; You can also follow us on our favourite platforms: Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest; AND most important of all, you can now sign up to our newsletter and follow along and never ever miss a post… I know, it is the first thing everyone says you must do – it only took me ten years to get that working. And it is there now!!!
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Let’s Look at GiveAway Winners…
- In Other News: I posted this on instagram, but really it is so important that I am posting it again over here: For all the moms out there looking for a wearable bathing costume… For all the pre-baby, post-baby, during-baby moms who are desperate for a bathing costume that actually fits their ever-changing body, and a costume that they can actually move in… Oggi Swimwear in Harfield Village is the best. After months of searching and trying to shop at big brand sport stores and well everywhere… I finally went back to Oggi, where I bought my last bathing costumes about a million years ago. Needless to say, I walked in… tried on two cozis, picked one and walked out ten minutes later… best price I have seen for plus size costumes anywhere – seriously they are brilliant.
- But What About Christmas: I may be spring cleaning like a mad thing, but I am also scoring websites for fun Chrismassy things to do with my kids next week… Lots of quick and easy crafts that we can use to decorate or for gifts: Willowdayand her beautiful Christmas Calendar, a countdown of Swedish crafty magic; Babyccino kids also has lots of fabulous Christmas inspiration; and a click through to Sweet Paul’s kids section, where you can find a treasure trove of easy giftable ideas.
- HAKSA – Healthy Active Kids in South Africa: This is a report on the status of the health of children all over South Africa, it makes intriguing reading… some of it totally not surprising, and a lot of it very surprising. I would have thought less children were actually moving around than there are, and the fact that South African children have the highest ranking of sugary drink consumption, despite the sugar taxes, is really a bit of a shocker. You can click on the link to read the report on the SSISA website.
- Our Natural Factual Advent Calendar: is a little bit of a family tradition, where we create a collection of all the artefacts that we have been gathering over the past while. It is inspired by nature and you can follow along on our journey on instagram, is in full swing on Instagram…
- Now is the Time: I am going to be creating a video blog series next year… all about homeschooling. I have been meaning to do this for years, so it is now or never… Answering your questions with anecdotes from our own homeschool journey. So really now is the time to leave a comment and submit your questions, then I can think about them and then get into full swing in early January. Really, leave a comment and ask away… if you homeschool or don’t homeschool, but you have homeschooling questions… please send them to me… the more questions I have the more content I can create for you. And shocking surprise… Flickr is no longer going to be a free resource, from next year… I am going to have to start paying to keep our blog alive and well and on the web, since every single one of our photographs are stored on Flickr. I am finally going to have to get my act together and think about creating some resources for our readers. The time has come… I am thinking about it, just a little bit!!!
The New Girl Code… and congratulations to Cassey… yup I owe you!!!
My Great Expedition: And Congratulations to Nurah, so thrilled for you!!! Look out for an email from us!!!
That’s all for now, but look out for a massive bookish blog post next…