Peace in the house

It's finally the quiet time in the evening when everyone has gone to bed (except for my 14 year old son revisiting the baking I've just done) and I get to sit down. Louisa (12) is off on a school camp to Dunedin this week. We have been busy labeling her clothes and making a batch of chocolate chippie biscuits. I decided to quadruple the recipe so there was plenty for the boys during the week. Great idea but I forgot to take the time involved in baking eight trays of biscuits into consideration! Two hours...phew!

My excitement for the weekend is the purchase of a new (to me) Christmas tree on Trade Me. What would I do without that website? So much fun, so many bargains to buy! I think I am up to five big trees now, and as many smaller ones. This one is really unique - 2.2m high and thin but bushy. And THE bargain of the year - $31! No one out there in cyberspace eyeing that little bargain at 2pm on a Saturday. Go me and my skills. The unfortunate side of it all was that it was two hours away and needed to be removed by the next morning. Thankfully I have some very tolerating family members who know all about me and my trades. Can't wait to see it when I go up for sweet ads chorus on Wednesday.

So I have chosen the theme already and it will be a woodland tree. I bought some little birdhouses a few years ago which have never seen the light as they didn't fit any of my themes. Jack (5) and I went and bought a few birds and nests in anticipation for it. He tells me he knows where there is a real one in a tree, with a bird AND eggs which he could get for me. I told him we better just look out for empty ones. I also collected some miniature pine cones a few weeks ago which I will probably decorate like snow frosted cones. Now my only issue is where to put the tree...I'm running out of space!

Here we go....

Well, this is the start of a road to supposed self discovery through blogging. If you find yourself reading this, it could be an interesting journey following the day to day goings on of my life. Some would say too many fingers in too many pies - I would take that quite literally with five children who seem to constantly need feeding and my pantry that is restocked on a daily basis!

So, as of at this moment I have the babies in bed and I am contemplating finishing one of three things: the christmas cards I was working on today at Artfull Crafts scrapping day; the christmas angel doll that I've been making to match my living room or decorate a tree....I know, you would think it is way too early to be thinking any sort of Christmas project but I plan to open my home for the public next month so time is of the essence. I think the tree will win out. I've done my favourite one already this week - the theme of the blog - my gingerbread tree.

Next on the agenda is the farmyard tree. It's a miniature tree and I got most the decorations at Harrods a few years ago. Love them! Tim (8) is dead keen to do it with me so will put a photo up when we are done.