itch christmas present

As most of you are away, I thought I would do a bit of a light post about Keely's fabulous christmas present from Jodi at Itch Design. Plus it is the cutest dress! We received the package today in the mail and it was the perfect day to receive it...... When Keely was dropped off at preschool this morning she was told she was changing rooms; it was time for the "big" room. This is the room that gets them ready for school, it is a little special, with a couple of computers and they now start to do all the kind of things they would do at school. The learning steps up to the next level to prepare them for a smooth transition. Keely was going to preschool 2 days a week and starting next week she will be going 3 days. We felt it was good for her to go from 3 days to 5 instead of the 2 to 5 days. That might have been a bit too much to take...well I am sure it would have been for me too!

keely's first day of preschool 2009

Back to the dress! As it arrived today we thought it would be a good gift for her for moving up to the big room, so she feels a little special and that going 3 days will be good fun. Well, really I don't need to say that to her as she is the one begging at 6:30 in the morning to go to school! Amazing, how they go from that little person you dropped off on their first day, to this confident amazing little girl.

the signature dress, after her day in the "big" room!

My little people are growing up so fast, but I know I will still be amazed and proud when they are teenagers too. It is a great to be a mum!

the perfect little new years outfit

It is coming around to that time of the year where we all have our new near resolutions and we dream of better things to come. Not only are we thinking of what we will make better in the New Year or like most of us, what bad habits we will kick, we are also thinking of what we will wear to our New Year's Eve party. For me being a mum, this year I will be safely tucked into bed before the clock strikes midnight and my celebrations will be held on New Years Day....a day that most of you will have hangovers and be feeling sorry for yourselves as you tell yourself that your new years resolution is to never drink again!

When you have little ones the 1st of January is an exciting day, a day that you can really make into a celebration; they can have their own special outfit to wear on the day and you can make it like a second birthday for them. I know for Keely any excuse to put on a pretty dress will do, although she wears a dress everyday as we are going through the "dress only" stage. Little Pinwheel has some lovely dresses for the little party girls and the summer stock is marked down to 50% off. Although my pick of the bunch would have to be the special edition mini maxi dress in black, every girl needs a black dress! Keely has it in the green/navy and it is the most divine dress. The mini maxi is my pick for new years day!

sweet mango chutney

What does one do on a rainy day with little people and a fridge full of mangoes?.....You make a sweet mango chutney! Today we got one and a half kilos of mangoes together, some sugar, some spices, a bit of chilli and some raisins to create a sweet mango chutney to go with our left over christmas ham.

The best thing about making chutney is it makes a great gift for someone and there is nothing like giving a gift you have made yourself. You can add a bit of kitchen string and some kraft paper to create a simple and special gift.

If you are more organised then I was you can created some really special looks with labels and nice fabric and ribbon to cover the lid. You can even add a gift tag with the persons name and all the ingredients, or even the recipe for them to recreate the chutney once they run out. This could also mean you may get a jar in return when they make themselves some!

our christmas

Another christmas has passed and here we are wondering why we ate so much and why we still continue to eat all the treats that are still in our homes.....well I know I am! Our christmas was nice and quiet, just the way I like it and the way I remember having them as a child and adult with my mum.

The little ones were up bright and early, well Keely first just after 5 and Taj had to be woken at 5:30 as Keely could not hold on any longer. I don't blame her, I know I would have woken my brother too! It was all a little chaotic with opening pressies as Taj is not at the age where he really understands what is going on. He did enjoy opening presents, but lost interest pretty quick, especially when his sister had unwrapped one of her gifts he was more interested in helping her play with them. I played santa, I quite like handing out all the gifts; it is a job my mum used to do, so it only feels right I take over her tradition.

We had a lovely lunch with ham, potato bake (made especially for Keely), a green salad and some prawns (have to have the prawns, it is an Aussie tradition). The dessert was divine, made by Simon's cousin Laura. It was what I like to call a modern pavalova, well more a chocolate lovers pav! It was two layers of pavalova, with chocolate, nuts, strawberries and then a mixture of cream and european yoghurt....yum!

The day was full of playing with new toys, a toddle down the beach for Taj and myself, eating, more eating and some socialising. The little ones hit the pillow at 6pm and I did not hear any complaining from either of them.

Boxing day was a great day, the little ones and I played with all the new toys, packed lots of orders with the Little Pinwheel summer clearance sale and we went and hired some dvds to watch, perfect for a rainy day.

I hope you all had a lovely christmas! x

silent saturday

end of season sale!

It has come to that time of the season where it is time to make room for the new season stock to arrive! Crazy to think we are already thinking about the winter ranges arriving in another 5 to 6 weeks. So here I sit on christmas night marking all the summer stock down ready to launch into a HUGE boxing day sale. Thinking I am all alone in comes an email, and to my surprise it is an order for the stock I had just finished marking down! So with this in mind I am now thinking, why wait until boxing day to tell you all, I am going to tell you now. I have finished marking all the stock down, so nothing more I can do, but share the sale with you!

merry christmas!

the homies 2009

Little Pinwheel has been voted for the apartment therapy's homies, which is a site that showcases the best blogs in different categories. We have been nominated under the Kids at Home category and there are also, Home Desgin, Home Tech , Green Home and Home Cooking. It is a great place to check out all the fabulous blogs out there and you can vote and create your own favourites. You do have to create an account, but it is easy and only takes a little info and you can then start voting for Little Pinwheel and any of the other great blogs. The winner receives $50 and a HUGE amount of traffic to their blog....so not bad for the winner to get more traffic and interest in their blog. Worth a look, I have found a few of my daily reads there too, great to share the love and vote for a few of your favourites. The winner is drawn 6th January!

our santa photo

Promise no laughing as that is mummy as santa for the Little Pinwheel christmas card! I wanted to do something fun and a little different for our christmas card to say thanks for the support and to wish everyone a merry christmas and Keely voted I put on the santa suit...nice one Keely! It was fun, hot, but fun! To see Taj's face as I got dressed was priceless, he was a little surprised mummy had turned into a red man in a matter of moments.

We also did a photo with dad dressed as santa for our 2009 santa photo as Keely is scared of santa and this is the only way we could think of getting a photo this year as we missed out last year for the same reason. Well there was no fear this year, just a lot of giggles!

I wish you all a merry christmas, have a lovely time with your families and little ones. I will still be around, with HUGE boxing day sales happening, little pinwheel does not sleep! Look forward to sharing our christmas with you!

pettiskirts are coming to Little Pinwheel

Within a matter of days we will be receiving the most divine pettiskirts for Little Pinwheel. I am very excited to have found a label that I think will suit the store and every little girl that likes to twirl. I have chosen a range of colours that will be appealing to the princess and the rock chick. How they wear it is up to them and with different shoes and tops you can really achieve pretty and funky looks.

The best thing about these pettiskirts and why they are a must have is the fact they are created from a dance shoes and supply company, and you could not get anymore experienced then that! I have ordered one for Keely and I cannot wait to give it to her for her birthday in January as she is having a fairy party. I ordered her the raspberry rock star skirt and she can wear it with a white wing top from Heavenly Creatures to create her fairy look.

You can pre-order now and have your little one twirling around and around, and getting you dizzy!

santa party

Every year we do a little christmas party for the little ones down the beach with a group of local parents. It is something that just happened one year and the dads take it in turns to play santa, although I am kind of thinking the same dad has done it a couple of times now!

There was no real organisation when it came to the children, they just played amongst themselves. It was interesting to see the girls playing together and the boys had their special boys club going on. I was unsure what age this playing with the same sex started, and now I know it starts around the 4 year mark.

For me it was lovely to let Taj go for it, just to wonder around and do what he wanted to do. He could not get into too much trouble and he enjoyed his freedom of toddling around. Just to watch your little ones with the way they explore and interact with others is so lovely.

We all brought along a gift for Santa to give out and this year santa walked over from the surf club and gave the little ones their gifts. To watch children in delight, to watch the way they are either scared or amazed is interesting. Keely is one that is scared and Taj is one that stood there in amazement. I can understand why they feel fear and why they stare at a man in a red suit, with a belly and a very hairy face. I was even scared!

It was a lovely afternoon with the local parents and it was great for Keely to play with her great friend, Sunny, who came especially for the santa party. This for me was the time that I started to feel like it was christmas. Now I know how unorganised I really am! It will be a fun filled couple of days as the ham gets picked up, the gifts are arranged, the santa sack comes out and we kiss our little ones goodnight before the big red man arrives!

silent saturday

the little pinwheel blogging world

Earlier in the week I posted a blog post from my guest blogger, Rachelle from Kenziepoo. It is all about her blog and what her inspiration was to start blogging and what it continues to be. At the end of her post she asked, 'what is your inspiration behind your blog?' I was going to write my answer in the comments page, but then thought maybe you would be more interested in a blog post answer and not all of you read the comments!

When I started Little Pinwheel I was advised by a very smart network guru friend to start networking. He told me all about twitter, blogging and the whole network game behind business. It was very interesting to talk to someone that not only is quite passionate about how it all comes together and what you will get in return for it, but also who is willing to share his knowledge.

Not long after talking to him, I quickly signed up my personal facebook account again, added a business page for Little Pinwheel, tweeted and started my blog. It started off quite slowly in blogger land, but not too long into it, I started to really enjoy typing words and really write how I felt. I wanted to be different to other online stores with blogs. I wanted to share my personal life too. It was very important for me to have my customers feel they were buying from me not their computers.

The inspiration started from the whole networking Little Pinwheel to get the name out there, then not long into blogging the inspiration was my children, my life and how it all comes under Little Pinwheel. It is interesting how a business can become a huge part of your life, not only do you live it, but your children do too. They all get in and help pack orders, unpack ranges when they arrive, help me photograph products, model for me and do simple things like play with cardboard boxes.

As I blog today, I know that my inspiration is changing, my life as a mother is becoming more prominent for me and it is something I would like to share more. I know over the next few months that this will become a blog that is more about me as a mum, with insight to the working mum, the changes that happen to a mum everyday as your children grow as they reach new milestones and what happens to me personally as Little Pinwheel grows. There is a lot of ideas and topics in my head that are bursting to get out!

these flowers given to me today, are called pinwheels!

Lastly, my inspiration for Little Pinwheel also comes from the lovely people that surround me in the networking world; a world I did not think you could ever be friends with. I have met some inspiring women and men during this year and they are too my inspiration. Thanks to Rachelle, you are an amazing woman, a beautiful mother and an inspiration to me!

my space-the little pinwheel space

There is something about a person's work area, where they sit and have their creative heads go wild. I am a very calm person when it comes to working, I do love a space that reflects my mood, well the mood I like to be in when I work, therefore I like my space fresh with cool tones.

I was asked by Bec at Yummy Mummies if I would photograph my space so she could do a blog post on me and my area. She will be putting a personal touch to her post... will be more about the craziness behind my "neat" looking space. So watch her space as it is coming soon!

My husband built a plywood box to put my computer on, and primarily to make it more a workspace as our computer is in our kitchen. It also doubles as a box that hides all the cords from the computer, telephone and modem. Once the box was built I had the fun of going to my favourite paper shop, Pulp Creative Paper to fill my space with things I love.

I am obsessed with stationery, I love pretty post-it notes, compared to the loud fluro ones. It is a nice touch to a completed Little Pinwheel order to add a little note, a simple thank you, or little note that tells them which package is which.

One needs to be careful when buying stationery as it can get a little out of control; animal shaped rubber bands will make into your purchase. These I know I will never use, but don't they look cute! Plus they have been fabulous fun for my daughter, who just loves to line them all up. I could buy everything in my favourite paper shop!

I think you can tell a lot from a person's space, it is a place where you spend most of your day, it is a reflection of you as a person and a reflection on how you work. My space is still a work in progress, I need some more personal touches, something to go up the wall or hang from the roof or from the plywood window box. Any inspiration would be appreciated!