There are probably very few parents of children in the early years of school who are not familiar with sight words coming home for revision and review each night. The challenge for us all is to make this a fun time for your child – and believe it or not, sight words CAN be fun! There are so many games and activities that you can play, and it’s an exciting...

The entire country was devastated to learn of the abduction, rape and murder of Jill Meagher, a 29-year-old Irish woman, on the streets of Melbourne’s inner-northern Brunswick at around 2am on September 22, 2012. Jill was a beautiful, smart, and confident young woman who was tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jill had made the decision to walk the...

If you watched “The Voice” this week, you may have noticed a teensy little snippet in which Ricky Martin was asked, “How are you?” by one of the contestants. His reply… “Grateful”. Ohhhhh Ricky! What a beautiful soul you are. Last week I talked about positive male role models, and I think Ricky would have to be pretty high up...

I can’t quite believe it yet!! We first started looking at caravans at the end of last year. We thought we had PLENTY of time to make a decision. And then we decided to head off to Tassie in September as a warm-up for our big trip around Australia. So in the blink of an eye, the months flew by and we realised that we had to make the decision NOW! We headed into...

I try not to get involved in Rugby League discussions. Despite coming from a family of football fans (Dad, you probably shoudln’t read this post), I have absolutely no interest in the game whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong – I do actually enjoy sports in general. There is nothing more thrilling than a close game that comes down to the final moments. I...

Pre-children, in my days of mothering idealism, I thought that having children (and four of them at that) would be a cinch. I would get along like a mother duck with her little ducklings waddling along behind her, all in a lovely straight line with just a few little quiet quacks to let me know that all was well. I was deluded. Completely deluded. What they...

Sponsored by Target I love this time of the year. The mid-year stocktake sales are such a brilliant time to snap up some bargains and stock up on some of the essentials for your home. However I headed into the Target Stocktake Sale with one thing on my mind – women’s fashion! I rarely pay full price for my clothes (I think this must be some kind of...

What does success look like? Maybe it’s the amount of money in your bank… Maybe it’s the amount of sleep you had last night… Maybe it’s the number of bedrooms your home has… Maybe it’s finally finishing the book that you were given for your birthday… Maybe it’s the number of letters you have after your...

Next year we are packing our lives up in to lots of boxes, and heading around Australia for 6 months. You can read more about why HERE. Now that our departure date is less than 12 months away, the planning and the preparations are well and truly underway. The anxiety of “What on earth are we doing?”, and the disbelief of “Are we really doing...

Last year we gave our playroom a major overhaul. We added lots of storage, and made the space a lot more attractive and user-friendly. I believe that children have a natural inclination towards organisation, and that a playroom should offer many options for free choice and independence. So I have been a whole lot in love with the Expedit from IKEA, as you can switch...