Moroccan Inspired - Little girls bedroom

I have never been a fan of decorating children's bedroom with cartoon or Disney characters.  For one kids are always changing their minds of who their favourite is for the week and they make better birthday themes anyway...

So I have come up with this design.  A Moroccan inspired girls bedroom which is full of bright colours.  My girls love sparkles and what better way to introduce it in the cushions and lighting.

I just love this upholstered headboard, such a stunning design. With something so simple but eye-catching it can completely transform a room.

Moroccan Inspired - Little girls bedroom by lovemakesthehome featuring colored lights

Having fun during winter break in Cape Town & Durban

Three weeks of school holidays can drive a ONE insane but keeping the kids busy is key.  In Cape Town, as I'm sure in the rest of the country there are quite a lot of fun activities available. Schools do also offer holiday care but I can't justify it being a stay at home mom!  Sure, after the holidays I'm ready to take them back to school but I'm also very fortunate to be able to have this time with them.

Having lived in Algarve for so long and not having the amount of activities available I do get very excited that there is such a variety here and I like the girls to try different things.

Unfortunatly, all the activities I had planned they weren't able to do, only because Dad surprised us with a trip to Durban but we will defiantly try them next time.

So what, where how?
Every month the parents are given a magazine called the CHILD magazine for the area of Cape Town.  This is a free magazine and it cover practically everything regarding kids and their needs. About two weeks before the holidays I grabbed my calendar and the mag and scheduled a couple of activities I thought they might enjoy.

The activities available for their age group were from Building a Snowman at the Grand West Casino, cooking and baking lessons, sports activities for appropriate ages, pottery classes, theatre, dance classes, a visit to a chocolate factory and making your own chocolate and cupcake icing and a few more.

The girls especially enjoyed the pottery class. Sienna loved building a snowman with Dad and the sports activities. Lia loved icing the cupcakes but most of all eating them!

Our trip to Durban was just amazing. We spent a week in an area called Ballito Bay, only about 30min form the airport on the north coast.  The weather was great, a nice break from the cold in Cape Town.
Traveling with kids you are always searching for the most convenient place to stay and Mario found the perfect place.  He is great with things like that! We stayed at the Fairmount Hotel in this fantastic resort called Zambali. This resort isn't short of pools, there is a supervised play area for kids from the age of 4 at a daily or hourly fee and on an evening they offer a movie and craft nights for kids. They are supervised for two hours while parents enjoy time together, this at no extra charge. These nights came in handy!
The Resort have a few lovely restaurants, we particularly enjoyed the Thandi, a restaurant specialising in curry dishes located at the Fairmount Lodge.

Whilst in Durban we had to visit the uShaka sea world.  If you ever go you have to spend the day there because there is so much to do and see, from the shows to the amazing aquarium within an old ship.  There are plenty of restaurants and a water park too.  They loved seeing the dolphins show,  Lia was so excited, her face just lit up as they jumped out the water.

We also visited the Crocodile creek in Ballito and what really impressed us was the Flag Farm.  This is quite a big farm that takes in orphan and abused animals.  You can feed the horses and ponies or go for a ride on them.  The goats, pigs, chickens ducks and bunnies are running around, if you are brave enough you may pat the pigs and hug a calf.  Kids just love it there, oh and its really muddy and dusty which is just how they like it!!!

Fun times and good memories!......

The life of Railay.......

Back to school, back to work and back to blogging! It has been a long and interesting three weeks of school holiday. The girls nursery offers holiday care but I can't justify it whilst being at home and available.  There are so many out of school activities to keep them busy and entertained and even though I'm happy driving them back to school I do enjoy spending the time with them.

Apart from keeping really busy this holiday we also welcomed a new member into our family.....   

Meet Railay, our little chocolate Lab.  He is just the cutest little thing.  Railay (in case you are wondering!) is named after a beautiful beach in Thailand, a special place to us. 

Here is Railays story so far.....  

Now lets be honest Railay is just the most adorable thing but this gorgeous pup wasn't chosen based on his good looks!! No..... he had to go through a puppy test before he was able to join our family.  Railay and three of his brothers did the test and he was best suited for our family.

What is a PUPPY TEST you ask!!! Fortunately, Lara our cousin is a dog trainer and she offered to come along and do this test called the Temperament Test done on puppies so that one can be sure to bring home a dog that would suit the home and family.  There are about 6 very simple exercises to do with the dogs and this will reveal if the dog is of a natural, dominate, submissive or independent nature.  Railay was only five weeks at the time but even so I can see how effective this test was.  

He has the sweetest nature and has proved to be really intelligent.  

Our first night with him wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, however the second was just awful.  He cried a bit before bedtime but then relaxed but then he woke up at about 4am crying and whimpering for over an hour.  I didn't want to give in at first but it went on for such a long time that I could not ignore it.  I then learnt that he had an upset tummy and even when spending time with him he still moaned.  

I sorted his tummy out, again with instructions from Lara.  Only to feed him boiled chicken and rice.  This sorted him out in less then 24 hours.  Bed time is now a breeze,  I put him to bed and don't hear from him until the next morning.  My alarm is set for 6:30 and coincidentally so is his.  

He was taught to sit after a week whilst being looked after by our nephew and the house training has been a lot easier then my potty training experience with the girls!!!  

Sienna is totally obsessed with Railay and so proud when taking him out for walks.  She loves to cuddle him and carry him as if he were her baby!  Much to my disapproval!!  Lia on the other hand is constantly chased and her ankles are full of little scratches from his sharpies!! This doesn't stop her from loving him and still wanting to play, and this from a little girl who was bitten in the face by a Alsatian.... She truly is an amazing child!!! 

Railay will be starting training classes next week which I am really looking forward to.  I'll be sure to update you but for now I leave you with some photos of our little boy!

Keeping it Cozy

Its been cold here in Cape Town this weekend.    This is how I like to keep warm.

Keeping it Cozy by lovemakesthehome featuring book boxes

How I decorated my Home Office

Planning and decorating my home office was so much fun.  I visualised what I wanted and used Polyvore to put my ideas together.  Because the office has no natural light I knew I needed to stick with white furniture to keep the office light then I added some girly and colourful accessories to brighten it up.  

This was my plan.......

My Home Office Inspiration by lovemakesthehome featuring Zara Home

I then took my design with me when I went shopping at our local home stores.  Our most popular home stores are @homelivingspace and +Mr Price Home, I find them to be very similar to Zara Home and their prices are reasonable.  Still there is no place like IKEA....

I wasn't able to find the all the exact same items like the desk or rug but I got pretty close.  This is how it turned.    

   

Most of the office accessories I purchase at Typo, I just love this store, they stock really fun and unusual school and office accessories and supplies.  

Oh and how sweet is that little owl, its actually hand lotion.   My husband brought it back from Amsterdam. 

Project #homeoffice complete,  can't wait to start on my daughters bedroom...