Off to the park: December 2018

24 December 2018

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of those of you who follow me here on the blog.

To everyone who has come by and liked, followed, loved, shared or commented on a post here or on Facebook, I just wanted to say thank you! 🤗😀

I'll be taking a rest from blogging as I have my girls home for the school holidays. We've planned another camping trip to Victoria in January, so looking forward to spending quality family time and a break from my business.

See you in the new year! xJulie

19 December 2018

Christmas craft & recipe ideas for the holidays

Its the last day of school here in NSW, it's hard to believe that the girls will be in Year 2 and Year 5 next year. Tomorrow we are planning on going nowhere and staying in our pyjama's all day, otherwise known as pyjama day!

I have Christmas craft planned as part of their advent calendar, but as I'm been busy working I haven't thought of any craft ideas. I find Pinterest is great in searching for some inspiration!

I thought I'd share some of our old favourites that the girls have created over the years, along with recipes for my yummy shortbread and gingerbread men.

I hope you enjoy them :)

Recipes

Gingerbread Men

My girls love to help make the gingerbread men

Shortbread

My yummy shortbread

Christmas craft ideas

Santa

Snowman

Toilet roll reindeers

Folded paper Christmas tree

Recycled Christmas card tree

04 December 2018

Goodbye IBOT, thanks for the memories

Today is the last day of the Tuesday linkup, a group of bloggers all knew as IBOT (otherwise known as I Blog on Tuesdays).

While I know that all good things must come to an end, it feels like its the end of a blogging era. I remember when I began blogging back in 2010, linkys were BIG and a must for anyone wanting exposure or to build a blogging community. OTTP's community has always been on the petite size, mainly due to the time and effort it takes to build a blog's following.

I never had dreams of writing daily blog posts or even publishing more than twice a week. When the girls were small and slept a lot, I had more time to devote to my blog, but nowadays my business is keeping me busy and I tend to be writing up posts for its blog instead of over here.

I was late to the IBOT party and didn't join until July 2015. Over the years it's been a great way of connecting with other bloggers. Not just sharing blog posts that we had written that day, but opening up and sharing parts of our lives. It was like sitting down with a friend over a virtual cup of coffee and having a chat!

I will miss you IBOT!

Thanks to Kylie & Jess for hosting IBOT for as long as you did, and for giving us a place to share our stories and be part of a blogging tribe. xx

Also thank you to those of you who have popped over via IBOT and left your thoughts and comments on my posts, its much appreciated! xx

Below are some of my favourite posts I have shared over at IBOT these past few years.

The arrival of Popette: my experience with pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome

04 AUGUST 2015