Breadmaking

Always a favourite pasttime in our house. I love to see those little hands kneading away. Its great relaxation for me too. We all enjoy reaping the fruits of our labour at the end of the long process.

Weekending

When a boy gets up at 5.30am consistently on the weekend, anything can happen. What amazes me is that he wakes with such enthusiasm (and volume) everytime - chatter, chatter, chatter - as if he has been up for hours. There is no slow wind up for kids, is there ? For some time now I have been slowing trying to lead my children into understanding the joy of the morning stretch (in the hope that is slows the acceleration). It seems to work for 4 year olds...but not 2 year olds!

What happened after a high speed wake on the Sunday morning just passed was a racing track made from a big discarded cardboard box, some filling and a milk bottle - in my haze. He appreciated it! I dont think "pitts" is spelt correctly but that was OK!

The day evolved and P's sunny dancefloor evolved too! She was meticulous in setting it up. I received very clear instructions on the help I was required to give. Luckily we found a long piece of skirting board out the back that could join the dolls house and chair at just the right height to hang the beautiful backdrop. But the space became way too appealing for a sunny sleep for daddy and Z later in the morning.

Welcome Spring!!!

We have been welcoming spring early in these parts. We are so excited and have relished every moment we can in our backyard -tea parties and spring cleaning!

A present for you and a present for me

P had a 5 year old birthday party to attend yesterday afternoon. All little girls love to write and receive letters, dont they ? The anticipation of going out to the letterbox each day and then the excitement or disappointment. In an attempt to increase the incidence of excitement we have been writing letters.

We made P's girlfriend a writing set for her 5th birthday. And, of course, what is good for you is also good for me - so, "I really really need one of those too mummy". How could I hold off until Christmas ??

Our writing set includes the essentials - cards, small pieces of beautiful paper, envelopes, a stamp, stickers of all sorts, a glitter pen and glitter pencil, glue and (not included in the photo) a felt envelope with plenty of paper confetti.

We hope P's friend loved it as much as P did. P was very excited to wake up and find it waiting for her on the dining table! Ahh the pleasure

A Bag

I have not been an avid bag maker. Its not really been my thing. Buuutttt maybe things will change.

I had a go last weekend. I used a coffee bag and some instructions for a garden tote. It works better for everyday purposes for me.

I think I will be making some bags for christmas presents. My mum has already noticed it and thought it would work well as her craft bag.

A swirly knitted skirt

P is vigilant in explaining to me that her favourite type of skirt is a swirly whirly skirt. In particular it needs to fly around as she spins.

I recently finished a knitted swirly whirly skirt for her. She is pleased and so am I.

to add to the last post

another photo missed that perfectly depicts childhood freedom

weekends

On Wednesday I discovered that I wasnt able to attend Uni for my intensive program from thursday to saturday, as planned. Given we had arranged to take the time off, we thought we'd make the most of it and head to our favourite place and hour and a half up the coast.

the winter weather wasnt winter at all and we had a great weekend in the sun spent with nanna and tex -

running under water sprinklers (ohh-waa)

picnicing in the park by the lake

watching kookaburras, pelicans, suddy oyster catchers

swinging on tree swings

exploring the lake

riding on motors boats - fast with daddy doing 360's

running on the beach

jumping waves

and for me, reading my book and enjoying the space on the beach

The Library

Our hallway has become an active library over the last few days. While this photo doesnt depict it, at times every book has been relocated from the shelves into the library.

P has loved being the "librarian" allowing all borrowings (where agreeable to her) to be taken for 33 days only after they are stamped at the special librarian table. It has been a source of great enjoyment to her, a little frustration to her brother (when he cant borrow the books he wants) and, parts have been to my amazement. The routine is the same each time. The heater goes on, a lamp and doilie come down to the floor, the lamp is placed so it shines on the array of books and the books are piled in a special order.

A Beautiful Distraction

One of the jobs in my life is not terribly creative but it is the source that sustains my families material expenses. I do it 3 days a week and thankfully I am fortunate enough to be able to work from my home office. I am most most grateful for that as it allows me to be available to my family when needed - by them or me!

One way I bring the creativity that I crave into this time is to surround myself with pleasures to my eye. There has been one recent addition. Its picture is above. I found it at a local antique store. It was described as a marmalade pot. I love the word 'marmalade'! Plus it is so beautiful - its shape, its amazing yellow colour. Since it arrived on my desk 2 weeks, I find myself being distracted by looking at it often! I love the simple pleasures! But what is most amusing is that it holds computer memory sticks - doesnt seem quite right does it.

Possum Magic

What fantastic good fortune!! While sitting eating our dinner on Monday night, in our very urban house within 10 minutes walk from the coast, we spotted a ringtail possum in our courtyard! We have a courtyard in the middle of our house adjoining our neighbours concrete courtyard. Fortunately we have a lovely green backyard as well but our courtyard is about 3 metres 4 metres - not big. There sitting in the fork of our tree was two little eyes looking in at us.

The kids were bouncing with excitement. That was the end of sitting at the table for eating dinner. They spent the rest of the night running between the doors and the table telling us of his every move and their every imagination for his life. He stayed in the tree watching them. I wonder what he thought.

We had suspected, or rather hoped, there might be possums in our backyard. For a long time we have had a possum house high up in a tree but there has never been evidence of one living there. We talk about the thought of possums a lot - 'Daddy thinks he saw a possum last night'. But we've not been sure we have seen one.

Now we have!! And with great timing as P has been finding it hard to get back into pre-school after the school holidays. So it was a fantastic topic for news the next day.

Weekend

Sitting waiting patiently in the holding pattern of projects in my study has been a clothkit pattern for overalls for Z. So when I had a blissful hour ahead of me on Saturday morning, I went for those first. Dad, P and Z went off to swimming lessons and I sat in my study, music on, windows open, sun shining through, working away at a cute pair of overalls. So you see why I described it as 'blissful', it truely was. Some finishing touches had to be made to the overalls on Saturday night as Z was not as small as I thought he was! Covered in his favourite item -cars, especially Combi's - he couldnt wait to get them on come time to go out on Sunday. Although, he was not so cooperative when P and I tried taking his photo - even with private modelling tuition from P.

We set off for a busy Sunday, commencing with attending National Tree Day activities. We were a bit late but luckily Daddy had kept some plants for P and Z's contribution. Although, some were more interested in catching and relocating lizards! We had a picnic lunch and then moved onto an afternoon party. P was invited but Z insisted he needed to attend. It was at an indoor play centre and there were lots of kids and parents coughing and spluttering, so thankfully B agreed to come and take over for me. I took the time for another one hour of solitude reading a book. It is unheard of and I lapped it up.