We Play and We Play and...We Stop!

Creating

Over the weekend we were busy making a gift for our sick neighbour. We made her a bag and a lavender eye pillow (together with some extras for ourselves). P loved mixing the lavender. We chose cracked wheat to mix it with because that was all we ahd that seemed suitable in the cupboard - I hope it is suitable!

While at it, I also made L some bibs as sadly that has started already - she seems such a hungry girl...it is so early (and I am not misguided by the thought that looking at food means she is ready for food! She genuinely seems hungry)

Sail Away Sail Away Sail Away

Z loves setting up his games. His favourite thing is his pond - elevated by a cushion to make waves. He usually loves putting his toy surfboards on the pond. But the other day we found some big (black bean) pods and made sailing boats.

Z is helping me write this post and the next thing he wants to say is, "I love mummy" and "we are getting a big boys bed".

Productivity

It has been happening around here and I feel great for it! Achieving craft of my own makes me feel balanced. So so many unfinished projects lay through my space - and many more clutter my mind.

Over the past week and a half, I have finished an old quilt that has been folded in the cupboard half finished since P was 2, and she's now 5! It works well for L - nice and cushie for her increasingly rarer falls from sitting.

I also finished a pair of pj pants for both P and Z. Not a great photo but the best I could do late at night. They both love them.

And.. I finished a jumper for L - in the knick of time. It stills fit but only just. I started it when I was pregnant. So it is not "conformly" gender specific in its colour. A photo of that one soon!

And more to come - almost finished a cross over jumper for L in a pattern that I found on Ravelry some time ago. I am officially half way through a "crushed banana" dress for L - but that's OK, I am aiming to have it finished for a holiday in September. And I would love to make myself a skirt...hmmm, we'll see.

Backyard Times

Last Friday seemed almost like a summers day around here. Z made the most of it in the garden with friends. We had a turnstile on our gate and a rotation of friends coming through to play. Making garden soup and an early harvest of (not quite ready for picking) carrots were among the games.

For me, the end of the day saw a a very frazzled mummy. A few weeks of big workloads and trying to compensate for lost play in one day was not the recipe for calm and relaxation. A lesson I may one day learn! Although, I think it went unnoticed by my three babes...that is, until my response to the funniest bathtime activity of putting a finger on the water sprout and spraying water all over the bathroom!!

Sitting Up Girl

Amazing! I really wanted to savour every moment and labour on it for as long as possible. These last 4 months seems to have wizzed past. Baby L decided to sit for the first time, on her own, this morning. It has happened overnight. We havent spent weeks of being propped up with cushions. She just decided it should happen and her strong little core allowed her to sit there on her own - with a few gentle tumbles (and more to come).

A Mothers Day

Holidays

We have shared an amazing 2 week holiday with our relatives. We travelled to Tasmania with one of B's brothers, his wife and 2 kids.

The first week was rewarding but gruelling. My sister-in-law and I stayed at a farmstay in the Tamar Valley with our 5 children (under 5!). The kids loved jumping in the hay on the back of the truck to feed the cows, and, sitting on the beautiful horse. Funnily enough they enjoyed feeding someone elses chickens each morning more than feeding our own at home. Why doesnt it provide the same excitement ? A couple of days of wild weather meant indoors and frayed tempers - but what does one expect of loving cousins all close in age! All while the guys enjoyed 6 days of nature, peace and tranquility walking the Overland Trek.

Week 2, with us altogether, was more relaxing. Unfortunately the night before picking up the guys I got sick and so did the 2 little bubbas. But a couple of days at the Bay of Fires and relaxation helped our recovery.

Hobart was great for catching up with a dear old friend and his beautiful family. It meant new friends for the day for my kids and they had a fantastic time. If only we could all be as unassuming and open as children are when we meet new people.

We are Back - and with 3

Our love and play has returned to blog. I have missed updating this record for some time but havent been able to get myself back to the routine. I hope I have now.
It seemed so difficult to start again as I felt I needed to give an explanation for the absence. But I am not going to. I am just going to start otherwise I could procrastinate forever deliberating on how to catch up and then never return. BUT I will say we are now 5 - we have been blessed with the arrival of L in our lives - who is now 3 months old and she is absolutely gorgeous!!
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Kindergarten has started well for P. The choice to attend the local public school was painstaking and ohh so difficult. I felt satisfied in the end for its many virtues. As the first term has come to a close I have realised I am not dissatisfied but I do have to make a conscious and concerted effort to live our family values. It seems easy to get pulled into the mass - to get pulled into the competition, the commericalism, the unrelenting (yes even in term 1 kindergarten!) academic focus! The Easter Hat Parade allowed me to come to this realisation!

P and I researched Easter hats. P came up with her design. I mostly did the leg work in putting in together - P did the glueing. We both loved it! Most importantly, P was very pleased with her Easter hat - and remains that way. The parade was clearly a competition of the biggest and best - lots of feathers and height! Momentarily tempted, I suddenly realised it was important not to get pulled in. P's hat was modest but beautiful because she designed it, we made it together and she loved it. The Easter bonnet as we called it when I went to school holds vivid and fond memories for me - memories of making my Easter bonnet with my mum, that I was so proud of. So I realised that was important - not to get pulled into next year having to be bigger and better but to make sure that again we put something together that is handmade by us!