Quiet Play

Kees watches a little bit of telly, but I would like it to be even more limited and encourage more quiet play. I find that I set something up, he plays with it for five minutes, then loses interest. I can keep repeating this with a range of activities, which is really nice time spent with Kees, but what do you do when you need a straight half hour to get stuff done? I would love to hear your children's favourite quiet play activities. What I'm after is a little more of this (above) and a little less of.......

Picnicking

What a beautiful afternoon for a backyard picnic. Just add Grandma, Grandpa and some teddies...

delectable cakes from the French Patisserie....

and a few cuddles for good measure.

New Shorts # 2

Aren't these lovely shorts? So bright and summery. And lovely and soft, made out of an Op Shop pillowcase for the teeny-tiny price of forty cents.

But it seems like in this case, it's true that "you get what you pay for". On the very day they were made, Kees slid down a tree trunk and that was that. Boohoo.

Little People - A Work in Progress

I was so inspired by the delightfully gorgeous Birthday Ring on the Little Nest (blog) that I ordered some little wooden figures from the US myself and started making my own. They are really fun to make! It is just so cute fashioning tiny hats and hair. I don't know exactly what I'll do with them yet, but the fun is in the making. Perhaps they will be a special quiet play treat. I think they are definitely going to need their own house, playground, farm......meanwhile, the dishes are piling up and it looks like takeaway for dinner. xx

For You, Harry

To our lovely Harry, every time I see a "dirty bird" I think of you. With much love to you and Sam, from all of us.

Watermelon and Waterslides

Ah, watermelon. Isn't this what summer is all about? Kees was very excited about eating it, and, as you can see, couldn't wait for me to chop it. Anyway, it's much more fun to just bury your face in that cool, sweet, juicy flesh. Chomp! Jimmy definitely agreed.

We had a great day yesterday at the local waterpark. Was this your favourite thing when you were a kid? Waterslides!! Do you guys remember "Wild Waters"? The one that had the magical giant tap and the big crocodile? We used to LOVE IT there. Stace, we are thinking of you all moving house in the snow. Too bad you moved back to Canada.....heehee.

The reason we went to the waterpark was to make good on our voucher we gave Kees and Jimmy's cousins last Christmas. You know how I feel about the crazy consumerist madness at this time, with the kids ending up with a million presents and not appreciating them enough. So, each year, as a present, we give the cousins a voucher for a "Family Fun Day" to be redeemed. (Yes, very shabby that it took us this long to go!) I would love to hear any of your ideas: how do you feel about your children receiving many gifts and have you done anything about it? Or come to terms with it?

Housework...

Worst job. Obviously this is the "After" shot. And there was more than this.

Best job. Clean, clean, clean. Crisp and breezy and neat.

What are your best and worst household jobs?

Thanks Jess

Above are my two favourite photos (was hard to choose) that our dear friend Jess took of Jimmy the other day. She is a very talented lady. I spent ages trying to find her Essence Images website to make a link to it, but then realised it isn't quite finished yet!

And the others are my favourites, taken on the bed the other morning. Ahhh, yellow, and a lovely bonny boy (or two).

Our Home

This afternoon, as I went walking, I gazed at this feat of engineering, almost completed, and wondered ... how will this new bridge to our quiet peninsula affect us? What changes will we see in the next five, ten, twenty years? Good and bad, I guess. But the days when the big pine tree was the tallest thing at Woody Point are long gone.

Women Deserve a Choice

On Monday we attended an inspiring rally to support women's choice to birth at home. It is crazy and shameful that our government would remove choice from women at the absolute fundamental level of reproduction. It really makes me wonder what the world is coming to!

"That's when good neighbours become.....

... good friends."

This is a bit cute. Our neighbour - middle-aged, flanno-wearing, alcoholic, party-loving and quite rough round the edges - left this on our doorstep this afternoon. You can never judge a book by its cover, even if Matt is suspicious of his motives ;0). And Kees loves it at his house, especially when he's making a fire.

Beginnings

After some great rainy storms, our garden is starting to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers. I'm excited about lychees, apples, pears, coffee, olives, chillies, tomatoes, strawberries, zucchinis....They are all so cute and miniature! And someone else cute and miniature is beginning his new adventure into mobility.....What's beginning in your garden?

Moments

Isn't this the most precious moment ever. When your little darling gives up the fight and falls asleep in your arms. Very warm and fuzzy.

One for You, Dave

Dave, this post is for you, to remind you what a silly family you have. First, the frisbee got stuck in the mango tree. Nothing strange about that. Dad decided to use his boot to try to dislodge it, but the boot got stuck. But then, to try to get that boot and frisbee out, he proceeded to use his other boot. And what happened? The second boot got stuck too! Oh, Dad.

So, to get those three items out, he threw a ball numerous times, without any luck. But it was very entertaining for us.

The onlookers were in suspense.....


Until he finally tried another method, with great success! Love Cath.

Mummy, I....

"Mummy, I sweeped up the milk with my hair!" reports Kees, proud as punch. Of course, after the initial confusion, the first thought is....so where is the rest of the milk, and why did it need to be "sweeped" up? You know that saying, "Don't cry over spilt milk?" Well, milk gets spilt a lot at our house, by a certain independent, milk-loving three-year-old, and I always hear that saying and try to master my frustration. But I shall admit to you, to my embarrassment, that I have cried over spilt milk. Not today, though! I think it was the day that the brand-new, two-litre bottle of organic milk was poured into the chook pen.

And in other news of the day, Jimmy's latest fetish is to let his wee run over his hand whenever I take him to the toilet. Not too bad; it's only baby wee. But today he wet his hand then licked it. Still, not as bad as little Talila, who, to this day has eaten: a gecko's tail, a kitten's umbilical cord stump and various pet foods. I delight in her disgustingness!

Tomatoes

Have you tried this? It is truly delicious. Take cheese (bocconcini, mozzarella, goats'), tomato and basil, put it together and pop the whole thing in your mouth. What a big burst of summer flavour! Or spread your toast with goats' chevre instead - for those poor people like me who are dairy-free. Thank goodness for goats. I've been strictly avoiding cows' milk products for the last six months as they passed through my milk and Jimmy wasn't happy. But how I miss them! These tomatoes were grown by our neighbour and are a new variety called "Tomatoberries". They are very cute and very yum but they are a hybrid...does this mean they're genetically modified??

Dress-Ups

Kees is just getting into dressing up now - well, in more than just his pink fairy skirt, anyway - so that's a good excuse for me to sew. This cape is courtesy of a friend's old curtain, which feels very "Sound of Music" (and it's not the first time family clothing has been made from curtains, either). The kangaroo tail was out of an old chenille bedspread from the Op Shop and the pirate hat is just felt. I didn't make the wig, but you just can't have enough funny wigs in your costume box. I got a vision of the future when I put it on.... they say you end up looking like your mother....

New Chairs

I'm pretty pleased with these fancy new chairs! $7 each from the Op Shop, and new fabric for 80% off, means that these two beauties set me back less than $20!

Little Nibbles

Does your fruit bowl look like this?