Happy Australia Day

I hope you had a great fun Australia Day!

Op Shops and Cupsa Tea

Gosh, how I love op shopping. I even dream about it! And I actually visit the same shops in the dream each time: one with heaps of awesome cheap vintage clothes (next door to a zoo, not sure why), and one with loads of lovely china and vases and stuff. And I always wake up before I get to buy it!

I'm not quite sure what the fascination is, but I think it's that feeling that when you walk into the shop, you can have anything you like. Yep, if you see something in there and you want it, you can have it! Anything at all! It won't be too expensive. There are just so many positives: you can buy some new and interesting things, you are saving money, you are giving money to charity, you are helping the environment by not reusing and recycling, you won't have the same dress as anyone else, there's a mystery or story behind each item .... the list goes on.

Martine and I spent a lovely morning op shopping ages ago and I purchased this table and chairs and my favourite tea cup. I got rather excited by how serendipitously matching the cup and the seat cushions were - bizarre.

Why don't you come on over for a cup of tea one day? You can choose your favourite tea cup from my op-shopped collection!

Craft Hope for Haiti

Hi gang, if you want to help the people of Haiti - and get a little something for yourself or a loved one - please go to the special Etsy store: Craft Hope for Haiti. It's a whole lot of handmade items that sellers have donated and all the profits go straight to Doctors Without Borders operating in Haiti. xx Cath.

More Fish and Chips!

Following my mantra once more, and wanting to catch up with missed friends, last night we headed to the beach for another gorgeous serve of Sunset Dinner by the Sea.

Paul was blind drunk as you can see (typical), but the rest of us were fine.

Jimmy divided his time between pashing girls, drinking beer and being very annoying as only a crawling sandy ten-month-old baby can at a picnic.

There was plenty of my very favourite thing for my children: free and wild outdoor play with friends! (More of this means a lot less of the previous post's topic.)

It was absolutely beautiful and I loved it. Let's do it again soon!

What It's Really Like Around Here

This is Matt, holding the door closed from the outside while Kees has a massive tantrum and tries to open it from the inside. Yes, this is what it's really like around here at the moment, for goodness' sake. Don't you just love no-nap days at 4pm?

What would you do? Please tell me it will be over soon? We do try so hard to be patient.

Sunset Dinner

I really do think you just can't beat spaghetti bolognaise. Everybody loves it!

Last night we bundled it up, chucked it in the boot and were down at the jetty in a flash, watching a magical sunset and eating Matt's yummo spag bol. I might just dare to share with you my mantra for this year....it's I am manifesting my heart's desire. Doing things like this impromptu picnic are so worthwhile, even though they can seem like a bit of extra work. So this year, I am going to put in that effort to do what I would really like to do. Within reason of course; there won't be any horse-riding-in-Mongolia trips just yet.....

In Our Kitchen This Week

Fun cooking with Jimmy...

a chocolate birthday cake with - ahem - not quiet the right amount of candles .....

and annoying ants looking rather pretty as they obligingly clean up.

A Tree Tee

After much stitching, the tree tee-shirt is ready. It is pretty cute, but it doesn't fit Kees all that well, unless you don't mind the eighties work-out crop-top style, so I'll let him wear it a couple more times then stash it away for Jimmy. I used a very old tee for a pattern, and I should have added more length because he's bigger than I thought!

When I first put it on him, Kees said, "I want to break it." Nooice. I was most put out, even if he is three and a half. I guess "receiving gifts" is NOT one of his "primary love languages". Surprisingly and happily, the next time I popped it quickly over his head (so he would wear it without noticing), he said, "I love my new tee shirt". Relief.

When browsing for a tree pattern - I find drawing tree branches really hard! - I came across this great site full of free applique patterns: Wee Folk Art.

Just a Little Holiday

I. LOVE. NOOSA.

Puzzles

This morning we enjoyed doing these beautiful old jigsaw puzzles.

And I apologise to anyone who tried to call us over the last few days; we finally found the phone inside a puppet that was hanging on the Christmas tree.

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Remember this book!? Thanks Mum (again) for finding "Tikki Tikki Tembo" for me! I have been wanting to share this childhood favourite with Kees but it had been tricky to locate. What a great story, and the illustrations are just brilliant.

Don't you remember the boy's name? Tikki tikki tembo no sa rembo chari bari ruchi pip peri pembo. If you loved it as much as we did when you were a kid, you could probably still rattle that off in your sleep.

This is really a wonderful tale, but very tiring to read aloud!

A Boat Trip

Today we took a little boat trip around Bramble Bay. Kees was really excited as we took off in our motor boat! He didn't mind that we were going about three kilometres an hour. Or knots. Martine, we were thinking of you at your old home, Dohle's Rocks. (And did you see I put your lovely paper to good use for the hearts? :0) )

Jimmy's life jacket was a bit too big.

I have always longed to explore these little beaches that you can see from the Hornibrook bridge and I'm happy that we have finally done it! It felt like a million miles away, like Greece or something.

There were treasures to be found: we were lucky to spy hermit crabs cautiously creeping out of their shells...

and to hang out with this friendly "helican".

And then we all went back again, captained by a sumo wrestler.

Dessert

Is it just me, or does somebody else out there love dessert before dinner?

A friend I was dining with said that when eating out, she seeks elevation. What a great concept. This blood orange and rosewater sorbet certainly elevated me.

Our 11th Anniversary

This frangipani tree is very special to me. When we got married, eleven years ago (gulp), we picked bunches of flowers from the original tree, in Toowong cemetery, for the vases on the tables at our wedding. When we bought our home in Woody Point, six months later, we took a cutting from that tree and planted it in our front garden. I think it is a good omen that it has flourished! Thank goodness ;0).

Ah yes, the happy couple. Check out Matt's hair! Thanks so much to Mum who lovingly restored our wedding album; all the photos in the one I made stuck together, because I stupidly didn't put that special paper between the pages. Eek.

We had a lovely day yesterday, despite our best babysitters being in NZ! I don't really have any words of wisdom about marriage or anything. I just know that I am lucky to have a GOOD MAN. A good, kind man. xx

Margate Morning

Gosh, what a beautiful morning for the beach. It sure can get you out of the grumps. Note to self: when suffering from irritability (PMT), head to the seaside.

The clouds were really gearing up for a much-needed break in the weather, and were fascinating to watch.

Jimmy wore his new Mummy-made hat...


and I appreciated the water sparkling and swooshing over the pebbles and shells,

this pretty flower,

and my new shoes.

Jimmy loved the waves and was a bit over-confident as he charged towards them with his funny one-legged-jazz-slide crawl.....

and even remained calm in the face of imminent danger, as you can see by his face right before he got taken out by a wave. Yes, I am a terrible mother letting my baby get dumped for a photo. (No children or animals were harmed in the making of this blog. Not too much.)

Kees was up a tree as usual...

and Talila, bless her, slept through all the fun.

Down the Creek

Right near Mum and Dad's, at Mt Coot-tha, is the delightful (despite the name) Slaughter Falls. Usually, the creek is bone dry, but with all this rain, it is a wonderful place to take the kids for an afternoon of swimming, making waterfalls, throwing rocks, building "fires", hiding behind rocks and spying kookaburras.

Hmmm, bit cold down there!

There were lots of birds: magpies, kookaburras and lorrikeets.

Jimmy loved it, splashing and kicking with his legs, but it was a bit tricky clambering over all those rocks.

Emily, Isabel and Daisy were great playmates.

This kind of free and wild play in nature is just what my children need, Kees in particular. He can be quite a handful, especially if "trapped" at home for too long, but here, he is truly happy. And that means a happy and relaxed Mummy! It was just like having a little bush holiday.