Welcome, Autumn

Autumn days are finally here! Even though the changes here are subtle, I love autumn. Not many trees turning yellow or red, but lots of flowering paperbarks. No squirrels collecting nuts but we do have beautiful dappled light, cool mornings and crisp evenings: beautiful sunsets followed by lots of stars. Not many blustery winds swirling fallen leaves, but macadamia nuts are ripe and delicious. And I love the cosy, longer evenings. A great time to start learning how to crochet, me thinks!

The beginnings of our autumn table. I made this outrageously easy vase-cosy out of a child's jumper from the op shop. I just snipped off the sleeve and slipped it over a jar with a missing lid.

Just having a nice little space like this cosies up my nights beautifully. Kiss everyone goodnight, a hot shower and warm flannelette jarmies, candlelight, a cup of tea and Miss Marple. I'm in heaven.

Now, I just need a little handwork project to work on...

Not Good

I arrived home all peaceful from yoga the other morning to find this. My serenity, like my favourite plate, shattered. Just another in a long list. You know how people say you should use your best china, not keep it hidden away in a cupboard? Well, I've decided they're wrong. Or maybe they don't have two energetic little boys wrestling on their couch.

I will admit to some stomping, door slamming and perhaps even a little tear or two of anger and frustration. After that, to console myself, I reached to the top of the pantry where I still had some bonboniere chocolates tucked away from Sarah's wedding. I peered into the box - which felt rather light - and this is what I found:

What a day.

A Teensy Bit of Sewing

Now that I'm a home educating Mum, I have found that my evenings are strangely taken up by preparation. Trawling the internet for ideas, preparing activities, pre-reading topics so I can actually have some idea of what I'm talking about, creating topic cards ... I haven't been doing much sewing or anything, that's for sure. However, at the moment, we are cruising along with our unit and I seem to have done most of the work, sooo... just a teeny tiny bit of sewing has been done.

A hanky bag for little snotty noses (and big ones)

and a new cushion inspired by some lime chenille I nabbed at the op shop after yoga.

Paper Making Day

Back in January, we were lucky enough to be able to attend this free paper-making workshop run by groovy local fibre artist, Lesa Hepburn. You can find out more about Lesa here and here. This is the kind of thing I've really learnt to take advantage of as a home educator. Anything that has educational value, any opportunity to try something new, we grab it with both hands!

I loved watching the children concentrating and being taught by someone passionate about her art.
At first, all Jimmy wanted to do was steal all the shiny baubles off the big Christmas tree, so I was glad when he realised he could get a bit messy, and joined in.

You can see where I had to chop that Whoopy Putty out of his hair.

At the end of the morning, we ended up with some beautiful handmade paper to use for some special cards. Thanks, Lesa!

Whoopy Putty in Hair

Why? Why?

On Replying to Your Comments

I want to thank you for your lovely, encouraging and heartwarming comments. I really appreciate the time you spent to write each comment.

The way I usually try to get back to you is through your blog, but if you don't have one this can be tricky. There are some of you good people, like Kaia and Sunny Mummy, who I have wanted to reply to but can't seem to - so I just wanted to say, thanks for your comments and if there's a way I can get back to you, let me know!

Loving Weddings and Sandwiches

I know Valentine's Day was quite a while ago now, but it's never too late to celebrate some loving memories, is it? We didn't go too crazy, but we did make some heart sandwiches for afternoon tea. There were a lot of heart crafts I would have loved to have got stuck into....but maybe next year.

I was so happy to be able to celebrate my cousin's wedding! My gorgeous cuzzie Sarah married the dashing Michael and it was a beautiful, funny and moving day. Sarah still has a big lovestruck smile on her face.

Thanks so much, you two, and we wish you all the very best.xoxo

New Shoes

Now I know they say, "Red shoes, no knickers", but I promise that's only true for Kees.

My Saturday Mornings

My Saturday mornings consist of yoga...

and a bushwalk along a nearby tidal creek.

I have been very fortunate on these walks to see many unexpected birds, including a family of Superb Fairy Wrens, Rainbow Bee-Eaters, a Striated Pardalote and a Rufous Whistler. I felt so excited when I saw them! I sneak into a thicket and sit as quietly as I can; some mornings I'm lucky and others I'm not. But it's still nice to see Magpies, Crows, Herons, Egrets, Peewees, Rainbow Lorikeets and Willy Wagtails anyway.

Easter Mountain Climbing

We spent Easter Sunday day-camping with friends, climbing Mt Ngungun, one of the Glasshouse mountains. We set off intrepidly...

but I didn't mind keeping a more relaxed pace with our youngest mountaineer. We found lots of interesting things along the way.

After meandering gently upwards for a little while, we came to the exciting part. Grandma Nani shouldered Jimmy and took off! (She's like that. I think she only sleeps four hours a night.)

It was a wonderful track, full of gnarled roots that had me in mind of "Lord of the Rings".

Matt climbed to the rescue (a bit nervous himself) when Miss G got the heebie jeebies in the steep and slippery cave. I loved the cave because it was great preparation for our upcoming unit on early humans.

Our expedition party! Still got more climbing to do though...

Jimmy wanted to dismount and go it alone. He did an awesome job; we were proud of our little troopers.

Made it! This summit really tested my commitment to allowing the children to take responsibility for themselves. Gulp! Gosh, it was very nerve-wracking. There were many commands of "SIT DOWN! ON YOUR BOTTOM!"

I think we all enjoyed a good sense of achievement.

We took our time on the descent and had fun eating salad rolls and making ochre paint. Yesss! More prep for early humans ;0)

Past the Scribbly Gums and we were down.

Back at camp we enjoyed a second lunch and a lie around on the ground. Then it was time to start the campfire.

Jim had a great little set-up making roasted guavas. They tasted a bit like tomatoes...I found a couple of bites was plenty.

Boys and fires. It's ingrained in that deep deep limbic brain.

The sun went down, the yellow moon and twinkling stars came out, and we roasted a few marshmallows, before it was time to go home. That was a great day, thanks friends!