Clean Painting!!

At playgroup this week one of the mums came up with fantastic, quick and CLEAN painting. All you need is cardboard, paint and a big ziplock bag. Put paint all over the paper in stripes and dobs, put the card into the bag and close it up. Give it to the kids to smoosh around. It is so fun and clean. The first time Isaiah did it he looked at his hand expecting it to be all painted and thought it was very funny that it was clean. We also discovered that because there is so much wet paint in there you can draw in it and make very cool patterns.

This is my favourite, fast, clean activity at the moment.

Toys, toys, too many toys

This week all the toys we have are driving me crazy. I have them sorted into boxes and we are meant to pack away one box before we open the next. But this has not really been happening - mum needs to be a little more intentional with this one. We also don't seem to play with half the toys that are available to us.

So I have done some rearranging and put most of our toys away in another cupboard and we are only going to have this small box in the lounge room. (Even the basket on top is going to find another use.) Half toys and half books, next to the reading corner. I am planning to try and rotate the toys more often and keep some as special times toys.

We love our reading corner. It is great for so many reasons.

• to snuggle, cuddle, tell stories and chat
• to have quiet time and read
• chill out spot when one of the boys has woken up but isn't ready to face the world yet (did you spot Jai)
• a place to go (or be sent) if one needs to calm down a little.
• a great supply of pillows for pillow fighting

It has many, many uses.

Most of the time it is a place of peace and quiet.

New Aunty Toys

We received a very fun parcel of things from our Aunty this week. Isaiah got a very cool manican. He climbed up into a chair and sat and played for ages making it bend and do all sorts of fun things with his legs and arms.

Such a simple toy but so much fun.

There were also things for me - some very beautiful wool that I can't wait to make into something for me.
Hopefully, you'll get to see some of that soon.

Fort - Stage 1

Today was 'Fort building Day'. We have designed, planned, talked, dreamed about this fort for a long time. We collected a huge pile of second hand timber from a reno and the dream grew - there was so much timber that 'needed' to be used now. Today we started the building. With the help of numerous small boys stage one is almost complete.

The Design

The Planning

Started 'digging' holes

Coming up to see what Dad's doing!

Testing it out.

Sister's Weekend

Last weekend I went to the coast with my two sisters, no husbands or children. We had a wonderful time relaxing, shopping, going to markets, eating, knitting and just being together. We even all took our knitting to the local cafe and knitted while we were waiting for our breakfast.

Pizza and the beginning of many knitting projects

Late night run for the best gelato ever.

Early morning veiw from the house, the lake is just through the trees.

Where I was sitting reading, eating, drinking coffee, knitting and enjoying the veiw.

With NO interruptions.

It was a lovely refreshing time. The next one is already planned!

Our Happy Tree

We spent two years living in the Kimberley where you'll find the amazing Boab tree - it was a very special time and I wanted something to help us remember it. So we had a friend from Scott's work cut us one out of metal and we ended up getting the nearby ranges done as well.

This week my wonderful husband sanded, painted and framed it for us. Now it is hanging on the wall, just outside our front door. Our HAPPY TREE.

New Lease of Life

This is a cupboard we found at the dump and after convincing my husband to go and fetch it for me and a few months of waiting, we got around to giving it a new lease of life. Added shelves (with help), made the middle door open, sand, varnish, add fabric panels and now I have a new sewing cupboard.

Look at all that organised, easy to access fabric in there! I love it.

So many projects just waiting to happen.

Hand me down toys

We received the coolest hand-me-down toys last weekend. Isaiah woke up at 5am and came into our room asking for 'race cars please'. Even with the good manners we didn't oblige until some more sleep or at least rest was had and finally at 7:30 we set up this cool hot wheels race track. The level of excitment is pretty obvious.

We love hand-me-downs. Thank-you ZAKK.

Potato Crop

We planted some potatoes in the paddock just out from our house this year, very late and were hoping to get some produce before the frost got too bad. We got a really bad frost (-5) just over two weeks ago and that day the potato plants were black. But thanks to some radio gardening advice we found out that the best thing to do was to leave them in the ground for a couple of weeks and then dig them up. Here is the results of our first potato crop. We are hoping to get another crop in during August.

After digging them up, washing, peeling and slicing, we made our own home grown potato chips. No perservatives or other unknown things but great taste.

We will definately being doing this again very soon.

YUM!

Last of the tomato crop

My sister picked the last of the tomatoes after a very big frost killed the plants and we had a bucket load. More than we could ever eat so a quick wash and then into my Thermomix to make canned/bottled tomatoes for the pantry. I have recently been given all of the perserving bottles that used to belong to my husbands granma.

My grandma used to do heaps of preserving too but she died when I was very little. I really enjoy talking to my dad about what she did and anything he can remember about how she did it. Apparently she would go to Stanthorpe and get boxes of cheap fruit and come home and preserve for days. I would love to do that. Maybe soon we will have a weekend trip to Stanthorpe.

Somehow, doing things that my grandma did makes me feel closer to her,
even though I actually can't remember her at all.

Old/Vintage

I made a comment to my husband last week as we were giving an old cupboard a new life, that 'I like old things. ' I have old rusty cream cans in my rose garden, a vintage wash tub that my tulips grow (or are meant to be growing) in and I have an old cupboard we found at the dump for my sewing cupboard. His reply to my comment was, 'That's just as well', and I guess this is why.

I don't feel old at all!!
But I really do like old things (or perhaps vintage is a better word).