the spring holidays are over

Yes the school holidays are over and we survived with smiles on our faces. Lucy passed her swimming lessons and will be going up a grade next term. I am a very proud mumma. Fly-monster will also be doing swimming lessons this term which means I'll have to get back in the pool (eek bathers) so hopefully by summer holidays we will have two little water confident rugrats

It is also the countdown to our friends wedding and then Chrissy so I have been on a workout goal of 4 gym workouts per week. I have 34 workouts left till Christmas and need to start backing it up with a dietary change now to make the most out of it. I think I needs some cooking a freezing days to stay organised. HARD WORK

Also the wonderful weather has delivered us some awesome strawberries and the promise of mandarins on our little tree. 

Have you noticed that my photo's are looking better than usual? The old man bought a new whiz bang camera. A canon e60 or something with a fancy lens that was far too expensive but very impressive. I am clearly an amateur however Clint is getting good. Nothing professional, but still very good quality to keep our memories looking pretty. None the less the kids have enjoyed us playing paparazzi

Good sports

week one, October holidays

Looks like I was right. So far these school holidays have been nothing but fun. Also I may have over scheduled so we have a lot of plans but I think that we can fit it all in and still be left wanting more.

Last weekend we got to catch up with friends and family, help with wedding plans, build boats, Zumba, watch fireworks and attend the Perth Royal Show for the first time with the kids. All that and Clint and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!

Oh aren't we cute, and we make marriage look so easy! HA!

Also Missy is enrolled in vacation swimming lessons which means every weekday we are at the local pools on top of everything else. On arrival home from the pools today we were greeted by our lovely front planter box in full bloom. We hadn't noticed when we left earlier in the day and was such an nice surprise. I LOVE SPRING.

Tomorrow we have more friends over and a fun activity planned for the kids. I will post pics - PROMISE!!

School holidays are here

Yesterday was the last day of kindy for term 3 and we are officially into Spring school holidays now. I am making an official pledge to have fun this time. Last time I really felt trapped by all the kid mess and whinging.

I am sticking with my "no tidying the playroom deal". But I am also adding to the list lots of visits with friends both grown up and little ones.

We are kicking off big with Fireworks (care of Bunnings Harrisdale)tonight and then a fab day of gym (the kids think the creche is a special treat) and play date tomorrow with some mummy friend wedding talk on the side. Dad is even getting a special treat of a whole day playing boat building with his BFF - sorry - his mate. Then we are off to the show the next day. I'm pretty sure we will need to follow all of this up with a pyjama day so that we are full of energy for another play date with Miss L's best friend.

I would like to get some sewing done, however I am realistic that it is a complete pipe dream.

Also recently because of a little window of spring sunshine we have managed to venture out to the veggie patch again. We kind of "rested" the beds over winter and added some farm poop and compost to see if we yield better crops this summer.

This is bed number two and we weren't going to really try tomatoes again this year however the garden kind of insisted. They had self seeded and sprouted everywhere. Literally! In the lawn in the garden beds and even in the kids play area which is just white sand! So we transplanted all of the big ones and now have eight seedlings. Not sure which variety is which but pretty sure we will at least have 2 tommy's. Looks like tomato relishes again this summer.

These are both pics of bed number 1. Just from different angles. Clint and the kids surprised me with some more strawberry plants. We have 5 in total now. I still don't think I'll get to taste any as they are too quick at picking them and eating them the second they turn red. Ratbags

Also you can see how during winter i let the kids scatter some seeds that had spilt in my seed container and they turnout out to be lettuces. They have looked after themselves all winter and I am quite impressed at how resilient they are. Only one little brocollini plant survived however. But still that is my best try with them yet.

So far for summer we have planted seeds for corn, basil, watermelon. mini cucumbers and the kids scattered carrot seeds so I will have another interesting harvest.

Also we finally got our tree hat stand from EMPIRE. I love it. It really fits with our quirkiness and the final picture we see out home at in the future. We still have lots to do but now we are one piece of art/furniture closer.

This is Missy moo's tree mural in her bedroom. It also got a spruce up for spring and is now in bloom. We are planning on adding a birdhouse too soon. Another job on the to do list.

Master F's construction party

Lots has happened since my last post. But I guess that happens considering how long I leave it between entries.
Firstly Hank had his de-nutting operation. Turns out he is the Houdini of stitches so he spent a full 10 days with a cone on his head. We used every satellite dish joke we could during this time!
Next was Fly's party. It was so good that we were tired for the full week following.


We decorated the party area with caution tape and cones and the party food was all the type of stuff you'd get from good old jiffy vans.My kids ate so much junk we ended up all night with tummy aches!




Next was Mothers' Day weekend. SO nice getting loves from the kiddies that made me a mother. Plus they got me a blow torch so that i can start experimenting with brulee's and meringues in the kitchen. It's a hot pink one too - so totally up my alley.


Then it was Super Nanny's 85th birthday so we popped over to see her.


Have a few projects to get finished so will hopefully have some good photos of my achievements next installment.

A lovely way to start April.

This weekend has kicked off well. We started Friday night with a"picky' dinner of pastry parcels and cheeses and dip and bikkies etc, on the outside couch around the coffee table. We didn't pressure the kids to have to eat anything they weren't interested in or sit still the whole time. SO basically they just ate dip (not even the biscuits just used them as spoons really) and some cheese and cabanossi. And between each bite they'd wander off and go on the swings and return when they were ready. Was nice not to have to stress. Then yesterday morning we did separate girls and guys things. Lucy and I went to the hairdressers and Flynn and Clint went to bunnings to get boy things i guess. We all then went up the hill to see our good friends that we haven't seen in far too long and they cooked us a really nice BBQ tea and the kids ran amok around us as we had a few bevvies and caught up. This morning I let the kids have hot cross buns for breaky and we set up a new little sandpit type play area for them. It didn't take long for Fly to pour a whole bucket load of sand onto the paving. Bless the little rascal. Really we are just waiting to find it in the water feature. No doubt he'll have that done by tomorrow. And today's lunch was Korean bulgogi beef and we made little parcels just like when we go to Arirang. I also marinated some tempeh and zucchini which was just as yummy and gave a bit of variation to each one. I really need to hunt down some quality kimchi as that was the only part that I really missed. It was so nice sitting out under the patio just with our little family. I have been trying to encourage it more as otherwise we only do it when we have guests. Plus it almost feels like an escape without having to get in the car or put makeup on. Tonight is dinner at the in laws, BBQ again I think. Such a bloody good way to start the month.

This is just how we roll on a monday....

Who would eat inside when its this lovely outside. A little bit of tandoori pork fillet on the BBQ and a glass of sparkling pear juice and this mumma is happy.

oh dear, what a Nanna...

I spent half of yesterday teasing my Sis-in-law about becoming Nanna-fied prematurely. We went shopping and she was searching everywhere for a crochet magazine as she wanted to learn how to do it so she could sit and crochet at night.

As she is only in her early 30's I thought that I was well into my rights to tease her as much as possible. However I have just realised that I have spent most of my Saturday morning planning out my summer vege plot and white-oiling all of my citrus fruit trees. Perhaps I TOO am becoming a Nanna prematurely.

On another topic I have not neglected to get busy refashioning my rescue chairs. Here are some progress pics.

Turned out that the original foam was rotting. Probably spent too much time out in the elements.

So my next visit was to clark rubber to get some new foam cut.

Then I can sand and repaint the frame.