cleaning up for Christmas

With the last couple of days being very windy our gumtrees were dropping bark, leaves and twigs until there seemed to be more on the ground than on the trees.

So, a little cleaning up for Christmas was necessary!

Here's Little Possum hard at work with the broom

while Turtle used the leafblower

 But all work and no play makes for very dull boys, so.....

let's see what else this leafblower can do!

 blowdrying your hair

 stimulating the circulation to the skin....

 and demonstrating laws of physics ...



'nuff said

in honour of a Little Possum

 Great to be 8!  Baptism Day - LP was very shiny all day :)

 Not bad considering that only one day earlier she'd been in hospital for dental surgery

quick recovery!

 Very self assured, LP made this picture and signed it in her best curly wurly handwriting because "you know Mum, this might be a famous painting one day!"

I hung it on the wall - it's the only thing to do when you have a future famous painting!

 oh la la!  It's French Day at school, so we had to dress up as chic as possible.

Makeshift beret made from an OR paperhat :)



 Lizard breath on Halloween

Tea party time.

Little Possum, you are my treasure, I love you and
 I am honoured to have been your Mum for these past 8 years!



My little monkeys

Arty Party - the finished product

Arty Party

Little Possum's Birthday party at

                                 Tennyson Studio 

Looks of concentration

Thoughtful Friday

‎"There is no use trying," said Alice,"One can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.

 "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

-Lewis Carroll

room to let - a birthday celebration

Little Possum desperately wants a pet.
Because she has developed allergies to all things small and furry she decided that a fish would be just the thing. The perfect occasion came around this weekend as that cute little Possum of ours turned 8 years old.

(8 years?!?!  How did that happen?!  One day she was our little - if you can call 4,5kg 'little' - bundle that we brought home from hospital, and now she's 8?! Stop growing already. I'm not ready).

Bless her, we'd told her jokingly that her birthday would be celebrated at the time of day of her birth.... but as she was born in a different timezone, we'd have to adjust and move her birthday from 10am to 7pm. She didn't like that idea so her birthday was celebrated from sun up to sun-down yesterday.

Highlight? One of them was going to the aquarium shop. We had to make important decisions about the kind of fish we want, cold water/tropical, freshwater/saltwater, and then we picked them a home.   Here it is:

Complete with a ship wreck.

Now we have to prepare the water with bacteria (yuck) to make it inhabitable.

hula girl

The theme for our Book Week dress-up day was "Around the World" and Little Possum decided to dress up as a hula girl. Not ideal for end of winter, but thankfully the weather was nice and sunny - and she let me persuade her to bring a jacket to wear over the top if she got chilly.

Gala Day finalists!

They played extremely well all day and made it to the final. The score was 0-0 at full-time, and so the tie breaker became the number of corners each team had. Our team had 1 while the other team had none, and so the other side won.

 It was a long day - 4 matches. In between matches, they entertained themselves by climbing trees, building forts etc..... on the move for the whole day. The weather was beautiful and we picnic'ed by the oval in the sunshine. Great day.

fairy going global

 

A couple of years ago, I made this fairy headdress for Little Possum's birthday party. The tutorial was featured on "A Crafty Mumma" and "The Crafty Crow",which was fun, but a couple of months we made it all the way to Italy. I suppose this means the back of Little Possum's head is world famous :)

Read my pins

I always admired Madeleine Albright, and I really wish I could've gone to see this exbition "Read my Pins" at the Smithsonian. Mrs Albright always wore pins on her tops, but what I hadn't previously realised how she used her pins very deliberately to convey a mood or message.

stunt turtle

end of soccer

no more riding bikes to soccer matches

just as well....  riding bikes is much easier without studded boots

and we can play balancing games anytime :)

there's a whole lot of fun to be had down here on the other side of the pitch...  a bush track to explore, dirt and rocks..

The kids call the red mound Uluru. We will have to take them to see the real thing one day. It's a little bigger than this one.

a boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do

when his siblings are making too much noise and he just wants to have a quiet read.........

always prepared

shocking photo quality...... I really want a proper camera...   

However, this is our Doodlebug taking the scout oath. He has been "upgraded" from cubs and I had to lovingly detach all his badges from one shirt and sew them onto his new shirt.

 I will need to teach him to sew, I think  :)

Big Bang Theory

There is nothing more refreshing and liberating than having a bellylaugh in the company of just yourself. I plan to reward myself after housework today with just such a belly laugh (or 5) by watching "the Big Bang Theory" on DVD (First season). Hilarious! I think I channel a couple of these characters on occasion, maybe that's why I like this show? (It is also possibly that I recognise GOTH in there as well  :)

something for the ideas board...

So when I have made quilts for all the beds I can work on the cars. Don't think I'll make one for Bertimus Prime though, he's just too big. Maybe just one for the wagon :)

I love dandelions

Whenever I see one of these I have to blow on it and spread all the little seeds on the breeze. I know dandelions are weeds but as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered".
My mother always said she was a bit like a dandelion - frequently mowed down by life's challenges, but always springing back to life looking as cheerful as ever. Near impossible to get rid of.
In honour and memory of my mother I feel dutybound to spread as many dandelions as I can. Its virtues may go generally unrecognised, but I will always appreciate its sunny colour, cheeky disposition and resilience in the face of life's lawnmowers.

man does not live on bread alone, but....

sometimes we need some, and making our own is the best!

Here is Doodlebug in action, making rolls.
Don't they look divine?

Turtle opted for a turtle shaped loaf while Little Possum made a kitty.

With butter and jam - unbeatable!