Summer evening

I'm grateful for moments of joy and beauty. Especially those that sneak up on me.

Last night while Turtle was out boating with the other Young Men from church, Little Possum and I sat by the bay along with Tina. It was a beautiful and restful spot to spend a late afternoon.

We had chocolate and there were rocks to jump around on. What more could we possibly want?

The latest in positive affirmation...

The Positive Affirmation Potato!..

As Little Possum said: "Potatoes are wise.... should listen to them more often."

(I love my girl with her off the wall ideas and boundless energy and enthusiasm)

"Book hangover" - a literary conversation with Little Possum

Little Possum and  I had a big discussion about books yesterday. She informed me there is such a thing as a book hangover: "You know when you are reading a really great book and it finishes and you are really upset that it's finished". Yes, LP, I know that feeling!

What makes a book great?
"Well, when you read it it's like you are living it, and you want to read it over and over again. Other books are like 'yeah, that was nice, what shall I read next?'.

I told Little Possum that people who do not read live one life, and people who read live many lives. She had to ponder it for a minute, and then the lightbulb went on, and she understood it is about all the adventures you can have in your imagination when you read a really good book. It was as she said - you are living the book.

I'm so glad she has discovered the joy of reading!

Her current read:
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull - for the 2nd time.

Next read:
The Hobbit
and then Lord of the Rings.

diddle, diddle, dumpling...

Diddle diddle dumpling

My son John

Went to bed with his trousers on

One shoe off

and one shoe on

Diddle Diddle Dumpling

My son John

Little Possum had a belated birthday gathering yesterday, which involved 5 friends from school and church coming over for fun, frolic and a sleepover. 

Trampoline, "Just Dance" on the XBox, more trampoline, DVD, pizza, Max Brenner chocolate... and a truckload of lollies and chips. (I had also prepared platters of fresh fruit, so I consoled myself they had a balanced diet of sorts).

What there was not so much of was sleep.....

With all the girls piled into the living room on mattresses there was predictably a lot of giggling and chatting.

Suddenly the morning came around with more trampoline and pancakes for breakfast before the girls went home.

Little Possum wandered around the house for a little bit and then did what all nocturnal creatures do, she found a comfy spot and settled for a nap.

 Doodlebug, in a moment of BigBrotherlyKindness, made her a soft landing spot in case she should roll off.

monkeying around

 Little Possum turned 9 and what better way to celebrate than to go to the TreeTop Adventure Park?

 (no words required..... face said it all!)

 sometimes a helping hand was required

 the Big Boys were on the more advanced tracks

 Peter coming down the zipline of the "Black course"

A fantastic day out!

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!



Arty Party

Little Possum's Birthday party at

                                 Tennyson Studio 

Looks of concentration

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.

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 :)