marble game

I am so glad to see that even in this age of electronic gadgetry some simple games still exist. Today Doodlebug and MOTH enjoyed a good old-fashioned game of marbles outside and I snuck out to try capturing their fun. It was difficult to see who was getting the most enjoyment out of it.... MOTH is just a big kid after all.........

teddy bear picnic

Little Possum and I had a little tea party in the garden yesterday afternoon. I don't know whether there are fairies at the bottom of our garden, but there were certainly a lot of assorted stuffed toys.....

First we had our refreshments - water sipped daintily from the little porcelain cups and white marshmallows (2 each.... one for each hand...). When everyone was fed and watered we played games. First up was leap frog and everyone had to participate. The next activity was dancing /jumping on the trampoline for LP and playing around with the camera for me.

We even had time for a modified version of Whack-a-mole with me being the Mole under the trampoline. LP was the whacker..... but thankfully she only tapped me on the head.

I can imagine the sight of me crawling around under the trampoline, occasionally pushing my head up would be bemusing to any passers-by. Our neighbours must have stopped wondering now after years of nude trampolining (by the kids, I hasten to add), Jedi doing their light sabre workouts and the odd night out stargazing.

I decided to see if I could take a photo through the trampoline mat.... and it actually worked.

And here's a self portrait by LP...... I really like it!

My latest addiction

is food. "What's new?" I hear you say, but this is not food for me. This is food for those who really need it. Jordan over at the Wonderwheel recommended this site -Free Rice. This is a website where each time you define a word correctly, 20 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Programme. So this morning, through my wordplay, 1000 grains of rice will find their way to someone truly in need. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

My little Valentine......

A special message from Turtle...

melted my heart, need I say more?

Bikes to school

Since we have now had 2 days without rain, the roads are nice and dry. When I suggested riding bikes to school this morning, there was overwhelming excitement from the kids. The boys zoomed ahead while LP and I took things a little more leisurely.... there were a few "scary" sloping bits where LP deemed it safer to get off the bike and walk. At one stage she fell off her bike and emergency cuddles had to be issued before we continued on to school. Brave girl for getting back on again! The boys got twice as much exercise because they would ride on ahead, then turn around and come back looking for us.... then ride on ahead again. I think they pretty much covered each stretch twice! I rode home afterwards at speed, and felt very good... nothing like an early morning surge of endorphines! I was even able to face the breakfast/morning chaos with a smile :)

Butterfly Garden in progress!

I had been very good and didn't start the first block until after I had finished Sweet Pea, but I was chomping at the bit. Now the applique is underway and I just love working with it.

The secret to marital bliss

is on the packet... MOTH and I went out for a date to celebrate our anniversary. He told me to meet him in town and I drove in. As I crossed the Harbour Bridge I thought - again - that Sydney must be the nicest town in the world to commute to. At least coming from our direction. You can cross the bridge and have full views to the city, the harbour, the Opera House. It wasn't bad on a rainy night like Wednesday, and it's spectacular on a sunny day. Having met up, we walked down to Lady Macquarie's Chair where the surprise destination became apparent. We were heading for the St George Open Air Cinema to see the world premiere of "Definately Maybe". (Extra brownie points to MOTH for taking me to a chick flick). I don't have any photos of the event because I managed to leave the camera in the car ("DOH!- moment"), but I will attempt to describe it. For starters the weather was quite severe with a thunderstorm and a downpour of rain but we were issued ponchos, and we had our golf umbrella. After reserving our seats we headed for the food tent whereafter we sat down enjoying our food huddling under the umbrella.

I had brought along a little treat.. I found it at the till in Borders while paying for the anniversary present (a DVD with the second series of "the Eagle") and thought it was perfect. It is a bar of the most delicious dark chocolate from Bloomsberry and although it was worth it for the taste of the chocolate alone, the packaging is what really made it (see picture above). We had the most wonderful views as we sat there watching the movie with the backdrop of the harbour, the city, the bridge, the opera house etc. It stopped raining about halfway through so we were able to pull the hoods down and feel a little less clammy.
Leaving the event afterwards I had a little giggle as I watched the crowd move along into the park in our ponchos, looking like we had all been taking part in some pagan ritual. btw - the movie wasn't bad.

I'm on a roll now.....

After Suzi's excellent demonstration of how to make cinnamon rolls, I decided to treat the kids to some after school yesterday. They were rather oddly shaped, and had the look of "First Attempt", but the taste was divine. I am glad I took a photo because they did not last long after the children got whiff of them... I did however get a nice taster because the whole batch didn't fit on the plate..... aaaah what a shame.... :)

"Sweet Pea" is complete

Here it is, in all its rustic beauty....... a little wonky but made with a whole lot of love and enthusiasm. Hopefully the little Sweetpea recipient will enjoy having and using it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Stacy tagged me....

The rules:
A. The rules are posted at the beginning
B. Answer the questions about yourself
C. Tag 5 people, let them know in a comment on their blogs that they have been tagged.

What were you doing 10 yrs ago?
10 yrs ago I was living in London, working as a recovery nurse and also doing a one year part-time course at university in nursing research. I was sharing a house with some wonderful people and occasionally had the missionaries over for meals. A Finnish elder by the name of Leppanen came over one time.....

Snacks I enjoy:
Chocolate
Fruit (esp mangoes)
Bombay mix
nachos
cinnamon rolls

Five things on my to-do list today (actually for tomorrow since I didn't have one today):
1. Remember to send library bags to school with the kids
2. work
3. Go with Serena to see her new house
4. A ton of phone calls
5. FHE

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:
1. Tithe
2. Buy a house
3. Buy a new car or two....
4. Engage a personal trainer
5. After the personal training has worked off - buy a new wardrobe
6. Buy lots of books!
7. Go on lots of holidays....

3 bad habits:
1. Short-tempered
2. I am not very kind to myself
3. Completely and utterly disorganised

5 places I have lived:
1. Oslo, Norway
2. Lampang, Thailand
3. Chicago, Illinois,
4. London, England
5. Sydney, Australia

Jobs I have had:
1. On the factory floor of a pharmaceutical company
2. Au-pair
3. Secretary
4. Retail - selling water beds
5. Nurse
6. Mother

Things people don't know about me: (I have to try hard to find something not already covered in my 100th post.....)
1. I am afraid of the dark (goes back to a very scary movie I snuck out of bed to watch on TV as a child)
2. I used to be athletic... (and you wouldn't know that to see me now....)
3. I turned down a job at McKinsey & Company to become a nurse
4. The hardest thing for me to do is to teach a lesson in RS.

I tag:
Joanna
Suzi
Jordan at theWonderwheel
Hanne
May Kristin

I grew a carrot....

If you remember from a blog entry earlier last year, I was making my first attempt at a vegetable garden.... From my 2 rows of carrot seeds, I managed to grow a carrot (yes, carrot singular...). And since I put a teaspoon next to it for scale in the photo, you can see the size of it. It made only one mouthful, but was a very tasty little morsel....

First Day of School

Here they are - my school children..... They were part excited and part apprehensive on this first day at a new school.
The school bags were packed and I am suffering with RCI (Repetitive Contacting Injury) after covering 14 textbooks and 28 exercise/project/scrap books with contact. By the 20th book I was really getting the hang of it, managing to not get bubbles or to stick the contact to other surfaces....

Drop off went well this morning - we stayed until the end of assembly in the school yard has finished. The children all lined up with their classes. Little Possum gave us a kiss and cuddle before lining up and then a wave as she walked into her classroom with her friends.... Looking a little apprehensive, but not even a fake show of "let me go home again and stay with you"..... completely insensitive to her mother's feelings.... LOL.... is this the thanks I get?... I had a little tear in my eye as they walked in, feeling so proud of my beautiful children but also a little sad at the end of an era. So here I am, at home.... alone.... LP had suggested I could talk to the guinea pigs if I get lonely, and even if they don't speak human they can squeak back to me and keep me company.

The strength of the family

This week our church mourns the loss of our beloved prophet Gordon B Hinckley, a great man who gave his life to service. I am so very grateful for his example, his faith and the loving guidance he gave us. I read through my collection of quotes by him and thought I would share this one:

"The strength of any community lies in the strength of its families. The strength of any nation lies in the strength of its families. Strong family life comes of strong and clear religious understanding of who we are, and why we are here, and of what we may eternally become. Strong family life comes of the perception that each of us is a child of God, born with a divine birthright, and with a great and significant potential. Strong family life comes of parents who love and respect one another, and who love and respect and nurture their children in the ways of the Lord. These are undergirding principles of our teachings as a church. To the degree that we observe these teachings we build strong families whose generations will strengthen the nation."
- Pres. Gordon B Hinckley

Jamberoo......

"Where queues you control the action"

We had promised the kids we would take them to Jamberoo for a day during the school holidays so we set off, with the esky loaded, swimmers and towels ready and a movie in the portable DVD player. After 2 hours of "are we there yet?" and then another 40 min of "you said it would only take 2 hours", we finally arrived. The park was fairly busy and queues long for the more popular rides, but everyone queued cheerfully and had a great time.

First up was The Rock which had two jump off points. All the boys had a go at that one:

The Gold Rush House was great fun - a play with water squirters, water sprays, water slides, buckets... all the ingredients that would make a child happy especially in these days of water restrictions! Here was the opportunity for waterfights, and pretty much anyone was a target!

And here comes MOTH with the Turtle... the facial expressions are wonderful, particularly the last shot when MOTH discovers how shallow the pool is as he hits the bottom.

And then there was the famous Taipan ride......

There were several other rides that I didn't take photos off - white rapids, surf slide (waterslide using a foam mat) bobsleigh, wave pool and more..... we spent a happy 5 hours here before the park closed and we had to leave.

Procrastination....

I believe I can fly.....

This photo was taken by Pop during our trip to Magenta Shores earlier in the month. Little Possum loves to throw herself into the pool horizontally, landing in an impressive bellyflop. This is her variation on the pencil jump that her brothers do and she calls it "a pencil fall". Obviously the suit makes it a painless experience because she does it repeatedly.

I love her fearless ways, and am envious that she can bellyflop with total abandon (and without causing a tidal wave)

Sweet Pea progress

We're getting there, slowly but surely... Not much was done during Christmas and the school holidays. Beach and Pool days are not compatible with sewing :) But this week I have managed to find more time to stitch and I have finished all the stitcheries, and I'm working on the applique pieces. Blanket stitch - nice and fast. The border strips are ready to be sewn on and then I will be quilting, perle cotton and running stitch. Am hoping to be all done by the end of next week.

In the meantime I am eagerly awaiting the first block for Leanne Beasley's 'Butterfly Garden' from Honeysuckle Cottage.

the many uses of a lunchbox

When is a lunchbox not a lunchbox? In the hands of a little girl whose imagination knows no boundary it can be anything, for example living quarters for various of her toys. She even included amenities like an "outhouse". I love her creative play and that she can turn her lunchbox into a doll's house - a travel-sized one at that.

Someone once said: "There will always be something in life for the person who can take his (her) lunch outside and call it a picnic" - that's my LP!

pedicure - Possum style

I think Little Possum must have been inspired by Carli's toes, and she set about beautifying her own toes with a Sharpie's permanent marker. The colour is quite vivid and the girl herself is very pleased with the result.

doing a happy dance today!

My favourite kinds of packages arrived in the post today. Here's the little bundle that Anne Heidi over at Piece by Piece sent me - Tusen, tusen takk!! (Anne Heidi had a draw before Christmas and I was the lucky winner). I am going to have fun making the stitcheries, the designs are Norwegian and I love having some Norwegian decorations around at Christmas. The fabrics are perfect for something Christmas themed as well. Now for a bit of gløgg and a bit of snow to set me in the mood!

The other package had a book in it - a copy of "Under the Tuscan Sun" that I bought on eBay. It came highly recommended by my friend Carli who does the most excellent book reviews on her blog.