how to melt a mother's heart

Little Possum: "I'm going to miss you lots when I'm in school all day"
Me: "You will be having so much fun, you'll forget to miss me"
Little Possum: "No Mummy, I won't ever forget to miss you because I love you very, very much".

I'm going to miss exchanges like these when LP grows up...... but for now I"m happy that she's still my little big girl!

First day of school!

(Turtle is not crying.... he's just trying to avoid being photographed )

Having covered 48 textbooks and exercisebooks with "contact paper" (stickyback plastic) and having labelled all pencils, colouring pencils, textas, sharpeners, rulers etc etc etc., I was more than ready for this day!


The morning started with a shock as Turtle actually expressed interest in having a proper sandwich in his lunch box. This is the boy who would go to school with 2 slices of plain bread in his lunchbox because he only likes Nutella, and this is banned at school...... I tried very hard not to make too much of a fuss about this since it could very likely make him change his mind....... (he's like that, our Turtle!). He actually decided that he wanted a banana sandwich (not just sandwich, but FRUIT as well!!). Yay!! could it be that our boy is actually turning a corner in the food-fussiness department? Maybe having omnivorous siblings is actually rubbing off, or maybe he's too hungry to carry on the rebellion?


It was a very rainy morning which caused much concern for the children who look forward to their plays in the playground at recess and lunch. Thankfully it did clear up mid-morning, so playtime was saved!


This year brought a uniform change - compulsory ties for the boys. Ties have until now been during winter only, and the boys were not impressed to have it extended to summer as well. I think they look very smart, and I'm sure they'll get used to it.


Little Possum is feeling very grown up now that she is not in kindergarten anymore. Her class is a yr 1/2 composite class which will work well for her. All her best friends are in the same class, so they will have a great time. LP's teacher Mrs D is by all accounts great, but firm.


Turtle goes into yr 3 and has "inherited" Doodlebug's teachers from last year. Mrs R and Mrs L are wonderful and Turtle will thrive in their class. It is a mother/daughter team who job-share and they do it amazingly well.


Doodlebug started yr 4 and his teacher has been at the school for decades (She taught his Kindergarten teacher as well as Turtle's teacher!). Mrs C looks a little fierce, but apparently is a lot of fun as well. Doodlebug is very proud to be one of the 3 senior classes who have moved into the brand new demountable classrooms. As far as demountables go, these are luxurious! Air-con and brand new bathrooms.

Thoughtful Friday

"Happy hearts and happy faces

Happy play in grassy places -

That was how, in ancient ages,

Children grew to kings and sages"

- Robert Louis Stevenson

and then the rain came!

"Childhood is that wonderful time of life when all you need to do to lose weight is to take a bath"

NN

A bath was certainly needed after this little event.... The photo quality is poor as the daylight was waning and the battery in my camera gave out after this one shot.

After a very hot day the thunderclouds rolled in and along with the electrical storm came the torrential downpour. The children wasted no time, but hurried outside to play in the mud. Even the Wii could not compete with the mudpuddles around the side of the house.

"the world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful" e.e. cummings

double celebration

"Don't underestimate the power of people who join together to accomplish amazing things. (...) When all of our people are engaged and involved in making their community better, then we can do anything."

- Barack Obama

It's my birthday today.... I had the most wonderful birthday cuddles, handwritten notes full of love and birthday wishes from my children. I have had some lovely presents as well, but as I share my day with the Inauguration Day in the US, I think I have to say that the change in leadership in America is the best one!
A new direction is desperately needed and although I must say the shoes left for Obama to fill are very small, those shoes have trampled over most of the world and the footprints will take some work erasing. I look forward with hope that the world will be a better place with Barack Obama at the helm of the most powerful nation on Earth.

Carli is, as ever, more eloquent than me, and she has written a great review of Barack Obama's book "Audacity to Hope", Maurine Jensen Proctor also worded beautifully all the hopes and desires of my heart for this new president.

6 yr olds know what it's all about

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter"
e.e. cummings

I was reading a list of interesting little facts the other day, and one caught my eye: apparently 6 yr olds laugh on average 5oo times a day....... an adult will laugh maybe 50-100....

Amazing isn't it? I decided to watch my 6 yr old to find out what it is that I used to know and don't know anymore. There is the ability to find wonder and amusement in even the smallest of things, the ability to live in the moment and make the most of it, the ability to see the funny side to pretty much every situation and then of course there is the carefree existence of childhood.

Where did that all go? I might have to work that one out and to set a goal for 2009 to laugh more - ...... to feel joy.... after all - "men are that they might have joy"....

I might have to get a tank of Entonox from the Delivery Suite at the hospital to help me along, maybe some laughter therapy? Or maybe just hang out with my 6 yr old to watch and learn.....

Thoughtful Friday

"In every forest, on every farm, in every orchard on earth, it's what's under the ground that creates what's above the ground. That's why placing your attention on the fruits that you have already grown is futile. You cannot change the fruits that are already hanging on the tree. You can, however, change tomorrow's fruits. But to do so, you will have to dig below the ground and strengthen the roots."

- T. Harv Eker

building a city...

"We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create or dream"

Robert Coles, Am. psychologist

This is why we love school holidays, lots of unscheduled time to do just that - create and dream.
Yesterday Turtle and Little Possum went to work building bridges out of mud. The mud was mixed in the wheelbarrow until the right texture was achieved (I'm glad we've hidden our bags of cement...).

Once the basic infrastructure like roads and bridges were in place, the rest of the city took shape:

At the back the Centrepoint Tower with a fountain in front. Various other building and factories, and last, but not least the War Memorial (see? it's not just an upturned bowl with a toy soldier on the top.......)

I'm seeing stars

Last week and this week I'm working full-time while MOTH is MATH - Man About The House. He's doing a great job, is most probably a better housewife than I am because he is not distracted by the sewing table :) he does get distracted by computer screens, though. Suzi once suggested that he earned his moniker MOTH because he was attracted to the flickering of the screen...... she was not far wrong.

I haven't worked fulltime for a decade and had forgotten the joy of working an 8hr shift - proper breaks! Perfect for my Texas stars which have become my handbag project. I can get a star or 2 done each day at work depending on how much chin-wagging I'm doing at breaktime.

Photo above is last week's crop. During the weekend I cut out fabrics for another 30 stars. 152 down, 190 to go!

Thoughtful Friday

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education"

- Albert Einstein

one WIP off the list..........

but not in the way I wanted...... In my eagerness to finish the Ispy quilt, I brought it with me on a family outing in order to do some stitching in a spare moment. Good plan? I thought so.......

But, I lost the bag which contained all the blocks I have completed so far as well as the pattern, my cotton perle threads and my super duper Tupperware "oyster" which was just the right size for my spools of silk thread, my scissors and needles. It's somewhere in the Warriewood area... hopefully it found a home with someone that appreciates it and didn't just get thrown away when whoever found it realised it didn't contain valuables of the monetary kind.

This was going to be my January project, but I will just have to work twice as fast and get another one done......

(how this came about? The bag was forgotten as I rushed to scoop up and cuddle one of my children who was distressed, and I proceded to carry him to the car, forgetting all about the bag..... I tell myself this means I have my priorities straight.....? :) )

Project a month challenge

Kris and May Britt are hosting a great challenge this year. The goal is to complete one project per month throughout the year. It's a great incentive for clearing all those UFO's/WISP's and even some WHIMM's and PIG's. I've signed myself up, so now I'll just have to get working!!

Handmade Christmas - tutorial treats

This Christmas I made several presents and decorations using the tutorials of several clever people out there in Blogland - here are a few:

Melleny's Christmas star YouTube tutorial
Domesticali Origami wreath


Old Red Barn Co Headband
Linaloo Decorated candle
Heart of Mary Notebook cover with penholder

It was all so much fun, I can't wait until next Christmas!.....

I think I might start a little bit earlier. September, perhaps?

Thoughtful Friday

" Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,

and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so let us all be thankful"

- Buddha

UFO round up

I'm taking stock and writing NY resolutions...... let the 2009 Fabric diet and fitness programme begin!

I commit to:

• completing 2 UFO's before every new project
• using more fabric than I buy
  

  

This will be my main challenge for 2009 - to complete this Texas star scrap quilt mad from feedsack/30's prints. Of course the irony here is that my "scrap quilt" has absolutely no scraps in it, all the fabrics were bought with this quilt in mind. Although I shall had some scraps left over..... so, perhaps that might count? :)

I also hope to complete Leanne Beasley's Butterfly Garden, but in this I am at the mercy of the shop through which I am getting the BOM from - it has been 12 months, and so far I have only received 6 blocks. I will commit to catching up with the blocks that I have received though.

My UFO list is actually not all that scary:

Texas Star
Butterfly Garden

The WIP list is not that bad either:

Checks and Planes
I Spy (photo at the top and link above)

The WHIMM and PIG list is very long, but that's another post.