ONE

mother duck

today i welcomed a beautiful duck to my collection of pull-along toys. she is an ambi toy, and came with two other cute friends, a pop up teddy and a roly poly man. fun mail. she waddles and makes a sort of quacking sound as she is pulled along. so cute.
last night was a very strange night. i was a bit spooked so i got into bed with amelie to keep me safe. no wonder about the spookiness . did you see the beautiful moon?

tonight

between my friend, daphne and my henna-ed hand, my nose must think it is christmas time.

and red onions... i cooked them tonight but i think i would rather eat them raw. or just chop them up and look at them.

henna joy

i sat up last night doodling over my hand with henna.

all night in and out of sleep i picked at the dried henna on my hand.

just as it was getting light i tried to see what colour print the henna had made.

morning and my hand is a warm orange-red..slowly changing to brown.

i love the look. the feel. the smell. the thought.

henna.

three years old.

i caught a glimpse of that green polka dotted fabric in the mountain in my bedroom and this dress came to mind with a few of the other fabrics ive been collecting recently. sometimes it takes just one more fabric to bring them all together. so this afternoon i sewed ... like a mad woman... and i refused to do anything else that anyone else tried to get me to do. imagine when i have my own studio..room ..space...call it whatever ..it doesnt matter ... i think the problem may be that im not going to want to leave it very often
so anyway... a cute dress for a 3 year old. a cute 3 year old that has found another dimension to the power she has within. oh. my god. can she speak with determination! and yell. and she will not be bribed either. there was no way in the world she was going to put this dress on. she likes to play this game with me. she knows i realllly want her to put the damm dress on - i need to finish the straps...not to mention get a chance to say oh soooo cute amelie. pfft.

there it hangs on the door. hasnt been tried on. or finished. brat. i say it with love. but she is a 3 year old brat :-)

muzz tried to get me some thai food tonight..he got three quarters of the way there and i rang to order and the answering machine answers to tell me that they just felt like being closed today and tomorrow. ha? are you SERIOUS!

we had chinese instead. no comparison....why do people even bother eating chinese .

so now...im going to do some indian decorating of my hands. my hands are so dry and the henna is mixed and ready and smelling so divine. i think i might try to get muzz to henna my right hand. i want both hands covered. in beautiful mehndi.

and tomorrow amelie will wear her new dress . i hope.

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emptying

send nintendo ds back to nephew because we accidentally took it home with us
get objection forms from the council to give to school to say we are happy we havent vaccinated the kids
find a builder to make this house big enough to hold all our STUFF
try to stay focused on the task above because once that is done it will be like dominoes around here
go play with friends tomorrow
send back to school vedas camp permission forms. thank god its only 30mins down the road
hummm theres a million more things im sure.
find a pony riding club for veda
find karate lessons for veda and sindri
resist the urge to spend energy on the garden doing things like mowing lawn that will no longer exist once we build the extension on
eat thai food by sunday
keep in mind that soon i will have a space of my own to spread my wings because its seriously frustrating me. alot.
get rid of maybe half of our familys clothes. its the only way im going to beat the laundry dragon
and we really dont need so many.
i realise i am a fabric addict. and i wish i could sew and pattern draft properly. then i could do something with my addiction.
i love the name/word celebi. she is a pokemon also. a very cute one. i wonder if i could use it for a clothing label name. celebi. ? ?
maybe i will change my mind tomorrow.
most probably.
im a pencil addict also. ssshhh today i brought another packet of crayola pencils. i love them. murray would flip if he knew he hee... he knows i am a texta and pencil addict. happily the kids have inherited that addiction. and only that one i hope .

thats a tiny bit better.

Happy times

it doesnt look edible does it? birthday cake for jasmine.
my new old pattern book. its dated 1984. with cute pictures.
trims found at the market
i love veda's new horsey drawings
I love....

A weekend that includes cake eating, much laughing, family fun , fireworks, dancing with kids, being away..together..the 5 of us, new music (john butler ..we all sing a long :-) ),

visiting a trash and treasure market, and then getting home safely, to find nice mail..like photos and a pattern book for kids clothes that i hope will become 3D clothes one day soon.

The mountain of fabric in my room is about to topple over. So much to do so little time.

wings

a new painting for a soon to be thirteen year old with the beautiful name, Jasmine..( a plant I also bought the other day..) . . going to melbourne for the weekend...funnn.....

outside

on the weekend i visited the nearby farmers market. how i love markets. and people who grow vegetables. and make sponges. and collect honey. and pot plants.

it was a beautiful sunny morning which made it a perfect day to get a bit over-enthusiastic about buying plants. and murray put in an order for me to bring home...can you guess? a cake. such a cake boy.

i now have a new friend..miss daphne. how i love daphne, and frangipani and gardenia. i think there is a special kind of person who knows how to keep these plants happy, im not sure im one of them but i am going to try. i think my mum is one of those people. if daphne gets sick she will be going to nan-nans hospital.

i have wanted a happy wanderer for awhile now...they twist and turn and reach out in all different directions and have these sweet delicate purple flowers. i love them. they climb wildly. and a happy wanderer? its definitely a plant for me .

the kids planted their own garden of flowers to keep my newly planted garlic company. im always wondering why garlic in the supermarket is usually from china or mexico .... cant australians grow garlic? and i would have thought it would be from italy anyway. but i guess they use their garlic and dont have much left to export.

oh dear.. i go delirious with my thoughts . often.

so anyway.... seems like this is where we are living.... not on some magical beachside/farm oasis.

the beach is going to have to be a holiday destination for now... and i have now got to work on making this house bigger and prettier . (whilst looking for a holiday house near the beach ;-) .. i cant help it. happy wanderer is in my blood.

today i have veda home with a sore throat . im expecting a call from the principal at school one day soon, questioning whether our kids are actually part time students. which they are these days. which is fine by me.

im often being spooked..or actually its a nice connected-ness type feeling.... when i read other peoples blogs and they are doing or thinking or feeling things i am doing. like cooking golden syrup dumplings, or talking about their daphne..... its nice .

and i did bring home an orange cake.

my boat

fabric treasure

i whipped this up tonight for a soon to be one year old. a precious, cute i cant wait to squeeze one year old.
sorry but i had to show you the print melinda. how cute is it? chocolate, orange, and the blue polka dot straps. delicious.

at home

how i love fridays. i couldnt wait for the weekend so the kids are home today and we are starting the weekend early. sindri needed to stay home, he's fighting off a threatening cold. veda also needed to stay because why should she go to school if sindri isnt? and really, with the way the kids have been coming home talking rudely and telling me about the types of conversations that are going on at school.. between just the kids....like about sex......- 8 year olds talking about sex? im finding it harder and harder to find reasons why i should actually send the kids to school at all.

for instance, this morning veda read sindri lots of his new pokemon novels, sindri cooked banana muffins, veda learnt her 7 times tables, veda had a melt down and her daddy was here to hug her back to happiness.. and now the three kids are happily playing at the dollhouse. then i compare that to what they would have done so far at school... well in my mind it just doesnt compare. ive always struggled with the- should i/ shouldnt i homeschool idea. im leaning heavily towards keeping the kids home once this term is over.

anyway.. i've ordered replacement cords and stuff for our video camera because embarassingly i cant find them in our house and i feel like i need to video the kids now in all their amazingness before they grow again. the kids are all ready to make movies as well, having worked out who is having the first turn. the parcel is waiting at the post office which is almost a one hour return trip. its pretty annoying at times living far from things like um .. the thai restaurant. the place i buy milk. the chocolate shop. but yes...we are lucky.

yesterday the kids were so happy because book club order at school came and we had ordered books, and we got a new friend for rosie the love bird. a boy called petie. or pete for short. :-)

now its time to send big love to my sister loretta...for today shes being a brave girl x

i like....

old toys

and old books.

morning light

this morning i stumbled into the lounge room after 11 hours sleep!!! and my eyes instantly awoke to these amazing colours outside our front windows. 7 oclock in the morning. so very beautiful. and it is only there for a very short time.. . its now 7.29 and the sky is a very pale lilac.

and the trees! its one of my favourite way to see trees. in winter, with all their bare branches, shadows of who they are.

lucky

friends

yesterday we spent a lovely day with our beautiful friends. it was vedas friends first communion. after the church we went to vedas friend alex's party. well. everything was beautiful. colour co-ordinated. thought of. everything. i think my friend should be a party planner. she does it so well.

we didnt see veda all day, when we did she was by alexs side having a wonderful time. alex in her white gown looked like a snow queen. a beautiful doll.

sindri was either on murrays knee or at the playground outside with murray or playing with his cute little friend lucas.

amelie was feeling a bit down all day but still had some fun with her little friends layla and nicola.

its so nice to see our kids with their friends. little people forming relationships, having conversations, smiling and holding hands. its a joy for me.

and of course we too had a lovely time talking with our friends, eating yummy food- that someone else had cooked yay..

the day made me think of my family.

and of how blessed i am with my own precious family and with my caring, funny friends.

oh. and i ate canoli... you know the italian custard rolly cakes. how i miss going to italian weddings. im going to learn to make them. so divine.

today the kids are tired. tired. tired. another day off school wont hurt will it?

august angel

she followed me around in my mind yesterday, this morning i drew her and tonight i printed her.

phew, thats one less thing in my head.

now i shall go paint my nails red.

and then put my body into bed.

Amelie can i take your photo?

today I made the kids day by giving them a packet of popcorn and 'shapes' for their play lunch for school. they got out of the car telling me how much they looooved me and that im the best mum in the world. very funny. and scary. scary because them having junk for play lunch makes them feel like a normal school kid.

Amelie and I then came home to hang out, (I finished her 'twirling dress'...) mow the lawn, eat some easter eggs we found in the car yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm so exciting for both of us.

I planted a wattle tree and a tea tree type bush. I started the day by telling my boy that I needed to duplicate myself five times. I cant do all the things i want to do and its frustrating me.

and now i sit here craving thai food. can i be bothered driving 35 kms there and back to get it? i doubt it. but what are we going to eat for tea? jamie oliver where are you? i need youuuuuuuu.

i lay on the couch last night, hardly able to keep my eyes open. i didnt actually,.. i closed them and pulled a blanket over my head. i let the whirlwind of thoughts make its way across my brain space. i caught a few of them.... thinking its going to be this busy for another year ..at least... thinking about all those so very cute moments from the day..when i sometimes wish i could press print somewhere on my body and capture that amazing image in my head... and then thinking i should just fall asleep in bed instead of on the couch and so off i went.

now im awake at 6 am. nothing feels the same as a long night of undisturbed sleep. l o v e i t .

amelie is also feeling the same, so shes here colouring my photocopied drawings. she is the colouring in bandit. if you dare to leave a drawing unattended you will return to find it lovingly coloured in , in one colour. half of my sketch pad is my drawings..coloured by amelie. now i photocopy them for her to colour. add make a colouring book to my list of things to do one day.