birthday cakes

Sam asked me last week to show him the photos of all his birthday cakes "in his whole life" so I thought I would post them here. They definitely show an evolution in my cake baking and decorating skills. I am proud of the fact that even when I knew nothng about cakes I still made the cakes myself, but Sam's first birthday cake really is an abomination. Sam looked at the photo and laughed...

One year old. I think I made the icing with water - ERK!

Sam at 2 - At this point I had been baking a bit more and made hummingbird cake, I think this was at least cream cheese icing and tasted good even if the aesthetics were poor.

3 years old - Peppa Pig. This was my first attempt at proper cake decorating - I bought the cake as a slab from the bakery and focussed only on the decorating. This is when Kate gave me some advice (and the recipe for marshmallow icing which is amazing). This cake was made the night before the party which was subsequently cancelled when Sam woke with gastro. The cake went to the Taylor's family church evening - what a waste, we did not eat a crumb of it.

Still 3 - Peppa Pig cupcakes made for playgroup.

Last year, 4 years old. This was the cake I decorated for the party and this time I made the cake as well.

This was the playgroup cake last year - a dragon. For this cake I had a point to prove and was definitely showing off. Violet had recently started the kids at a playgroup on Wednesdays while I was at work. She was told not to worry about getting me to bring a cake because as a "working Mum" Sam's Mum probably would not have time to make one. Well bugger that. I set out to make a masterpiece just to stick it up them, and I did.

AND NOW MILLY's CAKES....

First Birthday - There is no close up of this one. It is in the shape of an Easter Egg as her birthday was on Good Friday. It was the first time I had used fondant icing.

2 - I made my life easier this time, she wanted "pretty pink cakes" so I went for mini cupcakes. They looked really lovely but again, no close up. I think next year though there will be a requirement to pull out the big guns and make her something glorious - perhaps the Dolly Vardan?

it's how you play the game

Sam and Milly have races. They race to the car, the front door, around the garden, all over the place. Sam inevitably wins. When he gets to the end he yells out "I WIN" at the top of his voice. When Emily gets there she yells out "I LOSE" at the top of her voice.

The great thing is she has as much excitement and joy in her announcement as he does in his.

wonderful #16

Sam and Milly playing in the back garden with Michael yesterday after swimming lessons.

The most easterly point of the Australian mainland on a perfect wintery day. It looked as if the whole world had been dipped in silver and dove-grey.

ongoing project

I have been making a bedspread for Emily. It is a handsewn yoyo blanket. I have been sewing yoyos everywhere I go. In the car while Michael drives, watching television, sitting on the verandah while the kids play in the yard. I am fearful of becoming like a nanna who whips out her knitting at every opportunity.

It is a slow process - cutting, sewing and constructing. At the moment it is about 40cm square so there is a long way go. I love the look of yoyos, they are so old fashioned and worth the time it takes to make them. The fabric has been stored for a few years, bought cheaply from a fabric warehouse in town. I was initially going to make it using various floral fabrics to give a more 'patchworked' effect but am pleased with the look of the single fabric, it highlights the shape and texture of each yoyo. It will be months before it is finished but is very satisfying to see come together, however slowly.

parenting

This photo is evidence of our approach to child raising which I like to call Survival Parenting. Milly swigging from her apple juice (a remnant of a Happy Meal McDonalds dinner last night) while she sits in a toy trolley watching a dvd. Not quite the stuff of dreams when they are in utero, we had plans to be much better at this job.

independence

This morning at the playground Sam managed to swing himself with no assistance. I told him I was really happy about it and he replied "Yeah Mum, because now you can just talk to your friends and don't have to push me" - He got that right!!!

bum slide

Sam discovered the joy of sliding down a dirt track on his bum
today. Michael has plans to introduce him to using a cardboard box and sliding down the dewy grass. It is now late afternoon back at home and needless to say the constant climbing and sliding have made him a VERY tired kid.

kinder performance

We knew that Sam and his Kinder class had been writing a book about Dragons and had a dramatic presentation planned for the last day of term. Sam had been extremely cagey about the details saying things like "you'll just have to wait and see" in his sing-song voice. On the day of the big performance he walked somberly into our bedroom where we were lying in bed and pronounced...

"If I was a dragon I would be yellow. I would have eight horns on my back. On my tail too. I would be a meat eater"

...then he turned and walked out. I called him back and asked if that was part of the Dragon Show, he told us "Maybe, you never know" then announced he had to practice more and trotted out.

We arrived at Kinder at the allotted time to find the kids all lined up and sitting on the floor. Sam was giving us big cheesy grins and the Thumbs Up. The kids all stood as Sue explained they had been making masks, writing a book and had learned their pages off by heart and would be reciting it. They took it in turns reciting their page and then sat down. A few kids needed prompting and Danny had a meltdown and needed to sit on his Mum's knee so did not participate.

When it was Sam's turn he recited his very quietly but remembered it all. Michael and I were beside ourselves with happiness. At the end Sue and Vicki gave each child a copy of the book with all the pages in it. I will scan Sam's page in, it has his picture and story.
Sam behind Fletcher before the performance.

Reciting his piece.

Waiting for his copy of the book. The girl in a white top is Rosie - one of Sam's friends.

swinging

There are times when I look at one of the kids and it takes my breath away. This is one of them

footy

Sam's current obsession is football - "footy", he seems to carry his ball everywhere. Emily is a willing apprentice. I can't believe I have a footy playing son. Bizarre.

market discovery

A while ago I saw an old ironing board used as a side table in Australian Country Style magazine, I have searched on and off on eBay ever since. A week and a half ago I saw one at the market at the end of our road. I was being frugal so did not buy it but waited until payday (even though it was cheap) and went back this Sunday hoping it would still be there. It was. So was the globe. I love them. I really love that I am starting to make the bedroom feel like the rest of the house. Relaxing reading my new book on the bed this afternoon was lovely.

I really love the crossing lines of the legs and the sense of function and beauty. I have put my current reading selection (library books on interiors) under the globe (which is topographic so has lovely lumps and bumps of the world's mountains all over it); glass vials found at Industria in Melbourne and some old tins I have had for years. The grass stems are from the garden. The Marrimeko fabric on the walls was a present from Michael for our second anniversary (cotton) and came off the wall when we painted in February and only went back today. My "professional hanger" was at work but I managed without him (not sure how that would go down with Anna Spiro).

Soon there will be no Ikea left in the bedroom at all - Michael is on the verandah with the power sander as we speak - more on that new bedroom purchase later.

wonderful #15

Today's wonderful was my reward for working non stop to get school reports done, the house clean, the kids organised and the washing done. As soon as Emily was in bed for her nap I headed to the bedroom with my new book (Sense of Style: colour and space by Shannon Fricke) and Lindt chocolate. Sam was busy playing marbles in his room. I stayed there for over an hour, completely indulgent and relaxed.

What treasure comes through the post these days! Today’s wonderful is an assortment of precious things selected and sent by the delicious Sam & Milly (& Carol!). After a journey of two thousand kilometres, the following treats survived intact inside a post-pak: a beach in a box; a collection of Japanese maple leaves; some dried flowers; two carrots (with dirt); some potted mint (with more dirt); three beautiful paintings (a rainbow by Sam, and pink wonder by Milly); a box of homemade brownies; and a hand-written note from my favourite four-year old (with kisses). Wonderful indeed.

making medicine

On Sunday morning the kids and I made muffins while Michael had a rare sleep in. The muffins went into the oven, I started cleaning up and the kids went into Milly's room to play. After about ten minutes of almost silence I went in to see if there was any mischief happening. The kids were happily sitting in the toy basket playing doctors. I returned to the kitchen, content in the knowledge that nothing sinister was going on.

After about five minutes Emily came rushing through asking for a spoon - "big one" and I gave it to her. Her next request was a cup of milk I am not sure why I gave it to her but I did. As soon as my brain kicked into gear I realised what I had given her and went to investigate.

While I had been cleaning up the kids had squirreled
the muffin ingredients (including mixing bowl) into the room. When I enquired what they were up to the told me they were "making medicine". I think certification as pharmacists is a way off as they had a concoction of sugar, cinnamon and milk and were feeding it to each other. The toy basket ended up on the verandah turned upside down as it was the only way I could think of to get the fine coating of sugar off everything without making a haven for ants.

We keep revelling in the fact that the two of them play together, but there are times when it is more hassle than it is worth.

sunday lunch with the huftons

We had a great day out yesterday visiting James, Gaby and Eliza. It was great to catch up and see their new house (which is gorgeous - big rooms, 15 foot ceilings and lots of big windows). The kids were very cute together and the fort cubby and swing set in the back garden was a big hit. Sam has always been a fan of 'Big James' and 45 minutes of undivided attention kicking the footy backwards and forwards in the back yard only served to enhance his adoration.

After a lovely lunch James and Michael took the kids to feed the ducks at the park around the corner. Gab and I sat around chatting. Apparently the kids held hands on the whole walk and Eliza was adament that the kids not let go of her, Sam and Milly both complied happily.

Sam and Milly were into feeding the ducks while Eliza ate the bread herself. At the end of the ducks' lunch it was decided that while the local park had an arboretum, enormous fountain and heritage palm trees it lacked any playground equipment. James suggested a walk to the other park 'just around the corner'. In true Hufton fashion this park was actually just around about twenty corners and by the time they walked home the kids were exhausted.

We headed home once they got back from their adventures. Sam blew James a kiss as he got into the car - evidence that he is completely infatuated. Sam was asleep before we hit the city, Emily took longer to fall asleep but had to be woken up when we got home. A great day all round.

on the go

Michael has worked out how I can post from my iPhone so this is my
first attempt to test it out. I will need to investigate how to add an
attachment to an iPhone email. Shame I don't actually have anything to
post about at the moment.

Sent from my iPhone

Kinder Mums

We have adopted a post-kinder ritual. We collect the kids and make our way over to the playground next door. There is a large playing area and a set of swings and two sets of play equipment. The boys, including Sam, play footy. They huddle together in a swarm, one of them kicks the ball into clear space and the pack runs as fast as they can to chase it. They have no concept of kicking to each other, no idea that they could form teams and unite together against an opposition, no sense that the point is to aim for another player and kick it to them. They move around the damp grass like wriggling, squirmy puppies with a general sense of direction but no specific navigational intent.

The girls and the younger siblings, including Milly, play on the slippery dips, climbing frames, see saws and the swings.

The mothers tend to group. It goes something like this: The Approachable Twosomes, The Singles, The Closed Circle. The Approachable Twosomes are mothers who see each other outside of kinder. Sometimes they have older children who go to school together. They have a history. The pairs chat to each other (not exclusively, but they are twosomes), they talk about specifics and the more detailed elements of each other's lives. My partner in this is Sheridan. Our sons are friends, we take them to play at each other's houses, we meet for coffee with the kids. We are on each other's emergency contact list. We are even talking about getting together without the kids. The start of a real friendship outside of the common theme of our sons. The Twosomes will mingle with other Twosomes and this social intimacy is extended. Last weeks topic of conversation was vasectomies. Whose husband had had one (Sara and Sheridan's); whose husband was going to have one when they get around to it (mine and Jodie's) and whose husband was waiting for hell to freeze over (Kate's). These conversations can be strange: I don't actually know the name of Caitlin's mother but I know she gets severe bouts of thrush and is going to an acupuncturist next week about it - that kind of strange.

Then there are the Singles, mothers who don't always come to the park, who aren't as well known to anyone. The chat here is usually general kid related - "What Primary School are you going to send him to?" "How do you get her to eat vegetables?" topics. The Singles tend to follow their kids to the equipment and strike up conversations with whichever Twosome is there, we don't always know names and sometimes it feels too weird to introduce yourself after you have discussed your latest bout of thrush.

The Closed Circle in our Kinder are a group of three, sometimes four women who talk only to each other. If they happen to be standing near the swings and I walk over there to push Emily there are smiles on a par with those you might give to a woman in the same line as you at the checkout. Nothing more personal. I doubt I will ever know the names of these women. Interestingly, it is irrelevant whether your kids are friends or not. Sam has a good friend at Kinder called Taron. They play together almost every day. He is a nice kid. His mother is in the Closed Circle. I looked up her name on the Kinder list. It is Suzanne - but maybe it is Sue, or Susie. God knows I will never venture finding out by saying hello.

It sounds like High School, but I had thought it was different from High School because there was no pecking order, no individual or group seemed more important. But I suspect that there actually IS a pecking order. I think the Closed Circle see themselves as at the top of it. The signs are definitely there - full make up and not a trackie pant clad bum amongst them, birthday parties with hired entertainers, no one over a size 12. I think the Approachable Twosomes are a bit of a rabble (hardly any makeup, the occasional trackie pants and all that revealing talk about vasectomies - Good Grief). I think the singles might be just too shy, nervous, or just well mannered to foist themselves onto the Twosomes in a more personal way. And I know there at about ten mothers who just don't come to the park at all, bundling their kids into cars as soon Kinder has finished. I doubt it is because they have children with aversions to playing freely, I suspect it is because they are too socially terrified of being left out.

The wonderful thing about this recreated adolescent social setting is that I am not engaged in it as an adolescent. I don't really care. I talk to people I enjoy talking to and I talk to other people to be polite. Sam plays footy with the kids, Emily plays with other kids and we are in the fresh air. It just does not matter.

Until Sam has a birthday and while I am perfectly willing, capable and actually keen to give him an amazing party with homemade cake, a theme of his choice, perfect decorations and party games, proving myself as an ubermum; he will beg for a McDonald's party and will want to invite Taron. What will I do then?

wonderful #14

I love peonies, I love their gorgeous fluffy pinkness, delicate looking flowers which are actually pretty tough. My latest garden mail order catalogue has them and they are expensive. When growing they need lots of space to grow, lime has to be added to the soil, they are finicky about the balance of water and light. They only flower for about two weeks a year. Basically they are difficult to grow. I was talking to Kate about whether to attempt to grow them this year (with a view to flowers in two years). Her advice... Don't bother growing them, go to the florist for the month they are in season and buy them by the armful. Wonderful advice!

Living in Brisbane means I have missed autumn for the first in my life: a great sorrow as it’s my favourite season. These gorgeous leaves were posted by a friend who found them while wandering about in Maryville, which was obliterated by the fires in February. How wonderful that the trees are dong their thing and getting on with the cycle of life. They are a treasured slice of autumnal wonder.

wonderful #13

This year for the first time we are planting green manure in the vegie patch throughout the winter. The concept is to rejuvenate the soil with plantings rather than composting. The concept is to till and rake the soil, scatter handfuls of seeds and then roughly rake it over, stand back and watch it sprout. The reality is that we till, rake, scatter, rake, watch them sprout and then fight the birds off for the next week before we re-sow in the gaps they have left. The seeds are lupin, oat, wheat, lucerne and barley. They grow about 60cm to a metre high then we hack them all back and turn them over in to the soil. The photo here is showing them just start to sprout. Sam and Michael planted them last week and Sam has been running out to shoo birds off every day. We re-sowed yesterday to fill the gaps.

The view is of Santorini...sigh...so beautiful! It’s hard to believe it has been seven years since I was here. It really is the most wonderful blue sea I’ve seen. (If you enlarge the image you will see the triple-masted vessel in more detail. Its too gorgeous!)

where I blog

I have blogged sitting on the couch, laptop on my knee and
feet up on the ottoman and I have blogged sitting in bed. Since I bought the chest of drawers that has become the art cupboard the kids are no longer using the secretaire, so I have reclaimed, it.

I have an old green vinyl office chair that swivels and reclines. It is very comfortable with arm rests and a high back.

The shelves on the right contain various things I need ready access to. One shelf is for my library loans, this seems to be the only way I can keep track and avoid fines. Another shelf has the latest edition of magazines I buy. I am seriously reconsidering these purchases now as I look to blogs for inspiration. This will be a wrench though. I have magazine files in my study organised and labeled by year. I have a (borderline obsessive compulsive) need to keep buying 2009 mags until the year is over so I don't have a half finished system. Even writing that makes me think it would be a healthy thing to stop now and see that nothing dire will happen if my systems are broken. Not sure I have the fortitude.

There are some stationery items in the cupboard including the obligatory tin of sharpened pencils. This always calls to mind the scene/email from "You've Got Mail" when Tom Hanks' character declares a spring day the perfect day to send a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils. My electric throw rug (aka 'hot blanket' as the kids call it) is usually over my knee, despite the central heating set at 20 degrees and the fact I have my ugg boots on about 99% of the time I am sitting there.

I bought the cream ceramic vases from my favourite op shop across the road. I like the creamy tone of them against the freshly painted wall. The picture above is not one of my favourites. It is one of Michael's from his single man days. I like the image, but not the faux stressed frame and yellow matte. The brass lamp was a present I bought for Michael years ago and we love the shape and patina of it.

garden update

This afternoon I had a walk around the back garden to check things out. Winter is the dormant time of the year, not a lot is flowering but LOTS is happening. You just have to look closely.

In the vegie garden the artichoke is huge. This time last year it was only 1/5th of this size. I can't wait to see how large it grows over the summer - does this mean more flowers this year? We have one more crop of eggplants, four are growing and I will pick them this week to make moussaka. This grew from seed. We only sowed about four seeds in the greenhouse but this is the only one that survived the transplanting. Next spring we will plant more. We have had a great harvest from only one plant though. The Cavalo Nero (Black Kale - actually a lot darker than the photo here) is growing beautifully and will be harvested for soups soon.

The sultana grape leaves are turning. It is almost a year since I planted them bare rooted and they should fruit this summer. I can't wait to see how they look when they are lush and green, trailing along the top of the chicken fence. The chickens are happy, although have produced nothing since the phantom egg that appeared last month. I suspect Michael of planting it there - hmmmmm.

In the Perennial Borders the hellebores are growing. Some are large and glossy green. Some are about to flower. Another has sprouted from nothing, obviously it has been lurking underground all summer just waiting to pop. The hellebore patch is at the end of the verandah in the only in my garden (front and back) that is constantly in shade. My long term plan for the Hellebore patch is that it will be a lush green winter explosion of foliage with their floppy delicate flowers poking out from above the green. I don’t think I have this spot well planted for spring/summer flowers yet. More work and planning to be done.

There is one remaining stem of penstemon flowers that have hung on until now. I have had flowers from these since November last year, I cut the first blooms back after Christmas and they were back in time for the start of school at the end of January. They are such a reliable, pretty flower.

My tree dahlias are my favourite plant this autumn and winter. The last two pink flowers are still hanging on to the end of their tall upright poles. The last ones to flower has been a double white. These are beautiful and are in full bloom, they have all flowered in the past week. I don’t know how long they will last; the mornings are getting cold and frosty. I am tempted to cut them and put them into vases but I don’t think the flowers will survive the central heating.

keeping busy

Sam is as much a fan of the iPhone as I am.