Miss Tippett in room 4

Sam is going on his first transition visit to Primary School in the morning. His Kinder group are walking to the school and will be in a Prep. class with a teacher called Miss Tippett. He has already received a letter from his school buddy - her name is Tara.

It is a very exciting time for him!

(I am going along as a volunteer Mum so will sneak some photos if I can)

sick

Both kids have a cold. After baths at about 4 pm, they put on pyjamas, climbed onto the couch and lay together to watch a movie. Feeling and looking very sorry for themselves, they did not even muster the effort required to annoy each other. They also didn't have the energy to paint or make a "windy cake" (see earlier post - blowin in the wind), but Sam did say that a windy cake would not be chocolate because wind is not brown. "Maybe a coconut cake Mum?"

postpak delights

It does not get any better than arriving home and finding a postpak on the front door from Amber. This time the Sam got a magnifying glass and Emily a huge pack of pom poms. I got a book - the biography of the creator of Heide which was a house that served as an artists' retreat for Australian Modernists and is now the Heide Museum of Modern Art. While I was in Brisbane I casually commented that I had not been there but heard the curator on radio talking about the creation of the gardens, and story of the home and the woman behind it all, Sunday Reed. This book is Sunday Reed's biography! Listening is definitely one of Amber's strengths. ! I am looking forward to reading the book, the combination of art, scandal and gardening will be a good one I think.

wonderful #26

Yesterday Milly got out the craft boxes and started her usual play. After a while she asked me for a vase and it was then that I realised what she was doing - making feather flowers using straws and feathery fluff. She made them without assistance or input from either me or Sam. She persevered until she had made a full vase, which she proudly presented to me as a gift.

concentration

My wonderful today is a shot of the finished product of this activity. Feather flowers which Emily made yesterday. I took lots of shots of her as she really stretched her fine motor skills and concentration levels to the limit. I have posted this because I think the process is more wonderful than the end result in the photo. She would choose a feather, select the matching straw then carefully and precisely push the tip of the feather into the straw before placing it in the vase and then starting the process all over again. She has such patience for pursuits like craft and tea parties and her doll's house.

swinging free

A while ago Sam learnt to swing himself. All he needed was a push to get him started. Now he does not need any assistance. He climbs on and within seconds is swinging as high as possible. I think a swing might be on his birthday list. At Mum and Dad's last month he spent most of his time in the back garden on the swing.

boss girl

When Sam was 2 1/2 he was easygoing. The arrival of Emily into his world did not phase him. Moving house a week later was straightforward. He was easy to be around. Of course when he was 3 1/2 he was horrific for a while. Emily is now almost 2 1/2 and there are times she is most definitely not fun to be around. We get a glimpse into a future of moody adolescence. She is strong willed and can be really stroppy. The full body tantrums are starting as she tests the limits of her own will (and ours) but there are times outside of this when she is just plain obstreperous. This photo captures that pretty well. Look again and ask yourself "Which person in the car is in charge?" Even without seeing Sam and Michael you know it aint them. The thing she has going for her that Sam never did is her ability to self entertain for long periods of time. The good with the bad, the easy with the hard, nothing is ever straightforward in this parenting lark.

blowin' in the wind

The weather is wild today. Both kids are sick. Sam is asleep on the counch because he did not need a sleep. Milly is in bed. The wind is howling around us and I feel like we are bunkered in against it.

When they wake up we are going to make a windy cake and then do some windy painting (blowing paint around through straws) - stay tuned for photos of that and the mess which will ensue. Not actually sure what a windy cake will be but I know that when I ask the kids they will have an answer.

(Image by Thiago Loes courtesy of flickr)

just another saturday shopping

For a while now our vacuum cleaner has been ill, terminally. Symptoms include (but are not limited to) making an absolutely horrific noise (even more extreme now I have my hearing aid) and blowing out plumes of dust when it is started (a little self defeating). Yesterday I vacuumed while Michael and the kids were at swimming lessons and decided to euthanase. They walked in the door and I announced a trip to Melbourne to David Jones to buy a replacement. Michael breathed easy - he was sailing so was off the hook.

And that is when the horror began.

For some reason I thought Highpoint Shopping Centre had a David Jones. It doesn't. I recall reading that Highpoint was where the costume designers for Kath and Kim went for inspiration (both looking around at what was worn and purchasing the ensembles). I should have remembered this prior to going there. It was Saturday morning bogan shopping hell (and definitely not David Jones demographic). So we struggled through the shopping centre, dodging desperate looking parents, crazed screaming kids and surly teenage boys with their pants around their arses and their underwear around their armpits.

An hour spent there and we headed off and I decided to bite the bullet and go into the city. I told the kids to look out for a McDonalds as I would take them there for lunch. No surprise there was one about 30 seconds after I told them to find one. We pulled in, I had effectively given up on this being a quick trip in and out of Melbourne and surrendered the notion of having any time in the afternoon at home to catch up on jobs or god forbid, relax. We ate in McDonalds with the dregs of the world. The kids were oblivious and played happily on the playground. I figured that letting them play for a while would buy me more time in the city.

I can't even go into details as it is all too raw, but imagine the horror with is Elizabeth Street Saturday traffic. 50 minutes to travel from Flemington to the CBD. Going at a snail's pace past the Queen Vic markets with the hordes buying cheap leather on their interstate shopping trips. Sam made a game out of playing spot the pedestrian (This involved choosing a person walking past the car and then seeing if we could catch up with them - our pace was so intensely slow that we only caught up with the frail and elderly. We did see a person walking back towards us with their shopping and it was at this point I hit a new low).

Finally we parked and this was the highlight of the day. Magical carpark in the centre of the city on Lonsdale street with a $10 flat rate all day. It was the only part of the day that I managed to plan and execute. Walked through Myer which was HELL ON EARTH. They are renovating. Milly looked at me and said "Shop broken Mummy". I wanted to reply "Yes it is, and so is my spirit" but we persevered on. Got to David Jones, had to go to the Home Store which is on Little Lonsdale Street; across which I has just walked with the kids but because of the en masse renovations I had not been able to see the signage.

It came to pass that the David Jones store was broken as well, so instead of being able to walk through hosiery to the other side of the shop we had to go into the mall, walk up to Swanston Street then back down Little Lonsdale Street (did I mention we had just been there?) In the mall we passed amplified buskers (talentless beggars with instruments - the kids walked past them covering their ears). On Swanston street I dragged the kids into Haigh's and felt better by spending $25 on chocolate.

Finally into David Jones Home Store and I discover that any hope of buying a mid price, good quality vacuum cleaner is futile. Miele or Dyson - expensive or criminally expensive. I listened to the spiel. I bought Miele. Michael could only laugh when I called and told him the price. Nick Harry's response from the boat was "Aah yes, German made - buy well, buy once" - Thanks for that!

The next step of carrying the vacuum, shepherding two kids back through the insanity of Myer to get to the car and then finding my carpark ticket to prepay (on a different level from the car or course) just about pushed me over the edge. My stress levels were through the roof.

Driving out of the city I was anaesthetised by Diet Coke and Haigh's Peppermint Truffle. I called Michael when we hit the freeway and Sam called out from the back of the car "We've had a great day in the big city Dad". Clearly my delirium tinged desperation had added to the enjoyment for the kids.

The vacuum cleaner is really amazing, perhaps when I am fully recovered and have the energy to use it I will appreciate it fully.

my room

The dimensions of this room are really funky, it is 5 metres long and 1.7 metres wide. As such, it has always been difficult to use in any meaningful way. Over the past two years I have stored my sewing stuff, filing, workbooks and random bits and pieces in it. It has a tendency to collect junk as things get stuffed in there and the door slammed shut to hide everything. We put shelves in it over a year ago and that improved things but it was never really anything more than a storeroom. I would move my sewing machine into the dining room to use it. The problem with this is that I was starting to take over the dining room with my craft and sewing so something needed to be done.

I have struggled with it for ages and last week I was inspired by Amber's work space when I stayed there. She has created a really lovely room with gorgeous things as well as all her study gear. It has a lovely sense of her style as well as being highly functional.

After lots of thinking about it I have spent the last two nights organising and culling and sorting and stacking and this is the end result. It is the first time I can see it as a useful space that I can spend time in, work on my projects and make my own. We hung my pinboards, added a desk at the end using trestle legs from Kate and then used lots of the steel boxes bought at auction for storage. I love the result and can't wait to use it and see how it evolves. I have left lots of space on shelves and will see how it evolves as I use it. I feel like I have struck a mix of function and style for the first time.

sneak peek

It is ten days until the start of spring and the garden is popping. I am making myself wait until September 1st to do a full post about spring but these two buds are too cute to ignore.

harvest

We harvested limes today. The tree started life in Adelaide and was brought over in the back of a ute about five years ago. Last year it gave us three limes and we drank ceremonial vodka, lime and sodas. This year we have 23 so will need to come up with a different plan. It was so satisfying to love this thing all year and then have fruit as a result.

seed disaster

Last Saturday while I was in Brisbane Michael and the kids sowed seeds for our spring veggie patch. Sown into trays and placed carefully into our portable greenhouse they were very pleased with themselves. We have had quite warm weather this week and Sam and I have watered the punnets each day, releasing some of the humidity as we do it. Things were looking good. By Tuesday we had rocket sprouting. By Thursday we also had lettuce, coriander, parsley and radish. We planned to take a photo each Saturday to watch the growth (I had grand plans for a flip book).

Then, weather interfered and on Friday we had winds of up to 100km an hour. The whole thing was upended and nothing could be salvaged. We have lost it all and are back to square one. Michael was swinging between despondent and enraged. Today he resowed everything and then secured the greenhouse against the fence to withstand any crazy weather events which may come our way.

wonderful #25

Unprompted, the kids have started holding hands when we walk places. This was in a lift while we waited for our floor. It is very cute.

~Carol

Glorious 9am light in New Farm Park on the way to the ferry to meet James, Gabby and Eliza. The fat belly of the Boab and the gnarly limbs of the Jacaranda juxtapose quite beautifully.

~Amber

Byron Bay

Amber's wonderful today is a shot taken at Byron Bay. We drove down there on Sunday and while Byron Bay itself was a disappointment (so busy and surf town touristy while I had expected something more sleepy), we had a great day.

After going to the Byron Bay lookout we headed a bit further south to Lennox Head which was lovely. Amber's friend Jennie lives there and we visited her after lunch. She was great fun and generous. I really like that I can now put a face to her jewellery (Amber is wearing one of her pieces in the shot below) which I have loved (www.rileyburnett.com) ever since Michael bought me one of her necklaces for valentine's day years ago. She is about to head off to Paris for three weeks on a buying trip and wanted me to believe it is not really that much fun - just a lot of hard work. I would not mind that kind of hard work! It was also inspiring to see an ordinary (in all the best ways) woman with two kids doing her creative thing and making a living from it.

The photos are all taken at the Byron Bay lookout. Such amazing colours - the vibrant blue of the sky while the ocean is a gorgeous moody green. I was completely taken with the white of the lighthouse against the sky and took a ridiculous number of photos!

wonderful #24

Chocolate truffles in Brisbane from Amber's chocolate shop in Paddington. Called Monty's it has an amazing collection of the most delicate and beautiful chocolates. Mine is on the left - yoghurt and passionfruit. Amber's is a pomegranate truffle. I love the hand painted flowers on mine, I chose it for the aesthetics but the taste was sublime.

~Carol

This image captures the spirit of a wonderful weekend with a great friend: Happy chick with camera in hand, on the eastern most point on the mainland, brilliant sunshine overlooking Byron Bay... and all on the hottest winter day in Brisbane ever!

~Amber

back to reality

First day back today and the I decided to let the kids set the agenda as I had been away. We decided to make brownies, work in the garden, go to the playground and read books. That is not quite what happened.

It started off well by making brownies. Sam measured ingredients and stirred the melting chocolate and butter in the saucepan (big boy job) and Emily was given the task of mixing the ingredients together, which she did very happily.

We put the tin in the oven and and headed out to the garden while they baked. Thirty minutes later we checked them and they were a fizzing, stinking, charred horror. Instead of Baking Powder we had put in Baking Soda. It looked like a high school science experiment - volcanic eruptions of molten chocolate.

The overflowing mess had baked solid onto both the racks as well as the bottom of the oven. SO instead of relaxing and mooching around with the kids I had the joy of an unplanned oven cleaning. Three hours, a trip to the supermarket, 2 cans of oven cleaner, reams of paper towel, three steel wool scourers and and the reserves of our entire hot water system later and the oven was clean. Total horror. I hate cleaning ovens and realised I have not cleaned it (other than wiping it out as I cook) since we moved in. Almost two and a half years ago.

The kids were banned from kitchen as I sprayed noxious chemicals and dealt with the greasy horror that was my oven. I was at the point that they could have done pretty much anything as long as they were self contained. This is evident in what they chose to do. They built their biggest ever cannonball nest. Every cushion and pillow in the house. The entire linen collection from our bed as well as every stuffed toy they could pile up. They then dragged their chairs over to it and stood on the seats to launch themselves. The photo is out of focus and I was up to my elbows in greasy horror so could not take more but I think you get a sense of what they were up to. Note their arms at their sides as they prepare to launch, there is a strict ceremony involved in cannonballing to which they both adhere.

Finally the second batch of brownies was cooked. I had put the first batch in at 9 am and the second went in at 3pm. Six hours of horror in between. There was a point where I did not think I would ever see my sink and benches clean again and the the contrast between this day and my days in Brisbane were too appalling to dwell on.

To further add to the whole brownie experience, once they were done Sam looked at them and declared them not fit to eat. He liked them when they are black not brown like this. This is actually him discerning the difference in the chocolate used for this batch. I always use good quality couverture chocolate for brownies but had used it all in the first batch and this was el cheapo compound chocolate buds which was all I had left for the second batch. But trust me, at the time my instant thought was not maternal pride at his culinary discernment.

In the end we did get to the playground and read the books I brought back from Brisbane but my bag was not unpacked until after dinner.

(On a side note - the plates with the brownies on are a Brisbane purchase from the Woollongabba Antiques Centre.)

happy

Evidence that Russell and Amber are relaxed and happy in Brisbane. Taken at the James Street Market about 5 minutes from home.

too big

I left for Brisbane from Avalon which really has a rural airport feeling to it. The kids love watching the aeroplanes land and there is something great about walking on the tarmac before takeoff. Michael pointed out my plane to Emily and she replied "No, is too big for the sky Daddy."

Coronet Flats

Amber and Russell are living in an Art Deco block of flats called Coronet Flats. It is the most beautiful building, owned wholly by the same family since it was built. It perfectly suits Amber and Russell. I have taken lot of photos of the interior which they have furnished beautifully and will post them later.

Its location is about 300 metres from the Brisbane River and the RiverCat Ferry stop. New Farm Park is across the road and the views of the CBD from their windows are breathtaking (especially in the evening). Their flat is on the top (3rd) level at the far right.

gratitude

Before I start to rave about my time away I think the most important thing to acknowledge is that I know I am blessed to have the most wonderful family.

Michael booked the ticket and sent me off to Brisbane for time away with Amber, he took time off work, dealt with the kids and managed the house. He is kind, patient and incredibly generous. I love him more all the time and he is the most incredible Dad. I have always taken the view that his involvement with the kids is just part of being a Dad while also being aware that he does so much more than the partners of many of my friends. I don't get involved in the awful "bitch about my man" sessions with other women who seem to struggle through parenthood without tangible support from their husbands. Even though I sing his praises in these discussions and I really do know how great he is, he has hit a new high with this gift.