Dead Easy Lemon Cake

I highly recommend you whip one of these up for after school on a cold and wintery Melbourne day.

I've been meaning to post the link to the recipe for ages and am not quite sure why today was the day when the house is falling down around me and my yukky cold.

Hope you enjoy it and at the risk of being a complete blog bore, here's the original photo to the cake.

Now I'd better get my bottom into gear and clean the house, do the laundry, put the baby to bed, prepare lunch for my mummy and, oh, yes, bake a cake.

E x

yellow

nudey lilly pilly's on the way to school.
i love their cheery yellow berries against the sombre winter sky.

wrap rap

what's the best part about presents? the wrapping!
she stamped and jumped and hopped and popped, until it popped no more.
what fun!

wootwo

  

yahoo, woo's two!

unfortunately she was so unwell and the entire day/evening turned into a non-event. poor baby,
we love you woosie, although, on a daily basis you drive me mad, around the bend, up the wall, into a nut house.  and then you say or do something deliciously you and i forgive you the makeup all over the chair (and you), the ongoing fascination with all things toilet related, the sneaky chocolate spread on tiggy's bed, the gouging of his arms and face, the foot stamping tantrums.

you had "pecil" on your "mingers" the other day (you know, on the ends of your hands). you love "shiclate" (not on tiggy's bed though). you have the most extraordinary vocabulary and are able to speak in full sentences.  you love to sing and dance - yesterday you danced as you painted.  you care for your dollies like they are living, breathing babies. you love tigs even if he's being yuk to you. you are persistent and persuasive. you are the most flexible child i've ever met and can do the splits in any direction, a back bend and you love to be swung through the air upside down. you have a perfect pencil grasp, albeit as you're drawing on yourself, the walls and the furniture.  when you wake you're always happy.  daddy says you smell like heaven when he cuddles you and snuggles his nose in behind your ears, after you've been sleeping. 

you are all this and so much more.  more than we ever dared to dream about.

we love you little girl and are so happy that you are ours, and we are yours.

happy birthday darling, here's to turning three!

camelia + cupcakes

black lace

focus

maman retourne

my mummy just came home after too, too long gallivanting around the world. but with her she brought, and bought, some lovely little things. her final leg of the journey was to normandy where she stayed with her long lost cousin and his wife who conveniently happen to have an eBay shop selling beautiful vintage french finds.

i asked on a whim, that if there just happened to be any old laundry labels with 'tt' on them, lying around in their sourced items, not really believing there would.

and, as if a little angel shone down, lo and behold ...

 they came from an old haberdashery that was closing down, oh, wouldn't i have loved it!!!  i'm not sure i'll be able to cut them up.  it says there is 'une grosse' - which is 144 - but they are so lovely as they are, all water stained, neatly rolled, and held together with the tiniest little pin. mmm, i'll think about it, they'll only be for 'special', if they do get snipped.

these two are just for fun. scrumptious marseillaise soap and my big cone of twine which has lived in the states, deemed too big to bring back, for over a year now. it's currently on my kitchen bench, making me happy, in amongst a pile of life's little annoyances...

someone smashed into my parked car, luckily i wasn't in it as it's totalled the driver door, phone screen cracked, little boy miserable with missing his best buddy from school, baby sick with a yucky cold
 (on her birthday - cruel) and - oh, that's enough isn't it?

it's just as well to have these non-essential lovelies around to brighten the day!

have a good weekend.

E x

moss + rock + ice

tucked away at the bottom of a very big snow-covered boulder (or cave as the boys called it) was this scene.  a sign of life, nature's determination, patience and hope.  reassuring.

hello, again

...it's  been a while. 

We've been away skiing and I'm only just on top of the laundry. 

We had a super time with wonderful friends and picture perfect weather - sun, blue skies, warmth and a gentle alpine breeze - enough to remind you of where you are but not enough to be  a bother. 

It was the perfect introduction to the snow for our friends who came away with us. Last year it was just us the four of us and whilst we had a lovely week Tigs became a little lonely. 

This year he had his soul mate with him.  These two are utterly simpatico and it was a joy to see them together, enjoying each other's company, caring for each other, sharing the same interests,  and even the same bed for one night. 

Woo didn't seem to mind as she had two Mummies to look after her every whim and Tigs occasionally included her in the boys' games.  She even followed them into ski-school, which I allowed, dreaming of a hot chocolate and some adult chat - minus children's incessant interjections, only to have to remove her within the hour when she decided that she'd had enough.  See the colour of her suit up there?  That was the colour of her face by the time I got back to her...  Oh well we can try again another time.  I'm pretty confident that next time she'll be on skis, enjoying the snow.

Tiggy picked up where he left off last and was off like a rocket.  Fearless, feisty (watch out if you're in his way) and fast!  Boy did he move - hence the fuzzy picture (actually it may have been my shaky hand watching him speed downhill) .  I know most 6 year olds sometimes disobey their parents, but when it came to the snow he just could, not, obey, it seemed.  He just couldn't contain the urge to move, fast, downhill.  I don't blame him, it's an exhilarating feeling for sure.  I would love to have skied with him but alas with my leg, I just won't be able to now or at all.

We can't wait to go back again.