dig a hole

We had more than our fair share of drizzly cold days while we were away.  There is only so long you can either entertain children or ignore their whining.

I read Enid Blyton books over and again when I was little. 

In most there is some reference to Mummie sending the children into the garden.  In one I recall the children telling "Mummie" that it was raining and asking if they could come indoors now.  "Presently, my dears.  Put on your Macintosh coats and Wellington boots and Nanny will call you in later for Tea".  The children happily skipped off in the rain and not another word was said. 

No, "But that's not fair", or "I don't like the rain", or "It's cold" to be heard.

So by the second week I completely gave up and ordered my children O.U.T!   Delighted, they were!    They were instructed to, "Dig a hole!".

'See Tigs dig. Tigs digs a big, deep hole'.

'Oh, no Tigs lost his boot in the big, deep hole'!

As ever Woo has to keep up.

The second she saw Tigs lose his boot hers was royally kicked off and up she got to plunge her delicate little toes into the oozy, gooey mud.  She's wacky!

I popped back inside for a while and enjoyed the squeals of delight outside.  Mmmm.  Can you see that syrupy sludge dripping down my baby's forehead?  Courtesy of her charming brother. 

And so on yet another glorious, wintry, drizzle-filled country day my babies played and played and were bathed, dried before a roaring fire and slipped into fresh warm 'jammies by 2pm!

I hope the sun is shining wherever you may be.

Thanks for coming over today,

E x

cold and frosty morning

A day too beautiful to waste and not to share.

We decided to keep out of the way of Sonia as she tried to clean up after us - no mean feat.  Woo in particular has the ability to undo faster than anyone, or even a team of housekeepers, can redo!

The last of the fog rolling away and a big ol' jet airliner roared out from within it.

I often forget this view of the property but actually it's very beautiful, not as broad a perspective as my usually favorite view but stunning actually.  I love the hills folding across each other, like origami.

The fog may have lifted over us but their was frost to be melted first.  The pups helped by racing like mad things across it in zig-zags following the bunny tracks.

I love how we've only just arrived at the bottom here and Woo is saturated.

The back of the dam up to the top.  I love every square inch.

I have a grand idea for hosting a summer party down here.  Hay bales, a banjo player for the first couple of hours and a crooner with a guitar for dusk on singing Pete Murray songs that we can all join in with - actually Pete Murray himself would be better!  I picture big old dressers laden with food and pitchers of cool homemade lemonade.  An old reliable tractor to ferry guests dressed in their finest cotton summer dresses and sandals.  Sunhats for everyone,  big floppy ones for the girls and debonair fedora-style straw hats or even cool straw cowboy hats for everyone.  I'll think about that part a little more.

There will be paper pompoms hanging from the bottom of that big old tree and lanterns lining the way from the tree to the house.  It would be so beautiful.  I'll be sure to let you know the date - bit don't hold your breath.  Dreams can be big you know.

Magic dew drops.

Boy and Dog.  I just love this image.

Rocker!  Actually he was explaining something to me.

Proper bush-bashing and brotherly help.  Look how filthy she was by this stage.  Only Woo.  Tigs is still relatively clean.

Shouldn't every child be able to run free and happy and uninhibited?

Miss Mimic doesn't want to miss out.

Dear old ancient Pippy having a ladylike paddle - a rare treat for her.

Ambushed!  Those beastly pups stalked her for some way around the dam and then ATTACK!

The morning was so perfect that even the dratted thistles looked glorious.

And as we sang our usual Grand Ol' Duke of York up the hill Tigs, with his grandfather's supervision began noticing these adorable little webs. 

No bigger than a 50c coin. 

I'm sure they were actually fairy sheets hanging out to dry.

fairy houses

dog days

Ned and Woo love each other.



Lexi loves everyone and is either the most daft dog around to allow this to happen or a sad sad loss to a vision impaired person.
She is the most gentle, trusting and responsible dog I've ever met. And she also knows how to have fun.




She just needed the finishing touch of a Woo's vest! And note she still hasn't moved! Amazing.

See Momo they're not missing you at all. I bet you don't give the puppies this sort of attention!

wild child

As a Montessori teacher I read The Wild Boy of Aveyron a tragic account of a child found living in the woods like an animal.
So this image troubles me somewhat.



I do take comfort in recalling the story a wonderful old friend told me. Assuring me that the best holiday she ever had was the one in which her sons played dogs for the entire duration of the holiday. She said they were impeccably behaved, little trouble, and the only entertainment they required was that she threw a stick for them periodically.

Whacky Woo! She wants to be a "goggy", thankfully she strives to be a "goog goggy" not a bad one so she ate her meal from a plate, rather than directly off the floor!

Thank goodness for small mercies.

say g'day seven!

The day began far too early and had ended too, too late the night before for both Tigs and me.

By midnight the wrapping fairy had fallen asleep and instead of stylish, carefully planned and executed gifts all I managed were a batch of tissue clad and red grid tape parcels.  He had to begin with the 'T' and work  through to 'is, 7 ! YAY'.  YAY containing the pièce de résistance - Lego Atlantis.  Between the end of school and the family arriving for a party all 480 odd pieces had been connected, with very little assistance from me :)  He's a natural Lego dude!  By 9am the following morning Woo had demolished it :(

I'd wrapped each package with something nice, but not stellar, and cunningly hid something guaranteed to float his boat.  The first some cute new handmade jammies with a new DS Star Wars Lego game tucked between the folds.  One that had caused a minor tantrum at Costco some weeks earlier when he'd seen the DS game and the super cool Lego Book on the shelf and had jumped up and down with excitement about them.  We had told him that as his birthday was coming up he should wait and hope and that he couldn't have everything he wanted when he wanted.  Therein the scene erupted and whines of "It's not fair" and "You get everything you want" had echoed around the store. I was less than impressed ...

Greg then, in some unfathomable way, decided that in order to reassure him that we wouldn't let him down come his birthday and to have patience promptly GAVE HIM THE BOOK that we'd hidden with the DS game at the bottom of the trolley.  I stood  wide mouthed and incredulous as this unfolded and I watched one pouty and petulant 6 year old switch on the charm and get away with murder. 

Miraculously - extraordinarily - unbelievably,  it has had an ongoing positive impact.  I know!  Hard to believe, and certainly not a technique described in ANY parenting tome.  I rarely give Greg credit for his parenting but this episode appears to have worked and has infact taught Tiggy that we are always there for him and will do our best not let him down in life.  And to reassure the nay-sayers he usually doesn't get what he wants in terms of material items but he absolutely knows that we love him and that,  he gets by the bucket load!

And he gives love back by the armful too.

More to Greg and me than to Woo so this little moment had to be shared!

Having your birthday on the winter solstice ( I know this is a very late post on the big day!!) has its merits and by 7.00am in the pitch dark, we were outside waving sparklers in a figure '7'!  Can you see it just in there?  I know there is a way of capturing it perfectly but I had a) not read up on how to do it photographically and b) did not have my wits about me sufficiently at that time of day to even try aside from the auto setting. So that my friends is the closest we get - this year.

Our day progressed rather normally and by the evening the most immediate family gathered for his favorite meal, shepherd's pie. 

Floss

Babcia (no Dziadziu he was working late)

Momo and Booboo - currently sunning themselves in Mauritius.

The meal should have been followed by apple crumble but I had to have a cake for his birthday and as he's not a real lover of traditional cake I did my now famous ice-cream cake.  

Take one tub of the recipient's favourite ice cream and invert it on a platter.  Lavishly slather it in Ice-magic and before the topping sets push some juicy fresh strawberries into the chocolate.  Place in the freezer until it's time to sing!!

Then scoop large balls into waffle cones, spray on some cream in a can (come on it's his birthday!!) and plonk a sweet frozen berry on the top. 

YUM!

That weekend I took 13 children to Kung Fu Panda 2! 

 Am still awaiting medal in the mail...

E x

see ya six!

the night before seven, snuggles on the sofa with dad

My beautiful boy recently kissed goodbye to six and welcomed in seven, with great gusto, in spite of going to sleep far too late and waking far too early!
I'll be back with his birthday soon.

We're coming to you live from the bush at the moment - X