~ an instagram catch-up ~

{my june}

{my july}

Here are my June and July instagram mosaics.  I love how they look grouped together. 

These months have flown by  - it's good to look back and remember.

I'm seeing lots of colour to make up for the grey days outside. 

Lots of pics of the little people too - they love to be involved in helping me decide what to do for theme of the day...and they've all been home sick so much they've just been round more. 

I'm 6 months in now - managing a photo every day and still enjoying it. 

I'm determined to do the whole year.

I'm heading back to the fire and the couch now - its freezing in my office and I haven't mastered blogging from the ipad yet.

Back to the Olympics.

I'm enjoying it but wanting more from the coverage.  

More sport {less commentary}.  More variety {less swimming}. More new stuff {fewer repeats}.

Are you watching?

What's your favourite event?

♥

~ snap it ... soft ~

Caramel is just about the only soft centre I really like... but even then I like the harder, chewy ones better.

I can still pick the hard and soft centres - and my favourites - without thinking from a box of Roses 

Which one is your favourite?

Playing along with Sarah at faith, hope and a whole lotta love

 ♥

~ this week's mail ~

Hello

Not much to report in terms of elevated envelope news (although mine are almost ready to post) but there has been some exciting movement in the letter box this week.  (all iphone shots...)

First the outs - one of my post cards to some friends we haven't seen for a while.  The doily envelopes were part of the experiment for the other mail project - I like how they've turned out so will use that idea.

Much more exciting are the ins.

Lovely postcards from NZ (my brother and his partner have just had a quick trip there) for the children.  My lovely flickr friend sent that view from a Parisian window... sooo envious!

I love it when friends take the time and effort to send postcards from overseas.  We all enjoy looking at the stamps, reading the news and then learning where places are on the map.

The last shot is a pincushion I ordered as a little present to myself from Shelley.  I've been losing pins and needles down the couch when I'm sewing at night and thought this might make me a bit more responsible.  I can hardly bear to stick a pin in...its so beautiful.

The other exciting (for now) mail was our power bill.  A zero balance on our winter account.  Clearly someone has made a big mistake!!  We'll enjoy it for a week or two and then I'll ring and ask for the real amount (which won't be pretty - the tumble dryer and the heating have been on fairly continuously in recent times - wet beds, sick kids, damp Hobart weather etc etc).

Do you use a tumble dryer?

Are you scared of your power bills?

 ♥

~ grateful...every day ~

Last week I found a beautiful, simple grateful post over here and felt somewhat embarrassed about my grudgingly grateful (and somewhat whiny) effort.

I decided to "borrow" the idea and watch for grateful opportunities all week.

Saturday : There are daffodils blooming in our garden already.  So pretty.  No wonder Wordsworth was inspired. 

Sunday : The Doc tried a new recipe (from this month's Real Living magazine) for dinner - Chicken Normandy.  Totally delicious.  Always grateful when I don't have to cook.

Monday : Lily has a new teacher (her first teacher went on long-service leave for 4 weeks and then retired at the end of it so this is the third for the year already).  Apparently she is young, funny, great, cool and really smart.  I'm so very grateful for a renewed buzz in my little girl.

Tuesday : Grateful for the extra snuggles and cuddles a sick little boy loves to give his mummy

Wednesday : A friend dropped a coffee in when she knew I was stuck at home with a sick little one.  And she brought gossip. 

Thursday : Very grateful that the Doc was able to move his day around so he could share the care and I could still do my work for the week.

Friday : Another fabulous new recipe (the lentil soup from the same magazine...this month's Real Life is already covered with cooking spatters) shared with my sister visiting from interstate who we don't get to see nearly often enough. Precious time with family and good food...so much to be grateful for.

I'm linking up with Bron and others over  at Village Voices.

Are you grateful this week?

♥

~ snap-it....growing ~

There's always a lot of growing going on around here...good thing too when you're trying to make healthy kids.

We have a height chart on the door jamb in the office... all heights are officially recorded here once a year (it broke my heart just a little when we renovated and had to move the old one to here)...and it looks like that little man is going to catch his sisters waaay too soon.

I love going back to my mum's place and seeing all our marks on her height wall...such good memories.

Where do you record your children's heights?  Does your childhood chart still exist?

Playing along every week with snap-it at faith, hope and a whole lotta love

♥

~ mail in and out ~

I've written before of my love of real mail (here and here in fact) and this week was a goodie.

We all sat at a cafe last week and made great use of the free post cards ( I love them - we used to send them all the time when we were travelling.  Once we stocked up on about 50 of the same design and sent them weekly to a friend) ... 60c and we got to spread some snail-mail love to a grandad, a surrogate aunty, a flickr friend and my brother.  Best of all - we got follow-up within the week - phone-calls, texts, a post on fb - that our mail was received and appreciated.  We're all inspired to send more now.

My elevated envelope group are obviously very organised (the date for final post is not for another 2 weeks yet... I'm going to need each one of those days) because I got 3 lovely envelopes this week.

A very cute kisses and hugs Union Jack from the UK, complete with jubilee themed recipes and a little flag.

 

 

A sparkly, sequinny envelope - fragile enough to need to be encased again in plastic.  This also had little treats inside - UK lollies that the girls are desperate to try.

 

 

This one amazed me.  A see through envelope with handmade paper (with lace patterns imprinted in the paper) lingerie.  And instructions to make my own!!

I can't wait to see what the next few weeks bring.

Do you ever use those free post-cards?

What was the last exciting mail you sent?

 ♥

~ grateful for ... a good night's sleep ~

The sleep gods have never smiled on us.

We've patted and rocked, tiptoed around, replaced dummies, wrapped and re-wrapped, sung and cuddled, taken back to bed (over and over), read every book, consulted every "specialist, tried every trick.

And still....night after night...the night terrors, the padding of little feet, the warm breath in your (sleeping) face, the flinging of limbs, the restlessness of co-sleeping, the desperateness that is born of lack of proper sleep.

This week it crept up on us.  One night alone in our bed.  Then two.  Before we knew it....5

That's ... more than I can ever remember.  (in too many years to count without feeling faint).

It deserved high praise (we delivered).

And big treats (a new doodle book fitted the bill.  And that treat that is prized far more highly than its true worth..the freddo)

And a lot of gratitude.

I'm joining in with the grateful gang over here

What are you grateful for this week?

♥

~ snap-it ... yesterday ~

These are my yesterdays.

Journals filled with words, memories, dreams and random bits of our life.

I rarely go back through them...but when I do I get so teary and emotional.

And I realise just how much I forget...and how good the remembering is.

I join in with Sarah and her snap-it game every Wednesday.

What happened to you yesterday?

♥

~ when the National Anthem came to school ~

The tatty looking limp rag that posed as a flag at our school was replaced last week.

There was a bit of a ceremony, the politicians appeared (as they do).  {well, they did supply the flag} and it was duly raised (and now will be raised and lowered every day by our very responsible Grade 2s).

The highlight of the day for me was when the whole school (and the handful of parents) stood and sang the national anthem.  All 98 of those little 4-8 year olds sang along with enthusiasm and pride.  They had learnt the words (first verse only.  its almost un-Australian to know the second verse isn't it?) that week and hardly needed the cheat sheets taped to the walls (I'm not sure how many of them can read anyway).

It brought a lump to my throat.  And I wasn't the only one.

Now they're going to sing the anthem once a fortnight along with the school song.

I know I'll feel a little teary every time ... and I think its great.

We never did that at school here.

Maybe slightly more frequently when I was in the UK (we seemed to sing "All Things Bright and Beautiful" more often than "God Save the Queen though.)

Do your children sing the anthem at school?  Did you?

Do you know the 2nd verse?

 ♥

~ snap it...cold ~

I posted lots of frosty pics last week for my on the ground theme - and then realised this week's theme was "cold".

Never mind - it is winter after all!

{my kids were so proud of Mr Frosty}

I'm playing "snap-it" with Sarah and others over here.

 ♥

~ garden mood board...June ~

Winter.

Frosty mornings where footsteps equal mushy footprint trails.

Chilly evenings with winds that steal breath from body.

Freezing nights where cold seeps into every corner.

Winter.

Bare branches, cold soil, withering leaves that have forgotten to fall.

Small promises of spring starting to make their way towards the frail sunshine.

But...for those who wander and search....stunning hellebores in shady corners - winter's hidden treasures.

 

I create monthly garden mood boards with Karin - there are lots of other lovelies to explore there too.

♥

~ grateful for... a love of reading ~

The lovely Bron runs a linky each week that I try to join as often as I can.

It's all about being grateful, celebrating gratefulness and increasing your own capacity and awareness of all that is wonderful (big and small) in your own life that is worth acknowledging.

This week I'm grateful for books, for reading.

Even (especially) in the last two weeks of being stuck at home because of sick-kids/too-much-washing-because-of-bed-wetting-kids/freeze-your-fingers-off-weather I've squeezed in my reading.  I've been devouring the Night Circus in that crazy way where it was so good I just couldn't get enough, but didn't want it to end either.

Reading is my escape.  My wind-down.  My safe and happy place.

I have to read every day - even just a few pages before I go to sleep.

It centres me, relaxes me, takes me outside my own world.

We're a family of readers (and long may that continue as you can never really claim to be bored with a good book to read), we cherish books,  they're usually top of the present list (to give and receive).

Are you a reader?

What was the last book you just couldn't put down?

♥

(I love reading other people's grateful posts as well - they're over here at Village Voices)