~ snippets from the week he turned five ~

 

It's been a whole festival of turning 5 for Jack this week... and he's loved every minute

1.  Robot cake toppers for the park-day cupcakes on the real birthday

2.  More cupcakes (no toppers) for the kinder class the next day.

3.  Crabapple blossoms from a broken branch over-hanging our fence.  They're so pretty.  I've actually been out looking for one today to put in a perfect space in our front lawn.

4 and 5.  We used air-dry clay for the first time at home this week.  We made loads of little sea-inspired tags to hang on the party boxes.   I'm thinking Christmas ornaments are a must with this - we all loved getting our hands dirty.

6.  Grissini dipped in chocolate and then sprinkles are a firm party favourite around here.

7.  The 5 cake (courtesy of the  AWW cake book of which we are such fans).  I'm not big on that roll-out icing but it turned out ok.  We did get into trouble for sending the cars the wrong way down a street from the car and rule-obsessed birthday boy.

8.  The highlight of the gym party is getting a go in the bungy.

9.  Winning the hurdles at little athletics before the party - check out the tiny hurdles!!

The week ended on a bit of a downer tonight when he fell and cut his chin open.  Luckily we had some steri-strips and a little bit of medical expertise here and avoided a Sunday night trip to ED.  Phew!  First lots of stitches (or steris) we've really ever needed in almost 11 years of parenting.

Linking with Em to share snippets of our lives every week.


♥

~ snippets from a rainy week in spring ~

1.  I squeezed in a trip to Ikea when I was in Perth (I really wish they would build one here) - these gorgeous rainbow cushion covers made it into the shopping bag along with some more of those lacy pot plant holders.  The girls are trying to stake a claim on the cushions but I'm holding firm at this stage.  I'm liking the extra colour - and the cosiness of the linen doona cover.

2.  More rainbows.  Rainy day painting fun.

3.  These are springing up everywhere in the garden - they're perfect for little hands to pick.

4.  Its been raining A LOT - the size of the laundry pile does not bear thinking about.

5 and 6.  Chasing rain droplets in the garden.  I really should try the tripod for these shots...but then again I'm lucky to even get the macro lens out let alone try and work out how to move all those tripod legs that go every which way but where I think they should go.

7.  A birthday protea and some more gorgeous instagram prints.  I have way too much stationery stacked up in the cupboards but I couldn't resist these.  They're from here and the quality is lovely.


We heading into big week this week.  Its the last week of term 3 (hooray for holidays) and the children's school (and my old school) is turning 60... lots of celebrations planned all week.  And then grand final day - this year for the first time ever our team is playing - we'll be wearing purple and cheering loudly (and the Doc is lucky enough to be going... I'm super jealous!)

What's your week looking like?
I'm linking with lovely Em at the beetleshack.

 ♥

~ sunday snippets ~

1.  Those curls slay me.  He is totally rocking the surfer dude look and resisting a haircut.  I am not arguing.

2.  There may be no birthdays scheduled until Oct/Nov in our house but that does not preclude avid and regular perusal of the AWW birthday cake book.

3.  Little hands cradling a very wonky rainbow felt heart I made for her to take on her first ever camp tomorrow.  She is beyond excited (but happy to have some love from home to take too).

4.  Chubby toes made pretty with polish. The girls had green polish for the cross country celebrations this week - his effort was more low key but he definitely has his own style.

5.  This week's real mail on the wall - a card from my mum as she train travels across the states, a lovely picture of the twins who are now home and happy at the hut, and a card from the Monet exhibition from some lucky friends (I really want to get to Melbourne to see that before September).

6.  A real fairy toadstool.

7.  Nigella's choc pavlova makes another appearance as my brother visits for afternoon tea.

8.  Web magic in the garden.


I'm joining in with tinniegirl and Em to share some of the everyday and the loveliness from around here this week.

♥

~ a snowy, soupy Sunday ~

We like to celebrate our weather down here.

A hint of sunshine and we flock to the beaches (despite the temperature).

A flurry of snow sees us scurrying to the mountains to frolic.

So Sunday saw us drive with a bunch of friends as far up the mountain as we could go.

It was actually snowing as we drove - to much excitement from the back seat.

We found our patch of snow, threw lots of snowballs, tried eating clean snow and went for a walk up the mountain to clear our heads.

(We forgot the keep-going snakes and so the littlest explorer lost his enthusiasm for the freezing temperatures a little sooner than we'd hoped).

Then lunch for 30 at the mountain pub - with roaring fires, loads of hot chips, red wine and laughter.

A magic snow day.

Just what we needed after the longest week.

Snowy, wintery weather calls for soup too

Yesterday I made tomato, basil and zucchini soup that I found on my blog trawls (but can't remember where)

Its delicious and easy if you want to give it a try.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tomato, Basil and Zucchini Soup

1 brown onion chopped finely

1 clove garlic chopped finely

4 tins of tomatoes (whole and peeled or diced or a mixture)

A huge handful of basil torn up

3-4 zucchini (about banana sized ones)

a squeeze of tomato paste

4 cups vegetable stock

Fry onion and garlic slowly until they are golden and oozy

Add other vegetables, basil, tomato paste and stock.

Simmer for 60-90 mins and then puree.

Enjoy

~~~~~~~~~~

What's your favourite soup?

 ♥

~ a lovely Sunday ~

Sunday is my favourite day of the week.

Historically it was our day for lazy lie-ins, marathon weekend-paper reading sessions and lots of coffee.

These days a lie-in involves 3 children, lots of wriggling, many demands for more space, more stories, more cuddles and it feels like an escape to get up and get moving.

Today we escaped to the farmers market.

It was a beautiful morning  - the sun tried to shine, we saw friends and drank that much-needed coffee.

 

 

We left with arms laden - farm fresh spuds, apples and greens.  Bunches of daffies.  A small pot of sprouts for school lunches.  A taster of some amazing bikkies (I love that word so much more than cookie) that our friends bake there each week.  That warm feeling inside from supporting our local farmers and provedores.

And as an added bonus we were there so early there was still enough day left for a gym class*, some gardening, plays with friends and time to cook a roast for the family that are arriving to stay tonight.

How was your weekend?

♥

*Progress report on my little gym experiment - I have been going swimming and to stretchy class (yoga/pilates) at least twice a week - no waist yet and no other visible results but I feel better. Yay! And I had to buy new gym clothes so that was fun too.