Pirates!

This afternoon we played pirates. The boys wore costumes which we borrowed this week from the local Toy Library. Both costumes were too big but the boys loved them nonetheless. Pirate activities included eating the cupcakes which I had made for my friend Mercedes' husband's birthday, running around the backyard being chased by a shark (me), and dancing in mummy's office to the music of Captain Feathersword. No one would wear the pirate eye-patch as it was described by William as 'a bit scary'.

Inger is away in Sweden for two weeks so I am manning the ship, so to speak! This morning the boys had their weekly swimming lesson. It was the first lesson I had taken them to on my own since they had been getting into the water on their own with the teachers rather than with us. It was very stressful initially for me as both of the boys were upset. Oliver was screaming blue murder for half of the lesson. I was beside myself with anxiety seeing him so upset. Then something very interesting happened. The teacher who was holding both of the boys was a very striking woman with dark curly hair and very distinctive black glasses. When she handed Oliver over to the other teacher, a young girl, he immediately calmed down and seemed to enjoy the rest of the lesson. I think he was afraid of the black glasses. By the end of the class he was sitting on the edge of the pool without his floaties and jumped effortlessly into the teacher's arms.

Each time we go away on holiday I like to make up a small photo album of holiday shots for the boys. They have both been looking at the photos of our farm holiday and keep saying that they want to return to the farm. They miss their dad and have been looking at his photos a lot.

"Hello!" said william as he popped his head through a display at the reptile enclosure at Healesville Sanctuary.

The boys rushed up to a glass enclosure which was the home of a death adder. Oliver was touching the glass when William swept in protectively and tried to pull Oliver away. He kept telling Oliver that the snake was dangerous.

William on a walk through the farm. There was a collection of old farm machinery to look at.

A very sleepy Oliver just trying to keep awake and not miss any of the action.

Oliver at a cafe in Olinda. He was very interested in putting his lollipop into the framework of the table number. we spent a couple of hours browsing in the little art and craft shops of Olinda. The boys were especially taken with a shop which sold an assortment of old bells, kaleidoscopes, rugs and walking sticks. We were amazed at how occupied this particular shop kept them.

Horsin' around!

The following series of shots were taken at the farm we stayed at last weekend. After a couple of failed attempts we found the 26 shetland ponies which were living on the property. Most of the ponies are about 30 years old but there were a couple of younger ones as well. The boys took to them without any concerns. In fact they were a little carefree in their approach. Oliver was quite happy to kiss the horse and a couple of times he just missed being kicked after wandering a little too close to the horses' hind legs.

Puffing Billy

One of the main reasons we decided to take a short holiday in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria was so that we could take the boys for a ride on the Puffing Billy steamtrain. We boarded the train at Belgrave and alighted at Emerald. Despite the fact that it was a dull grey day we all thoroughly enjoyed the train ride.

Every so often the boys called out 'all aboard' as we made our way through the lush green mountains.

I'm guessing that the staff of the Puffing Billy are retired train folk as many of them looked to be quite an age. They all looked the part and gave the ride an air of days gone by.

The view from the train was exceptional - forests of green tree ferns.

William

Oliver

I couldn't resist a photo of this old advertisement for Coke

Waiting at the station for our forward journey to Emerald.

Favourite Uncle

We have just returned from a long weekend on a Victorian farm. My brother, Rowan, met us in Melbourne and we all drove up to the Dandenong Ranges to Gembrook, where we spent three nights on a shetland pony farm. The boys love their Uncle Rowan. The boys made their bedroom into their 'office' and only Uncle Rowan was permitted to enter.

The activities which occurred in the office included tumbling off beds, hiding under beds, wearing pillows as hats and hanging out in cupboards. You have to love an uncle who is prepared to play with two boisterous little boys without a word of complaint!

Found objects

Everywhere I go these days I take along a small basket and collect leaves, nuts, shells and other natural objects worthy of being recycled into craft projects. I have been more motivated to do this since taking the boys to a Waldorf playgroup in the Adelaide Hills. The simple furnishings and naturally made toys appeal to me. The boys and I spent a very interesting afternoon recently making the following creations.

I painted the trunk of the tree onto some white card and we all gathered up some of the leaves which had fallen into our back garden. I dried them in a low oven and then we all crushed them. The boys spread glue onto the branches and gave the tree an autumn/winter look.

This mouse (made by Oliver) and the following two sculptures were very simple but so effective. I gave the boys a lump of clay each and a basket of various nuts and seed pods and these are what we came up with. I think that this has been the most engrossing task they have ever engaged in. I was so impressed by what they came up with and will definitely do this again.

This is William's garden sculpture.

This last one is mine.

Just being boys

I'm sure that in years to come I will dearly miss the days I spent in playgrounds with my boys. It is such a simple pastime but one we all love...........happy sun-filled days.........simple pleasures.

William found a broken plastic cup and was digging with it to make a sand castle. He is always so eager to welcome other children into his games.

Oliver is always climbing and never shows any fear. I have to have my wits about me all the time just tracking where he is because before I know it he has scrambled to the top of some structure and is about to jump off. William exercises more caution and is starting to look out for his brother.

The art of relaxation starts early in the male of the species!!! The boys are watching TV on their bean bags while their breakfast is being made...................

Lola's Egg

Miss Lola, our black Araucana chicken laid her first egg last Wednesday. Being an Araucana her eggs are a pale blue. She has since laid three more. I have yet to cook with any of them because we have been away since last Thursday. I am becoming very versatile at cooking egg recipes for the boys' breakfasts but since we are now getting so many lovely fresh eggs I am going to have to make them some creamy ice cream. We have one of those ice cream makers with a self refrigeration unit so the whole process is very easy. There is nothing like home made vanilla bean ice cream!

Love of My Life

...From the moment I first saw you

The second that you were born

I knew that you were the love of my life

Quite simply the love of my life...

Carly Simon "Into White" 2006 Sony BMG

The Upside Down Show

William has recently become an ardent devotee of this Australian children's show which is on each afternoon. The characters are a pair of comedians known as the Umbilical Brothers. They encourage audience participation by asking the children to hold an imaginary remote control which seemingly controls their movements on the show. William screams with laughter at their antics and cries when they 'go home'.

In my garden..............

Today was the first day of winter but it was crisp, sunny and cool in this bright little corner of my garden. We have had some rain in recent weeks so everything is fresh and green. While the boys were asleep Inger vacuumed up the fallen leaves and I did the washing. I took a few minutes to have a cup of tea and look at some of the flowers.

We have two lime trees in the garden, a kaffir lime and a Tahitian lime. These kaffir limes are abundant at present and they have a heady citrus perfume. I couldn't resist gathering up the fallen ones and displaying them in this little Moroccan bowl. Later in the morning I used the juice and rind of some of them to make a light uncooked lime and ricotta cheesecake .

Here we have the organic tomatoes we bought at the food co-op yesterday. Aren't they delectable! They are full of sweet juice. We had a couple with a leek and ricotta tart for breakfast. I am so happy with the quality of the vegetables we are getting from the co-op. Tonight Inger cooked a roast leg of lamb with roast vegetables. The carrots were so sweet! I am constantly on the lookout for new recipes to utilise these regional organic vegetables.

Craft.........HOORAY!!!

Craft is a very popular activity in this house. I only have to mention the word 'craft' and Oliver in particular starts to jump up and down shouting with excitement. These days I seem to spend a huge amount of time looking at children's craft sites looking for fun and age-appropriate things for the boys to do. Today I was especially organised and we all had a fun morning of painting, tearing coloured paper and pasting. It is really a two person job keeping two very busy little boys on track and paint-covered hands away from everything else in the room! The first task of the day was to make and paint caterpillars from egg cartons.

This was the end result.


Next we painted terracotta pots for the garden. I sealed the pots first and applied a pale blue undercoat. Oliver was utterly engrossed in painting his. Oliver's favourite colour is pink so he had no trouble in choosing his colour scheme.



He was delighted with the finished product.


Here you can see the two pots drying in the garden. I will seal them when they are dry. After that we will fill them with soil and plant seeds so that the boys have the beginning of their own little garden.

Next we set to tearing up pieces of coloured tissue paper to make stained glass windows. Last night I cut aeroplane shapes from black cardboard.

From the torn paper Inger and I assembled the 'windows' which are now hanging in our family room and make a very colourful decoration against the north-facing windows.