Conversations with Minty and Turi...

Turi: put a movie on mum

Me: it's 8:15 in the morning.  I'm not putting a movie on

Turi: put a movie on

Me: all you ever want to do is watch movies.  You need some other hobbies

Turi: what about my dinosaur?

Me: that's a great idea!

Turi: we could pretend that was my hobby and then you could put a movie on.

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After breaking the rules Minty was told she would not be getting dessert...

Minty: it will give me great pleasure if you give me dessert

Me: there's a reason you're not getting dessert tonight

Minty [crossly]: you're being very unusual!  If you behave like this you're not going to be anyone's mum.  You'll have to go in the bin…. I'm getting a bit crosser than I am.  If you don't get my dessert i'm going to put the poo face on.

Me: well what are you going to do to fix the problem?

Minty [indignantly]: I said I was sorry

Me: I know you said you were sorry but are you just going to do it again tomorrow?

Minty: only if you don't look.

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After discovering head lice in Minty's hair (gross I know!!)...

Me: I just found the mother load

Minty [musing]: I wonder when you're going to find the father load…

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Minty [excitedly]: I think we should do a bit of a clean up

Me: That's a great idea!

Minty: because then Santa might bring us a reindeer!  He's a pretty nice man.

In which santa fails to bring a pinacosaurus but no one really minds…

 

This photo was taken on Minty's last day of kinder.  It was such a special day for her.  She's loved this year of kinder so much and I think we were both a little sad to see it come to an end.  She was (somewhat ironically given her behaviour this week!!) an angel in the nativity play.

After the play there was a visit from the big man himself.  As santa handed out gifts for all the kinder kids and their younger siblings, a horrifying thought dawned on me.  I had forgotten to bring along a wrapped gift for santa to give to Turi.  At that moment Turi turned to me with a look of unbridled joy and excitement and said to me, 'does Santa have a present for me!?'  He was virtually shaking with anticipation.  This was surely my greatest parenting failure to date.  I murmured something to the effect of, 'we'll have to wait and see', and then gripped the Mr's arm while we exchanged one of those all important parenting conversations spoken only with furtive glances and meaningful eyebrow twitches.  My panicked gaze said something along the lines of, 'sweet baby Jesus I forgot to bring a gift!!!', and his eyebrow mexican wave signalled back, 'seriously? Since you're in the habit of forgetting vital things do I need to ask if there is also a lit candle next to a curtain somewhere at home?'   

And then, ever the practical problem solver, the Mr swung into action. He surreptitiously cut a square of wrapping paper from a roll on the kinder craft table and disappeared out the front door for a few moments.  He returned with a frond of kangaroo paw he had cut from the bush out the front, which he then wrapped in the said paper and handed to the kinder teacher to slip to santa.  As I watched the other siblings unwrapping dolls, books and brightly coloured markers I was sure we were sunk.  I was mortified and certain that somewhere in the future a therapist would be secretly thanking me for funding his or her trip to Tahiti.  Surely an entire chapter would be dedicated to this incident in Turi's future memoirs.  And then the moment of truth arrived, Santa called Turi's name and he ripped open the package.  Shockingly he wasn't even the slightest bit disappointed.  He adored his kangaroo paw and clutched it lovingly to his chest.  When it came time for Santa to leave Turi flung himself on the floor sobbing and wailing, 'but I'll miss him'.  Ever since Turi has been proudly telling whoever will listen, that Santa brought him a kangaroo plant.

Crisis averted.  Moral of the story… don't leave me in charge of remembering anything.  And maybe (or am I reaching too far here?) materialism in kids is more a product of our own expectations.

In which we host Christmas lunch and the cows get busy...

 

This was our first Christmas in our new house, so I was so excited to be able to host Christmas lunch with our extended families.  As I mentioned yesterday, there were some extensive house building projects that we rushed to complete a few days before.  I won't lie, it was a little stressful trying to pull it altogether in time but I'm so glad we did.

Each family brought with it some of their own traditions, those quirky little elements without which it wouldn't seem like a true christmas… the Mr.'s family brought prawns, nut loaf and 'Switched on Christmas' (an iconic christmas record from the 80s which is probably best described as traditional christmas meets xanadu and was most likely written by someone tripping on acid).  My family contributed cheezles and setting the pudding on fire.  My sister-in-law's family brought homemade christmas crackers and an enthusiasm for the cheesy jokes found within.  And last but not least my unofficial pseudo sister-in-law brought along the 'polar bears jacket' (see this post for an explanation) and Russian Christmas cake (for which I am developing an unhealthy obsession!)  I loved that this year's celebration was a melting pot where all these christmases could come together.

We ate way too much food, drank sangria and enjoyed great conversation while we watched the cows over the back fence mating.  I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did!

 

Hydrangeas from mum's garden lined the table in little tin pots from ikea.   Thrifted glass jars with red striped paper straws supplemented my lack of glassware!

 

Silver spray painted pine cones were scattered near my tarnished antique candelabra.

 

The kid's table was covered with brown paper so they could get creative doodling while they ate!

 

I loved our tree so much this year!  The smell of pine is amazing.  Don't even ask why the Mr. has a sock on his head!!

 

I strung ruffled crepe paper streamers and a garland made from patty pans above the talbes.

 

One of Minty's favourite gifts this year was a bug catcher.

You can see a little peek of our new timber bench top on the left.  I promise I'll do a proper house update soon!

Hand made christmas gifts...

 

I haven't had a chance to sort through my photos from Christmas day yet, so in the mean time I thought I'd show you some of the gifts I made this year.  I love hand making my gifts, as it forces me to slow down and really think about each of the recipients during the creative process.  This year I was a little pressed for time so I had to keep things simple.  Our new kitchen bench was installed in the week before christmas which meant we didn't have a stove or kitchen sink until Christmas eve so I really had to minimise my baking plans.  Likewise, my sewing time was limited as we were plastering and painting the room I normally work in.  Here is a look at what I did manage to put together...

This is a simple little reversible bag I made.  The shape was inspired by a bag I got many years ago from Douglas and Hope.  It's made with silk I salvaged from a kimono and has a reversible mustard interior.  Minty is my hand model showing how it loops over to be carried!

 

This apron for my sister was made with a lovely printed Japanese cotton.  I lined the apron to give it some extra weight.  It does have a pocket but it's camouflaged in these photos!!

 

I also made this apron for my folks, along with some matching linen/cotton blend tea towels.  I paired it with a plait of lovely organic locally grown garlic.

 

I made a pot of spoon oil for my mother-in-law.  I use this beeswaxy goodness to oil my wooden spoons and chopping blocks.  You can find a recipe for spoon oil here.  This was gifted along with another apron and garlic plait.

This year's sweet treats included hazelnut truffles (I used this recipe) and maple bacon peanut brittle (not pictured but you can find the recipe here).

Merry Christmas!

I've really missed blogging this past month.  Things just got a little crazy around these parts and I had to step back and take a break.  I've got so many happy things to tell you all about and I'm not entirely sure how to approach catching up everything I missed writing, so for now I just want to send some festive cheer from our little family.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Weekend away...

 

We spent this weekend camping at a friend's walnut farm.  It was so good to get away and relax with friends in such a beautiful spot.  The kids had an amazing time having tractor rides, swimming in the river and canoeing.  

Halloween Party!

 

Hello strangers!  You may have guessed by my absence that things have been pretty busy around here.  I've been meaning to post here for a while now but The Mr. 'somebody' deleted all my photos from the shared flash card and there was a lengthy recovery process to get them back!  I may or may not have threatened to divorce someone if they didn't find my photos!!

So here is a belated look at the halloween party we had last week.  This is the first year we've really done halloween and it was so much fun!  I love any excuse to decorate the house!

This was my first attempt at pumpkin carving.  Someone should have warned me that it is actually hard work!  I think next year I'll invest in some proper pumpkin carving tools to assist in getting all those hairy bits our of the inside of the pumpkin.  I carved these with a drill and sabre saw.

 

Both the girl's costumes were made from restyled ladies' tops.  We picked up the cute little brooms at the supermarket.

 

This is my bat wall.  I just cut bat silhouettes out of black card and stuck them on the wall with washi tape.  

 

We had lots of scary themed food.  This was witch's hair (squid ink pasta).  There was also slime (zucchini) soup, cheesy maggots (risotto), ghostly meringues, bats blood (black current juice), worms in dirt (lolly worms in crumbled up chocolate cake), severed fingers (mini hot dogs with onion fingernails), plus lots more that I'm having trouble remembering!  Oh and we had some cocktails too!

All the kids made mummy cups.  I hot glued goggly eyes to some plastic cups and let the kids wrap them in white crepe paper.

 

Turi was a scary bear!

Happy (very belated) Halloween!

In which I procrastinate in the claw foot...

 

I had my first ever bath in our old claw foot tonight.  Well that isn't strictly true…  I did attempt to have a bath about a month ago only to discover the Mr. had turned off the hot water system.  And then there was the time shortly after we first moved in when I tried to wash my hair in the shower but realised the water was way too hot and I couldn't change the water temperature because the plumber hadn't attached the mixer tap yet.  On that occasion I did an emergency dunk of my head into the bath to rinse the shampoo off, but I don't think that really counts.  This was my first proper relaxing soak.  I seem to be taking more and more projects on lately and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.  Some may call it procrastinating (and they'd probably be right) but I felt a soak in the tub might help melt the stress away.

I've been taking some product photos for a friend of mine that makes hand poured soy candles.  One perk of this job was that I got a few lovely candles for myself!  I lit my favourite coffee scented candle during tonight's bath.  Next time I think I'll add a glass of red and a good book and things will be pretty much perfect!!