Conversations with Minty and Turi...

Me: stop putting your hand in your mouth. It's filthy!

Turi [pointing to his stomach]: well its ok.  Now i can just have a muddy puddle in here.

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Turi: I want an animal party where they bring around snakes and turtles and things and you get to hold them.

Me: oh a reptile party.  I don't really want to have to pay for a reptile party.  How about a bug party and we could have worms and a stick insect and other bugs you could touch?

Turi: no I HATE bugs.

Me: ok another type of party then.  What about a dinosaur party?

Turi [excitedly]: Yeah!!  They could bring a T-rex for me to touch!!

Me [suppressing laughter][: Darling there aren't any live dinosaurs anymore, they're extinct.

Turi [disappointed]: awwww!!

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whilst collecting the eggs… 

Minty [excitedly holding an egg aloft]: one egg!!

Me: The shell is a bit wrinkly.  I think we need to give the chickens some more shell grit.

Minty [admonishing]: don't say shell grit!

Me [surprised]: why can't I say shell grit?

Minty [in an overly dramatised whisper while pointing to the egg]: because this is the shell grit

(Just a quick explanation for those of you for whom this conversation made no sense.  Chickens need to be given shell grit to help their egg shells develop properly.  This can be given in the form of crushed up egg shells but you have to be careful to make sure the pieces are very small so they don't start recognising their own eggs as food!)

A very happy Halloween!

I wasn't really planning on celebrating halloween this year, but yesterday morning I was feeling festive so I threw together some last minute costumes for the kids and decorated the house.  I asked Minty what she would like to dress up as and she told me she'd like to be a vampire.

"Do you even know what a vampire is?" I asked.

"Well… I think it's just like a killing machine in a cape." She replied.  Great.  I'm glad she learnt something at pre-prep, thanks to the endless monster high dolls paraded at show and tell!

Minty was very enamoured with the idea of trick-or-treating.  I wasn't entirely sure whether it would be well received by our neighbours since halloween isn't really a bit deal here in Australia.  I tried to explain to Minty that many of the houses might not have a treat to give her so she decided she could give out treats to our neighbours instead.  I thought this was a great idea and much more neighbourly, so we baked some halloween cupcakes to give out.  Minty piped the icing herself.  She's getting pretty handy with a piping bag for a five year old!

Minty emerged from the first house wide eyed and said, "Something strange happened,  It was almost like they knew we were trick-or-treaters and they gave us a treat straight away!"  Their haul included some biscuits in a paper patty case from a tinned assortment, a home brand muesli bar ("I think these might have come from a shop!" Minty told me in wonderment as she proudly showed me this treat) and a $5 note.  Not bad really.

At bedtime Minty whispered to me, "Thanks for letting me trick-or-treat.  Tonight was the best night of my life."