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Garden Explorer

shrove tuesday...

Pancake day today - one of my favourite days of the year!  Sadly it also marks the beginning of lent, 40 days of abstinence.  This year I am planning to give up TV.  No I don't mean that I will give up watching TV (are you people crazy??), I mean that I am not going to let the kids watch TV.  Those of you who are parents will know that this is a bigger sacrifice for me than for the kids.  Turi doesn't even really like TV, and though Minty often asks (read nags) to watch something in reality she would rather go to the park or spend time painting.  I think I'll still let them watch one movie a week, because I'm not sure I can go all week without some alone time - I'm not a saint after all.  It's going to be a long few weeks… I'll let you know how it goes.

Today's pictures are a peek at some photos I took for a friend last week.  This is little baby Maggie and her big brother Thomas.  Very sweet little kids and good fun to photograph!

In which I give you a peek at our walls and Turi is starving...

You might remember back when I decided to paint my bedroom navy blue.  You'd be forgiven for thinking we never actually went through with it seeing as I never posted any photos.  Truth is after we had stripped all the wallpaper and finished the painting I was totally over the project and never went any further.  I got busy, life got in the way.  So we're still using our mismatching doona cover, there are no pictures on the walls and the only decorations are the toys the kids drag in there and our clothes that they constantly pull off our open shelving (which I had intended to replace) and strew around the room.

On the up side, I love the new colour.  It is warm and inviting and makes the room a lovely place to sleep.  Plus it is really fun to photograph in there - really switches things up.  One day I will get around to 'dressing' the room, but in the mean time we will just try to enjoy the space in all its unfinished glory.

All these pictures were taken in our bed (very early) this morning.  In case you're wondering, Turi is flipping out because he wants another piece of toast.

In which we visit Kongwak and Minty gets a smack...

The daycare dilemma has reared its ugly head once again.  When I went to pick Minty up on Friday she told me that two of the older girls gave her a smack because she was running around during nap time.  She solemnly told me she doesn't want me to leave her there alone again because she 'missed us all very much'.  Every night since then she has been sadly telling me how worried she is, and that she doesn't want me to leave her alone at 'school' anymore.  She says that she misses Turi and daddy and mummy too much and then looks at me with very big teary eyes.  It is heartbreaking.

Now on the one hand I don't want to teach her that when you encounter a difficult social situation the way to deal with it is by avoiding it and running away.  But on the other hand I did tell her that if she stopped liking 'school' she didn't have to go back.  And frankly I wouldn't want someone to leave me there all day, so how can I expect her to want to?  So I think this might be the end of the road for us with daycare.  Maybe I'm molly coddling her, but nasty girls smacking my baby wasn't really part of the perfect childhood bubble I was hoping to create for her.  Surely there is plenty of time for all of that when she reaches prep?  Thoughts anyone??

Onto lighter matters… 

Today I took the kids to the Kongwak market.  It's mainly bric a brac and vintage things for sale so it wasn't really Minty or Turi's idea of a good time.  If I'd been there on my own I probably would have come home with some vintage sewing patterns but the kids couldn't get out of there fast enough so I didn't really have a chance to browse.  At least it was a nice country drive.  Kongwak is a really pretty little town and we had picnic morning tea watching the cows grazing.  

In which we peek under the sea and see First Love...

Yesterday we went back to the big smoke and took the kids to the aquarium (or the 'maquarium' as Minty fondly refers to it).  It was a fun day out, though I did feel a little sorry for the penguins who really didn't look like they belonged in captivity (like the zoo scene in Happy Feet brought to life, minus the tap dancing).  Also, whoever is behind installing a room of coin operated arcade machines and rides near the exit should be shot.  Isn't it enough that we have to navigate our overstimulated children through the gift shop on the way out without adding another dimension to the horror?

Note: today's photos were taken by the Mr. (except of course for the one he's in - he's clever but not that clever!)

In the evening we went to see First Love.  I hadn't been to the cinema in about 2 years so this was a bit of a treat, and to make it even more special, Claire, the film's director is a friend of ours.  I can't tell you how inspiring it is to meet someone who is living their dream.  I'm sure when Claire first told people she wanted to make movies about surfing there were plenty of people who thought it would never really happen.  And yet here she is at age 24, with her first full length feature film being released at village cinemas around the country.  If you haven't already seen it, I'd really encourage you to check it out - it's a really enjoyable film even for those of us who are not surfing obsessed!

First Love The Film - Trailer from First Love on Vimeo.

He's alive!

We're experiencing some technical difficulties here this evening - the server is down so sadly most of the photos around these parts won't load until the situation is rectified.  In the mean time here are a couple of snaps of Turi at the park.  A few people have mentioned to me that Turi hasn't been featuring much lately.  I guess it's just hard to keep up with him and take photos at the same time.  He is particularly adventurous at the moment and having more than his share of accidents while he tries to keep up with the big kids.

In which 'tomorrow' finally arrives...

I really should know by now that if I promise to post something 'tomorrow' something is almost guaranteed to prevent it happening.  After my last post both the kids came down with a nasty virus - fever, loss of appetite, runny nose, cough and a complete inability to sleep unless splayed in some kind of uncomfortable 'cuddle' in the 'big bed'.  I haven't slept in three days now because the kids have been taking it in turns needing to be tended to in one shape or another.  And now to top it off Turi has developed some very nasty looking hives all over his body and started vomiting.  So basically my house is like some kind of leper colony… good times.

But as promised here are some finished sewing projects…

A beanbag for Minty - made with Heather Ross Far Far Away II.  I made the outer cover with a zip so I can remove it and wash it as needed.  All seams are reinforced because I really don't want to be finding little beans all over my house.  I have plans to make one for Turi and maybe another to sell (if I ever get around to it).

An ooshka for Minty.  I won a couple of face panels and the pattern in a giveaway from Lisa before Christmas and have finally gotten around to making one (because you know how efficient I am).  Turi has fallen in love with it, but thankfully Minty doesn't seem to mind sharing.

And a few better pics of the puppet show shorts I talked about in my last post.  I think I'll be making a few more pairs of these.