Right now I'm.....

Right now I am :

:: thankful for having a whole week off work with my beloved, which co-oincided with school holidays

:: savouring the slow pace of our days this week (no 6am wake up alarm!)

:: happy to have managed to make Charlie a Jedi robe (dressing gown) that not only turned out to fit him but he approved of. Parenting win!

:: overfull after a family dinner out tonight. No cooking = a happy mama.

:: relaxed after my slow week of being at home, something I love to do yet rarely get to.

:: enjoying the sight of two of my boys happily drawing together (until Charlie gets distracted and climbs on the furniture). Quiet, contented family moments fill me with joy,

:: loving the set of shiny new pots and pans my husband suprised me with yesterday.

:: pondering if it's a bit sad to be so happy over new pots and pans? The previous set were almost 20 years old!

:: satisfied with the sight of tidied and rearranged kitchen cupboards, to make room for said shiny pots and pans.

:: thinking of all the planned chores I didn't managed to get done this week. Somehow the item 'tidy out the linen closet' kept getting bumped to the bottom of my daily list. 

:: releasing any guilt for not having achieved everything I wanted to this week.

:: pleased that I prioritised sleeping in and coffee over chores.

:: anticipating a very busy working week next week to make up for the time off this week.

:: planning a menu of easy dinners for next week due to the anticipated busyness. Soups! Stews! Casseroles! Slow Cooker!

:: listening to Charlie humming Star Wars music to himself. Not just right now but ALL DAY! Save me from the Star Wars theme music. Please.

:: watching Del labour of Airfix model planes by himself. A Daddy and son project that now is just a Daddy project. With occassional overseeing from the son.

:: preparing for the return to school on Monday, and the making of school lunches once again. Does anyone else find it difficult to make new and interesting food for lunchboxes?

:: wondering how it is that Corey only has one more term of school/college left to go.

:: hoping to continue the slow relaxed pace into next week.

:: doubting that I'll manage it.

:: grateful for a wonderful week in this eccentric life of mine.

One of Those Days

Yesterday was a real day. What I mean by that is that life wasn't perfect, but it was real.

It started with that on edge, mild headache-y feeling after waking from a sleep filled with nightmares. Not the best way to start a day I find.

As the morning progressed there were a few other minor hiccups along the way. Then came the straw that broke the camels back. Minor, inconsequential and totally not worth it in the scheme of things. Yet there is was, the thing that took me to edge of tears and frustration.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.... it didn't.

It got better.

My three boys rallied around me and each in their own way helped me over this little hurdle.

Kaiden lent me his hands and physical strength to help me complete the task, getting on with the details of what was needed even without me asking.

Corey used his head and put pen to paper and came up with an awesome solution to the problem.

And Charlie. Dear little Charlie. He used his heart to share love and bring happiness, which was just the extra boost I needed. He took this modest little branch he'd collected and decorated it with all the love (and sticky tape) he could.




This was what really made me take a moment. And a deep breathe, and then smile.



Each of my boys helped me by using their different abilities.

Head. Hands. Heart.

Three things that in my opinion, if used well, create a wonderful person. And my three boys, each embodying one of these qualities.

I'm such a proud mama.

What To Do During School Break

It's the mid year Winter break here. Charlie has three weeks off school. Hooray for time off! More time to play. Days at home filled with stories, games and lots of hot chocolate.

Yet three weeks is a very long time for a 6 year old to be amused at home, it seems.

Especially as I still need to work during this time, meaning I leave him at home with his older brothers.

Willing and wonderful babysitters they may be, yet this arrangement can be a beautiful blessing or a terrible chaotic necessity depending on the day.

Thankfully my work outside the home is not usually for more than a few hours at a time, so it's not too long before I'm back home and able to join in the fun.




















When the dining table becomes a rather spacious cubby for Charlie. And a rather tiny one for anyone else.

The day bed on our enclosed patio becomes the perfect place for games during the more pleasant winter weather moments.




And finger puppets get left discarded once the intrigues of the royal court lose there appeal, and little boys move on to more enduring favourites.

Such as Lego. Most of his day (and bedroom floor) is filled with Lego.
 













Lots and lots of Lego.

If only the clean up at the end of the day was as much fun!

Wintery Days

It's winter here in the southern hemisphere.

Winter for our particular part of the world is mostly sunny blue skies, warmish sunshine and cool nights.

I know, hardship right?

Yet for us the temperature dropping to a barely acceptable 3oC overnight means it's winter. So colder evenings are filled with lovely things. Such as warming soups for dinner.

Evening artwork by the heater - today Charlie's illustrating a song he's learnt in German class about the seasons.

Thank goodness for Google translate. How else is a non German speaking mama to figure out what 'trauben' means.

Grapes it turns out.



 Our evenings also include lighting the candles on our winter nature table. We've pared down what's on our nature table considerably, I refuse to allow sticks that are almost the size of tree branches here.

No matter how much someone insists that they're part of nature and represents winter.

Well, this particular part of nature can stay outside with the rest then.

Charlie decided to 'surprise' me by rearranging the bathroom today. He wanted to make it look better I was told.

My interior design and artistic arranging skills are obviously not up to par, so he needed to step in to rectify this.

This photo shows the bathroom benchtop with items now neatly lined up in a row.

This photo shows the window sill next to the bath with all his toy cars now neatly lined up in a row.



 This photo shows our recently hand carved soaps now neatly lined up in a row.

I think I'm beginning to see a decorating theme emerging here.

So it seems if I just neatly line up everything in the house in rows then I could be in the running for the interior designer of the year award. Only if there's a 6 year old judging that is.

But for now I'll just sit quietly in my comfy corner of the bathroom, to knit and oversee bathtime and turn a blind eye to the row of soap fish staring at me.

Back to the Blog

Life has been happening, during this long hiatus.

Lovely, joyful, gentle, sometimes stressful and frantic, eccentric life.

My time and focus has been on simply being, enjoying my family and the sweetness of the days, weeks, months and years as they pass by. As well as trying to remain sane being the only female living in a house full of boys!

Today has been a slow and restful Sunday with my littlest boy Charlie feeling a little ill with a fever. Thankfully not full blown man-flu, still a few more years to go till that kicks in.

So the day was passed in a cosy, sleep deprived blur of cuddles and small bouts of productivity. (I even managed to get clothes hung on the line. Getting them back in might be another thing though).

And time was definitely made for stories on a blanket in the warmish afternoon sun. Priorities you know!

Time also to check on my decimated vegetable seedlings. Note to self, I need to do more to combat the snails and slugs. Sadly the beer traps just aren't working efficiently enough, all the beer guzzling snails were lured in but seems there are still plenty of tee totallers hiding out there.

And there's always time to take a breath and watch the late afternoon sky for just a moment. Or two.