sprites in the garden

It's amazing how beautiful weeds can look when they have children playing in them. We have this wild weedy patch in the backyard where an old half dead mango tree used to be. There was no lawn underneath, just lots of horrible ground cover. The mango tree has been cut down and most of the undergrowth removed but now that the sun is on it, there is a jungle of weeds that we haven't got around to clearing yet. So..a bit of an eyesore. But the other day, my two girls and a neighbour were playing in it so I grabbed the camera. Suddenly, our weedy patch was transformed into a little fairy kingdom.

On a slightly more upbeat note

In case any of my lovely friends are worrying about me, I thought I'd quickly add that after penning the last somewhat downbeat post, I went outside with the girls and played with the dog, watered the garden with Seasol (another job sort of done for the month), enjoyed the dusk and the cool breeze and had a chat to my neighbour across our quiet cul-de-sac street about having a relaxed Christmas get together on the footpath with the other families. My handsome husband (I love it when he can't be bothered to shave and looks rugged) came home to find three happy girls and a happy dog in the yard and put the fairy lights on the front of the house out of reach of the puppy's teeth.

So...that has all lifted my spirits. Sorry for whingeing.

The photo is of the girls at school last week. G decided to dress herself in gumboots, hand me down dress, hat and, most importantly, backpack and go to school. Her big sister was mortified when I got out the camera and asked for a photo in the school grounds. Sorry E!

treading water

Once again, I find myself struggling to keep my head above the murky waters of depression. I seem to have run out of motherly patience and energy to keep it all together so I am just plodding along, putting one foot ahead of the other (and ignoring my children while they eat biscuits after dinner and watch tv so I can have five minutes to vent on this blog). I should also be bringing in the washing, giving the neglected dog some attention, washing the dishes and bathing E. before my husband arrives home in 45 minutes. Not that he cares about domestic order. He says he would rather have a sane wife than a tidy house which is very kind of him. (And perceptive).

So....to concentrate on the positive......here are some photos of the biscuits we baked today. It should have been fun, I know, but I found the mess and the fights over whose turn it was to stir the mixture excruciating. (Oops....forgot to be positive again). However, the biscuits turned out ok and were cooling as the postman rode up on his motorbike with the mail, so the girls took him out a duck biscuit on a plate. He gobbled it up so he must have been ready for morning tea. E. saw some biscuits being made on Playschool that were cut out of biscuit dough using a big template of an animal, so we drew a horse on some baking paper and ....voila! One horse! He was even better when decorated with the new "writing icing" stuff I bought for E's last birthday.

PS There is a large rat (or perhaps some cute sort of native marsupial) living in our compost bin. It keeps scaring the bejesus out of me. I know all the things not to put in the compost to avoid rats and am following all the rules. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it without putting out rat baits?

The new fence is here. A whole new chapter of my life is about to begin! Yes....the puppy can now spend most of his time outside in the yard doing all the stuff that puppies like to do, instead of shut up in the laundry when one of us can't supervise him outside. He had just become a bit more adventurous and started to gambol off chasing birds and running on the road so the fence has been built just in time. It will also be safer for the girls to play outside although I have realised belatedly that the fence may be dog proof but it's not toddler proof. I guess my children still have to supervised the whole time. Sigh! When does this phase come to an end? G has started climbing on the TV stand as well. Very scary. Perhaps my husband might get a new TV sooner rather than later as the one we have is pretty old and quite heavy.

E. took some great photos of Kipper yesterday. I think she is a better photographer than me. I can't get Kip to stay still long enough for a good photo. He is so much bigger now and is getting longer legs and some feathering of his coat. He still has his gentle nature and puts up with some amazing wrestle holds from G. when she is trying to "give him a cuddle". I'm surprised he hasn't nipped her yet and hope that never happens. I spend most of my day saying (or perhaps yelling) "Gentle! Gentle!". Still....it's all more love for the mix.

In the backyard

We seem to spend more time in the backyard lately which was the goal of creating some new garden beds and getting a puppy. It's so great to get the girls outside in the fresh air and away from the television. G. has started trying to ride on E's scooter now that E is busy with her new bike. She doesn't quite have the hang of it yet, but she is having fun practising.

We have harvested our first eggplants which seems like a miracle. I guess it is! We planted these little seedlings a few months ago and then the plants grew like topsy. Next came large white flowers, followed by purple eggs with thorny little hats on. S. grilled the first one (see picture) and put it on his gluten free pizza that he makes every week for work lunches. We have also picked lots of our silverbeet which I have been having in my weekend omelettes with feta cheese and semi-sundried tomatoes. Very tasty and such an amazing feeling to cook something you have grown. I had only ever grown herbs before.

We've been having some humdinger storms lately. Here's one brewing over our back neighbour's house the other weekend. We were working in the yard and had to quickly take cover when it broke. It only lasted about 10 minutes and then it was all sunny again so we went back out and kept on working.

dress ups

On the last day of November we decided it was time to put the Christmas Tree up. However, when the Daddy was rummaging in the top of our cupboards, he called out "Look what I've found". It was the box with my wedding dress, organza wrap and veil. (I didn't wear the wrap and the veil at the same time....just wanted to make that clear!).

So the girls decided they would like to try the wedding gear on. It brought back lovely memories for me of trying on my mother's wedding dress and veil. I am a bit of a sucker for creating these little family traditions. At first, little G. was E.'s admiring bridesmaid but before long, she had the wrap around her own chubby shoulders. I'm so glad I grabbed the camera. So....probably in danger of turning my blog (which was originally to be more about my garden than my children) into an indulgent, nauseating collection of cute photos of my daughters. Sorry about that.

PS One of the photos is blurry because the flash didn't go off, but I sort of like it. Closest thing I'm going to get to creating an arty farty effect in my photography

PS G. doesn't have a dirty face. She has a bruise from falling out of our bed one night.