1. Hanging out with Gina - Since she arrived in Australia on Christmas Eve, I've been enjoying hanging out with my beautiful new sister-in-law. My brother has been at sea for a few weeks and their first baby is arriving in early April so we've been buying baby clothes, choosing material for me to make a baby quilt, having hot chocolate and cake and buying a baby sling with my big sister, more shopping, more eating......you get the idea. Now that my big brother is home from the sea and I'm trying to let them have some time together, I'm really missing Gina. Here she is with my little girl on Christmas Day. She was an instant hit with both my girls who are extremely excited about having a new auntie and the impending arrival of a beautiful bubba.
BEFORE
1. Having a less shaggy dog - Although Kippy does look rather magnificent with a full Cavalier King Charles coat, I have not been brushing him as I should have and he had some terrible tangles that I couldn't even cut out for fear of hurting him. He was also leaving white hair all over me if I cuddled him and although he is only inside at night in the laundry, there was plenty of Kipper hair on the floor needing to be swept up. So.....the nice lady from Pooch Mobile came to the house and gave him a much needed hair cut topped off with a warm bath. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her not to cut his feathers off his legs so he now looks like a beagle. But his coat will grow back quickly and he will look like a nice tidy Cav again. In the meantime, I am more conducive to cuddling him again.
AFTER
3. Going to jazz ballet with E - After two years of school with no extra curricular activities (I guess I'm a lazy mother), E has started jazz ballet with a school friend. She just loves it and is learning a dance to a quite funky Miley Cyrus ditty which she practises diligently. G and I like sitting outside the classroom, watching the show and chatting to the other mothers. E doesn't have the full uniform yet but here she is ready to dance in her black t-shirt with her hair tied back. How come she looks so grown up all of a sudden????
4. Baking scones - We have had weeks of rain, off and on, and after seeing a yummy photo of scones in a Country Style magazine, I decided I really NEEDED to make some. I found a recipe and started rubbing that butter into the flour. A short time later, I had hot scones with jam and cream and my neighbour arrived in a timely fashion to help me scoff them. The recipe was from David Herbert in the Australian Weekend Magazine (sorry - can't be bothered to find a link - a lazy mother AND a lazy blogger) and had chopped apricot in the scones. Yum....I love apricot. Of course I had to make another batch two days later as it was still raining and well...I had the rest of the cream to use up, didn't I?5. Quilting - no photo yet but I'm in the midst of making a quick flannelette baby quilt to send to the Appalachian Mountains. It's a project I read about here and if I don't finish it soon, winter will be over in the Appalachians. Luckily, Rachel, who organises it has been very patient with me. Unfortunately, while sewing on the binding yesterday the needle on my sewing machine broke so I'm about to traipse down to the nice man at the sewing machine shop so he can show me how to put a new one in. I've tried myself without success.
Just while on the quilting topic, I just noticed this post of Rachel's with a photo of her fabric stash all neatly folded and in a little cabinet. Such a pretty sight that I wish I had one instead of shoving my fat quarters and material into shopping bags and squeezing them into my wardrobe. Check it out.
6. Having a rare date with my husband - Yesterday, we organised the girls' favourite babysitter and went out for a day off together. We went to our favourite haunt of late - the Barracks at Petrie Terrace. We happily spent over 5 hours having coffee/pie/icecream/lunch, seeing a movie, browsing in a bookshop, without having to shift the car. It was heaven - and so great to see my boy in a different light (as in not someone I mostly discuss children and chores with). When we got home we had an impromptu photo shoot as the girls wanted photos of their beloved babysitter, Olivia - all of 18 years old and worth her weight in gold (rather than the paltry $65 we paid her). Thank you Olivia. I won't embarrass you by putting your photo on my blog so here's one of Scott and the girls instead.
