Our Big Adventure

Wardrobe Wednesday!

2012-01-11T08:27:00.001+13:00

Hooray! Wardrobe Wednesday returns! Thank you, Lovely Nin at Sailor Spy :)

We have a theme for January - the latest addition to your wardrobe. This fab dress is new to me, but not to the world - it's a late 1950's Carol Brent frock my amazing husband bought me for Christmas this year. (Yes, he chose it totally independently - the only reason I had to see it before Christmas was so he could check my measurements & I might have noticed if he were pursuing me with a tape measure...).

So, so lovely...the only problem is it's quite a tricky business breastfeeding a small baby in it, but even that can't stop me - I just have to wear it when hubby is home to assist with unzipping it! (1950's metal zip technology..not so hot. Will get an invisible zipper put in it asap, way too chicken to do it myself in case I do something dreadful to my new treasure!).

So... dress - awesome pressie from husband

petticoat - trade me

shoes - thrifted

necklace - a mystery! one of my only surviving necklaces - all others are in zip lock bags waiting til my babies are big enough not to bust them ;)

hair & makeup - shocking! hairbrush stolen by two year old, make up a vain attempt to cover up a very long night! (cheers, big shiny full moon - shining on Olive's face so she thought a) it was morning, or b) the police were up in their helicopter looking for her!)

Find more Wardrobe Wednesday action here!! And do feel free to join in :)

Being, Not Doing...

2012-01-10T09:24:00.001+13:00

A lovely friend of mine wrote a sentence in her blog yesterday which resonated with me - nothing earth shattering, but something which I think it's good to remember from time to time, especially when life gets crazy!

She had taken her gorgeous gang of boys down to a beautiful lake in their Very Small Town, which they just don't manage to get to enough. 'We must go down more. Its right on our door step! Too much time doing "stuff" and not enough time just being!!' Yes Yes Yes!!!

It's so easy to get wrapped up in being everywhere all at once, and trying to do seven million things, especially with small kids. I don't remember going to organised activities every day when I was little - I went to my music lessons (which I loved - hence I now teach music to small folks myself!), but the rest of our time was spent climbing up the trees in the garden, making magical potions from mint geraniums (which is such a strong memory I now have a pot of them which has shifted from the North Island to the South Island with us!), playing cricket with the set Grandad made for us (hitting a ball over the wall into the neighbours goldfish pond was an instant out!), and riding our bikes at breakneck speeds down our super steep driveway.

We weren't scheduled into activities every single day, we didn't spend time staring at flashcards that will help you become a genius before the age of two (and we all turned out pretty smart, I reckon!), we watched a bit of telly & our brains didn't fall out, and despite our tree climbing & racing down driveways, none of us ever had an actual broken bone. My sister came close once, but even that didn't warrant a real cast much to our disappointment.

I want Jarvis & Olive to look back on their childhood in the same way - I want them to remember being pixies in the garden, digging up potatoes with Daddy, and riding their bikes off the deck (Jarvis' new fave activity). Once I get myself organised we will go back to teaching a music class once a week, because that's something I love & Jarvis loves too (and I really really want to share it with the Mums around here!) , but we don't need to be traversing the countryside each day to attend a myriad of organised activities.

Next on the list for today - go down to the sandpit & hang out there. There's a tree stump carved into a chair right next to it, perfect for Mamma to sit on while Jarvis does sand pit stuff, and Olive lies on a blanket & talks to her mate the faery. Choice.

Thanks to my gorgeous friend Nikki for the inspiration x

Mamma, Jarvis, Olive...

2012-01-09T14:01:00.000+13:00

What I Wore...

2012-01-05T08:43:00.000+13:00

Just before Christmas I finally found some time to get my sewing groove on! Hooray! Thankfully Olive enjoys watching the sewing machine (strange cookie), and Jarvis enjoys watching the Wiggles. Whew.

Skirt - Colette Patterns 'Ginger' Skirt

Singlet - Supre (I think?)

Shoes - donated by some kind person who didn't want them any more! Cheers!

Cardie - Portmans outlet store in Brisbane

Necklace - the fabulous Rhiannon - Croutons (thank you, lovely husband, for taking the very unsubtle hint!)

View - out towards the mountains. Lovely. Sigh...

Boxing Day

2012-01-03T13:00:00.000+13:00

Another perfect day. Instead of spending Boxing Day driving around the country, we packed a picnic & went to a most fabulous park in town. Surprisingly we were almost alone, the little shops & the pub weren't open, I guess we were the only ones who saw the potential of park sans organised events?

The playground was abandoned, aside from one small boy who was overjoyed to have it to himself.

No trains were running, so the station was ours.

Station Master Jarvis?

Doing some final checks before heading off on our Imaginary Grand Train Adventure.

Bike riding is also fantastic in an empty park. Nobody to accidentally run over means free riding!

One beautiful lady, watching the carry on with a huge smile on her face.

My family are amazing, and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have them. There's nothing more wonderful than spending the day with them, especially in a huge park with nobody but us to enjoy it!

Love love love. x

Christmas with our Babies.

2012-01-03T12:47:00.000+13:00

Note the super fab dress...thank you gorgeous husband! x

Champagne breakfast with whitebait fritters...mmmm (fizzy water for the small boy, btw!)

Tool Bench - made by Daddy.

Fireman Sam

Such a super awesome Christmas. No family this year (as we've moved to the South Island it just wasn't going to work), just us - we stayed home, ate lovely things, drank some lovely wine, and just hung out together. Absolutely magic.

On a mission to try and upload some more pictures before both small children awaken, hopefully a post with some actual writing will follow before too long! x

A fuzzy photo, but I don't care!

2011-12-07T13:19:00.000+13:00

Happiness!!

(sorry for the serial posting...for once I have two children asleep at the same time! And instead of doing the myriad of useful things on my list, I'm serial blogging..he he)

Yantra!

2011-12-07T13:12:00.000+13:00

Meet Jarvis' new friend, Yantra.

Yantra is an enormous artwork by Marté Szirmay, which stands at the entrance to Daddy's Winery.

Jarvis likes to think of Yantra as his own personal cave.

It echoes fabulously, and the gravel crunches under your feet. What's not to love?

Wardrobe Wednesday - dark hair, bright clothes, and a cat on my skirt!

2011-12-07T13:05:00.000+13:00

Feeling colourful today, aided by my pretty new scarf, care of my wonderful friend, Megan :) (thank you, thank you, thank you!!) As for the cat skirt - it reappeared this morning, after me starting to think I'd lost it in the shift! So fabulous!

I finally tired of pulling out the white hair that keeps popping up in my fringe, and coloured it for the first time in years...I'm rather liking the darker brown, but it's a little scary to think that now I'm not going to be able to stop colouring it for the rest of forever! I held off as long as I could, but I'm sure pulling out greys every day or two probably isn't the way to go ;)

Happy Wednesday!

Livin' on a Prayer?

2011-12-01T16:15:00.002+13:00

Olive, at the grand old age of One Week.

Big Brother on the Move

2011-12-01T16:02:00.002+13:00

A perfect deck for bike riding in the sun...and such a magical view!

Lovely...

2011-11-26T11:31:00.000+13:00

I did think Olive looked a lot like Jarvis did when he was wee...I think these pics confirm it!

So lovely...

Phone blogging!

2011-11-07T22:15:00.002+13:00

Why didn't I think of checking if there was a blogger android app before!!!
I think I'm posting a sideways photo of Jarvis and his favourite cat surveying the area, will need to work out the finer details of this mobile blogging carry on later!

Jarvis chooses a wine for lunch...

2011-11-07T15:05:00.001+13:00

Yeah right, buddy!

With two breastfeeding, but wine loving, wine wives? No freaking way!! (I'm not losing out on another bottle of Grange when I can't drink it. A pretty choice 1982 was consumed by two rather intoxicated gentlemen while I was pregnant with Jarvis. It brought tears to my eyes).

You have to love his good taste though, right?

(If you can't see the fuzzy label, it's a 1975 Penfolds Grange)...

What I Wore...

2011-11-07T15:02:00.000+13:00

Do excuse the rubbish photo, definitely doesn't do this wicked frock justice. This arrived in a bundle of very random castoffs which came from my Mother-in law's next door neighbour. Some absolute gems (see above!), some absolute disasters, some really horrid jerseys that work waaaay better as skirts, and some mysterious items which my friend who owns a costume hire store was overjoyed to take off my hands.

This dress started off somewhat dubiously, in fact I threw it in the bin about six times (and kept taking it out again every time I thought of something I could do to it that might just work). In the end a rough as guts attack with a pair of scissors left a pretty awesome dress. It needs a few repairs now as my hack job was kind of rough, but it's definitely wearable. And I really, really love the tiny pleats!!

Strawberries

2011-11-01T12:12:00.000+13:00

Apparently strawberries are complimented rather well by sand. Lots of sand.

Then there's this lady, who at four weeks old is too little to eat strawberries and prefers to wear them on her t shirt instead :)

One day I shall have time to actually write a whole post. Until then I'll keep running around in circles & striving to finish one cup of tea a day before it goes cold (current score 0/5).

Brand New Olive...

2011-10-12T12:58:00.000+13:00

Our internet is a disaster...I promise there will be more, but my sleeping children will wake up very shortly - it seriously took about an hour to get the new post box to load, let alone put anything in it.

In the meantime, enjoy our beautiful little girl.

Olive Maggie, born 3.45am on her due date, 8lb11oz.

A belated farewell...

2011-09-19T14:25:00.002+12:00

Thank you for six lovely years filled with lovely things - adventures, our wedding, camping trips in the sun, picnics at the beach, warm afternoons on the porch, sunny days under the walnut tree, many very special friends, one small boy added to our family, and our beautiful wedding (it was super fab so deserves a second mention!) :)

Now to see what adventures lie in our new home...

A Trip to the Museum :)

2011-08-28T08:02:00.000+12:00

There isn't a huge list of adventures we need to have before leaving our Small City next Monday...most of the adventures involve spending some time with the gorgeously wonderful friends we've made over our six years here. However, taking Jarvis to the museum was something we've wanted to do for ages, and finally got to yesterday!

Our museum has part of a huge ship stuck onto the side...after a shipwreck in 1912, a local jeweller decided he rather fancied it, and took the Wheel House home! He used it as an addition to his house, then it was left to the public in 1983, when it eventually became part of the museum.

Jarvis told us he was driving the boat to our new home across the sea :)

Today our busy weekend continues...a few more special friends to spend some time with. I've worked out that the thing I'll miss the most about being here is the fantastic people we've met & befriended...and fortunately I know from experience that wonderful friends are still wonderful friends, despite where you live. And now we've just given them an awesome excuse to head to the mainland for a holiday!

Sorry for being AWOL...

2011-08-18T09:17:00.000+12:00

It's rather crazy around here right now. We're shifting to a faraway land (at the top of the South Island!) in under three weeks!

Currently I'm surrounded by boxes, have a small boy who wants to scale them at every opportunity, and am hobbling around like a ninety year old (cheers, pregnancy ailments)!

Hopefully a proper post will emerge sometime soon, 'til then please send good packing and cleaning vibes my way :)

Wintery Adventures

2011-08-01T12:18:00.000+12:00

Whilst I pottered around the house yesterday (very slowly, kind of like a hippo with a broken leg...), Shane and Jarvis went on an adventure down the driveway to see what was going on in the vineyard and the land beyond...

Jack Frost!

2011-08-01T10:22:00.000+12:00

Jack Frost;

James K Baxter (The Tree House)

Look out, look out,

Jack Frost's about!

He'll nip your ears

And bite your snout!

He'll chap your knees

And make you sneeze;

Your fingers and

Your toes he'll freeze.

His magic makes

The mountains grow;

He learnt it from

His mother, Snow.

Yet he makes tiny

Glittering fronts

On window panes,

And ice on ponds.

When out of school

We dance and skip

He's waiting there

To pinch and nip.

Beware! Beware!

Leave nothing bare

When Jack Frost whistles

Through the air.

A wee collage...

2011-07-27T15:56:00.000+12:00

So I rather like the little collage I just put together of my increasing puku... I thought I might share it with you lovelies!

29 Weeks...

2011-07-22T14:27:00.000+12:00

A bit of a dark self portrait - will get my lovely husband to take a better photo of me this weekend, but I thought I'd better post something of an update as I haven't in a while!

My body isn't quite holding up the way it did with Jarvis's pregnancy - I feel like a giant sausage today, with tubey grip holding my tummy muscles in place, and a smiley belt taking some of the weight of my bump! The physio has forbidden me to do such everyday activities as leaping out of bed to tuck Jarvis in if he wakes up at 3am (thank you, lovely husband..you're a star!), picking up said small boy from the ground, and carting about big bags of groceries (the wheelbarrow is a seriously awesome accessory...).

Fortunately aside from those little issues, I feel pretty good - and I only have ten weeks to go!!!

Picture - 29+4 :)

Ahhhh, tractors!

2011-07-21T13:12:00.000+12:00

So much happiness!

That's all for now ;)

The Lumberjack

2011-07-06T08:56:00.002+12:00

Such a useful young man, helping split the firewood!

Wardrobe Wednesday!

2011-06-22T07:35:00.000+12:00

A pic from a week or so ago, when we were on our fabulous night away in Wellington :)

Dress - Egg

Jacket & Boots - repeat ;) (hey, they're my favourites!)

Brooch - Objects of My Affection, Napier

Scenery - Breaker Bay, Wellington.

Puku - 24 Weeks, 3 days.

Pop over to Green Valley for more!

Daddy's Work

2011-06-20T14:16:00.000+12:00

So much fun for a small boy, the possibilities are endless...

Returning from feeding the cat...

Inspecting the four wheel motorbike...

Checking the tractor attachments are all performing appropriately...

Magic.

...then it all went horribly wrong!

2011-06-20T14:02:00.000+12:00

Another happy day at the skate park - the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the small boy was hooning around merrily!

There isn't much in the world to make Jarvis smile as much as a trip to the skate park. He absolutely adores the expanse of concrete on which to ride his bike. Much as living in the countryside makes for some great adventures, riding bikes isn't really one of them. A gravel driveway & a vineyard aren't the ideal riding surfaces for a bike such as his.

I nipped down the road to pick up some fish and chips for lunch, leaving Jarvis & his Daddy enjoying the morning...little did I know that when I got back...

OUCH!! Disaster!! Roly poly activities on a bike are not recommended! Chin scraped, nose scraped, bit of a bump on the forehead. Fortunately very short lived pain and suffering, by the time I got back with lunch he was zooming around again with a crazed grin on his face. After getting over the initial shock, I just can't stop laughing at that photo! He somehow chose the perfect facial expression to frame his wounds for full dramatic effect!

Today he looks even more fab, with the scrapes starting to scab over. I think this means he's officially a proper boy ;)

Wardrobe Wednesday :)

2011-06-08T09:38:00.001+12:00

Oh dear, it seems I've repeated a cardi and it's only been a few weeks!

Trench coat - best ever op shop discovery, it cost me about ten bucks & is a gorgeous NZ made, silk liked coat from days gone by. Fabulous!

Skirt - nice stretchy preggo job ;)

Cardi - ezibuy

Boots - trade me :)

Bag - my creation from last week! Slightly wonky lining, but all round I'm pretty happy with it!

Sunglasses - Karen Walker.

Pop over to Green Valley to see more!

Skate Park...

2011-06-07T11:11:00.000+12:00

What a way to spend a morning!

Visiting the local skate park at 8am is a fabulous idea; the 'serious' skating types haven't managed to drag themselves out of bed yet, so a small boy & his bike have free run of the whole place without having to worry about being run over, or getting in the road of someone going a million miles an hour on a skateboard.

He zoomed around for an hour or so, giggling maniacally as he took corners and negotiated ramps. When we finally had to go (when the big boys started to arrive...), we had one very unimpressed little pirate bike rider on our hands. We have a very strange two year old on our hands in that he never has tantrums, so it was quite a disturbing performance!

When he got up this morning, his adventures at the skate park were first on his list of stories to tell us. It seriously made his day (perhaps his week!). Fantastic!

I Love Autumn...

2011-06-02T08:14:00.002+12:00

Wardrobe Wednesday!

2011-06-01T07:24:00.000+12:00

Today's Wardrobe Wednesday comes to you from a walk in the sunshine and a play in the leaves!

Jacket - my favourite snuggly jacket, Ladakh, bought in 1998!

Dress - total bargain of the century, from the Cotton On outlet store in Brisbane, two for ten dollars! I live in this & its buddy when I'm pregnant!

Cardi - warm but light merino cardi from goodness knows where.

Gumbots - the perfect accessory for wandering around the countryside ;)

Puku - 22 weeks, 3 days.

To find more fabulous WW ladies, go and visit Claire!

Lucky

2011-05-26T08:11:00.000+12:00

When we had Jarvis (well, even before we had Jarvis), it had never occurred to me that I'd be anything other than a Stay At Home Mum - it honestly never even entered my mind!

I didn't realise at the time that I had a distinct advantage in the 'not being driven mad by groundhog day/extended periods with only a 2 year old to talk to' stakes because of my previous life as a teacher - hanging out with small people is my thing, I love their hilarious conversation (Mummy, Fireman Sam is coming soon to help Rory fix the tractor...), I love the way they just want to help out with everything (which does make everything take a whole lot longer, but makes crappy housework jobs a million times more fun!).

I love watching imagination develop - seeing a small boy set up an emergency so Fireman Sam can come & rescue him is truly awesome - the detail in his scenarios is fantastic (yes, we have a Fireman Sam theme going on here right now. Firemen are the order of the day)!

Anyway, I guess where this is going is that I'm truly thankful that I get 100% 'job satisfaction' from hanging out with my little guy! I know being a full time SAHM definitely isn't for everyone - if spending all of your waking hours with small children wasn't your initial career choice I imagine it would be a very strange experience indeed. Kind of like if I went to try and be an accountant, or a lawyer, or a police officer, with no training or experience!

I'm thankful that I've managed to integrate my 'paid' job (ha ha ha...paid...one day...) of teaching music to small (and large) children into my life as a Mummy, and I'm thankful that I have the best teaching assistant in the world. Seeing my little boy pull up a chair and sit next to me during a guitar lesson holding his ukulele, strumming away, is priceless.

I'm not saying that sometimes I wouldn't give anything for a little break - with no family anywhere nearby, some days can be very long! Many months can pass between haircuts (thank goodness I realised one of the playcentre ladies was a hairdresser in a former life...gotta love someone who'll bring her hairdressing scissors along to playcentre & give your fringe a trim!), and I unashamedly use a ten minute episode of Fireman Sam as a cup of tea break (fortunately that then leads onto half an hour of Jarvis initiated imaginative fireman play!)!

I'm very, very lucky. I get to experience Jarvis's fabulous adventures alongside him, I get to keep my creativity alive by teaching music, and most 'luckily' of all I honestly love it.

And I'm looking forward to the adventures that late September will bring - and seeing 'Fireman Jarvis' morph into the spectacular big brother I know he'll be!

Bring on many more days of playing swingball with ten balloons hanging from the lounge ceiling (yes, that's our lounge right now!), hiding in our secret hut for sushi picnics, bashing nails into bits of firewood for hours, and baking some of the weirdest looking bread anyone has ever seen or consumed.

Magic :)

Wardrobe Wednesday!

2011-05-25T08:13:00.001+12:00

Woohoo! Wardrobe Wednesday is back! And I have to say it's a pretty good reminder to take a picture of my ever increasing puku each week ;)

Cardi - ezibuy

Skirt - egg organic

Boots - new trade me purchases! yay!

Flower - felt (hubby bought it, so not sure who made it!)

Tummy - 21 weeks, 6 days :)

Go and visit Clare at Green Valley to see who else is playing along!

A visit to the truck yard

2011-05-24T14:08:00.000+12:00

The Most Fabulous thing to have within 100 metres of our house. Hours of fun. Tractors, trucks, forklifts, logs, the occasional sheep...Perfection.

Chopping Wood!

2011-05-24T14:02:00.000+12:00

One of this small boy's favourite winter activities is helping his Daddy with the firewood. In fact, as soon as he hears the car pull in after work, he's out at the gate as fast as a rocket, begging to be let loose with his axe.

And he has pretty good axe skills! Nothing like a pint sized kindling chopper in the family ;)

Making Bread :)

2011-05-19T15:10:00.000+12:00

Delicious!

The Moon...

2011-05-17T13:33:00.001+12:00

Jarvis has always had quite a fascination with the moon - ever since he was quite little he's enjoyed watching it.

These days he runs outside to look for it, and tells us all about what it's doing. A few weeks ago, when the moon was just a thin sliver, he told me Daddy cut it in half with a chainsaw, that's why it was so little.

Last night, when the moon was big and round, he asked Daddy very nicely if he could please go and get the moon for him. He was very, very serious in his request! My lovely husband told him it was a little bit high, how would he reach? Jarvis's first idea was that he could climb up the enormous poplar trees which line the driveway...

But then he came up with a better idea. While Daddy was inside 'looking for his tree climbing gear', Jarvis came speeding in, demanding that we follow him.

"I found the ladder! It's on the water tank! You can climb the ladder, and get the moon!"

Lovely :)

PS...one of Jarvis's favourite books is 'Papa, please get the moon for me' by Eric Carle. I think it's where he got his fabulous idea from ;)

Puku...bigger!

2011-05-16T09:36:00.000+12:00

In the midst of a slightly shambolic small boy room, here is one Mamma at 20 weeks 2 days :)

It's all rather exciting - I'm not at that uncomfortable whale-ish stage, I can feel my small friend leaping around like a can can dancer in there, and I feel pretty fabulous! I'm sure I feel more exhausted than last time - but that's most likely a side effect of spending my days having running races with a gorgeously enthusiastic 2 year old ;)

Speaking of whom, he's requesting peanut butter toast, so best be off!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T09:09:00.000+12:00

So hard to believe that this little wee bundle...

is now this gorgeous, hilarious toddler.

I can't wait to see the ways that my smallest friend (The Bump) will make being a Mummy all the more fabulous.

Happy Mother's Day!

An afternoon in the vineyard!

2011-05-04T14:43:00.000+12:00

...and a lizard!

Spicy Soup

2011-05-03T12:19:00.001+12:00

My favourite lunch! A wander around the garden, and I have the makings of some pretty fab soup. Hot, sour, sweet, salty awesomeness.

To make this marvellous creation...

A cup or two of chicken stock (home made is awesome)

A lemon

A few kaffir lime leaves

A few chillies

A stick of lemongrass

Some ginger if you have any on hand (I used it all up yesterday...the soup works beautifully without!)

Heat the stock with a slice of lemon, scrunched up lime leaves, sliced chillies, smashed lemongrass, and squashed ginger. Simmer til it smells fantastical.

Boil some thin noodles til they're perfect (I love Korean Guk-Su noodles, my favourite!)

Strain the seasonings from the soup, and add fish sauce and lemon juice to taste. A few chopped mint leaves are pretty lovely too.

Pour the soup over the drained noodles.

Mmmmmmm.....

Chef Jarvis Strikes Again...

2011-04-29T13:34:00.000+12:00

While I was running Jarvis his bath on Wednesday night, I heard a joyous squeak coming from the kitchen.

"What are you doing in there, Jarvis"
"I love cooking, Mummy! I love it!"

The kitchen & bathroom are right next to each other (our house is of a curious design...), so I peeked out the bathroom door to see my small boy had dragged a chair up to the stove, and was happily pouring peanut oil into the onions & bacon I had frying gently for a pasta sauce...

About a cup of peanut oil, to be more precise. Quite a lot of it. The last of the bottle, even. My first thought was 'no no no no no no...' - but the smile on his face was too gorgeous for me to pack a hissy - especially when he told me again "Oh Mummy,I really love cooking!" .

So instead of admitting defeat and going to get fish & chips, I drained off the peanut oil into a cup, and instead of pasta for dinner we had really really awesome fried rice with bacon & veges & a peanut sauce :)

It's all about perspective - disaster, or opportunity for a fantastic two year old to lead you in the direction of a dinner which was probably better than what it was originally intended to be!

Lights, Camera, Action,

2011-04-28T09:08:00.000+12:00

Wiggles!

How awesome that they were happy for everyone to take pictures - they even stayed in the pose in the first photo forever - so everyone who wanted to take a picture could get a good one!

Jarvis was absolutely amazed...he sat quietly stunned for quite a while, before bouncing and singing and waving his arms around!

And he's barely taken his Wiggles t shirt off since last Thursday ;) Such a wonderful adventure!

Puku!

2011-04-19T08:22:00.000+12:00

Curious how the body remembers thing - like abandoning all tummy muscles the second a baby started growing in there! I swear I'm bigger now than I was at 22 weeks last time - at least it's definitely a bump now, as opposed to a belly full of pies ;)

Anyhow, this is 16 weeks, 1 day...

Boys Toys.

2011-04-18T12:22:00.000+12:00

When you look at our lawn, there's really no mistaking who lives here, is there?!

In the Sunshine before the Storm.

2011-04-18T12:15:00.000+12:00

What a morning it was! Sunshine, a gentle nor'wester to dry my washing...

Perfect for a spot of painting, some tractor driving, and a walk down the road.

Right now the thunder is crashing, it's raining, and the wind has changed to a cruel southerly. Thank goodness we got some outdoor fun in while we could!

Captain Feathersword?

2011-04-18T12:10:00.001+12:00

Dear Kees and Piper,

Thank you so much for letting me have your Captain Feathersword outfit!! I really love it and spend most of my time wearing it around the house and yelling 'oooh aaaaar' and 'ahoy there'.

I think I might even wear it when Mummy and I go to see the Wiggles on Thursday!

Lots of love,

Jarvis xxx

Chef Jarvis

2011-04-18T12:06:00.000+12:00

Scrambled eggs, anyone?

Jarvis is quite the egg cracker. In fact he seems to be better at it than me! I may have to retire...

The baby doesn't care for eggs (sigh...), so this was a Jarvis and Daddy activity. Such fun!! I'm sure he enjoyed the eating even more after helping with the cooking :)

Fun with Firewood?

2011-04-18T12:01:00.000+12:00

What to do with kindling aside from light a fire? Turn it into a fence for the farm!

The animals were having all sorts of fun in there - swimming in the water trough, escaping and running away to town (you can just see a peek of the road map in the top left corner!), even Buddah is in there riding on a cow.

I loved watching the game Jarvis played with the runaway creatures - he'd make them jump over the fence and run to town and found them a paddock to hang out in, then took a tractor and a lego man to town to round them up and bring them back!

All this from a few pieces of kindling :)

The Wheels on the Bus!

2011-04-07T19:29:00.000+12:00

Or, what to do on yet ANOTHER rainy day!

After our visit to the midwife (te he he!!!), we met some of our lovely friends, Rachel and Leroy, for a cup of tea in town. It was rainy and dreary outside, and we sat and wondered what to do next.

Rachel came up with a fantastical master plan. Take the little boys riding on the bus! We waited patiently at the bus stop (until we realised that we were a half hour away from catching any bus, we then popped into the library before coming back!), a bus arrived, and on we hopped.

Jarvis and his friend Leroy were visibly excited. Eyes like saucers, 'wheels on the bus' actions at the ready. They both seemed quite baffled that they were in a vehicle that didn't require a car seat.

Off we went! Such excitement! We curled through the streets, at times having to reach over and hold the boys to prevent them flying into the aisles. Luckily the bus was fairly uninhabited (although we did think perhaps we needed to add a new verse...'The gang member on the bus goes GrrrGrrrGrrr...hmmmmm), and the other patrons (aside from said grumpy looking gang member) seemed to enjoy the singing and commentary from the two little boys.

What a morning! $2, 45 minutes, infinite fun. Hooray!

A Train?

2011-04-07T14:18:00.002+12:00

Jarvis seems to think I have a train living in my tummy.

The midwife tends to agree with me that it's a baby, who will be joining us in early October! ;)

An Adventure in a Not So Small Town.

2011-04-05T19:45:00.000+12:00

Jarvis & I have just returned from a lovely adventure in a Not So Small Town! A wonderful way to escape from a few days of being a Bride of Wine, and stay with some really fabulous people we don't see nearly enough (this is the problem with living in our Quite Small Town - it's a hell of a long way to anywhere!).

Luckily, Jarvis's awesome Grandma & Grandpa have a fabulous assortment of things little boys love at their place. Four Wheeled Motorbikes, Lawnmowers, 4WD adventuring cars, trailers, an assortment of retired jeeps, and an old ambulance!

There are many more awesome photos which will have to be revealed later on - I was so busy playing I forgot completely to take any - as soon as I get my mitts on them I'll share! As well as his vehicle fun, we went on a grand expedition to Auckland Zoo (the hippos & the bulldozers were the highlights), visited the hot air balloons, and had a really awesome time hanging out with the lovely Breiona :)

Such happiness!!! Thanks, Bruce & Cat, for our awesome holiday!

Amazing Waterfall!

2011-04-05T19:31:00.000+12:00

Whilst traversing the countryside, Jarvis & I stopped off at Huka Falls for a peek.

He's sure got a way with descriptions - 'Mummy, an AMAAAAAAAZING waterfall!'

I'd be willing to bet many a grown up has said something pretty similar :) Lovely!

Another Rainy Day!

2011-04-05T19:26:00.000+12:00

A few pictures from a week or so ago...ways to amuse a lovely boy on a rainy day part two!

1. Find gumboots, go adventuring in the rain. Collect treasures along the way.

2. Spend many moments riding the four wheeled motorbike parked in the garage!

3. Paint gorgeous green pictures on the deck :)

Birthday Pictures!

2011-04-05T15:55:00.000+12:00

Chasing his friends with a bunch of balloons...

Finding their way into the pinata! It was filled with snack sized bags of popcorn - very popular & very light ;) I spent ages trying to think of something to stuff in there that wouldn't knock out the kids!

One super fab train birthday cake :) Thanks, Nana!

One birthday boy conquering his new jungle gym :)

What a magical day!

(Excuse the crazy cropping, I don't like to put other people on here unless they want to be stars of the internet ;) )

Almost 2!

2011-03-21T14:06:00.003+13:00

This coming Sunday, my gorgeous little friend is turning two. Hard to believe my baby has gotten so big! A few handsome photos from the past year to celebrate our special little boy :)

A Rainy Monday

2011-03-21T10:08:00.000+13:00

What to do, what to do?

Play a song or two?

Perhaps go camping in the lounge?

A few stories in the tent? Maybe another song?

Now to figure out how we can make a camping lunch to eat in our cosy hut :)

A Picnic in a Secret Hut

2011-03-19T12:58:00.001+13:00

If you creep across the lawn, and tiptoe through the trees...

you may just stumble upon a surprise!

(can you see him?)

One little boy and his Mummy, having a fabulous picnic in his secret hiding place!

Super yummy warm tuna and rice balls and a cup of chamomile tea.

A perfect activity for a warm Saturday.

A Horse?

2011-03-19T08:11:00.000+13:00

This bamboo stick is the most versatile toy in our house.

It started life as a tomato stake, and since then has been a fishing rod, a horse, a balancing pole for a tightrope walker, a broom, a line trimmer, and a boat.

So much happiness from one stick!

The Nutcracker

2011-03-19T08:05:00.000+13:00

When I realised I needed to smash open ten million walnuts to make dinner the other night, I was filled with dread. How on earth to keep a small boy amused while I smash open a mountain of nuts?

At first he sat beside me & watched with eyes like saucers. And stole all the walnuts & ate them before I had a chance to collect more than three! Then he asked me really nicely 'Mummy, my turn hammering?'

The boy is a superstar. He hammered the nuts far better than I did, and never got bored (whereas I was over hammering nuts myself within three minutes). His were perfectly destroyed, meaning I could get the nuts out with minimal fuss!

Only a few bounced out of the nutcracker & into the garden, but my diligent assistant happily shimmied off the deck to find them again. What a superstar.

Once I had my stash, we made a really really awesome dinner! It's a Nigel Slater recipe, from the Kitchen Diaries (love that book so much!), with a minor modification or two.

Courgette & Lancashire Cheese Crumble - Nigel Slater

Base

2 onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 or 4 potatoes, scrubbed & diced

As many courgettes as your garden can provide, also diced

A few sausages, taken out of their skin & made into meatballs (this was my addition, had a few left over in the freezer!)

Loads of finely chopped rosemary

Crumble

A few slices of bread

100g crumbled up lancashire cheese (I got it from countdown!)

100g Walnuts (provided by our tree & my lovely assistant!)

More rosemary

Gently fry the onions & garlic with the rosemary in olive oil, til they're lovely & soft & sweet. Add the little meatballs, if you've got some! Continue cooking for five minutes. Add the diced potatoes, pop a lid on & cook for 15 minutes or so. Add the courgettes & about 100ml of stock, let it bubble for a few minutes.

Make the crumble - shove the whole lot in the food processor & whiz it.

Press the crumble on top of the veges, put the whole lot in the oven for about 45 minutes on 180 Celsius.

All done! Yummy! And it kept Jarvis amused forever - next time he's after an activity, a mountain of walnuts & a nutcracker will do the trick ;)

Spiders from Mars?

2011-03-14T09:16:00.000+13:00

Take one small boy, a purple stamp, and some glitter. This is what happens!

Oh, and a mandarin...

I think he was attempting to peer down inside the stamp when he decorated himself so fabulously? I think he's rocking the Ziggy Stardust look anyhow!

Amaaaaaaazzzzzing Apple!

2011-03-10T14:19:00.000+13:00

Jarvis has always been a big fan of apples. Before he had a mouthful of teeth, he liked them cooked up & made into apple sauce (mmmm....I still kinda like them like that). These days he can demolish one in several minutes, leaving nothing but a stalk & a few seeds.

Something went a little wrong in our local ecosystem this year, & our apple trees yielded a total of about six apples between the three of them! Not at all the usual bounty. Poor Jarvis was pretty upset about this problem, and spends forever gazing up into the trees, just in case there's a sneaky apple up there somewhere for him to gobble.

A couple of days ago, just when I thought all apples had been devoured & we were out for the year, Jarvis came running into the house shouting about shaking the apple tree (which is a favourite Kindermusik song of his, so I of course thought he was just singing!) - until he dragged me out by the arm and showed me that he'd found a surviving apple! Hooray!

The apple didn't last long. I got one nibble before it was all gone!

He named the lonely apple he discovered in the tree ;

'AMAZING APPLE!'

No other apple has had that title bestowed upon it, obviously the regular apples are just lacking in the amazing factor that comes from growing one in your back yard.

Next year we need to get some bees in, to make sure we have plenty more Amazing Apples for this gorgeous apple munching creature :)

Off Road Trike?

2011-03-10T14:09:00.000+13:00

A rustle in the bushes?

Maybe it's a chicken? Or a cat?

Or an adventurer, going off road on his trike!

Potatoes!

2011-03-01T16:55:00.000+13:00

Jarvis, the vege gardener!

The exclamation of total joy when he finds a potato under the ground is priceless. This is one young man who will never have to believe that veges come plastic wrapped at the supermarket :) Every day I feel so very lucky to be able to live the life we do - we're not the most rich & powerful people in the world, but I think what we have is worth far more than any bank balance.

Beach Tractors

2011-03-01T14:32:00.000+13:00

Ah, tractors. The apple of Jarvis's eye, potentially his favourite things in the whole entire world. So being on holiday somewhere that boating enthusiasts like to base themselves was pretty darned fabulous. A huge proportion of Whitanga's boats are towed down to sea each day by a fabulous array of old tractors!

Each day when we wandered down to the wharf, he would see them from a great distance. That boy can see the wheelhub of a tractor, even if the rest of it's concealed behind an enormous truck, from miles away. Once he's spied it, there's no stopping him. I never realised an almost two year old could run quite so fast.

For a young chap he's got his tractor facts sorted - he knows there's a fairly good chance that a red tractor will be a Massey (as he's on very friendly terms the surname isn't required!).

Whilst not a Massey, this blue tractor was pretty popular too. Check out the fab badge on the front! This one's a Fordson (which wikipedia tells me is what Ford tractors were named until 1964).

And one more Massey for good luck. You may have noticed Jarvis is dressed differently in each picture - this happened every single day! I could have posted 12 photos of my son hijacking various tractors in Whitianga.

Each day I was just a little bit nervous that a grumpy old fisherman would appear and go crazy at the small tractor enthusiast...he's very gentle with the tractors, and really just wanted to sit in the seat & pretend they were his for a few minutes.

And I don't think even a grumpy fisherman would be able to resist that smile :)

Help for Christchurch :(

2011-02-23T17:45:00.000+13:00

Sending all the love & good wishes I have in me to the people of Christchurch...seeing the recounts of survivors and the horrific images in the media makes me cry, I can't begin to imagine how frightening it must be in the middle of it.

Please, please donate to one of the organisations working to help our Christchurch friends!!

TVNZ's list of ways to donate...

I tried to link to the Red Cross - but I'm guessing the sheer amount of traffic has crashed the site! They have an 0900 number to automatically donate $20, but right now I can't even get that to appear. I'm sure you clever folks will work it out.

Take care, Christchurch

xx

Minty Playdough

2011-02-21T16:27:00.001+13:00

What a happy way to spend an afternoon...bright green playdough laced with peppermint essence, some giant lego men, and an assortment of kitchen paraphernalia. Perfection.

Some Holiday Snaps :)

2011-02-21T14:35:00.000+13:00

We've all been struck down by a bug around here, so not a very fun weekend! Still feeling rather yucky, so in lieu of a proper post, here are a few pics from our adventures in Whitianga :)

Borrowing a tractor...

Magic toes, covered in sand :) I do love Jarvis's magic toes!

Hanging with Daddy, watching the firemen pump away the water in peoples' backyards from the cyclone!

Don't want to explode the internet with photos, but there will be more to come!

Back!

2011-02-15T14:56:00.000+13:00

Two weeks of holidays, check...

Coming home to have the computer go crazy, check...

Finally, the computer is home from the repair guy & the internet is alive! Yeeha!!

More blogging to come :)

Thundies at Heart Felt!

2011-01-19T19:33:00.000+13:00

You must go and visit Heart Felt and enter Jannelle's most fantastical competition to win Thundies for your lovely children! Thundies are AWESOME.

Quick, go there now!

xx

It's Better to be Together!

2011-01-18T12:21:00.000+13:00

Have a read of Stella's post here - then join the facebook group here!

I can't believe most hospitals still make new Dads go home, leaving exhausted and overwhelmed new Mums to figure everything out alone. Thank goodness that isn't the case where we live, but the other DHBs really need to get on board.

Thank you!! xx

Mud, Glorious Mud!

2011-01-17T17:00:00.000+13:00

Fabulous things to do on warm afternoons number one:

Dig up one small boys 'garden' (more like a sandpit, but with dirt rather than sand), pour in a few buckets full of water (saved from the shower, for conservation purposes!), mix with a shovel, splash about to your hearts' content. Oh yeah.

Yes, wearing a pretty dress even though I'm ankle deep in mud. I figure why have them if I'm not going to wear them - and it's not like we don't have a washing machine!

Bliss!!

Mmmm, ice blocks!

2011-01-17T16:50:00.000+13:00

I Love Fruit Tea. It makes the loveliest cold drink, and it makes spectacular ice blocks that don't have any sugar in them, so don't make a huge sticky mess. So wonderful! So yummy! Today's ice block is made from Healtheries grape and pomegranate tea :)

I plan on doing a little foraging about in my garden and seeing which herbs might make for a lovely iceblock. I'm thinking some kind of ginger beer & mint mix could be super tasty...

How To Be An Artist

2011-01-09T13:23:00.000+13:00

I love this. My sister used to have it on a poster when we were kids, then I borrowed a couple of books from my lovely friend, Megan, by the same lady (who goes by the name of Sark). The books (Succulent Wild Woman & A Creative Companion) are just fabulous. They're an invitation to live a rich succulent life. Just what we all need! :)

http://www.planetsark.com/

A Gorgeous Website for your Thursday morning...

2011-01-06T08:45:00.000+13:00

I was rummaging through a drawer this morning & found this gorgeous little picture buried under a mountain of phone bills.

I printed it out forever ago (in August of 09 really, but that feels like a whole other life now!), from a gorgeous website filled with beautiful things, all for free.

The lovely lady who runs the website sums it up best - (the project is..) to help art lovers feed their souls with art in these difficult economic times and to help artists promote their work. How cool is that.

Have a peek, print out some pretty pictures, stick them to your walls, use them to decorate the front cover of your journal, if you're a clever artist type maybe email them & see about submitting a piece!

Go and visit the website here - it will make you smile :)

Summer Loveliness.

2011-01-05T15:57:00.000+13:00

Gorgeous Garlic. A little small this year, we'll need to dig some sand into the soil for next season's crop...

Juicy Watermelon. Oh Yeah.

A nap in the beach shelter (on the lawn) with Jarvis & Ernie.

Minor maintenance on the camping chairs!

Ernie riding in the mei-tai as he & Jarvis take a ride on the bike. (Thank you to our wonderful friend Remy for letting Jarvis have his old bike!!)

Meadows of long grass & dandelions.

Sword fighting with Daddy at the beach. (Loving the beach at 8am. Nobody else is there & the sun isn't too hot! Jarvis has just hiffed his hat away, I'm about to go and rescue it from the sea in this shot!)

The Wiggles Boat. Magic.

Hairstyle by Drinking Chocolate. A whole container of the powder applied to the hair results in the most gorgeous fluff!

Extreme Water Conservation!

2011-01-05T15:22:00.000+13:00

Witness our current method of showering! Much to our total horror, we're out of water. In our house we treat water very respectfully indeed (in the five years we've lived here this is only the second water-less incident, the first being on our wedding day, not long after we'd shifted in...). Unfortunately we haven't been quite respectful enough (and the sky hasn't presented us with a whole lot of precipitation of late).

The showering arrangement is pretty cunning, and actually makes me feel guilty for my usual three minute showers (we do really try to be careful with the water round here!). If I did this all the time, perhaps we wouldn't have run out of water at all. It's a return to my former life in Korea, where we all visited public bath houses a whole lot.

You leave your modesty (and all of your clothing...they're segregated, just in case you had some crazy images in your head!!) in your locker, pull up a little stool (in this case, a bucket), a little bucket to put water in, and your scrubbing glove, then with the water in your bucket. some soap & your scrubbing glove you wash yourself, then have a quick rinse.

All in all I can do it using about 4 litres :) And that's including collecting the water I use to rinse myself off with (then using that to fill the toilet cistern...). Unfortunately I don't have the lovely soak in a hot pool which follows at a public bath house, but it's a pretty effective way to make the most of the water you have.

So it seems I've come upon a New Year's Resolution by way of water shortage -
Be More Careful With Water.

When I was teaching, I did a project on water with my class. We learned that of the water in the world, 97.5% is salt water (so no good for drinking), so only 2.5% is fresh. Of that 2.5%, almost 70% is frozen in Antarctica & Greenland. Most of what remains is trapped inside the earth, as soil moisture, or deep aquifers. Less than 1% of the world's total water (.007% or so) is accessible for direct human use. And this isn't taking into account water supplies that are polluted. Pretty scary, huh.

What's even more scary is that until I had to learn to live with only rainwater tanks, I'd never really thought about water at all! I know that even if we live on town supply again sometime in the future, I'll be looking at it in quite a different way.

Part Two...

2011-01-04T19:48:00.000+13:00

This piece appeared in the paper today.The volume of rubbish left behind at this year's Camping Ground/Rubbish Dump surpassed other years by 50%. This is going to continue driving me nuts...Grrrrr.

Newspaper...

Camping Chairs.

2011-01-02T12:57:00.001+13:00

Warning: Completely Crazy Rant to follow.

This morning I saw something which made me mad. Perhaps even more than mad, it made me feel a bit sick, and really disappointed in humanity. And all of these horrible feelings sprung from some camping chairs.

Hundreds (maybe thousands?) of camping chairs to be more specific.

This week sees the population of our Small City increase by half, with an influx of Enthusiastic Party People coming to see in the New Year. Which is great - it's good for the local economy, the 20 000 or so visitors are having a good time (grouchy people like me who can't be bothered with the once a year traffic jam caused by the queue to the McD's drive through just stay out of the city!), happiness, festivity & all.

Anyhow, come January 1st the majority of our guests pack up & leave, the petrol stations taking over from where McDonalds left off, with traffic jams as people fill up for the long & windy road out of here (although, as we noted, some don't make it all the way out of town before stopping for a compulsory 'vomit on the side of the road' stop!).

Maybe 'Pack up & Leave' is a little ambiguous...this morning as we were going to our fave playground, we came into town past the camping ground where 13 000 or so visitors have spent the last few days. The first thing we saw as we approached, was a mountain of camping chairs (like the one above!) the size of a stack of cars - maybe three long & two or three high. A mountain of camping chairs? Really? And they hadn't finished collecting all of the camping chairs - there were still hundreds (literally hundreds) scattered around the abandoned camp sites.

When people leave this particular camping ground, they don't pack up like you would if you were in a normal camping ground, or out in the wilderness somewhere. The old saying 'Take only photographs, leave only footprints' ? These folks don't even take their tents, let alone their rubbish. Or their camping chairs.

I couldn't find a good spot to take a photo, or you would see what I mean. There are loads of rubbish bins on the reserve (it's usually a sports field), but what remains after the people have gone home is a space where their tent obviously stood (unless they're part of the extremely peculiar group who don't even bother to take that home), surrounded by beer cans, v cans, random rubbish, sausage wrappers, McDonalds rubbish, cigarette boxes...you name it, it's there. Random pieces of clothing, towels, and those bloody camping chairs (excuse the language...).

When I was in the Large Red Shop the other day, I saw a stack of camping chairs right in the middle of the store, for maybe $10 each. Not the flashest chairs, but they'd sure last more than one or two days use.

What on earth has the world come to if we're buying a chair (or a few thousand chairs) to use for a few days, then ditching it in a camping ground. Where are all of those chairs going to go? I don't think the (amazingly awesome) groups who fund raise by cleaning up the disaster area are going to sit there dismantling the chairs & sorting them into metal, plastic & fabric to attempt to recycle them. And as for a tent? How many people in the world would give anything to have a dry place to shelter, or a chair?

Anyhow, what it all comes down to is my total mortification that people think it's okay to stay somewhere, trash it completely, leave untold amounts of rubbish behind instead of putting it in the bin (or even near the bin, if it's full!), and leave tents & chairs behind, to be thrown into landfill. It sucks. I could go on forever about putting things in landfill & how stupid it is, and how we need to take personal responsibility for this earth we live on, but I have a feeling I'm preaching to the choir. I don't imagine the tent & chair & trash abandoners are among my followers.

I don't know if the fabulous cleaning up people are reading either - but I want to say how great it was to see families trekking down towards the mess, gumboots on, ready to make our city look like it did before. Thank you, cleaning up people. When we were down at the beach our little family did a little part, and cleared up broken glass, and stray cans & bottles from the sand dunes - hopefully that's one less little kid going to get a cut foot this week.

Anyhow, next time you're thinking of chucking out a functional camping chair, imagine that mountain. Perhaps there's something else you could do with it instead.

Rant over :) Have a most wonderful day!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:01:00.000+13:00

I'm back! We've actually been back from our Christmas adventures a few days, but my lovely husband has just gone back to work, so I figured between watching Marie Antoinette on telly I'd catch up with my Christmas blogging :)

We went to my Bec & Cairn's place in Hawke's Bay for Christmas (my sis & her husband), and the first thing Jarvis noticed upon arrival, aside from the puppy, was the strawberry patch. Witness Jarvis being trapped by the bird netting...

Not being a quitter, he did find his way into the berries and decimated the crop...Fortunately he realised the green ones didn't taste quite so good, and left almost all of them.

Other object of Jarvis's desire - Remy the Dog. Small, cute, friendly, perfect. In his best Christmas attire.

Christmas Kai - Bec & I preparing for the beginning of our feasting. The Most AMAZING hot chocolate in the world. Ridiculously good. Especially when you dunk pain au chocolate into it. (I can't find a NZ website for it, but we get it at Vetro)

After Nana & Uncle Mike arrived, gifts came out. Gifts in our family are about thoughtfulness & love, an exchange of treasures that you know will make someone smile & feel special. Bec made me the most fabulous dress (there'll be a Wardrobe Whatever-day-it-is special coming up soon)! Jarvis was treated to a selection of his most favourite things in the world...Here he is with his new little friend in a mini mei tai I made (as he opened the wrapping, he proclaimed his new friend to be called Ernie!), riding on his fabulous tractor (thank you, one day sales!).

Ernie riding in the 'barrow' - so much easier to manoeuvre than Daddy's full sized one - thank you Nana!

GORGEOUS easel as created by Aunty Bec & Uncle Cairn - blackboard on one side, clips for paper on the other. Absolutely awesome, and getting a lot of use already! Shane's using it here to draw the family tree of assorted berries ;)

And now for Feasting!

Mmmmmmm...

To Be Continued :)

A Mysterious Beautiful Angel?

2010-12-23T08:56:00.001+13:00

This lovely wee lady appeared in my mailbox yesterday (actually, the RD driver handed her to me, but you know what I mean). She is very beautiful, and very soft, and has sparkly silver thread giving her little body a shape.

Where she came from is a mystery! There's a return address on the envelope, but I don't think she came from anyone I know...

A wonderful, wonderful surprise - but what a mystery!

Edit - through the wonders of Kiwi Mummy Bloggers, I've worked it out :) A million thank yous to Cadi from Chocolate Fishies - what a beautiful gift, you've made my whole week sparkle :)

And thank you to Jennifer from Little Kiwi Chick & Stace from Lilknightlights for helping me solve my mystery!

Eggnog for Christmas?

2010-12-22T13:39:00.000+13:00

Being in a festive mood on Monday, I had a sudden brainwave. I had a million eggs in the fridge (thank you, chickens!), and an hour where I needed a distraction from cleaning the house. I emailed a lovely friend in Canada for her eggnog recipe!

I'd googled & investigated, and every recipe I found seemed to be really heavy, and I imagine would make eggnog almost custardy in consistency - the eggnog I remember from when we were in Canada was light & fluffy & gorgeous! Anyhow, the lovely Ann came to the rescue thank goodness.

I changed the recipe a tad - usually eggnog is made with raw eggs, and even though I know our chooks are clean & healthy I don't tend to feed raw eggs to my small boy. Not to worry though, a cooked eggnog isn't too tricky at all!

Lovely Eggnog :) (for two!)
2 cups of milk
2 eggs
A tablespoon or so sugar or honey
A grating of nutmeg
A cinnamon stick
A couple of cloves
A vanilla pod (or some of that fabulous vanilla paste!)
Alcohol of your choice - or none if you prefer (or you're a small child!) - I used marsala.

Mix everything but the alcohol together in a heavy based pan with a whisk. Turn the heat onto low, and GENTLY cook (for a very long time!) until the mixture thickens, kind of like custard (but not quite that thick). You want the mixture to get to 70 degrees for a few minutes, but you don't want it to boil.

When it's thick & lovely (and your house smells like beautiful spices...), strain it through muslin to take out any lumps & spices, then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, til well chilled.

To serve - stir through a little (or a lot) of your liquor of choice! I don't actually have a photo of the final product...it was consumed far too quickly. Jarvis had a few sips of the virgin version & thought it was fabulous.

Mmmmm.....

Friends for Mr Reindeer!

2010-12-20T13:40:00.000+13:00

My lovely reindeer, as seen here , was feeling a little lonely perched up on his pinecone all by himself, so I thought I might just make him a few friends!

Jarvis & I made a visit to the $2 shop for supplies. Wooden pegs (not the same pegs as reindeer the first, although I think I like these ones better!), googley eyes, pipe cleaners.

Reindeer aren't too tricky, and by next year I think Jarvis will quite happily be making himself a gang - but for now I'm sneakily making them while he's asleep...

Use PVA glue to stick together three pegs - like I have in the picture, 2 facing down, one facing up (for the head!).

I do love the suspicious look on his face...

Stick on googley eyes (again with pva!), I used a shiny paint pen to draw his nose on as I forgot about pompoms... The antlers were rather difficult to attach, if you have a glue gun, USE IT! PVA is very very tricky to use for antler attaching. I spent ages searching for my staplegun, but it seems Jarvis has hidden it somewhere (that boy is in love with the staplegun). If you must use pva, sit & hold the antlers on for what feels like forever, or they'll just spring straight off again.

Glue a strip of ribbon over your reindeer's back, and you're done! Hoof colouring optional (I'm thinking my vivids might just be hiding in the same spot as my staplegun, so no hooves for now!).

Yay, Reindeer! I love Christmas - when else can you sit around making reindeer instead of doing many far more 'useful' things!

Next mission...gingerbread cocktail syrup. Oh yes...

New Pants!

2010-12-17T16:20:00.000+13:00

Looking rather handsome in his new pants! My sewing is famously rough as guts, but he seems happy enough (or it could just be the Wiggles making him smile...)

Christmas Loveliness :)

2010-12-17T14:22:00.001+13:00

Decorating a magical enormous pinecone...

A beautiful Christmas Birdie from my gorgeous friend Megan at Frou Frou Frippery...

One of the many (if I told you how many there are, you'd know how old I am!) decorations Mum has given me every year...

A few gifts, waiting patiently for transportation to our Christmas Destination...(hiding in the mailbag is Jarvis's present...it's so cool I wanted to post a picture yesterday, but can't in case he sees it!)

Home made stockings, hanging from the pot hanging thingee...the one on the left (with the mouse) was made by Mum when I was little, the one on the right I made myself one year, and Jarvis's stocking is hiding at the back. I really need to make one for Shane!

A lovely fairy-angel...

Our special top-of-the-tree fairy-angel...her name is Stella & we bought her when we lived in Canada :)

A fantastical clothes-peg Rudolph. Can't wait 'til next year, when I'll attempt to make some of these bad boys with Jarvis!

Ahhhhhhh, Christmas :) When the PAFT lady came this morning she commented on how lovely the Christmassy music coming from our house was...she could hear it as she walked up the path.

Christmas 'round here is all about sharing food, wine & laughter with family. We're off to my sister's place, where Jarvis can tear around the lawn on his ******* (Mystery Christmas Present - Thank you, one day sale websites. Thank you so much...), with Bec's small dog in the ******* (who knows, maybe Jarvis can read...best not to write the actual words. You'll just have to wait & see!).

Hopefully we won't eat ourselves into repletion as we did last year (that was just a little out of control...there's feasting & then there's total madness!), and we can spend the afternoon sitting in the shade & not having to be anywhere, or do anything except watch the bbq smoke away.

In the evening perhaps some trivial pursuit, perhaps poker (which I suck at so badly that I tend not to play!), maybe even some crazy playdough cranium action.

Happiness :)

Beautiful Beach...and a warning!

2010-12-16T08:30:00.000+13:00

You have been warned!!

I think these were the last photos from our camera before it died (again)...thank goodness for our old faithful canon which was lurking in the car, or we would have had around five photos from our weekend away. The camera's gone back (again) to have exactly the same thing fixed...methinks they didn't do such a flash job of fixing it the first time. Grrrr...

A Trip to the Seaside

2010-12-14T12:24:00.000+13:00

A wonderful weekend - a trip to the seaside (or 'up the coast' as it's known around here!) to test out our new Christmas pressie tent.

Little did we know that, along with normal lovely beachy things, we'd discover a cemetery for old tractors at the end of the beach. Such happiness!

All tractors are fabulous, even if they've long since retired from farm work.

Tractors made from sand are equally fantastical...

Mmmm, dinner. The chorizo paella was very popular indeed...I love the food we eat when we're camping, it's amazing how delicious a meal you can make with just one pan!

Jarvis was very, very impressed.

The beef satay was pretty damned awesome too!

We managed to get the same campsite we stayed in when we came to the same camping ground a few years ago...so last weekend we were Getting our Kicks at Campsite Number Six...again :)

Leaping!

2010-12-13T07:56:00.000+13:00

An Adventure in a Very Small Town (part three)

2010-12-09T14:50:00.000+13:00

So, what do two fantastical little guys get up to on sunny days?

Splashing each other with hoses & buckets of water...

Making huge piles of cushions to leap into from the sofa...

Running away from a very crazy zebra who was trying to eat people's fingers...

(although Remy assures me he's quite tame...)

A touch of skateboarding...

We had the most wonderful time - action packed days of adventure, and evenings involving fine wine & even finer conversation :) The night before Jarvis & I had to drive home again, we had to watch the time carefully so as not to stay up all night talking & talking!

Thank you, lovely friends - what a wonderful little holiday!

An Adventure in a Very Small Town (part two)

2010-12-09T14:40:00.001+13:00

We quickly discovered that our holiday destination has the most fabulous playgrounds ever! In our land of Nasty Vandals who Wreck Playgrounds, we have a bit of trouble keeping playgrounds in one piece - I think it puts the council off building really fab ones (understandably so...). It was quite a treat for a small boy who adores swings & slides maybe more than anything else (bar strawberries...and maybe cheese).

We visited the most awesome indoor playground place (the pics are in part one!), ahhhhh the absolute joy of having a million things for Jarvis to do and a truly spectacular cup of green tea...

Between playground expeditions, Jarvis had no shortage of wonderful things to do...Remy had a busy few days, so until 3ish each day the smaller boy had free run of all the bikes, tractors, and building equipment!

Digging, anyone?

Coming soon to part three...the adventures of two little boys!

An Adventure in a Very Small Town (part one)

2010-12-09T14:33:00.001+13:00

Last week Jarvis and I went on a grand adventure! From where we live (affectionately known as the Road to Nowhere, as there is no way you can accidentally come here, or come here on your way to almost anywhere else), it was a six hour car ride to the Very Small Town which was our destination, but it was worth every second (21600 in all...)!

Our gorgeous friends, Megan & Remy, were the reason for our great traverse across the countryside. I think Megan's blog was the very first blog I started reading - not long after that we started writing real letters to each other (so, so wonderful!), and not long after that again Jarvis & I escaped from the perils of Vintage (side effect of being married to a brilliant winemaker...)and went to stay with her & Remy for a few days.

I had a few giggles from friends at the time 'You're going all the way there to stay with someone you've never actually met?'

Luckily my friends are quite used to me - I famously moved to Canada with my lovely boyfriend (now husband) after we'd been going out for around six weeks. I'm very much of the opinion that life's too short to dilly dally about, and (obviously dangerous & insane things are excluded here), what have I got to lose? As you can probably guess, with the whole Canada thing I made the right choice!

Anyhow, we rocked up to Megan & Remy's place after five hours of a happy car ride on a sunshiney day, listening to Ryan Adams, pointing out every tractor in every paddock on the road (and one hour of eardrum shattering screaming, after Jarvis decided that the trip had gone on long enough & needed to be over...). Once Jarvis eventually ceased from being insanely angry, he settled in & found his usual happy little guy groove.

We did make the slightly deranged decision to try rooming the two boys in together - after an hour or so of some of the weirdest noises I've ever heard that whole thing got abandoned, & Jarvis took up residence in the hallway! A much better idea...

For some reason blogger got all snarky about me trying to upload a zillion photos, so I'll split the adventure into a few posts...they'll all be a bit pic heavy, so beware!

Part Two...

Who needs a decanter anyway?

2010-12-07T15:40:00.000+13:00

The perfect way to enjoy a bottle of 1998 Coleraine - with a wonderful friend on a warm evening, using a preserving jar as a decanter ;)

Thank you Megan & Remy - we had the most wonderful time on our adventure to your

Very Small Town!

More tales of our expedition to come...

Christmas Tree!

2010-11-29T12:55:00.000+13:00

This is what happens when you combine a pine tree allergy, a bean obelisk from Bunnings, some plastic chicken wire, a zillion plastic supermarket bags, and about fifteen hours ;)

I spent every Jarvis Sleep Time for a couple of weeks sitting in the lounge, tying little bits of plastic bag onto the tree! I started wondering if I was completely insane, and maybe one of those fake trees from the warehouse might have been a better plan. Kinda glad I hung in there though, it looks pretty damned cool. And I won't have my traditional Christmas eczema - yay!

Wardrobe Wednesday...

2010-11-23T17:56:00.003+13:00

Today's picture comes to you complete with grumpy small boy (see below!) and ancient bicycle. My awesome mother-in-law snapped up this dress for me recently (thank you!), gorgeous dress, perfect size. Magic.

Accessorised with my favourite new hair flower (just a cheapie from equip in Palmy), and my 50 cent fake pearls. I'm actually on the hunt for a new pair of (probably fake but slightly better fake) pearls, mum's kindly offered to get me some for my birthday. Super excited - now just need to hunt some down by February! As usual, shoeless ;) I found a couple of pairs of heels under the drivers seat of my car today, go figure that's why I can never find them.

Small growly boy's mood improved not long after this, with the help of some cheese and a tomato.

Ahh, our lovely Clare is retiring from her position as Queen of Wardrobe Wednesday. Thank you, Clare - you've invented something very cool for us mamas out there in blog land. I'll still be a postin' too, and I'm sure we'll find a new home base!

Penguin Waffles for Breakfast

2010-11-22T16:42:00.000+13:00

Yum is all that can really be said here. Penguin Waffle, flash Kapiti yoghurt, strawberries. Bliss.

Terrier Racing!

2010-11-22T16:40:00.000+13:00

And in less angry news, we went to the most fantastical local invention yesterday - Terrier Racing. People bring their small (and the occasional large) dogs down for a day of races! Gorgeous! Regular running races, hurdles (where most dogs go under the jump!), fashion in the field, the Topp Twins, it was all go!

Excuse the weird looking pics - I don't like putting anyone on here without their permission, so had to do some extreme cropping! The other problem is the old camera isn't quite so hot on the extreme action shots ;)

Jarvis met his first horse up close, he loved the horse to bits, until we tried to put him on its back! He got $3 worth of cuddles, anyhow.

Ah, the fun with puppies. Next year we'll have to get my sister & brother in law & their terrier to come along & enter!

Don't Mess with Mama Lion...

2010-11-22T14:56:00.000+13:00

I recently had an altercation with some people over a difference of opinion about what you do and don't do around small boys (my small boy in particular). When I tried to protect my son from something I didn't want him around, I was told 'Get over yourself'.

Funnily enough, I don't plan to do so.

And if you mess with Mama Lion, you should expect to get eaten up.

That is all.

A Birthday Painting for Daddy

2010-11-17T13:26:00.000+13:00

Jarvis created a watercolour masterpiece for Daddy's birthday...We did wet on wet painting, where you sponge the paper down first to make wonderful fuzzy effects when the paint drips onto the paper & spreads out. Very pretty!

He did a bit of colour mixing, most enjoyable!

He was super proud when he presented his painting to Daddy yesterday. Jarvis has just gotten into making pictures recently, until then he preferred collage (as in ripping bits of paper & flinging them at the cat!). I've heard a whisper that his Aunty & Uncle might just be making him an easel for Christmas, I have a feeling that'll make one little picture painting boy very happy indeed :)