off we go..

this morning we are off to Mount Hotham for a week, returning next Wednesday. i am looking forward to skiing and playing with my family. time to stop and recharge and reconnect together as a family.
see you when i get back.

the value of friends

today i went to one of my friends house for lunch. Nic and i went to school together and have maintained a great friendship over the years. we have similar values, outlooks and thoughts on family, life, love and craft. it is so fulfilling spending time with true friends. our kids are testament to that. the 5 of them played and played all afternoon with laughter, creativity and fun. no tears or squabbles just fun. in turn this meant nic and i had time to recharge and enjoy each others company and enjoy the beautiful winters day. thanks for having us nic, we loved it.

comments

as a relative new comer i need some help.
when someone leaves a comment i thought i would like to reply to them, but i don't know how!!!
do you reply to comments?
am i rude for not doing this?
do i worry too much ? (yes)

play

this afternoon the weather was so beautiful that a friend and i decided to take our kids to the park after kinder. while we were there they discovered a tee pee that had been built and left by others. Hugo and Ruby quickly claimed it as their own and added sticks and branches to create their home. my friends eldest boy has broken his leg but we wheeled him over and he also joined in the fun. after lots of playing Hugo came back to the picnic table and sat and joined Harry with the play dough ( that's about all you can play with in a park with a broken leg !!) Hugo sat down, collected sticks from the ground and made a model of the tee pee they had found.

days like this are priceless and writing this now reminds me that we should do it more often and not get caught up in the menial chores of running a household. all too quickly these days will be over and i am feeling that as Hugo will be off to school next year. so i need to embrace every moment i can, run with them and enjoy it.

trains

while i was cooking dinner Hugo and Archie made a train. Hugo sat down and did some writing when i looked over he had made tickets for the train. he cut out the paper into squares and then wrote all the numbers from 1-10 by himself without help. sometimes he surprises me. well done Hugo !!!

play spaces

with a new book corner i set up another area this morning while Hugo was at kinder to encourage some new play with the animals we have.
we have a whole collection of Schleich animals which are very life like and great to play with. Hugo has spent many hours playing with them in the past but they have gone by the way side recently. this space with some material and a few strategically placed animals was the catalyst for a great afternoon of animal play by both boys.

foggy starts

this morning when we left for kinder it was 0 degrees and foggy. by the time i had got home the fog had cleared and there was just a
little in the low lying areas.
on the way to kinder the sun was behind the fog and it looked silver, like the moon.
Hugo: mummy is that the moon
Me: i think it is the sun beneath the fog, making it look like that.
Hugo: how does the sun stay up in the sky?
Me: well... what do you think?..............
Hugo: (a slight pause ) i think there might be a power switch that turns the heat and the light on in the sun. i don't know how it stays up there in the day but when it gets to night time there must be another switch that turns it off and puts it down. the switch would have to turn otherwise the sun would just drop and fall down and it goes slowly that's why the switch must turn so it can go down slowly.

winter days

today it was cold and wet outside. one of Johns best friends has just returned back to Melbourne, after living in Queensland for a year, they hung out together this morning while the boys and i were busy downstairs trying to transform a room into an inviting playroom. its hard because this space is away from the kitchen and the daily ins and outs of the household. both boys rooms are off this one large space. it is an ideal play area and with some added touches the boys are spending more and more time down there, although by the end of most days majority of what they are playing with is on the kitchen floor ( which i love !!) any way Archie has a book shelf in his room so i have moved that out to the large space and made a book corner which was instantly appealing to both of them and may books were looked at today. tomorrow we will go on a walk and find some natural items to place on the top of the book shelf.

sleepovers

when i was working a colleague of mine was reminiscing about her children when they were young, she was telling me many lovely stories. one of them that i thought i must always remember was when her children were little on a Friday night they were allowed a sleepover in each others rooms. one week was one child's room the next week the others. last night Hugo wanted Archie to sleep with him, so i explained that because Archie was still in a cot he was too little to stay all night, but very soon he will be able to have a "sleepover" . this didn't seem to appease Hugo so i then suggested if we let him stay for 5 minutes tonight... that seemed to work. it lasted all of 4 minutes with Archie getting up and running around !!
i am looking forward to a few years time when they will be able to "sleepover" in each others rooms.

Books....

when Hugo was little we would often spend hours looking in book shops. our house has books, books and more books. once Archie has been around i haven't been book shopping quite as much ( he tends to hurl books across the shop, or run out the front door with one tucked under his arm!!)
feeling slightly brave this morning we went to camberwell and spent an hour or so in borders.

here are our purchases. i left so many others behind....next time.

research

my days are getting sucked away with this computer. i feel i have been on it 24/7 for the last week. as a relative new comer to the world of blogs and blogging i am officially hooked. i have acquired a few favourite blogs and i have sat and read archive posts "to catch up" and learn more. john had been interstate all week and each night i have sat here and read and read and explored. i have had lots of fun and i think i am starting to learn a little. i have so many ideas running in my head, i don't really know where to start. my favourites is filling up and i have so many notes and links to go back and look at or read later that i wonder if i will ever emerge. as for my boys... now where are they??? no its not that bad but i do feel a little guilty as i reflect on the week and realise that they have watched a little extra telly and have amused themselves for longer than they normally would. i feel though that i am starting to regain a focus and outlook on what i want to do. i go to bed inspired, i am dreaming of creating and looking forward to new days and the adventure and wonder that we all might discover. so maybe a little bit of selfish me time and finding my groove again in the craft world as well as discovering a new blogging/craft world has helped us all as family.


all of this has insired me and i have now i started moving furniture to create more creativity in me and the boys. my office will become my sewing space as well, rather than having to drag the machine out all the time and i have moved an old cupboard into the office for all my material etc. this then has freed up space downstairs for thr boys playroom and i would like to make this a more inviting, warm , natural space full of opportunities for creativilt , learning and play.


in my past life i was a kindergarten teacher and taught with the philosophy of reggio emeilia. i ahve travelled to italy and done study tours and relish in their knowledge of children and the importance of the environment as the 3rd teacher ( 1 is the child and family, 2 is the teacher, 3 the environment) in day to day living over the part 6-12 months i had let all this slip and now as i have been reading and grounding myself again i want to create this for the boys. the boys are having a great time as i move things round and i'm not sure if i am getting anywhere or creating more mess but at least we are having fun and finding many treasures along the way.

letters

word words are everywhere
how do you spell...?
how do you write that letter?
what does that say?
what letter is that?

it amazing to see the sudden literacy interest start to happen and the wonder and excitemnet of the written word. its everywhere

two little buttons

i have just taken these button pictures. let me know what you think :: not sure i will use them or which to choose ........

Hotham

snow

finally there is snow
we went to Hotham for the weekend and had a great time. i was starting to forget why we travel nearly every weekend in winter to the snow ( as there had been none) but as we drove up the hill on Friday night into snow falling and my boys eyes as wide as saucers i had that feeling again inside, excitement and fun. we stay in a lodge and it was members weekend. a great time to get to know other members. we have been members for 5 years now and we always meet someone new on weekends like this. most of the members are older than us and have kids around my age so i always feel a little overwhelmed when i walk in with my 2 running around. they were great though and always are. there are so many people to observe, snow to play in and ski on that by the time night falls they are exhausted.
Hugo had a ski lesson both mornings. after lessons last year and 2 weeks of daily lessons in France in Jan he was excited to be on the snow again. although both mornings we had tears as said goodbye, something that has never happened before, but when he was out on the snow he was fine. on Sunday john and i got to have a ski together - joy, bliss.... raining cold and miserable we still braved the elements. we skied for a few runs and then we were going to go and have a coffee. we skied to the bottom of heavenly and there at snake gully was Hugo in his lesson. wow - we had said last year to each other when we had seen a ski class there "wont it be great in a few years to watch Hugo here" and there he was today in blizzard like conditions. a whole myriad of emotions washed over me proud, excited, scared love happiness. he looked so little skiing that big run....we all caught the chairlift and bus back to big d together and collected archie from creche ( first time ever - no tears and a no and turn of the head as i kissed him goodbye, but a HUGE smile and cuddle when i came and got him)

magnetic buttons

these were my first attempts at fabric covered magnetic buttons. i like this idea to use for magnets, rather than someone elses advertising material.
i have hit a snag though as i need flat backed buttons and the only ones i have found so far have a loop in the back to sew the buttons on. i have seen some flat backed buttons but they seem to be in the states. I'm not sure whether we can get them over here?? it seems a simple idea that wouldn't take much time to do, so out souring at this stage seems to take away the whole point of it as i would like to start hands on and the steps involved to create the magnets aren't labour intensive at all.
i will have to spend more nights here in front of the computer searching !!

earrings

Hugo came home from kinder today; he was very excited about a special present he had made for me. earrings.
aren't they lovely.
we have a ball to go to next weekend, maybe i could wear them then ???

return visit

i dreamt of winterwood last night and had to return today. the lady in the shop was so lovely she saw i was interested, took some felt and showed me what to do, collected a sample pack for me of foam, needles and felt and i was on my way. i sat down when i got home and played and found that dry felting was great fun and not as challenging as i thought.
Hugo came and sat by me and helped me with some of it.
it was quick and an easy process for him to join in. i have sat down and thought of some ideas, like card making, gift tags, felt animals with dry felting embellishments, with what to do with this new found interest.

going backwards to move forward

i have just downloaded a heap of photos from 2008.
i feel that i need to go back over this year to move forward.
we have had a really busy year, and i feel that i haven't given my all to my boys. some days are great, others not so and i guess as all mums we have that incredible feeling of guilt. i am hoping that this blog will not only be a journey for me and my life, well being and creativity but also a memoir for my boys of all the things we do as well as milestones. we have had some wonderful experiences this year and i would like to go back in time and blog these.
it might also be my analness that i need to start from the beginning !!! so i hope i am not going to bore you as i go back in time and recreate some posts of the first 6 months of 2008.

busy days

what a busy day :: playing uno with daddy before work and lots and lots of writing.

winterwood

yesterday at kinder i heard one of the teachers and mums talking about a great shop just near where we live called Winterwood. it is a shop selling, yarn, felt and Steiner inspired toys.
i walked in today and i was in heaven. i wanted to touch everything, make everything, read everything, buy everything and play with everything. button2, Archie destroyed my moment by having a tantrum but not before i grabbed a card and promised to be back when i had 5 minutes peace (hmmmm.... will that ever happen) hopefully sooner rather than later.
thank goodness for the Internet. i am about to look at their Web site and dream of creating and playing................
www.winterwoodtoys.com

winter days

the sun is shinning
two little buttons are happy

...the day after

as soon as Hugo was dressed he ran outside to see if our plants had grown. "not yet mummy. its OK the possums haven't eaten them yet."
its amazing how much information they absorb. a little time after this Hugo said to me " you know mum, i know the broccoli hadn't grown cos there was nothing in the middle"
me: " what do you mean"?
Hugo: "the broccoli brows up the middle of the leaves mum. i saw it on the label"
me: "oh" ( i was bewildered that my son has absorbed all that info just by looking at the label of the seedlings that we had planted)

this morning Hugo, Archie and I went to Heronswood gardens. a place that i had been meaning to go for the last year but never seem to get there. J was in the dog house for staying out all night and rather than tip toe around him i decided to do something fun with my boys.
Hugo, like always was amazing touching, smelling, looking, exploring, investigating the plants and gardens, using all his senses to totally absorb and take in what was around him. when we got to the veggie garden he was interested in the names of the plants and what they are used for.

on our return to the historic house, i became a member of diggers and we bought some seeds and 2 garlic plants.
i also purchased an amazing book titled 'the Australian fruit and vegetable garden'

when we finally returned home, we were greeted by some friends that had dropped in, nothing like the present, Hugo was busting to plant the garlic plants and the rocket that we hadn't done yesterday so friends and all we were in the veggie garden.
isn't it amazing, the simple things in life are often the best and by the smiles on all our faces a day in the garden is one of those.