friendship

dear friends of mine moved house this week, not really by choice but they have found a great property that they will be happy in. i have spent the week helping them clean up their new house and today my friend and i cleaned her old house ready for the new owners. it was a sad day but it was a day of love, tears, memories and new beginnings. as i was leaving her mum gave me this posy of flowers.

snow...again

this weekend we went to Hotham with great friends, who are all relatively new to skiing.
on Saturday we all skied together (Archie as well :: after the first run which is about 3 km with him between my legs i was seriously considering how this was quality family time until we got to the bottom and he said " Mummy i did it like Hugo")
Hugo had a lesson and it was a private lesson for an hour, within that hour he dramatically improved his level of skiing. it was quite amazing to watch.
john and i had a great day helping our kids and our friends ski, with one run together at the end of the day :: black, hard and fast !!!!

100

100

next week Hugo will have been at school for 100 days.
the preps are having a 100 party.

we have to collect 100 of something to bring..... ie 100 buttons, 100 shells, 100 seed pods. during the day the children will be counting their objects and showing the class.
i am at a loss and am trying to think of something creative for him to take.
any ideas................................
i need your help ????????????????????

hotham

we spent the weekend at Hotham.
this was Archie's first time on the chair lift and skiing at the big d.
what a great job he did.
and Hugo was just fantastic skiing alongside his dad all afternoon.

the princess in the pea

::the princess and the pea.
::12 mattresses, a wet felted pea, a beautiful princess and an old doily made into a sheet
::all ready to act and play out the story

wet felting

i have had all the bits to wet felt for along time and never done anything about it, its amazing what a bit of prompting and the fact that i wanted to finish the princess and the pea set, how it makes you just do it and that's what we did ( after dinner in front of the fire :: note Archie is wearing most of his dinner on his PJ's)

the boys also made their own 'peas' and enjoyed the process

Lucky Ted

After last weeks success, Hugo was keen to improve on Teddy's doona. Hugo spent time looking through my fabric stash and found the 2 he liked.
we then sewed it and stuffed it with batting.
Ted is very warm and cosy

just because

we have had lovely holidays this term break.
doing absolutely nothing.
almost hibernating....
and today we made a chocolate cake..... just because.

arch

The Princess and the Pea

i bought this book today. i couldn't resist....



i am supposed to be on a really tight budget, but i just couldn't help myself....



after sewing on Wednesday and watching Hugo enjoy it so much when he had a go, i thought i would like to get him involved a little more. i sat down last night and looked through my collection of bookmarked favourites of ideas and inspiration from fellow bloggers and web sites. i remembered Amanda from soulemama making this with Adelaide. i couldn't resist the idea. now i know i only have two boys;


BUT


::i can help them to be sensitive


::i can share stories that i loved


::i can help them learn to love all books and literature......right?????

(or am i kidding myself that i hopelessly would love a little girl and that i am making my wonderful darling beautiful wouldn't change them for the world boys suffer with this fact... !!)


anyway .....i thought if we shared the book together and then he could help me make the mattresses, and the pea and he could draw the princess and we could act out the story together and this could be the start of making many props to help retell our favourite stories.





Kate Kellaway from The Observer, Sunday 30 October 2005 sums up the book better than i can
"Lauren Child has made a doll's mansion furnished with diminutive antiques, wallpaper the colour of pea soup, lanterns galore, ornate mirrors, tiger skin rugs, pewter goblets and a dozen feather mattresses with the 'plumpest Siberian goose-down pillows'. Every interior is a tiny triumph, a stage across which her papery characters move.
And every scene has been beautifully photographed by Polly Borland, a gifted Australian photographer.

chefs in the making

after dodging the queues all week of this activity, i finally stood in the line today and the boys got to decorate cup cakes at our local shopping centre. they had a great time and once away from the activity quickly put on the aprons and chefs hats that they had been given. when we got home Hugo wanted to cook so he could wear his hat and apron again.. so we made biscuits.
a good way to fill in a wet and cold Friday of school holidays

pizza

homemade pizza for dinner.
the boys and i made dough this afternoon, but it was still rising when it was time for them to eat.
next best thing :: English muffins, toasted and then topped with pizza toppings.
the boys had fun making and eating their dinner.
mmmm more super thin yummy crust pizza for me ...

patchwork scarf

today is one of Hugo's friends birthdays and we are off to help celebrate with her and her family tonight. nothing like leaving something to the last minute !!!
after sorting out my scraps i decided to make a patchwork scarf. the inspiration came from Christine and Leslie and because i am always scared to do anything without a pattern i found this tutorial from sew mama sew. Hugo helped me pick the colours and away we went. when i got to the backing which is navy baby corduroy i didn't have enough so i joined it together and put some ribbon over to hide the joins.
i was too scared to do a button and button hole ( as i have never done one before) so i used Leslie's idea of a loop to put the scarf through. i used black elastic and put it at the back, so the front stays flat.
i am really happy with my efforts. i hope Phoebe likes it.

a blanket for teddy... made by Hugo

sewing

as i opened my sewing cupboard and put my piles of scraps on the table, my little helper appeared from nowhere :: "can i sew too mummy"
i spent the morning sorting through scraps to use for a present and Hugo set about designing a blanket for teddy.