pottery

we headed down along the banks of the Yarra river today, to the annual pottery and ceramics expo in Warrandyte.
the boys loved the clay last year and this time it was just as rewarding. as well as creating their own masterpieces from clay, both boys painted a ready made clay tile, which will be used in a permanent sculpture along the walking track of the river.

chores

when did my boys grow up.....
Hugo decided he wanted to mow the lawn !!!
John is now trying to delegate the rest of the outside jobs......
(archie :: well he just has to be like big brother !!!)

Gardening Club :: week 2

this week was spent harvesting corn, creating corn dolls, with the husks , picking grape tomatoes and tending to the chooks.

Potatoes

finding ways to use up our stash of Potatoes from Gardening Club.
Tonight I made Home made Chips, served with a sprinkling of maldon Sea salt and they were GOOD if i do say so my self.....
I'm not sure if it was the variety of Potatoes or the Recipe , from here, but they were gobbled up very quickly.

spoilt

Friends of us invited us around for a casul lunch this afternoon....
we should have know... Ben is a chef,
he put on an amazing spread of food. One of his long time friends lent a hand and the food was delicious. beef, lamb and chicken char grilled on a spit, yellow curry, and some asian inspired salads, king fish heads.... i could have eaten all day !!!
it was one of those days that work, good food, good company and a whole bunch of kids that get along, have fun and play all afternoon.

outdoor cooking

Tonight we did some out door cooking.
john is looking at importing a table top BBQ concept, so tonight he thought he would trial the idea. after looking in camping and outdoor shops and BBQ stores for something similar he walked away empty handed... so John being John when he has an idea, nothing stops him......so out comes our camping cast iron pot, and and old BBQ grill and voila a table top BBQ!!! the concept is that you have 1-2 on a table and your guests cook their own food from platters of prepared marinated meat and vegetables. it was great fun and the boys enjoyed taking ownership and cooking and eating their own food.

community

wow, it seems to be the week of school and kinder functions...
last night was Hugo's school's family BBQ - a great night catching up with new and familiar parents, grooving along to a very talented band, formed by 5 school parents, we all rocked on till the wee hours   bed time on a school night!!
tonight was Archie's turn, the welcome BBQ at Kinder. a sausage sizzle, face painting and a sandpit filled with water, what could be better !!
i am blessed to live in a community that gets it, that has great people in it, and is a special place fro my children to feel part of and grow up in.

digging

it was like an Easter egg hunt, with cries of "I've got another one" and squeals of delight as more were un earthed.
Hugo went to his schools Gardening Club tonight. A program that runs after school on a Tuesday night. The school has a "sustainable" garden, which is managed by the children. Last year the gardening group planted potatoes, and tonight we got to share their hard work and un earth all the potatoes. there were 3-4 different varieties. all the children collected them, we sorted them and then got to take them home.
a parent, who is a landscape Gardener, runs the program along with the Principal. it was such a great way to spent time at the school, making it feel more like an extension of home, a community rather than just a learning institution. Hugo (and Arch) loved it, and we will be back next week.

dinner

fresh produce from our garden for dinner.

a dress

last year I was reading Victoria's blog and saw this post. i feel in love with the this dress, but filed it away in my favourites, and forgot about it. it wasn't until Victoria posted this post about her beautiful dress that i was inspired again. My friend at work was having her 30th birthday party and i decided that i would have a go seeing that i had a place to wear it.....
i rang the uber talented Nic, who assured me that it was easy and yes she would help me, so armed with material and my machine i headed off to knitting on Tuesday night.... in 2 hours we had whipped up the dress. On Thursday i went round to Nic's and hemmed it and i then spent the evening creating the ruffle.
i was so happy with the result and proudly wore it out on Saturday night. (I even received a compliment about it....)
so thank you to Victoria for the inspiration and to Nic for her wisdom. A great team effort !!!

setting

this is how the boys set the table for dinner tonight, they had been out in the garden after school and came inside with the flowers for me. as part of our routines this year i am trying to engage them a little more in day to day life of our household. setting the table and cleaning their plates is something i think they can manage. and when i looked and saw this i was proud.

role play

something i never saw much of from Hugo was role play and imaginative play. Arch is in his element playing imaginatively. taking the time today to sit and listen and be part of his game.

produce

fresh from the garden

escaping

from the rain to a friends country property for the night.