New Life......

A couple of years ago, my garden stopped growing the way it used to. Things although carefully planted, failed to thrive. Even with a live in garden helper to take the load off of me, who seemed to know a lot more about gardening than I did,  saw many of my plants dying or wilting and in the end it was left alone for a very long time.

I remember saying to my man one day. I just don't know what's wrong. Nothing wants to grow anymore. Not like that first year when everything grew so wonderfully and in abundance. I just don't know what it is that is missing. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows and said "YOU! Its missing you!"

In hindsight, I had to agree. My garden was built with great intention and loads of love. Sometimes I tended it, sometimes I did not but it was always a source of great joy when I did so. My total lack of attention by handing it over to someone else was obvious. When that someone was not there any more it became even more neglected and sad. My lemon tree in particular failed to produce lemons for years!

Now, as most of you know I have been either away galavanting or very sick for much of the past 5 months or so. So the thought of starting over was rather daunting. It took a bit of work to finally get off my butt and do something about it and now..........well now........just see for yourself........

Now just like my first garden, things are planted willy nilly, with no order as a novice gardener might plant them.......

Or as they might plant themselves......... Herbs, fruit and vegies growing together....

Complimenting each other, or just fighting for space  :-)

Somehow, working together as Mother Nature intended........

In pure ignorant bliss of how things "should be"!!!

Some potatoes choose to grow in the baskets I build them......

And some choose not to........prefering to sprawl themselves "outside the basket" if you please......

And other plants just choose to co-exist, side by side, regardless of species.....

Because, my friends......... where there is LOVE......

And where there is LIGHT........

There is LIFE........

And that lemon tree I mentioned........well, its full to the brim with lemons! Go figure! And the lemon balm, like most of my other herbs, seems to be having a growth spurt too......

Whats growing in your garden right now?

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Bows are nice......don't you think?

We often hear people talking about "cutting those apron strings" one at a time. And setting ones offspring free into the big wide world out there to seek their ultimate adventures and lives. But you never here anyone talking of tying bows now do you? 

It is my belief that cutting the strings is often a little bit abrupt and final. Why not just loosen the strings a little at a time? Loosening strings allows the wearer to dive into the depths unknown always knowing that the strings will be there to save them when needed. To haul them back up to the surface into the safety of that nicely tied bow! 

Take this child for example. This child has taken many dives in the last couple of years. Diving into life a little too quickly. Thinking she wanted different things but never being quite sure. She leapt across the world to seek her independence. She dove into a world of study only to decide it was not really what she wanted. She took on a full time job with SIX hours travel a day! It was a huge leap into the unknown and it was exhausting. Her health and well being suffered. She thought she wanted a lot of things in that outside world, but then she just wanted to be home.

To do the simple things that she no longer had time for. Like hang out with her family, cook a meal or just relax at the beach.  To find the joy in little things like chopping potatoes or stirring pots even! 

Enjoying the time to actually sit down and EAT your meal as soon as you serve it, instead of re-heated and on the run..... and even have the time to present it nicely.....

We won't be cutting any apron strings in a hurry, in fact we are planning on sharing our kitchen for a very long time. :-) And each time she asks me to tie that apron string a little. I do it with a very big smile on my face! 

Because BOWS really are nice! Don't you think? 

Hugs and smoochies all xoxoxox

FOURTEEN

Sometimes words are not required.....

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxox

Ashlee creates........

My oldest daughter Ashlee has entered a competition online and would be most grateful if you could take the time to vote for her dress. She designed the dress herself, made the pattern and sewed it using fabrics from Spotlight who are hosting the competition. She also made the flowers for the wreath headband that she is wearing. Its a little hard to see the fabric in the picture but it is very Christmassy indeed. 

The competition is hosted on Facebook, so anyone with an account can enter and/or vote. If you would like to vote for Ashlee you just need to click the vote button and your vote will be registered. For some reason on some browsers, it won't work. In that case, click on the "like" button first and then vote. Too easy! 

Here is the link to the page.....   Spotlight competition.

We would be most grateful if you could find it in your heart to vote for our beautiful creative girl! 

Much love, hugs and smoochies 

FUN....All On A Sunday Afternoon....

FUN.... Climbing up Aunty K's body to reach the mirror on the wall. Laughing at the baby in the mirror! Blowing kisses! Bouncing! Jumping! (Hello bubby!) Waving! 

Not so FUN.....Being the human ladder! LOL Poor Arms, Poor shoulders, Poor Nose, Poor Boobies! Oh well, who needs them anyway when baby giggles are making you happy? 

FUN......Picking peaches off the tree and feeding them to the puppies! Eating lemonade iceblocks on a hot Sunday afternoon. Bouncing on the trampoline while you do it.  Iceblock melting and dripping everywhere. Sharing with the puppies. Laughing. Rejoicing in being who you are without restraint.  (giggles...more...more...up...up...me...jump)

Not  so FUN.....The icky sticky feeling as all sorts of garden goodies cling to your skin. Snot bubble monsters mixing with the sticky!  (Oh Uck Uck) Trying to pick grass and leaves off sticky skin! 

FUN.... Splashing in a refreshing bath. Throwing water all over Aunty K, laughing and playing and wowing over the very wet floor! Running naked through the house. Enjoying the freedom of fresh clean skin! Finally putting on a shirt when it suits us! Nice warm milk to top it off! (Bot Bot? Ya?) 

Not so  FUN... What do you mean we can't go back outside and play with the puppies????? (puppies puppies?)

FUN... Just kidding...ok...hahaha....You're so funny! And I am so used to getting my own way.....YES I AM.. (Ya? Ya? Cheese!!!)

FUN....  Saying Cheese. Looking at yourself in the camera and nodding approval. (Oooh Ya Ya Bubby Me Hehe Bubbles? Puppies?)

YES YES YES FUN FUN FUN 

FUN .... Wondering if they noticed the Sticky all over the trampoline? HAHAHAHAHA! AH....Now... What's a bit of sticky between cousins?  

FUN FUN FUN!!! 

So what fun did you get up to on Sunday afternoon? Hope you found the joy as much as we did!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

A little visitor....

Yesterday I found a little visitor hanging out in my vegie patch, just hiding away on the fence as if no-one could see him/her. 

Due to the sheer size of this visitor, I instantly decided that the front garden would be a better place to visit and moved him/her out there. I have never seen a moth so unperturbed by a human coming so close. I was not only able to coax it onto something so I could move it but it climbed onto the bricks and let me take a few pictures too. 

I am not sure what type of moth it is, but it is large and I was worried about it laying eggs in my newly growing seedlings. Doesn't it have beautiful eyes? 

I have never seen such big eyes on a moth! I was just a little bit smitten! Oh how I love nature! 

Speaking of seedlings... I scored all these little babies at the local school fair..... 50c each. The labeling is a bit off but hey I can recognise my seedlings so I do know I won't be growing any beans with these....LOL 

I have big plans for these little babies! Not sure if the weather is going to be kind to me today though, its looking rather gloomy out there considering it was supposed to be a sunny day! 

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies. 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Who's child is this?

A couple of days ago, SB came out of the kids computer room and asked me "Do you know what YOUR son is doing in there?" ( Don't you just love this adult habit of shifting parentage over to each other when we don't like what the kids are doing?) 

Me: "Nope, (Im not really in the habit of seeing through walls even though I sometimes claim I can!), he is playing Minecraft I presume.

Of course, he was playing Minecraft. But in a rather dubious kind of manner. It turns out he was befriending folks online and luring them into a "safe zone" where he mass attacked them, killing them all and ended by stealing their things! Charming! I'm sure!  

ME: OMG! My son is a Nazi! I'm not taking the credit for that one honey, he is clearly yours! 

So after he comes out of his room and we question his tactics and of course compare him to Hitler. He of course denied the resemblance at first. Then we pointed out a few facts about what he was doing and he had to admit we were right. 

He was lying to the people in the game. Luring them into a so called safe place. Stealing their things and killing them. Not nice mate! 

At this stage he gets all huffy and puffy and declares..... "GEEZ, its only a game!" 

Much later when his brother and I were once again  comparing his tactics  to those of the Hitler regime, Zak smirked as a most wonderful thought came to his little head! 

"I am so going to change my character to one that looks like Hitler! So cool!" 

(Picture borrowed from some other child off minecraft! Oh dear!) 

Looks like he absorbed far more from that last unit study than we bargained for! 

God help us all! We have raised a free thinking radical child that wants to be Hitler! Lets hope it really is "just a game". 

Thankfully I already know that he is far more conscientious deep down! Or I really may have been worried there! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Unit Studies - Love they way they flow...

We are currently in the throws of yet another History unit study, using "History with Jackie French". After the great success and interest last term with Hitlers Daughter (which by the way is still bringing up many many questions and comparisons in daily life), we chose "How the Finnegans Saved the Ship" for this term!

The story in short is about a mother and her seven children who are sailing by ship to join their father in the "lucky country" (being Australia) from Ireland. They are sailing not long after the infamous sinking of the Titanic so they are excited and scared all at the same time. 

This time the boys have a couple of friends joining them for the unit, so not only will they get a feel of working in a "group" situation but they can all hopefully bounce even more wonderful ideas and thoughts off each other! 

As we had a little trouble getting a hold of the book locally, we started off last week with a bit of a talk on Immigration and how our families came to Australia. We then talked about what we thought the book might be about and why Mrs Finnegan was bringing her kids here. We also talked about life for kids 100 years ago and compared our lives to theirs. We discussed the Potato Famine in Ireland and how terrible it would have been for children going hungry. We looked at pictures of different ships over time.

We read a non-fiction book about the Titanic, which was really interesting and looked at pictures of the ship. We then had a long discussion on the ins and outs of the journey, the people, the clothing and more so the different classes which was a little hard to understand for modern day boys! We even did some sneaky writing and math activities.

We read some newspaper articles from the time and discussed their accuracy! We then completed some work sheets to back up these theories. 

We finally got our book and read the first chapter! It was interesting and at times funny! After determining the reasoning for the Finnegans immigrating we planned on immigrating to different countries ourselves. Each boy chose a different country and then they planned their trip. They checked out the climate, the customs, the local landmarks, and had to work out how they were going to get there (eg. boat, plane etc).

Cal decided that this was not an option for him thank you very much! He already lives in the "Best country in the world" why on earth would he want to move somewhere else? So he is moving to another state. LOL

The boys then went online and hunted for some old motor cars from the early 1900's and paired up to research.....

They then prepared a "for sale" newspaper article promoting their cars (which while they found rather interesting to look at decided were really not worth buying as clearly one could walk faster than those cars!) 

And now for the part that I love the most, the way one thing leads to another and all.  Unlike our last unit which we worked on nearly every day till we got sick of it. This time as we are learning with others, we are only doing our Unit study once a week. So rather than lose interest, we have been extending it from our end by reading and following interest in other areas that tie in.

(Zak!!!! Is that how you listen to the story? Here let me have a turn of that!)

Yesterday we read the first book in the series Titanic by Gordan Korman (yes we read the whole book and I think mum enjoyed it as much if not more than the kids). (Anna....Guess what you might reading next week? LOL) We have been talking about the titanic a lot and are planning on watching the movie which the boys have not seen yet. We will start on the 2nd book tomorrow and have the 3rd book on order. We also got a hold of a My Story Titanic book which we will read together as well.

I take that back, we will be starting the 2nd book right now, Zak wants to know more! Well it did kind of leave us hanging! And they do have to go to their metal work class later today! I guess I will catch up with you again later.

Have a lovely day all! Keep Smiling.......

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxox