Holiday list - part 2

Ed: Just popping back again quickly.

I've just found a draft of the last post I worked on in early 2011. It seems I never finished it but I think it's still worth sharing, despite being 11 months old now!!! What a lot of growing these girls have done since then. 

Then today Alice had her turn in choosing an outing. She requested a picnic at the Botanical Gardens in Hobart. It was just the thing. Lots of space, warm weather, peace and quiet, things to look at and exercise to wear us out. It was our last day of holidays before school went back. Daddy has just gone back to work to get ready for his little people returning to school. It was a great way to end the holidays (and wear 3 of Mummy's summer dresses again before the warm weather ends). 

The girls took notes on the names, colours and flowers of the plants they saw. Trust my girls to turn it into a literacy exercise. Just love their creativity and passion to learn new things.

Then it was time to throw leaves in the air and cuddle your sister.

Ed: Looking forward to more summer days like that one.

x

Loving Summer sewing

Maybe it's the feeling of a new, fresh year that inspires. Maybe it's the pleasure of indulging in my favourite things after the busy-ness of getting ready for Christmas. It's quite likely that it's all about school holidays - the desire, time and opportunity to get lots of craft and gardening done.

Today was all about getting out the machine and a WIP from last year. I'm determined to get it done, and soon. It's a great project to use up the scrap heap and the kids just love seeing all the fabric strips and remembering where they all come from and what they were used for.

I came upon this string pieced quilt pattern in blog land about 12 months ago and knew I'd have fun with all the colour and the chance to use up lots of leftovers.

I found a tutorial on a string quilt over at loft creations and set to cutting oodles of strips from the scrap stash. Then I bought myself a white sheridan sheet for a few dollars at the op-shop for the squares that the strips are sewn onto.

This is the progress to date. Sadly, each time I get it out, I iron the strips, make a few squares and then it gets packed away.... too well packed away because I forget about it and get busy with other things. Sound familiar?

But, with weeks of holidays still ahead, it's not going to happen this time. It will, at least, be a completed quilt top in the very near future. At the moment, I'm aiming for 14 more squares, and then I'll see if I'm done with it or not.

Hope you're finding a little time for the things that make you smile.

x

My little chef

One thing my girls love to do is cook. The last few days have seen them in the kitchen - chocolate cake, banana cake and even some new and different recipes to try. Yesterday Sarah was keen to use her new Junior Masterchef cookbook that she got for Christmas. With the help of Grandma and Mummy she did a wonderful job, starting with some dessert baking in the morning. At dinner time she cooked a yummy risotto and assembled her dessert oh so beautifully.

Oven baked Pea Risotto (with green beans from a friend's garden) and chicken breast on the side

And Pound cakes with chocolate shards and raspberries

It was very yummy and even more yummy given that my big girl made it with just a little help from us with the boiling water, oven etc. Made even nicer with a glass of red, and followed by the debut viewing of The Lion King while snuggled under blankets on a rather chilly summer evening. Both we and our visiting grandparents from Queensland are feeling the cold over the last couple of days. More warm days ahead, I hope.

Three cheers for kids in the kitchen!

Trust you're warm and cosy where you are.

x

Where and how to begin?

How to start and where to begin????? How do I pick it back up? Do I at all? How do I explain when it's been 12 months? Do I have to? Do I even know why it's been 12 months? What will I share first? What photos, projects, news, stories do I begin with?

 Questions, questions. Too many to contemplate, too many to answer. I figured in the end that trying to answer these questions, the umm-ing and ahh-ing was taking more effort, thought and worry than just one post would take. Just write one post and see what happens.

Months and weeks of wondering and worrying was achieving nothing other than a feeling of disappointment and a little guilt. Letting this small, insignificant space of mine slide was not the plan. Certainly not my intention. But before I knew it, there seemed to be too many other things. Too many important things that took my attention and time. And then, in the moments when there was the chance, maybe even a window of opportunity, it seemed too hard. How do I start again? What do I say? Is it really worth it? Will anyone even notice I'd gone, never lone come back again?

Then, enough I said. No more thinking, worrying, pondering. I'm often reminded of a poster on a staff office door at my first high school - Just Do It. So, here I am. Here is my new start - my number 1 of 2012. How many there'll be, I do not know. I certainly hope I can do better than last year! I know I want to. Hopefully there will be some friends out there sharing in the journey with me! I still enjoy reading the stories of my favourite blogs and hope that I may have something to share, show or inspire others with.

So to briefly fill you in, 2011 was the year of:

 a) doubling the size of our house (that's 9 months of building, extending, renovating and living here through it all) We moved out for only 6 nights: when there was no kitchen.at.all. and the timber floor was being polyurethaned,

and b) Mummy going back to work relief teaching after 9 years of being a very happy and proud stay at home mummy. 

You can probably guess that b) and a) are inextricably linked. Till then, the single income was fine, plenty. No need to be at work until........we needed more bedrooms, more living space, an ensuite and our first ever deck. Two five year olds shouldn't really be topping and tailing in the same bottom bunk bed.

To be honest, the new deck (read: our first level outdoor space) has been nearly the most exciting thing to come out of the project. But only nearly. The rest is wonderful, too. We are spoilt for space now and we would do it all over again. A wonderful builder made it smooth and relatively painless. He worked around us and took care of everything.

And being back at work, though I would rather still be at home, was exciting and enjoyable. I did relief work at 6 different public and private schools in my area, and in every single year group from Kinder to Grade 10. I finished the year with 7 weeks on a 3/4 class, 3 days a week (and nothing else!) and loved it. I did not love the late nights, early frantic mornings and missing quite a few of my little girls' non-kinder days (I'll be ever so grateful to our day time nannies!!!!) but it was worth it to have our house finished. I know I love my job, there's plenty of work available and I also know I'm not ready for a year-long commitment to one teaching position. Relief suits me fine for another year, though there may be one day a week where I'll be making myself otherwise occupied!!!!

I'll share some house photos next time. And then some of the little projects I've dabbled in since I was here last.

For now, it's time to sleep. Promise I'll be back soon.

x

Ticking off the holiday list - part 1

The last few days have been about finishing off our holiday list. We all had special things we wanted to do and in the past fortnight we've been getting them done. It's been great. Some have been easy. Others have required a little more planning.

Cocoa pops for breakfast was an easy one. I think that was Ruby's request. Apparently, I once said it was okay to have them in the holidays and Ruby reminded me: 'I don't really think we've had them just yet'. Done.

Charlotte Cove and our little lunch spot

Sarah wanted a picnic at a little coastal spot south of us. We discovered Charlotte Cove, south of Cygnet, a few weeks ago, and decided a picnic would be nice there one day. So after church on Sunday we packed our lunch and headed off: picnic, exploring, shell collecting and a lovely circuit drive through Huonville, Cygnet, and up the Channel through Gordon, Woodbridge, Margate and home again. It was just the thing for the last Sunday before school.

 Alice has lots of teeth trying to break through in 2011

 Sarah of the Charlotte Cove Picnic Committee

Just the place for post-lunch exploring and fossicking

We're opting for a quieter, slower day tomorrow and then another outing on Tuesday - the last day of holidays. I think everyone will then be satisfied with the number of ticks on our list.

I hope your list for this week gets many ticks, too.

Lunch box baking

The holidays are finally over at our house. Daddy has been back at work for a few days, tomorrow the older girls start Grades 3 and 2, and then Hannah and Ruby start next Monday.

They're off to Kindergarten - which I can't quite believe - but I know they'll love it. Their big sisters have set up a daily schedule to go and check on them every chance they get! Here in Tasmania, kinder is the first year of formal school, around 2-3 full days, starting the year you turn 5. Their uniforms are ready and they've spent two days carrying oversized backpacks and school hats around the house!

And so we began baking. The freezer and biscuit tins are now stocked up nicely and there's been lots of fun in the kitchen. But there has been a shift. Baking has changed. Up until now I've made one dozen muffins or one slice or one batch of biscuits at any one time (yes, Mum, while the oven was already on for dinner!) For years this worked. It was plenty. For days! But no longer.

Honey Oat Squares

We've definitely moved into the 'double batch' or 'multiple products' stage of family baking. I now know I need a second muffin tin, I need to allow more eggs and time for each baking session, and I need to make freezer friendly biscuits. I think many of you are there already.

Nalda's Apple Muffins (and my new spotty plate from Coles in Melbourne! Love it)

So first off it was apple muffins. We love this recipe so thought I'd share it. I used to be put off having to use cooked apple but our apple peeler/slicer makes it much quicker. I find that stewing the diced apple while we get the rest of the ingredients ready gives it plenty of time. The recipe comes from the Longreach School of the Air recipe book: it has become one of my absolute favourites.

Nalda's Apple Muffins

Beat together 125g caster sugar, 250ml milk, 125g butter (melted and partly cooled) and 2 eggs

Add 1 cup (about 2 apples) cooked apple (or tinned apple)

Fold in 1 1/2 c SR flour, 2 tsp cinnamon

Spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 200 C for 20-25 min. The recipe states it makes 12 but they are very big so I make 12 regular (ie child friendly) sized plus about 6-8 mini ones.

Hope you enjoy them too. I'm off to organise the muffins above into their respective lunch boxes.

Parties and pretty dresses

We're in for a big weekend here. But, thankfully, a pleasurable one.

Unlike my in-laws in Ingham, in far North Queensland. They spent Thursday night huddled between mattresses in their bathroom.   They were among some of the more fortunate in that there's been no damage to their house or yard.

But with no sign of power being reconnected and now rising flood waters, they are far from comfortable. The 2009 Ingham floods isolated them and flooded under the house, reaching levels a long way up the back steps. The decision some 43 years ago to build a high house has certainly paid off. More than once.

We are praying that things improve, and soon. And for all those who've lost so much, we are also praying that they get the support and assistance they need. How can we not be moved by such devastation?

But on a lighter note I thought I'd share some photos and sewing with you.

It seems it's a season for milestone birthdays here. First, my father in law's 70th birthday which we celebrated here in Hobart. The girls all got a new 'Mummy' dress made in time for the party. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Mures Upper Deck on the wharf. If you know Hobart, you'll know it's quite the position for celebratory dining.

Hannah and Ruby got a little peasant style dress with Mummy's first shirring around the chest. Thanks to Julie at Narioka and her shirring tutorial, I was brave enough to have my first go.

This photo was not staged. They were taking in the scenes of boats in Sullivans Cove. Cute.

Alice's dress is a pattern from Corrie at retromummy, and Sarah's was made using Corrie's pattern for the body, and little capped sleeves from an idea I saw in my travels.

In the days after Christmas, Hobart is just a wonderful place to be. The Sydney to Hobart yachts were still coming in during the night, and the Taste of Tasmania was about to get underway. After dinner we went to inspect the yachts. Can't believe how small (and how huge) some of them were!

My cheeky monkeys.

And here's Mummy and Daddy. Now that Sarah and Alice are taking photos, we actually get photos of us together every now and then.

Well, now for this weekend. My Dad's turning 60 and there's quite the celebration, let me tell you. All my sisters, partners and family together. Everyone's excited but there's still lots to do so I must be off. 

Will fill you in soon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. And for all those who have been so affected of late in Queensland, let's take nothing for granted. Power, water, mobility, food. Just to think of the amount of food lost from people's freezers and fridges is bad enough, without even beginning to contemplate the destroyed homes. For us, it's a chance to renew our perspective on our every day life. And for those of us who believe, to pray. Bye for now. x