Bottle top Birthday Girl

Although today is the official birthday, yesterday is was princess/ballerina/fairy land at our house. Six little girls all dressed in pink, yellow, purple & blue joined us to celebrate Rosie's 4th birthday.

It was a really lovely day, once I got past the stressful getting ready part in the morning.

As usual there were a few tears & a few anxious moments as we tried to quickly get our house in order. In the end I had to shove a few piles of random items into another room and boy did that make a difference! By the time the girls arrived our house looked beautiful, pink balloons, sparkly fairy bread, rainbow bunting and a table set for a party! Yay!!!

I realised this week that this would be our last four year old party & I really wanted to make it a special one. Part of me still has trouble with the concept of no more babies on the way. Mark & are a lucky though to have these gorgeous five.

Have I told you the story about the bottle cap? One day I was walking along in Seddon and noticed a shiny green bottle top on the ground. For some reason I picked it up and there was a number 5 printed on the other side. Five has always been my favourite and lucky number so I tucked it away in my pocket. Not long after that I found out I was having another baby....yep, number 5! My kids love that story.

Rosie hasn't had a party before so she was pretty excited..and a bit overwhelmed. She absolutely loved all the presents her friends gave her.

Mark worked his magic making cups of tea for parents and getting food ready while our older kids helped with the games & dancing.

There was a bit of wand decorating with lots of sparkles and glitter. After a delicious chocolate cake and the Happy Birthday song the little princesses departed and I fell in a heap on the couch. Phew!

Today is Rosie's real birthday and this time four years ago I was huffing and puffing up at Daylesford Hospital. It had been a tough pregnancy - I had pneumonia at 36 weeks, we had just moved to the country and I had three small kids and one starting secondary school. It wasn't an easy labour either, I don't think I have ever been in so much pain. But then, just as I was about to be whisked into an ambulance to head for an emergency caesar, Rosie appeared. I remember crying with happiness and relief at the sight of her beautiful face. Cuddling her, my extra bonus, bottle top baby, was pure joy.

Now she is a big girl and is still bringing me joy & cuddles every day.

She is a mad, fun, loving, full of life, theatrical, colourful, sweet and crazy wonderful girl. It was so much fun celebrating yesterday, I hope your weekend was fun too xo

And no there is not even a tiny crumb of chocolate cake left....

Living in a cloud...

This week our little town has been covered in a thick layer of fog.

So beautiful and atmospheric..

It's been like living in a cloud.

Bill and I went for a lovely wander up at the Wombat Botanical Gardens yesterday. As we walked between the beautiful, big trees it was like being in a kind of fairy land. It was a strangely magical feeling.

The mist swirled all around the town. It covered the townhall in a soft, white blanket. The light was muted and the whole world seemed to slow down.

Mist and fog are not fun to drive in so it was steady- as- she- goes on the way back home. I could have stayed forever up there on Wombat Hill but the lure of hot pikelets and maple syrup was just too much. Now I'm just waiting patiently for snow. What's happening in your part of the world? xo

Hurricane Rosie strikes again!!

Juggling life with children & creative/personal pursuits can be challenging can't it? I'm finding it tricky to get the balance...this is an ongoing thing for me, as I'm sure it is for others. My youngest one, Rosie, or Hurricane Rosie as someone called her the other day, is a Big Personality who has so much energy & a real lust for life.

Needless to say she is a dynamo to be around and brings me alot of happiness. It's important to me to be around for my kids and Rosie and I have a lot of fun together, making things, exploring, being silly, enjoying life. But it's hard to find the space sometimes to do the things I want to do. Lately I have been fighting hard to find that space...but I'm not giving up!! Thanks to blog land at least I get to see what other people are making & that is so inspiring. I'm constantly amazed and excited by all the wonderful creative people out there.

This weekend I managed to finish this butterfly picture that has been on hold for ....several years! These lovely flutterbys come from an old library book from the Footscray Library, a great library that we visited alot when we lived in Seddon. Hopefully it won't take me as long to get it up on the wall!

Although it doesn't feel like I am achieving much there have been lots of little things getting done...I'm loving our newly finished fire place! Not a great shot but you get the general idea. Mark & I are slightly addicted to watching the series The Wire, on dvd, by the fire at night.

A girl can still get to the market too, I found these bottles yesterday. Wouldn't mind a drop or two of Womaton!! I had to look twice at the other bottle...at first I thought it might be an old fashioned aid for fella's!

There's still time for one of my other loves. chookens! Here is Henrietta enjoying a drink and a frolic in the fresh hay..

can I come in?

Besides creative frustrations life is actualling tootling along well lately. I'm not walking as much as I'd like but still working on it every second day or so. It's cold and wet and misty but I'm kind of enjoying winter and catching up with friends over nice, hot cups of tea. After a catch up with Kate on Friday I ran into Stuart Purves from Australian Galleries, who has recently bought a property in the area, We got talking about life in a small country town, bumping into familiar faces & how lovely the smaller world can be. This got me thinking about the importance of connecting with others. I really enjoy living in a friendly, supportive community and that's also what I enjoy about blogging. Thanks to everyone, by the way, for their comments on my last post. Hope you have a great week! xo

ps: Hurricane's quote of the day (me standing talking with two women from school) "Mum, you just farted! You should have said excuse me!" Nice one Rosie....

Tuesday

The last week has had it's moments. A difficult family issue popped up and although I think it is resolved it left me feeling pretty drained. People/family/relationship stuff is so complex isn't it? So this morning after contemplating a messy kitchen, washing to be done & other exciting chores I chose instead to meander down to Hepburn Springs to see my mum. Possibly angling for a little TLC and a cuppa I was lucky to find both. Her new house/church/abode is looking wonderful and is becoming more & more like 'her place' every day. Lucy put these pretty pieces of glass along the window.

You may have noticed that Sue has a lot of colour in her life. Do you like the beautiful blanket she knitted?

Lots of little things that catch my eye in her new space.

Funny owl creatures brought back from Santa Fe.

More creatures...

Mum.

Back at home I continued on with the decluttering/remodelling of our little sitting room. It's looking so much better and lighter! It helped that today was so sunny, it was almost spring like. The dogs kindly kept me company.


This is Max, he is a deep thinker. Especially when it comes to menu options. He is a big old lover boy and he is making the most of some quality couch time. (Note new couch! Yes it arrived, & thankyou Michelle for carting away the old one. Not a fun job. But as ugly and smelly as the old couch was it did see us through alot of meaningful moments. Four new babies were fed and cuddled on that couch (were some of them made on it....possibly?) Anyway lots of happy family times involve that old couch so I really was kind of fond of it. Not fond enough, though, to hang on to it. One too many 'accidents' rendered it majorly stinky, and wonky, courtesy of a half eaten cushion (thanks to Jessie the dog, may she rest in peace).

Daisy & Max having a love fest. Oh those loving eyes. The dogs have been so good lately. Now that they are in the back yard, not the front, alot of the problems we were having have ceased. Daisy isn't running away anymore and Max is no longer terrorising the poor postie. Both dogs are having regular walkies, are sporting glamourous new haircuts & their self esteem is at an all time high! Wow!

You can probably tell, I love my pets! They are a big part of our family. They are so sweet natured & they give us a lot of love. Their unconditional love is so soothing & good for us all and their love for each other is pretty special too. Hope you & yours are having a lovely week xoxo

Still thinking..... headache tablets? Rat poison? Vintage apple core? Underpants? The world is my oyster...

Getting active...

Ok, it's official..I am on a new mission. And the mission is all about getting ACTIVE! I am already quite active, running around after five kids, growing garlic, being on school & creche committee's, volunteering at the info centre, making & creating. Like alot of others I am a busy girl. No I am not a sitting around type. But what I am also trying to create is time for my health, mental & physical! So I'm back into walking...and it's fun!

We live near two beautiful lakes and I have started walking around this one every day. It is really beautiful all through the year and I'm enjoying it's wintery colours.





Lots of duckies to say hello to.

Old buildings have lovely faces don't they? The weathered boards and general falling downness are somehow sweet to me.

On a sad note I came across these flowers left for an unknown person who drowned in the lake on Sunday night. Our local paper had a brief article about it saying only that the man was 43, of no fixed address & that is wasn't suspicioius. I found myself thinking about this person and wondering about his life and what happened to him. Who knows what kind of life he led and why it ended this way. I said a little prayer for him - I hope wherever he is he is at peace now.

Walking is good for thinking but sometimes it's good to not think too much! That is when the good old ipod is handy. Now if only those naughty mice/rats hadn't chewed through a whole pile of cords/chargers etc I might be able to charge up my ipod! Oh another thing for the list...

Near the lake is a beautiful building that has some unusual iron work. I've always loved these grumpy guys....I sometimes feel like this too.

But not today, yay! Maybe it's all the good exercise that's making me happy.

Hope you are having a good day too xox

Last days of school holidays...

Are you impulsive? Would you hop in the car with four kids, two dogs, a box of matches and a couple of packets of chips & set off for a long drive in the pouring rain? I know someone who would...

Anyway, it was a fun , crazy & damp way to finish up the school holidays. Being outside in the elements with out much planning seemed a whole lot better than staying at home with the tv on.

As for my other baby, we spent a lovely 24 hours together on Friday in the city. We went shopping - I bought this cute set of magnets for my friend Hannah...I just love them!

We also ate yummy food & chatted & laughed lots. As always I am going to miss her so much now she is back at school.

How were your holidays? Hope you had lots of adventures too xox