Happy Birthday Alice

Alice turned five,  this will be her last birthday party in Schreenans rd, this thought makes me a little teary, I look at the garden in it's glory, and wonder why we decided to sell. It was a wonderful house for parties.

Alice wanted a unicorn dress-up, not to sure about the two head thingy going on, but she does love it.

Playing "what's the time Mr Wolf"

Alice's birthday walk.

 I knitted the red dress, from wool wound up from a skirt Mum had knitted me. I knitted the skirt part in a round on the knitting machine, and the sleeves. I moss stitched the bodice by hand(knitting machine are not that clever:), and knitted some lace sideways for the hem, neckline and waist. I adore red dresses.

Hip hip Hooray!

The second slice went to the other birthday boy:)

Jacaranda's in spring

This the tree that I look out to from my kitchen window.

This tree looks nothing the rest of the year, but come November, she put's her best dress on.

She is a grand old tree.

Every morning the children ride through the carpet of petals, singing "we were the first" to school.

Winter

We did the big drive back down to Ballarat to see friends and to tidy up the house.

On the way we went to Falls Creek for a ski, it was the first time Joe, Flynn and Alice had seen snow, they were so excited, all the way guessing what it might feel like.

A grueling 15 hr trip though.

 Alice and me taking a short cut through the village.

Back in Ballarat, Jim was so excited to see his friend Sven, sometimes I wonder why we moved, it's a bit heartbreaking to see such strong friendships, there was such stability here in Ballarat.

 The cubby the children made inside.

One thing I don't miss is the rainy bleak days of Ballarat. 

Bananas

We picked our first bunch of bananas, it was a family effort, Dan and Flynn chopped the stalk down, Joseph and Jim dragged the bunch up the hill with Alice bring up the rear.

The kids counted over 70 banana's on this bunch. Luckily they ripen in stages:)

My Joe LOVES passionfruit, so it certainly helped with all the changes, when he found a passionfruit vine on the property.

It's covered in passionfruit, they are big, heavy and sweet:) Joey has about 4 a day, and so do the others, so that's 16 passionfruit a day.
I'm glad I'm not paying $1 each for them in the shops.

Muma & daughter beret's

I'm glad that even though Thora is sub-tropical, it still gets cold in winter, not freezing like Ballarat, but cold enough for the jumpers and beanies to come out.  I don't think I have ever not knitted.

Apparently when your four you have to jump when your photo is taken.

I knitted Alice's beret from a 1950's pattern book, and mine came from drops design, they have a amazing range of patterns and they are free:) The pattern is here

The wool is cashmere and superfine merino, and it is so so soft, I had knnitted lot's of hat's and cardigan's for my babies with this wool, it is super snugly.
I used to think, if ever you were having a bad day with the kids, just dress them in this wool and you'll want to smooch them all day long.

Alice took the photo's of me, not bad for a four year old!

First day of school

 The power of thought; when living in Castlemaine, my thoughts often went to the idea of living walking distance to school, I would drive around and around looking at houses, wishing I could find an old farmhouse with an orchard, but I never did.............not there.

The Steiner school is up in the mountains( worthy of it own post), and our track joins the school.

Loving the idea of the whole family walking to school.

Our first pineapple from the farm, it was the most delicious pineapple I have ever eaten, and we planted the top again, did you know they take three years to grow another one??
I can hardly wait.

christmas day with the willett's

Miss alice, trying out her new scooter.



We alternate Christmas lunch each year between my family and Dan's, because of the distance. This year it was back home with my family.

Dan used to comment on how loud, overbearing, criticise and bring you back to earth,( like only your sisters can). But I think he has gotten used to it after 18years.

It can drive me crazy how polite, well mannered, only talk about the weather or footy, Dan's family can be. I usually throw a thought provoking sentence out there or talk about the latest conspiracy in the world, and watch them crawl under the table...



This is my mum, Shirley, I used to cringe at the thought of looking like my mum, but let's face it, we all start to look like our mum sooner or later.

And that's okay by me.

Young Joseph coming in for a quick ((hug)).

Winter soltiste

The night was as still as can be, all the stars were twinkling in the night sky. There was much excitement in all the quietness.

the last of summer

Long three day weekend, called for a beach break down at lorne, we were so lucky with the weather, I can count on one hand how many sunny weekends we have had this summer.

But, really, I would prefer rain over searing heat and bushfires.



This one, loving catching those waves.



Happy for a speed ride.




the last of summer.

blueberry picking

Well it's close to 40degrees today, we have not had much of a summer, but today in the heat we decided to go blueberry picking.



It actually was cooler in around the bushes.



Tomorrow, I will post about how useful these gathering apron's are.

Jim picked over three kilo's, I said maybe next year he could get a job as a picker.

Those yearly rituals, how the children look forward to them with much delight.

I walk with my lantern...

All of the four festivals at our school are beautiful, I look forward to them all.

To see the children breathing in, reflecting on this special day, the winter Solstice.

To see my two boy's walking the spiral together, makes my heart skip a beat.

The lantern walk, takes us around the school grounds, the children proud and excited to show us their lanterns they had made for this special occasion.

To hear the children singing......