Five on the wall

We had a lovely weekend - lots of sunny weather and good company at church camp.

Chicken no.1 has been requesting contact pictures for her wall, so what do you think I made for the big Famous Five fan? This is my second attempt, as the first was using cheap contact, and it wouldn't even stick properly on the wall. So, if you're planning to do your own wall stickers, use tough and good quality contact!

And the sewing machine had a short workout for a purse, which would be so quick and easy if it wasn't for the gluing - there was a lot of tongue holding for that one, let me tell you!

Today's discoveries

Well you'll be glad to know (or not!) that today I have already made my bed, hung out the washing, mopped the floor (strictly speaking it was at 11:15pm last night - don't ask), and watered the veggies (although that was actually the rain, not me).

Don't little broccoli's look like butterflies?

And I have made some interesting discoveries already:

1. One of my gum trees (that I specifically looked at last night and thought "No, that one is big enough not to need a tree guard now") was demolished by $&@#*! rabbits last night.

2. I really need to use the lock on my bathroom. I discovered this as I was shouting instructions through the shower screen on how to make a bar graph. (Her keen-ness to get through her maths directly proportional to her desire to get back to her book Ginger Pye - yes we finally ran out of Famous Five!)

3. Cutting a big hole in a nappy is a really great trick for toddlers who absolutely refuse to go to the toilet without their nappy on. Toddler happy. Mummy happy.

Peek-a-boo strawberry!

Today's checklist

1. Make the bed. Nope, still not done, but I made contact butterflies to go on littlest chickie's walls - that's gotta count for something, eh?

2. Hang out the washing. Well... it got washed at least. It just hasn't made it out to the line yet, and it's almost dinner time now... I did, however, finish a throw rug that I started about 10 years ago, so chicken no.2 should be cozy in bed even if he has no clean underwear tomorrow.

3. Sort the clean washing. This relies on me making the bed first, so that I have somewhere to sort it...

4. Mop the floor. Negative, again. But the children slid around the floor on cushions, so I'm sure that's helped a great deal... Maybe I should dampen one side of the cushions...

5. Water the veggies. It's been a gloomy day, so I don't think they would have died of thirst today. Hopefully the clouds will burst and my watering will be done for me.

So what did I do today? Not sure. Although I did seem to spend quite a bit of time reading books to a certain little chicken as she was sitting on the toilet.

Well I'm off to cook dinner so I can check something off my list!

A painting afternoon

The children had a sudden urge to paint today. We have a nice little area set up so that the painting is easy to setup and take down:

• some hooks to hold a tarpaulin with straps sewn on to hold pegs and paper,
• a hook in the wall to hold a strap which in turn holds recycled fruit containers holding small finger paint tubs (with lids),
• another hook to hold a bag of pegs, two containers of water and a rag for washing brushes and hands.

All easily transferred to hooks on the back on the laundry door. Not much else to say, except washable paints, and get the bath ready!

In case you were wondering - yes, they do all have paint in their hair.

New seedlings in the corner

I was so pleased, on the weekend, to have the seedlings corner almost completely empty again (just the blueberries waiting to go in), but we discovered the local council nursery today so the corner is full of plants again! (Half of them free, too!). Lovely eucalyptus, oaks, grevillia and banksia. I've also been preparing some seed pots, so hopefull soon I'll be planting the winter crops in the veggie patch.

It's about time I drew up a map of which trees are where, or I'm going to forget what they all are! We must be up to at least 100 trees now. My apple trees should be arriving soon too.

Kestrels and lemon butter (not in the same dish)

It has been a very blustery morning. The autumn winds are certainly here. Everything on the washing line is double-pegged, and flowers bloom one day and are blown away the next. It is lovely weather for running around outside with a ball; flying a kite; spending hours jumping on the trampoline; or simply lying, face up, and watching the clouds roll by.

It was a good morning for sighting kestrels - a couple sat on our fence posts and politely waited for me to take a photo with the pathetic zoom on my camera. I do wish they would come by a bit more often and eat up all the mice and snakes.

And it was a good morning for making comfort food: lemon butter and bread. Mmmm... I think I've had my sugar dose for the month, now!

A day in the garden

Another day of lovely sunshine today. After we sadly said farewell to the last of our guests, we got straight into the gardening. The veggie patch is so well mulched now, that, as Don said "I shouldn't need to get the whipper-snipper in there this year..."!

The veggie garden has even made it indoors today... (ie we're growing mushrooms in the pantry).

The children had a lot of fun on their bikes...

...and on the trampoline...

...and preparing for a picnic outside.