34/52

 We are feeling Spring warming the garden and beckoning us out.

 "A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Orlando: His garden space continues, at the markets he found some pansy plants. This one he has called Tiger Flower. (Photo by Nathan Davies)

Matilda: We have adopted two beautiful new chickens to add to our brood. They have grown up in the hands of children and are very happy to be held. Today was the first time Tilly held one. She was very keen, learnt how to do it properly and was full of joy. Then she got a great shock when it flew out of her arms. Didn't deter her from having a second hold though. (Photos by Nathan Davies)

Pair: We are reading "The Little Fairy Sister" as a family novel at the moment. Tilly started constructing a beautiful little fairy garden, Ollie joined in. Now it sits under the flowers ready and waiting for the fairies to visit. I love the mini potato they found in the garden exclaiming "It might be tiny like a pea to us but to the fairies it's gi-normous!"

Joining with Jodi

33/52 - Gardens

 "A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Matilda: She is creating a garden of her own to make the cubby look beautiful. Chook dirt added, some 'huge' worms lovingly found, fondled and hidden back beneath the soil. The flowers are the important bit, along with the worms, maybe we will throw a few bulbs in somewhere too.

Orlando: He is creating a garden of his own, to have control over what is planted. Plants are chosen with great care, tags read, depth measured to perfection, spacing even and ordered. Worms are noted, observed and left to their devices. There is much anticipation as to what will be and how big things will grow.

Pair: Playing music is a big thing in our house hold at the moment. These two have always been drawn to the piano - at the moment there is a lot of collaboration in their masterpieces.

Joining with Jodi

Reflecting

A Friday reflection of the week that has been, my head space and my "into the weekend" thoughts. So here goes! 

Wondering - how Tilly grew up so fast. All of the sudden she is taller, more mature, acting like a 5 year old! She want to read, write, draw and make her own lunches and breakfasts. Miss Independence has arrived.

Nourishing - with soups, stews and curries - winter comfort.

Playing - with Zentangles - post to come :) 

Creating - new spaces in our garden, out with the old, re-vision the new. 

Nurturing - my bond with the kids. Lots of late works days and away trips means the time I am here needs to be present and focused, with them.

Growing - seedlings, time to start thinking about the spring!

Listening - to lots of people playing guitar, and feeling just how far I have to go on my learning curve.

Preparing - for camps at school, 2 coming up in the next few weeks!

Inspired by Steph over at this brown wren

32/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Orlando and Matilda: It is getting harder and harder to take photos of these two un-noticed. My presence is changing the play. They are so busy playing together or independently at the moment that my camera approaching is stopping the play in it's tracks. All I'm getting is 'funny faces'. So this week we are embracing the faces and going with that :)

Joining with Jodi

31/52 - Better late than never :)

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Orlando: A real life geological treasure! Ollie was using a magnet to test the back garden and discovered a magnetic rock!! He thinks it must be some sort of Ironstone.

Matilda: Tilly has been inspired by Ollie's Lego creations and has been joining in the fun. Her 'crafts' are getting much more detailed and are being re-visited Lego session after Lego session.

Joining with Jodi

Reflecting

A Friday reflection of the week that has been, my head space and my "into the weekend" thoughts. So here goes! 

Wondering - how Nathan and I can do our jobs justice, while setting needed boundaries about time and hours.

Nourishing - with apple and raspberry crumble muffins. YUMMMM... particularly warm, straight out of the oven.

Playing - my beautiful new 'Messiah' guitar. Playing it has made me realise just how far from beautiful my old one was.

Creating - a green cardi - the first thing I have even knitted for myself! It's slow going but this year I am making progress.

Nurturing - my breath - one in, one out... keeps the calm

Growing - my plans and vision to re-vamp our garden. Need to connect with it again.

Listening - to the power of the human voice, whether it  be in song or in conversation.

Preparing - for a solo mission over to Perth for a conference. Looking forward to some head-space.

Inspired by Steph over at this brown wren

Native Folk

As I have mentioned a few times before, my children are chronic collectors. They find treasure everywhere they go and fill their pockets (my bag) with all of the must have souvenirs. 

I love that our children see treasure and beauty in the natural world... we just need to find a way to channel the 'goods' that are lovingly brought into our home.

So when we came across this book... we were inspired to use some of our treasures. In fact we were so inspired we spent 2 more days out bush walking, collecting even more treasures with vision.

I LOVE that resources from the natural world a completely free. All they require is for you to step out of your door and open your eyes. We found some really interesting things on the nature strip!

This afternoon was a 'Craft-a-noon' at our place and the whole family sat and created. A world of Native Folk, out of our treasures. 

All we needed was the natural resources we had collected and a hot glue gun (I LOVE HOT GLUE GUNS)

We had a lot of fun, here are our first attempts :)