Carnations from the kids Grandmother "Marnie" by the cubbyhouse. On our to-do list - oil that cubbyhouse!
Mad Hatter's Tea Party
For my daughters second birthday we had a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. The kid loves hats so it just came to me one day, we should have a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!
I made a bunny cake (complete with coconut fur). We borrowed extra kids chairs from our neighbours, so we had lots of mismatched chairs which looked kind of mad. The kids decorated their own party hats with stickers.
Friend in the garden
This water dragon hangs out in our garden sometimes. It makes me happy when I catch a glimpse of it. I like to think of our garden as a haven for native animals. Here it is hanging out on the veranda of the kids cubby house.
Christmas 2011
Christmas wrapping, pavlova and food wreath.
My little garden
Since these photos were taken the lettuce and parsley have been eaten by the local possums. They are just resprouting now.
Currently in my winter garden I have:
strawberry plants
oregano
(recovering well)
sage
(going crazy)
lemongrass
(re-potted today)
mint
(sad, re-potted today)
parsley
(nibbled by possums)
perpetual lettuce
(nibbled by possums)
mizuna greens
(looking and tasting good)
garlic chives
(yummy in corn fritters tonight)
onion
(experiment)
A sprouting store bought onion which I planted in a pot to see what it would do.
I have never used sage in cooking before so I'm looking forward to trying this. Feel free to send me any of your favourite recipes with sage.
Autumn flow
This Autumn we have been busy.
We went camping with the kids for the first time, it turned out well and the kids enjoyed it a lot, especially our oldest who had a ball.
I have been sick with a cold for over a month and the kids for several weeks. E is so sick now with Bronchiolitis. He has been quite clingy.
I have also been making a lot of baby food. I love making it, I find it relaxing, but haven't had as much time as I'd like to try different recipes. The William Bartlett pears have been amazing, but most of them go into baby food.
In the nursery
Toddler bedroom decorating
This is the bedroom for our firstborn which we decorated this year. It will always be a work in progress as he grows up, but for now it is mostly finished. Blue paint colour is from Nippon paint, Cloud decals from
($7),
painted by me,
made by me, striped cushion cover made by my Mum, floor cushion from Freedom furniture, Trofast storage from Ikea, Miffy toy bought by Steve in Japan, Bunny was a gift from my sister, bed is a cutdown cot - Steve made the side rail.
Growing our own food
Recently I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and watching "Gardening Australia" and "the Edible Garden". I have been inspired to grow our own fruit, herbs and vegetables and have so far started planting a small amount of herbs and salad greens. We have been happy with the results, enjoying salad from our own garden most days. It tastes so much better when it hasn't been sitting in storage for awhile, and it saves us buying a massive lettuce or bunch of herbs and wasting what we don't need.
Above is the Mizuna which is a Japanese lettuce with yellow flowers which you can also eat. We also have mustard greens, perpetual lettuce and sweet rocket (which is a delicious spicy flavour). In the herbs we have rosemary (established), lemongrass, oregano, continental parsley, mint, lemon thyme and garlic chives.
I have two types of strawberries, one type has white flowers and they were a gift from a friend, the other has pink flowers and has green fruit now. My white flowering strawberry plants have produced two ripe strawberries so far, but they where nabbed by birds before I could get to them. I might have to put netting over them so I get to try one this season!