*e*

a birthday tale

on the morning of her fourth birthday, a little cherry faced girl named yindi got out of bed ready for the happiest of happy days. the fairies had come in the night and left sparkles and sprinkles, the house had been decorated in her honour, and her family showered her with love and affection, for truly, she was a special girl.

with birthday dress and crown on, she was ready to greet the pile of presents from loved ones near and far...

by far the most exciting gift (and secret her big sister could hardly keep!) was that of a little pet bunny! the birthday girl could hardly believe her eyes!

after a yummy breakfast and lots of bunny-caring, the birthday girl set out to help her mumma make the most delicious cake. strawberry was the request, and of course birthday requests must be granted!
then, off to the lake to await some friends for playing and cake eating!

both of which were done with much enthusiasm, as only a four year old can...

yes, it's pretty great to have a fourth birthday indeed!

and it's pretty great to have such a great four year old!

the end.

*(tent we made for yindi inspired by this DIY)

i can't believe it

tomorrow, my baby girl turns four.

four!

sigh. this girl makes our family SO happy. she is the little dollop of sweet cream right there in the middle. a face as round as the sun, and a personality to match. i want to eat her up daily.

over the past week i dug up her birth photos (thanks tara!) - that i haven't looked at once since her actual birth...um, crazy - and compiled a photobook of baby pictures for her (since i am a slacker and don't scrapbook anymore) - arr! the memories! 

(photos - birth day + 2 weeks old, by tara)

we have some fun surprises and homemade gifts for her tomorrow, i can't wait - i love birthdays...i just wish they would stop getting so bloomin' BIG!

the way they play

these two, and their garden-kitchen!

my heart!

good old fashioned fun

one of my favourite days with phill, jane & eli here last month was at canobie lake park. we loved it! (although i kind of think all aussies are suckers for an old fashioned american amusement park)...the little people went on ride after ride (while us mummas took photo after photo!)...the dads got to go off and do the wilder rides, the vibe at the park was sweet and family friendly. we had a picnic by the lake and made happy memories...

 

new tradition = aussies come to visit, we will take them here. cotton candy not optional. (you know we call it 'fairy floss' right? sorry, our name is better. although i did see a bag in boston and it was named 'fluffy stuff'!! hilarious!)

late night skirt making

mick who?

my evening company of late has been a giant pile of fabric scraps, my sewing machine and hilariously bad 90's music (oh, high-school!). and...none of these steal my ice-cream either, so i may be keeping company with them more often in the future.

i've been making lots of skirts - some for me, some for custom etsy orders. its been fun sewing them for someone in particular rather than making random sizes/colour choices, after all the chatting back and forth about colour and design i feel like i have a new friend - i love to mail them and imagine the skirts being worn (so far in england, australia, new zealand and america!)

here are a few new ones, and more can be seen on my facebook page...

all made from thrifted tshirts that are spilling out of my studio and taking over the living room...

yindi has test-driven the little people skirts for spinny-ness, and thankfully they pass.

this one is my new favourite and is currently on day 5 of consecutive wearing. jeans, yoga pants, flowy skirts. it looks good over them all! the peanut butter and snot on it however, does not look good so sadly i must wash it today. maybe i will make another one tonight...


visit my etsy shop if you would like a skirt made just for you!

swervin' mervyn...

you might remember my dad (yes his name is really mervyn, and we like to call him swervin'...) was here at christmastime, and again not long ago...i like to think it's 'cos he really loves & misses me, but actually it was because he was starting to live a dream! he's been planning for several years to retire and drive around the US seeing the landscape and catching my brother sam's races. finally, he is doing it!

he bought a truck last year and then spent lots of time fiddling around with it, fitting it out with bunkbeds, storage, cooking gadgets and space for his bike and scooter! he's a thrifty guy and found/adapted most of this stuff from secondhand items. dad, you make me proud.

(dad in his thongs from 1981...go dad!)

(banjo on the ruckus. dad will use this to zip around town when he parks the truck)

so after helping him do a grocery shop (really dad, how have you managed without me all your life?), he set off at the beginning of may and has been all the way across the country and almost all the way back again since! he's having a great time and i get  daily updates from him and 'penni' - the toy penguin the girls gave him to stick on the dashboard...

stuff like:

"Washed the truck today & that prompted penni 2 scrub up her feathers a bit too. U can see her peeking out the windscreen. We saw some deer grazing on the property this morning too"

"Penni thought this scenery was pretty alright!!"

"Penni was a bit pissed off to wake up to all this ^&#$!* snow this morning"

and so on!

(i told dad penni should really start her own blog, as she's quite the writer/photographer)

the ol' truck and the ol' man will be heading back here for a weekend in july - we can't wait. i'm sure there will be a line for around-the-block joy rides.

in the meantime, if you happen to see what looks like a meat-delivery truck with a little plastic penguin and a crazy old aussie guy in it driving through your town - wave hello to swervin' would ya?!

glad i decided to have babies with this guy

he's the best!

(doing dishes on father's day and looking good while doing them...)

moments of bliss

school has finished for the year, the sun is (mostly) shining, and i have found myself thinking more than once in the past week "i feel SO happy right now".

this is huge for me! i've spent the past year and a bit feeling pretty dark/twisty/depressed. i didn't want to leave australia and like a kid stomping my foot in protest i have not allowed myself to fully land here in new england. my heart has been 90% in perth and 10% in san diego. it has been a completely different experience than living in california and one that i am still adjusting to...but i can squint and see that i will feel settled here, not only settled but living with arms outstretched and open. my inward chant for the past 10 months has been 'i*can*be*happy*wherever*i*live' while rebelling against it at the same time. 

in these recent and so needed moments of lovliness this week - with all the knots and twists and aches removed from my belly - i feel more hope than i have in a long time. having family visit and being out in the beauty of the land here is filling me up to keep going...and all i really want to do is be the mother i dreamed i'd be, and give my children a magical, happy childhood.

so here i am, trying my best. to celebrate summer we went strawberry picking. i always wanted to do this in san diego but the crop there was beside the 10 lane freeway! this, on the otherhand was tucked away in the countryside on a picturesque farm, it was breathtaking. bliss can also be defined by smooshing a fat, ripe, sun-warmed strawberry into your mouth and letting the juice run down your chin. or, watching a chubby baby bow with golden ringlets do the same. or both!

they were the biggest and funniest strawberries we'd seen!

and then, when i thought the day was already perfect enough from sunny strawberry fields, mick came home early and we decided to take a picnic dinner to a nearby lake we hadn't been to before. and i can't believe we haven't been here before! it was gorgeous, and the children were squealy-happy playing in the water with daddy, as i lay on the grass watching them all, blissed out. (and they all left me alone for an entire hour, which has never happened before, ever!)

so grateful for these moments.

love to you this weekend!

i *felt* like it (ha...ha, ha)

i have been 'off' felting for months, which was a bummer because i had been so into it and had all these ideas and plans of things i wanted to make. the dreary weather here (i know you are bored of me going on about it, but i'm still in recovery) did not inspire me to have wet soggy crafts happening in the house. of course you can felt indoors (i'm sure most normal people do!), but i really enjoy doing it outside in the sunshine...where little boys can tip my bowl of soapy water out (over and over and over again) and it doesn't really matter...and i can sit with the warm sun on my back and enjoy the pretty colours of wool in contrast with the grass and leaves.

the girls and i made some soaps for teacher gifts - so easy and fun...you wrap a bar of soap with the wool and felt it down to form a nice 'jacket' for the soap! the wool keeps felting as you use it in the shower, and it doubles as a washcloth too!

i'm hoping for more of these sunny, felty days in our backyard soon.

cape cod camping

we spontaneously decided to go camping with our friends shayna & eric on friday afternoon...packed up the car, got fast food and in a few hours we were setting up our tents in nickerson state park in cape cod.

next morning we rode our bikes over the road to the beach. i snapped this picture below, then came up on the hill and let out an actual squeal (and i am not a squealy kind of gal) for how amazing it felt to be at the beach again! and a beautiful one at that.

heaven. heaven i tell you. shells, naked baby bums, low tide, warm(ish) water, digging, splashing, deserted long white stretch of heaven.

it was one of my happiest moments since we moved here.

(i loved it at this salt marsh too, it felt very fairy-worldish)

it was rainy and cold (cold because i had packed for sun! summer! hot!) most of the weekend but we had some magical moments squeezed in there. sand stuck to our feet and hair smelling like campfire kind of goodness.

we will be back there very soon if i have anything to do with it...