*e*

rehearsing

when a rascally two year old boy is ring bearer, a wedding rehearsal is a must! getting banjo to walk the aisle (with a detour to an interesting looking log on the way) actually went smoother than planned. i guess having 3 of his favourite ever people standing waiting for him helps! the kid LOVES his unkies! a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e...but his attention was short lived - after giving each of them a cuddle he raced off down the back again to play with his toy cars!

not to worry - the girls performed their flower girl duties with the utmost precision and dedication...yindi has only spent the past 6 months practising her walk/hair/coming up with flower girl outfits from the dress up box!

all their dreams came true when auntie kez took them on a girls shopping day in the city - oh, there was such excitement and twirling and wide eyes! i don't think i have ever taken them to a department store or clothing dressing room so it was all very fancy and thrilling! and we did find some gorgeous dresses...although these aren't the ones ;)

less than 2 weeks till the big day - fingers crossed the sandals i ordered online arrive in time or it will be birkenstocks for me, which won't do much for my 'crazy hippie sister' status i'm trying to downplay for the sake of my sensible, mature little brother!

with the ones we love

(top to bottom: my dad, my brothers ollie, sam & toby, my almost-sis-in-law kezza, mick's dad aka "grumpy", mick's mum & nana, my lovely mum)

may i make up for my lack of visiting this space recently with a bombardment of cheesy-smile photos?

welcome to the family! there are a lot of us (these are just a few!) - i am the eldest of 4 kids, mick is the 2nd eldest of 7! lots of aunties and uncles and grandparents and great-grandparents love for my children right now, we are all so happy to be here and spending time with all the family...so so yummy and GOOD to be with our people who know us and love us.

we spend our days floating from one family members place to the next, enjoying catching up and everyone getting to know mr banjo who wasn't much more than a blobby ball of baby cute last time they all saw him!

it's been fun taking the kids around to my old childhood hotspots and reminiscing, and devouring all sorts of treats we've missed - jatz, choc chills, cheesymite scrolls, aussie yoghurt (so good!), pasito, bubble-o-bills, frosty fruits, redskins, pasties, fish & chips!

the days are going much too quickly and we all fall asleep at night happy and exhausted from packing so much goodness into one day. love love love being back!

here

 


(banjo + 'grumpy', my awesome father-in-law)

the kids and i landed here in western australia last week! what a gift it is to be back, and so exciting too to see the land and the familiar sights and all our beloved family members!

it was no small task over the past several months, planning and scrimping and organising and piecing together various family members airline points and credit cards to get us here! and there were many tears saying goodbye to daddy. and then the wretched journey over! but we are here and we are grateful. grateful for the time to soak all of this up, and be part of my brother ollie's wedding at the end of the month. so exciting!

we arrived just in time for a heatwave, so the past week has involved daily swimming, icypoles, barefeet (ie burned feet!), watermelon and forgetting how ridiculously hot a car gets after being parked and that sort of thing! and of course squeezing in hugs and reunions with everyone...banjo is completely enamoured with all my brothers and his new fave, grumpy who takes him bush bashing on a motorbike and promises to have him speaking like a true aussie by the end of the month! lets hope so.

it's so good to be back :)

studio, slowly.

i'd love to do a 'house tour' of this lovely old farmhouse but that would mean organizing, cleaning, decorating and photographing. i get a little bit depressed when i read blogs with people unpacking and decorating and renovating and well, getting so much done in their day - over here at embers, there is no need to feel like an underachiever because i get nothing done!

my 'studio' is nowhere near set up, organised or pretty looking. i basically dumped all my boxes and stuff into it when we moved in 4 months ago, and then started digging through the boxes to make stuff for craft fairs and christmas. that caused a whole lot of chaos in the already chaotic room.

i spent a whole day recently trying to make a dent in the organisation and while it's not at all finished there is a light at the end of the tunnel! i really do love this room - it has 3 nice windows that let in good light (remember i was in a basement all last year, ugh!), really lovely floorboards and room to move around. i'm still working on storage for my growing piles of hoardedness, but if you were wondering where my gorgeous bookshelf went, it is in here!

anyway there you have the few sorted out corners of the room. maybe, just maybe i'll be back here soon blogging about a completely finished room...?!!

hello from our kitchen

what goes on in this kitchen of ours? well, a lot of messiness and a lot of living! our kitchen is small but has everything i need...and all banjo needs is a chair to drag over to the kitchen bench and climb on up to provide hours of happiness...finding hidden treats (there is nowhere we can hide from this child), 'doin dishes', helping himself to food, "wanna watch yoo", helping me bake. the girls drift in and out too - someone is always hungry but funnily enough nowhere to be found when the dishwasher needs unloading...or the table set...anyway...we love to sit together around our table, sing a blessing, light a candle, eat food together. i have grand plans for painting and funk-ing up this space but even as it is i love it! gathering place for all sorts of things - potlucks, art explosions, pretend play (note my 'doggies' below), cooking experiments, science experiments, dancing. you should also know there is crying, whining, fighting, last minute lunch-packing, rummaging for something-anything to feed these always hungry kids and the occasional mumma meltdown too. it all happens here in our kitchen folks!








and i love it. all of it!

remember when we went 'home' for the first time after moving away? it felt like it had been forever (actually only 18 months!) - i felt like a tree that hadn't been watered in years and going home was like standing under a huge downpour of rain. i wanted to cry (probably did, i was pregnant after all) at the sight of all things familiar - seeing the money, drink bottles in a shop fridge, street signs, the kangaroos!

i'm just as excited to be going home this time but recognize the difference of my 'tree'...not feeling as desparate & thirsty as i did that first time but looking forward so much to basking in the shower with my little sprouts nonetheless. so grateful for this trip we are going on!

this blog post brought to you by the letter P

phone theif!

photo taker!

i really have no idea how he managed to take a photobooth picture of himself but he did, and i found it on my phone and had a laugh.

precious.

wintery day walking

i have been getting outside every day this winter...i love the hear the snow crunching under my feet. we bundle up and out we go...

of course it helps that this year is much warmer than last, and i have a nice pair of winter boots to be out in! i am really loving that we get to experience these four distinct seasons, each with their own special flavour.

not a morning person.

my dad (comedian that he is) snapped this while he was here.

pretty much sums up my mornings!

happy monday to you!

i love this picture an insane amount

(also taken by my dad when i wasn't aware...although at least i was awake!)

it just captures a perfectly true moment of my life with these people who i love soooo so intensely.

i can imagine being 82 years old and looking at this photograph over and over again with a full and grateful heart...