Monday, January 22, 2007

Summer days are lovely, summer rain is better!

We got a decent rain over the weekend which was fantastic! It cooled things off a bit and wet the garden down.

Erin:
is getting her 2 year old molars, which explains the increased appearance of the 'diva tiara' over the last few days/weeks. She has still managed to be quite a good girl considering. She is excellent at getting breakfast ready in the morning for both of us. Yesterday she even tried pouring cornflakes with only minimal wastage.

Billy:
has 4 teeth now and is getting pretty determined to work out this walking bizzo. He bit me on the nose today, twice and deliberately instigates and plays games of peek-a-boo. I think tooth number 5 is on its way. He is waking a fair bit over night these last two or three nights. When I go in he is standing at the end of the cot and jumps up and down when he sees me. I think he may possibly be a little spoilt!

The house:
is still in need of a bit of a de-clutter, but the garden glut is still taking most of my 'free' time! Crawling babies are good motivation to keep things up off the floor though.

The garden:
looks amazing, I need to take more photos. The tomato plants are now over 6 foot tall and I picked our first 2 ripe cherry tomatoes today. Fresh lettuce every day and snacking on peas straight off the bush. The pears are starting to ripen and a tinge of colour is hitting the prune plums although the purple gauges are now finished. I made a pie, 5 jars of jam and about a litre of stewed plums to freeze last night just out of the purple gauges. The apples on the apple tree are starting to turn red, the cucumber and zucchini are flowering as are the potatoes and nasturtiums. The passion fruit only needs to ripen too. It is just flat out!

Craft:
Erin is starting to get excited about her pink jacket as I start on the third panel. I held it up to her to see if it is the right size on Friday and she was besotted with it. She did ask me to make her a matching hat, but I said I would get back to her on that one!

Jess




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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Erin Quote

Mummy: OK, it is time to brush your teeth, use the potty and head off to bed.

Erin: Actually Mummy, it isn't technically night time.


I guess it wasn't dark so she had a point LOL

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Almost forgot....


THIS is what Billy has been up to!!

I'm here still and alive! Cooking plums!!



Well it has been AGES but I will just jump back in!

Erin:
is just lovely as always. Last night I asked her "Where do you think we are going tomorrow?" She replied "The Promised Land!" (church was the answer I was looking for!) There is a fabulous picture of her covered in dirt and blackberry juice in the album. She is loving the summer harvest! But more about that in the garden section. She is growing into quite the young lady now and is starting to wrap her head around being modest and not flashing her knickers to the world when she is in a dress or skirt. She is very creative telling me big long stories about the world! She has picked up a habit of controdicting people which is not very endearing ("The sky is Blue Erin" "Nooooo, the sky is not Blue!") But it is made up for with the lovely manners she is developing and the wonderful, vibrant, energetic, enthusiastic little girl that is Erin!

Billy:
is on the move. Not walking on his own yet - but I do say yet! I really wasn't prepared for this quite yet! He is just on the go from the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to sleep. He now pulls himself up to standing in his cot and hangs over the top to talk to Erin. It is adorable to see him with Grizz. I looked over the other day to see her laying with her head in his lap as he pulled her ears. She just takes anything from the kids! He is eating like nothing I have ever seen, polished off two jars of baby food when we went out to tea last night! He also 'sang' at the top of his lungs to entertain the other diners.

The house:
is gradually improving. I have *almost* found my study with the new shelves and filing cabnet that Jon bought over Christmas. I have been cooking madly with the glut of fruit we have had - plum jam, stewed plums, plum pie. I am also going to attempt canning some fruit, just for something different! I have taken to getting up early (5am-ish) to pack Jon a lunch and have some 'me' time before the kids wake up. It is amazing how full that time has gotten and I still don't have the house immaculate!

The garden:
is growing like nobody's business! Tomato plants almost 6 foot tall (had to start training the tops horozontally because the stakes weren't high enough!) Fresh lettuce every day, peas straight off the plant (snow peas and sugar peas) and PLUMS! Lots of Plums. My favourites are the Purple Gage Plums from the back of the yard, the taste like nectar from the gods!!!

Craft:
Have been too busy with other matters at the moment, but will get back into it soon, I have too many projects not to!

Jess



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Thursday, January 04, 2007

hi!

I haven't got time for a 'real' update today as I am still getting things in order after the holiday season and Billy has his immunisation this afternoon, but I just wanted to let you know I am still alive and direct you to the photo album for Christmas photos. Particularly the photos of Billy CRAWLING and STANDING UP!!

We are harvesting about a 2 litre container full of plums every second day at the moment (would probably be every day if I went out!) and Erin is almost constantly purple with blackberry juice. It is all good here - except the landlord got the place valued yesterday which makes me uneasy.....

Anyway, I will get to this properly at a later date (possibly next week)