paisley

Off to sewing class

florishes II

Collection of white ornate 'shabby' stuff going on the the garden. Lots of succulents (so rewarding to propogate).

cane cane cane - love it love it love it (note the gold pots - have a 20 or so strong collection going on...)

cute retro toys in the boys room

florishes

Here are some snaps from around the house. Have noticed myself develop collections of certain nick nacks (charity/op shop addiction in case you hadn't realised). Hanging pot holders are high on my list (esp the shell, macrame and cane varieties) and will be used to hopefully blurr the boundary between inside and out (fingers crossed we will have the renovation finished in about a year or so from now).

70's patterns seem to be popular esp in the kitchen and also finding their way into a growing bathroom towel collection.

Lots of wood, textured glass, white ceramic, indoor plants. Crafty, handmade kinda vibe - sort of seconhand glamour. I like to find value in things other people don't. Reclaim them and elevate them.

Frontier

This gorgeous 70's Prue Acton dress was part of my vintage stash from yesterday. Its summoning demure Little house on the Prairie, Holly Hobbie, Laura Ashley feelings but overall I'd like to think I'm channeling bohemian frontier woman.

hmm where is my horse?

perfect for twirling around the kitchen after the boys

supermarket

Our local supermarket has a big park attached so our current routine is for Mum to do a big Saturday shop whilst dad keeps the boys entertained rock climbing.

The car machine inside the mall also provides entertainment.

mall mole mum

Park II

Whilst the siblings were busy doing Big kid stuff and the parents were busy chatting, cheeky little brothers found a puddle. We discovered them ankle deep and resigned ourselves to a messy ending (mummy's brain urgently revising 'did I or didn't i clear that towel out of the back of the car recently?')

It didn't take long to escalate and at this point we didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

boy heaven

laughing at each other's coalmine faces

Park

Big kids Winter and Daisy doing something secret as far away from parents as possible

quick pause for a cuddle

these lovely photos are courtesy of Rich and his new camera (mine is on the blink so I am 'commissioning' Rich to take photos when i spot a blog-worthy moment)

Overalls

Lucky me has a friend called Ania who owns a vintage clothing store called Moustache. I finally found the right moment to pop in and check it out yesterday. Its located in a fab Gertrude Street which has a bohemien feeling eclectic mix of shops. Her cosy shop is packed with finger on the pulse retro gear. I am blown away and inspired by her ability to have created such cool and gorgeous shop whilst being a mum of two little boys! For me its an achievement to keep everyone alive and get dinner on the table each day! She had given me a birthday token that I exhanged for this cord jumpsuit pictured above. What a fabulous generous friend to have!

safari mum

ready for action! i LOVE these overalls - the cord is durable and warm, the fit is perfect for dashing around the playground, the colour is relatively vegimite and avocado resisitant, they look HOT, what more could a home girl want?

Mum also scored a number of other tasty wardrobe booster pieces that i will endevour to photograph and post up over then next week...

coffee

We had a nice outting this morning to our local fav cafe Julios.

The boys were unusually well behaved and sat nicely whilst we enjoyed our fix

raiding the toy box

butter wouldn't melt....

hmmm

Although there were some signs of preparatory activity for our homecoming, somehow the weetbix on Baxter's highchair had been overlooked for the week!

reunion

After a week with just mum, the boys were hanging out to see Daddy.

Manly boy time with tools.

Happy

casualties

Sadly mummy wasn't able to stop the boys from leaving their mark on the house during or stay. The photo above shows Baxi standing in front of a mural executed on the freshly painted hallway. Turns out Winter was the perpetrator after initially deniying it then proudly agreeing that yes that 'w' was done by him and then 'look at these circles i did too mum'.

Bye bye toothbrush (Baxter's handiwork)

The worst crime was baxter pulling apart one of Pa's treasured pianola rolls. He must have has a ball pulling and pulling the crinkly paper. My heart sank as I knew Pa would be furious. Thankfully when I fessed up he was most gracious and has managed to patch it together since.

Sorrento

Last week the boys and I were forced to de-camp down the coast. The painter finally turned up at Gordon grove after months of delays. He got out his flame gun to burn off all the old (possibly lead ridden) paint and within an hour the fumes were so bad that I got packing.

It was hard going on my own but it felt a little like an adventure. We did lots of indoor things as the weather was miserable. The kitchen is stocked full of every type of ancient cooking implement a cook could hope for so we did some baking.

Winter zoneing out in front of the TV. The hardest thing about the week was that we were in someone elses house and I had to be on high alert at all times to make sure the boys didn't trash anything (hence the picnic rug whilst eating).

Gum boots and raincoats were on high rotation.

Me

Boarded housewife photographs self in kitchen. Quite pleased with my leggings actually.

Australia's next Top Model?

Beating

Winter has been learning about drumming (the wonders of TV). Dad got out the cammera to capture the performance. Filming ended when poor Baxi got in the way of the sticks!

snappy

rude mummy

hot daddy

cherubs

Here are some shots Rich took on the weekend with his new cammera.

the shots have a quality to them that lacks in my shot - lovely depth of field and detail

seems all that geeky computer stuff hasn't robbed him of his cammera mojo

sooo cute!

Grrrrrr!

Winter Monster

Education

Baxi kick'n back watching my fav kids show 'Yo Gabba Gabba'

The show is like a breath of fresh air. Its mostly a music show using electro/poppy techno-ish beats. Fantastic basslines and lyrical loops re-enforce simple messages ie 'keep trying, don't give up!' or 'its fun to wash your hair' repeated over and over. The show has regular segments that teach kids cool tricks like how to beat box, skate board, breakdance, make funny faces. Mummy has it on high rotation during TV sessions quietly practicing my body popp'n whilst doing the dishes in the background.

Here is beat box tutor Biz Markie posing with the cast. Its so well made and innovative that it has been nominated for an emmy award. Mum says its a winner.

Collection

I've started sewing classes with a group of Northcote mums. Our first project is pyjamas and I have been scouring local op shops for vintage flannelette sheets. In the process I have started a collection of cute sheets that dont work for pyjamas but will look cool when they are in full size beds. Will attempt to take some pics in our class this tues and write a post.