Going out for dinner

The Rooster has discovered that people go out for dinner. He has seen Mummy and Daddy go out to dinner and heard that Nanny and Poppy do the same thing. He often sees his Mama dressed up for a night out with the girls. He knows that people eat at places other than the kitchen table.

Yesterday, I picked him up from childcare and as I was putting him in the car, he asked were we going out for dinner. This was an odd question as we haven't been out for dinner with him in over a year. Before Missy we would take him out all the time. We were blessed with a child that you could take almost anywhere. Since Missy's arrival we haven't been game to head out after dark. She knows all about our coffee rituals but we are not prepared to endure a public shaming. After all there are only a handful of restaurants here in the mountains. We can't afford to be on any black lists.

After a long day at work, I actually couldn't think of anything better but decided that a family dinner date might have more of a celebratory feel if it was a Friday. The littlies got all dressed up in their best going out clobber in the hope that if they looked their best and felt really special then magic might happen.

Papa Dinos is one of our favourite mountain haunts. The littlies are kept amused by the pizza dough and rolling pin that magically appear at the table and the chefs will happy cook whatever blobs the small folk create. Besides all that, the pizzas are great. The pizzas are the main attraction of this almost hole in the wall.

So dinner was a success. We even went next door and had coffee and cake. Very civilised. The kidlets fell asleep on the way home and I still managed to catch the last half hour of Better Homes and Gardens.

Now that is a great Friday night!

Giving and receiving

The Rooster was pretty excited to be posting off his letters to far off places. He lined up at the post office, waited until he heard "next please", and very politely asked for 5 stamps for his letters. He was just a smidge short but he really was having a Postman Pat moment.

Today when he searched his own letterbox he found, not one, but two letters with his name on them.

Thank you to our very creative Kids Mail swappers. You made a little Rooster crow with delight.

The cycle of years

My parents have an enormous liquid amber tree in their front yard. Each autumn, as the weather turns, the leaves fall and cover the grass like a carpet. As children, my grandfather would pay us 20 cents to help him pick up the leaves. A meticulous man, he would sometimes do this task twice a day.

Same job, a different papa. Still paying 20 cents to the grand kids to help pick up the leaves.

There was time for work.

And time for play.

Although the rooster found a way to do both.

He cannot believe the number of ways he has found to use his mighty dump truck.

Poppy made it an easy job to fill the bin.

But to get in that great big bin and stomp down the leaves?

Pure Magic!

A few good books

It's terrible when you are late for your own Eye spy party. This weeks theme was chosen for a very good reason. I can't remember the last book I read. Isn't that terrible? I know that I must have read something this year but for the life of me I can't remember a single title. I went to my book shelf to jog my memory and clapped my eyes on this.

Passed on by a friend, it was a great breastfeeding read. Those books you can pick up and put down and peer over the head of your bub as you nurse. Its about juggling family and work life, and failing and admitting that there are things that just have to give if you are to strike a balance. There are cringe-worthy moments and laugh-out-loud moments but at the heart of this book is a woman who just can't do it all, something that most of us who work and mother have to concede at one point or another.




This is what is sitting beside my bed at the moment. I'm not sure what my friend was saying when she gave me this one! I'm only a little way in. For me it's a book to pick up in those quiet moments and they don't come along too often. It's about shifting your perspective and being in each moment.



Head over to Bugandpop to see what is everyone else has read. I can go to the library next week armed with a list of recommendations. In fact, I might just get organised and put some of these books on reservation the I really won't need to go further than the counter!

Steady feet

Missy's little world has grown just a little bit larger. Up and moving on her feet, she is no longer dependent on others to get her from A to B. She loves her new freedom and charges around with a certain amount of authority. This is a girl who knows where she headed and what she will fetch when she gets there. She has quite a pace in her step which has everything to do with keeping up with her older brother and not missing out on a moment of anything.

My baby girl has so quickly morphed into a little person and knowing that this may well be my last baby, it is such a bittersweet time. I watch how her imagination is captured by her crowd of little friends, real and imaginary, and my heart sings at how she is creating a world around her self.

Ellie has little buba who she mothers like her own. She feeds her with a spoon, rocks her in her arms, pats her over her shoulder and happily pushes her around the house in her little pram. I can't quite get over how innate her nurturing instinct is towards this little dolly that she has otherwise ignored for the past 6 months. I can't wait to watch her mother her own in the years that seem so far off from now and remind her of a time when it was so simple to rock and shush a baby to sleep.


PS. Melissa, do you recognise anything familiar in this video?

Our first egg

We wandered down to the chicken coup.

A little birdie told me that there might just be something special waiting for us to discover this morning.

Something round. And hard. And warm.

Henny wondered where her egg had gone.


She needn't have worried.
It was in the safe hands of the Rooster.
He was fascinated by how it felt and the little scraps still attached.



Treasure for a patient little boy and his sister.



Who was determined not to miss one moment of this new experience.

An Eyespy theme

Every fortnight I take the littlies to the library. They love to make their own choices and we always spend some time reading their haul before we head home. As for me, like most mothers, my needs are secondary.

I know that beyond the counter there exists a goldmine of good reads. I even remember that there are two sections, fiction and non fiction. The luxury of browsing disappeared a long time ago. I now limit my choice to the recent returns trolley. I always grab a few in the hope that one will hit the mark. More often than not, my books are returned unread as they have failed to grab my attention.

What I need is list of really good reads and lucky for me, Cindy has asked me to choose this weeks Eye Spy Sunday theme. What are you reading now? Is anyone still reading books or is everyone blogging, face booking, you tubing and twittering? What was the last good book you read? Fiction or non fiction, a book is a book.

Drop over to Bugandpop and sign up. Cindy has one of those fancy sign up gadgets so that we can all have a squizz. Am looking forward to what you come up with. I just might get that list happening and I just might get organised and reserve a few of those good reads so that I know I am coming home a book that I just might enjoy.