Spring!

I'm not sure when the official start of spring is and google just confused me we with a few different dates so I decided that that seems were having lots of flowers pop up and fruit trees are blossoming today would be a nice  day to celebrate it.

We started by reading 'Mother Earth And Her Children'
This is a shortened version "The Story Of The Root Children".
I read them "The Story Of The Root Children" at bed time often but they don't otherwise have the attention span to sit through it so this one is perfect for other times. I also love the pictures which are photographs of a quilt inspired by the original book.
At the end of the story I made up an extra bit saying that if you look in the garden on the first of spring you might find surprises to decorate our playroom from the root children who are now coming up

 We added some pretty flowers to the snack time table and also a cute buzzy bee hive candle that I found at a market last weekend. I didn't bother to light it because the breeze always promptly puts our candles out!

 This little buzzy bee was on Mitch's arm. We carefully brushed him off and then marveled that he came to celebrate spring with us. what a perfect day for him to stop by our snack table:)

 We decided to see if the root children had come up yet, and look, they had!

 Mitch stared at this egg for a good while looking most surprised. He was even more excited when I told him he could pick it up and have a look. Love this boys sweet innocence:)

 Cam caught on quickly and found lots of surprises

 Our new garden friends. Ive been slowly making them over time in preparation for spring. I didn't end up finishing the root children i'd been making but never mind, next year.

We made them into a mobile to hang inside. For today were enjoying it outside hanging from our palm where the children can play and turn it

After that we cooked pancakes outside in an electric fry pan that Mum lent me. Yum!

Cousin Club weekend (otherwise known as major photo overload)

I mentioned that I was going away for the weekend, I went with my cousins Madi and Lil and my sister A.J to our aunt and uncles beach house in Carrikalinga. We used to come here when we were kids and this time around it was just as much fun!

Me, Lil, Madi and A.J

As soon as we arrived we unpacked and headed to the beach. We found these great old bikes in the shed. There was also a super cute red vintage bike but unfortunately the tires were too flat to ride

The beach was beautiful and the weather almost perfect. A little on the cool side but still better than I expected

Even though it wasn't quite warm enough me and Lil went straight to the water for a splash and almost worked up the nerve to jump in

Theres something special about braving cold water, I always try to because it makes me feel so alive!

A.j was happy to observe from a safe distance. Not a bad move, we ended up getting dumped by a few waves, leaving us shivering and drenched. I secretly loved it though:)

It was so beautiful riding around the pretty little sea side town, everything was lush and green and new spring flowers were starting to emerge

Later we picked up some magazines at the shops and got our trashy gossip fix

Me and Madi slept in these awesome bunk beds! I remember being in these same bunk beds when I was little. I was disappointed to be on the bottom bunk so someone (my Mum and aunt or Oma probably) hung a spare blanket from the top bunk, creating a great little cubby for me. I loved it!

We had a yummy breakfast in the morning

and then went driving to some other great nearby spots

We went to Victor Harbour and Granite Island. It was nice watching big waves break on the island

Us doing our super lame cousin club sign he he:)

In the end it got windy so we all headed home!

In case any ones wondering about the cousin club thing, when we were little we made up a cousin club (I think we read too many babysitters club books lol:) We had 'official meetings', membership cards and raised money by putting on plays for our 'lucky' family members. Yes we were pretty cool

Our daycare week

 Washing/water play Tuesday- we washed our wooden blocks. In the water the blocks became all sorts of jumping and splashing animals!

 we also played with the silky chicks

Painting day Wednesday- finger painting!

I make up a cheap, easy and relatively natural (water based at least) finger paint using powder paints. It saves money by using little of the powder paint and also doesn't crack and crumble when dry like powder paint is notorious for.
here's the recipe-

2 heaped tea spoons of corn flour
3/4 cup water
a sprinkle of powder paint (technical measurement I know:)

Put corn flour in a glass and add enough water to dissolve it.
Add 3/4 cup of boiling water and stir.
Divide into bowls and add separate colours to each. It doesn't take much powder to get a nice colour
Let paint cool to a comfortable temperature. Its nice to use when its still warm

This amount makes a good amount for 1 or 2 children, I double it for 4

 Finger painting is lots of fun but I think they like cleaning their hands and paint bowls afterwards just as much!

Baking day Thursday- We had our first birthday for the year, little miss Rhylee turned 2!
For our baking activity we made wholemeal spelt carrot cakes and as you can see she enjoyed them!

Tomorrow we will be going walking and then polishing our wooden blocks.
Then ill be packing ready for a very fun weekend away

pictures of today

Today has been rather a productive Monday, here is some of what I got up to... 

 Hand washed lots of woolens

Took the silky chicks out for their first wander of the garden. I think they were quite impressed with life outside of their little heated box 

I soaked some grains and seeds ready for sprouting. From the left they are- wheat sprouts for the (big) chickens, alfalfa for salads, spelt for making sprouted spelt bread

 For lunch I had left over spelt pasta that I made the other day and steamed dandelion greens with tomato and zucchini sauce

 I made spelt bread, here it is rising under the warm sun outside. (in case your wondering why all the spelt, its what my naturopath has recommended for me. Luckily its yummy:)

 Here's the finished loaf and I made honey oat biscuits with lots of different seeds. Yum!

Benny's mum took me mushroom foraging. Id never been before but i love mushrooms so I've wanted to for a long time. Now that I know the spots to look I have a feeling ill be eating a lot of mushrooms!

Soaking up the last days of winter

Our little silky chicks who will one day roam our garden

Spring is coming, spring is coming,
birdies build your nests.
Weave together straw and feather,
doing each your best.

One of our latest spring blooms. Benny's mum has planted lots of bulbs here over the years and its such a fun surprise seeing all kinds of flowers bloom. I love these and they have the most beautiful scent

 Spring is coming, spring is coming,
flowers are waking too.
Daisies, lilies, daffodillies,
all are coming through.

 Here's the veggie patch as it is today. There are so many seeds sprouting and the broad beans are getting big.

Outdoor snacks with child picked sour sob flower bouquet (this is a weed in Australia but children love to pick them and chew their sour stems)

 Benny's mum has given me two of these big strawberry pots because she doesn't want to take them with her to the new house. I'm so thankful as I know how well they have done in this garden previous years. The most exciting part of all...

 The first strawberries are starting to appear! Yep, its a good time to be inheriting strawberry plants

New to me bricks mean a little more garden bed edging! Its getting there. Abundant stinging nettles are making for delicious meals and 'weed soup' for the garden. (Ive covered weeds with water in a bucket and left it to decay for a few weeks. It will then be strained and added to the garden to add nutrients)

 Ive been doing a few more spring preparation crafts

and also some woodworking (more on that later, bet you cant guess what I'm making... :)