a picnic in pea cottage

 Our pea cottage has grown and grown and now its the perfect spot for morning tea (Australian term for a morning snack)

 watermelon and sultanas, yum

 while they snack I weed and tend the plants (pea cottage is in the middle of the veggie patch)

 This is my favorite new little bowl that I thrifted yesterday

 It wont be long and we'll be snacking on peas instead!

 After we were finished paving the other day there was dirt left over so the children are putting it to good use

 who needs spades when you can get your hands in instead?

 wonderful squishy sand!

knitting and life

I've been waiting for new wool to finish my woolly leaves blanket and my hands were feeling restless so I decided to knit a toy with wool odds and ends in the meantime.
I've been in love with little cotton rabbits for quite some time so I decided to knit one.

When I opened the pattern I got overwhelmed by fiddlyness and I think I would have just closed it and knit something else if I'd not just paid for it. I think I sat through at least the first half of a movie before I cast on. I gave in and decided to attempt the darn rabbit.

I knitted the darn rabbit.
I seamed and stuffed and sewed together the darn rabbit.
I cast on for a second darn rabbit! (yes really, the grey beside her is her friend-to-be's head)
I loved knitting the darn rabbit.

 For a long time I've avoided anything that involved seaming like the plague. I would have knit this in the round if it weren't so complicated and fiddly already. You know what I discovered? I actually don't hate seaming like I thought I did. Knitting it flat and then seaming was a nice change.
I love how she turned out and I plan to make a few more. My mum adores her. I will either knit her one or make her a kit to knit her own.

Every Wednesday I take 2 little day care girls to mum and dads and in the afternoon the girls nap and we drink tea out in the garden. Maybe a little cotton rabbit Wednesday knit along would be fun. I cant really think of anything nicer actually. I can see matching rabbits like this one in our future

In the meantime I have a knit and snooze along buddy. I'm sure you can guess that I do the knitting and he does the snoozing. He also does the wake-up-and-stare-me-down-until-I-put-down-the-knitting-and-pat-him-ing. And the lap warming that makes up for it.

The weather is still cold being mid winter but we've been having days here and there that feel almost like spring. Ive been wearing dresses over leggings (with a warm cardi on top) and feeling the boost of energy and happy a pretty lacy dress brings on a warm day.

Anyhow its been a while so as a catch up ill write a bit about whats been going on in recent times

-wedding planning- Its only about 2.5 months away and i'm excited and overwhelmed at the same time.I'ts coming together but i'm so over phone calls and planning. As much as we're aiming for a simple wedding there's still a lot to do. Its going to be amazing and lots of fun but oh my. Benny and I keep saying to each other "well i'm afraid your stuck with me forever because I NEVER want to plan another wedding!!!
Some details i'm excited about-
 *I have a beautiful dress (love!!) Its nothing like what I had in mind. A few times I thought about if I should have chosen something different and then I put it on again and I just love it. I think its perfectly not what I expected but perfectly perfect!

* I want to knit this for the reception for its a bit chilly. I'm choosing between white or light purple (the wedding is white and purple) Maybe ill knit both if I have time. I can see myself wearing them often in spring and on cool summer evenings over dresses.

*Im still deciding on how I want my hair but there will definitely be braids and little flowers

-garden- The garden is thankfully looking after itself and thriving on neglect. There's loads of salad leaves being picked daily.
The day care children can be seen wandering about with a lettuce leaf or spring onion hanging out of their mouths at most moments. Or a sour sob (in australia these are a weed that children pick and eat). I remember the taste of sour sobs from my own childhood.
Out pea cottage is up to the top of the poles, Ill take a photo of it one day soon. Broad beans are doing well and close to flowering.
Nettles are proliffic, a little too much! I enjoy nettle and peppermint tea most days and nettle soup.
Weve had the first new potatoes
Broad beans are budding ready to flower.
Quite some time ago half of our back pavers were pulled up for our septic system to be changed. For a long while theres been a dirt pit. The day care children loved to play in it but I was over sweeping mountains of dirt in my house each day so we finaly re paved. Benny and I had a bit of a giggle at my attempts to pave and we decided that indeed knitting is my specialty not paving:) But we have pavers, our table and barbeque can go back and I can get to my day bed again. Oh happy day!

-daycare- the children are growing and changing as they always do. We've had a second birthday, two more not far away and a 4th around the corner too.
The little girls are getting easier in lots of ways, after meal clean up, learning to stay with me and hold hands across roads on walks, saying what they want etc)
We've also had some new toddler difficult stages of toy snatching, throwing sand, getting into mischief etc. and I was feeling a bit fed up but I re read bits and pieces from my joyful toddlers class and things have improved so much. Were enjoying our days a lot more. Joyful toddlers website has become my daycare bible, when I have a problem that's where I look for answers. I feel like I've gotten 100% better at my job since taking the class.I never did finish doing the posts about what I was learning in the class but believe me I learned a lot.
All the little girls are now sleeping in beds all in the same room rather than cots in separate rooms. I expected this to be a lot crazier than it was. They've done awesome and we also have no more dummies(pacifiers). (two had bedtime dummies until recently)
Other than that we've been enjoying the winter. We go to playgroup on Tuesdays and for the first time ever at a playgroup I feel like I fit in and I actually really enjoy it as much as the kids. In the past I've started going to playgroups and after a few weeks its seemed like a chore but this ones easy going. We walk across two roads and the school oval and were there. They play, have a shared snack and that's it. There's no complex activity, just play! (I used to go to a playgroup and hated that they had 'kid crafts' that involved 90% adult help and 10% child input. Yep sure was fun doing them with 4 excited (impatient) little ones!!)


-finding joy- Ive been thoroughly enjoying this book and its been helping me in ways I didn't even realise I needed help. I think of myself as a very positive person but still I can be down on myself and judge myself without even realising. This book helps me focus on my strengths, the good in my life and already I have noticed some good changes. I might write a more detailed post on this one day soon

the best present

 This is one of mine and my mums favorite books ever. Mum got a copy years ago and since then it has been read and re read by both of us about a million times. Iv'e always meant to get myself a copy but somehow never did.
Today as we were about to walk out of an opp shop mum spotted it, our book!!!! for a dollar!!! Best find ever!!!

I was laughing at the message in the cover so mum changed it. Thanks mum for the awesome book and thanks to Bianca and Brad's mum for not loving it quite as much as they expected you would (so that I can enjoy it instead:)

PS. do you know what was the second most exciting thing I opp shopped today was? A new in pack cot mattress protector. Yes really. It was only a few weeks ago that I was buying one new and having a little whinge that it was the most boring thing I could possibly spend $26 on. And that I still needed another one. Yep sometimes practical opp shop finds are pretty fab too

Benny and I

My two new favorite photos with my babe

Us dancing