The boys

When Josh is away, we all sleep in the same bed. Oh well sometimes I do wonder if I would be more comfortable on the floor.

I have monsters under my bed though...

Collecting snails. Monsters love snails.

inspired by

Spring crafts

Every now and then I sneak into the workshop and get some sewing done. Mainly for my shop, but every now and again I feel like doing something for us. Miro has pretty much destroyed the banner that was hanging in the hallway (paper+kids=disaster waiting to happen), so I decided it was time for a small revamp.
I saw some cute fabric patchwork clouds on Etsy and pinned them.

Source: etsy.com via Natacha on Pinterest

Bits of fabric is what I am not lacking, so it was pretty easy to put together some fabric. Tahi even gave a helping hand stuffing the clouds.

I also made a 3/4 sleeve shirt for Miro from one of Josh's old tee shirts.

For a while I've wanted to try making a lamp shade in the style of the doily lamp shades.

Source: blog.mad4flash.com via Natacha on Pinterest

Since I have no doilies and none of that special glue you need, I thought I'd try it with pattern paper. It turned out as I expected, the various bits of paper overlapping look great. The shades do look a funny old kind of faded yellow, not the prettiest, but when they are lit they are pretty and they add warmth to the room (I've put them in the bathroom).

meanwhile in the garden

Spring is finally here and the wind has picked, announcing warmer days. I have been spending a lot more time in the garden getting it ready for summer planting. Most of the seedlings are still in boxes and I'm itching to put them in. This year I've even managed to get tomatoes, basil, capsicum, eggplant and cucumber going in the house where the temperature is much higher (these plants need a soil temperature of about 15ºC) and they have shot up very fast.

spring flower

borage flowers (edible)

After spending the last month digging a new potato patch (our garden spreads every year, there's never enough space), fertilizing most beds with horse manure, adding compost and mulching, the garden is looking a bit empty but tidy (this stage never lasts!).

peas growing in the foreground (with Cds on the teepee to keep birds away), netting over strawberries to the right and cape gooseberries in the background

My favorite crop of the moment is asparagus. If you've never tasted a freshly picked asparagus, you're missing out on a beautifully delicious crunchy asparagus. When I pick some I don't even steam them when added to salads. Well worth the three years wait for the roots to get strong.

asparagus... yuuuuuuuuummmmm

Miro loves giving a helping hand, watering the garden to death with the hose or a watering can, pricking out seedlings and trowing them in the air, tipping out soil (usually with newly planted seeds)... I guess at least he's showing an interest in it, even though it can sometimes be frustrating (and take me twice as long to go through my list).

Kids update

Well, I might as well huh? Some of you might not be so interested in the house, but maybe you want to know what our little monkeys are up to...

Well, tahi's into making things, he makes all sorts of crazy things. Lego of course, but paper and tape as well (lots of tape) mainly for making airplanes. He also loves using these cool little pastil shapes my mum sent him.

Alright, I know I might not be very objective, but hey, isn't he amazing? I mean look at that plane/ rocket/ space ship thingy. It's quite complex and notice the symmetry in shapes and colors... When we go to playcentre at the moment he likes to make stuff. So we sit at the craft table, and I ask him what he wants to make. Then I suggest a way to do it. He says "no, not like that" and tries to explain how he wants to make whatever he has in mind. This is where I've got to remind myself not to be too bossy and actually let him do it his way. Because you see, most of the time I'll think to myself "his way will never work, I'm going to show him how it should be made". But this boy is stubborn. I finally give in, follow his instructions, and once I see the result feel like a complete dick. He actually is way better than me at conceptualizing ideas and working out a way to make them.
He has this thing at the moment of asking us to make him a paper plane. We diligently spend a minute or two doing all the proper folds (I only know one way of making them, I know, lame). Then he grabs a pair of scissors and starts cutting it all up. Then he gets the tape (he loves tape) and tapes it back together but differently. Then he flies it. And you know what? It flies better than the original one (Even though it seems it would fall under the weight of all the tape straight away). Yep I know, amazing.

Miro is right into motion and wanting to ride a bike, a scooted, anything Tahi's riding. It can get frustrating at times, but he is very stubborn (as well, joy) and bold.

Josh gave me a bundle of his old tee shirts a while ago, I made a long sleeve shirt out of one of them for Miro. Groovy.

The (french) pout

Both of them get on like brothers. Sometimes great, sometimes not. Most of the time is feels they do get on like a ball on fire though, and I love watching them play.

Tahi wanted me to take a photo of the two of them, Miro wasn't so keen.

Then Tahi tried to talk him into staying next to him for the photo. Ha ha.

House interior update

We've had a bit of time to make some improvements on the house front. Mostly cosmetic but oh how nice it feels. Not mentioning how good it must be for the feng shui. Surely it must be.

Feature wall in the lounge! Josh brought back a whole box of 70s and 80s wallpaper from his job. Of course there was never more than a roll or so of each pattern (at least the ones we liked), so instead we went super funky and wallpapered a wall in the lounge with two different patterns. We like it and think it looks cool. Even though I would never do that on all four walls of a room, one wall adds more texture and color to the room without enclosing it too much or darkening it too much. It's great for framed paintings and pictures too! (more photos in this post).

Then it was the turn of the wall in the master bedroom, this time with a slightly different pattern. The alternating of the two patterns chosen creates a stripy effect that I quite like, and the colors are warm and light, perfect for a bedroom!

Since we have no wardrobe, I use this frame I found at a garage sale to hang dresses, skirts and cardigans. It's got hooks on four levels which I use to hang coat hangers. I like the layering effect of the shit load of clothes I've got. And that's just the ones on that wall (the rest is in the chest of drawers). Believe it or not, we just had a clothes swap and yes I did get rid of more than I scored.

 I've also recently rearranged my most precious shoes (the ones I don't want the dog and/or kids to play with, throw in the mud or use to decorate the plant pots) underneath my hanging clothes in the bedroom. This is when I realized I may have a few too many.

 the bathroom now has a door! (and a bathtub, a shower and a vanity). The elegant puppet you see on the door was a birthday present Josh got many years ago that somehow survived his many moves and tidy nature (most probably hid at the bottom of a box, smart man).

The paper banner is made using pages of a picture book and now removed (Miro took a liking to hanging from the string and tearing the pretty pictures. tut tut)

 The asian corner...

 Somehow this sideboard is permanently cluttered with all sorts of stuff that has nowhere else to go (or temporarily got lost).

The shelves in the bedroom are in the middle of a revamp. I used some of the wallpaper Josh brought back and pasted it to the back. Next I'd like to paint the whole thing, maybe this summer when I can leave it outside. Watch this space!

Josh found the cute little couple in an op shop. I wish I could say we got them on our travels to some exotic places. Maybe I will.