It's warm!

And I've been making stuff! Sewing of course (photos later), but also doing some DIY around the house: painting the chairs lime green (Josh hates it!) and some garden seats for the boys. They're not the prettiest but hey, they're flat and the boys fit into them!
I used whatever wood bits were lying around, roughly sawed them and nailed them together. 10mn each, done.

It was Earthquake day last Wednesday, so we made jelly to take to our playcentre. Did you ever notice how when you shake jelly it looks like an earthquake? We figured it would be a good way to show the kids what happens when the earth shakes. Tahi was delighted, most kids thought it was funny but just wanted to eat it really.

Josh took the boys to the beach the other day, it was sunny and warm and the boys had a ball. They even went into the water and met a cute little baby seal.

Patience

We're now well into spring, , there are flowers everywhere, the days are warmer and we haven't had a fire in a while... It's been really nice to be able to hang out in the garden, get the vege beds ready for spring planting and sow some seeds. Watching seeds sprout then grow into seedlings and later plants has been my favorite part of gardening. Whenever I think about it, I still find it amazing that a living entity can emerge from such a tiny thing. It definitely puts life into perspective.

When it comes to gardening, spring feels a bit like a waiting game. At the moment, half of the vege beds are composted, mulched and just waiting for some seedlings. The said seedlings are growing in seeds trays until they are strong enough to be put in the ground. And so I have come to the stage where I just have to be patient and wait. Wait until the time is right. Sometimes I find this wait excruciating. I just want the garden to be full of veges growing everywhere, and sometimes I just can't wait anymore and put some seedlings in too soon. Most of the time I loose half of them (to birds, snails, dog-crossing-the-vege-bed-although-he-knows-not-to, aliens?). I could try and stop whatever ruins my seedling from ruining them (I do use bird netting now and again, but I don't really like to kill too many things, and no nasty Round up type chemicals of course). Or I could just wait.
So spring for me is just a game of patience. And if I manage to refrain myself and just go at nature's pace, I seem to end up on the path of least resistance.

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.