Now and Then...the kids garden

I found some old photos taken four and a hlaf years ago when we first moved in.

It actually surprised me how much everything has grown. Because I am looking at it everyday I notice the gradual changes but you forget what it used to be like.

So, joy of joys, today I was given a new/old camera and I walked around the garden taking photos from the same positions as the original shots...

Kids garden from the house

Then

Now

The cubby...

Then

Now

Looking throught the archway...

Then (well the arch didn't exsists in the first photo)

Now

Now I love it that the kids are creative, they built this cubby house this morning.

But it's also the reason why my house never appears to be tidy.

This morning I tidied the loungeroom and then walked into the bedroom to make the beds and when I came back out (probably only ten minutes later) this structure had appeared in what had been the tidy lounge room! This also meant I had to re-fold nearly every sheet from the linen cupboard too.

Oh, you gotta love 'em!!!

I've been working on a pattern for some finger-less gloves for winter. These ones are knitted and crocheted. They are also the fifth pair, as I just kept getting them a bit wrong, and didn't want to settle for wonky gloves. So although they only took a couple of hours, they actually took a couple of days!

Well warn hands in winter will be worth it.

A beautiful day

Yesterday we harvested our first ever crop of garlic and white onions.

I made a couple of onion and garlic braids, they aren't very big but I've always seen these hanging in kitchens and have always wanted to try to make one.

Then the girls played dress-ups.

We set up and decorated the xmas tree.

It was so hot yesterday (and it is again today) so we went for a swim at the river.

When we got home we sat in the shade on the cubby house verandah and picked some pretty flowers from the gardens

...another beautiful day...

The Kings Birthday

It was my darling boys birthday yesterday. He was very excited to be turning five.

Playing his new drum that Zan re-strung for him

When he woke up he asked me if he could be King for the day, to which I replied that he could...funny because in this part of the world it was a public holiday for the Queens Birthday. So it was the King and Queens Birthday here!

We gave him a card and inside was the first clue to a teasure hunt so he could find his presents.

Zan carrying him around the block on his treasure hunt...the grass was cold and wet and

Mr T was too excited to go and put shes on!!!

His first pressie was an old van! I have been clearing it out for weeks. It has served as a storage area for a couple of years since was no longer drivable. But most of the stored stuff really wasn't worth keeping. I love throwing stuff away! Add a bit of paint, a bean bag and some pillows inside and you've got a new cubby house.

A beautiful birthday kiss..

Tui loves wraping paper!!!

Later in the morning our homeschool group turned into a birthday celebration.

Mr T and his best frend Little Red up a tree.

the girl on the trampoline...

duck, duck, goose...Zan, organizing some games for all the litle ones...

As usual everyone brought lush food to share, such yummy healthy food...it makes me drool just thinking about it.

But the cake, well, as unhealthy as could be...with mounds of chocolate and cream...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR T

O, Christmas Tree...

Today Rain went to her new friend's house for a play. It was very exciting for her as she is a very social girl and it was nice for her to meet someone who lives quite close. They got on really well and Rain informed me that they were normal people who hardly ever wear shoes like us!

Zan came back from his Dads house after having a good time over the weekend.

Mr T helped Peace paint a chalk board inside the cubby house yesterday and today the paint was dry enough to try it out. He loved it as he has a penchant for drawing on walls (usually ones in the house!) Perhaps this will give him somewhere else to draw. LOL. Later he helped me bake a cake but he was very excited all day because he knew when Zan and Rain came home we were going to decorate the Christmas Tree.

We put on the obligatory Christmas Carrolls CD (that over the next month will drive me barmy) and all helped hang the decorations.

I usually just whack the decorations on haphazardly but this was not good enough for the aesthetically minded members of the family. They decided that this year the decorating theme was blue and purple. So I stood back and watched them go. (Gently humming Frosty the Snowman to the baby)

I must admit they did a much better job than I usually do.
Yes, it's an old fashioned "REAL" Tree. Ah, love the smell of pine needles...

Today....

Just a quiet day at home...

Got up early while the children were still asleep and did some yoga on the new deck...

watched our beautiful friend Kingy feasting on sunflower seeds...

Rain did some knitting...

while I baked some bread....

Zan started work on a solar light for the cubby house...

Then I went for a walk with Mr T and found an unripe bunya nut...

and Tui practised her crawling on the bed.

I love this photo. It's the view out the kitchen window. In the front is the tree that has the platform, the trampoline and the gaint mushroom Peace made out of papier mache for Rain's fairy party last year. And the cubby is behind it all. I would have loved a play area like this when I was a kid. My favourite book for a while was the Secret Garden. I loved the idea of a secret spot where I could play. And I always imagined the little niches where the fairies would live. Sometimes I think I might be building this whole kids garden for myself more than anyone else.

I noticed that the honey suckle and the jasmine that I planted to grow over the entrance archway are finally growing new shoots. I can't wait 'til the archway is covered and in flower. It's going to look majical. And because we didn't have bad frosts this winter the lillypilli's have survived and are actually growing.

Next I want to fill out the garden beds so it's nice and thick and private around the cubby house. Also a path through the center with a mosaic hopscotch thingy in it.

I could go on and on. I love cubbies and tree houses. If we ever buy a big acreage Peace and I would love to build a kind of tree house village. With all sorts of tree houses and faerie houses where people can come and stay. And rope bridges through the trees and flying foxes ; a whole adults sized faery play ground!

It's finally raining! It's been threatening all week but now the drops re actually falling. Yey, a day off watering the garden and new trees and a bit more water in the tank!

No TV Day....failure

Well yesterday was our first TV free day. Yes we didn't watch TV but I'm on the verge of abondoning the idea before it gets off the ground. We didn't watch any because we were all doing other things and I realized how many days go by that we don't actually watch any TV. Only teenager Zan complained and then said he wouldn't be a part of my stoopid plan.

It made me wonder if it's a good idea or not. I mean I'm trying to deschool myself and stop being a control-freak parent. And I'm trying to let the kids self-regulate how much TV and computer they use. So isn't it wrong that I set TV-free days etc..
Oh well, next week I'll have another brilliant idea.

And these are some of the reasons why the kids don't watch too much TV.

Not to mention the trampoline, the bikes, the tree-platform.....

Because the Road Runner is sick in bed here is a photo of the girls to cheer her up...

And a love song from Mr T...

The Taj Ma Cubby

Ever since we moved here I've wanted to create a magical garden for the children. It's kind of like the fantasy garden I dreamed of having when I was a kid. I designed it aroud two big trees that were already here when we moved in. The cubby house was our second building project. (The chook house was our first.) It was good to hone our skills before attacking any renovations on the house.





The garden is kind of diamond shaped with the two trees at two opposite corners and archway, entrance at one and the cubby house at the last corner. There is also two small hidden cirlular gardens off this that have a fairy circle(with heaps of flowers) and the other has a tic tac toe board that the kids made out of an old paver and some tiles. ( I'll have to take a photo of it.)





Last week end we built a deck off the cubby house with some left over decking boards.
It's all been built from reclaimed materials, old fence pailings a neighbour was throwing away, paint from the tip-shop, timber from skips at building sites. The whole thing, extensions included has costed about $80.
Zan(13) is so capable with power tools now and our neighbour(who is a builder) was shaking his head in disbelief after watching 8yr old rain bang a naik in with three strokes. Now that's what I call fun learning. And MrT helped. Where there's tools that's where you'll find MrT!
Now we just have to wait for the trees to grow and make it a secret cubby. Most of the gardens are native plants but I also want as much edible stuff as I can squeeze in. There are two mulberry tree, a manderine and an orange. There were about thirty ripe strawberries this morning and the kids went and sat on the new deck and had berries for breckie.