Gesiggies

One of my favourite flowers is a pansy, in Afrikaans they are called ‘gesiggies’ (little faces).  I remember as a child out walking the dog with my mother, we found a small little pansy growing in the gravel of the local church’s car park.  We wanted to save it, so we took it home.  By the next summer, the garden was covered in pansies.  This week, I found some pansies at the local store.  My younger son immediately claimed them for himself and planted them in the garden. 

I am very proud of him.  He gets paid $2 a week to water all the plants with the watering can.  He has been really conscientious about it, so it looks like these little flowers will do well in the garden.  All my sweet pea seeds have sprouted as well because of his hard work.

Baby Soft

A friend is having her baby soon.  I love making something for the babies, but my skills with needle and thread are quite limited, so I stick to little blankets.  Thank goodness for Google!  When I get stuck, the answer is usually easy to find!

This time I learned how to do the corners on bias binding to add some colour to the blankets (http://www.isew.co.uk/sewing_techniques/bias_binding-c-00027.htm)

Misty forest

When family came to visit, we took a drive through the Dandenongs.  It had been raining for days and the sky still dripped periodically.  It made for beautiful scenery and, ironically, it wasn’t cold at all.

It was amazing to see how green and lush everything had gotten with the unexpected amount of rain we have been getting.

Even the birds were wet!

The Fun of Being Family

I got the wonderful opportunity to photograph a friend’s family when the grandparents came to visit.  We had a beautiful, bright sunny day to capture the love they have for each other.  Everything was just perfect!

 

Innocent Wonder

My kids aren’t really what you would call main stream I suspect.  My oldest is permanently hiding his nose in a book, taking every opportunity to read.  My middle child is maths-obsessed, to the point where he takes maths exercise books with on car trip to practice.  My three-year-old loves anything creative: sticking, drawing and painting.  I finally found some water paints (she doesn’t seem to like the finger paints too much).  She had a great time painting rainbows!  It was wonderful watching her furiously concentrate on the colours.

 

Since it fits with this week’s challenge over at iHeartFaces, I decided to enter the photo this week.

Water and prayer

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the floodwaters in Queensland and Victoria.

We have family visiting.  Drove up to Sky High in Mt Dandenong to watch the rain fall over the city.  It is extremely humid and hot in Melbourne, in spite of all the rain.

If you want to help out in the Queensland Flood Appeal: http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html 
Please note that at the moment they are asking that only money be donated.  As wonderful as physical donations of furniture, clothes, etc. are, they have nowhere to put them.

Basketball

Our move has brought us a lot closer to the local basketball court.  I found a ball on sale, which encouraged the kids to go play a bit.  We are trying to go more often, even though the allure of computer games and books and lazing on the couch is still strong!

My younger son is in his element though, being active outside.

Resolutions

For the coming year, I figured I will try and iron more of the clothes… and get down to the beach more often.  Don’t know if I will keep to either, but every time we go to the beach, we come home with great memories! (Taken in Frankston)

Late afternoon is such a great time to go to the beach.  The weather is perfect and the beach is calm.  Watching the sunset is an added bonus!

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a wonderful, peaceful and joy-filled new year!

Our night at the Family Festival in Melbourne

 

We spent the evening in Melbourne, watching the family fireworks.  The kids had a ball and so did we!  (The photos were all hand-held – carrying a tripod when chaperoning three kids is not an option in the crowds!)

 

 

 

What is better on New Year’s Eve than a picnic in the park with live music (Guy Sebastian was playing), fireworks and kids laughing?