Leaning tower of lunchboxes

Is it just me, or does the Ginger Ninja look just a little sheepish? These are the products of the end of term locker check, and go a long way to explain why I was scrabbling for containers by week 10.

Of course, these are the lucky containers that made it home at all...

Totally undomestic

Again, the photos don't do the views justice - but the scenery really is magnificent. We drove up a rather scary dirt track to the treble cone ski fields. The lifts were closed due to rain overnight, but it was worth the drive for the outlook.

A rare joint photo from a kind fellow traveller.

The Little Prince is travelling forward facing for the first time, only because the car rentals didn't have an extension strap to allow us to install the seat rear facing in the 4WD. He is not really enjoying all the driving, but is overall very tolerant of being tossed in a car for hours at a time.

This was the road we travelled up the mountain. Not for the faint hearted.

Domesticity in a strange land

I'm practicing my domesticity in New Zealand this week, thanks to the domestic genius of my mother and MIL who are holding the fort back home.

Unfortunately, the spectacular alpine views aren't as clear in photos as they are in real life.

After days of fun but formal meals with Dh's colleagues in Christchurch, it's been a relief to dine al fresco at home. The Little Prince has relished the opportunity to explore the grassy garden in between devouring french bread, hommous and a very nice brie! He wasn't allowed any bubbly.

He is remarkably blase about the stunning views that appear around every corner.

After school bubbles

After a boring day at home with a slightly unwell mother, The Little Prince was ecstatic to find that Ginger Rose wanted to blow bubbles at him! They both had a lovely time. I got to sit in the sun and supervise.

Hitting the sales

What luck - our local op-shop had their end of winter clearance this week, so I had a great time shopping! They even threw in a lovely carry bag!

$13.50 bought me three pairs of trousers for the children (I'm particularly happy with the 50c black formal trousers that will fit Briar Rose perfectly for choir performances), fleece tops for both girls for next season, a shirt and jumper for moi, four warm snuggly tops for The Little Prince, two childrens' books and a small toy pony. Considering the books and pony cost $2 of the $13.50, I think that was great bargain shopping.

And will supplement my other less frugal purchases from Margaret River Hemp Co ...

Spring is coming

It's time to get out into the garden again. Ginger Rose has proved an enthusiastic helper.

She was very good at looking after the Little Prince while I harvested our compost.

I was quite impressed with it. I'm getting the hang of this mucking around with dirt stuff!

Doesn't it look as though it should actually grow something? Nah - my black thumbs will take care of that, but with any luck we'll be one step further along the path to actual productivity in the garden.

Ginger Rose's big day out

Ginger Rose had her own adventure with Dad last week. They went snow hunting.


Found a leftover snowman!

Climbed a mountain.

And discovered a dam they weren't allowed to swim in.

All up, a fun day in the great outdoors!

Knitting up a storm

Grandma L visited recently, knitting up a storm and attacking the mending basket with gusto! The Little Prince has a new warm and snuggly outfit that's getting plenty of use in the Canberra winter! The second pair of leggings are a pair I recently finished in the gorgeous organic wool from the wonderful K. Thanks, K!

It starts so tidily...

But indoor picnics really aren't an efficient method of putting food cleanly into the mouths of preschoolers and babies!

But at least it bought me enough time to take some embarrassing photos of my vegie garden for the Dig for Victory blog!

Saturday mornings...

Gotta love them! Nothing like staying in bed as long as you possibly can. Actually, the Ginger Ninja has it down to an even finer art than the four little ones!

Snow hunting

Dh took Ginger Ninja and Briar Rose off road in search of snow on the weekend, and they had a fantastic time by all accounts!


I was pleased that Briar Rose finally agreed to wear tracksuit pants under her leggings - I don't think she really remembered how cold snow can be!

A kind passerby took this photo of the evil snowman.
And Briar Rose and the Ginger Ninja had plenty of snowball fights.
And what trip to the snow would be complete without snow angels? Ugh - cold, wet, muddy backs... and they loved it!

Thanks, Nic!

A parcel for Ginger Rose?

What could it be?

It's one of our FAVOURITE books! Hooray! Big thanks and kisses to cousin Nic!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yum! We made these today to take on our excursions with Grandad D, which included a photographic exhibition, shopping at our favourite bookshop, a ride on the carousel, and a few hours at Questacon.

A big hit with the adults, and quite clearly childproof. Clearly, cookies just aren't cookies if they don't contain chocolate!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Cream butter with sugar, brown sugar and peanut butter, creaming after each addition until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Add flour mixture gradually. Beat until smooth. Drop mixture, 1 teaspoon at a time and about 2" apart on to an undressed baking sheet. Flatten with a fork 2 times to form a criscross pattern on the cookie surface. Bake in a 350 F oven for 8-10 min. Remove from oven and cool.

Note: Kindly donated by San Francisco pastry chef Greg Léon.
For more great recipes like this one, be sure to visit http://www.christmas-cookies.com

First holiday visit

Grandma E was our first school holiday visitor. She made herself incredibly exhaustingly useful, so we barely had time to grab the camera!

Listening to her helping Briar Rose sing her new choir pieces was delightful - I hadn't realised what a nice voice Briar Rose has until I heard her after some professional coaching!

We were very sad to see her go...

Dog for the weekend!

We've been missing Coda, and were thrilled to be allowed to dog-sit last weekend! Doofus is our first trial of a small dog, and was just wonderful. Just like a real dog, only smaller...

The Ginger Ninja was feeling sick when he arrived, but Doofus knew exactly how to deal with invalids!

Even The Little Prince enjoyed playing with a puppy.

And The Ginger Ninja was eventually enticed out of his sick bed to share some germs with Doofus and a toy rabbit.

We're still not at the stage of wanting another dog, but if the right one came along, we'd be happy to give it a home. And exceedingly happy to get a puppy fix any time Doofus needs a weekend home again!