play dough

play dough has become popular in our home all of a sudden. i guess its an age thing. jess hasn't been all that interested in play dough until now. every now and then i would get it out for her but now it is being requested. 

jess is happy to play with it alone whereas before she liked to have someone else playing with it along side her. maybe she was just trying to work out what to do with it. 

i made two new batches this week, adding ground cinnamon to one and cocoa to the other. they smell delicious and i love the natural colour.

we don't have a lot of play dough 'equipment' preferring to let jess use her imagination as opposed to making predetermined shapes. some popsicle sticks for cutting and poking, a few cupcake papers, some old lids and a rolling pin kept her busy for a long time.

in the garden

we only have a few strawberry plants but jess makes a request to look for strawberries every time we are out in the garden. we are averaging one a day at the moment. just enough to keep the little one satisfied. needless to say we have a much bigger strawberry patch planned for next summer.

i love neat rows of freshly planted seedlings. we have bush beans, silver beet, kale and lettuces (lots of greens to feed us and our hungry chickens).

basil and zucchini are in abundance at the moment and it is definitely time to make some pesto to freeze for the colder months ahead.

i am looking forward to harvesting those peppers and wishing we had many more.

as the seasons are about to change, some things are coming to an end and others are just emerging ready to take their place.

grateful

today i thought i would take photographs of some of the things around our house.

it is no secret to those who know me that i like things that are natural, earthy and organic.

so, today i am grateful for... (from the top)

a seaweed basket handmade by a dear old family friend

a table runner which was a birthday present from another dear friend who knows my style so well

a driftwood sculpture made by my partner

a dear sweet child's chair which was my dad's when he was a boy

a vegetable brush i bought at wychwood, a beautiful garden and nursery in tasmania

the mother of pearl button on a chest of drawers that once belonged to my grandmother

brown paper envelopes 

beautiful smooth stones that we once carted back from the beach

a driftwood coat rack that i made for our laundry/entry

the mirror framed with driftwood and shells my partner made for my thirtieth birthday

i love all these things!

sunday afternoon

a happy day!

from the library

library books

we have found quite a few favourites in this pile of books.

boom bah! by phil cummings is a stand out. fun text and lively illustrations. a perfect book for a little one.

jess loves all of lynley dodds books. we have most of the older ones from when the older girls were little but are always on the look out for newer publications by lynley dodd. they are a pleasure to read with their rhyming text and the characters of all the dogs are adorable. we may have to buy hairy maclary shoo and hairy maclary and zachery quack for our collection.

maudie and bear by jan ormerod and freya blackwood has been requested over and over. i love the illustrations in this gorgeous book. the four short stories are about a girl and the inexhaustible love the bear has for her. very sweet.

mr mc gee and mr mc gee and the blackberry jam also were requested many many times and it is easy to see why pamela allens books are so popular.

gracie the lighthouse cat by ruth brown and the big red hen by margaret wild and terry denton have been read... oh about 1000 times! both chickens and cats are the animals of choice around here at the moment for jess. 

quite a few others in the pile haven't been such hits and every now and again i borrow a book or two that gets put on top of a cupboard until it is returned to the library. mainly because once we have got them home and have read them, i have either deemed them inappropriate or just don't like to read them myself. i simply don't have time to read through them all at the library.

henry

last night i finished making jess a stick horse.

i found the instructions for him in this wonderful book.

'henry' is made out of an old woolen sock, some left over wool and bits of material scraps as well as a beanie that i bought a few years ago and had shrunk in the wash. i cut the beanie into strips and felted them (with my new found felting expertise) to use for some of the mane. the reins are made from some ribbon that was part of some wrapping and an old t-shirt cut into strips and plaited. a couple of wooden buttons are used for the eyes.

all in all i am really pleased with the result, although henry's nose may be a bit too pointy (i am trying to think of a way to remedy this). i am pleased that it was a cheap project and happy to have been able to upcycle most of the materials.

jess was surprised when she woke this morning to find henry and had lots of fun patting and riding him (and so did mum!) jessica thinks i am an expert horse rider and finds it very funny to see her mum riding around the house on a stick horse.

i am sure this horse will give many hours of open ended play and become a firm friend.

so many words

jess, at twenty one months old, is talking so much now. well she has been for a long time but at the moment her sentences are coming along in leaps and bounds. its just amazes me everyday the things that she says.

she is a parrot and repeats a lot of what we say but also has started to come up with her own expressions.

"i'm fine", "i'm full", "i'm happy".

love it.

you are my sunshine print found on etsy.

jess you really are my sunshine!

ready for dinner

jess is such a little helper. 

she likes to help out with jobs whenever she can and one of the things she likes to do is set the table for dinner.

as soon as dinner preparation is getting started, jess gets out the placemats, forks and knives.

it isn't something we have asked her to do, just something she wants to do.

and she does it so well.

felted rocks

i have finished my felted rocks kit.

it was very quick and easy but enjoyable.

this is my first attempt at felting and the kit required both needle and wet felting.

i found that needle felting is a lovely thing to do, although i was a little scared of the needle to begin with, it made a satisfying sound as it went in and out binding the fibres together.

and the wet felting was such fun. bubbles forming in your hand and feeling the wool tighten around the rock as it was worked. it is something i will do with jess very soon, as what child wouldn't like making the bubbles required of wet felting.

so a few more felted rocks are on the agenda.

catch me a fish

yesterday, when we went for an afternoon walk down to the jetty near our house, we took the fishing rod.

ever since we moved here twelve months ago, we have been meaning to try and catch some fish.

spurred on by my cousin who visited last weekend and caught a few squid off the jetty while he was here, we finally gave it a go.

no luck.

it was quite cold for a summer's day so we didn't stay long.

maybe next time.