a little drawing

it has happened all of a sudden.

jess likes drawing! yay!

actually, jess has always liked drawing but it would never hold her attention for long. a quick scribble and she would be done. now she will stay with one drawing for ages and then want to do another and another.

this new found interest has co-incided with the beginnings of representational drawing. probably no coincidence. jess had been telling stories about her paintings and drawings for quite some time now but has just started to make purposeful marks in the general region of where they should go. 

the above drawing is one that i am very excited about. it is of "mummy, daddy and jessica". you can see us there can't you? hmmm... maybe not but i can assure you we are... all with "big smiles", two eyes, noses, hair, two arms and two legs.

i prefer not to interfere with children's drawings and don't point out where the various body parts should go, that will come. i find children's artwork fascinating and believe they should be able to develop at their own pace.

pasting activities seem to be becoming increasingly more popular too.

i am excited as i feel that creative pursuits are going to become a regular part of our day... at last!

sunday

an afternoon at the beach.

cool breeze, warm(ish) water, clear skies.

sand castle building, shell collecting, splashing in the water.

this moment...

this moment inspired by soulemama - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

meet lucy!

this is lucy.

finally finished!

jessica watched as i sewed the last of her body together and then it was another week before i was game enough to do her facial features. i think i was scared i would muck it up. i am quite happy with the end result, although i am not entirely happy with her hair, there seems to be too much. i am contemplating a hair cut to tone it down.

lucy is a 12 inch doll. when i received the kit i initially wished that i had chosen a bigger doll but looking at her in jess's arms she seems to be a good size. 

jessica certainly has taken to her and said today that lucy was her baby sister.

lucy is fitting right in around here!

ladybirds and flowers

we wandered the garden this afternoon. a garden who's flowers are giving away from the bright yellow and oranges of early spring to a more subtle palette of pale pinks, lilac and blues.

we wandered, picking a few flowers, checking on the progess of the tomatoes and spying a lot of ladybirds (or is it ladybugs... i never know which to call them)

i have never seen so many at one time before.

jessica, who has been jumping with fright for a while now whenever she sees a beetle or bug, decided to be brave and asked if i could put one on her finger. (a little girl at the playground yesterday had found one and came over with it on her finger to show us)  

i was more than happy to oblige. they walked along our hands and arms until they took their leave and flew away.

dreaming

that look of concentration! love it!

i got quite excited about jess and the threading of these beads. the fact that they held her concentration until they were all threaded and then she wanted to do it again, as well as her hand eye co-ordination had me dreaming of future afternoons spent on sewing projects and crafting together.

i think they are still a little way off but its a mama's right to dream isn't it?

sunday

oh sunday!

what can i say but hot hot hot!

oh and wind wind wind!

so for us it was a day inside.

music, singing and dancing.

finger painting in the bath, painting on the easel.

making dinner in the morning (so nothing to cook at dinner time), throwing together a delicious raisin chutney (then simply leaving it to ferment for a couple of days), and mixing together the filling ingredients for fruit mince pies (and leaving to soak in alcohol which smells so good in the fridge).

whizzing up cooling smoothies and seeping peppermint from the garden for iced tea.

playing hide and seek.

crafting preparations for christmas giving.

watching the white caps on the ocean and spray flying off the back of waves.

reading book after book after book.

a lazy but full sunday... indoors.