Always busy!

A week away, a first week of school, new family additions, it has all been happening around here!
Well, to start we had a nice little 'holiday' catching up with much missed family and friends. We did miss some but that is how it goes. It was wonderful just to 'hang' out at the farm! Shame that is all we could do due to the endless stream of drizzly rain. 
Getting some bad news during the week put a bit of a dismal spin on our time away for me (RIP Pop Melein), but alas time moves on and that is what we have to deal with sometimes. It meant I missed out on seeing my sister but in her place came her partner and their kids which was a wonderful treat - even if for only a quick lunch break!
It was also fantastic to catch up with my old mothers group from Brisbane, we met when our first borns were a few weeks new and we have all managed to move on but keep in touch ever since, gotta love modern technology :-) I loved that we were able to have a little celebration for the kiddies 5th birthdays.
On our way home, we made a slight detour to collect our new family members - 6 black australorp chickens, of around 5months old. Hopefully they start producing eggs in the next few months. Our chook house needs a few adjustments to fit properly on the garden beds as planned, but it works for now. The dogs are slowly getting used to having them around and have only tried to play/eat (we are still deciding their intentions) with the chickens a few times. We let the chooks in the yard of the afternoon so the dogs get used to them being here.

The big news is our Master 5 has now started school! First day was a bit of a flop in dropping off (I had to  get a teacher to hold him so he did not run after me), but he has been fine ever since. I think having Daddy there to drop him off helps. Plus, he confessed his fear on the first day was being scared because he did not know anyone. I think he has become familiar now with his new classmates and I am hoping fridays drop off is much more settled! I loved the cuddle I got when I picked him up this afternoon, a very - I missed you - type cuddle followed by lots of kisses and more cuddles and more kisses (I felt very priveleged and am aware this will not happen all too often in the future!).  He made me feel like the luckiest Mummy, a moment I will treasure forever.
On that happy note, I hope all my friends have had a great first week with their first timers at school, and good luck to those yet to experience these fun times! I am looking forward to a quieter week next week so I can begin enjoying my much missed 'nanna naps'!

Ugh - heat!

Wow, never knew I had that much sweat in me! The heat lately here has been unbearable. We have resorted to turning the bedroom air conditioners on, leaving the internal doors open and closing everything else (we don't yet have an air con in the living area). A situation we will need to rectify soon if I don't want to have a heart attack when the next electricity bill comes in! Needless to say we don't get up to too much at the moment.
We did, however begin to paint the chook pen. I had a day out with my big, soon to be at school (sob) boy, the other day and we got the paint - he chose the colour (initially wanted pink he said, with a cheeky grin on his face), but we opted for Mint Melody green.

It has now had a few coats of paint and is currently drying in the garage, partly assembled and taking up way tooooooo much room! More pics of this when we have it up on the garden beds.

Just before it got soooooo hot, we had a few opportunities to play in the parks in town. Every trip to town Master 5 asks to go to 'his' train, so this particular day in town was the perfect opportunity as it was early and the sun had not heated it up too much - yet!







It is an old steam train and every time we drive to town it is requested we go play on it. Given it's high metal content and sunny disposition, it is not prime play equipment around here!

Master 5 not long had his latest birthday. He chose for his cake the number 5 decorated with trains, but changed his mind to have superheros (the theme of his party) garnish the cake. Not an easy task given my limited shopping opportunities and lack of suppliers around here but we managed to get something together he was proud of. I attempted for the first time to use fondant, and silly me decided since I could not buy any I would make my own, duh! After finding recipes and having no ingredients for regular fondant, I stumbled upon marshmallow fondant, and it seemed easy enough. I only started 'caking' at 8pm, the fondant making began around 9pm and it didn't finish until 1am! When my wonderful DH came home from work at midnight, I think he actually laughed at me! I had mess from the dining room to the other side of the kitchen, and I am still cleaning 'green stuff' off the walls wherever it appears. I ended up giving in to the 'failed' attempt at the fondant and put it in the fridge until the morning. Amazingly my goopy sludge had solidified and I was able to roll it like a fondant to decorate the cake in the morning. I have since read fondant does not work well in the heat, oh well, live and learn! The cake was a hit with none left over at the end of the party!



So, lesson learnt and will try again - one day!

Our gardens are growing well, tomatoes are nearly ready to pick, strawberries have runners going everywhere, ginger and tumeric looking healthy, have managed to revive my bok choy, chilli plants, chives and schallotts are all going well and the dirt is almost hidden under the grass. Can't wait to make it a more productive garden. Beetroot and other salad goods are struggling but so am I in this heat!

Off to get the bread out of the oven, and make the kids lunch (they have only been begging all morning for more and more and more food, starving little things they are!). Cheers!