Blossoms and Bugs

Every day when I look out the back window, I see our little peach tree in blossom and it makes me smile. It's been raining all week, so I didn't have a chance to take any photos until today. The little tree shows off it's pink flowers, brightening our grey days. We have some citrus blossoming, too: a mandarin and an orange. All of our fruit trees are really small still. We've lived here less than 3 years and our 'garden' was nothing but a pile of builders sand when we moved in.

E and I spent some time outdoors this afternoon because the weather finally cleared up a little. We just wandered around, looking at flowers and finding insects. There was a funny little spider sitting on an eggplant flower and lots of ants going about their business. We also found three little lady-beetles in different shades of red.

Being Springtime, a lot of plants are in flower. In our front garden, I have spotted a couple of little violas (pansies?) that have popped up on their own from the 'potted colour' I put in last Spring. The plants are so small, I hadn't even noticed them until the lovely purple and black flowers appeared. Back in the veggie garden, many of our herbs are now flowering (including the coriander  which is now taller than me, and the purple basil). Even our lettuce has started flowering. It must be about time to sow some more seeds.

 -Polly

Orange

Last week, we had yet another colour-themed day in our house. This time it was E's favourite colour: Orange! At first, I thought she simply liked to say, "Orange... orange..." It is a rather strange-sounding word, but then, many words are when you repeat them over and over. It turns out that orange really is her favourite colour at the moment. We went fabric-shopping not long ago and while I was choosing fabrics for myself, E and her Daddy headed to the other side of the store so that E could choose some fabrics for a new dress. They came back with the brightest orange fabrics that I have ever seen. Here's a picture of E using her new dress fabrics as blankets and tucking in her dolls. She's on an orange pillow, too:

I seem to have a lot of sewing projects going at the moment, but I always love to make things for E and my new pattern books arrived in the mail yesterday. :)

For our orange day, breakfast was easy: Orange! I cut up some orange and some mandarin for E to have a few segments. The rest was made into 'very orange' juice, which this time had orange, mandarin, tangelo and carrot. We served it in cups with pictures of oranges on them and used orange straws.

When we got dressed, I wore an orange t-shirt and E wore her favourite orange dress. Then we walked around the house, seeing what orange things we could find. Amongst other things, we found some orange balls, some orange blocks, some orange paper and a doll with orange hair.

We made some orange flowers using pipe cleaners, craft paper and crepe paper. I cut out the flower shapes and E pushed them onto the pipe cleaners. Each flower used one pipe cleaner, one craft paper flower and two crepe paper flowers. E then arranged them in a plastic vase with some wild lupin flowers that she had found the day before.

E had a great time swirling about some streamers that I made from some left-over crepe paper. She also spent a lot of time playing with orange play-dough and some more orange straws that I had cut into smaller lengths. We then used some more of the orange crepe paper, cut and torn into little pieces and stuck onto clear contact, to make another window decoration.

-Polly

Owl Fun

A short time ago, E was heading out with her dad to go visit a friend. I asked her which hat she would like to wear and she replied "Owl hat". The only problem was, she never had an "owl hat". After a short discussion ending with her telling us to "buy one!" she chose a different hat and was on her way. We didn't buy her an owl hat (and I have no idea where she got the idea from), but I did make her one the next day. She loves it and wears it nearly every day. She has a little skirt in the same fabric (the owls fabric, not the spotted one), but she hasn't worn them together yet. Actually, I made her a dress in the spotted fabric... I wonder if it still fits her.

I had planned on doing an owl-themed day with E in a few weeks' time (to give myself time to plan some activities), but her sudden new obsession with owls brought it forward a few weeks. It's a good thing that "owls" is another popular theme, as it was easy to find things to do.

It all started with E waking up one morning, walking over to my computer desk (I wasn't even at my computer at the time), pointing to the printer and saying "Owl". So... I did a quick google search and found a nice owl picture to colour in. She liked that I chose a picture with two owls. "One, two, one, two..."
Then I set about finding some more owl-themed things to try.

We found pictures of owls in some of E's animal books and we read "The Owl and the Pussycat". We 'flew' around the house saying "Whoo, hoo!" like an owl and made 'owl eyes' with our fingers. We drew pictures of owls on our blackboard and played with a little owl toy that I had made.

I found this owl mask and printed one. We got out E's bowl of crayons and coloured it together. The colours were all E's choice. I then cut it out and stuck it to a piece of cardboard to make it sturdier and cut holes to see through the eyes. We took it in turns holding it to our face and E still plays with it, days later.

After seeing these owl cupcakes on Almost Unschoolers, we had a go at making our own. We started by baking some vanilla cupcakes. When they were cool, we made some grey icing and iced them. I then broke open some cream biscuits and realised that they were way too big to stay on our little cupcakes. Oh well. The cupcakes were still yummy and we didn't need cream biscuits with them, anyway. We probably would have chosen a more appetising colour, though, if they weren't intended to be owls.

-Polly

Japanese Sewing Books

It can be hard to find time to craft and sew, so sometimes I'll go weeks without making anything. Sometimes, like these last couple of weeks, I will get inspired and sew in whatever spare minutes arise. This time around, I was mostly inspired by the 'Stylish Dress Book' (English edition), by Yoshiko Tsukiori, which arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I traced out a dress pattern, as I had some fabric in my stash which looked much like one used in the book (dress I). Then I realised that my fabric wasn't nearly wide enough. Oops. My husband chose a different dress from the book that he would like to see on me (of course he chose a tricky one) and we all went on a shopping trip to our local fabric store.

I have cut out the pieces for my dress, but they're still sitting on our dining table (I don't have a sewing room at the moment) because I had a couple of other projects that I wanted to get done first. These projects  included a pair of denim pants (or "jeans like Daddy") and a new hat for E. I used the 'Black Linen Hat' pattern from 'Carefree Clothes for Girls', by Junko Okawa. It's the second time that I've made this hat for E (although I've never used black or linen for them) and have a third one cut out and ready to sew. E loves that these hats sit so low on her head. People are always pulling her hat up so that they can see her eyes and she just gives them a look and pulls it straight down again. This doesn't help her habit of walking around with her head in the air. E's favourite dress is one that I made from this book, too. It's the 'Dress with Lace Doily' in orange cotton with a vintage doily that I found in a country op-shop. The dress is nearly two sizes bigger than I would usually make for her, but she loves it and there's plenty of room to grow.

These Japanese pattern books have been so inspiring that I've recently ordered three more. I see a lot of sewing in my future.

-Polly

L is for Leaves

We have had so many nice, clear days over the past week, I can't remember the last time I saw a cloud. E still likes to go outside and collect flowers so, the other day, I thought we'd mix it up a little. Instead of going out and collecting flowers, our morning walk became a leaf-finding expedition. E took along her little basket (another op-shop find) and we headed towards a local park where there are lots of big gum-trees. We found only a couple of fallen leaves along the way, but once we got to the park, her basket was soon filled.

We carried it back home and sorted through all the leaves that we had found. Some were long and some were short. Some were green, while others were brown, or orange, or even purple. Some were big and some were very small. It was a really good activity for introducing opposites and adjectives (although E, of course, just sees it all as talking and playing).

E had a great time making collages with some of the leaves, using pieces of clear contact that I had cut for her. The contact works really well for this because there's no need to use any messy glue and once they're finished, the leaves aren't going to fall off. We stuck the finished collages up on a window to let the sun shine through. The morning sun gives them a nice glow, showing all the different colours in the leaves, while the late afternoon sun gives a silhouette effect.


There were a lot of leaves left over after making the collages. I think we collected a few too many, but I may use it as an excuse to do another craft project with them later this week (if they last that long). Most of the left-over leaves were arranged in one of E's vases where she'd usually only have fresh flowers.

I also did a new drawing for our alphabet series (two leaves in the shape of an 'L') and E, as usual, helped with the colouring. It seems that activities with leaves are usually reserved for the Autumn months, when many leaves are changing colour and starting to fall. Doing these activities in Spring, meant that we found a lot of new leaves sprouting (like on our little plum tree which has just 'woken up' after the Winter) and we could compare different types of leaves on each new plant that we found. There just isn't as much variety in the leaves that are on the ground at this time of year.

-Polly

Family Weekend

This past weekend, we had family come to visit from interstate. They rented a holiday-home nearby and we met up every day that they were here. It was such a lovely way to spend a few days and the first time this year that we've seen any of our extended family. I didn't pull the camera out at all during their stay, so I don't have much to share in that regard. We were too busy enjoying the company and the beautiful weather.

Butterfly, flowers, Spring colours

My grandmother gave me this gorgeous bunch of flowers that are still looking pretty in the centre of our dining table. I particularly like the pink roses.

On the property where they were staying, there were horses and dogs and geese and chickens. One morning, the owners let E collect the eggs. She thought that was pretty special. Two of the three eggs made it home (one was dropped before we'd even left the chook-yard). The next day, I fried them in our person-shaped egg "ring". It was a nice treat, having fresh eggs and being able to see the good, healthy chickens that laid them.

I am the eggman...

Sometimes I wish that we didn't live so far from all our family, but it does make the time that we spend together even more special.

-Polly

Simply Spring

Each day brings more Spring weather: clear skies, warm sun and cool breezes. Each day we head outside, either for a walk around the neighbourhood or simply to the backyard to pick flowers and run around a bit. Back inside, E heads to her little, wooden table. It's placed up against a North-facing window, giving her a perfect, sunny place to do some flower arranging.

-Polly

Toddler Baking Time

Yesterday, E asked for cake for breakfast. I said no (and not just because we didn't have any). She settled for yoghurt and fruit. 

After breakfast, we decided to bake a cake. 

We picked a packet mix from the pantry (red velvet cake) and got to work.

We poured the dry mix into a big bowl.

We counted 1...2... eggs, beat them, and added them to the bowl.

We measured out 1...2...3... quarter cups of milk and added that to the bowl.

(I don't have any pictures of all this. It's quite mundane and I hadn't planned on blogging about it.)

Then my phone rang. I went into the next room to answer it and came back to this:

Yes, that's our half-mixed cake batter all over the kitchen floor. E had climbed up onto the counter and decided to try pouring it into the tin on her own. Most of it missed.

E taste-tested the spilt batter (from the tin, not the floor) while I salvaged the small amount left in the bowl. By adding a little extra liquid, to get it back to the right consistency, I managed to make 6 heart-shaped cupcakes. They were quite tasty.

So there's our latest baking adventure. Has anyone else been having fun in the kitchen?

-Polly

Choo, Choo!

Tunnel from IKEA

After a recent trip to IKEA, we were all in our living-room to assemble our new furniture. E had a great time stacking her new DRÖNA boxes and lining them up with her new tunnel and potty. She sat on the potty and told us that she'd made a train. I don't have a photo to share, but the boxes were the engine, the potty was the driver's seat and her tunnel was the carriage. I just love her imagination! It's not unusual for her to "make a train". It's her favourite thing to do with her wooden blocks at the moment. She'll line up all the larger blocks as the track and sort all the small, coloured blocks into different coloured train carriages. I'm not sure where her fascination with trains came from, but it made for a great theme day (well, two days, actually).

Steam Train

We began with our usual colouring-in of a picture of a train. I showed E a few choices and she chose one of an old American steam train. We coloured it using coloured pencils and stuck it up in our "picture spot" on the side of the kitchen counter. There's a different picture there each week and it's a useful spot because it's at E's eye level.

I have a set of Thomas the Tank Engine books from when I was young and we read a story from one of them before watching Thomas and Friends on TV. E was pretty excited to find out that Thomas has his own show and as soon as the episode finished, she asked "Again?" Now E will often request to watch "Tom Train".

Then lunch was ready: a cheese and vegemite sandwich (one of E's favourites) with a bit of a twist. I made it look like a train by cutting it up and adding some carrot 'wheels', stuck on with a bit of peanut butter, and a dill pickle 'funnel'.

Train Sandwich

Taking E's lead, we made a train from wooden blocks. This time, instead of using more blocks as the track, I drew a train track on our blackboard (laid flat on the floor) and E pushed the block-train along on that.

The next day, we made a bigger train using cardboard boxes, masking tape and a few paper plates. We didn't paint it and make it all pretty like this one, but it was still fun. One of E's dolls became the driver and E sat in a carriage along with some of her other soft toys. Toy Tigger wasn't allowed in the train because he's "too bouncy". E had a turn at being driver, too, sitting where her doll is in the picture with one leg either side of the funnel.

Cardboard box train

Looking around online, I found a lot of 'train' ideas and activities for kids. It's a popular theme. One printable that I found is this set of papercraft trains from Sanrio. They are so cute. Each page has a train and a carriage as well as other accessories such as houses, boats or farm animals. The site is all in Japanese, but they're so simple that it's not necessary to be able to read it. There's little pictures to show you what the models should look like. E's not ready to make crafts like these, but I couldn't resist making some for her. She had great fun playing with them on another chalkboard track.

Sanrio Paper Train set

For a train-themed song, we sang 'Down at the Station'. E didn't know what "puffer-billies" were (who could blame her?). Once I explained it to her, it was requested again and again as we rode along in our cardboard box train. At night, as E lies in bed, I almost always sing 'Morningtown Ride' to her and she was quite pleased to realise that this, too, is about a train.

Chugga-chugga, Choo-choo!

-Polly

More Flowers

Today is the first day of Spring. We have certainly been noticing the Spring weather this week, as have many of our neighbours. The local playground has been much busier than it was over Winter. While we do occasionally stop there, most of our neighbourhood walks are just that: walks. We wander along at a toddler's pace, examining random flowers and rocks along the way. There have certainly been a lot more flowers recently.

One day in particular, we walked along our street and found a lot of flowering weeds on the verge. "Flowers!" cried E. "More flowers!" She'd take a couple of steps... "More flowers!" Because they were weeds, I let her pick some. Another day, we were doing much the same thing in our backyard, and again E ended up with a handful of flowers (weeds). We went out into the front yard and found more flowers and E was quite excited. A neighbour, who was also out  in her front garden, let E pick as many of her 'flowers' (more weeds) as she liked.

We do also have somewhat intentional flowers in our gardens, such as the nectarine blossoms, eggplant, rocket and kai laan flowers and a couple of little pea flowers, all in the backyard. I can't remember the names of the plants that we have in our front garden, but many of them are now in flower, too. There's little purple flowers on some grassy plants and little red flowers on some sort of succulent. There's also a big, fuzzy bush that looks like it's going to flower, for the first time, perhaps this week.

Birds have been quite active around the place with all this Spring weather. We often see green parrots land on our back fence and there have been a lot of pink galahs around, too. There are also a couple of families of magpies that stalk a local park and the roundabout at the end of our street. I haven't seen any of the black cockatoos lately. I know they're quite rare, but there was a flock of them that lived in the local scrub. Unfortunately, a lot of the scrub has been bulldozed to make way for more houses. We people take up a lot of space.

Our garden is also full of insect life. While pulling weeds the other day, we came across some fuzzy caterpillars, some black beetles, some little ants and a whole bunch of different bugs that I can't name. We also have green caterpillars and slugs and tiny little pointy-shelled snails. They all like to eat our veggies. There are crickets and grasshoppers and butterflies and flies. We have found many different spiders. I'd rather not have the red-backs, but the rest are okay. We were quite happy to find a couple of ladybugs the other day. E likes to watch the bees collect pollen, possibly because they're always on the prettiest flowers.

E and I were out in our front garden again this morning and picked even more flowers. I really should do something about those weeds. :)

_______________________________

Okay, I meant to post this a couple of days ago, obviously, as it's no longer the first day of Spring. I am sitting by our back door, right now, watching a storm. It's a storm that's supposed to be worse tomorrow and is affecting pretty much the whole West coast of Australia. E and I did get outside for a bit this morning, before the storm hit, and E collected one more bunch of 'wild-flowers'. Sounds much nicer than 'weeds' doesn't it?

Happy Spring!

-Polly