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Happy Birthday to mine, Ella and Leila's beloved.  You are our everything. xx

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I've talked about the tradition of Easter hunts in my family and think it's not something everyone does.  Geoff certainly never did in his family, not with clues anyway, just the hunting for chocolate kind.  It's the highlight of the girls' Easter, more so than the chocolate.

This year the Easter bunny had Leila read her clues now she's a school girl and Ella had cryptic clues with the answers in a word hunt.

I'd liaised with the Easter bunny and at the end were handmade Maggie rabbits for each of them and, of course, some chocolate.  The rabbits were adoringly received - so so worth the effort of every stitch, plus a hundred times more.  Enjoy the time with your families.

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A delicious Easter dinner at Nan and Pa's when I was far to absorbed in delicious food to take photos.  After dinner activities always include a number of dance performances, both in a pair and individually.  Last night lights off shadow dancing was a highlight - the next best thing to dancing in front of a mirror.

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Photos by ella.

Happy Birthday mum x

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A rainbow of balloons greeted her after school and the cake was as requested, chocolate, chocolate and little more to decorate.

This is the first year Ella's had to go to school on her birthday, it's just worked out this way.  She was anxious as it wouldn't be the same if she had to go to school.  Last night, when her dinner was over and it was time for bed, there were a few tears.  The birthday was so good she didn't want it to end.

My friends were so nice to me at school, nicer than normal.  You and dad spoiled me, my family made time to be with me and everyone spent so much money buying me special things, I just feel wonderful and I wish it never had to end.

9th birthday declared a success xxxx

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I know all parents think their children beautiful, but my gosh there are times when I look at you and I wonder how I managed to be half of creating some so utterly gorgeous.

You are a calm child, quietly confident, but prone to moments of absolute lunacy!  For all your crazy accents, funny dances and dramatic moments, you counter them with such quiet and stillness that I wonder what goes on behind that pooled brown eyes.

The two sides of you are captured perfectly in these photos.  The first, my beautiful girl, just woken; the next your funny side, wearing your longed for clear glasses.

You are cool, clever, loving, smart, hilarious and all, all mine.  Happy 9th Birthday xxxxx

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Last night we joined Jo, her family and friends, for a Winter Solstice celebration.  Strictly speaking we're not there yet as it's on the 21st, but it was more than close enough.

I was having far too much fun to take photos in the dark, I couldn't see the buttons!  There was a glorious fire, the kids made latterns and took a very dark walk around the edge of the property and I was pleased not to be the one who fell down.  There were toasted marshmallows, smores and today all our clothes smell like an outdoor barbecue.

The glow sticks still have a little glow left in them, at least that's what Leila tells me from under her bed with the lights switched off.

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Lest you think there was no chocolate in our days, I made the darkest of dark fudge sauces to go with our pears. It was dark, rich, a bit bitter and more than enough sweetness for me.

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We're busy with Easter preparations in this part, with the decorated eggs forming part of our table decorations. They do smell, however, rather eggy... not sure if that dissipates as they cool otherwise, hmmmm.

Homemade hot cross buns are a necessity and although I know I'm particular about my bread and admit that I'm not an artisan baker, these are way way better than any supermarket or chain bakery bun and honestly, really not at all hard.

I'm big on illusions around here, fairies, Christmas, Easter. This week Ella asked me if the Easter Bunny was real. I never say yes directly, instead "why do you ask darling" oh I don't know mum, I'm just not sure. I always fob and give responses such as "how sad for those children who don't believe, what do they do at Easter time if the Easter bunny doesn't visit?". I do wonder how long it will last though and worry when it ends. Ella is such a true believer in fantasy, I know she'll be sad to think they're not real. Is it wrong to want to carry it on forever?!

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These are 1960's style photos, but that's not really accurate to my dear husband. I am a 60's girl, scraping in with November '69, but he is a March '71 boy. My mother married a younger man and it worked so well for her I followed suit.

We've had our moments, my man and I, we've challenged each other in most ways possible. We've infuriated each other, we've had absolute lows and highs. At times we've lost sight of the most important fact of all, how very much we love each other. Actually that's not entirely true, perhaps it's the fact that we never truly lost sight of that, of how much we need and WANT each other, that we put up with the bad moments.

I feel we're walking in light again. As I'm constantly surprised after my 42+ years of living, in learning about myself, there is always something new to know. So after all our years together, you still surprise me, intrigue me, beguile me and generally keep me interested and wanting only you.

Happy birthday my love.

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We do tend to amuse ourselves.

Happy New Year!

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Many of my colleagues at work are a good 10-15 years younger than me, so in their world NYE is a big night. I was asked the question of what I was doing a lot this past week. I felt no reservations in saying I was staying at home and celebrating with my favourite people in the whole world.

We had good champagne (although one bottle is NOT enough), some dark and stormies, the girls had strawberry lemonade cocktails. We had a selection of tapas, bbq corn tostadas, parmesan and pesto toasts, bbq prawns with pico de gallo, homemade pizza, tropical fruit salad with icecream. We talked, we danced and Geoff woke me from my couch slumber at two minutes past midnight.

I've spoken about how challenging this year has been for my family and I. Today we've commenced a new year and I have to say that my darling brother died last year which in itself shows how time marches ever forward. The girls, Geoff and I have all had our separate struggles but honestly, at the core of it all some things have never changed. I and we are healthy. I have a wonderful family whom I love so much. I need to focus more on gratitude for what I have and acceptance of those things I can't change. I need to be a little more adaptable in my attitudes and more forgiving of those closest to me.

I'm looking forward to this year. I won't also include my goals to eat better, exercise more as those are generally a given aren't they? I want to wish you all the best for this new year, you have all added pleasure to my days with your words either in response to my own, or through sharing the events in your life and those of your family. Roll on 2012.

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Crazy Christmas Day sky.

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I was simply too weary to tackle gingerbread houses this year. We have made them every year, but this year I've been kind to myself and just said, I can't manage it. We did, however, made gingerbread trees. We've had an extra child on board, a dear child to us, for the past few days, but the dynamic of three is a little challenging. She's Ella's best friend and the two of them are very tight, so the little one feels left out. It's a hard balance, sharing, but allowing the older ones space.

I confess about 3pm I was wondering why I had to do extra things to drive myself crazy, like baking gingerbread in 30+ weather. But, they had fun and honestly, that's the reason why you do these things, or why I do at least.

Tempering chocolate for peppermint bark was a disaster in humid weather, so I'll give that a whirl again in the morning.

We're off to my outlaws for Christmas Eve festivities tomorrow but right now I'm going to sit in the garden and enjoy a glass of prosecco with a slice of lime. Chin chin.

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We started a little Christmas baking today, although only to try out some new cutters. We have a positive frenzy planned for the weekend, the idea being to gift to teachers and some friends and family. On the menu are nougat with pistachio and cranberry, espresso truffles (we've bought special moulds for those), salted caramels and we saw a great idea for hot chocolate on a stick, oh and another version of ganache in a jar. It's not really hot chocolate weather here, of course, but what the heck.

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Our house is decorated and I feel very "of the season", but I find it hard to capture the look as they are smaller details rather than a full flurry of big statement items.

These pieces are all on our large built in unit in our lounge/dining, our main (who am I kidding - only) living area.

I'm feeling very festive right now. I have a stiff neck from gift wrapping; the house smells like a delicious mix of butter, orange and vanilla as pannetone is out of the oven. The smell I'd love to add to the mix is the warm spiciness of mulled wine! Perhaps after 5.....

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The advent calendar is hung and eager fingers are busy "looking" at each piece.


The first of this years "Pozie" ornaments is finished.


Two more ticks on the Christmas list.