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There are a few expressions that I use on a regular basis in my home, with the girls.

That's enough squabbling. Is a popular one

Is that a nice way to ask? Is another.

I realised yesterday that there's one that I say a lot in various forms when baking, be it bread or cakes, which we do a lot. It's a long expression and it goes something like this Now you know that I don't mind you licking the spoon/knife/bowl but I've said before, we don't lick until we've finished otherwise it's like you're licking my piece of cake.

Of course I don't really mind when it's my piece that's being licked, which it most often is, but you know we parents are here to set an example, albeit a shaky one!

Hazelnut cake recipe from here.

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My list of 2010 books. It looks quite sparse now I see them all grouped together. I'll try to read more and more widely this year.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Freedom by Jonathan Franzel
Gifts from the Sea
Infidel my Life by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Julie & Julia - My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Lilla's Feast by Frances Osborne
Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham
Push by Sapphire
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Gourmet by Muriel Barbery
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller

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We're counting the days, not to wish them over, but because there seem to be so few of them left. Take out working days and there are nowhere near enough.

Today we're taking things slow. We've picked basil and zuchinnis from the garden. We've made pesto. A hazelnut cake from this book is in the oven. Leila's made a collage picture of Red Riding Hood and the wolf; Ella's made a collage of the gingerbread house. We've read a letter from a dear friend in Darwin and a reply is in the making.

I've made a very big and conscious decision to try and slow down this year. It was partly imposed upon me by a younger daughter who simply does not thrive in stressful situations - but then who does? It has come as a somewhat shameful surprise to me, purely because I feel I should have known, just how much me altering my attitude has made life easier for my youngest one.

A dear reader called Helen has been a big support and honestly did set me on the right path in terms of looking at things in a new way. We're repeating 3 year old kinder this year. I'm not 100% right that it's the completely right choice although I can't really tell you why I feel that way. Perhaps it's because it's an anxiety issue and I worry that whatever situation it will still be hard. However, time and maturity alone may help with that. I'm hopeful that this year will be easier and perhaps even joyful. I'm going in with that mindset and hope it rubs off.

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Today we went to the beach for the first time this summer, appalling isn't it. Bayside beaches, such as this one, take us a good 45-50 minutes to get to and it's such a drag of a drive. We really should have gone to the peninsula, but by the time we'd decided it was already lunchtime.

We always say we should go more often, the girls adore it. Neither of us were brought up as beach lovers, at least not in our home lives. Geoff's dad was raised in Byron Bay, his mum in Queensland, so they went to one or the other for most family holidays. I went to bayside beaches to walk our dog.

Geoff's much more confident than me in the ocean. I love quiet almost still ocean waters to swim in, although I love watching them crash in wildly, even if I don't want to put my body in harm's way. I choose not to call it fear but more a healthy respect for all it can do and my own limitiations in terms of saving myself or indeed anyone else.

I can understand the appeal of living next to the beach, there's something revitalising about it. On holidays most dream of the perfect ocean view so we can sit and waste away hours just enjoying it's majesty.

School hasn't gone back yet, so the hot weather hasn't even begun. We've got plenty of summer left to visit again.

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This is Professor Paws. He spends half his time on this window sill miawing at the birds outside, the other half he spends asleep on Ella's bed.

Professor Paws belongs to Olive and Archie, who have been Ella's dear friends for the past 4 years. They've become closer of late, Ella, Olive and Archie that is (Mr Paws just moved here) and soon their cousins, Polly and Harry, will be moving into Leila's room.

If you're unfamiliar with these Wee Wonderfuls, you really should check them out.

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I always think if I could just take pictures of myself, then I'd look great! So anyway, I thought I looked really nice but as we couldn't catch it successfully on film, I've just included the dress. I ended up leaving it grey, it washed up nicely and at mum's suggestion I used some spray starch. Now I'm not a big ironer by any means and actually avoid it as much as I can, but I loved this spray - it makes ironing easier and it smells good.

We had a lovely night although getting into bed at 3am is just too much for us these days. I honestly can't understand where the time went, and when we were eating suckling pig at the Supper Inn at 1:30, I did think it was a little late!

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I realise how fast time flies when I finally get around to finishing a project that was dreamt up I think nearly two years ago!

I saw this dress on etsylong ago but procrastinated about it for ages because it was shorter than I normally wear. Of course by time I decided I REALLY wanted it, it was sold with no more forthcoming.

So, I mentioned this and Leonie from Raglan Guld (whose site I can no longer seem to find) kindly sent me some homespun she didn't need anymore. Fast forward almost two years and we have an engagement party at a rather swish bar in the city this weekend and it says "dress for a party". I'm sorry to admit that clearly I don't party enough anymore that this sent me into a wardrobe tailspin. So, I finally gave this copy dress a whirl. I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out, although I won't model it just yet. I have a little more beading to do but the one thing I'm unsure of is the colour. I didn't give it a lot of thought before I started sewing (as is my want) because I thought I'd just give it a try. Now it looks quite nice I"m just not sure that this grey does much for me.

I bought some dye today, in a soft slate blue, not unlike the original dress, and have test dyed a swatch, it looks good. I can't decide whether to go for it though. One daughter says it's lovely as it is, the other says dye it. What to do?