1/1/12
Elora has a bath and her radiant smile brings me joy

2/1/12
After dinner, we spent a couple of hours outdoors. Whilst the children were playing on the swings, monte and I plaited the garlic that monte had just harvested.

3/1/11
It’s no secret that I love baking muffins. Banana choc chip muffins are certainly no exception, and served with cream for dessert really puts a smile on my dial. you can find the recipe on this post

4/1/12
My lovely little boy ate all his dinner this evening. And then he had seconds! He’s growing so much!

5/1/12
Having a cup of tea with my firstborn. We had a lovely day of craft, nail painting, a trip to the play ground and a cup of tea to finish off our special time. I wuv her.

6/1/12
A lovely day out with my beautiful children! I scored some beaut finds at the local op shop.

7/1/12
I had a beautiful day out with my three children.

And I found beautiful purple blessings in my garden.

8/1/12
I can’t decide which was the highlight of the day. Our deck and pergola are complete. Monte put up the shelf for my sewing nook, as well as the bunk in little M’s room. Plus, monte and a mate removed the window and wall panel that was in the room that the children slept in in the cabin. Slowly, it looks less and less like we lived in that cabin!

I think my favourite part of today was sitting outdoors, having coffee and breakfast with monte. It was early, sunny and still. The children were asleep and we chatted about so much! The sky was magic.

9/1/12
Whilst Georgia and Matthew spent the day with their friends, I relished in the opportunity to spend quality time with our little Ella. I love watching her learn. We played tea parties. We played with her dolly, putting her to bed and pushing her around in the pram. We played with stacking toys. I set up a cubby for her indoors, and we huddled in there, and played peekaboo.

And another great thing for me was having complete peace and quiet during her 3 hour nap, during which I completed some jobs and sewed her a new pair of pants:

10/1/12
A beautiful friend of mine visited me today. We weeded done of the garden together and drank tea from my favourite tea cups, in the sunshine. She brought the most delicious cherries to eat:

11/1/12
I am reading a great book. It is set in Shanghai. I love reading (translated) Asian literature. I have been relaying some events to Monte. When I made yet another salad for dinner, he added an Asian spin to the chicken breast, and presented me with a warm honey-soy-chicken salad, and it looked beautiful, and made me smile, because amidst of the noise of children and their excited storytelling, I found a bit of inner peace as I partook in the simple task of eating with my family.

12/1/12
I can’t decide. My days are filled with so much beauty and joy, as I enjoy the summer and being home with my family. The freshly caught salmon monte baked for dinner was feasted on outdoors; I sat in my nook and sewed for several hours; I found rainbows everywhere around my sewing table (and took photos of it all); I ate hardly anything and baulked at the scales…
But my favourite thing was the adventure in the playground. Grandma came along. Georgie packed a picnic basket filled with goodies. Elora ate two apples. We tottered about with bare feet. We swung on the flying fox and we relaxed on the picnic blanket in the dappled shade. Hello. My name is rebecca and I am addicted to this life. Summer, I love you.

13/1/12
In the midst of a busy day, I found peace, solitude, warmth and adoration during the simple moment of breastfeeding my 15 month old baby. This is love.

14/1/12
At the end of a brilliant day I find myself wondering which moment was my favourite. I had the utmost pleasure of dining with two of my favourite people – at separate moments (lunch with daughter, romantic dinner with husband) – and eating and enjoying wonderful food and company, not to mention other bits and pieces, like clever shopping – involving the most divine bag, children’s armchair and a light fitting, all from local businesses!
I could dedicate a ten-part series of photos about today, so wonderful it was! I settle on this, a balloon note game that I payed with wonder-g after a day of shopping and dining. I could write for hours about this day!

15/1/12
The Hobart kite festival was so much fun today. We flew kites and picnicked in the shade of a tree whilst watching hundreds of kites flying in the blue sky. The children had the utmost fun, and we enjoyed the day with friends and Monte’s parents as well! To top it off, I got to visit Spotlight, where I bought yet more supplies for some projects I have on the cards (don’t tell Monte, there’s more fabric arriving in the post this week too!).

16/1/12
Another day has come to an end and I am trying to decide which part of the day was the highlight. I found a magnificent sunrise at 5:30am, giving me a sense of purpose, when I was awake (and had been for a while) but really didn’t want to be. I found a beautiful dress at the op shop for this Saturday’s big date. I spent the evening soaked in the still, calm balminess of twilight and I had a snack of cherries with my beautiful baby girl after 9pm – she was unusually wide awake. I’m going with the cherries, because Ella was saying ‘cherries,’ and I am enjoying her language explosion immensely.
But here’s the photo collage I did anyway: