6/2/12: our 13th wedding anniversary! I feel so happy, and so very, very lucky!

7/2/12: it’s the last day of my children’s summer holidays! I labelled books and clothes. I lay uniforms out for them to dress into in the morning. Luckily I had a friend visit, and we got new chooks – otherwise I might’ve been a bit sad! It was a great day!

When I see my 8-year-old in a photo like this, I can almost see how she will look when she is a grown woman. My heart swells with pride, but aches a little as well, because she is growing up so quickly. Here’s Georgia, with her new chook, Chelsea.

8/2/12: first day of school. They were incredibly excited and happy. I felt proud, albeit a bit lost and lonely. I had tears as I drove away from their school. Matthew had waved goodbye to me nonchalantly, as he busied himself with a game with his friends. To make it worse, Ella was so excited to go to Childcare that she ran off to explore. I had to grab her to kiss her goodbye. I am sure that my children adore me, and it is good that they are happy, confident, social beings – but I miss them, and they grow so fast.
What did I do when my children were out? I met a friend for morning tea. I read my favourite blogs. I had lunch with husband. I started sewing a new skirt. Twas all right in the end.

9/2/12: there has to be some benefit to being awoken at 4:30am – first by a whingeing cat and then by a thirsty baby who is demanding ‘drink’ and ‘juice,’ and pointing to the bedroom door. Naturally I love cuddles with Elora, but I do like sleep too. When I saw this sight, however, I thought that it wasn’t such a bad thing to be up at the first whiff of a sparrow’s fart.

I sewed a lot today: this skirt, a recorder bag (see this post) and a bag for myself. I have love-love-loved my summer holiday.

10/2/12: feeling sorry for myself. An op shop purchase of this Tupperware at bargain price made me smile: I love collecting retro Tupperware! Then my husband cheered me up by making me some lunch, which we ate on the deck. Sometimes you need comfort food.

11/2/12: a quiet day with the children, starting off with a pancake breakfast (as is our tradition when the weather is cool and the fire is on!) – outside on the deck in the sunshine.

I also found much joy as I investigated our vege garden with Matthew. We picked zucchinis and tomatoes and we checked on carrots, pumpkins, lettuce, onions and weeds. The weeds are doing particularly well! Matty collected veges in his special Easter basket. So very, very adorable, is he.

12/2/12: I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with this whole halfway-through-February thing, and the end of the summer holidays is well and truly upon me. There are a few exciting things coming our way, about which I am sure to post about soon. In my melancholic state I found a sense of wonder, surprise and joy at the masses of butterflies that are flitting about our fields. Elora was very impressed with the little creatures too!