27/2/12: evening on the deck, enjoying the warm sun, with the thought that soon the weather will turn cool. I came home from work to find my three children playing schools outdoors. It was such an elaborate game – they play it often – and I approve wholeheartedly. even Ella joined in.

28/2/12: picking zucchinis that were a bit on the large side was fun for Ella and me. She really got the hang of twisting them to pull them off the vine. She carried some over to monte and made all kinds of noises, which sounded like: ‘look daddy, I’ve got zucchinis!’ Her talking is developing rapidly at the moment. So is her strength. She doesn’t like having nappies put on and she sure does kick hard! Anyway, here’s the little cherub with her prize zucchinis.

29/2/12: last day of summer – such a pity. We played outside after school. The children love running around in the paddocks and the dogs like following them. It was a particularly beautiful afternoon.

1/3/12: March? Autumn? We all came home at the end of a busy day. Whilst monte brought in the shopping, I hobbled* into the kids’ room to find them all working together to build Matthew’s new spiderman toy. They are all such good mates, and they work and play so well together.
*Whilst side stepping Diego so I didn’t trip, I walked into the toy box and have a suspected broken toe/foot!

And what is wrong (or right) with this picture? Elora has grown up so much over the past few months that she is now insisting on sitting at the table and eating with cutlery, just like the rest of us.

2/3/12: we all went out to dinner with the bank, and the children enjoyed playing and running about with their friends. Even Elora showed how grown up she is getting by climbing up the ladder and going down the slide – again and again and again! It was thirsty work. Here, Matthew is drinking the juice that he had to wait ten minutes for.

The drive home after dinner was interesting too. We saw bunnies, wallabies, kangaroos, possums, a rat and a black eastern quoll.

3/3/12: I have had the best day. I had the cleaning done in the morning and it was great to have that out of the way. After that, I harvested pumpkins, tomatoes, zucchinis and broccoli from our garden. Then we went to herd a special delivery of cows into our farm. We had a BBQ lunch of bacon and eggs. When Elora was asleep I did some sewing. In the midst of my busyness I managed to do three loads of washing. We had a delicious dinner on the deck and a group effort was required to bring the washing in before the rain. A relaxing evening with my tractor-driving/fence-building/computer-programmer farmer boy was in order.
The greatest thing about today was the uplifting feeling that we are finally doing what we came here for. We have lots of food growing at Fangorn! I’m so excited. I’m so happy. I’ve been bouncing off the walls today.

4/3/12: I don’t know where to begin. Today has been so very good. I am so very happy. I feel complete. I feel grounded. I feel like my life is exactly where I want it. The day started off perfectly, with the whole family in our bed, chatting away. I’ve filled the day with children, cooking, investigating the garden and traipsing through long-grassed paddocks watching goats and cows, stealing kisses from my beloved every once in a while. I am loving my life and I think I am living the way I dreamed to live. Yay!

I spent the day cooking. The first thing I made was a hearty minestrone for lunch. It was healthy, beautiful, warm, nutritious, satisfying and delicious and that is what my life feels like right now.