birthday girls

today is big sister's 2.5 birthday
(she's cuddling kumi, a member of our new house,
who likes to demonstrate appropriate behaviour to the kids
through dinner-time role-plays!)

and little sister turned 10 months earlier this week
(a little plug for the sweet poison quit plan here,
with whose help i am now able to wear these pre-baby jeans again!)

window art

big sister and i have been doing some window artworks lately
idea and instructions from here.

above are some birds,
which in lent remind us that God provides all we need
and also that we have been freed from the control of sin and death
through Jesus' death in our place and his resurrection.

below are some autumn leaves,
which we made yesterday with some local little friends,
to celebrate the autumn equinox.

the golden leaves have turned to rust,
the silver clouds to grey;
we give thanks for the autumn
as the summer slips away.
(from the lion book of 1000 prayers for children)

he is risen

our new lent/easter bunting
made from paint chips
gathered on a trip to 600 bucks (aka bunnings)
during the last days at our old place.

idea from someone else who i can't remember!

my birthday

today has been a wonderful celebration of my birthday,
and has left me feeling completely assured
that moving into this big, communal house
was a most excellent, God-at-work-in-our-life idea.

my housemate, j, made the amazing rainbow cake above
and secretly conspired with husband to invite
some special friends over for morning tea.
the kidlets created mayhem, inside and out,
but the spaciousness meant it wasn't overwhelming at all.
we talked openly about life and mothering,
and the kids even sat quietly around the table,
glueing tissue paper to glass jars
to make the tea-light candle-holders above,
which in lent remind us that Jesus is the light of the world.

later, i had 2 hours of alone time, while j watched the girls,
and while i enjoyed the freedom,
i returned home with a fresh sense of delight in my family.

and now fish and chips awaits!

lent tree

our lent tree:
a branch from our peach tree,
covered with origami butterflies,
to remind us of the new life Jesus made possible for us
through his death and resurrection,
which we remember throughout lent and at easter,
accompanied by these verses:

Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
(The gospel of John, ch.10, verses 10b-11)

punishment

this is the pile of books i had to mend this afternoon.
3 belonging to our little housemate, and 4 belonging to us -
including big sister's current favourite, cinderella.
i made big sister sit at the table and watch me fix them,
my desperate attempt to get her to comprehend the badness of what she'd done.
from the look on her face, do you think she's repentant?
sigh...

haircut time

the secret to keeping your child's head still whilst getting a haircut:
a spray bottle full of water!

little sister used it as a drinking fountain
while big sister drenched herself silly
now that she's strong enough to pull the trigger.

from darwin: part 3

viewing the florence falls

paddling at the buley rockhole

resting by the florence falls swimming hole

marvelling at the termite mounds

our last full day in the top end was spent at litchfield NP.
and here endeth this series of darwin photos!

from darwin: part 2

morning tea-time at the waterfront

going for a squiz at the queen mary 2 from uncle a's fishing boat

getting a babycino fix at cullen bay, before feeding the fish

after dinner entertainment from the jetty restaurant

from darwin: part 1

oh, how i've longed to be back in blogland much sooner than this!
but finally the technical issues are resolved,
and life is calming down
after our trip to darwin, packing and moving house.

here are some pics from our first couple of days in darwin,
with more to come later
(and more on lent and our new communal house too):

travelling by ferry to mandorah with the lovely j

picnicing at mandorah, in the shade of the palm trees

eyeballing crocs at crocosaurus cove
(big sister liked them best in the glass cabinets!)

chilling out in aunty and uncle's pool each afternoon

growth and stuff

muffins to energise everyone moving our friends
into our (meaning ours and theirs) new place tomorrow
(full of dairy and wheat and sugary goodness!)

tomato (singular) and beans and basil from our garden
(sadly our tomatoes will be at their best
right as we move to our new place - murphy strikes again)

and today is little sister's 9 month birthday!

she's grown in confidence, charm, agility and dexterity,
and developed a fascination with technology this past month.

our controlled crying experiment produced
a week of full night's sleep
but she has regressed and i have weakened
and since we jet off to darwin tomorrow,
and move into our new house soon after we return,
i'm not sure when we'll get a chance to fix things properly.
oh well. it was a nice week!

p.s. just about to unplug our modem to move it to the new house,
so apologies if i don't make it back here for a little while.

a prayer for lent

painting by big sister, yesterday

the season of lent begins next wednesday
and i wanted to share with you a prayer i composed
which we will say each night at the dinner table:

God, please prepare our hearts this Lent

To remember Jesus, whom you sent:

Jesus, who died upon the cross

To take our sins and pay our cost;

Jesus, who lay, our lifeless king

Apart from you, close us to bring;

Jesus, who rose in victory

So sin and death have no hold on me,

And with you forever we will be. Amen.

happy valentines day!

we've been busy this past week
getting ready to move house!

we call our new place, "the big house"
because it's 4 times the size of our current place.
we're going to be sharing it with some friends of ours -
another family, in a very similar stage of life to us,
with whom we look forward to working together
to love the people in our lives in a more effective way
than we can alone.

this morning we made 6 origami hearts -
one for each year that husband and i have been married -
adorned with the words "i love you,"
as a little celebration of valentine's day.

origami heart tutorial from here.

happy wednesday!

making birthday cards
bouncing balloons
happy wednesday afternoon!

want a smile? just dance!

little sister is proving to be
a much more intense personality than big sister.
but if you want her to smile,
you've just got to dance!

playing

look who's discovered the piano!

saturday sweetness

this morning we feasted
on banana pancakes with rice malt syrup
(a fructose-free honey alternative available at supermarkets):

:: ingredients ::
2 bananas
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

:: whizz together in a blender ::
:: cook in a frying pan like any other pancake ::
:: the mixture is fairly thin ::
:: we made 9 decent-sized pancakes from this batter ::

recipe originally from bridging foods

(note: this recipe is fructose-avoider-friendly
if you don't eat any other fruit for the day)

this is a picture of big sister (in the white dress)
with her friend k (in the purple dress)
outside at night-time with a dinosaur.
little sister is one of the stars.

while sisters sleep

while little sister slept,
big sister and i planted broccoli seeds
in newspaper pots.

while big sister slept,
little sister played with big sister's bike,
which will become hers soon enough.

while my girls rarely sleep at the same time,
i don't really mind,
because it's nice to have a little companion,
and to spend time alone with each one.

candlemas

candlemas: february 2nd
40 days after christmas
the halfway point between solstice and equinox
remembering jesus' presentation at the temple
the story of anna and simeon
proclaiming jesus as the light of the world

we ate dinner by candlelight and prayed:

candle, burn with golden fire
in the darkest night;
Jesus, help me follow you;
make my whole world bright.

and

Jesus, you are the light of the world.
may we live our lives as you taught,
so that your light will shine through us
in all we think and say and do.
amen.

toddler tuesday

"look mum! it's a 'raffe! and a zebra!"
big sister enjoyed a safari bus tour
with the singing and dancing bus driver
on toddler tuesday at werribee open range zoo