Another home-day assortment

I love these quiet days at home! For a few weeks, the girls had been asking for the TV a fair bit, but this week it has barely been on (and almost without exception in the late evening while nursing Rowan to sleep after the others are in bed, she won't tolerate me doing ANYTHING else during that last feed before sleep). I think they must feel now, as I do, that there is far too much on offer at this time of year to be bored.

Yesterday was a garden day again. It was also a baking kind of day - I took the hint when the baby starting making play-food soup. Morgan did some Montessori spooning and pouring games, then helped me make a yummy green risotto (peas, spinach, kale, leek and leftover blue cheese) which we saved for dinner today. And I did some more raw baking, seed crackers which nobody else likes. Ah well. ;) Raw Strawberry Pie or a Raw Cheescake are on the cards for my next attempts, and you can BET they'll all eat those!Pixie Jenna at the top of the pole that holds our washing line (and in hot or wet weather, the sail that shades the patio area). I have NO IDEA how she can climb that pole so easily, but up and down she went, saying "watch me, watch me, I'm going to go to the top again, I can see for MILES!"Pixie Morgan requested a little bed and promptly fell asleep in it for a couple of hours yesterday. Jenna took the quiet moment to help me water the plants and bake bread and mash potatoes for tea (colcannon again, yum)! While we were baking she suggested lots of yummy additions to the bread. Can we have fruit in it, mama? Can I put some chocolate powder in? When I'm a teenager, I'm going to make lots of fun made-up recipes, and you'll come home and say, "oh my goodness, what has been going on in here??!" *cuteness*A game of Scrabble this morning, and a new project on the hooks (fushia shorties for Morgan). Martin won the game. I would blame lack of concentration, but he already gave me an excuse saying that he only wins when I help him. ;) We are playing more and more board games together, thankfully we aren't competitive enough for it to cause strife.This afternoon in the searing dry heat of the garden my little flowers were looking a bit wilted. In spite of several green-juice ice-lollies each. So in we trooped to be re-sun-screened and get a cold drink. I have started making "nursery tea" again (chamomile tea with a glug of fruit cordial) and chilling it in a large jug. It tastes gorgeous, and smells so summery and comforting. Just the smell of my first batch this year made me think of the sweet early months of Rowan's life, when we discovered this drink! In the cool of the living room with all the windows flung wide, they played trains until the shadows had returned to our garden a little and they could get back to the sand box and soil and picking-of-wildness for mixing potions.