Week in Pictures

1. Churchyard
2. Monkey grin
3. Product photography in the garden
4. Blue skies
5. A pixie hat commission
6. More ridiculously dimply gorgeousness
7. Home made caramel for "Butterbeer" for the children

A Yes Day

It has been another long week for Martin, and so another long week for me too, when he hasn't had a whole day off in nearly two weeks, and I'm starting to allow myself to turn parenting into a round of chores to be ticked off so I can get to the fun stuff...

Yesterday I woke up, and thought to myself, it can be a chore - or it can be a sparkling adventure, and it's entirely MY choice.  I can choose to smile, laugh, say yes, PLAY, have fun, roll with the challenges, and keep a good attitude.  Or I can be miserable all day.  Again.



Today has been harder again, because there are always easy days and tough ones.  Still... that early morning epiphany is helping me stay that little bit more contented.  Today I haven't seen my husband since we all woke up this morning, and he'll be home after bedtime.  I have a list of work to be getting on with here.  The girls have been told that there will be no sleepovers until their play room has a floor (!) but we've had friends over and cake and laughter and time (and a bit of grouchiness from me, but not so much as some days)!

In other news, Talia's rose has bloomed this year against all expectation.  It's perfect.


And so is she!

Etsy-ing

I have a new Etsy shop for Arwen Makes.  It's a bit scary, putting my work out in the big wide world like this.  A bit vulnerable.  I keep having to tear myself away from foolish watching of shop statistics.

Years of saying, "I really could do this - I want to do this," and then not doing it.  And now I've just gone ahead, with the few and imperfect offerings I have to hand, and in spite of the quaking, I'm glad I did it.  After all, it would be ridiculous to still be saying, in a few years, why did I not believe in myself?

And now I wait, anxiously, to see if perhaps I can really truly make something of it...  Or at least not end up costing us money we don't have.  :S

Sunday on a Tuesday

How is it that the week keeps on getting away from me almost before I've had time to notice it?  This week has gone by very quickly so far, even though each day has felt pretty long.  Martin has been working hard again, and it's strange to go for weeks with him working minimal hours and mostly afternoons to suddenly a week of being on my own with the girls almost all of the time.

Sunday afternoon on the park is a favourite tradition now.  As the summer wears on, the sprinklers in the water park get turned on, although there is no earthly way I will be coming down here like this in the school holidays!  Anyhow, the water means that baby and I are left totally alone for a while - her to sleep, me to knit.





Look!  Something for me!  :)  It's nearly half way done now too.

Mum came to meet us for a coffee in the community cafe.  Tali was keen on Em dog right up until she got "kissed".

Evening snuggles, both at once successfully for the first time ever (Tali is a jealous baby, and usually won't let Rowan feed at the same time!) - Rowan has felt a bit headachey and sleepy this week.  I have so few nursing pictures from the past year or so...  But yes, my littlest two are still tandem nursing.  :)

So far this week, we have done boring food shopping, I have worked on crafting projects to sell, Jenna has read a heck of a lot of many different books (and also watched quite a bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender).  I have totally failed to tidy up at all, and my laundry pile is out of control.  But we are rubbing along wonderfully well, and *pleasantly* busy, and very much looking forwards to Martin having a day off!

Who Stole Jenna?

And can I keep the new one, please?  :)

Gosh I'm so proud of this girl.  That seven-year-old thing really hit her hard, and she has been pretty hard to get along with for some of this year.  The persecution complex, the strong independence, the over-boisterousness with little people, the desire for privacy and alone time coupled with utter misery any time she *is* left alone (because she's lonely!)...  It has been a long few months of frustration for her.

But a cloud has lifted.  She's so much happier and easier to be around.  She's wanting to help out again, and enjoying her sisters' company.  It feels like a different house when this loud outgoing girl is at peace with herself.  I suspect it will always be so, and my mama heart quakes when I think on those teenage years ahead of us.

You know what, I really do enjoy her company.  She really is my *friend*, and I don't care about any stupid societal hang-up with saying that word about our children.

Can I just say, though, no matter how many days in a row I feel like she hates me and everything is just plain hard work... I'm STILL proud of her.  She is amazing, bright, wild, beautiful, creative, and assertive.   I'm glad she can tell me when she's having a bad day, I'm glad glad glad she craves my time and company and wants to be involved in everything I do.  I'm glad we get to spend so much time together.  In the long run, anyway, because in the long run it's so easy to put aside those dark little cloud shadows and see the sky.  Wild, open, free.

Week in Pictures

1. Joshua
2. Talia loves the telephone
3. Baby horse chestnuts
4. More rain...
5. Dyed yarn in my sink
6. Cardboard robot
7. Sad toddler hoping for ice cream!

This week has been: glorious, glowing, funny, busy, painful, exhausting, wonderful, and very very long.  It's a joy to come and share the ordinary moments here, today, and feel that after all it is the brightness that is worth holding on to and carrying into next week.

More Outings

Those middle of the week days when Martin has his days off from work, we go further afield rain or shine.  This week it was definitely rain.  We took ourselves to Sudbury, and had a swampy walk around the lake.

Rowan found some rainbows to admire in the puddles near the hall.

The new woodland play area is fabulous!

The Museum of Childhood is so popular with the children we somehow always end up leaving at closing time.  The staff are so great with the kids, and very patient.  Rowan made a particular friend of one volunteer, and she walked around the top floor with her helping to name all the dolls and animals.  A frog called Kermit ("I got Kermit on my television!") and a crocodile called Emily later, Roo slipped and tumbled on the stairs and the volunteer lady got to her first and picked her up.  So very kind and caring.

Jenna was eager to fill in a comments card:

As usual, Wednesday is swim day.  (We popped in to the sling meet at soft play first, and it was lovely to catch up with folks but soft play was a horrendous headache!)  Three little girls outside swimming:

And the play area afterwards was sunny, rainy, sunny, rainy, crazy.  Half of the time, baby and I were under the umbrella to keep us fairly dry - the other half of the time the umbrella was needed to keep her from getting burned by the blazing sun!

Little rained-on baby nursling.

I worked the first two repeats of my leafy scarf, in that gorgeous squishy alpaca and silk yarn.  Emma worked on another amigurumi dragon.  :)

Really, overall, we have had a great week.  Towards the start of the week, goodness, being indoors most of the time hiding out from the crazy weather, well it was starting to grate on my nerves.  The girls were all being fairly nice to each other, but I was still feeling that indefinable need to get away from them.  I reckon it's 50% noise intolerance, 25% lacking adult company, and 25% being in a confined space together for too long.  Anyway, a good walk and two days mostly out of the house cured me of my restless impatience.  

So today is a home-y garden-y day.  Right this moment, Jenna is watching West Side Story.  Morgan is dressed as a flamenco dancer, writing notes in her new journal.  Rowan is stark naked (as usual), counting up to thirty (impressive but unfathomable - why?), and running up and down the stairs holding a toy turtle and a wooden fairy.  I am recovering from a 4am start dyeing some yarn.  Look: fox colours!

Yarn Along: knitterly self-doubt and more poetical swooning

I'm stuck in that what-next knitting rut.  Again.  I know I have a billion projects queued, but none of them are really singing to me...  Except this darn cute fox, which is scaring me a little, but I have the pattern and the needles, and, well, OK, *kind* of have the yarn...

The cream yarn is alpaca blend superwash sock, all ready for me to re-skein and dye especially to make Intrepid.  I just need time to get near the dye pot!

The mixed-breed sock yarn was totally an impulse buy.  Goodness but it is so so beautiful.  I can't decide if it will turn itself into something fabulous, or receive a dye treatment - possibly teal natural dye?

Anyhow.  Um, what *have* I been making?  I did make this, in a couple of hours, for Jenna.


And I finished that silk Aviatrix for my tiny new nephew.  Isn't he perfect?


Oh, and in a fit of madness, I started freeforming from some felted knitwear.  I worked on it passionately for about two hours, then kinda lost the love.  Give me time to think through the next steps, and I'll get back to you.  It *is* going to be am-A-zing though, honest.


When I say I'm still continuing my teenage love affair with Emily Dickinson, I hope you understand.  My spirit is fed by such perfect imperfect words.  I keep meaning to start something else, but thinking "I'll read one more", and putting the poetry down at least ten pages later feeling full yet light.  I just read "Mushroom" - the phrase "an alibi postdated" made my soul leap!

Shawls, Sisters, Special Memories

Two pictures that I missed out of our holiday shots, just because they are making me smile smile smile today.  Look at how big these daughters of mine are growing, so quickly!  Like weeds in the sunshine.

And at the Grimm Fairy Tales, wearing Ashleigh-knitted shawls.  So so sweet.  There is something irresistible about little girls in shawls.

Adorable.

I hate to jinx it by saying anything, but the four of them are getting on really nicely at the moment.  Comparatively.  A lot of the fighting and jostling for affection and attention seems to have gone out of their daily interactions.

They aren't exactly always the best of friends.  They often annoy each other.  Sometimes the "she did this, she said that" comes close to driving me right up the wall.  Since Tali was born, that has been the case more often than not I suppose.  But this week at least, they enjoy playing together and are kind and considerate towards each other.

So although I'm probably dooming this sunny spell by mentioning it...  There is sibling harmony around here almost all of the time at the moment.  That's something worth celebrating.  :)