Category Archives: Photos

15/52

 
A Portrait of my kids each week, every week in 2013

Muddy Organiser – Deep in counting for Hide and Seek
Muddy Puzzler – Wind in her face as we head up the paddock
Muddy Baby Boy – In his element, outside with a piece of machinery

Muddy Pixie – Sadly I could not capture her this week, the enthusiasm for life and having her first sleepover with her bestie.

Linking up with the very talented Jodi at Che & Fidel for 52 – A Portrait a Week.

14/52

 
A portrait of my kids every week for 2013
 
Muddy Organiser – Water, fresh from the bore, pumped up by the sun
Muddy Pixie – How quickly tears turn to a smile when the camera comes out
Muddy Puzzler – Eating an apple picked straight from the tree
Muddy Baby Boy – This morning tea stuff up the paddock is serious business
 
Linking up with Jodi at Che and Fidel for her 52 – A Portrait a Week
 

Off to the Zoo

Easter Sunday saw an obscene amount of chocolate delivered by the Easter Bunny, so to help use up some of the sugar high the Muddy Kids were on, we packed up and headed south to the Zoo for the Day. We are lucky to have the Western Plains Zoo only 100km away so it’s doable as a day trip.
 
Muddy Hubby and I put on our walking shoes and pushed two prams around the whole zoo (the map says it’s 5km, but I think it felt longer especially with side trips here and there to see specific animals). I was very proud of the Muddy Kids, they did quite a bit of walking, they also took it in turns riding in the bike carts their cousins were traveling in, but they still came home absolutely busted, not sure that there was one ounce of a sugar high left – until the next morning when they started all over again!
 
My favourite animal had to be the Galapagos Tortoise Hatchling, I find it so amazing that something so small can grow so big, with such a big shell.
 

Grateful for the Garden

Thursday afternoon I knocked off work early, I got to pick my kids up from Preschool and School for a change (Muddy Puzzler was very excited not to catch the bus) and the sun was still shining by the time we arrived home. After two days in the office I was itching to be outside, so Muddy Baby Boy and I put on our ear muffs and jumped on the lawn mower to mow the lawn. I was in heaven. I love being outside, I love pottering around the garden, doing little bits here and there.

This week I am Grateful for the Garden, for time outside to just potter around.

I am Grateful that I found time to plant my garlic and start to dehead the dead roses, that I can sit and soak up the fresh air, lie on the grass and play with the Muddy Kids. I am Grateful that we have space to do it, to run and run and chase and fall down, to ride bikes and scooters and plant veggies and flowers and grow our own fruit.

Without the Garden I think things would be a little less bright, so this week I am linking up for 52 Weeks of Grateful about my spacious garden that brings me and my family happiness.

13/52

A Portrait of each of my kids every week in 2013.


Muddy Baby Boy – Fresh from his nap, keen to get out of the cot and going
Muddy Pixie – Checking out the Ring Tailed Lemurs at the Zoo
Muddy Puzzler – Riding a Rhino
Muddy Organiser – Content to just sit and watch the Giraffes, in awe of them

Joining in with Jodi at Che and Fidel for 52 A Portrait a Week

Grandparents Day

Last week we had the pleasure of celebrating Grandparents Day at school. Last year my Muddy Organiser had no grandparents in attendance, this year she was lucky enough to have one. Thank Goodness it was the one she’d written the story about to display in the classroom.
 
I love days like these because you get an insight into what they’re doing in the classroom, what they’re writing in their sentence a day book or about their weekend. Funnily enough there are several mentions of playing with my sisters and going to the pub! I swear the teacher must think we hang out drinking all weekend!
 
Anyway My Muddy Organiser wrote a delightful story that ends with her telling everyone that my mother-in-law cooks and gardens for me! If only I was that lucky!
 

12/52

Muddy Puzzler – Caught dancing in the sunlight
Muddy Pixie – ‘I want to practice writing my letters for when I’m 5 and I know them all’
Muddy Baby Boy – On the tools, even if they’re made of cardboard
Muddy Organiser – That loose second tooth, just won’t come out

A portrait of my kids every week in 2013, linking up with the very talented Jodi at Che and Fidel

Grateful for Good Friends with a Hammock

After feeling very sorry for myself last week and my lack of friend contact Muddy Hubby and I made the decision to get away from the farm for the day and go and visit some very good friends we hadn’t seen in a while. It was just lovely and wonderful and delightful. I felt like a kid in a candy store getting to spend time with friends, soak up the time away from the farm and spend the time catching up and just chatting like good friends do.
 
The Muddy Kids were entertained, they spent a large portion of the day on the tyre swing or in the hammock. So quite simply this week I am grateful for the hammock swing for keeping my Muddy Kids entertained so we could chat with friends and enjoy being away from the farm.
 

 
Linking up over at Village Voices where the lovely Bron hosts 52 Weeks of Grateful. What are you grateful for this week?
 
 
 

11/52

This week has been all about determination in our household, for our portrait a week, every week in 2013.

Muddy Boy – Determined to carry Grandma’s chook bucket despite it being as heavy as him – he did it too.
Muddy Pixie – Determined to be a turtle – it lasted at least an hour
Muddy Organiser – Determined to accessorise all the outfits just right, even when playing outside
Muddy Puzzler – Determined to do whatever she wants – despite being told not to climb on the ute

Joining up with Jodi at Che and Fidel where there are some absolutely stunning photographs linked up each week.

The day they saw my bra

After all her initial bravado about catching the bus my Muddy Puzzler has turned all that on it’s head and it has become a battle to get her on the bus in the mornings. It’s not that she’s crying, it’s not that she doesn’t want to catch the bus. Her answer when I ask her why she’s upset is ‘I just want you’.
 
Yesterday was the worst day we’d had, I ended up climbing on the bus with her (those steps are big steps), sitting her down on the seat next to a little Kindergarten girl while I tried to peel her hands off me and she kept repeating ‘I just want you Mum, I just want you’. In the process she has pulled my top down and every kid on that bus copped a look at my bright purple bra (no, I kid you not, it was purple).
 
It breaks my heart, but the bus driver and the other kids on the bus tell me she stops ‘crying’ just after the door closes and she’s fine the rest of the trip, it’s just the actual getting on the bus that seems to be the hard bit. The bus drivers are wonderful and the preschool staff are always so good at getting her off the bus and onto it in the afternoons, I’m just not sure how we overcome the actual first bit of the bus trip. At the moment though I cry each time the bus drives off as I’m wracked with mother guilt. I know that if I start driving her in (which isn’t always possible) then it will be back to square one and even harder when she next has to do it, so for now I’m sticking to my guns and you can be sure I’ll be wearing high-necked tops from now on!