moments: wintry with signs of spring

- a lily in the kitchen one very cold winters morning. all the windows were covered with condensation on the inside and ice on the outside. a bucket of water in the garden was topped in ice, washing on the line was coated in ice, and on the way to school fields were whitened with/frost snow. It was all very beautiful and exciting - a true winter wonderland, and the kids and I explored and exclaimed in great delight on the way to school.
-the first blossom. my jonquils are also coming out too now. spring is definitely on the way.
-quince blossom. this has been out for awhile, but for some reason I don't count it. it almost seems a winter flower it comes out so early.
-rolling hills of Jindivick.
-Poppet, just sitting up after rolling.
-Poppet thought Littlest should roll too. Littlest is not uncharacteristically cautious.
-a convention of sheep, curious about the rolling children.
-Littlest and me one wintry afternoon in the garden. that little fist has been rather desperately chewed on these past two weeks.

Joining with Em for wintry-almost-spring moments from our week. This has been an incredibly exciting week for us - full of wonderful news, but more of that anon… My beloved wants me to wait till it's all official before I make the big announcement...

moments - cousins by sea

- my sprocket, eating toast in the morning, down at the beach house
- cousin, coming through from the neighbour's garden
-my poppet, telling us all about it
-my poppet, running on the shore
-a fence in the dunes
-jellyfish slither. my brothers and I spent ages playing with the blobs of clear jellyfish washed up on the shore (I remember hiding it under pillows, oops) and now my kids are doing the same.
-three cousins busily building on the beach. they ran down the winding path to the beach and had stripped off and were playing along the shore by the time I reached them, meandering down at a slower pace with Littlest. Luckily, my brother could keep up with them!
-Littlest, on her Grandpa's lap, after her christening - characteristically laid back and surveying the world
-surfer in silvered sea
-the cousins, running home from the sea. As is becoming traditional, Sprocket is wearing my cardie. I want to retake this photo when they are all teenagers… but I suspect Sprocket will no longer fit my cardigans.

We had a beautiful weekend down by the sea last week, returning to the surf coast for Littlest's Christening. It was just what we needed - a taste of magic - although the drive was long. The kids loved running along the shore and I loved being home and having family all around, seeing their joy.

My kids are not indoors kids. My Sprocket climbs the walls (and I mean that literally) while my Poppet follows in his lead in wildness.  But give them sea and sand and rocks and they will play happily for hours.

Joining with Em for moments from our week. 

mid-winter moments

- dukes up. Littlest at nearly three months. It's cold here and we're bundling her up. At night her little hands get so cold unless we have them well covered.
-big grin (How about some milk, see, I'm so cute. About that milk?)
-tiny toes.
- my granny. my little ones' great granny.
-jonquils, nearly blooming. we've past winters midway point. spring is on the way.
-calla lilies. furled and nearly furling, in my grandmother's garden.

Joining with The Beetle Shack for moments from our week.

The last weeks have been hectic, with school holidays and this and that. I have my camera back from the camera peoples though. (My mum, who had it fixed for us, was given a long talk about not getting sand in it and what was that on the lens? sunscreen? I will try hard to be more careful. I am re-remembering how to use it…) Oddly, it is harder to find time for photos with three rather than two, particularly in school holidays!  

moments - the walk before

Last week my girls and I went on our usual walk - to see the unicorns (although only Poppet can see their horns), to look at the blossom I had seen from the car and to see if the fairy mushrooms that had been there last winter had returned.

My Poppet jumped and leapt and ran and cavorted. I admired the high blue sky, the deep green of the grass, the crisp air and trees that managed two seasons in a day - with autumn leaves and blossom on the same branches, even though we are in the heart of winter.

My Poppet had the nasty cough she has had for the past few weeks - my Littlest had the sniffles. Over the next few days my Littlest's sniffles developed into something far worse - bronchiolitis and we ended up spending four nerve-wracking days in hospital. I have never been so scared. My sweetest Littlest was wheezing and coughing and struggling so badly. I have never been more grateful we live in a place and time with amazing medical skills.

We are home now, my Littlest is smiling again. But these are moments from our walk 'before.'

Joining with Em for moments from our week. 

by Sea

- Poppet, climbing the shoreline trees.
- my Poppet
-Littlest, smiling, close to her Daddy's heart.
-Sprocket, joyous by sea.
-throwing sand in the sea, a favourite game.
-movement.
-the fisherman's ramp.
- Sprocket, the sea monster.
- trees in silhouette as we return home.
-breakfast.

Last weekend we journeyed through the city to the far side of the state. We'd planned to spend most of the weekend at a music festival - one I had been looking forward to all year, that I  love and have been going to since it started when I was in my very early twenties. When we got there, tired and wound up from the drive, it started bucketing down rain. And we decided that much as we wanted to listen to the music, and dance with the kids, maybe, just maybe, tired and stressed as we are and with a newborn, this year is a year we'll have to give it a miss.
And we bundled the soaked and wailing children into the car and drove on to our beach house. And unbundled at the far side we ran down the twisting path to the sea and realised that sometimes it's not so bad letting things go.

Joining with Em for moments from our week.

Stills

-chrysanthemum. The pot was on sale after mother's day and I was unable to resist. When the rain took one of the flowers from the bush I popped it in a bowl.
-a cup of coffee. Essential in these days of sickness and sleeplessness.
-spiralling greenery on my granny's passionfruit vine.
-an unknown flower in my granny's garden.
-moss on a winter tree.
-the season for gumboots arrives.
- my Littlest one. Four weeks old.

Joining with Em for stills from our week.