40/52 - from the flowers at floriade to the veggie patch at home...

Lily

It's been all about the garden lately. Spring has sprung in it's full glory and we have been busily planting the veggie patch and clearing our mammoth garden in every spare moment we can scrape out (not that many moments - things are still generally an overgrown mess!!!). 

We are excited to attempt a proper veggie patch this spring/summer. The kids each chose something to plant, and Lily, out of everything on offer, chose brown onions. Yes. 'They are good for BBQ's' she said, haha!

A little garden fairy, not afraid to get a little grubby.

Eli

Too cool for school - but not for Floriade.

The kids all got a free pair of sunnies when our tribe and Mark's parents all visited Floriade (our annual big flower festival) on our public holiday. Eli was keen to rock out with his signature style!

We had such a lovely morning traipsing around, tiptoeing through the tulips (figuratively of course!), enjoying the sunshine. Canberra in all it's glory!

 

Miles

My little man, always with a stick in each hand, cruising amongst the crowds at Floriade.  He was walking around like he owned the place, I tell ya!

Mark

Watch out for the guy with the axe!!!

(Clearing space by hacking out an old half-dead hedge to make way for a row of raspberry and blueberry bushes.... mmmmm, I can taste those berries already!! Well, here's hoping?!)

Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2014.

More highlight from the week that was...

Box construction... working hard on making a robot.

Snuggling a snail. You never know what you might get to do at Floriade, huh?

Of course there has to be a bunch of flower photos, if you don't mind!

Sniiiiiff. He wore a little clear plastic backpack, filled with jingling coins. It made it very easy to keep track of him, as he jingled all the way around Floriade ;)

Ha. Ain't this the mantra of our era... gave me a bit of a chuckle...

The highlight of Floriade was riding the Ferris wheel with Lily and Eli and Marg. It was glorious and worth every cent... as you can tell from the kid's faces, they were enthralled and I was too! The view of the flowers and city were spectacular as well as the excitement of rotating around. We fielded a few questions from the kids about the likelihood of us falling out of our little cage - but thankfully nothing went awry!

Accidental headlock of little bro when gust of wind almost takes her hat!

Photo with my babies (iPhone) Feeling on top of the world! (iPhone) My little sunshine xx Just cos his every expression  is different and makes me laugh!! Our moment to shine, haha - an 'impropmptu' concert on the main stage, bunches of kids singing away merrily. Mark and Miles checking out the many awesome cubby houses on display. The toadstool was a big hit! A little bit of watercolour painting. These glorious Spring school holidays fill up so quick, we had to lock in one quiet 'PJ Day' for the kids to just enjoy chilling out at home, doing whatever they pleased. They pleased to paint ;) Eli wanted to literally paint the lavender :) A puppet show from Lily :) Surveying her riches....  Counting her coins.... sorting and stacking. 'Is this enough for an iPad?' 'Uhhhh, not quite.' After a blissful morning relaxing in a dear friend's porch swing, Lily came straight home and attempted to construct her own. A whirlwind of taping and knotting ensued... The original prototype needed a fair bit of tweaking before it would hang, but it was a valiant and creative first effort :) It was actually one of those tricky situations where I loved to watch her create and problem solve freely, but then had to discern how much to assist when she asked for it, even though I wanted her to feel she could tackle it herself even when she was frustrated and disheartened. We got there in the end... it's always a tricky balance, I find??

Lily spent a lot of time building this deluxe home for her beloved Lottie. It included a 'fairy wings' hook, rubbish bin, campfire, bed with pillow and all sorts of goodies. Lottie seems impressed ;)

Spiderman helps to plant the corn. His veggie choice was tomatoes this year, but was keen to help with all the veggies, my dear little sidekick!