What we are enjoying at the moment....

Lucas can be found anytime day or night, curled up on the lounge with his new favourite book.

And Mollie, hanging with 'The Girls'.

Photos of what I have been up to tomorrow!!

Meet Madeline

A very special girl made for some much missed friends in Perth!

The Family Chickens

We have four chickens. Their names are Leia, Reddy and Cornwall and Florence.

We have got three eggs from them so far in the two days they have been here.

Chicken pecking in the dirt

Chickens drinking out of the water trough

Chicken on the roost

The nesting boxes

The chicken feeder

Close up of chicken

Photos and words by

And the ladies.......

They have arrived!!!

Florence, Ginger, Princess Leia and Cornwall

(In order of naming - mine, Lucas, Dave and Mollie)

A chicken named Cornwall..what a crack up!! (sorry :D)

Here is the sandpit conversion all finished

And here are our 4 Isa Brown chickens, all snug and cozy in their new home

Lucas's close up photo of.......(not sure how to tell them apart yet lol)

Dave designed nesting boxes...filled with straw and a couple of Mollies wooden eggs

And for those interested in the henhouse design, here is the back of the nesting boxes..

There was a mad rush on this morning to get the house finished in time to pick the chickens up by 11am but Dave and Lucas got there!!

We already have one egg...YAY

In a couple months time, we are going to raise some chicks. And for Odie, I think he is more put out that they get more food them him :)

Lastly....the Scarecrow Competition

The show had a Scarecrow competition and a couple families from the homeschooling group (including us) entered two scarecrows......guess our theme....

Yes the Royal Couple :D

My Show results

Elporto Bag got a first place in the bag section

Feliz dress got a second place in the Child Garment section

Rainbow Cushion came 2nd in the cushion section

Isabella came 2nd in the dressed doll section

Flower Ladies came 3rd in the machine embrodiery section

Recycled Jean Jacket came 3rd in the Thrift Article section

All in all a great day!!!

Mollies Cairns Show enteries

Mollies photos

Daisies in Pot

Elves in a garden

Strawberry Puppy

2nd prize win: Toy Doll

Loch Ness Monster

Paper Mache Submarine

Flare Picture using crayons

All by Mollie

Lucas Cairns Show enteries

Here are most of the photos entered in the Junior photography section.

Lucas won 3rd place for this Ferrari Pits photo

And here are the other three photos he entered.

He was very excited to see his photos on the wall.

He did so well :)

Cairns Show today

Image from here

Back tonight with photos :)

Lucas' photos for the Show

I have put the four photos he took into a collage here. IRL they are single photos....

Lucas isn't obsessed with Lego is he? :D :D

Flourishing Frolleins Pillowcase

Second last for the Cairns Show :)

This is for the machine embrodiery section. I just LOVE these Flower Ladies
In my usual style...I made this pillowcover up as I went. I started with my fav colour combo, stitched out the embrodiery and then decided on border fabric. I decided to keep the fabric plain to make the embroideries feature.

Soooo, fabric is quilters cotton and the embrodiery is from HUUPS

I am really happy with the result..and Mollie has claimed it when it returns

Two more NXT creations!!

A Crazy lawn mover.

One of the buttons on the handle turned the lawn mower on and the other turned the blades underneath spinning. It moved back and forth across the floor and if he left it for long enough, it did a complete 360' turn :)

And this one was called a mystery machine...lots of different things turned and spun. It was a quick build that was tested and then taken apart for the next creation...

Guess what his next creation is going to be.....

A gearbox and clutch!!

Something much more practical :)

He has finished the clutch plate already....

We are loving this NXT Mindstorm!!!

Two gifts for their Mama

After a sleepover at his mates house on Thursday, Lucas went into town to a NAIDOC park event. When he returned, he gave me this box....

He decorated it himself.

And the night before, I climbed into bed and under my pillow was a very special picture Mollie drew for me....a picture of all my favourite things :)

These are living pride of place on my bedside table.

What a lucky Mama I am!!

Now..she paints

Mollie can draw, sew, knit, create anything with some paper, sticky tape and scissors, is bursting with ideas for anything creative and this afternoon, she learnt to paint....

It was a girls craft afternoon here today - Lucas was at this mates house, and Dave at work. She and I decided this afternoon was going to be our first painting session together.

I used to paint regularly and then I found sewing and the painting fell by the wayside. Mollies LOVES drawing but felt she couldn't paint well enough so together

we set up the sunroom as our painting studio and together we painted.

She did so well. We decided a simple frangapani design would be easiest...So basically, she painted and I was back up support. She hasn't finished but she has the main blocking in completed.

Tomorrow she has friends over for a pottery morning, but in the afternoon, we will do more. She really is a creative little soul and I am sure will finish this painting beautifully!!

Edit: to add the finished artwork. It is sitting up on the wall in the sunroom..beautiful!!

Wood and Wire Doll kit

Close up photos of my Wood and Wire Kit available at Spiral Garden

Plait and small pocket detail

Shoulder seam for waistcoat

Pant sewing guide

Triangle shaped hat for the girl dolls