Girls run strong in my family. I am one of two girls, just like my mother and her mother was one of SEVEN girls! My husband’s brother and sister each have three sons. We have three daughters. I would have been beheaded or divorced in Henry VIII time! Saturday at the beach after a Birthday […]
Random Musings
Ten reasons I LOVE my job
No one tells me what I should wear and in the summer I live in bare feet and have little people volunteer to paint my nails (usually multi-colored and badly). I love not feeling pressured to scrub up in the latest fashion. Being able to wear a bikini top instead of a bra in summer […]
If trees could SMILE: The Gallery – Week 28
I like to think that this tree is smiling at me and my family. Its branches wave hello to us as we greet it with our eyes each day. The leaves wink green at us in the breeze and signal ‘go’ for brighter days to come. It’s been a rough week of weather around the […]
Tribal Wives Wellington, New Zealand
I am bravely picking up the baton and going to give this post my best shot, where others have skillfully gone before me – inspired by the amazing mistress of words Vix of Vegemitevix blog and her ‘Tribal Wives in Britain‘ post. Here follows my offering and I’d recommend visiting ‘Moments of Whimsy‘ blog for […]
Change
It’s happened before and it’s happening again. I thought I’d escaped it this time, but the pricking sensation behind my eyes was back. I wanted to cry, just because. There was no rhyme or reason. The children’s laughter was heard, but not felt. The bread was fresh, but not smelt. The flowers, so pretty brought […]
Hands through the ages
‘What are those blue, bumpy bits?’ she asks me, as I reach out with my hand to turn the page of the book we are reading. ‘Those are my veins,’ I say simply with a smile. I can see from her face that she thinks they are kind of ugly. ‘What are veins?’ she asks. […]
Getting hip with ‘Hipstamatic’
Peace brothers and sisters, last night’s howling southerlies gave way to the most splendid sunshine in Wellington this Saturday morning. Surfers were out in force in Lyall Bay and I bolted out of the door for a morning jog at a little past 7am (determined that last Saturday’s ‘I am a gazelle‘ triumph wasn’t to […]
Wardrobe Wednesday: First day of Spring
The first day of Spring was glorious and I spent the whole day far away from the house & the chores. The morning was spent walking up and down the beach with Alice sleeping for most of it. I was browsing blogs on my phone, whilst taking photographs of the beautiful waves and decided to […]
One Day in August: Hoping for change
In a room on one side of the world a mother plays on the piano, whilst her baby daughter sits smiling and shaking a rattle. She listens to the rain beating down on the metal roof of her warm home and thinks of the synchronicity of the piece she is playing, ‘Kiss the Rain’, with […]
First Kiss – a long time coming
Ever since my friend Emma told me how babies are really made I haven’t been able to look at boys in the same way. It was all so simple before I knew. Now being 10 feels different. Some of my friends have started playing kiss chase. If you get caught you’re supposed to hide in […]
Dear Mummy…
An imagined letter from my children to me: Dear Mummy, We’re sorry for the mess we left everywhere, but do you like the painting we did for you? The painting is of you being busy. You are always busy, but we like that you stop to give us a hug and play with us too. […]
Blogladesh
Every year 9 million children under the age of 5 die – most of them from preventable causes like diarrhoea. At the beginning of September three of the UK’s best known mummy bloggers are heading to Bangladesh to see the work Save the Children does with children and mums first hand. Follow them as they […]
Trying to stay focused on the magic
I’d forgotten how life with a baby can sometimes feel a little relentless. It’s easy to get caught up in the repetition and forget to focus on the magic. Yesterday started well, with berry muffins freshly baked and cooling down at 9.30am. Sophie, still home from Kindi with a cold, played well and Alice was […]
What is it about swinging?
No, not swinging as in the mix it up with different partners (this is a family blog after all), but the sit your bum on a piece of wood, rubber or some other platform hanging by a rope or chain and fly through the air kind of swinging. One of my strongest memories of childhood […]