Out of the trenches

I’ve noticed that after many years on survival mode, at last I’ve started to crawl out of the trenches and reintroducing myself to society.

Hello there!

Making an effort to be more social, getting in touch with friends, having friends over. 

It’s been so long, it almost feels like a novelty!

First step was getting rid of all my maternity clothes, we’re not having any more kids and David has waved nursing a year ago. Time to invest in some real bras and clothes that actually fit and that make me feel nice just wearing them. You know something other then those yoga pants and stretchy shirts that have felt many babies grow. They’ll be great for the garden, which has come back to life again. Spring is definitely in the air! I’m doing some serious planting with the kids to make the most of these new beginnings. They’re completely fascinated by putting in all kinds of little seeds in the ground that turn into plants and flowers. It won’t be a neat garden, with tidy rows, but the fruits will be all the sweeter.

The last couple of weeks have had their ups and downs. 

I’ve been very busy keeping the household on track, I still miss my cleaners, but have made a schedule with all the tasks sprinkled throughout the week into doable jobs. With being sick for a week I’m still catching up on many things that have accumulated while I slept. Sewing has been on hold, which I hope to pick up again next week.

We’ve had our first brush with nits, just thinking of it makes me itchy again. We’ve been mouse hunting in the pantry where that cute little mouse had a large nest of babies. The mess they make is all but cute, a good thing just about all my goods are in containers. Safe from harm, they did manage to get all the paper of the emergency cans. It has made for some very interesting meals this week...

Alex’ climbing keeps getting him into all kinds of trouble. A quick dash to the clinic when he burns his arm with hot tea, a foot stuck in barb wire. But also into places he shouldn’t be, like the top shelve of the pantry feasting on honey. Or into my handbag doing a runner with my car keys and locking himself in the car, refusing to open it, his siblings were a little later at school that morning...

One of the many highlights was seeing my sister Lisa at the opening ceremony at the Olympics where she was on a rowing holiday (reserve for womens quadruple sculls that took home silver).

 Making “I love farmers markets” wraps for hungry swimmers

Having friends over for lunch, 11 kids behaving themselves beautifully and having lots of fun in the water holes.

David with his highly treasured minions beanie, send by grandma, waving and smiling on our grocery run.

Sophie wanting piggy tail plaits for school to tame her mad halo of curls. This is a steep learning curve for me, I’m so not good with the girly stuff!

 Friday night cooking with Tim

For me a highlight, for Tim & Alex not as much. Only one more training and game to go and the soccer season will be finished. It’s been a lot of fun to see the teams grow and develop, they have really loved their first year of soccer. But I’ll be happy to have my Saturday mornings back!

Sander has started the balustrade, going with a nautical theme.
500 meters of rope therapy, but it looks stunning.