QUIETLY SHUT THE DOOR!!!!!! Then listen to the boys sing as loud as they can right outside!

Here we are again, in the midst of a 2 and half week school holiday. I swear I am trying to stay on top of the situation, but the cracks in my patience are already starting to appear, which is NOT a good place to be, especially when it's only day 3. 

Is this normal? Please can I have a paid job now!!

I do have a strategy. It's quite simple. 

- Go out every day, whatever the weather

- Speak quietly, wherever possible

- Stay off the wine because although it helps in the moment, the next day is much much harder to cope with

- Bake many beautiful cakes to avoid expensive coffee stops, when a skinny flat just isn't enough, especially with 2 little voices demanding banana bread

- Move as much as possible to burn off all the excess wine and beautiful cakes ;-)

- Be creative

My decision early on was not to sign Dylan up for lots of school holiday camps, mainly because we're supposed to be watching the dollars, plus, its only 2 and a half weeks. Easy Peezy, right! Play dates with friends, picnics in the park, perhaps even a day at the zoo. Lovely!! We can spend some quality time together, without the mad school rush every morning. 

EXCEPT!, as all yummy mummy's know, it's still a whole 12 hours of parental care and entertainment, usually without so much as a pee break. Added to the fact that the cupboards are bare and a trip to the yocal shops are unavoidable. Ahhhh! The nightmare appears, as does a vision of myself institutionalised because I have finally admitted to turning to 'Mummy's ickle helper' a little too often.

Here we are!!

Yesterday was a good, creative day!

We invited 5 of Dylan's friends over to our house to join in a screen printing workshop. It was lovely. We all had a great time and the children were very proud to wear their fabulous creations, which were completely designed and made by themselves, with a tiny bit of help.

Huge Thank you to 

http://onegoldenapple.blogspot.com/2009/05/simple-silk-screening-with-kids-or-not.html

Loving winter!

I have to admit that although I adore summer and all our beach days, winter in Sydney is still my favourite time. 


It's closer to the climate I grew up in, I don't have to face the world in an embarrassing pool of sweat, I don't have to be quite so vigilant with the sunscreen, (which can add at least half an hour to our morning schedule), and I can move around much more quickly, if I feel like it.
Ah!, winter! An excuse not go out in the evenings and snuggle up with loved ones, to drink red wine and eat soup. I'm a much happier person in winter.

I love going to the park with the boys, and walking/running, scooting, bike riding and feeding the ducks. 

I love our new pot belly fire in the back garden and baking potatoes in it. It reminds me of November the 5th. I even found some sparklers in the kitchen draw last weekend and we had a great time.

The boys also enjoyed learning how charcoal is made and even produced some lovely drawings with it, closely supervised of course.

Here's some photos that warm my heart.

In Response to Re-Training the Mother Brain

a wonderful excerpt I found today by A.A. Milne, from The House at Pooh Corner

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain,

and you Think of Things,

you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed 

very Thingish inside you is quite different

when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it

Learning to re-train the Mother Brain

As a creative Mum of two gorgeous, energetic boys I'm constantly torn between feelings of love and affection, and anger and frustration. The nature of Motherhood, especially to very young children, dictates that you will only ever be able to focus on one job, (usually sorting out socks), for a maximum of 4 or 5 minutes if you're lucky, before the next earth shattering disaster occurs, which you have to attend to immediately. 
Ok! ok! I know there's the amazing loving, nurturing side too, and I fully appreciate that, and wouldn't change a thing. 
However, my brain is definitely feeling much more frayed from the past 6 and half years of full time parenting than it did before,(and not just from the daily glass of wine).
So, I got to thinking about ways in which I could re-train my minuscule Mother Brain to cope with tasks that take longer than 5 minutes of concentration.
Sketching!!
That's my answer. I have started sketching again and it feels bloody fantastic. 
All those years of full time training. 7 to be exact!!
I mean, for Fucks sake!, 7 years training in something most people learn in an evening class. Some people become doctors or lawyers or someone equally important in the same amount of time, and yet I still struggle to justify my purpose as an artist. Why!!??

So, I have been getting down to work on the job of portraits of my boys, and I've been working on a study of Dylan. The study is based around sketches and photos of him that I've taken over the past few months. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I hope you enjoy the result.
BTW it's far from perfect, but it's a start, just like me!!


Big hugs

on reflection

As the sun sets on this glorious, scorching hot summer day here in Sydney, the realisation hits. 
We have finally come to the last day of the monster that was the 7 week school holiday. A day, which at times I have felt would never arrive. Among the 49 days, we have had some amazing experiences as well as some mighty challenging ones.
Now the last day is here I'm actually feeling a little sad it's all over. Sadness that Dylan is growing so fast and moving up to the next class. Sadness that after summer comes autumn, then winter. Sadness that I don't have any plans to visit my ageing Grandparents any time soon. I miss them. 
However, through the sadness I also feel a sense of optimism. 


Today is the beginning of my new year. A chance to let go of some negative emotions I have been hanging on to for a while and think about some new ways to express those emotions in a much more positive way in the future. Remembering every day to acknowledge all our amazing creative achievements, however small. 


My first challenge is clear. I must work out a way to share the work/play/spare room. My table has been lost to Clutch Powers and his dangerous lego crocs...... I'm seriously scared!!!

Although I haven't managed to blog everyday, I have managed to keep the creative force going and we have had lots of fun along the way. Here is a very random selection, including some favourite oldies.

all quiet on the blogging front

I know, I've been very slack on keeping up with the blog this week. Just the usual business, plus not feeling the vibe to write as it doesn't come naturally to me.


Dylan had a wonderful 6th birthday party. The weather was amazing and the Scavenger Hunt went very well. All the children seemed to have a great time.


Since then, I've been giving myself a bit of a break to recharge my batteries and consider where to begin with the next projects. It feels great to have some space again with the spare room tidy and organised. I can get down to some serious art and crafting when time allows. 
I'm also on a bit of a mission take better care of my physical self, so finding time for everything will definitely be a challenge. Perhaps I'll compile an, 'Amy timetable' to be sure I fit everything into my week. 


Anyhoo! If anyone has any strategies for making time, please comment.


I have attached a couple of pics from the party and the ocean sculpture that I covered  a couple of weeks ago..

Another day!

A weird day for me. The weather doesn't help really. My thoughts are with everyone North who may in difficulty with the floods. I feel so sad, its difficult to comprehend the devastation down here in Sydney. My heart goes out to you all. 

I'm only going to include pics of the scavenger hunt page as its Dylan's 6th birthday tomorrow and I intend to use it as a distraction for both me and the children.

XX