Bruises and bread making

Have been busy.
Designed some business cards and tags for my jewelry bits and pieces.
Been baking lots of bread...I am quite suspicious of the soy flour that's added into just about all the bread products, I believe it's not a good ingredient, especially for boys.

 Also, our girl hit the deck for the second time in two weekends...This time I took a photo. It's a hell of a bruise.

Oh, and also a wee collage. Just an experiment of what you can do with one page from a fashion magazine. I'm a bit stuck ..."art-wise", so doing these collages is really just an exercise, not some statement about my current art practise.

Not all bad.

Finding great little spots around Geelong, makes me feel like it's ok to live in here.
One little treasure is James St Bakery. I first knew this cafe, when it was Wholefoods. It's where I had my first solo exhibition, so I do have a soft spot for this location.
Yesterday I took the kids there for a 'good' lunch, and it was so nice. Lovely big wooden tables, great home cooked food. The kids shared a yummy club sandwich, I had a good ceasar salad, great coffee and treated all of us to beautiful macarons! Else had green tea and mint, and liked it. Charlie had a jaffa. I had a salty butterscotch one. Thank you James street Bakery for providing a nice little spot in the middle of our town.

these are my attempts of making macarons...the ones at James street Bakery are 1000 times better.

Getting 4 year olds to eat their vegies

Here is the current four year old

and here is how you have to present vegies, if you want them to eat them

Tempura Vegetables,
you may notice a bit of a scene.., a lady under a palm tree, with a love heart, by a broccoli bush, under a zuccini sun 

And then this is what they can do

and also I just listed this in my little shop to your right

http://kitchentablestudios.bigcartel.com/

sunday

flowers and kids.

 

New rafia necklace that I made

Drawing a day...old

 

 

 

So, it's an upload fiesta. I wish my brain functioned a bit better when I get the opportunity to actually write this blog....

catching up on photos

A trip to the gallery...Ngv, many months ago.

elsie's collage

A little bit of mixed media in the wilderness of Tas, by Elsie

toy town 2

toy town 2
Originally uploaded by rachel jk

Dressing up

Sunday afternoon at our house.

I've started a new blog about some new work I'm doing, it's called Kitchen table studios.

Hovering parenting......

Just a little observation that's getting on my nerves.

Could all the hovering mums that do not give their kids any space or freedom in the playground all take about ten steps back!

In my opinion, kids, lets say, 3 year olds, could all do with the freedom play how they like. As a mum, I don't always like what I see or hear coming out of my childs mouth, or other kids directed towards my child. But that is how life is! Children work things out for themselves if they're given half a chance. If you're always standing there censoring what comes out of your kids mouth, and shielding them from other childrens' comments and whatever, you're not doing them any favours.  I'm not saying kids should be left in a 'Lord of the flies' situation.

What I'm really mad about is the two situations I was confronted by this last week. The first one was in Ikea....In the kids section, E was playing with the toys, I was just behind a shelf looking at stuff, when I came back to see what she was doing I hear from  a mother "that's not a very nice way to play". Well, fair enough. I don't know what she was doing. I figured Else didn't   want to share what she was playing with...I don't know. So I swooped in and saw the other little girl was a about to cry, and insisted that E said she was sorry, and maybe it would be better if she just let the girl play. ALL I COULD DO! Well, the look on the other mother was absolutely icicles, I was mortified!! Nothing would have put this right. I felt like this mother was just thinking I'm a disgrace because I wasn't standing in my little girls shadow, I won't do it. She doesn't need me right behind her every second. The other time was at Ocean grove play ground, great fun but, all the mothers were hovering, I don't. I let find her own way, make her own friends and do her own imagining with out me even in earshot. I of course can see her. Again, some little incident. Taking turns or something, and mothers are looking at me to intervene. So dutifully, I do, but still it's not right. So, what do all these mothers want from me? Do I have to stand there just like they do, Is that the main part of parenting? My kids are at my side every waking hour, I figure they are entitled to want to run free, ahhhhh

Surley shirley

I was just noodling around ans saw this picture of Shirley Temple looking very grown up for a little tot....people keep sayng Else looks like her. I can kind of see it here.

hot and not

ok... so lubyloo must be having a break, but i'll still link to her Hot/Not post from before.

Hot

Making pommegranite sorbet with the new ice-cream machine, mmm.

Finding some very exciting French silk flower making tools...iron cutting tools that are in the shape of liitle flowers and leaves, a little blunt, but will still try them out on something. If that doesn't work, I'll sharpen them up with the dremmel.

Today was a hot day for my elsbeth to start kinder.

Not

Seeing tug-o-war over Elsbeth's pretend cakes she made at kinder, and having someone elses little tikes saying, "They're not cakes, that's play do!!". Well little dude, Elsbeth says they're cakes, back off! I say in my head, while trying not to cry, and trying not to be a total kinder/stage mother...

Having a sick little boy with a mysterious tummy bug, cleaning up throw-up and disgusting nappies.

Elsbeth acting like a different person for the last couple days...probably because Charles isn't well

Being snippy with me bloke 

The, um, french flower tools being a tiny bit expensive.....

Where has my little lamb gone?

I could do with that gin...

So it's been a while since 'hot/not'...
I tell you what for nothing, having two children under three is the hardest full time job you'll ever do. What was I thinking doing that market? It's a very unpredictable thing planning ahead to do more than look after your children. We have had a most turbulent time with our girl. Elsbeth is so funny, and so clever and so frustrating. We are on day 4 of not really sleeping properly, and what I mean by that, is, either waking up insanely early, or not staying in bed at night. Springing up every 20 mins until 10.30 pm. no afternoon nap. So she looks like she's been smoking pot all night and hasn't gone to bed....great. plus, the later it gets in the day the more like a psychiatric patient she acts.... Charlie, the same, cruisey, except he's started to take steps, and can climb!? We caught him trying to climb up an open cupboard, just in time to actually catch him before he fell backward, mmm, fun times ahead.
As shopping therapy I bought 2 new books. One is I could give a frock, and the other is From sometimes love Beth. Both have made me feel more like myself... Thank goodness.

Eifel tower birthday ginger bread extravaganza

Look what me and P made for E's birthday tomorrow!! We're very excited, and hope an invasion of ants does not come to feast.

looking a bit like a nun

IMGP1433
Originally uploaded by rachel jk

e with a french limen hair wrap on....tres chic...

happy to you

Today is Elsie's birthday. She likes to sing the above words to Happy Birthday. This is she in her birthday present...full of sugar.

What a week!

I cannot beleive the week I've had with our little girl. Saturday night she woke up at 1am and did not go back to sleep....at all, until 10.30am the next morning. So, we watched a LOT of Charlie and Lola.
Talk about marathon. The poor thing has had a temperature and a nasty head cold. She really didn't come good until thursday. But, in the mean time she hasn't slept through since Friday night, except one night, just to lull us into a false sense of security. Both P and I also have colds, so, we feel great getting up to see to elsie at 3.00 in the morning.....and the little poppet will be 2 on Monday. I just wonder when will this sleep madness bit be over?
Not for ages, because our little fella is coming!!!

New dress and Big Breakfast

This is Else in her new dress, this shows you how the previous dress looks on a 3.5 month old...pretty nice.

This is Else after a BIG breakfast out this morning