We woke up yesterday morning to the sound of rain falling on our roof. The boys didn’t knock on our door until half past eight, allowing us a rare sleep-in on our day off. We spent most of the day at home: Rick made dinosaur magnets with the boys while I worked on a big memory-keeping project. It was chilly and overcast, so we rugged up in jumpers and long pants; I even pulled out my knitted scarf and woollen cape at one point. Perhaps it was the rain, the cold, the overcast or the fact that we didn’t go out, but there was a certain stillness about the day that I found somewhat disconcerting, poignant and refreshing all at once.
How is your weekend going – wherever you are?
It was a simple but lovely weekend that we just had. On our day off, we drove to Kirribilli where we ate fruit buns and ran around on a gorgeous flat piece of green lawn right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We played What’s The Time Mr Wolf with Angus and Pete while little Jamie wandered about and laughed along. Seriously, it’s so awesome that all three of them can walk now! Before leaving, I spotted these gorgeous succulents at the local florist. They were so pretty (just look at those pink ones!), I started wondering whether I might be capable of starting a small garden and maybe, just maybe, keeping some plants alive? Any thoughts, you guys?
My gardening ability aside, Rick and I celebrated eight years of marriage last week and on Friday night, his mum came over to babysit so that we could escape for a dinner date. Being creatures of habit, we stuck to the familiar: delicious Thai in a gorgeous restaurant called Basil & Mint in Neutral Bay. Being able to sit down to a dinner like that together was exactly what we needed to celebrate our anniversary. We followed that up with a round of tiramisu and affogato at the 24 hour Maisy’s Cafe, which rounded off the evening perfectly.
Truly I am blessed to have spent a quarter of my life with Rick.
My best friend. My lover. My husband.
A man who loves selflessly and gives sacrificially.
Thank you darling, from the bottom of my heart, for all that you do for us and our family.
Here’s hoping we get to spend another sixty-two years together.
(Linking up with Amanda and Lou.)
Another rainy Saturday afternoon. Rather than being cooped up in the house, we decided to go for a drive up to Palm Beach. We stopped briefly at Narrabeen to gaze out at the ocean. From the car, I spied this couple watching the surf with this cheerful, yellow umbrella. It felt strangely romantic. Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Palm Beach and the view was at once spectacular, serene and surreal. By that time, peckishness had set in, so we found a cafe that was open and picked up some hot chips for the drive home. They were deliciously crunchy. The perfect antidote to a rainy day.
The rest of the weekend has been spent working on the same magazine I spoke about last week. I finally overcame my designer’s block on Friday evening (hooray!) so I’m hoping it’s a home stretch from here on. Naturally, caffeine has been my loyal friend this weekend.
(Linking up with Amanda.)
We discovered a new spot by the sea this weekend: up high, almost in the sky, away from the buzz and activity down on the beach. We’d stopped by the local supermarket beforehand, and so we sat, eating delicious buns whilst watching a single pink cloud float across the sky. The boys sat perfectly on the bench. In the waters below, we could spot a few swimmers daring enough to brave the cold. A group of local tradesmen were gathered behind us, happy that it was the weekend. I felt the breeze, smelled the sea, and drank in God’s creation. It was wonderful.
(Linking up with Amanda for Weekending.)
With winter fast approaching, the days are getting shorter. It feels like evening begins in the late afternoon, before the day has yet reached its fullness. Most days I watch the sunlight fade from the sanctuary of my studio, as that’s when Rick and the boys usually go out to explore the yard and bush around our home. Due to my studio facing west, the sunlight is soft and golden at that time of the day, but as night continues to fall, the gold morphs into a silverish grey which I find utterly beguiling. Saturday afternoon was no exception.
We had tentative plans of driving down to the Southern Highlands this weekend but in the end opted to stay close to home. We enjoyed just being with the boys both inside and out, and in the evenings, I carved out some time to work on Pete’s scrapbook. It was one of those weekends where we had no particular plans and didn’t go to any effort to do anything ‘exciting.’ Just hanging out together as a family was enough.
What am I saying – it was perfect.
It’s funny – even though both Rick and I thrive on being around other people, we are also perfectly content with each other’s company. Unfortunately, this means that we are rather bad at making plans with friends. Combined with the fact that we’re not particularly spontaneous people, it means we usually do end up spending our day off with just us and the boys. When we lived closer to our parents, we would sometimes drop over at one of their places on a whim but even this doesn’t really happen anymore seeing as we’re a good fifty minutes drive away from their neck of the woods.
Part of it is a stage of life thing – seeing as Jamie and Pete still have a midday nap, our outings are usually restricted to the mornings or the afternoons. For special occasions or the occasional road trip, we don’t mind if boys end up falling asleep in the car, but for the most part, we do like to stick to a solid routine for their sake and ours. I guess as the boys get older and we all need less sleep (hard as that is to imagine right now), there will be more things that we can do and hopefully more people whom we can see.
But for now, this is our life, and honestly, I don’t mind it at all.
So tell me – how was your weekend?
You know it cannot end well when your three year old wakes you up with the words, “There’s wet egg in our bedroom.”
Sure enough, upon arriving at the scene of the crime, Rick and I shockingly discovered that Angus had not only transported a carton of eggs from the kitchen but he’d also managed to crack every single one onto some sort of surface. There was egg on the carpet, on the skirting boards, on the wall, on Pete’s sheets, on Pete’s sleeping bag and… on Pete’s face.
I dare not even try to imagine what they were trying to do. (Who needs to eat a nice cooked meal for dinner when you can gorge yourself on raw egg in the morning?)
Start of the day? Not so good.
End of the day?
Sitting on the floor of our bedroom, admiring the bright red nail polish on my toes.
Life is indeed colourful – in every single way.
// Relishing the afternoon quiet while everyone slept…
// Climbing around in PJ pants…
// Listening to my little man giggle and coo…
// Watching the last sunset before returning home tomorrow…
Well, it has been the most wonderful holiday, and sadly, we go home tomorrow. I can’t wait to share our holiday snaps – I have a whole week’s worth of posts lined up!
For now, I just want to state for the record how proud I am of myself for actually relaxing this week. In fact, I’ve been so relaxed that today I sat down on the couch intending to read a magazine and within thirty seconds I was asleep. Perhaps there is hope for me after all.
Happy belated weekend to you all, and see you all back here next week! xo
(Linking up with Amanda’s weekending!)
// Strolling in the dark…
// Sitting with Gung Gung…
// Waking up from the midday nap…
// Mucking around in the dark…
How awesome is my mum?
Rick was away for the weekend and so my dear mum came to stay with me to offer some moral support.
Turns out she did a lot more than that. Not only did she help me entertain, feed and bathe the boys each day, she even let me sleep in till almost eleven while she single-handedly got the boys out of bed, made them breakfast, fed them breakfast and then kept them happy while I snoozed and snoozed and snoozed some more.
I hope I will be just as awesome one day.
How was everyone else’s weekend?
(Linking up with Amanda’s weekending.)
// Finishing off some scrapbooking…
// Reading the cafe menu…
// Conversing on the driveway…
// Indulging in tri-flavoured wafers…
// Catching up with great friends…
It’s true. I’ve finally finished off a ‘memoir book’ of sorts that traces our relationship/marriage these last seven years: from courting, being engaged, getting married, falling pregnant, losing Cameron, giving birth to Angus, giving birth to Pete, falling pregnant with Jamie and all the adventures in between.
I’ve had the idea for two years now and I’ve finally done it. The sense of satisfaction is almost indescribable but more importantly, I’ve loved reliving all those beautiful and significant moments of our life together. It’s reminded me of how blessed I am to be married to such a wonderful man. No, he is not perfect. But he is perfect for me.
(Don’t tell my endocrinologist about those wafers. They’re probably not what he had in mind when he told me on Thursday that I needed to change – read: improve – my diet if I were to delay the inevitable onset of diabetes. But you guys, those wafers are like the yummiest snack ever. That makes it okay, right? No? Okay. No more after I finish this packet…)
// Holding my baby close…
// Leaving the hospital at dusk…
// Driving home from a birthday party…
// Spending time with my son before dinner…
A dear family friend died this weekend, leaving behind her husband, her older son, her brother, her sister and all her beloved friends.
Life is precious.
Embrace the people you love and tell them that you love them.
