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{Harper} Same dress as last week* but a much happier disposition.

*all photos of Harper this week feature her in this princess costume. It has become her uniform.

{Finn} He dropped his bag at the front door and told me all about his school day.

The B-sides (because two photos seems a little minimalist for me

{dig, dig, digging}

{explaining his 'wall-e' mobilo creation to me. Can you tell he was unpacking a challenging design point?}

{practising a new skill}

{our lovely neighbours lent Harper and Finn two Toy Story toys, Jessie and Buzz. They were happy about this. Very happy.}

{I'll give that some thought Mum}

{Princess Harper at Princess Lily's fifth birthday party. A beautiful tea party lovingly organised by her mum. Unfortunately I had to work, so Lachie was on camera duty}

{Lovely Lily. Our family adores this sweet girl!}

{her eyes always tell a picture}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty nine {mix, mix, mixing}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty three {making lunch}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty five {soft boiled egg sunday}

Three things I love about Sunday’s soft boiled egg morning tea tradition:

1.       Lach is the master of cooking soft boiled eggs (who would have thought it was hard? It is. I have tried. I get the timing way off.) This a cooking tradition he shares solely with the kids.

2.       Harper always requests to wear a bib, even though she hasn’t worn one regularly for over six months.  Flashbacks of her eating as a baby come thick and fast.

3.       Both kids don’t leave an ounce of egg ( or “eggy goodness” as they call it) in the shell. When they can’t manage to scrap anymore off the bottom they call for assistance. Daddy always comes to their rescue.

Documenting Delight: Day fifty three {Making zucchini fritters}

Two little helpers in the kitchen, calling out “Look Mum we are sharing!” while simultaneously trying to wrestle the whisk out of each other’s hands.

I do love cooking with Finn and Harper but only when I keep three things in check:

1. Being prepared for mess

2. Remembering to get all ingredients and equipment needed out before we start

3. Acknowledging that at some point one of the kids will dip their hands in the mixture and proceed to lick said mixture off hands.

Tick all of these dot points off and we have fun. For me it is tempting to get a bit of home cooking done while the kids are playing happily. It’s quicker and I have control of the clean factor. But a couple of times a week I put aside these obvious positives and get Finn and Harper involved. Passing on a love of good food to our kids is very important to Lach and I. What childhood doesn’t have strong food memories attached to it? We want these memories to be about enjoyment, experimentation, knowledge and most of all about sharing time with loved ones. I love it that when Finn sees Lach get out the pizza stones he knows that Sunday night pizza making has begun or when Harper stares at the kitchen timer patiently waiting for our baking creations to be ready. This is what food is about in our family, more than just nourishment but time spent together.

{Cutting the chives with steely focus}

Today the recipe was loosely followed, flour coated our kitchen floor and corn kernels were found hours later in the strangest of places, but we had a good time and the fritters were yummers!

{Raw zucchini? Harper is willing to give anything a try!}

{the end product}

Documenting Delight: Day twenty seven

Lachie made the sensational decision to take today off, making himself a tidy little four day weekend. When moments got tough at home over the past fortnight my mantra was “Four day weekend coming up. Four day weekend coming up.” I love weekends even more now that I am a stay at home mum. Much more.

A little side note: My dear friend Kate shared with me this wonderful article. I have been thinking about it a lot and feel that it really does sum up my thoughts on motherhood/being a stay at home mum. Within any day I can experience dreaded lows (Finn and Harper fighting over toys, tantrums- oh boy the tantrums, messy toileting accidents etc, etc), but then out of nowhere there are these shining light moments. Moments that stop me in my tracks, make me smile and remind me how lucky I am to be a mother to these two beautiful little people. I have never found being at home full time with the kids easy; sometimes it can be manageable and other times I certainly struggle. But I always want to be here. Like the article points out, I don’t seize every day but I sure do cherish the little moments that make me happy and thankful that I am a mother.

So, it’s on these weekends that the pressure is taken down a notch, the highs and lows even out a little, a time where we can have fun as a family and give each other a bit of time out here and there. If you read this blog regularly you are going to hear me talk again and again about how supportive Lachie is and what an amazing father he is. It just has to be said, over and over. He has been a hands on Dad from day one and Finn and Harper just adore him. Today was just anonther example of why I love this man.

Sunday night is usually pizza night. Having a few extra weekend days up our sleeve we moved things around a little. Lachie takes full control of this night. He makes the dough, creates his own pizza sauce and selects delicious toppings to boot. He also gets Finn and Harper involved. Today I am surprised that any of these photos are in focus as I was laughing so much as I was taking them. As Lachie was kneading the dough he was pressing it over the kids’ hands and they thought it was hysterical ! They were captivated and fully engaged in the cooking experience. Lachie has that effect on the kids. He makes things physical, tailors activities to their level and always, always brings the fun factor. Afternoons can be a little hairy in our house, but this afternoon ran smoothly and was such a pleasure. Oh and the pizzas were delicious.

a few outtakes from today.....

{Harper bouncing up and down as her Dad pounded the dough}

{the finished product. delicious.}

{carefully pulling off the stringy cheese}

Documenting Delight: Day twelve

It was a Thursday that started with a tantrum and many more preceded it. I needed something to add a positive spin to the day. Whenever a diversion is needed I usually turn to cooking. It gets the kids involved and has the alluring end result of food. Something both Finn & Harper cannot resist. So instead of the usual sandwich we made English muffin pizzas for lunch. Harper opted to eat her toppings before they made their way to her pizza, and in true Finn style he brought razor sharp concentration to the task. The sibling differences strike again.