as promised the new floor

The new wooden floor, all stained and polished - looking pretty good huh?

And the new carpet, Sam and Charlie were trying it out, they were very excited. Sam told me

" wow, it doesnt hurt when I fall over now" lol! It is soo nice to walk on the carpet again, it has luxury underlay that is really thick and is quite a thick carpet. We have gone for a very good quality carpet for the living area since that is the place that gets all the hard wear. It is really lovely. Very pleased with it.

viewed from the kitchen

Daniel is all warm

Daniel has been asking for a while (since last winter actually) for me to knit him a scarf, he asked for flames. Well I picked up some wool a while ago for $2 a ball so we decided to use that. There was enough left to do a hat too. He is very pleased with it and it should be warm becuase it is 80% merino. One of the girls on TNN has just released this pattern for handwarmers (Embeca on Ravelry) she is having a competition for people to knit the handwarmers and embelish them. So some more $2 balls of wool from Spotlight and he has his flames :-) One happy, snuggly warm boy.

My gorgeous baby......

For the last couple of weeks Ben has been giving us random 'real' smiles, he is really funny becuase once he has done it he cant remember what to do and sticks his tongue out and contorts his face but cant figure out how to smile again.

Well today I was sitting at the table with him on my knee having a wee chat and he gave me the most gorgeous gummy smile, followed by another and another - lots of them. It was sooooo cute and adorable. So I went and got the camera - of course I couldnt get him to smile for the camera, but as soon as I put it away he gave me the biggest grin!

He is wearing his new cardy I knit for him too, fits perfectly and looks great, I am really pleased with it.

This weeks project

The kids 'bob couch' (named becuase of its bright red upholstery in the theme of bob the builder) was looking a little worse for wear after 7yrs of enthusiastic lounging by several little people. So I decided to recover it. I got some gorgously soft minky (the spotty stuff) so used that for the seat part and contrasted with dark chocolate drill (for durabilty) The project seemed simple until I had unpicked the previous cover. Despite labeling everything in permanant marker it wasnt quite so simple to stitch back together! I have done something wrong at the front as it doesnt sit quite right. I will have to have a look at Lucas' couch next time I am there and figure out what I did wrong. My last fopar (is that how you spell that?) was to reuse the zip, as I was zipping the finished cover up over the foam, eager to admire my work the pull part fell off, I managed to prise its inards open and reattach it for it to break into two pieces. So rather than unpick it all and start with a new zip I have temporarily sewed the zip together!!! I will get back to it and replace the zip.......one day!

So the kids have renamed 'bob couch' as 'spotty couch'

oh yes and the new floor

So we have just spent the week down at Gruff and Brendas while they were on holiday (in Oz, in the sun, lucky things!) It has been so nice to have a fire and a dishwasher - oh how I have missed the dishwasher. Anyway it allowed us to be out of the house while the polyurethane went down on the wooden floor, so it has been a tiring week - for Jase who worked all day and then spent his evening staining, polishing and painting and for me who had sole responsibility of all six children for the week and then on the weekend while Jase was away ploughing. I did however get a bit of knitting done without the call of sorting, housework etc etc, so it was in effect a nice break for me too.
So before the disco we had to call in at home to get a couple of things and, of course, to take photos, so you will see in the background the floor with the first couple of coats of polish on, I will add more photos in the next few days of the finished floor.

The carpet was due to go down today but unfortunately when Jase went to paint the skirting boards (they had to go down after the polishing but before the carpet) the paint contained a foreign material that made it all bumpy and looked like lots of little hairs were in it. So that had to go back and the boards had to be all sanded and repainted - hence we had to put the carpet layers off until next week. We should know by now that nothing goes to plan shouldnt we!!!

School Disco

Last Friday was the school disco and the kids were asked to dress up as someone from a different country or in a sports strip. So I present to you - the all black, the flamenco dancer and the little chinese girl. Lauras dress is the result of about 6hrs of pattern drafting, altering and sewing but I am pleased to say she was stoked with my efforts and loves it.

My gorgeous wee man

Hanging with daddy while mummy has a shower

see I can open my eyes!


First bath at home, not too terribly impressed

Sams Birthday

Sam's birthday on the 19th April. Ben and I came home from the maternity centre the day before so the day of Sam's birthday I set about making his cake. He decided he would like a 'moo' cake. Not up to my usual standard, there are a few things I wasnt happy about - like using the white icing for the fences, I should have used chocolate. Also Sam cant actually eat the choc fingers because they have dairy in them, but I didnt have time to organise anything else. Anyway, Sam was very pleased with his cake and we bought some cool candles for it too.

The inspiration for the cake is on the right - Sam's beloved 'moo'

With my brothers and sisters

Benjamin Thomas Robson

Ben is now just over two weeks old, so getting a little late for a birth announcement! But here it is anyway. I have to say in my defence the only time I get on the computer is usually when I have a little boy attached to my boob or over my shoulder and my patience can only take a limited amount of one handed, two fingered typing before I revert to clicking the mouse and one word sentences. But I thought it might reach Bens 18th birthday before I finally get his newborn pictures on here so had better get onto it!





So, back to the announcement part.......





Benjamin (Ben) Thomas, born on the 15th April 2010 at 4.16pm. Weighing in at a small (for us!) 9lb 2oz and 55cm long. Born in the birth pool after a cruisey, pain free labour (apart from the last minute which farking hurt!) no pain relief needed. unfortunately Ben didnt wait for daddy to get home from the ploughing match so he was born under the watchful eyes of two midwifes and his aunties Brenda and Brodie, who I have to say did a stella job of maintaining my comfort levels with water, cold flannels and hand holding and Brod took some awesome pictures (some of which wont be shared, for modesty's sake!)

Brand new, still in the pool, I cant rave enough about waterbirth - it was the most fantastic experience. A truely beautiful birth.

Choppter

Jase got a phonecall yesterday morning (Sunday) from a helicopter pilot who needed some chemical, apparently a mix up meant he was at the farm to do some spraying and it wasnt there. So Jase organised to get it from the local shop for him and he flew into town to get it.

We took Sam and Charlie with us (the older kids stayed with grandpa) and Lucas and Gruff who had just stopped in. The wee kids thought it was great and Charlie loved seeing the Choppter as he called it. There was a couple of local residents having a wee look see at the chopper landed in a vacant subdivision plot too! Quick way to come and pick up the chemical though.

Jock

Here is the father of the new progeny. Quietude Goldrush or commonly known as 'Jock.' He is an American Morgan. The old fella (the horse that is not the father in law ;-) is getting on a bit now and was kept at hooves length during and after the birth. Not allowed to get too close to his new son yet by a rather over protective mother!

Charlie getting aquinted with Georginas foals from last year and the year before, known as Shannon and Foaly (Axel!)

Charlie was getting a bit tired after walking down the farm so Jase popped him up on his shoulders for a ride.

The new addition

At 6am this morning one of Peters (Jasons dad) brood mares, Georgina gave birth to a healthy little colt. He is yet to be named but takes after his father 'Jock' in his colouring. We took the kids around for a wee look see and to get a few pics of the new addition.

Found my crafty mojo

I finally admitted to myself that getting the house done so I could have my machines out again was going to take a while so I have set up a temporary table in the new lounge area with my sewing machines on it. I have to unplug either the tv/internet or the water pump to be able to run the machines but during the day (no lights at night) I can actually get some sewing done.

So I made a little merino cross over singlet for Leobump and have another one cut out. I am awaiting some cute wee cow snaps for the second one so have put it to one side for now until they arrive. Then I finished a blanket for Charlie that I started before he was born. All I had to do was finish the edges but didnt know what I wanted to do until I found this satin binding on special in spotlight the other day. Charlie loves it and now doesnt have to borrow one from a sibling to be just like them, he has one of his own. I have also cut out and started a pair of corded jeans for Laura but one of my overlocker needles bent and when I found the needle case I realised there was no needles left in it (murphys law huh!) So I had to put them on hold until I got some more yesterday. However with today being such a gorgeous day we have spent most of it outside in the garden so no sewing done yet.