Chill'n with the family

Lucky me got to hang out and play with my bro, sis-in-law and adorable little nephew!  Nothing better than a pies, pasties and cakes from Beck's Bakery and chilling out on the lawn at Port Norlunga with my family.  Aahh, I love summer!  Thanks Liam for entertaining me during the car ride to your Great Grand Poppy's house (today South Road was hilarious!) and for making me laugh when you projectile vomited into Poppy's lap as soon as you saw him.
I am so grateful for such a wonderful day.  And while I wait for Andrew to come home from work I have been sitting on the couch watching my now 22 week little bubba move around my belly!  It's cool that you can actually see on the outside what I'm feeling on the inside!

The back yard transformation begins... Goodbye fern garden.

About 2 weeks ago on a Sunday about 10:30ish Andrew and I discuss ripping out the fernery.

Nek minit...

 Of course, wanting desperately to have some part in the transformation I decide to pull a few ferns too, although it didn't take long for me realise that I may have over done it.

 And so I became the official photographer for the rest of the transformation, helping every now and then to pull a few more out whenever I felt like I had recovered enough.

 The Chickens feasted on 20+ courses of snails, bugs and geckos.  They ate so much I'm surprised they could move!

 About half way there and I make Andrew stop for a well earned lunch break. 

 An amazing effort for only 2 and a half hours work.

 Tired and dirty I am really proud of Andrew and the final result.  Eventually we will rip down the retaining wall we are sitting on, flatten the back yard and extend out the pergola.  Baby steps Jude, baby steps...

What to paint the green room...

So after being bored to tears (literally) yesterday I am getting myself out of the house today to find some paint swatches.  The minty green isn't really cutting it as a appropriate colour for a baby's room.  Not only are the walls green but the guys who owned it before us painted the built in robes green as well.  The room itself is quite dark so a lighter colour is probably going to be the way to go.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.  Keep in mind the fact that we are not going to know if baby Spad is a girl or a boy until June.
Here's a bit of a visual...

Pillowcase Dress

Oh, Adelaide.  You really do summer a little too well sometimes!  It's a little too hot to be down at the beach (especially while pregnant!), I don't fancy tackling crowds of crazy shoppers at the local shopping centre just because I want to look around and all my friends are back at work again.  What's a girl to do?... 

I know!  How about a trip down to Spotlight!  It was my friend's little girl's birthday on Boxing Day.  An afternoon spent making her a pillowcase dress sounded like the perfect plan.

So out came the good ol' Janome sewing machine again.  I scrolled around for the perfect pillowcase dress patter and came across this one from Baby Rabies.  It has very easy to follow step my step instructions with photos and sizing from 6 months to 4 years.

Within 2 hours I had 2 little dresses.  Note that I am still a beginner so everything takes me longer than what it should.  I can't wait to see what it looks like on!

What do you think?

Our New House - Before Renovations

 On the first week of December 2012 Andrew and I moved from our rented house in Netherby into the Adelaide Hills.  For me, moving back into the Adelaide Hills is like moving back home.  It's where I grew up.  Our house is located on a quiet street, close to an oval and bushland.  We have lovely neighbours who have all gone out of their way to make us feel welcome.  It's almost a case of worst house on the best street and it is going to take some work to get the house up to scratch.  But I enjoy a challenge and I love that our house is going to be a work in progress.  By the time it's finished it will well and truly have our mark on it.  So before we do anything to the house I thought I would take a few photos of our first week in the house.

Lets begin with the interior...

The top left photo is of our very blue kitchen.  Blue walls, blue cupboards, bench tops, blue lino on the floor, I only wish you could see the dark blue 'textured' feature wall!

Next, in the top right we have the very blue laundry.  It's in desperate need of a coat of paint, maybe a new cupboard, new floor to replace brown daggy tiles and a new laundry sink to replace the one with no door.

The bottom left is our bathroom.  When we bought the house three years ago the bath was rusty on the edges.  Andrew gave it a coat of paint before we rented it out.  Again, the brown floor tiles need to go.  We also need to replace the rest of the tiles and the shower screen door that is coming away from the frame.

Lastly, we have the minty fresh baby room.  To be honest, I'm not sure what they were thinking when that painted it spearmint green!

We come to the backyard... 

The backyard is lovely!  That is apart from the fence that is coming down at the back, the fernery which has been taken over by the grass, the pile of bricks and sheet metal in the back corner of the yard (which was home to a juvenile brown snake a week ago).

The veggie patch is overgrown with weeds, grass and garden clippings at the moment.  I'm really looking forward to getting it ready for our winter crop very soon.  Again, it's a work in progress and one that I am quite excited about.  Andrew and I are dreaming about our pergola area.

Eventually we will rip out all the ferns, remove the shade cloth and wooden structure and start again.  This time we will make sure that there isn't a pole in the middle of what would be a very usable space!

In a place where there is so much to do it's difficult to know what to do first.  We have armed ourselves with paint swatches from the paint shop, drawn up some rough plans for the back yard and have done some research into building a chicken coup.  Watch out house!

So we're in and we're are settled.  It's a work in progress but one I am very proud to call ours.

Have you ever renovated or have any renovation tips or ideas?  I would love to hear from you!

Fregon, my heart breaks for you.

Fregon, my heart breaks for you today.  He was a great man, full of wisdom, love, openness and cheek.  I will have forever etched in my mind images of him greeting us as we arrived at Walalkara for the very first time, proudly showing us around his land, directing us with his hands as we drove in the car, drawing with a stick in the ground, painting his story on a canvas in the arts centre, the smile and wave we recieved as he proudly drove his 'Toyota' around the town at the cracking pace of 3km/h, asking for another jam sandwich made by me (I apparently am a little generous with the jam).  We overcame language and cultural barriers together.  Knowing him has been a real honour and privilege.  The more I found out about him the more I have been amazed.  This man was the glue that held people together, that took people in and cared for them, that has been so welcoming to the other, that has passed on his stories to us in a mix of English and Pitjantjatjara, that proved to all his innovative nature and who remembered seeing his very first white man as a boy.  He taught me so much about Anangu language and culture but most of all he taught me the value of silence.  A traditional man who has also been described as a healer.  May all that have met you be inspired.  May your family live with the wisdom that you have lived with.  Your 80 something years of life have impacted so many.  As I sit here contemplating a life lost I am reminded of a life about to begin as I sit on the couch feeling Baby Spad moving about.  I can only hope that Baby Spad will learn a little of the wisdom of such an amazing Anangu man.
Love to my Fregon Family.