Friday 26 April 2013

patchwork covered chair reveal - success!

Who would have thunk it?  The patchwork covers... work!  After a huge day on the sewing machine, I managed to finish the most complicated sewing project I've ever taken on.  Whilst the top cushion cover is completely finished, the bottom cover is still just pinned on to the chair.  I want to sand the chair first and don't want to get any mess on my new covers.  This way, I will be able to take it off and fix it on properly once the wood has been sorted.  I will also be able to use the bottom section as a template for the other chairs.  Hopefully I will have enough fabric samples for another one or two chairs...  will just have to wait and see!
I had been planning on making slip on covers, but during the process had another brainwave (dangerous, I know!).  What if I unpicked the bottom of the old covers and sewed it in?  Then I would have zippered cushions without having to sew in a zip myself (something I am yet to do!)...  And it worked!  Sooooooooo....  it's great to report that my creative risk panned out.  It wasn't a waste of time, in fact it pushed my sewing skills to another level.  I'm now eyeing off a large armchair which needs a refresh - I will add it to the list now, thinking that perhaps I will really be able to do it myself!

It's been so satisfying having a creative project on the go.  As I mentioned a few days ago, the writing is really feeling like hard work!  So I needed a creative break from my creative 'work'...  is there some irony in this?!

Wednesday 24 April 2013

taking creative risks: patchwork fabric samples

One of my lovely old friends (she's not old, just been a friend for a long time now!!!) gave me bags of fabric samples recently.  I was sitting in the office, trying to tidy up and look for aida cloth at the same time, when I had a brainwave - completely unrelated to the task at hand!  Why couldn't I try patching together the fabric samples to cover my new chairs?  It's a bit of a risk - I may sew everything together and decide it looks terrible, that it's been a complete waste of time...  or it might just look fantastic!  Anyway, I'm going to have fun trying - it's been ages since I sunk my teeth into a sewing project.  Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Tuesday 23 April 2013

celebrating the milestones: 30,000 words


Last night's word count left a tantalising goal for today's writing session.  All I needed to achieve was over 800 words and I would be up to 30,000 words in my manuscript...  and now, consider it done!  My word count tells me I am sitting on 30,010 words - big ones, small ones, all kinds of them.  As I go on, it is getting harder.  It should come as no surprise that some days the words don't flow as easily as they should.  But I write anyway, having often read that 'you can't edit a blank page'.

Last week I printed out the first 26 pages, sitting down to edit them one quiet afternoon.  There is much to work on, making sure dates add up (can't have a baby a few months old one minute, 6 the next and only three months old in the next chapter...  it just doesn't work!) and that my descriptions of seasons match the timing, that characters are solid in their descriptions, all of those little details that add to the actual storytelling.

And still, there is that bubble of fear.  Worrying that what I write won't be any good, that my children, when they are older, will talk about their crazy mother who wrote terrible stories, hoping that one day they would be published.  Oh, Augusten, you have a lot to answer for!

Monday 22 April 2013

gardening: why you shouldn't walk backwards, especially when you're husband is watching

Sunday was huge in our garden.  First, we went to mum's where we dug up extras from her garden - gaura, echeverias, borage, salvia, canna lillies and more - then came home and planted most of them out.  It was hard work and we were hurrying to get as much in at this end before dark.  I was pulling a pot backwards to make room to extend the garden bed when my foot became stuck and I fell, literally flat on my back.  I could feel myself going, pot in hands, looking at the sky whizzing past my eyes.

I let out a - scream, gasp, something - and heard laughter from out the front.  Not a worried cry, wondering if I was okay, no - a great big fit of laughter.  At this stage I was still on the ground, with dirt down my trousers (how did that happen?), neck hurt from near-whiplash impact, a sore hand from where I fell, plus aching back and legs.  And Joe was LAUGHING!  I guess from his end, it could have looked funny.  He said he heard me let out this kind of yelp and then looked over to see my legs waving about in the air.  He didn't realise I'd fallen and said if I saw him in the same position, I would have been laughing too.  Well, probably, but that's entirely beside the point!

For the rest of the night, there were laughs from his end and cries of aches and pains from mine.  Today I'm glad to report there has been a bit more sympathy, if only to set a good example for the kids - you can't laugh when someone hurts themself!

Even if it is your mother, looking like an upended tortoise, legs flailing in the air...

Sunday 21 April 2013

all pumpkins great and small

Our local farmers' market held a giant pumpkin competition yesterday.  I'd been tempted to enter our biggest pumpkin, but thought its 20cm diameter (quick estimate, I'm being too lazy to go and check properly!) wouldn't quite cut the mustard.  It would have been fun to bring it along, though it would have been quickly dwarfed by the giants on display.  No photos from the day, but the pumpkins were being carted in on forklifts, if that gives you an idea!  Apparently the growers had special seeds.  My pumpkins sprouted from our compost, which I think is pretty special, but not enough to grow giants.  We also didn't plant the seedlings out quickly enough, not even knowing what they were at first.  I'm hoping now that we will have enough warmth for a few of them to ripen and make some deliciously winter warming soup...  Only time will tell!

Friday 19 April 2013

gambling with clay soil in the garden

I've had a collection of pots waiting to find a home.  The soil on our block is heavy clay and thought we'd be better off planting into raised beds.  The problem with that, though, is that we just can't afford to bring soil on to the site - there is an endless pile of bills needing to be paid, meaning there's no money in the pot for the garden.  And I can tell you, I am very sick of looking at plants that should be in the ground.  The soil dries out quickly too and a lot of the plants are now too big for their pots, needing to be moved on.
Yesterday I bit the bullet.  Taking note of the poor condition of our potted plants, I thought they couldn't be any worse off in the ground.  This was a bigger job than I planned, as I first had to dig in bricks along the bottom of the fence to keep Minnie from escaping.  The holes weren't as easy to dig as they could have been (due to the clay) and I feel as though I am suffering from digger's knee this morning!  But...  it looks great!  Joe (the real gardener) was amazed and agrees with me that we just have to work on the soil we have, rather than waiting until we can afford something else.

Do you have a gardening project you're holding back on?  Are you ready to bite the bullet too?  And will this gamble pay off?  Will I be looking at a collection of dead plants six months from now?

You will just have to stay tuned and see how they grow!

Thursday 18 April 2013

thrifted tea trolley

Is it still officially thrifting when you're given something?  I suppose the act of receiving something secondhand falls under the category of 'being thrifty' so there you go!  We're using the tea trolley as a side table in my office, which is also starting to be used as a sitting room.  Joe and I find ourselves having a chat in here, away from the kids and their amazingly good hearing.  Tom is the worst - or should we say best?! - having been gifted with supersonic ears.  You can be almost whispering, rooms away, and he will know exactly what he said.  Best not to talk about Christmas presents whilst even in the same town as Tom, or he will know what presents to expect!

It's fairly quiet around here now school's gone back.  I've been trying to get some work done, another project that's due on Monday.  I have been having a lot of fun with InDesign.  It's a program I've owned for some time now, but usually just sit down to do my work and don't give myself much time just to have fun.  It's very hard to get any kind of crafting done with Jono around, however I find it easy just to hop on and off the computer - nothing to tidy away, just a button to switch off, yet I've been able to do something creative!

Expect to see more posts with this new kind of layout, whilst I continue to exercise that creative muscle!

Wednesday 17 April 2013

the double dining table

It seemed a shame to not put our new dining table to use.  After all, how often do 6' x 3' dining tables fall into your hands?  And look at those beautiful turned legs?!  It's just gorgeous!  Joe suggested pushing it next to our existing dining table - we have the space and there's only a small height difference.  Although I was dubious at first, I now really love it - there's just the matter of not having enough chairs!  We do have more, but most of them need work, so you know what I'll be doing from now on!  Some of the chairs need new seats though, so I will have to make something very inventive for them...  consider this a long term work in progress...!

Tuesday 16 April 2013

sophie's headquarters - a proper desk works wonders

More playing with InDesign this afternoon!  Procrastinating doing some real work as this is far more fun...  This is Sophie's new desk which was another goodie we were given yesterday.  She's absolutely delighted with herself, running around the house last night saying: "I'm going to be rich!  I'm going to be rich!"  When we asked why, Sophie said it was because the desk looks so smart!  What a classic!

Right!  That's done, now I really need to do some work before it's time to wake up Jono and pick Tom and Sophie up from school...

granny chic - a definition

I've been having a giggle as I walk around the house, looking at my spoils from yesterday's house clearance.  We are definitely rocking a very granny chic vibe around here, which hasn't at all been intentional...  and led on to me creating a definition for our house's condition:

granny chic (n.)
The unavoidable side-effect of accepting other people's unwanted goods.

Our house is put together with hand-me-downs and thrifted items and we've been very lucky to be in receipt of such wonderful items.  I must admit that I used to struggle living with other people's stuff, feeling like I just wish we could go out and buy something new of our own.  But living this way is what's helped get us into our own house, which has been the main goal all along.  It's also very environmentally friendly, having rescued items that might have otherwise been sent to the tip.

Here's to granny chic - saving the world, one salvaged piece at a time!

Monday 15 April 2013

I almost don't know what to say - the free stuff by the side of the road!

Speechless, me.  Well, almost!  As I was driving to pick up the kids from school, I went past a sign stuck next to a BBQ offering it free of charge.  There was also a coffee table and a small pile of wood.  I reefed the car around - very gently of course! - and backtracked to the loot.  A couple of guys were wheeling a trolley back into the house where the goodies had come from and they came over to talk to me.  I asked them to give me a lift with the coffee table so I could get it in the back of the car, but we soon realised I'd have to put the seats down and I knew I couldn't do that until I'd picked up the kids from school.  A light flashed on in my brain and I offered the guys $20 to deliver my spoils in the Budget truck as our house was only just around the corner.  They thought it was a fair deal, I gave them directions then went to get the kids.
As I was driving home, I noticed they'd finished loading the truck.  I stopped to say that they could just follow me and then somebody asked if I would like a 6'x3' dining table...  um yes please!  The woman - who I presumed to be the wife of one of the guys outside - asked me to come and have a look at the table, to make sure I really did want to bring it home...  then she offered me the chairs in the top picture (there are 4 altogether.  They have matching cushions for the backrests - I will take more pics tomorrow!), plus some bar stools with wicker kind of seats, plus a butler's trolley with drop down sides, plus a couple of mops and a mop bucket, a plant pot and more!
The also offered me a couple of desks - the hutch on the right (on top of the coffee table) belongs on the desk on the left, then there is a cane one sitting on its end in the middle of the picture.  You can see the table at the back and a bit of the barbeque poking out.  What an amazing haul!  I still can't believe it!  I kept on asking whether they were sure, and saying that I felt very greedy and really, didn't anybody else want it?  But they'd had all the family members through the house and everyone had already taken what they wanted and the rest was going to the op shop anyway.  They reassured me I was doing them a favour and here I sit, still bemused and gob-smacked at their generosity - plus the two trips it took to deliver everything.  For which I'd given them $20, but still.....!!!!!  Oh and I almost forgot there was also a pair of cow horns (an essential accessory for every home!) and scrap wood that will come in handy in the garden...

Joe was impressed just with the barbeque, coffee table, vice and cane desk (which I will use for storage in the garage), but when he came inside and saw everything else, he was just as gobsmacked as I had been a couple of hours earlier.  Everything needs a bit of TLC, but it's all stuff you can do things with - the coffee table has old brown tiles which I will remove and mosaic with broken bits of old china I have waiting for a home.  But all in good time!

Can you believe it?!  I will post more photos tomorrow - Sophie is particularly proud of her proper desk (the one with the hutch) and has it set up with teddies, books, drawing materials and more.

Smiles all around!

Sunday 14 April 2013

the sunday drive - picnicking

Sophie - our newly front-toothless girl - is a big fan of picnics.  To honour the last day of the school holidays, we packed up the car and headed off for a feast at Lake Nillahcootie.  It's about an hour's drive from home, a place I'd come to as a schoolgirl many moons ago.  Somewhere around the house, I should still have a sketch I reluctantly drew during that excursion. I remember being particularly bolshy that day (!) and annoying my already-grumpy teacher.  Joy of joys, I'm very glad my school days are behind me!
We thought we might walk across this bridge after lunch, but when we neared the entrance it had a very tall fence and no entry signs.  The best we could do was walk near it at ground level, where we sat while the kids played.  Jono and Soph made castles and house with stones, while Tom did a spot of rock climbing.  Only very low, mind you, as we didn't want any broken bones.  They tend to put a dampener on a day out!
 The kids loved getting out and about - just a simple change of scene.  The only costs were however much fuel it took to drive there and a loaf of bread!  We brought leftovers from dinner last night - marinated lamb, feta and beetroot salad and dips and cheeses we'd had with friends.  Delicious!
Jono happily picked up a stick and started drawing in the dirt.  He told us he was painting Sophie!  It's amazing hearing how many words he has, the most talkative of our children at this age.
Poor old Barbie was exhausted after her day at the Lake, just like me!  We arrived home during the early afternoon and we're all off to bed early tonight, ready for school tomorrow.  It's been a whirlwind holiday and think we could almost do with another week...  we will just have to wait until June!

Saturday 13 April 2013

do you picmonkey?

I was a huge fan of picnik, a free photo editing software that used to be online.  It had all sorts of wonderful effects to make you feel like the ultimate Photoshop genius, without either the training or the expensive software program!  I was devastated when Picnik disappeared and you can imagine my delight when Kate put me on to Picmonkey.  In these pictures, I've transformed a beautiful shot of borage...
 ... into a posterized version...
 ... and then cross processed the colours using a green filter...
... and used a Lomo filter here...

... all at the touch of a button!  Picmonkey is free, but also has premium effects that you can subscribe to, I think for just over $30 per year (if I read the details properly!).  I haven't subscribed yet, but it does seem like amazing value!

Which photo-editing software do you use?  Or do you prefer them untouched?!

Friday 12 April 2013

it's the simple things...

Who knew that timber off-cuts could bring such joy?  They are a big hit with Jono and Sophie at the moment, especially being drawn on with chalk.  We have very fine pigment fragments all over the place - I keep finding them all over the herbs and wonder whether the chalk is providing us with a good supplement to strengthen us over the winter as things get cooler?!  I made this little house for Jono a few weeks ago - a bit like a wooden version of a house of cards!
The expressway is also a major hit - it wouldn't look out of place in the big city.  I love watching the kids getting busy with the wood, making it into whatever they want it to be.  I guess it's part of nurturing their own creativity and letting them be free to express with their own voices.
Jono particularly loves dropping the cars down ramps - look at his serious little face!  Watching them play with the wood reminds me of how at Christmas time you often find kids playing with the boxes.  Well here are our kids with a garden filled with toys - and look at what they're doing!  Just another reminder to keep things simple...

Thursday 11 April 2013

the view from down here

Digital photography was invented with me in mind.  I love the freedom of experimenting with this angle and that, up high, down low - click, click, click.  Unedited, I have over 20,000 photos on my computer (backed up to an external hard drive, in case you're wondering!).  At mum's a few days ago, I crouched down near the garden gate to take this photo.  I love how the image captures this entirely different angle, looking up through the sage, the gate post with its nifty latch and the tall light, known to the kids as the moon for its brightly-lit orb.  I'm sure if I was still using film - and paying for every photo I took - I wouldn't be able to express this photographic freedom.

And one day I just might get around to whittling down the photos on the computer and printing them out, for with every upside there is a downside - printing over 20,000 photos would cost...  a lot!

Wednesday 10 April 2013

thrifted bar stools - too good to resist!

The pot of money didn't fall from the sky yesterday, but at $15 each, these bar stools begged to come home with me.  It was a pleasure to be able to load them into the back of our new car and not have to worry about leaving them behind for someone else to pick up.  Boot space was a must in choosing a car, and this one has it in spades.  We also fitted in other bits and pieces picked up along the way - mum's shopping, library books and a small collection of books we were given by the op shop - quite a bonus to be served by a sales assistant who said she loves to see kids reading!  The kids are loving their books - and their new stools, which they agree were a terrific find.  I've done very well justifying my purchase - I figure I've saved myself $255!  The stools I really liked - that were brand new - cost $100 each, or $300 in total...  if you consider I bought these for $45 in total, I've saved a lot of money!  Guilty of overspending?  Not me!

Tuesday 9 April 2013

sweet dreams of roses and money falling from the sky

I'm currently hoping for some money (even a little!) to fall from the sky and fund my garden wishlist!  We have so many plants we'd like to buy - no to mention the front fence - that a trip to a rose nursery perhaps wasn't the best thing to do, for people who don't have any money to spare...  but it certainly gave us some food for thought.  I'm hoping that by winter time we will be able to buy some bare-rooted roses - at least I can justify that they're much cheaper to buy that way.  Top of my list would be the Guy Savoy striped climber (above) that has the most magnificent blooms and would be perfect on the fence outside my bedroom window.  I can just imagine lying in bed, looking out the window at two of my favourite colours - red and hot pink - clambering up (and covering) our colorbond fence.
The Maurice Utrillo rose is not meant to be a very tall grower, but is meant to flower prolifically which would make it perfect outside my study window.  I made a list of about 30 roses all up from the nursery.  Unless the blooms are particularly stunning, I don't know if there's much point to growing roses that don't smell!  That, for me, is their drawcard.  I just love walking through roses and smelling them until my nose almost explodes.  Hopefully we'll be able to achieve the same sensation here - but even bare-rooted, my wishlist comes in close to $600...  hmmm, lots of contract work for me then!
I didn't write the names down of these climbers, but don't they look amazing against the blue sky, wisps of white clouds and all?  I can see that my plans for quite a simple garden are turning into a plant-filled space, trellises to climb, maybe a pergola or arch or both?  I know it will all evolve over time and I'm honestly quite happy to wait for most of it!  What I'd like to be able to do, though, is to start planting out what we already have in pots.  Like the chicken and the egg, though, we can't do that until we have some good soil in place.  And we can't put the soil down until we do some work to make some raised beds.  I'm happy that we use something like straw bales to form a wall, but again, have to buy them first!

In the meantime, I'll be watching the sky for those dollar notes - and trying to catch them when they fall!

Monday 8 April 2013

treasures wrapped in foil

When I was younger, we would travel home from trips to Granny's with gardenias wrapped in moistened tissues and covered in foil.  The gardenias would scent the car with their sweet perfume, a smell that can't fail to bring back good memories.  Yesterday, mum sent me home with these beautiful roses - it's such a treat to have some cut flowers in the house, with our garden still very much a work in progress.  I have a rose list here in front of me as I write - tomorrow, a glimpse of some of my favourite roses from a lovely nursery not too far from here...  until then!

Friday 5 April 2013

have basket, will travel

For many people around the world, freedom means something really important, such as freedom from oppression, starvation or other terrible afflictions.  So for me, the simple thing of finally having my own car and the freedom that it brings can be put back into perspective very quickly!  At the risk of sounding trite, I am very much enjoying being able to go where I want, when I want, without having to drive Joe to work first so I can have the car.

Getting about would have been more simple if we lived in the city, with public transport on our doorstep, but as we live in the country, our transport options are more limited.  Fortunately we don't live far from the kids' school, but the summer has been so hot, they haven't much appreciated their walks home in the fresh air!  And for me, it's meant missing out on things along the way that I've really wanted to attend.

We've been married for over 11 years and been a single car family for all that time.  So it was with much excitement that we picked up my new car yesterday - well, yes officially it's all of ours, but it's really mine!!  The kids and I packed up the cars with food and drinks and have well and truly given it a run over the past couple of days.  We've notched up a couple of hundred kilometres already!  Admittedly, this is fairly easy considering we do live in the country, but exciting all the same.

Here's a nod to freedom - independence - and let's hope your version of the word is as trite as mine!

Thursday 4 April 2013

the writer's edition - month 1 check-in

Last month on this blog I came out of the writer's closet.  I took my writing out from the bottom drawer and committed to creating 250 words per day in order to finish a manuscript I'd started some years ago. Following this public declaration, I've also started to tell my friends and family that I'm writing - quite a scary thing to do (the telling, that is, rather than the writing!).  And I also promised a monthly check-in on my blog, so here goes:

  • Monthly word target: 8000
  • Actual words written: 12669

Can you believe it?!  I am actually more than 4500 words past my actual goal!

Also, when I add this month's total to the existing manuscript, I have 21,951 words written in total.

Yes, that's 21,951 - about one quarter of my overall goal!!  (I feel like the Demtel man here - "But wait, there's more!")

This really blows out of the water the myth I've believed about writing.  I used to think I would need days on end to get any writing done.  I believed that my children would have to be sequestered into full-time child care and that my days and nights would be fully committed to the written word.

Setting a target of only 250 words per day has been a revelation.  It's quick just to write that much and so easy to skip along and before I know it, there are up to 500 words on the page.  It is amazing and I challenge anyone who's dreamt about writing to take up this simple task.  I also believe writing is a form of exercising your brain - that as you write more, the quality improves and the flow quickens.

Here are a few other findings from the first month:

  • Sometimes life does interfere - if I miss my 250 words from one day, I add it to the next day's target.  I don't just think, 'oh I'm already a couple of thousand words over my goal, I'll forget about it'.  The actual target must be reached.  Any words over that goal are extra, not to be counted in hand.
  • My main characters have changed names.  As I worked, I questioned whether their existing names really suited a whole book.  They didn't and now they have new names...  I won't reveal just in case I change them again!
  • I have changed from the first to the third person.  I'm still not fully committed to either, but am leaning more towards the third person currently.
  • I type straight into InDesign, using a file I've formatted to look like a book.  I know that when I eventually submit my manuscript, it needs to be A4, double-spaced, etc, etc, but there's no fun in that during the actual writing process!  It's much easier (and perhaps slightly delusional, who knows?!) to type into a document that has the name of the story or my own name at the top of each page.  It also lets me check paragraph layout and length and other aspects of words in print.
  • It is time to regroup and go back over my pages from this month.  I need to shuffle sections and start to get the flow of the story sorted.  This is going to be the 'hard work' part - checking through for continuity, realism and making sure the story fits the message I'm trying to tell.
  • Some of my existing material doesn't fit this story - I can see that I started going off on tangents in my earlier draft.  I am reeling the story back in and leaving out chunks that don't work.  I'm not going to throw them away though, as they might fit in to another story down the track.

Well, that's all for now!  Next check in happens Saturday 4 May - wish me luck!

Wednesday 3 April 2013

little creatures and the basket that wasn't

 Day one of the school holidays - Easter didn't really count, did it? - saw Tom, Sophie and I indulging in a little origami.  I am particularly proud of my samurai helmet (above middle, can't you tell?!) and think a larger version would be de rigueur in the supermarket.  Sophie's simple swan (not that he was really simple, it was the pattern name) and pig have very cute little faces...
Now, these origami baskets are our pride and joy.  Can't you see the skill that went in to these paper folds and the success we had?!  I don't know whether I've said it here before, but I suffer from pattern dyslexia...  I find it very hard to follow instructions.  Especially those consisting of diagrams only...  Sophie was horrified when I held up my flattened piece of paper, saying 'wow, look at my basket, it's lovely!'  I became stumped half way through the process and couldn't work out how to finish.  A bit of humour was required instead.  Tom knew where I was coming from straight away, flattening his own attempt.  Sophie, stuck between a laugh and a tear, eventually chose the former and we all giggled madly, bringing Joe in on the joke when he returned home from work.
Just one more indulgent look at the samurai helmet.  It's sitting on a very sweet napkin ring that was given to me years ago.  You know those things - too precious to use!  It does make a very good helmet holder though, doesn't it?!  More of the same today, who knows?  We may even try those pesky baskets again...  wish us all luck!

Tuesday 2 April 2013

in the blink of an eye

Surely it can't have been that long ago?!  Mum and I took little Soph to this playground on a sunny autumn day four years ago.  The best part about playgrounds is that it doesn't matter if you're two or six, there are things to spin on, slide down and climb.  But amazing to think - it doesn't seem that long ago in some ways, yet in others, it's a lifetime...

Monday 1 April 2013

easter 2013

 We've had a lovely, low key Easter - just what we all need!  The kids were delighted to receive a note from the Easter Bunny, telling them exactly how many eggs to find.  It saves the disappointment of seeing the dogs wander around the garden post-hunt, glittering foil attached to their whiskers.
 I was a bit dubious about the Easter Bunny leaving eggs in the bird feeder - thought it may induce some inappropriate egg-eating behaviours from the birds - wouldn't you swap gritty egg shells and raw yolk for chocolate, given the chance? 
As well as the bird feeder, eggs nestled in rock walls, trees and pot plants.  The kids raced around with much excitement, the thrill of the hunt as much fun as eating their spoils.  In all, only 2 eggs were missing by the end - and no glittery whiskered canines to be found...  we don't know what happened to the missing eggs, perhaps they were carried away by ants?!
And yes - it was confirmed that the gold eggs did taste different to the others - not as sweet, much more chocolatey (thanks Errol for swapping one with me!).
 This smart-thinking, chocolate addicted toddler was quick to make a getaway on the trike... and stopped by his quick-thinking father who realised there would be problems if the egg haul was abducted...
Eggs were divided into fairly ordered piles.  One family finished theirs sooner than anybody else...  we do love our chocolate!

Hope you've enjoyed your Easter too!