It has been a week of triumphs for our little girl. After a week of her mother trying to gently remind her of the inherited absence of athletic ability, she again proved me wrong by coming third in her class in the cross country. I don't want to be a Negative Nellie, but they really have to be the least coordinated bunch of little girls I have ever seen stumble around an oval.

Anzac Day was lovely this year. Our local parade was held at the civilised hour of 7:30 am. Not quite Dawn Service time, but still sufficiently cool and shady to avoid the traditional fainting of the Air Cadets that was so entertaining when I was a Girl Guide. The march travelled down a very popular cafe lined street, filled with breakfasting parents. As we straggled past with our cooling Coffee Club Mochaccinoes I commented to Brett that next year we should book a table and do this properly.

The girls had a lovely time.
And a picture of the memorial and wreaths. It was a lovely service. The kids befriended a sweet little old lady who was clearly thrilled that the community cared so much about the sacrifice her generation had made for those of the future.

At last the dreaded cushion is finished, photographed and passed on to its new owner. It is not as wonky in real life as it looks in the photo, honest! The design came from Handmade magazine, which has to be my all time favourite crafting publication.

Little Miss Muffet ...




This week at school, as a round up of the term's focus on Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales, Samara's class all dressed up as characters for an Afternoon Tea. My inspiration came from Meggie's blog about her own and her daughter's Miss Muffet costumes. It reminded me of cute colonial costumes Mum made for us when our church had an old fashioned fair.



I ran out of time for making mob caps and pretty gowns, so we used her favourite party dress. The apron is actually a teatowel, shortened to suit a little girl, with a tie sewn on. The spider has a black cotton body, blanket stitched with wool for a hairy effect. The legs are couch stitched, and the eight green eyes were very cheap plastic charms from a dollar store.

Samara had a great day. Another child came dressed as Eensy Weensy Spider, and much screaming and running ensued.

Saturday turned out to be a challenging day to get through. Our very elderly neighbour does not want to go into care, not even for a few weeks while his live in carer recovers from her own health issues. I think he doesn't believe that he'd get to come home if he lets them take him there, even though it's clear he cannot cope at home without someone with him all the time. Sadly, he is desperately unhappy and will do anything to stay out of a nursing home, and tried to take matters into his own hands on Saturday evening. I am very thankful that I was there to do something when he decided to call for help. It was a traumatic few hours, with ambulance, police and trying to contact his family, and an hour of candle light was just what I needed when it was all over.

Even though no one could sit still long enough for a photo taken by candle light!

I called the family for an update on our neighbour. He's unharmed by his actions on Saturday night, however he's currently refusing food, and appears to have been doing so for some time. He is remaining in hospital until some resolution is met. It's a sad situation, and I am praying that somehow he will realise that the people around him only want the best for him.