Skills

Last month I recieved what has to be the best birthday present AC has ever splurged out on. It exceeded every expectation his previous gifts had roused within me; carnations, a plastic giraffe, bollywood style earrings, turkish delight.
I thought last years surprise was just a blip in his track record.
I was wrong.
This year I unwrapped this beauty...

Phwooooar!

It wasn't completely unprompted though. My recent introduction to pinterest opened my eyes to a world of craft beyond scrap-booking, cross stitch, and vinyl letters. My eyes were able to behold the glories that could be created with a sewing machine; bags, skirts and dresses! This prompted the occasional semi-serious request to AC for a sewing machine of my very own, which he very swiftly dismissed. Little did I know he was secretly storing my request away for my upcoming birthday.

The Saturday following my birthday AC made sure I had some time to try out my Singer 2250. I don't recall having ever used a sewing machine before. After 2.5 hours I had yet to successfully thread the machine up. AC came to the rescue with the aid of his Yr 8 home economics skills. I know I should have been grateful, but his excessive gloating (which continues even now) turned any appreciation I had into annoyance.

Since those initial teething problems it's been full speed ahead. I've left AC and his rudimentary abilities for dust (though he still continues to offer his assistance!). Admittedly my skills aren't quite up to speed with my enthusiasm... yet!

A recent late night sewing binge produced my greatest creation to date...

The Junebug dress, as widely pinned on pinterest.

The ever-willing model

She'd wear it all day every day, if I let her.

Being able to produce something that is both functional and beautiful leaves me feeling ever-so accomplished and oh-so grown up.

Down at the Farm

Fluffy Bunnies, Baby Chicks and Spring Lambs. Eager to witness the miracles of spring we readied ourselves for a morning at the farm. With our groupon voucher to the ready we took our marks and departed. Considering this was our first trip to the farm of the year, the kids were rather sedate... which was fine by me. I would rather they conserve their energy for when we arrived rather than bickering over who's touching who in the back.

The best thing about this farm was that it was only a 10 minute drive away. Knowing that if The A-Bomb had one of his emotional melt downs we were only 10 minutes away from home was an added comfort.

On arrival, before we'd even paid for admission, the kids had launched themselves into the play area. Not even the baby sheep with their overprotective 'come near my baby and I'll take you down' mothers were enough of a distraction to coax the kids from the standard, nothing they've never seen before, playground.

In the end we had to physically drag them to see the animals. But the animals were protected by a barrage of plastic ride on tractors, an impenetrable barrier that the kids could not resist. The next 20 minutes at least were spent riding around the courtyard whilst I apologised to parents for The A-Bombs lack of spatial awareness. No one was safe from the torpedo like activity of our over-excited 4 year old.

We never really got to spend time doting over the bunnies, chicks, or lambs; the animals almost seemed like a side-line to what else was on offer. However our time there was still fun filled with a plenitude of exciting activities. There was so much more to this farm than animals, very little of which incurred any extra cost. Hurrah.

An oversized Hamster Run for Children

A Giant inflatable slide

Milking the plastic cow

Barrel ride

The photo's fails to capture the frightening speeds at which
these kids were travelling!