Liv's first day of school

It was Liv's first day of school today, Evie started yesterday.  The house is very quiet, and now pretty clean.  I hope she's having fun, and the day is not too long for her.  She knows a lot more people than Evie did when she started, so that should help.  I'm looking forward to some breathing space after last year's busyness!

Christmas in Tasmania part 2

 Botanical gardens

 Bumble Bees!

 Japanese garden

 Ducklings

 Callington Mill in Oatlands- the oldest working Georgian mill in the southern hemisphere.  We bought some of their oats, bread flour and semolina

The surrounding gardens with espaliered apple trees.

Christmas in Tasmania part 1

 Elgaar Farm stand selling milk and yoghurt in glass bottles and jars, and cheese in paper bags.  They also have a bottle buy back offer.

 Ross O'Meara at his stall

We spent 6 nights in Hobart over Christmas, our longest family holiday so far!  We've been having trouble loading photos, so here's the first installment, our trip to the Farm Gate farmer's market in Hobart.  Crowds of people were buying all their fresh produce for Christmas, the queues for raspberries and cherries were ridiculous!  We bought amazing apricots, milk, yoghurt and cheese, apple cider, carrots, lettuce and honey.  We later bought cherries and apples off the side of the road in Huonville.  We also had lunch in Cygnet at the Red Velvet Lounge, and saw Gourmet Farmer's (Matthew Evans) partner and mum in the main street.  It was a bit of a Gardening Australia/Gourmet Farmer inspired holiday really.

Now I am 4

 It was Liv's 4th Birthday on Sunday

 She had a lovely quiet day to play with her new toys, and then a small family gathering for wood fired pizza and ice cream cake.

 With Evie and cousins

 I find it hard to summon much energy for her birthday being the time of year it is, but the simpler the better at any time of year I say!

 Our sunflowers are starting to bloom, always a happy sight.

 And here's the front garden again, a bit over 2 weeks since I last posted a picture.  We've had a few really hot days, but we've also had a bit of rain, so the growth is amazing.

 We even have some artichokes, which I thought we wouldn't have until next year, as they are new plants, and apparently produce in the second season.

Evie's dance concert

 Hairspray costume

 Stayin Alive costume

Chipmunks costume

Evie had her first dance concert last night, and enjoyed herself very much.  I was helping backstage, but got to run in and watch when her performances were on.  I was very relieved to hear the strict no make-up policy for this dance school's concerts, it makes me uncomfortable to see little girls made up to look like adults.  I also like that the music and dance moves are age appropriate.  They even fuzzed over the "sexy lady" part of "Gang Nam Style" in the whole group finale.  She's looking forward to starting lessons again next year, Liv might join her in her class too.

Myer Christmas windows 2012

 We went to Melbourne today to see the Myer Christmas windows

 They opened last week, and Evie had a curriculum day off today, so we went and had a look before they got too busy.

 The theme was "Russell's Christmas Magic", a book by Rob Scotton

 Lots of sleeping sheep!

 There were miniature frogs in the corner of each scene, good for the tiny kids to see up close.

There's a good behind the scenes here on Youtube

Wood oven...almost done

 A few weeks ago- brick dome with no insulation

 Yesterday- with a new insulating box built around it, half filled with vermiculite to help keep the heat in.  It needs two more bags of vermiculite, and a roof on top, and a few more finishing touches to be complete.

Man make fire.

Livinia has been asking everyday if we can make pizza for the wood oven, but this is reserved for Sunday nights.  I've been making the dough in the morning, leaving it to rise for a couple of hours, then putting it in the fridge.  The soaking of the flour seems to make it more digestible for me.  And I use half spelt flour.  The recipe is the magic bread dough from River Cottage Veg Everyday, and it's the best pizza dough recipe I've found.

Apple pickin'

Apple picking in Moriac today

Erskine Falls

We dosed the kids up with some travel sickness tablets yesterday, and headed down to Lorne, a place we haven't been since before we had the girls. It's only an hour away from here, but the roads are very windy. We'd wanted to see a waterfall for a while, so it was a nice way to spend a Sunday together, after Andrew's work week in Brisbane. We're so lucky to have a beautiful rainforest practically at our doorstep.