{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

Joining these lovely ladies in finding contentment in the everyday.

{Pretty}

In the face of some pretty challenging behaviour from Ginger this week it was good to find some photos which show her gorgeous, if strong, personality.

I have been praying for grace with dealing with her as her defiance has been coupled with some pretty unspectacular parenting moments of my own.  Including this morning where every single toy was one by one put out onto the verandah - and she still did not comply with my request. Where to after that?

Anyway, I was quickly turning through our local paper as Ginger was eating her breakfast when I spotted a Catholic Care ad for Parenting Magic 123.  I am taking it as God given because I don't even normally bother to open the paper because it is always wet from the sprinklers.  Hopefully I will find some nugget of help there.  Though given the time it starts I am going to have to brainstorm some ideas for how to give Tom Kitten an early bedtime feed before I need to leave the house

But back to my post on how special this little girl is.  Ginger came home from Spotlight on Saturday with a pink balloon.  Daddy had taken her to return a tablecloth I bought on clearance which turned out to have a giant hole in it.

"Is there a balloon for Tom Kitten?" she asked as she rushed into the kitchen.

"No darling, not unless Daddy bought him one too" I replied.

"Oh well, maybe he can chase my balloon." was her response.  Such love for her brother.

I also had to include in my {pretty} Ginger's nightly adieu to the moon.

"I see the moon, and the moon sees me.  God bless the moon and God bless me"

"I see the stars, and the stars see me.  God bless the stars and God bless me."

"I see the birds flying home to their nest, it must be time to take my rest"

Yes I did make the last line up one night when we spotted some birds heading home for their nests.

Ginger is wearing her new pajamas bought by her grandparents in Vietnam.  All I can say is the Vietnamese must think Westerner's are huge as Ginger's are sized at 18 months and she will be 3 in a couple of weeks (though she does still fit size 18-24 months in clothing).

{Happy}

Noah looks mighty contented for a former sewer dweller!

{Funny}

Do you belong to your local toy library?  If not, why not?  We are new members of the Darwin Toy Library this year and it is fantastic.  For our annual membership fee we can hire seven items at any one time, for a two week period.  Three of the seven are allowed to be big items (which do attract a small fee for each item).  Our trouble is that our car is not very big, but this week we managed to fit in the Cozy Coupe for Ginger.  They are having such fun with it.

I love the photo below.  Tom Kitten looks so sophisticated and cool; just hanging out with his Sis'.

And, when you have a new car you can afford to be benevolent with your castoffs (incidentally picked up at the op-shop the other week for 20c).

Oh, actually, you can never have too many cars.  Better make sure you have one for baby too.

 

{Real}

Jelly on a plate.

Jelly on a plate.

Wibble wobble.

Wibble wobble.

Jelly on a plate.

There has been a bit about Apple Juice Jelly on some of my favourite Aussie blog sites - Town Mouse and Little Brown Wren.

I thought perhaps I was missing out on something so made some of our own on the weekend.  800 mls of apple juice bought to boil, and 2 tablespoons of powdered gelatine stirred in.  

They are onto something.  It is delicious.  And healthy.

Only thing is I couldn't get it out of the jelly mould.  We had to scoop it out.  Any suggestions?