Ella's recycling talk

Ella did a talk on recycling at the Storytime session at our local library today. Walking along one day Ella saw some rubbish on the ground and was wondering why people didn't recycle their rubbish. We talked about how some people don't know about recycling or how important it is. She wrote to the children's librarian, her friend Jeanette, and asked if she could do a talk on recycling to the kids at Storytime. Jeanette thought that was a great idea. Ella planned how it would go and we made a poster and she designed an activity for the kids (colour in the recylable and stick it on the recycling truck). She was so nervous, but there was no question she was going ahead with it. She's a strong, smart girl. My heart swelled to see her growing into herself so beautifully.

my little brother Jamie

Ella says: I took this photo by myself and it's one of my favourite photos. I like it because he's got wide eyes and the way he's shaped his lips. And he's staring at the camera. I was standing right next to Jamie.

under my desk as I work

what you see - around and about

Playdough Shop

Ella says: My friend Kaelan made some chocolate mice and I made lots of different little biscuits and cuppacakes.

boy microwaving

Here are some of things Jamie likes to microwave: little dolls, jewellry, puzzle-pieces, a hat, his milk-cup, rubber animals, plastic food, a chocolate-chip cookie, textas

Medal Shop

Ella says: I made the medals bymyself and I put them up on the tray and organised it the way it was. I made a SALE sign and Don't Ring the DoorBell because my brother was asleep and I didn't want him to wake up. My shop was open. My mum and my dad and my granny came to my shop.

what I love more than anything

I went to my friend Ruth's concert on Friday evening- she was directing, conducting, playing, singing with six choirs. It was called "The Big Sing - Songs of Freedom - singing to celebrate the possibility of freedom for all people." It was lovely. At the end the choirs, who love her, thanked her, and she replied, "I'm only doing what I love more than anything."

Aerosol Arabic and Crooked Rib

We walked up Spark Lane to see this fantastic street art project starting up. The Crooked-Rib team were sitting in the lane cutting a stencil of a verse from the Koran. The verse describes how, even if the river flows abundantly, it is best to take only as much water as you need. They had picked it because they felt it was relevant for Melbourne today. They said it was difficult cutting the script - lots of swirls and curls - hard on the hands. Aerosol Arabic had just started the mural. It'll be finished next Monday.

Wait for me!

Isn't bark lovely?

Time to celebrate

We went out to Edward's uni for his graduation. Took a cruise round the grounds and swung by Ella's creche. Ella and Edward started uni when Ella was nine months old - so Ella has a strong sense of connection with her creche. She did a half day a week during term time, while Edward went to school. Now Ella's 5 and a half and Edward's graduated. It was warm, we ate curry and sandwiches, and during the ceremony we had the run of the back of the hall.

summer soon

sharks are friends

Ella's started a campaign against shark-finning and is learning about sharks ("Sharks are good people"). At the aquarium she could identify the shark species we saw - Port Jackson, Leopard, Carpet and Grey Nurse. We stood among the Grey Nurse sharks, stingrays and large fish in the walk-through tank. She stands proud in her defense of sharks - sees them as beautiful and good, deserving of sympathy and respect, and rejects the popular view of sharks as killers. I heard her telling a boy at the aquarium that they only bite humans "by accident sometimes."

big screen entertainment

Ella and Jamie get themselves into the frame at ACMI.

cupcake shop

This is one of our favourite places for a visit at the moment - it's Little Cupcakes on Degraves Street. Tiny shop, tiny cupcakes, lots of icing. Happy little pit-stop on any city outing.

bag painting

Two bag artists stand proudly by their work. I keep paper bags and every now and then we get them out and decorate a few for gift-bags. It was hard getting the logistics of this art project sorted out because Ella had everything carefully set up on a special little table that Jamie wanted access to so mucho shouting, shrieking and paintbrush snatching. This isn't the kind of vibe you hope for in a chilled out spring garden art project, but we pressed on. I hung the results to dry on the climbing frame and decided to take a few pics - both artists quickly edged into the frame to appear with their work.