A Saturday in pictures

Breakfast with my Harry.

 

 

Baking Christmas cakes at Lisa & Savannah's house.

 

 

A Possum Magic birthday party for the Jackman's bestie.

 

 

xx Em

 

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The everyday.

 

I am relishing the ordinary everyday goings on at home.

The significance of this year has not been lost on me. I am so grateful to be here, healthy and fully functioning, treasuring the calm after the storm.

Watching the boys grow a little more each day is a privilege. They've reached some big milestones in the last couple of weeks. Harry taught himself to ride his bike without training wheels and the Jackman has learnt how to use the potty. Both boys are doing so well in swimming lessons that they'll move up to the next level in the new year. Jack loves swimming so much that he didn't want his lesson to finish this week. As we sang the goodbye song in a group at the end of class he shoved my hand under the water so that I couldn't wave goodbye, then kept jumping back in the pool each time I tried to hoist myself out. Methinks we're onto a good wicket here.

The boys passion for reading is growing at a rate of knots too. Jack is obsessed with the rhythmical rhymes of Room on the Broom and the Gruffalo and can finish any line of any page. Harry is fond of sitting back and hearing all about the antics of the Children of Willow Farm. I love that he loves Enid Blyton as much as I do and at the age of five will happily listen to chapter upon chapter of a book without the need for pictures. Jack's ability to role play is spectacular. We were having lunch in the National Museum cafe today and out of the blue he turned and roared/hissed at me with little claw like hands. Apparently he felt the need to burn me to a crisp, as most Dragons are wont to do!

Yes, the significance of this year has not escaped my notice.

The everyday is precious.

 

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Sunday Funday

What a cracking good start to Christmas.

Like most people we know, our Christmas Tree goes up on December 1st.

 

Harry was keen to get started at 7am and so, with a mug of cinnamon orange tea in hand and the Polar Express playing in the background, we put our tree together.

 

 

The Jackmeister occupied himself with a pair of reindeer antlers.

 

 

It was a lovely morning.

 

 

I do get all tingly when I open the boxes of baubles. Such a gorgeous sight!

 

 

Harry spent the WHOLE day playing with the train set under the tree.

 

 

In the afternoon I ventured out to the monthly meeting of the Queanbeyan Photography Club. My friend Lib has been encouraging me to join for months and I'm so glad I finally made it, it was great fun. Lib is a fantastic photographer and teacher and I loved meeting others who have a passion for photography too. We wandered across to the show grounds and started snapping. I finally learnt how to use some of the basic manual settings like iOS and aperture speed and picked up some great tips about lighting.

Here are a few shots that I took.

 

Fab first day of December!

xx Em

 

 

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Dream a little dream for me...

Yesterday we opened Pandora's box.

 

 

Yesterday we took a good, long look at a beautiful old house...

 

 

...in the loveliest part of town, two blocks back from the Main Street, opposite Harry's Preschool and a few doors down from his new primary school.

 

 

We've fallen in love with this heritage listed Art Deco gem.

In the past 80 years it's only had two owners and most of the original features still remain, including the BEAUTIFUL old Aga and the little cubby where the milk bottles were delivered. I must admit, I let out an involuntary squee when I saw the kitchen.

 

This house could be a truly beautiful family home.

The catch, it's been sadly neglected for a long time and needs a large dose of TLC...structurally and cosmetically. A renovators delight as they say.

We're toying with the idea of taking it on.

 

 

I love the master bedroom with its big bay window and the sweet little sunroom off the side.

 

 

I love the high ceilings and ornate plasterwork. I can picture the living room, free of the current tenant's clutter with a refurbished fireplace, a fresh coat of paint and comfortably furnished with our Moran leather lounge and Art Deco drinks stand.

 

 

The bathroom...great size but serious damp issues and needs to be gutted and redesigned, current layout doesn't work.

 

 

The boys bedrooms are a lovely size and there is a very decent study too.

An ugly 1970s addition to the back of the house has great potential to be turned into a beautifully sunny open plan kitchen/diner, with double glazed doors that open out onto a large deck. I've always longed for a kitchen opening out onto the deck and back garden.

The hub of the home, the heart of our home.

 

It would take some clever designing and would involve moving the Aga, transforming the original kitchen into a formal dining room and turning the old formal dining room into a library.

As for the garden...oh the things we could do on this double block. A big blank canvas to create a new patch of paradise.

 

 

It is such a gigantic and costly project but in the perfect location and absolutely the right fit for us. We usually err on the side of caution and yet it feels like 'the' one. We can see what a wonderful home it could be in ten years time, a place where our teenage boys could hang out with their mates. A beautiful, welcoming space for entertaining friends and growing our own food and enjoying the end result of all that hard, hard work. I've been gathering ideas in my own little Dream House Ideabook on Houzz. Such a great source of inspiration.

As it happens, the realtor who is selling this divine property sold our current home to us almost seven years ago. Our dream property has been on the market for over twelve months now and come down in price by $100k. Other prospective buyers wanted to knock the house down and subdivide the double block. But the council want to retain this historical gem and the current owner has stipulated that he'll bide his time and only sell to someone who is committed to keeping it as a family home. Is that serendipity playing its part???

We've loved our little cottage, it's been a great first home but we only ever planned to spend seven to ten years here and it is well and truly time to leave this neighborhood. We don't want our boys growing up thinking that violent brawls at 2am and drag racing up and down the street is acceptable behaviour. We don't want to be the nicest house in the worst street, we'd much rather be the worst house in the nicest street.

 

 

Anyone out there taken the risk and jumped feet first into a project like this?

Are we completely mad for contemplating such a mammoth task?

I suppose if we're going to dream, we might as well dream big.

xx Em

 

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