Continuing on a Star Wars theme.....Clone trooper costume

The boys got some really cool star wars lego for Christmas: the T6 Jedi Shuttle which I've detailed here if you're interested, the Mandalorian battle pack, Ewok attack, and a beautiful Star Wars Lego mini-figure encyclopedia.

Oh, and two lego Heroica games, which I've written about here if you want to know how much fun they are.

Yup, it was all about Star Wars and Lego in our house two months ago.

So what to do next but decide you want to BE part of Star Wars Lego?

A Clone trooper, specifically.

The headpiece is made from an old style cloth nappy with the appropriate shape cut out of it.
(Didn't tell the boy it was an old nappy or he never would have worn it, bit fussy that way...)

We then cut some black fabric and hot glued it in place behind the cut out section. Wrapped it around his head and pinned it with a big ol' safety pin at the back. As far as being able to see out....well apparently that's not so important.

Add to that your karate duds and a blaster made from clipped together felt pens, and there you have it.



And this one is a snow trooper.....we've graduated to a homemade wooden blaster here...
(Big brother orchestrated this outfit so is giving us a detailed explanation of every piece)

Can't for the life of me remember what version of trooper this one was meant to be....

As I write, lego is all over the lounge floor, on the dining table, on the floor beside Mr 3's bed and lego Han Solo is keeping me company at my computer.

Birthdays are approaching and guess what they're both asking for?

Yep, we are overrun and about to be more so.

Star Wars fans........R2D2 secret storage box

I saw these little guys on Filth Wizardry  and just knew my boys would love them.

All made from stuff we have stashed around the place: toilet rolls, half of a couple of plastic eggs, popsicle sticks, old jar lids and a printable from the Filth Wizardry site.

Now, my boys don't really want to be bothered with all the tiny little details, they just want to get their guys made and in use.

So, if you want to see R2D2 in all his detailed glory, do hop on over to Filth Wizardry and see what they've made over there.

The tops pop off to make the storage area, just right for keeping all those small treasures safe.

Not that my boys really need more places to keep their junk treasure....

Chook chook chook

The chooks are getting bigger and braver and just tonight I saw Miss Dangermouse (the black silkie) actually attempting to go UP the ramp. 

She has of late been managing to get down it in the mornings but still would not go up. 

Until tonight.

But she was nearly thwarted by her mates, who sat at the top of the ramp watching her and would not move their feathery butts out of the way so she could step off the ramp and head inside. 

Poor thing, couldn't go back down because she was facing up but couldn't get inside, hubby and I just stood there laughing at the lot of them.

No one's ever said chickens are clever, have they?

The garden's been tootling along alright, it got a bit hot for a lot of the toms there but we have been managing to eat some fresh every day.

And see that funky looking thing on the left? That's our new compost bin, of the spinning variety. 

Little man in the picture wanted a ride in it, asked me to empty it of the chicken infused straw I had just put in and give him a spin.

I was tempted...

Want some sad songs?

Ya know those odd days when ya just wanna indulge your weepy mood?

Let me help you out.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

The Pogues

Cat's In The Cradle

Harry Chapin

This one not weepy perhaps, but still...

I Was Only 19

Redgum

Feel free to indulge with me, if ye be in the mood....

Wyandottes and silkies - the new members of our family

See who arrived at our place for Christmas...duly named by their proud owners...

Dangermouse

Penfold

Anakin Skywalker

Shuttle

All a little bigger and braver now, the wyandottes are bantams and the silkies just stay small.....I think.

I didn't do much research, beyond looking up the council rules and regs. 

So now, as well as putting my boys to bed, I put these darn chooks to bed too.

The silkies won't go up the ramp...I discovered silkies don't fly, hence their reluctance to use the ramp and they are inclined to sleep in a heap in the corner. 

Which is ok, except Anakin and Penfold won't go anywhere without their fluffy friends. So they all snuggle in in a corner of their run downstairs. Which again is ok, except when it's cold. Like tonight. (What's up with this WEATHER?? I have my electric blanket heating in the middle of summer.) 

So, after the boys are in bed, I go out and lift Dangermouse (black) who is particularly timid, up into the more enclosed upstairs area. Then I lift up Shuttle (white). Who will go down the ramp, but not up. But she squawks for Dangermouse if one is upstairs and the other not. And the wyandottes won't go up if Shuttle is not up. So up she goes. Then the other two squawk confusedly for a bit, then follow the fluffies in a series of hops and flutters. 

And they all settle in for the night.

In the morning, Shuttle, Anakin Skywalker and Penfold have always made their way downstairs, but Dangermouse just will not go down the ramp. So I lift her down or I'm sure the silly chook would just stay up there and starve.

Here are my boys on Christmas morning...see the miniature cherry trees in the background? 

The boys love having their own trees, I can't help but wonder though, are we the only weird parents who give our kids chooks and trees for Christmas?

Keep the kids busy with a potion lab

I came across this idea on some cool blog (that I now can't find or remember) and thought my kids would love it. 

A potion lab, just the thing for a bit of magic, or maybe some scientific experimentation if you prefer.

I saved up any plastic containers I came across for a couple of weeks, then on a sunny but cold Saturday morning away we went. We did this in that time of year when Saturday Auskick had finished but cricket had not yet begun, so Saturdays belonged entirely to us for just a little while. For better or worse.

Many containers, a funnel, food colouring and water. 

Easy. 

The boys even managed to refrain from dumping/throwing/pouring the water over each other for most of the time. We did end up with a fair amount of mess and the colours all blended to a nice murky brown of course but my little magician and scientist loved it.

The Melbourne Zombie Shuffle...

The boys and I went to a Halloween party last night, the boys dressed as ninjas and me in my regular duds, as per the invite. It was fun, lots of kids and as the night wore on, Mr 6 stuck closer and closer by me, eventually saying "it's just a little bit too scary for me mum". 

Think life-sized skeleton bride standing in one corner, massive spiders and webs everywhere and a cackling witch head on the table. Not being brought up with Halloween, all this spookyness is pretty new to them; in general, they coped admirably.

I even made these cupcakes for school on Friday. 

Because I, in my genius-ness, thought Halloween was today, Sunday, thereby making Friday the logical day for bringing Halloween cupcakes to school. Now I feel really smart. 

Never mind, they were cute and everyone enjoyed them.

And have a look at this, the 2010 Melbourne Zombie Shuffle.

Freaky stuff!

BOO!

School hols over and back to the routine

Life has been a bit off-kilter here because my dear hubby was away for a month....yes, a month!....including the two weeks of school holidays. Ai yi yi! 

We survived, obviously.

The school hols we spent at The Farm which was just fabulous, joined at different times by one of my sisters and one of my brothers. The boys were in heaven, and so was I most of the time. 

Photographing a squashed-on-the-road snake.
No photos of the live brown snakes we saw though.

Feeding the farm dogs.

The helmets were so cool, they wore them everywhere the first few days.

About to go on a platypus hunt. 

Unsuccessful as it turns out, two loud little boys don't help, I'm sure.

Glorious view in the morning as the fog lifts.

The stillness and blissful quiet was broken from time to time, by some very, uh, tuneful singing. And loud keyboard. Turn up the echo on the karaoke machine and I'm sure every sheep and every cow in every bl**dy paddock could hear us.

Er, I mean them. Well, mostly them.

More morning views.

Loads of mud around after the storm that apparently just about drowned Melbourne.
Ah, the bliss of living on a great big hill.

Here is the aforementioned rain.

These were inspired by Mr 6 seeing three baby rabbits out the bathroom windows one morning.

And this set Mr 6 into "Can I have a pet, pleeeeeease?' mode.
(There may some bantams coming for Christmas if I can find some young ones, shhh.)

The view again. Yawning yet?

Lots of art happened.

A true picasso, that green smear is the dead snake from the first photo.

'The bog' as the boys called it. An overfull stream in reality.

Bullseye!

Hanging out in the Goulburn River.

Yep, a great time was had by all.

Mr 6 is now back at school, hubby is home and life has regained some semblance of normality.

Yay!