Ends.

In the midst of all this book writing a whole bunch of stuff happened that I never got a chance to mention here. Miss Indi vintage frocked up and graduated from primary school, Miss Jazzy finished grade three, Jo-Jo had a hairy, Miss Pepper had her last bush kinder and kinder day, there was a creative dance concert and a ballet concert and this mama who doesn't cope so well with change and time passing cried a whole lot of tears. And crocheted a whole lot of motifs.

But then this morning in our house, something huge happened. A mile stone. Something that I just had to record here.

Miss Pepper had her first ever hair cut.

One minute she was the girl with the longest plaits in the world. She was going to grow her hair for the rest of her life. And the next minute she wanted it cut. Just like that. She was sick of it hurting when I brushed it and wanted hair just like Jazzy's.

So I cut her hair.

And she loves it. She loves flipping and tossing it and she adores jumping on the trampoline with it. She is most excited to wear it out all the time.

I don't have a baby anymore. Sob.

xx

Bush kinder.

On a Tuesday...

my smallest and I rug up in our warmest gear.

We meet our friends (sometimes many and sometimes few)...

and with our backpacks on our backs, we head into the forest.

By now we are all familiar with the routine. We sing, we climb, we balance and we discover.

We look out for interesting things and collect treasures in our basket.

We make mud cakes and mud pies and mud smoothies.

 Over the wintry months we light a small fire.

We share some morning tea and a much needed hot drink,

and a row or two of our knitting.

After morning tea we wander through the forest to the kookaburra tree, the story spot, the horsey tree and the goodbye place.

In the depths of winter it is often hard to imagine getting out and spending a few hours in the middle of the forest, but we are always happy when we have.

I've never taken my camera along before. Some things are better experienced in the moment. But I'm really glad it was sitting on the front seat of my car yesterday and I did. Bush kinder has been such a wonderful part of our lives over the past few years, and I'm thrilled to have captured a moment or two.

I feel so anxious every time I think about Miss Pepper growing up and heading off to school next year. I feel the need to prolong these next few months. To embrace her childhood with everything I have. On bush kinder days I feel like I have succeeded.

See ya later,
bushy potato. xx