Peppa or Belle?  Time Will Tell.

This is an attempt to resurrect the blog.  The hubby keeps asking/encouraging me to get it going again, time just seems to be against me.

We are still homeschooling, now the four oldest.  With two younger ones (one who starts school next year) there is never a dull moment in our house.  Happenings at the moment include our oldest boy driving around the place in his Ford Spectron van, given to him by his uncle and fixed up with his help.  He is so proud of it, the wheels are always polished to a bright shine. DS2 boy is heavily into making Lego stop-motion movies.  He is doing really well with them, we just need to get him some decent software for editing.  DS3 is keen to start the cricket season next week.  Since last season he has a new bat and can't wait to try it out in serious play.  DS4 still spends hours jumping on the trampoline making explosion noises.  He can back-flip now which must add some exciting action into the story he is playing out in his head.  DS5 is now responsible for the livelihood of our 3 new chickens.  His favourite, Johnny, is a beautiful grey colour and there was much excitement today when Johnny allowed himself to be caught and held not once, but about three times.  Finally, DD1/number 6 child watched The Beauty and the Beast (Disney version) yesterday for the first time.  Cuddling up to her older brother she actually sat through the whole movie.  Today she wanted again to watch 'Goosey and the Geese'.  I wonder if this will break her Peppa Pig fixation?

It's been a while since I last posted - keeping up a blog is hard work.  Since the last post a lot has changed - the oldest boy is almost a teenager - a fact which delights his brothers, they remind him as often as possible.  Number 2 is as studious as ever, he is heavily into making his own Lego movies.  Icac seems to be living up to his nickname (ICAC standing for the Independent Commission Against Corruption for those of you who aren't in the know).  He is Mr. Organised and ensures that we are not late for any of his activities.  Cay Cay is, well, he is Cay Cay.  He is a crazy larrikin who can make us experience a whole range of emotions in one day - laughter one minute, frustration the next.  A bit like Melbourne weather.  He is a delight.  Jo jo has been added to the pack, with him we have a handful of boys.  He adores his daddy and wants to help 'fix' everything.  He has just learnt to ride his bike without training wheels, a pretty big achievement for a 3 year old.  Finally we now also have Abstar, and boy has the balance of power shifted in our house again.  She is the pretty little princess who has all the boys enchanted with her shenanigans.  With 6 kids and homeschooling, things can get a bit hectic in our house, never a dull moment.  But we wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

This morning our house experienced a change in the shift of power. The earth seemed to tremble and the foundations of the house shook as Isaac, the third child who is usually delegated to the role of second-best-play-mate-you-have-to-play-what-we-decide realised he was the only one who still had Easter Eggs. His self-control in not scoffing his chocolate as fast as his brothers enabled him to experience, for one of the few times in his 5-year-life, the feeling of power. The feeling of having his brothers bow down to him.
I realised what it must have felt like for Joseph when his eleven brothers bowed down before him in Egypt, which Joseph had seen in a dream years earlier. Joseph went on to tell his brothers of his dream which led to him being sold to travelling slave traders. Years later Joseph finds himself in charge of the stores of grain during a famine in Egypt, second-in-charge to the Pharoah no less. His brothers arrive in Egypt seeking grain and bow down to the Egyptian in charge, not realising they are bowing down to their long-lost brother.
Hopefully Isaac’s brothers won’t see a need to sell him into slavery. I think his usefulness in enabling them to play games that require a second or third person, or him being the ‘go-ask-mum’ guy will keep him in good standing for many years to come. Although I don’t think his Easter Eggs will last as long. As soon as his older brothers realised the power had shifted, they tried to do everything they could to revert things back to normal. Despite Isaac being told he doesn’t have to reward their lack of self-control by sharing his last egg with them he has always had a kind heart. The balance of power will revert very shortly as Isaac is currently in the process of sharing his last egg with his brothers. His willingness to please others probably means he’d make a good politician. Yep, I can see him as second-in-charge to the Prime Minister.

Who?

First update in months - a couple of recent pics incase you've forgotten what the boys look like:

Caleb and 'Jo-Jo' whom we found and took to a wildlife carer, much to Jacob's disgust.

Typical winter backyard campfire.

Caleb turned 2.

The boys and Dad made a bird feeder pulley thing. Too bad the birds won't go near it.

I'll be back soon.

The runner-up prize

Yesterday we attended the final Little Athletics evening for the season, which was followed by the presentations. Our two little athletics were ecstatic (almost as ecstatic as mum and dad) to each take home an award:



Jeremy was awarded second place in his Under 6 boys group. Notice his ecstatic expression. He gets that from his father. He has been really enjoying Little A's and trying hard every week, so it was great to see his efforts rewarded. Isaac, who has been in the Tiny Tots group, received a medal. When he prayed that night before going to bed he prayed "and thank you for my steel...". After some head-scratching and puzzling it out, we realised that he had thought we were saying 'metal' and as his entire life has been one big house-building experience, in his four year old head he had received some steel!

Jacob hasn't been doing Little Athletics this season, but by the end of the night he had a different sort of trophy. First please note the following 'before' photo. He has recently lost his top two front teeth, the badge of honour for an almost-seven-year-old. This was taken about two days prior to the 'incident'.

This next photo was taken the morning after the Little A's presentation:

Jacob's 'trophy' was five stitches to the back of his head, after falling over and cutting his head. We have no idea how this happened and all he can tell us is he hit it on the concrete when he fell over. We couldn't tell exactly what he'd done because of the blood-matted hair, but after putting him in the shower to wash it off a bit it became apparent that a trip to the hospital would indeed be necessary. He was very brave and only cried during the administration of the anasthetic, at which i would have been screaming alot louder then he was. He was more concerned at how silly he thought he looked with his head all bandaged up, and if he'd still be able to show dad his latest recorder tunes. Needless to say this morning he proved he was fine by getting straight back into teasing his brothers.

Well that's the latest from our corner of the world. Tune in next week for the second episode in our Stitches mini-series, "The Removal".

Have a nice day!

Photos

Why is it...

so hard

to get four pairs of eyes

looking in roughly the same direction

at once???

Aaaahhh, there they are!

Must be a boy thing

The boys have never been ones for dress ups. At two, if you even showed Jacob some kind of mask, cloak or other dress up, he'd run screaming in the opposite direction, and his brothers seemed to be going the same way. Until now. Our trip to the Wall Memorial on New Years Day changed all that. Must be something about the big ships, aeroplanes, helicopters and canons. Whatever it was, they couldn't get enough of the dress ups...

Lest we forget.

2010 Update

Welcome to 2010. Ten years since the millenium, and so much has happened since then.

Ten years ago I:

was not married
had no children
lived in Canberra
was 21 years old *sigh*
had a reasonable social life
had no idea what a babycino was
spent hours on the phone most nights talking to my husband-to-be (those who held Telstra shares back then would have loved us)
had been a Christian for 4 years
was attending an independent Bible believing church and helping out in some areas
worked in a Government Department (I lived in Canberra remember!)


Now, Ten Years Later I:

have been married for 9 years 11 months
have four children
live in a small town
live in our newly built own home
am 31 years old *gulp*
my social life consists of letting the kids stay up late and playing lego
know that babycino's allow you to have 15 minutes piece and quiet to talk with a friend (especially when they come with marshmallows on the side)
still boost Telstra's profits as my closest friends have come and gone and live a long long way away
have been a Christian 14 years
attend a Baptist Church being very involved
work as a wife and mother being paid with sloppy kisses and little arm hugs.


Would I change a thing???





Nope.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I've been meaning to do a post about our nativity set and I figured I'd better do it before Christmas, as opposed to doing it after Christmas when I'm packing it away, which would be normal for me.

I'd been looking for a good Nativity Set for numerous years. I would see one that I quite liked, but it just didn't seem to be what I wanted and I hesitated to spend good money on something that only comes out once a year, unless it was something extra special.

About three years ago (I think) I came across a set all of a sudden (I wasn't actually looking for one at the time) and knew that this was the one. So I arranged to purchase one then and there, and it took quite a few months for it to arrive, but it was well worth the wait.

The background story is that the nativity set was made by Christian Women in Poland, who sew the figures to support their families. Each piece was hand-sewn by a different woman. The nativity sets are a ministry of the Elim Christian Centre in Poland.

Please realise that my poor photography skills won't really do the set justice, it's a thousand times better in real life. Also please ignore the fire place in the background, I was too lazy to crop the photos down (and lack of time).

Here is the first photo of the complete set...



The figures are filled with rice (or sand) and this is done by the recipient (to make postage much cheaper). Even with my pathetic sewing skills I was able to put in some rice and sew the tiny hole together. The rice (or sand) means that each figure can be slightly posed, to lean forward or backward, however you like. This comes in handy when using them to illustrate the Christmas Story, as the shephards can lean back to look up at the angel or lean forward to worship Jesus. Here is a closer photo of Joseph, Mary, the manger and the sheep. Notice the cute donkey in the background. (I realise that the Bible does not actually say there were animals present, but a nativity set wouldn't be complete without them).

My favourite are the Wise Men and the Camels. To avoid confusion I'm considering placing the Wise Men and Camels in a seperate room of the house, or at least at the other end of the room, so they can be travelling to see the Saviour, rather then appearing to be present at His birth. Here is a photo of the Wise Men with the Camels...

The boys adore moving them around and playing with them. They are fairly child friendly, although Caleb is banned from touching them unless someone is with him!!

The final photo is of one of the shepherds (there are two). I forgot to take photos of the angel, which is placed on top of the fire place. But that will give you something to look forward to seeing next year!

Matthew 1:21

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

I'm an artist with an unusual canvas

It's not just me who is a sucker for punishment is it? Is there anyone else out there that always volunteers for things that seem really great at the time, then the day arrives and you wonder how you got yourself into this??!!

Well I volunteered to do the free face painting at the Carols by Candlelight last weekend.

Yes I know.

But I've done it before, a few years ago helping out a friend who was the sucker that volunteered that time, so I was fairly organised and knew what was involved. Or so I thought.

See, the last few times we did it for an hour or so, overlapping slightly with the carols while finishing off a few kids, then leisurely sat back and enjoyed the carols. Not this year. We face-painted for 2 and a half hours straight.

Fortunately for me I roped in two other suckers, so there were three of us, painting kid after kid after kid. People were packing up after the carols, and we were still there painting faces (or arms, or cheeks or hands). I was using my flashing-santa-heads headband for light in the end. Is this green? Or blue? Oh who cares, it's too dark for the kid to tell and he's going to go home and wash it off in ten minutes before going to bed anyway.

Here's a photo of me painting a red-back spider. I thought this one turned out pretty cool, in a comical, cutesy kind of way. Don't look at my hair, I haven't decided if I'm allowing my hair to go darker as it keeps trying to, or if I'm going back to blonde.

Overall, it went really well. We got all the kids done, and they all seemed happy enough. Probably the happiness was helped along with the free Freddo's we were handing out.

(A big THANK YOU to the two other suckers I roped into doing it with me - are we on for next year???!!)

The boys got into the act aswell, which is really strange because up to now they've been scared of face painting and wouldn't go near anyone who had their face painted. They've suddenly matured in that area, as these photo's will show you...

Isaac had the Christmas theme happening...



Jacob's was pretty cool, although it's wearing off in these pictures. It was about 11pm when we got home...


Just in case you can't tell, it's a dinosaur that opens it's mouth when Jacob opens his. Cool hey!

Jeremy had a half-mask spiderman face, but he was in the shower already when these photo's were taken.

Recent Events

Happy Birthday Isaac!!!!

He was SO excited to be turning four, the boys had been counting down dark sleeps from about 20 dark sleeps to go. On the morning of his birthday he said "Mummy, am I four NOW? .... Good, because I feel four."

We had a nice relaxing day, then had the requested Pizza (homemade) for dinner, followed by 'clock' cake, which of course pointed to Four O'Clock. Caleb might need some instructions in cake etiquette....

It's amazing how they just know how to do that!!??

On a different topic, we've been spending every Monday afternoon down at the oval, with Jeremy and Isaac doing Little A's this season. (Why must it be held over Summer, why why???). They are both loving Little Athletics and are so enthusiastic....

I realise the above photo of the high jump is blurry, but that's what happens when daddy is trying to take a photo and Caleb is trying to get the camera at the same time.

I just love this photo of Isaac, ready to run... We had a discussion previously about being ready to race, instead of looking up at the clouds, fiddling with your shoes, etc. The next discussion will be on focussing on the finishing line instead of looking around at all the other runners or slowing down to wave to mummy. :)

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Return of the Dirt Magnet.

We've had some great rain here over the last few days, but its meant the boys, especially Caleb, have been cooped up inside the house a little more then usual. Today was the day they had to be released, as the boy-energy inside the house was reaching unsafe levels.

Preparing for the worst, they were all packed up into old clothes and boots. This time it took Caleb five minutes to reach the point of no return. He's slipping.

Oh look mama, i've got some dirt on my hand.

Amazingly, he didn't cry at all when he fell flat on his face in a puddle. He just had a bit of a taste of the water dripping into his mouth, then resumed the business of exploring the world around him.

I could hear my washing machine groaning inside the house.

Do you think I'll need to give him a bath? Or can I just get away with a change of clothes, a quick swipe of a washer, and then the carpet will take care of the rest when he's wrestling his brothers?

Contrary to what you may have thought from the last couple of posts, there are 3 other boys living in our house. Isaac got in on the act too, but he's not as close to the ground as he used to be. He won't need a bath. Yet.

Jacob always stays clean no matter what he plays in. Here he is amongst the oats which we really carefully grew around the compost pile. This was after he played in the mud. He's the total opposite to Caleb. He's a dirt resistor.

Jeremy's the smart one. He stayed in the house.

I don't know how much longer my washing machine can take it.

After putting the boys outside to play this morning I went back inside to get their hats. I was gone for no more then, say, 3 minutes when I returned to find this:

In case you didn't get it the first time, here he is again a few minutes later:

There must be some kind of record I can claim - it took Caleb no more then 3 minutes to cover himself from head to toe in dirt. What is it with boys and dirt? Growing up with three sisters, I can't remember a time any of us got this dirty. Even my tomboy sister, who loved getting dirty, chewing bones and wanted to be a daddy when she grew up (but that's another story) didn't get this dirty. Of course it may also have to do with the fact that we grew up in England, where the grass was a wee bit greener then it is out here. We also didn't have a pile of dirt sitting in the back yard just asking to be climbed up and slid on (which, incase you're wondering, is the topsoil for our future lawn).

A few minutes later he was off and running amongst the burrs, attracting more dust with each step:

Surely there must be a limit to the amount of dust the clothes can hold. Maybe I should give the washing machine a break and try the Dyson.

Ahh, my little Dirt Magnet. What is it they say? A little dirt never hurt. I wouldn't have you any other way. :)

ps: it's not a black eye, just more dirt.

:)

Slowly getting back to a new normal

We're on the tail end of being in moving mode - it's been about a month, but we've been chaotically busy with more then just moving. More on those happenings in future posts, but for now here are some pot shots of our new normal...

Caleb had the first shower in the new house:

The lounge Lego room:

Making cookies on the kitchen counter:

The walk-in pantry and it's most frequent visitor:

First brekky after moving in:

Getting ready for the first dark sleep in the new house: