Blogtastic

O7's teddy Snowflake had a birthday party
J grew a decidedly dodgy Mo for Movember

We took a walk through the Wetlands

E2 got his hands on a water gun and has been happy as a pig in muck ever since

Time for a quick update on the last month.
Whangamata with family...Christmas...back to work...busy....busy....hanging with family...cousins playing for hours...more work...my big boy turned 7...babies all growing up :(

Snapped

Delectable Designs

I have discovered the pleasure of knitting dress bodices and then whipping up a simple gathered skirt to make A4's summer wardrobe. The pleasure of knitting, but oh so quick and the chance to use yummy fabric without having the spectre of failed pattern piecing looming over one's head.

Bodice is called Summerlin and shrug is Jane Austen Shrug
Ginger Blossom skirt with stella bamboo in lemon/lime and cleakheaton bamboo in aqua for the bodice and shrug.

Bodice in teal cotton and skirt from $2 rack at Spotlight

Bodice is chocolate brown cotton Pride and Prejudice from Mason Dixon Knitting Off the Edge and skirt is more $2 fabric from Spotlight.

Oobleck

How can you not want to try making something with such a groovy name.

We got the idea from unpluggedkids.

We made a huge mess.

We pretended to be scientists discovering this weird substance.

We discussed how it is a liquid and a solid.

We talked about Issac Newton.

We still haven't cleaned the picnic table two hours later.

Snapshots of our days

In the last couple of weeks...

We have made another vege bed. This one has beetroot, onions, meslun and tonatoes in the kids boxes, zucchinin, and runner beans on the fence, plus the apple tree is getting some leaves.

E2 has dug holes in all of the garden beds with his trusty tonka diggers.

We have collected hail from the front lawn.

Mr E2 has started wearies undies every day...Thomas undies even.All four have enjoyed amateur dramatics with impromptu puppet theatre.

Hiatus

Having a wee break to catch my breath.

Life is super busy here and won't let up until well into the new year.

New vegie garden just put in though, so all is well with the world!

Geography

Take one tablecloth map of the world, a whole heap of postcards and two inquisitive boys...and you end up with a fun geography lesson.

O6 and C3 found India, Egypt and Cyprus with ease. Mummy helped with Great Britain and the Shetland Islands. We used the atlas to pinpoint the exact location of Aruba.

Why We Love Grandparents #1

Paparazzi

We dug out the old digicamera (well mum's actually...sorry we have had it sooooo long mum!). O6 has claimed it as his own and is happily snapping and videoing the goings on of our days.

He has leanrt not to snap pics of me in my undies, how to delete said pics of me, upload respectable pics and store in his own folder.

Here's a selection...

One Down.....many to go

We have finally finished one room of our interior renovation.



In the dining room we have...



stripped ghastly shiny wallpaper, painted walls warm cream, replaced mustard brown curtains with fresh cream ones, ripped up skanky old carpet and red and grey checkered linoleum tiles, had the floors polished, replaced dirty, stained green velour dining chair covers with bright red vinyl.



From this...







To this....

Socialised

Probably the most common question home edders get asked is ,

"But what about the kids' socialisation?'

What they really are asking is "How will your kids cope in the 'real world'?" (Read as... they are not spending most of their day with 30 other children within a year of their own age.)

um...doesn't sound much like the "real world" to me.

Anyway...now and then we meet up with some other socially maladjusted home ed families. One of the things that reminds me why home ed is a great choice for our family is watching a group of children from 6 to 15 year olds play games together, all having fun and all joining in.

It is rare to see the average teenage boy laughing as he helps a little one play stuck in the mud or to willingly hang out with his siblings on an afternoon. Some might say it is weird, abnormal even.

For me, it is something precious. Our culture values individualism, and we readily split up the family for age segregated programmes and events. Maybe if we spent more time mixing with others outside our immediate peer group we would learn more about ourselves and others.

A Style All Her Own

When Miss A4 gets dressed in the morning you never know what she will decide upon.

Today's outift comprises yellow tshirt layer with periwinkle blue jersey, pink beany, brown and orange floral skirt and red and grey leggings.

Fashionista.

Just Hanging Around

Spring Fever

Spring has sprung...the garden is not so contrary now.
Pak Choy (or Bok...not sure now) gone to seed, but the flowers are yummy too, so into the salad they go.
"Water, water, water, mummy...water, water...no...mine water"
The salad garden gets dappled sunlight, so hopefully the lettuces won't get too hot and bitter. So far, so good. Also hiding in there are endive, more silverbeet and spincah, lavenadr and angelica cos they are pretty, tomatoes and a soapwort plant in the backc corner.
The raised planter boxes are North facing...hot, hot, hot there. From near to far...the corner of the box at the bottom of the pic is the Pak Choy, then we have a pea frame, next raised box is more Pak Choy, not gone to seed, a cape gooseberry, strawberries in the third box, garlic and shallots in the next two boxed with some more peas on a frame betwwen them and the spuds in the final two boxes. Marigolds along the front to keep the buggies away and look pretty, room for another pea frame.
The glasshouse is brilliant for seedraising. We have beans of two varieties, more peas, beetroot, zucchini, more tomatoes, lots of onions, sunflowers and marigolds (not doing much yet). Have to hurry up and make some more beds for these to plant out soon.

Not ictured is the thriving silverbeet...love the rainbow chard and some leeks that are hanging in there, red and green cabbage that might, maybe be starting to form heads.

Michelleacino

I was so surprised and excited to open my door to a smiling, beautiful surprise visitor and her two angel boys.

Yes...the lovely Michelle drove all the way from Massey to Matamata just to say Hi and bless me with a whole load of groceries and wool and pressies for the kiddoes.

Michelle, you rock! It was awesome to catch up with you and the boys were delightful. My kids loved playing with them...and we will post your robodog up to you soon.

Thanks to B and Janine who I hear sent some of the treats down with Michelle...and anyone else who I don't know about...and to Sarah for her subtle sleuthing..."So whaddya do on Mondays Karen?"

Michelle, I am so thankful and grateful for your love and generosity...I am going to pay it forward this week...so keep your eyes on your mailboxes peeps.

Random Snapshots

The Tyger

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire in thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art?

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand, and what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? What dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

And watered heaven with their tears,

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb, make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake

Astronomist (I know... Astronomer)

O6 worked hard, enlisted some help from Mum and Dad and created a scale model of the solar system as an entry to the Katikati Homeschoolers Science Fair.

We rocked on up, O carefully set up his display, complete with asteroid belt and Kuiper belt, stars and planet facts.

When interviewed by the judges O displayed his love of all things astronomical and his wealth of knowledge about the universe. A question as to the position of the asteroid belt was met with a disdainful look from O as he pointed to the gravel he had positioned to represent the asteroid belt and Mars and Jupiter either side.

Quote of the day:

O answering the question whether he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up...

"Oh, no....I might get pulled into a black hole and be lost forever.

Bless.

Oh, and another thing. O6 won first place for his age group.

Well done my science guy.

Fabulous Four

Happy Birthday to my amazing A and C.

We have made it through another year of fun and frustration...but mostly lots of joy and wonder as you both grow into such wonderful kiddoes.

C...I have been so blessed to see your generous nature as you offer to share with your siblings and even give up your favourite toys to them on occasion. We love your super happy smile and the way you get so excited about life. You are my snuggly delicious boy.

A...I love your beautiful smile and your silly faces. you are so full of questions and love to organise the rest of us. You have become so keen to help mummy and are a dab hand at all sorts of cleaning. It is so lovely to see you snuggle up on the couch and read E stories, you always look out for him, even though he is a total boofhead.

Mummy and Daddy are so glad you are part of our family.

The Month That Was...

So how has your month been? Some highlights of mine include...

• E turned two and we celebrated with a picnic on the porch. E enjoyed the choccy cake, cheerios and liqourice allsorts...mmmm...so did I.
• O6 won the Player of the Day at soccer last week, complete with battered trophy. He was super proud, and so were we, even thoughit was the last week of the season and he was the last player to get picked for it...shhhh, he doesn't know that.
• We watched lots of Olympic sport, talked briefly with ) about human rights in China and the world and the children noticed that "EVERYTHING is made in China mum."
• E and I spent a fun filled overnight at Waikato hospital after E decided that child resistant medicine bottle caps were no match for his superior intellect and drank 1/4 of a bottle of Dimetapp. I got the bad mummy lecture from three doctors and lots of sympathy from the nurses who all recounted what they had drunk as littlies.
• Our vege garden is new and improved, thanks to J's ever expanding diy skills and lots of dirt shovelling, seedling planting, slug bait and frost cover cloth to see us through the last pesky frost filled days.
• We drew our own versions of Van Gogh's starry night, added more pages to our reading log scrapbook and continued the astronomy craze, reading about galileo and O and J created a Solar System from various balloons for a science fair next week.