Little helpers

We had such a fun time Saturday night / Sunday morning when my favourite nephews stayed over. Mr4yo and Mralmost2yo.. ooh, he's two this next week!
Anyway, back to our fun....
The boys arrived at 3.30pm, just as the downpour arrived in our part of Melbourne (65mm in 24 hours here)
so Mr4 went outside with Melinda and Nathaniel to dance in the rain and get completely SOAKED... so it was into dry pyjamas by 4pm.
A little bit of indoor play (Timothy and Mr2 had been playing trains while the others got wet) and then it was DVD time on the bed in our room which they thought a wonderful idea... and a bonus when the home made pizza arrived up there for dinner!
Clever hubby laid out large blankets first to catch the crumbs :o)

the little ones aren't quite as enthralled by the movie!

 Into bed once that was over and they all went to sleep right away and didn't wake till just after 7... the most civilised rising we've had with 5 blessings in the house at one time!

A tasty breakfast of eggs and hash browns, big glasses of milk and then it was clean up time.
I asked Melinda to gather the plates for me so I could get the dishes underway and a little 4yo voice says to me 'can I help too Aunty Relle?'  Loved it - so sweet! So he, with much joy, gathered all the empty milk glasses and brought them to the kitchen for washing.

I was reminded of this later in the afternoon (The nephews headed home shortly after 9am) when I was clearing the dry dishes and Timothy comes into the kitchen with an "I help mummy" as he starts to put the glasses away that I'd stacked onto the table for the older ones to put away. He was rewarded with much praise from both Pete and I.

Such joy when they offer to help, vs being asked.

Such joy in the home when we do ALL work together! I'm a believer in jobs from as early on in life as possible.

At the moment home making jobs looks a little something like this

Timothy (2.5)
Feeds the cat
Picks up his own toys
Takes out the recycling with Nj (has been doing this for about 12mo)
Brings his dishes to the sink (occasionally I cringe but no breakages from this yet)
Puts his own socks and undies away
Does lots of 'gofer-ing'... "Timothy, can you please get X for mummy?"

Nj (7)
Folds clothes and puts them away
hangs wet clothes on  the drying rack
Peels vegies
Makes his own bed
Strips sheets off beds for washing day
Brings the bins in on rubbish day
Takes out the rubbish bags
Keeps the toilet paper shelf from running out
Puts dishes away
Removes chairs for floor mopping and then puts them back
Unloads the car after grocery shopping
Changes dirty nappies!!
Sets the table
Working on: learning to vacuum

Melinda (8)
Removes the dish drainers and cleans the draining board
Folds clothes and puts them away
Can make simple lunches like pizza toasts and sandwiches
Peels and chops vegies
Strips sheets off beds for washing day
Puts a load in the dryer and turns it on, empties, folds and puts away once dry
Removes chairs for floor mopping and then puts them back
Unloads the car after grocery shopping
Sweeps and washes the bathroom floor
Sets the table
Working on: washing dishes

There won't be a any rude shocks when these children have their own homes to care for!

What about your children - do they get to help keep the house going too?

(*gasps* as I realise I need to check we have a gift organised for Mralmost2 nephew!)

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Mystery 'vine thingy' - can anyone help?

I have no idea what yet another plant/tree/vine is in my yard... if you've read along for a while you'd know we're renting in a new place since July and are making a whole bunch of new discoveries, mostly of the fruit kind.

 We thought it dead when we moved in because it was just a bunch of old looking vines with no leaves at all... since then it has loaded itself with leaves and just recently it's produced a whole bunch of berry looking things... so are they flowers or some sort of fruit? There's clusters of them all over... hundreds...

Does anyone know what it is?

In response to Ganeida's comment, I'm adding this picture of a full leaf by itself :o)

all the leaves are pretty big - I don't have small hands at all LOL

Baking fun

A very productive morning here!

While the children were deep into their own bookwork... I got some serious baking happening. We had some fruit that needed using up. So first, I made a banana loaf... with a bit of this and a bit of that... making up the recipe as I went! 3 eggs, about that much better, 2 bananas, 1c SRF and a few other things

ta da!!

 Then I made some apple muffins - soooo yummy (I can't say yummy about the banana loaf yet as we're yet to try it!)

It was about now that Timothy discovered the sink and began his happy hour of playing with water 

He's more and more keen to turn and pose for a photo these days

And finally, a loaf of bread was ready to go in the oven to be baked

Oh, that's right - and all the while I had creamy rice cooking in the crock pot. Why? Just because I'd never done it before!

The only down side of such fun is the dishes

All done now though :o)

and........

a quick update on yesterday's art (because yesterday's post was about last weeks!!)

It became a 'play and make what you will' session just for Melinda. Nathaniel who is covered in chicken pox at the moment REQUESTED a nap and slept for 3 hours!!!

For a few days Melinda has had idea of building some sort of boat... she was rather pleased to finally be able to 'get around to it'

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Tuesday Art

Only now getting around to posting last week's art! Last week got a little too nutty... more about that once I figure out how to download photo's off my mobile :o)

We talked about shapes... positive shapes and negative shapes and then made these posters to illustrate the positive and negative of each shape created. I had already done mine as an illustration of the sort of thing they were aiming for. It was really interesting seeing them choosing a shape and then trying to get it to show up with the piece of paper folded in half. They done plenty of cutting with paper folded... 'snow flakes' and the like... but not too fussed about the particular shape at the end. There were some good thinking skills at work here too - good practice!

Left, me ~ Middle Nj (7) ~ Right Melinda (8)

Also... more recently - like yesterday... I finally got around to making the cover for MY home ed binder... I kept losing it with other 'look alike' binders... not anymore

The middle section is what I call my 'home ed gripe' and I've had it on my kitchen wall for quite a while now. It's a good reminder for me and also has kept others a little more quiet on 'testing' the kids at every opportunity - bliss!

...and now I need to get organised for this afternoon's art!!

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Sunday at Home ~ Making the most of today

Having returned from a quick, last minute road trip to Sydney to 2 boys covered in chicken pox, I'll be staying home this morning instead of heading off to church with hubby & Melinda.

I'm very ready to focus on it being a Sunday at Home... time to bring calm and peace back into our world.

We came home to a tidy house just before 6pm last night but that has soon changed as we unloaded the hastily packed car. A tad chaotic here now - okay, more than that... VERY chaotic.

My plan is to potter around getting everything straightened and put away. We have beautiful worship music playing and I'll light my favourite scented candles shortly.
This afternoon we'll have family worship time together... hopefully some time out in the garden (need the sunshine to hang around for this) and prepare a lamb roast together for dinner. Lunch is already made - thank you mum :o) and maybe some time for reading...

A calm, joy-filled, peaceful day.

'Full steam ahead' can kick in after dinner as it usually does on a Sunday evening... there is much to be done... but until then.... a restful day.

Thank you Lord for Sundays

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Once A Month Cooking ~ Spaghetti Bolognese

While I may not do all of my cooking 'once a month'... doing some of it 'once a month' is pretty close to magic.

This is my favourite spaghetti bolognese recipe.... I love dishing it up into family serves and popping them into the freezer. So easy as a last minute meal solution to pop one in a pot with a lid on and by the time the pasta is cooked - the sauce is ready too.

Got last minute guests for a meal? ... grab 2 or 3 bags from the freezer and dinner is good to go for all. We keep plenty of frozen garlic bread on hand for this purpose too but if for some reason I am low, I'll whip up my cheesy garlic pull apart - 5 minutes to mix and about 15 to bake (stay tuned for that recipe one day soon)
Faster than take away!!

NOTE: I do this recipe in bulk, usually doing a triple batch, which is what I've photographed. It fed the family dinner, gave me 3 more family size serves for the freezer, another serve for 2 adults and another serve for 1 child.

Loads of vegies

Spaghetti Bolognese ~ serves 6

Ingredients

60g   Butter

1       Onion, large, finely chopped

2tsp  Fresh crushed garlic

2       Celery sticks, finely chopped

2       Carrots, finely diced

600g Lean beef mince

1tsp   Dried Oregano

1c     Red wine - A GOOD one! I like a nice merlot for cooking or a shiraz/merlot... I don't drink wine but it's great for adding an awesome flavour in cooking!

1      Beef stock cube - we use 'Massel' brand without all the additives that you don't need

2      400g tins diced or pureed tomatoes (I use a 700ml jar of the Aldi tomato cooking sauce... well, 3 of them because I make a triple batch)

4tb   Tomato Paste

400g Dried Spaghetti – then cook in a large pot of lightly salted water

3tb   Grated, fresh parmesan cheese

take time to simmer for a couple of hours

til it's nice and thick

Method

1.    Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until starts to soften

2.   Add the garlic, celery and carrot, and cook, stirring over low heat for 5 minutes

3.   Increase the heat to high and add beef and oregano. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until browned

4.   Pour in the wine, reduce the heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes until wine is absorbed

5.   Add the tomatoes and stock cubes, stir well and allow to simmer till thickens

6.   Add tomato paste and any additional seasoning, heat through and serve on bed of pasta, topped with the Parmesan cheese

Put a bag in the container first then load it with the sauce you want to freeze... tie it off and pop it in the freezer

Then Voila! In the morning you have a brick of bolognese sauce and no messy container

PS: Another good reason for doing a bulk batch is the mess! Simmering it down will always cause some tomato splatter... this way I have the splatter to clean up once but it feeds us 4+ times!

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Last week FLEW by

Life shouldn't be able to go from a Monday to the next Monday so fast... but it would seem there's no stopping it!

Monday was the first day of our new education routine - GREAT day... first days usually are though so I wasn't holding my breath. The week  followed was just as good though - so good that we took Friday off bookwork so I think this new plan is going to work!

Monday we started our new geography unit... South Africa

One of the 4 things we did on SA... a missionary story, globe location and colouring it in on a map of Africa were the others

Tuesday we... followed the program... had a pretty regular day? Got a birthday card for Nj in the post so he called Grandma to thank her....just one of those days... ooh - maybe it was the day my new book arrived? A Family Guide to The Biblical Holidays... it's hard to get it for less than $45, so if you're interested now is a good time to buy... I've waited 6mo for it to get below $40

Wednesday was Nathaniel's 7th birthday so we had rather a slow start to the day... pancakes for breakfast, french toast for lunch and fish & chips for dinner - his meal selection. A carb boy LOL
Melinda started MathUSee on Wednesday... I've started her on their first book, Primer which is prep-ish and we went through 2/3 of it orally to make sure nothing was skipped... so far only one thing she wasn't familiar with so we spent a few minutes on that. On Monday I'll finish off Primer with her, and start going through Alpha with her, again just orally... I'm expecting that she'll know most of it again, but a few things will need work. Then in a couple of week's she'll start on Beta, doing most of it by herself.. I'm expecting she'll know some of it but that maybe 2/3 will be either needed because not already touched on or needed to consolidate what has only been touched on. By the time she starts this, I'll start over with Nj, going through Primer, orally... and so on.

Thursday I got so carried away in our garden here that I missed the monthly home ed meeting!!!!!!!!!!
I got my first lettuce and zucchini planted though - am now expecting our first zucchini in 3 weeks if it grows as fast as our January ones did.... $4-8/kg in the shops is crazy for something that grows so easily!!

Friday was no bookwork and instead we had a super busy morning doing the MONTHLY grocery shop at both Aldi, Coles and Woolworths... we also do meat from a butcher, nuts to make crispy nuts from a nut shop, raw honey from the raw honey man and raw milk from the raw milk dairy. By the time we got home it was lunch time so we found some food, got Timothy into bed and unpacked as much as we could. There was loads of rain on Friday though, so I left the front seat of the car full of toilet paper, nappies and other things like that till after dinner when the rain had slowed down.

Nj got a hold of the camera at the garden so we have a bunch of 'interesting' photo's

Saturday Pete took the children to our plot at the community garden and pulled out the last of our carrots... and took some photo's so I could remember what else is there and plan accordingly. He also bought me some flowers! Gorgeous man :o) My wedding bouquet was hot pink and yellow gerberas.
While they were out, I started on some sewing.... still a couple of things to do to get it finished... hopefully Monday afternoon we will get to Spotlight to pick up the ribbon I want. Will post more details once I am finished the project :o)

Saturday night laying in bed, I felt bubs move for the first time.... lots earlier than the other 3 but it has been earlier with each one. It was like a whole bunch of bubbles moving around - very exciting!!

ooh goody! Cauliflower on it's way... tiny, but on it's way!

*Grin*

 I also cleaned the house on Saturday while Pete was off getting new tyres on the car.... sink, vacuum floors, bathroom cleaned, loungeroom decluttered (that last one was the biggie!)

Sunday, afternoon I baked bread... not much of the finished loaf left now

YUMMY!

and late afternoon, Pete and I got stuck into more unpacking... 4 tea chest boxes done with 25% leaving the house... pretty happy about that. Is getting easier to walk around in some areas of the house! Still much to do... but happy we got this done :o)

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Spring!

The garden is looking better... a lot of this green has happened by itself but Pete is responsible for the digging over of the vegie patch - yes, it was there in the first pic, just totally over grown!! He's also working his way around the front and back yards doing the edging on all the paths so the bricked borders can be seen again... looks much nicer this way :o) The grass & weeds are growing about 10-15cm a week at the moment, so it usually takes a double mow to get it low enough to survive to the next mow. Hopefully in a month or so, the growth will slow down again and we'll see Pete inside on the weekends or outside actually enjoying the yard!

Before: Start of August

After: Today and yes, the trampoline still needs putting up - maybe this next weekend? The wet bit on the vegie patch is where we've planted two lots of butternut pumpkin seeds today... we have other seedlings on the way and will get them planted once big enough, in a few more weeks

Before: Start of August

After - Today

See all that green on the two trees! The one in the centre is a magnolia... the one on the right I have NO IDEA about... it seems to be growing some sort of fruit or flower now... will keep an eye on it now we know it's alive!

A lovely surprise this week was to discover that just near the clothes line we have a fig tree, covered in figs at the moment! I'll have to learn a few ways to use them up as I've never even eaten one before :o)

Not sure what this is but after spending much time looking at blossom pictures - it's looking like some sort of cherry... I'm hoping it's a sweet one!

Meal Planning for the week ahead

I've done up a 2 week meal plan while we were away... but it won't kick in for another week or two because
in the mean time I need to use up a few odds and ends that are still in the freezer from whenever... like the hamburgers Melinda made up a month or so ago.

So what will this week look like?

Sunday we had...
Lunch: Dim Sims
Dinner: Bean & barley vegie soup

Monday will be:
Lunch: Zucchini Muffins made by Melinda
Dinner: Beef n vegie rice

Tuesday
Lunch: Soup and home made bread
Dinner: Sausage Stew

Wednesday
Lunch: French toast & salad
Dinner: Nj is birthday boy today so he has chosen Fish & Chips
Must make a super delicious cake for today too!!

Thursday
Lunch: Tuna salad
Dinner: Savoury chicken casserole on rice (hubby's favourite)

Friday
Lunch: Scrambled eggs on toast
Dinner: Bolognese on baked potatoes

Saturday
Lunch: Hamburgers and corn on the cob
Dinner: Smoked salmon and pea risotto

Some of this will no doubt change but I find having a framework like this, keeps life sane and me from losing the plot... and helps get the children in bed at a reasonable hour... and helps the grocery budget!
What about you - How often do you meal plan? Does it work for you?

Little Miss Spot-a-Lot

We have chicken pox in the house - I'm guessing from the School Holiday Program the children were involved in 2 weeks ago ... and now we're just waiting for the boys to come out in spots.I have to say she makes a cranky patient when itchy! Hubby has gone to church this morning but the children and I will have family worship here so we're not exposing the congregation to chicken pox or shingles :o)

Melinda with calamine lotion half rinsed off - so looking extra pale and ill!

on the back... pretty similar on the front and she's just starting to get them on her legs too

Lots of fun at the Animal Wildlife Park on Phillip Island

Hand feeding a Wallaby

Can you see the joey?

Very glad the pelican is sitting down - they're rather scary when all stretched out!

Whoops! Pete got pooped on!

Tricky to get a photo of this little guy... Mr Echidna just kept on walking

Love the colour in some of our native birds!

How cute is Mr Wombat!?!

My 3 little Monkeys

Dingoes - there were about 12 in the enclosure

It was just wonderful to see the Black Swan family walking around - and they knew we  had food! Shortly after this was taken, the front swan was begging Pete for food... which we were able to supply as you get given some on entry

I don't like Emu's. Nice in pictures but when they know you have food, they are rather intimidating in their pursuit!

I love the gorgeous blue on these Kookaburras - apparently these are from Northern Australia - the local ones are a lot more dull... a dusty brown where the blue is

Choose Life!

The bible tells us that there is both 'DEATH and LIFE in the power of the tongue. It can be easy to think that we choose 'life' when we speak but let me tell you that 'death' sneaks in there and ZAP, does it's damage before you even know it.
Let's think about this in context of children. When we encourage them, it's deliberate and thoughtful... and pretty easy. It's often in response to something they've done and life is pretty relaxed at the moment... "mum, do you like how I just did my hair?" "sure honey, you've done a lovely job - you've been trying lots of new things with your hair, you're getting really good at it"
"mum, do you like this painting?" oh wow, what great use of colour"
or "good job, you've got all those carrots peeled for me" "your reading is coming along really well" and so on. You get the idea!

So what about 'death' in the power of the tongue?

That's when you curse your children.

Yep, you read that right. When you curse your children (or hubby, friend, self etc) Sure, not everyone does this but you'd be surprised who does.... take time to pray and ask God to show you if it's you.

Let me share with you about Ruthie. (name changed for privacy)
Ruthie was a darling little girl I nannied. I lived with her family from 7 weeks before she was born, until she was 3 and a half. I was on duty 5 days a week from 7am till about 8pm. As you could imagine, I knew Ruthie well.
One weekend after I moved out of their home and was no longer the children's nanny, Ruthie came to visit me for the weekend. We had a lovely time together! It was during this time that God showed me how careful one needs to be with their words!
I poured Ruthie a drink at dinner, into a glass as I'd done for quite some time at her place.
She looked at me in horror and said 'oh no, I need a lid! I ALWAYS spill drinks!!

2 things
First - I knew Ruthie and knew this was NOT true
Second - Kids don't come up with phrases like that by themselves!!
My guess is that 'mum', in frustration at an accidental drink spill, snapped out an "aargh! you ALWAYS spill drinks!" and immediately this girl's belief about herself and her skills was changed. When that happens, the behaviour changes too. And spilling drinks would continue to be a problem.

I would suggest that in our day to day lives, we don't recognise when we do this.

Imagine you were the mum in this situation and you had cursed your daughter in this way.
At the end of the day someone asked... "did you encourage your kids today?"... you could probably think for a couple of minutes and come up with a couple of instances.... "yes, when Sammy did his reading today I encouraged him by telling him how much his reading was improving... and when Ruthie came home from creche with a painting I complimented her on the painting and we stuck it on the fridge"
You are then asked "did you say anything that could hinder your child's growth/relationships etc?" ... you would probably again think for a couple of minutes and come up with "no, can't say that I did" unless you'd really LOST THE PLOT at them (coz that is a whole lot harder to hide from LOL)

I've seen more of this in recent years too. As I am around more parents and children now we have our own family. I am so sad for the children being spoken of, and for mine who miss out on doing some things with their friends because the curse has been spoken. A definite, no room to move statement.


"Suzie doesn't like to play outside."
"Matthew doesn't like to play with Lego."
"Lucy doesn't sit quietly in church so we sit up the back."
"Mary doesn't like board games"
"Harry always loses the library books."
and so on!

Said in front of children, **these statements are cursing your children**
They create self beliefs, reinforce self beliefs and make it almost impossible for a child to live outside your statement. Some children are being robbed of joy throughout life by these statements. Seriously!
Hours of free fun can be had from a very young age, right through life if you learn to like a board game or two! Imagine being cursed into losing your library books all through life - cruel!!

Obviously, said in private with friends or mentors as you seek to find solutions, it is not a curse. They are rarely used in this context though.

So, what are the options?

"Suzie prefers inside play and is still learning to enjoy playing outside - how about some time doing both?"
"Matthew hasn't played with Lego much - could you show him some fun things to make? Then in half an hour let Matthew choose what to play next"
"Lucy is still learning to sit quietly in church"
"Mary is still learning to play/enjoy playing board games - which one might she like most?"
"Harry is learning to keep track of his library books - he's getting better since we chatted about keeping them in the same place'

Choose your phrases carefully. Choose life!

What about your friends?
X is always late
X always cancels at the last minute
X never listens

Using statements like these, even in your own mind, can curse your relationship with people because you're stopping yourself looking for and seeing growth in people. These statements assume there is no growth to be seen! How sad to view your loved ones in this way.



Oh Lord, open my eyes and keep me aware of the way I speak of others and of myself. Show me where my words can give life instead of death. Change my heart that I may always look to encourage growth in all whose paths I cross. May I not limit anyone, myself included, with curses that can sneak into my thought life or into my conversations with people. Amen.

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If at first I don't succeed

then I will try try again!

Well that's my version now. The original 'if at first you don't succeed, try try again has been stuck in my head since about grade 3? It was a line in our class play 'Mud Black and the Seven Tallies'.... I'm off track already here! Oops!

One final term before the end of the year and I really really want to do much better with our 'formal' learning each day. Although I've been a homeschooling mum since Melinda was born more than 8 years ago... it's only now we're really getting into it with both Melinda and Nj. So, I am very much a beginner still!

and being the most disorganised person in the world (okay, not quite, but almost!) doesn't help at all :o(

So this week I need to plan out our final term... there will be about 10 weeks to work with.

To get me started I've worked out some goals

1. 2 x 'Go and Do's'....  Scienceworks? Native gardens in Cranbourne? Melbourne Museum?
2. 5 x swimming on Saturday's with Dad while Timothy sleeps to give me some planning time
3. Lots of reading aloud by Nj... daily?
4. Science 2 x week - anatomy... including anatomy models (Nj is so keen to get more into this)

5.MathUSee - work through the earlier books to find out where the children should start 'mostly on their own'
6. Project book of anatomy work
7. Have the children see project books from other homeschoolers to give them an idea of what we're aiming for
8. Start every day with bible time!!
9. For my own education - buy and read a couple of Charlotte Mason books that I've had my eye on for a while

We'll do more than this, but these things are the "must do's" that I am aiming for and will give me something solid to work my plan around.

I also want to make an achievable plan this time. One where I should be expecting to get everything done, rather than thinking up front that 'what doesn't get done, doesn't get done'.

I am very much looking forward to getting stuck into the planning and then into the term :o)

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Where am I?

When something unexpected happens it messes with my head and then I seem to disappear from "blogland" for a while... I do keep on reading other blogs for sure (very relaxing and inspiring), but writing anything in my own when I'm still processing 'whatever' in life, seems a bit too much to tackle. I guess by writing now, my head is getting sorted out again - time will tell!

So how about a super fast update on the last 5 weeks or so...
1. I sprained my ankle badly on election day - the event that threw life and all sensible thought processing right out the window.
2. Found out how wonderful friends can be when one gorgeous lady took Melinda to Girl's Brigade for me for 4 weeks, and both children to a party.
3. Discovered our most exciting news this year - that God has chosen to bless us with another child... I'm about 10 weeks along now and if I've calculated correctly, bubs is due exactly 3 years after Timothy's due date - though he was born later than that.
4. Thanks to my sister Jacqui, I now have the additional trays and inserts for my dehydrator to make fruit leathers... will post more info and pics next time I am making them... next will be home made corn chips in it.
5. We have been blessed with free accommodation for a weeks holiday on Phillip Island
6. So I am now thinking of seeking out house swapping opportunities with other homeschooling families in Victoria for holidays in future years
7. Pete has done amazing things with our overgrown back yard. He'll tell you there's much more to be done, and there probably is... but right now it looks GORGEOUS in comparison!
8. My drivers licence was up for renewal... last time I got a 10 year one... bad idea - same photo for 10 years... so this time I got a 3 year one but funnily enough, I think it's a photo I could cope with for 10 years (but maybe I thought that last time too?)
9. When I get back from holidays I will be severely restricting processed sugars and grain intake
10. and vow to get back into baking our own bread
11. oh - that's right... we've had a couple of gross episodes with some of Timothy's bowel on the OUTSIDE... grossed me out a whole lot more the first time. Second time I wasn't as freaked. I think we're on top of it for now but won't be fully convinced of that for another few weeks of no repeats!
12. I keep meaning to get Melinda's piano lessons organised (Cassie!!) and I will get there... just as soon as we're back home and I have access to my usual email etc.
13. No photo's in this post because I'm not on my on computer and haven't figured out mobile uploads yet!! (Help anyone?)