Butterfly Creek Day.

"I missed you SO much, Daddy!"

The husband had parent-teacher interviews this afternoon and only got to see the children at 6.45pm when we picked him up from school. All four of them were clamouring to tell him about their day and show him what they'd bought. He hardly comes home beyond 4pm on weekdays but when he does work late and miss dinner with us, they really do seem to feel his absence.

Granted, they'd had a pretty exciting day. The bigs took the day off school to join us for a trip to Butterfly Creek. The homeschooling Stamilla family joined us too, so we were a 10-strong group comprising 8 children from ages 1 to 12. So much fun! Until a passerby comes to tell you that one of your group is trying to climb the barrier to the alligator enclosure. 🐊🤦‍♀️

Tired out.

The children talked about the trip for the rest of the day. We'd got to see a crocodile feeding (no children were harmed) and spot the elusive brown kiwi in the dark Kiwi House. We all also discovered that our big girl can't stand having butterflies fluttering around her and close to her face. 

It was the best thing to finally sit down with the husband to catch up after the full day we'd both had. I think we did all right today. 

Peace Within Me.

The little man asked this morning to try on his school uniform for when he goes to primary school. Our little boy is growing up! It's incredible that he's looking forward to going to school with his older siblings. He will most likely start in April next year, after the Easter break.

Our big boy made use of empty yoghurt containers, toilet rolls inners and other things to create a model of the Saturn V this evening! It even breaks up the way the actual vehicle would have done when it flew through space decades ago. I love watching his mind at work! These are the moments that "Tinkerbell's Tinker Box" exists for! 

This. This sums up my everyday of late. The news has been frustrating to read and discouraging to hear and I've so often let myself get sucked into it all. The husband seems to be able to keep his peace about him and I've often asked him how he does it. I might not be able to change what the rest of the world does or thinks, but I can decide how much power it has over me. I can love my family and choose life in the littlest decisions I make. The world may revolve in utter and complete chaos, but it cannot steal my peace. 

A New Read.

Making ham/butter on toast was a little learning exercise this morning. The little man wanted to show and tell, so he dictated instructions while I scribed. Then, he put the toast together for himself and the little lady. It was extra delicious to him!

Our latest read. I finally chose a personal childhood favourite over Pippi Longstocking. I remember receiving this in a set along with two of EB White's other writings. I picked this as a text to use for a Speech and Drama examination in primary school. It's lovely to be revisiting this with the children. 

Weekend Well Spent.

The long weekend has been a very fruitful one. 

We had a bountiful harvest from the garden which was lovely to have with dinner. 

We enjoyed our Matariki tin can lanterns and toasted marshmallows over the little flames. We also tried s'mores for the first time. Yum! 

Our littlest lady is finally done breastfeeding. Well, with some encouragement on my part! Right at the end, she was very used to quick 1 minute nursing sessions before bed. Having nursed one baby or another almost continuously for 9 years, this is a welcome season of life. What a journey it has been. 

Matariki Weekend Begins.

Thanks to the Matariki holiday tomorrow, the weekend begins!

We spent the morning at the playground and these three did pretty well on their scooters, riding around the sprawling park to the bakery and dairy for treats. 

The husband and I watched the second Dr Strange movie on Disney+ this evening. Our big boy happened to be there for some of it. I'm slightly annoyed with myself for not having read up on it beforehand, because Marvel just had to throw in a same-sex couple scene while he was there. While we have had conversations about this with our older children, I tend to be careful about the programs they are exposed to. Well, I clearly need to do a better job with that! 

Yet, such is the world we live in. We're striving to build a love and respect for the traditional family unit in our home. Playing the long game here. Chin up, tomorrow will be a better one. 

Orange Porridge.

The week began with "Orange Porridge", requested by the little man because he says they rhyme. Orange porridge with a piece of mandarin, specifically. He ate heartily. 

yum! 

It was a frosty 10 degree morning, a shock to the system and I certainly felt like I'd underdressed the children this morning. Yes, we Aucklanders are spoilt rotten by the comparatively mild winters here.  

They had a great time once they'd warmed up. Oh, but the cold fingers and ears!

We went to see the bulls grazing across the street from the playground. This one was a friendly and curious fellow who came up to see us.

My mission for the afternoon: to unearth our warmer clothing to better prepare for the week ahead. 

Little man at night prayer: I wish Jesus watched me scooter this morning.

Papa and I and Big Boy: He did!

Little man: So there are hundreds of Jesuses everywhere? 😂

Forging Paths.

Our big girl came home from school bearing the weight of some friendship troubles. Over dinner, the husband and I spent some time listening and sharing our perspectives. 

Yet, at the end of it, all we can truly do is listen and support her. It's hard to watch her struggle, but I think we have these conversations to let her know she's not alone and to empower her with skills she can use in such situations. She has to find her own way.

Our big boy, in other news, came down after lights out to ask me if he could sleep inside his duvet cover. And that's exactly where he is right now, snoring gently inside the duvet cover,with the duvet inner on top of him. I'll never understand what goes on in that head of his. 

Also finding their own paths: these three friends this morning. 

West Wind.

We finished reading Mary Poppins this evening! It was only 12 chapters long but it took awhile to get through with the children. I'd read a chapter at a time whenever we had time in the evenings. They'd also watched the movie several times and could astutely draw comparisons between the book and the movie as we went along. 

It reached a greatly encouraging point where the children were asking me to read it, or even picking up the book to peruse or read a little by themselves. It was so lovely to see, as it's exactly for these moments that we do this: to introduce them to the beauty of great storytelling and good quality English. Hopefully, a natural interest will also develop over time. 

There are three other books in the series but we will be taking a break for now and moving onto Pippi Longstocking. It's a series about a 9 year old girl who lives all by herself and gets into many fascinating adventures. I've not read this one myself so it will be an adventure for me, too. 

Our younglings and their light sabers! 

Doughnut Holes.

Doughnut/Donut-holes were our project for the day. Perfect for a blustery day. It was our little man's idea and we ran with it:

Dip, Drip, Flip! He was oddly specific about wanting a purple glaze.

Done two ways. Does this count as lunch?

The little man was eager to share this with the rest of the family when they got home. It was gone in no time, and certainly a pleasant treat after both the bigs made it to school today. Success! 

Squirrelled Away.

Our big girl was excited to try a game that came with her new activity book. It was a snakes and ladders type game, that was themed around animal conservation.

Alas, she could not find the book. She looked high and low for it and we chatted about it at dinner. She remarked several times about how she'd looked everywhere for it but could not find it.

It turns out our little man had hidden it in one of his hidey holes. He dashed to get it once it became clear he'd been outed. His sister was not happy. He'd managed to keep completely mum about it even while we had several conversations about not being able to find the book! 😑  As he grows older, we are definitely going to need to up our radars to suss out what he's got up his sleeve!

All's well that ends well. We managed to enjoy a game together in the end. 

Our big boy was back at school again after 4 days away sick. He masked up and his siblings wanted to follow suit. If all goes well, we will have both bigs back in school tomorrow! 

Sand Days.

It all started with a "can I help you, mum?" from our big boy and soon, the rest of the brood joined us in the kitchen to help with making flour tortillas and hot dog buns. Many hands really do make lighter work. They're getting the hang of rolling paper-thin tortillas that cook beautifully on the pan. 

We spent a really lovely afternoon on the beach. The children are happiest digging in the sand and we made a windbreak and a sand igloo this afternoon. Val popped by to join us too. It has been raining so much these past few days that this was a real treat for us! 

Messy Play Day

This morning, we spent some time exploring the different ways string dipped in paint could be used on paper. On reflection, I have a feeling yarn might have produced better results. 

Later in the day:

Not a sweet beverage, but an experiment to illustrate a part of the water cycle with shaving foam, water and food colouring:

That led to... You guessed it: messy play! 

It isn't hard to guess which ones among our four truly love getting right in there with the mess. 

This morning while painting, our little lady reminded me to close the caps on the paint bottles every time I squeezed paint out for her. She enjoys messy play, but there's really only so much of it she can take before she needs to get her hands clean. Our big boy... Wouldn't touch messy play with a six foot pole. It is so incredible to bear witness to their developing personalities, through play. 

Shaving foam sundaes!

Shaving foam was everywhere by the time they were done. The husband and I spotted some close to the ceiling later in the evening! Thankfully, shaving foam is fairly easy to wipe off and smells pleasant (to me, at least). Pop the children into the tub, run downstairs to clean up and voilà!

Our bigs have not been to school all this week, and don't look like they will be in tomorrow. Our big girl just coughed herself awake and will be sleeping in our room tonight while the husband sleeps in our big boy's room. We've been having a ball of a time at home, but after three nights of bed swaps and counting, I'd love to get my bed buddy back soon! 

Making Matariki Lanterns.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning and a lovely day to be outside. We started work on some Matariki lanterns. With nail and hammer, we made tiny holes in tin cans to create our designs. We froze water in the cans overnight so they would not dent under the impact.

Who would have thought that smashing the ice inside the cans later would make such a great activity? I happened to have some coloured ice cubes too so that made for a fun extension activity.

After lunch, the bigs soaked in an audio book of Roald Dahl's The Witches while the younger ones read quietly. 

Our little lady needed her forty winks after a busy day but didn't want to miss out on the action. 

We are still on the mend. Our little lady slept the best sleep she's had in days, last night. Sweet relief. Our big girl and big boy are not as well tonight. One day at a time. 

One Pot of Porridge.

Not having seen us on the lane in awhile, our neighbours dropped us a text to check on us. We told them we'd been indoors and unwell. A few hours later, this evening, they turned up bearing a steaming pot of chicken rice porridge and a bagful of pantry essentials to tide us through.

We are very grateful and blessed by the support of so many unseen hands. Our mothers sent medicines, as well as money to order meals in so we wouldn't have to cook. Another neighbour sent get-well-soon cookies over the weekend. Our big boy has a friend whose mother would check in on us if he misses school even for a day. 

We are very blessed to have our village in this time.

I found our little man perched up here this morning. He must be feeling better!

Congestion Woes.

Last night's struggles that took me back to newborn days when our big boy simply didn't settle and we were up all hours of the night with him. 

The air was dry and little noses were really stuck. I realised purchasing a humidifier wouldn't solve the problem because ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers, the predominant ones on the market these days, seem to come with some potential health risks too.

We decided to do things the old way and pop a bowl of water in each room. I may or may not have also carried our spare kettle upstairs to boil water and disperse some warm vapour into the air. Throughout the day we paid a little more attention to keeping the humidity up, especially when the heat pump was on.

It seems to have paid off and the littlies seem to be sleeping better tonight, breathing easier. It's been a rough past few days. Hopefully things will turn a corner soon. 

big girl peeling apples for a much-loved but so simple dessert: stewed apple. She's currently the most well of all of us.

Caught.

I'm down. I've caught the bug, or perhaps the bug has finally caught me.

Having to tend to three fussing children within ten minutes, at 2330h was a little overwhelming.

"It's not me," the little man whispered hoarsely when I leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. Yes, it was his little sister, right on cue.

It's a tricky time. It felt good to be briefly taken care of when the husband took over medicine dispensing duties for the littlies and made sure I got some meds too.

This, too, shall pass. 

Weekend Come Early.

It was a teacher-only day for our bigs, so they were home today. Lovely to have everyone at home! 

Our big boy made grilled cheese toast for his siblings because they saw his breakfast and wanted some. 

Our little man has not felt like doing much the past couple of days. Our big girl got him interested in a game of Spot It and they spent a good while on it. It was great to see him playing a little more today. 

Val returned from Singapore and we picked her up from the airport this afternoon.

It's a long Queen's birthday weekend. We're very thankful for the extra rest.