Kitchen Adventures.

Our little lady is right at home in the kitchen and it shows. We were making granola together and she got tired of waiting for me to cook her an omelette for lunch. She pulled out the step ladder, got a bowl and some eggs. She cracked the eggs into the bowl and started beating the eggs herself.

We cooked the omelette together and enjoyed reading while she ate. It's days like this that her learning and growth at home are so tangible, and I'm grateful for the dedicated time with her before she starts primary school next year. 

Braiding Onions.

We taught ourselves to braid our onions today. These are a space-saving way to store them for the season ahead. 

Our prayer room doorway was a best place to hang it... Cool and dark with good ventilation. 

38!

I started my birthday by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation at church with our big boy. On the way home, we randomly picked up two pallets sitting on the side of the road for him to build a fort in our front yard.   

We enjoyed a Korean BBQ buffet at lunchtime, 

And went for a walk in the evening. Cake was a yummy butter cake made by Papa and the children.

It's been a blessed day and I'm very grateful for all the love. On a separate note, where have my thirties gone?! 

School House Leaders.

Our big boy was elected one of two house leaders to represent his school house team, St John XXIII. 

The additional responsibility of the leadership role is a meaningful way to spend his graduating year at school. We're very happy for him!

Let's Start At The Very Beginning.

Years ago, we taught our bigs to play tunes on the xylophone using handmade colour-coded scores. Today, our big girl taught our littlies to play music in the same way. She had both of the younger ones on the instruments this afternoon. I'd say both teacher and students had a great time. It's great to see that seeds we planted years ago bearing fruit in the most beautiful of ways.

Also, our 2023 photobook arrived today and the children had a lovely time reminiscing while reading it together.

Sibling Love.

Having older children means that the younger ones have extra hands to help when they have homework. Our big girl offered to help our little man with his homework this evening. 

It's a joy to see them helping each other and being Christ to one another. 

Our little lady got to spend the entire day with her friend today. We met at 10 to go to the trampoline park and they played until it was time for dinner. We walked to the dairy to get ice blocks to cool off. They jumped into the pool after and also spent the day at each others' houses. That's the life. Now fingers crossed that they sleep well tonight.

Our Little Man.

Our little man struggled to find his feet in the first few days of school. He was put in a composite class (year 2 and 3) and separated from his best buddy. His older siblings kept a keen eye on him and checked in on him when he was lonely in school. They made sure teachers knew if something happened to him and provided me with excellent updates after school. 

Fast forward a week later and our little man is as happy as a clam in high tide. He's made a friend in his class, reunited with his best buddy and is now part of a little group of 3 boys who play "The Floor is Lava" "thousands of times" at break time. I'm so glad for him.

I've learned that he's not one to fight for the limelight or share his stories straightaway at the top of his voice. He's the one who appreciates a quiet conversation away from everyone else, or a gentle question when there's a break in the chatter at the dinner table. Get him started and we find that he has soooo much to say. It's a joy to witness the exuberance he has had, coming home from a lovely day at school. 

As a year 2, he now has homework to do at home. I was flipping through his work today and saw this:

Of all the professions he could choose, he'd choose to be parent. Aw. 

Shrove Tuesday.

Enjoying pancakes for dinner on Shrove Tuesday. People used to make pancakes the day before All Wednesday in a bid to use up their eggs, flour, milk and sugar before the more austere season of Lent.

We were wondering what they ate for the next two months but couldn't figure it out. 🤔 

Bee Sting.

Our little man was stung by a bee this afternoon in our pool. He'd jumped in to swim and not seen a bee floating in the water. Our big boy tried to warn him but it was too late and our little man sustained a sting on his armpit, the stinger piercing through his rash top to the skin beneath.

The boys were terrified and there was a lot of blood-curdling screaming. Thankfully, we managed to calm them both down and Papa easily removed the stinger with tweezers. 

"Thank You that I didn't die after the bee sting," was our little man's prayer tonight. A little melodramatic but perhaps an indication of how terrified he was. 

The first one in our family to be stung by a bee, he wears it as a figurative badge of honour now, after his siblings bestowed the honour upon him after. 

What an evening!

Dehydrating Herbs & Tomatoes.

At this point in the year, I'm appreciating the value of slow, restful weekends. 

There's joy to be found in being able to say "yes" to spontaneously throwing a Nerf dart outside with our big boy, jumping into the pool with our little man (and little lady after), and playing a card game just because. It's 100% hard when I'm tired (pretty much all the time), and everything in me wants to just lie down and take a nap. Against my body's lazier inclinations, I say "yes", and am glad I did after. 

We dehydrated some thyme, sage and tomatoes, all grown by the husband. Our big girl had a great time processing and bottling the herbs after they came out of the oven. I sat down to help her with it and she shooed me away because she loved doing it by herself. She was very pleased with her handiwork and showed me the freshly-bottled herbs after. They will last us awhile and elevate the flavours of our meals.

Year of the Dragon.

Chinese new year in a foreign land is a quiet affair, especially with no extended family here. Having CNY fall on a weekend meant that we could do a little more today. 

Food connects us to culture best; we celebrated with homemade bakkwa and the husband's family recipe of meatball soup. 

The children were delighted with the 1.8kg of bakkwa that they freely enjoy. What cost $35 to make would have cost us about $100 in a store. 

We spent the afternoon working on some Chinese new year crafts. We made simple lanterns and a dragon craft too.

I'm grateful for the memories of more festive celebrations with family back in Singapore. It was certainly something I thought of much today. 

Sickness Abounds.

It just occurred to me that for the past month, we've had illness cycling through the household. Our big boy is just recovering from an infection that had him coughing and running a temperature. He spent the past couple of days home with me and is likely to be well enough to go back to school tomorrow. This afternoon, our little lady sprung a fever and hasn't had an appetite. This, too, shall pass. And I'm getting us all the flu vaccination this year.

In between tending to our little lady, the husband and I prayed our rosary while cooking chicken teriyaki for the children's lunches tomorrow. Glad to have gotten it in as we've missed a few this week. 

And then there was our big girls school sandal that needed repairing that I only remembered at 10pm. Thankfully our sewing machine could make a quick job of it. 

With the lunar new year coming up, we're making bak kwa for ourselves to enjoy. It's a 3 day process this year, with overnight marinating, slow cooking in the oven and grilling. I'm making 3kg of it this year, and we'll see how long that lasts our bakkwa monsters.

Finishing this up under the grill tomorrow.

Birthday @ Mainly Music

Our little lady was pleased to have a little birthday song sung for her at Mainly Music this morning. 

She also got a little gift of a book as well. It's lovely to be getting back into the swing of things again.

Waitangi Day.

We enjoyed lovely weather on this public holiday; we headed out for a bike ride and got lots of fresh air and sunshine.

Our little man is pretty good on his bike, he's got the smallest bike so his little legs cycle furiously, but he keeps up with us well. 

Our courier was hard at work today, it seems, and our countertop shelf arrived in the post. Our big girl and I put it together, and we really like it. It means that our breadmaker and stand mixer can live on the same counter without taking up too much space. 

It's back to school tomorrow after the luxury of a public holiday early in the week.

First Day!

The children enjoyed a much-anticipated slushie after school, to celebrate their first day of school. An oven beef stew was easy dinner for a slow afternoon. The husband suggested dumplings/biscuits on top. Pretty amazing, just dollop dough on the stew and bake til done. The biscuits/dumplings turn out soft on the bottom and crisp on top. An interesting meal.

Day two tomorrow. 🤞🏻