inventions & adventures

do you have any trees that need chopping?

2007-08-03T09:06:00.000+12:00

...coz M4 has a chainsaw to chop them down with.

He might need to learn a few safety tips before he's let loose with it though - he's insisting it should stand upright!

......and then who should come toddling up the stairs, but T3?
"Please may you take a photo of me an my twee-cutter-saw to put on da blog"

But that wasn't the end....L6 arrived with yet another one...we'll be needing a whole forest!

I wanna be dangerous

2007-07-30T15:56:00.000+12:00

By K10

I wanted to make a catapault from The Dangerous Book For Boys that I got for my birthday, so I asked Mama if I could and she said, "Yes". I drew a plan, which I followed. Here's the end result:

I used chopsticks (which I got told off about), a bottle lid and copious quantities of wool.

lovely kiwis

2007-07-27T11:50:00.000+12:00

The lovelies at Lovely Blogs are going to make us famous! Heehee.

You can see us in the *kids with blogs* section or just scroll down past a handful of other lovely photos and you'll come to our interview. It's very short! And lovely!!

How To Make Fabulous Felt

2007-07-25T19:22:00.000+12:00

1. Tear up 100g of carded wool into strips. Then pull the wool out so it fluffs up.
2. Lay the wool so that the grain of your first layer (I did five layers) goes all up-and-down. Lay the next layer on side-to-side, the next up-and-down and the next side-to-side.
3. Now you are ready for one last layer of wool. We did fancy coloured wool.
4. Mix together three cups of boiling water and a squirt of detergent, pour this slowly over the wool and start to gently squeeze the wool. You will have to wear rubber gloves as it will be very hot!!!
5. Keep adding more water and keep squeezing until the fibres all matt together.
6. Turn the piece over and repeat the process on the back. The longer you work the wool, the tighter it binds together.
7. Rinse the piece of felt.

If you want to speed up the process, you can place your piece of felt in a pillowcase and put it in the washing machine. Just remember to use hot water and a wee bit of washing powder.

ER (14mo) can see

2007-07-25T16:34:00.000+12:00

"Before" shots are never enhanced, are they? So we didn't wipe the snotty nose or airbrush away the lunch remains from the chin.

Look, I know what to do, Mama. And please straighten my fringe up a bit.

"After" is so much better. Even if I don't exactly look happy!

The first lock....

And where it came off....it's not as precarious a seat as it looks - I have my teeth brushed here twice a day and I haven't fallen off yet!

sandpit sunshine

2007-07-19T16:22:00.000+12:00

Mama lent out the window by the front door to take this shot without disturbing the happily playing littlies. More zoom would have been good, but that's A Wee Bit Technical.

it never rains - it pours

2007-07-17T15:14:00.000+12:00

By Mama

Having impressed me with their origami skills, the boys asked to try out their Dangerous Book for Boys constructions.....
"Can I throw it out the upstairs window Mama?" J11 pleaded.

Why, oh why, would I say NO to that request?
What else would you do with a water bomb?

moooooooooooooooo

2007-07-16T15:08:00.000+12:00

on a wet miserable day

all sorts of things can happen

not the least of which was

K10 turning into a cow

eyes as wide as saucers

2007-07-15T16:40:00.000+12:00

By Mama

His eyes just about popped out of his head. K10 repeated over and over and over "Oh man, oh man, oh man".

We had pulled into the carpark at Gengys Restaurant and K10 had thought we were pulling their legs, and were about to drive out again. But then someone spotted Grandpa's car. And if Grandpa were there, maybe it meant we were going to stay for dinner.

It was a surprise too big for anyone to hardly believe! What a way to finish Dadda's week home with us. Eating this Mongolian food made EVERYONE eager about the day Dadda leaves work behind and we are all together - just like this last week - and hopefully in Mongolia!!

Eating out meant we didn't need K10's birthday cake.....so we get that tonight. YUM.
It looks like pizza and a glass of fizzy drink, but don't be fooled; there's a chocolate cake and carrot cake underneath copious quantities of sugar and food colouring.

girls can use tools too!

2007-07-14T20:23:00.000+12:00

By J12
(posing in the first photo, taken at Karekare earlier this week)

Wanting to attract some different kinds of birds to our garden, I decided to make a bird feeder. Before Dadda would let me use his tools, he required a plan! I provided him with a very detailed one. It was so good I had unlimited access to his saw, drill and screwdrivers.

Here's what I made
(with a little assistance from an interested J11):

The little piece of dowel held up by two small branches can be removed and have a piece of apple or something stuck on it, but we didn't have any spare. Water goes in the yellow container (Dadda said I should hollow out a piece of wood instead to make it look really natural - I just might yet), and seeds go on the other little platform. Any bird who happens to use the swing too energetically might knock itself out on the upright stick - that's a wee design fault, which could be fixed in the Second Edition!

Big Birthday Boy

2007-07-14T09:04:00.000+12:00

By K10

Do you see that? K10, not K9!!

It's my birthday and so I'm very excited. I've been looking foward to my pudding breakfast. At our house, whenever you have a birthday you get to choose what's for breakfast.
Today it was caramel self-saucing pudding with whipped cream.
Yes, for breakfast!!!! Last year I had icecream and Weetbix (yum), but everyone else thought this year's was infinitely better!

THURSDAY

2007-07-12T15:31:00.000+12:00

By J11

Mama and Dadda have been whispering to each other and have told us there is a surprise in the air. Yesterday we thought it was going to be going out for lunch, because we all got in the car just before 12 o'clock. But it turned out that we went to the plant shop for plants and had a late lunch! That wasn't it!
Actually, Mama said if we haven't seen it by 7 o'clock Saturday night, they'll tell us what it is.
We think it might be going out for dinner on K9's birthday, which is on Saturday, because Mama has got a soup simmering for tomorrow night and sourdough bread rising to eat with it. So it's not tomorrow.
At lunchtime today the girls went out for lunch by themselves. They packed sandwiches and bought a *special something* from the bakery - one whole thing each. The boys stayed home with Dadda and had a special lunch too. Dadda said it was a surprise, but we don't think it was THE surprise!!!! At least, K9 hopes it wasn't!!
In the afternoon, Dadda took the eldest six on bikes to a park 5km away. By the time we had ridden round the park a few times, the whole ride ended up 15km. This, also, was a surprise. But hopefully not THE one.

We'll have to wait and see.

WEDNESDAY

2007-07-12T15:28:00.000+12:00

Garden Day.

The rain had abated, but the wind had not.

That was no excuse to not work!

We spent the entire afternoon pulling weeds, moving plants around and spreading out bark.

It's so much fun having Dadda home for a week.

TUESDAY

2007-07-12T15:10:00.001+12:00

By J12 and J11 (self-editted without any Mother-Help)

In the pouring rain we dashed across MOTAT to the Robot Exhibition. There were some remote controlled robots, which we were allowed to have some fun with. J11's favourite was a dinosaur that could run quite quickly and move its tail and head. K9 directed one of the dinosaurs *almost* under one of the cars that was parked there. There was a robot robot (do you know what we mean by that? it looked like what you expect a robot to look like) - it could bend down, roll over and say Hello, as well as move anywhere you sent it.

Do you have any idea what this is?
It looks like a piece of cardboard with straws and string, doesn't it?
What you can't see are the rubber bands attached to the back.

They work all together as a robotic hand.
When you pull a certain string, it will move a finger, stretching out the rubber band (just like a tendon). Of course, when you let go of the string the rubber band pulls the finger back straight again.

When we got home Grandpa used this to explain to us about his Carpal Tunnel surgery.
It was also easy to see why the end of Mama's finger hung lifelessly when she snapped one of her tendons.

Very Interesting.

MONDAY

2007-07-12T14:55:00.001+12:00

By K9 (and without Mama's help) - that's me in the photo!
On Monday Daddy said that we would go for a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day. We packed our new packs with raincoats just in case it rained and lunch and one with lots of clothes just to make it heavy.

At the beach Dadda took photos of us all by the car and on the beach too.

We walked along a track to the beach where there were lots of big sand dunes that we walked along. We came to a fresh water lake sort of thing. Daddy said that he would take us to a track that would take us back to the car, but he never found it. So we stopped at a hill for some lunch after walking for an hour or so. We made slides out of grasses and played on the slides for an hour.

Dadda Had These Blocks When He Was Little

2007-07-05T16:41:00.000+12:00

How did I get to this old (14mo) and have missed the joys of knocking down towers? I knocked Mama's accidentally this afternoon and looked most surprised when it fell. Uh-oh.

It was pleasing to do a couple more times! But then I worked out I could actually put the blocks back. Well, to be honest, I've been stacking blocks up for ages (I just don't usually knock them down)

Then the whole block thing tired me - I really would rather sit in Mama's lap!

self-portrait of mother and child

plodding on

2007-07-04T12:35:00.000+12:00

Do you know how far we walked the other day?
a l....o....o....o...n....g way!

We had spent all day walking round the Science Fair and had spent an especially long time at the physical education activity jumping over hurdles and side-stepping cones, kicking soccer goals and shooting baskets.

We were feeling a little tired, but there was over an hour to fill in before Dadda would finish work and so we started walking from the city towards his work. We must have looked quite a sight with our board games and balloons and bags and stroller and other paraphernalia! After about 2km M4 got tired....grizzly tired. Just at that moment Mama spied a sparkling coin on the ground and she told him he could keep it if he could carry it without complaining! After that he managed to go another 4km.

Yes, we walked 6km before Dadda came and picked us up.

Mama said it made her more hopeful that we'll manage to travel round the world without having complete meltdowns every day! It was a good day...and a good walk.

Judgement Day

2007-07-03T10:28:00.000+12:00

K9's Story

Today was the day I had been looking forward to - the Science Competition Day.

It was the day I could take my game about a science topic to the university.

My game was called "Animal Hide & Seek". There is a Hider and A Seeker - the Hider puts one of his animal cards in the cave and the seeker has to try to work out which one it is. The Seeker reads out the question cards and the Hider tells the answers. If they don't know the answers, there is an information chart they can look at. The Seeker takes out any of his cards that are eliminated until there is only one left. It *should* be the same as the one which is hidden!

I really wanted to get a Highly Commended, but when I saw all the other games I wasn't so sure I'd get anything.

There was a solar system game that was very impressive. I thought it might get first place, but it didn't actually end up getting anything. The people on either side of me had made their games in two weeks. One was a spider game and the other was a dinosaur game.

When they called out the highly commendeds I was disappointed, because I thought I wasn't getting anything. Then they called third place and it was me. I was really really happy and couldn't stop smiling.

The two other things I enjoyed at the Science Day were making slime and dressing up in the clothes scientists wear to Antarctica.

J&J's Story

Our many years of weather watching proved to be the inspiration for this year's Science Competition Entry. Our task was to design a board game. But we didn't stop at that! We constructed a weather station as well - complete with barometer, thermometer, ananometer and rain guage...all of which would work apart from the rain guage as we wouldn't put the game outside in the rain!

To play the game, you race around the board answering questions, predicting the weather, collecting Information Cards and gathering signs until you have made your own weather station. Would you like to come and play?

The judges obviously liked it......so they gave us first place. For the Second Year In A Row! (but, shhhh - we didn't tell them we had won last year too!)

This lovely Lady Judge, who intereviewed us, was very friendly and interested in our game. She asked lots of questions and laughed at our funny information cards (for example, "In Bedfordshire, England, a tornado is said to have plucked the feathers off several chickens. Surprisingly they survived their ordeal.") She was particularly interested in how the thermometer worked - and we can understand that! We love watching the liquid race up the straw too when we put our hands around it!

When we saw all the other games we really weren't sure we'd get anything, because some of the others looked most professional and they had had a lot of work put into them. Fortunately for us, however, the judges liked the weather records we had been keeping (scientists do like measurements, don't they?)....and we have a sneaking suspicion they enjoyed blowing the anemometer around! We think Lovely Lady Judge would have liked to have seen it blow away the night it was really windy - she laughed when we told her about that escapade.

All in all, we had a great time....but the BEST was that K9 won a prize. We knew just how DESPERATE he'd been to win so we were very very happy for him.

Mobile Meatballs

2007-06-29T11:54:00.000+12:00

we all worked together to produce

a MILLION meatballs.......

somehow we always seem to end up

making fun of our work!

HAIL!!!!

2007-06-22T14:52:00.000+12:00

We saw the biggest hailstones we've ever seen today! Some were as big as golf balls and most were at least as big as our bonkers (our largest marbles). Mama thought someone had thrown a stone at the car when the first one hit - it wasn't even raining and suddenly a big stone hit the windscreen...but then more and more fell and we realised what was going on! It got even better when the rain joined the hail - it absolutely poured from the sky - all the cars slowed down, because you couldn't see very far ahead. Some even pulled over to the side of the road.
That's our kind of adventure.

walking winter wonderland

2007-06-21T14:24:00.000+12:00

By ER(13mo)

Yesterday I took my first two unaided tottering steps....and I did it a few more times so everyone could see. I even took half a dozen or more steps across the room when Grandpa came over too.

This morning I walked by myself all the way from the ranchslider to the doorway - I really wanted that wooden eggplant J12 was holding.....and she kept moving it just out of my reach. But I got it in the end!

I'm also talking a bit more. My most useful phrase is na-na-na-na-na. I say it if I don't want something...like being picked up or passed to a different person.

A word that closely resembles "Grandpa" and is uttered whenever I see him would make his heart melt if only he could hear it - but by the time everyone else has quietened down enough for him to single out my little voice from the rabble, I've finished my greeting!

ooooooohhhhhh and mmmmmmm with rising and falling intonation expresses my anticipation at the food I've just seen.
Here I am saying "oooohhhhh"....some friends gave us some food and all of us kids got our first experience of raisins in little boxes!

DISASTER!

2007-06-20T13:54:00.001+12:00

Well, almost.
We are two weeks away from The Science Competition.
Yesterday the printer JUST STOPPED in the middle of printing out our cards.
Then K9 took his papier mache cave out of its mould and it fell apart in his hands - literally.

We are very thankful Mama suggested we try to finish a week early so that we would have time up our sleeves if anything went wrong.

We should be done by the end of the week - YAY!

paper and pencil

2007-06-18T13:32:00.000+12:00

the big boys have been cartooning

baby sister seems to be the subject

Porcu-pins

2007-06-15T14:28:00.000+12:00

By J12

A porcupine would be the best animal to make as a pincushion, but I've done an elephant, a crocodile and a giraffe. They are all hand sewn from felt with various little bits and bobs as decorations....if you click on the pictures you'll be able to see the details.

I'd like to sell my crafty creations one day, but I'll need a few more pieces before I can open a shop! Here's my first market research endeavour: how much would YOU pay for a one-of-a-kind hand-made-with-love 12cm long croc? ;-)

an autumnal stroll

2007-06-14T10:41:00.000+12:00

We just completed our first Walk With Real Packs. We crunched through fallen leaves and picked flowers and noticed new fences and talked about China.

We had walked a fair distance the other day with all our gear to the backpack shop in order to try out different packs, but that was harder, because our bags didn't have decent harnesses, and it's simply More Fun with these ones!

Today we did the 3.5km block and even M4 managed to go the whole way with his pack full and without complaint. His self-encouragements ("I'm doing so well") spurred him on to the end where he sprawled on the ground!

CHOP CHOP

2007-06-13T20:35:00.000+12:00

"Chop chop, hurry up, into the car" Mama called out to us.
We had to go out for the day, because we were bombing the house to try to get rid of the fleas L6 brought back from the hospital last week! We had one of those days Mama calls "productive"....revised memeory verses in the car, looked at a section, picked up some card for the games we are making, popped into Kathmandu and snapped up a bargain (they had made some gloves too small so were getting rid of them for $2 and our little girls need extra-extra-small!!!), did grocery shopping, visited some more sections, had lunch in the car, drove into town to pick up packs for the Big Trip (now it seems like it's really happening), played in Albert Park, watched the flower clock, listened to the university clock in the clock tower, zipped home, emptied the car, tidied the house, read some stories, watched some Gladys Aylward movie, cooked dinner...oops chop chop again. J11 chopped the end of one of his fingers. Not a little chop - a chop that required visiting the neighbour-nurse who advised getting it seen by Someone Who Knew What They Were Doing. Good ol' Grandpa dropped his going-out-dinner-plans and came over to watch the rest of us kiddos (coz of course today was the day Dadda was working til 7pm!)....we raced down to the doc and got it patched up nicely. His verdict wasn't the most encouraging: "I can't promise you won't lose the end of the finger, but we'll have a better idea in a few days. Come back tomorrow and we'll have a look and change the dressing." Hopefully it will be fine...and in the meantime, J11 is sporting an impressive-looking bandage!

one foot after the other

2007-06-12T13:23:00.000+12:00

By ER(12 months)

Mama tells me I'm the first one of us eight to be willing to give this walking lark a go without holding a hand....all the others made sure they knew how to stay upright while their legs were moving before they were confident to push a trolley or pram along....not me. I can't walk yet, but I'll push anything around! On the other hand, I'm not ready to take any steps if all they let me hold on to is a hand or two. I prefer something much more substantial, even if it does race away from me when I apply pressure!

Mama also tells me all eight of us have worn this dressing gown. She made it when J12 was a baby and it's been used every single winter since then! Now she just needs to finish that sewing pile in the background!!

Knit Away Knit

2007-06-08T11:43:00.000+12:00

By K8

My first ever cloth I knit was a blue one and I kept dropping stitches, so it was a holey cloth. For my birthday I got lots of wool, so I thought I could make some cloths out of it. I tried one the other day, twenty stitches and twenty rows. But it wasn't a square, and I worked out you double what you cast on and then it will be a square.
So now I have written my first ever knitting pattern (that's it in the photo).
Last night I knit a whole cloth and K9 did too. He wanted to do some knitting, but he didn't know what to do so I said, "You could knit a cloth." We sat together knitting and Mama said we looked like two old grannies.

Presenting.......

2007-06-07T09:16:00.000+12:00

Sometimes our Dadda is a little bit crazy....and E-R(1) is a rhinoceros!

And K9 always likes to copy his Dadda.

catch up

2007-06-06T13:53:00.000+12:00

There's so much to write about.
We had four days without Mama and L6 who went to hospital. It was really nice to have Dadda round more and to spend time with our friends and with Grandpa.
We've been doing things like visiting open homes (Dadda looks like he wants to build another house!), gardening, working on our science competitions, shooting baskets, making glasses and weather recording equipment, tidying the house for when Mama came home, riding bikes, playing cricket and lots of board games....
Last week we learnt the whole National Anthem. AllFiveVerses.

it's good to be a boy!

2007-05-29T15:02:00.000+12:00

When we were gardening on Saturday we found a treasure in the bush. It didn't have a handle, but that didn't take long to fix!

We've also been making shanghais after reading "A Dangerous Book for Boys" (thanks Jonathan for telling us about it!). The postie has been giving us a pile of rubber bands if we're ever outside when she goes past. Mama thought shanghais were illegal in New Zealand - but she hasn't managed to find anything to prove this yet, so we are allowed to continue!

mandarin madness

2007-05-28T14:56:00.001+12:00

It's a year since we harvested K8's first madarins. The second crop is NEARLY READY...we're checking every day!

spotty dotty

2007-05-25T15:01:00.000+12:00

There's a reason you look subdued in this photo

...you were about to come down with measles. You've been thoroughly miserable all week....but we have snuggled you and loved you lots and lots. Everyone has taken turns at holding you and carrying you round. You have just wanted to lie on someone's shoulder and whimper.
Yesterday you slept for four hours in the afternoon and today you seem to be feeling much better.

are you really busting?

2007-05-23T14:06:00.000+12:00

By Mama

If you're not, you're requested to not use the bathroom.
A reasonable request by J11 as he's in charge of bathrooms this week.

But I do wish he'd learn to spell correctly!

it's hard....

2007-05-21T14:18:00.000+12:00

...to get a photo in which we're all looking at the camera and smiling.
It's even harder to get us all jumping at the same time

but it was a lot of fun!

happy birthday ER

2007-05-18T13:17:00.001+12:00

you are one!

look what you can do

it's the kids' mother...

2007-05-07T15:03:00.000+12:00

....writing today.

Popping in to say there will be no posts this week. I'm not turning the computer on...and so the kids won't be able to use it either!

I'm sure the children will have lots of adventures that they'll be able to write about next week.

we have the tools

2007-05-05T13:17:00.000+12:00

Our church is taking part in "Self-Denial" at the moment to raise funds for the poor around the world. Each family has a little toolbox to put the money in.
They didn't all come with wax seals;-)

This week we had vegetarian dinners so we will be able to donate our *meat money* and today we are eating rice. Rice for breakfast, rice with soy sauce for lunch and rice with veges for dinner. We will be able to give today's food money too.

While we waited for the rice to cook for breakfast, we talked about and prayed for the people who have to collect their firewood from the forest and water from a well or river before they can even start to cook.

We are doing our dishes in a bowl outside to help us remember them more.

We have done other things too - but Mama said we have written enough - when you give, you should not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing! We didn't know that.

boys will be boys

2007-05-04T14:27:00.000+12:00

K9 you are usually ALL BOY! For such a long time you've not really been interested in anything much apart from bats-and-balls and making money!! But recently you've been awfully productive - I just love the boy-doll you made yourself - I can understand how important it is to have a boy-doll and not a girl-doll when you're a boy! He's very handsome - and I hope he doesn't make too much noise when you're spying out in the bush.

Love,
Mama

fluffyFEET

2007-05-03T13:08:00.000+12:00

Inspired by Mama knitting slippers for the little boys, I (J12) got my needles clacking for myself. My ones took much longer - not only because I'm a slower knitter - but also because my feet are soooo looooong! They may have taken a wee while, but they were actually one of the easiest thing I have knit. They are also my first felting project.

Mama said to say THANK YOU to *dodgums* for the wool!

they fit in a small box

2007-05-01T16:53:00.000+12:00

We've been keeping our clothes in one box each in preparation for travelling.
This week we're preparing by playing with only the toys we expect to take with us.....they fit in a small box.
So tidy-up is easy!!!!
We have two tennis balls, a pack of cards, half a dozen travel games, pens-n-paper-n-watercolours (and we want to make a mini flower press and get a compass too).
Yesterday L6 and M4 played with the balls for hours on end...they commandeered a broom to be a bat for a while!
Usually the neighbourhood kids play cricket with us afer they've been to school, but today we didn't have cricket gear so we all rediscovered the joys of "Go Home Stay Home". We're planning on climbing trees, spying in the bush and making obstacle courses another day.

photo shoot

2007-04-30T15:02:00.000+12:00

Dadda got a new camera and has been playing round with it a bit.
We were his subjects on Saturday.
But it's not easy getting a GOOD shot of eight kids...not when one is screaming, one is strangling himself, one is squinting, one is thinking about being hungry coz it's actually lunchtime....and not when you don't get the depth of field right so everything goes fuzzy.

It's much easier to do four at a time!

Favourite Books Centre Stage

2007-04-29T22:14:00.000+12:00

Coming up in three weeks is a church family camp...and on the Saturday night there's a concert. Last time we acted out the story of The Little Red Hen. This year it's Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar. We spent this afternoon making props with items we got at the recycling centre:

We'll see you on stage at 7:42....not giving away any more than that for now;-)

it's just not cricket, eh what!

2007-04-26T20:45:00.000+12:00

We lost. The cricket. Lost dismally.

Never mind - in another ten years we'll be stepping up to the crease to lead our country to victory.

not too late to swim

2007-04-25T20:18:00.000+12:00

It's been well over a week since we ate T3's cake, but Dadda has only just uploaded the photos.

Here 'tis. The Swimming Pool.

misunderstandings

2007-04-23T12:36:00.000+12:00

Isn't language such a funny thing?

Yesterday on the way to church everyone was discussing some matter of significance and T3 added her opinion to the general consensus with an emphatic, "Me too"
M4 corrected her "No, you're three T, you're not two any more"

When we got to church we were given a little box with TOOLBOX written on it. T3 pointed out the T and said, "That's me".
Getting better;-)

And these kind of games must surely help:

....not the letter tiles....just the co-operation!

Today J12 was reading to the little ones after lunch. Picking up a book and reading its title L6 said, "Time For Bed"
T3 replied with a very quick "Oh no, one more, one more, please just one more"

workin' with dadda

2007-04-22T14:44:00.000+12:00

The neighbours decided they wanted some privacy screens up between our living area and their kids' bedrooms. So our adventures in that part of the bush have come to an end - we never realised how much we played on *their* land! Hope they didn't mind!!!

But the adventure wasn't entirely over - the screens still needed to be built:

And right now we're staining the posts black while Mama types this for us.

look what we caught!

2007-04-21T11:33:00.000+12:00

the 3 fish fed 7 kids "fish-n-chips" at the 1st dinner sitting

and then 5 adults (at an adults-only sitting) had an entree

(one fillet each on a bed of red and yellow peppers and green basil
with chilli sauce drizzled over

and a hailstorm of freshly-ground black pepper)...

and there'll be fish stock to turn into Spicy Sunday Soup.

goneFISHING

2007-04-20T10:22:00.000+12:00

Da big kids have gone fishing...so Mama needs to do da blog again.

Look here!!!

Maybe there will be fishing photos to update this with later. I hope so, or it will be "chips" for dinner instead of "fish-n-chips"

The Blog Hog

2007-04-19T15:47:00.000+12:00

Sorry guys - I really am hogging your blog, aren't I!

Today's message is for K9. That's you spunky:

Sometimes I would like to be like you! You and I are v.e.r.y. different.
It's interesting getting to know you more and more as the years pass by!

We were sitting there today at MOTAT, waiting in line for a ride on the horse and buggy. waiting. waiting. waiting.

You sat down and after a few minutes declared, "Time goes so much quicker if you switch off and don't think."

switch off. don't think. I need to learn how to do this!

I was standing there thinking about baking bread when we got home, reminding myself not to forget the errands on the way, wondering if I would get any sewing done today, trying to work out if I should cut all the pieces out first or make them completely one by one, dreaming about our trip, feeling confident that you kids will cope, wondering if we should pop in to Dadda's work and say HI.......

switch off. don't think.

Do you remember the day you were waiting at the bench for your turn to help with kneading the bread? I suggested it might be more interesting for you if you helped cut up the apples we were stewing rather than just sitting there. Your reply: "I'd rather just sit and do nothing."

I wondered what you were up to.....

2007-04-18T13:03:00.000+12:00

Guys I love your enthusiasm.

You are so engrossed with this science competition game.

It is such a pleasure for me to watch you finding out information, throwing round ideas and negotiating the best way to do things.

I hardly even minded you BEGGING me to take you to the library - tsk tsk!

I know you're really keen on winning another prize (I can understand that - vouchers for books are my favourite thing too!!!), but even if you don't get a mention, you can be proud of the way you have worked on this project and I'm sure your brothers and sisters will enjoy playing this game as much as your Solar System Secrets one.

Boys and Their Toys

2007-04-17T13:46:00.000+12:00

The Child Boys make the lego airport.
The Adult Boy plays with the new camera from work.

a new ambulance....

2007-04-16T12:46:00.000+12:00

.....with a new stretcher complete with attached oxygen machine

T3 got more hurt when she fell off the stretcher than before she was picked up by the medic team!!!! But she came outside after her nap for more rides.

ER loves rides in the ambulance too. Mama said she was a speed demon and then decided that wasn't a very pleasant thing to say!

favourite friends

2007-04-15T19:42:00.000+12:00

We really enjoy going to the Eds' place or having them come over or going away with them or going out with them or even bumping into them at the museum (that was fun guys). We just wish Mama and Dadda would organise get-togethers more often! We used to do things with them every week and we LOVED that, but it hasn't happened that way this year. About four years ago we both read about Ancient Egypt in our families and we were going to have an Egyptian dinner together....we've all read about Greece and Rome since then, and the Middle Ages aswell. Now we're both reading about the Renaissance and Reformation.....but still no ancients dinner!
However, last week we got together and enjoyed soup and bread and Mrs Ed's famous chocolate pudding.

The biggest boys:

The littlest girls:

A Grand Visit

2007-04-14T13:33:00.000+12:00

This time last week "ranma rampa" (T3's name for Grandma and Grandpa) came to visit. We played lots of games and they told us all about the trip they're going on soon to Europe.

Last time they were here they brought some special visitors....Grandma's half-brother (and his wife) who only just found her in the past year. Imagine getting a new brother when you're over 60 years old!!!!!

This time they didn't bring anyone with them - but they did bring a music video and marshmallow Easter eggs, which we all enjoyed together.

t is 3

2007-04-13T15:27:00.000+12:00

happy birthday darling

~we love you dearly~

they say winning doesn't matter!

2007-04-12T15:18:00.000+12:00

We have been beavering away this week on a wee project.....but we can't say too much about it in case someone nabs our ideas;-)
For the past two years J11 and J12 have entered the Science Competition at the University of Auckland. The first year they got a highly commended award for their astronomy board game, and last year's website design came first. YIPPEE! They're not sure they'll be able to equal that effort, but they sure are trying!! This year the brief is another board game.....and all they'll say for now is that it has something to do with the weather.
K9 is also old enough to enter this year and he is making one about.....ooooh, we can't tell!

Watch this space.

What A Country We Live In!

2007-04-09T21:13:00.000+12:00

Yesterday we had one of our favourite-est adventures....hiking in the bush.

We climbed this cliff - it doesn't look very big in the photo but when we got to the top of it we looked down and saw our van and it looked like an ant, so it must have been quite high.
Halfway up M4 found a birds' nest, which he carried, because he didn't want to miss it on the way back down.
Some of the trees were so low to the ground that we had to crawl under them - even Mama got down on her hands and knees with ER(10mo) tied to her front!
From the top we could see a waterfall - and we could even hear it. We could hear the sea too as we sat there eating Easter eggs!!!!!

Mama and Dadda helped the two little ones and J12 and J11 helped M4 and L6....coming down was really slippery in places and we skidded down the hill.

T2 walked all the way by herself. Usually Dadda ends up carrying her for the end of our hikes, but this time she walked and didn't even ask to be carried.

Then we went to the Angoves....they have a huge garden and they had hidden eggs in it for us to find. We put the wrappers in M4's nest.

It was a wonderful day.

HOT X BUNS

2007-04-06T12:58:00.000+12:00

Yesterday we made hot cross buns to be ready for today...the day we specially remember Jesus died on the cross to forgive us for all our sins.

Moving House

2007-04-05T13:22:00.000+12:00

Mama and Dadda have a track record of staying in a house for under a year....well they used to....they lived in eleven houses in ten years! But now we have been in this house for five years. We gave it a big tidy-up this week and moved furniture around and cleaned every nook and cranny. It looks really nice now.

Here's Mama and Dadda's bedroom....

with the chair Mama recovered:

Here's one girls' room....

and the other one:

And all the boys are in together (the girls would be too except that there's only one set of bunks so they get split up)

Once someone said it was sad that we would never get to have our own room and Mama said that she doesn't expect us to do anything she doesn't do. She shares with Dadda and we get to share with our siblings;-)

Christmas lingers

2007-04-04T15:03:00.000+12:00

Thanks Mr and Mrs H for such a wonderful Christmas present.......you'll be wondering if we ever finished it....this proves we did....every single one of those 1000 pieces! We'll get it out again when winter sets in and give Mama a few more hours of Peace and Quiet. Incidentally, Mama thinks this picture (which she is sure is of a family carvanning around the world) is a miraculous sign!!!!!!

Sir Edmund, here we come!

2007-04-03T15:04:00.000+12:00

When we did the Try-athlon we were given vouchers to go rock-climbing.

THAT promised to be a real ADVENTURE.

On Saturday Dadda took us. And it was every bit as good as we had imagined.

Now we're ready to climb Everest!

snow, sea lions and sleeping bags

2007-04-02T15:56:00.000+12:00

On Saturday night our homegroup had a movie night at our local church hall organised by "Grandma and Grandpa Boyd", the oldest couple in our group. They had set up an In The Dark By The Light Of Torches Easter Egg Hunt to begin the evening and then provided popcorn and icecreams to munch on during the movie. We all snuggled down in our sleeping bags and watched Eight Below (or Seven Under as L6 kept calling it all week!) There was one very scary part on the movie when a sea lion jumped out of the whale's stomach. L6 jumped right off the couch where he was giving Mama a cuddle. M4 would like everyone to know one of the dogs got bitten by the sea lion.

The End.

an impromptu lesson

2007-03-31T13:48:00.000+12:00

How To Change A Tire On Your Bike

thanks for taking the time to teach us Dadda

we know it is quicker for you to do things on your own

but we love learning from you

camping out

2007-03-28T17:52:00.000+12:00

today was the First Day of Rain

and so we celebrated by doing one of our favourite winter activites: making huts

Mama sewed and sewed and sewed T2's quilt for her birthday and we made huts all over the house. We even had lunch in one under the dining room table. If we are all quiet for Grandpa tonight we will be allowed to sleep in one tomorrow! K9 knows this is bribery!!

sweetie-pie surprise

2007-03-26T14:46:00.000+12:00

This morning you came to me and said, "Mama could you take a photo of this for tomorrow's blog? This is the best apron I've ever made and I really like it".
Sweetie, I loved how you were so proud of your effort, your smile stretched across your face as you pointed out the special features, the double pocket, the small handsewn stitches. And so I thought I'd surprise you and sneak in a post for you....today!
Love ya lots darling....and I'm sure ER will love this first birthday present from you. She'll be able to wear it when you teach her how to make salads or spaghetti!

MOTAT

2007-03-26T09:08:00.000+12:00

We have an annual pass to get in to the

Museum of Transport and Technology this year

(what a wonderful Christmas present that was -

thanks Uncle John and Aunty Sandra!).

And we've been three times in the past two weeks!

The most exciting time was on Saturday

when they had a military open day.

L6: We had fun in the truck and using the remote-controlled tanks. I shot J11 and K9.
M4: We went on da steam train dere. Dat was fun. We saw a horse break da fence. And da steam train went very fast.
T2: In Motack. I had a face paint. We went on a swain. I sat wif Daddy and looked out da window for da swain to come and it was at da fwont and it was dwiving fast off now fast.
K8: There was a truck that you could have a ride on and there were very steep hills you went over and it felt like you were going to tip off your seat (T2 interjects :actually no you just hold on! And Daddy just hold me). There was a motorbike with a sidecar on it and we got a ride in the sidecar. There was a battle with guns and at the end we were given empty cartridges.
K9: My favourite part was having the ride on the truck. It was exciting going over all the bumps and down the steep steep hills. I liked watching the battle because the noise was loud and there were explosions with lots of smoke. ER(10mo) fell asleep in the middle of it and didn't even get woken up!
J11: I liked doing the remote controlled tanks even though the batteries died and I had to wait a few seconds for it to charge up. The mock battle was also very interesting, espeically the noise and the big tank which came over the hill and fired some blank shots. The Nazis arrived on a train.
J12: My favourite part was the steam train ride. If you put your head out the window, the steam and smoke blew in your face. We waved at each other from the ends of the train. In the first class carriage the back of the seat could be moved so you could face whichever way you wanted.
There was a helicopter there and we all wanted a ride, but at $95 for one person for ten minutes we didn't get one! Levi said "You could pay with your credit card Dadda and it wouldn't cost you anything!"
We recognised the soldiers who were at the Howick Historic Village when we had a pass to go there a couple of years ago.

happy birthday to......

2007-03-24T20:13:00.000+12:00

This is old news, but we need to put up a photo of it before the next birthday comes creeping up. (You see Mama is going to print all our posts out and make a book for us and we'll want all the birthdays in it!)

K8 wanted a gingerbread house....with the three bears taking a stroll in the forest.

snip snip buzz buzz

2007-03-23T16:51:00.000+12:00

the boys had haircuts.....and Mama's gone for the SHORT bob

Pumpkin Paradise

2007-03-21T08:29:00.000+12:00

We love soup.....any sort of soup....but our absolute favourite is pumpkin.....yes we all share the same favourite (well we don't know about ER, but she sure liked this one).

Yesterday we picked our first pumpkin and Mama made Dadda's favourite chewy crusty bread and we had a scrummy dinner.

Here's the soup recipe:
2 onions, carefully chopped
as much garlic as you can manage, chopped as well as a 6 year old can
a good shake of cumin (2 teaspoons perhaps)
a little bit less coriander
about the same of turmeric
a pinch of ginger
a pinch of nutmeg
a few cracks of black pepper
as many mustard seeds as you feel like
fry together in a little olive oil and butter until nice-n-smelly

6 parsnips, chopped up
3/4 large pumpkin just picked from the garden(that's all that would fit in the pot)
this one actually

a few cups of chicken stock left over from the other night
add and bring to the boil, boil for five minutes or so transfer the pot to the cooking bag and leave a few hours

a can of coconut cream
just before serving stir in and sprinkle fresh coriander on top - oh yeah, you need to whizz it up so it's nice and smooth like this:

serve with Jim Lahey's New York Times No Knead Bread

bounce BABY bounce

2007-03-20T14:52:00.000+12:00

The other day Dadda put me in my cot for my morning nap.
I went to sleep.
I woke up pretty early and would usually go back to sleep again.
But my world was different this time.
The bars of my cot were not up.
So I sat up. I pulled myself up to standing.
I put my leg over......
.....I do love to climb, you know....
and before you could say
"bounce baby bounce",
I was on the floor.

~ER10months

Avocado Sunday

2007-03-19T14:26:00.000+12:00

Yesterday we drove out to an avocado orchard near the airport. You're only supposed to pick five per person......so we weren't supposed to bring home more than fifty!!!!! Unfortunately there were only two ripe ones. But we had a lot of fun running amongst the trees and climbing them - avocado trees are so big. Well, not big like a kauri, but certainly bigger than our mandarins or plum trees! And it was interesting to see just how many avocados grow on one tree - they hang there like decorations on a Christmas tree!
ER(9mo) particularly liked the wind - she was snuggled up with Mama in her wrap and she kept opening her mouth and trying to catch the wind on her tongue!!!!
A light drizzle moistened our picnic lunch.....but we didn't mind a bit. It was just great to be out with Dadda, coz he's been working really hard and having lots of meetings.
We stopped at the vege shop on the way home.....we think it was funny that Mama bought 5 avocados for $1.50.

Hold on tightly!

2007-03-17T15:35:00.000+13:00

We've been reading Charlotte's Web.

"Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman's swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang on tighter than their parents think they will."

it almost looks like school

2007-03-16T13:25:00.000+13:00

sometimes
we do
some things
that
almost
look
a bit schooly!

SAD enough to make you CRY!

2007-03-15T14:46:00.000+13:00

ow! ow!
What's happening to me?
I'm bleeding.
Someone has poked a long, skinny, shiny, sharp spear into me.
Oh dear.
Have you ever had this kind of hurt?
No?
Well, I guess you're not a pincushion then!

I'm a pincushion made by K8. She gave me a sad face, because I don't like getting pricks.

mmmmmmmMuffin

2007-03-14T08:34:00.000+13:00

Mama discovered late in the day yesterday

that she needed to take supper out last night,

so J12 made a couple of batches of muffins for her

(with blueberries from her own bushes).

We all enjoyed the leftovers for breakfast this morning
(and yes that's chocolate on top!)

HOSPITALS

2007-03-13T12:35:00.000+13:00

L6 broke his arm.
K9 broke his leg.
M4 broke his finger.
K8 had a baby.
T2 didn't break anything - she just lay in bed.

All in all, we needed a hospital!
J12 and J11 were the nurses and doctors and turned the boys' room into a hospital. There were beds enough for everybody. Even ER(9mo) crawled up to the beds, pulled herself up and "said" HELLO to everyone. She was a kind visitor.

And yesterday K9 made a wheelchair. Here he is using it with his broken leg:

PS from Mama....while the kids go to race round on the wheelchair outside!
On Thursday M4 gets to have another real hospital visit. He's having an ultrasound to see why some lymph nodes in his neck are enlarged. Actually, he's been really well this year - he's just had one fever bout and a couple of times when he looked like he was about to ail....but he came right before going downhill. So we are hopeful that whatever *it* is that's been knocking him down for the past couple of years, is working its way out of his system. But we'll still keep the appointment and hopefully rule out a few more nasties.

Team Racer

2007-03-12T12:56:00.000+13:00

Bikes play an interal part in many of our outdoor adventures...actually it's an adventure just to find your own bike in the assortment!
Apart from the fun of biking, we like to be like our Grandpa too. He's in his late seventies and he still gets out on his bike a few times a week. This summer he did a cycle tour with some other mates round the East Cape - 450km in three days. And he always does the 160km Lake Taupo cycle challenge. He's a legend.

L6 felt the need to identify his bike with a number plate - Mama thought it said COPS TEA, but in fact it's 78PST34....and that's just the first line! Numbers are routinely written backwards - seems to be a feature unique to our left-handers.

When Mama is particularly dreamy, she would like to get a bike and one of these for the littlest kiddos. Then we could all bike to the local shops instead of walking (which takes a couple of hours there and back) or instead of taking the car (which pollutes the atmosphere)

a kiwi party

2007-03-09T13:51:00.000+13:00

Summer parties in New Zealand revolve around the BBQ.....so we are finishing our party week with a "barbie" tonight (and not the doll sort!).

We've got lamb chops as well as lamb, mint and rosemary sausages to eat with lashings of mint jelly. We'll stirfry some veges from the garden on the hot plate to go with the sweetcorn. YUMMO. We love summer evenings.

Look who ended up coming for dinner.....Grandpa (well that's usual enough)....and he brought his brother and his wife and daughter too......when T2 saw Grandpa's brother she said "There are two Grandpas". They sure look alike!

Pool Party

2007-03-08T20:19:00.000+13:00

After weeks and weeks of clear blue sky, we got the first rain in a long time for our pool party! But a few raindrops have never kept us out of the water. In fact, we swam during the last thunderstorm!!!

* LET'S JUMP IN TOGETHER *

Our favourite pool games are
CASTLES (working in teams on each other's shoulders to knock opponents into the water)
MARCO POLO (a water variation on hide-n-seek!)
WHIRLPOOL
TRAINING (swimming up and down and up and down and up and down)
BOMBING (when we're allowed)

Tea Party

2007-03-07T12:57:00.000+13:00

Special biscuits and muffins we made that were not ready in time for lunch called out to be eaten at an AFTERNOON TEA PARTY. Mama even set the table with a tea set from her childhood and the remainders of a painted-by-K8 porcelain one. L6's flowers-for-Mama decorated the table.

K9 had made T2 a very special skirt to wear. He sewed it by hand.

Chinese Dinner Party

2007-03-06T08:47:00.000+13:00

Having a Malaysian grandmother (Poh-poh) is a great heritage, especially for the foodies of the family. Yesterday we beavered away in the kitchen cooking a very tasty sour chicken laksa and chopping lots of veges from the garden to make spring rolls. Mama accommodated our request for steamed BBQ pork buns from the local Chinese vege shop - she thought that was a pretty easy contribution to the meal. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

no party poopers here

2007-03-05T10:50:00.000+13:00

yesterday it was PJ party...today it's blog party...we've never been to one of them before!

we love to party and play and potter and ponder and play-dough and pick (veges from our garden) and paint and picnic...come join us....we're going to party all week.....we'll have our party and while we're sleeping you can come and see what we did "tomorrow" (coz we're ahead of most of you, you know!)

pyjama party

2007-03-04T15:49:00.000+13:00

Yesterday Mama went out for the day and Dadda looked after us. We got lollipops for lunch;-)

We were still buzzing this morning....here we are getting ready for church!

(ok so we're all still in our jammies and haven't really started getting ready at all)

Kids Can Cook

2007-03-02T09:42:00.000+13:00

T2 enjoys helping make the pasta.....this batch is full of basil from our garden.....mmmmmmm

Look at this whopper - it greeted us when we got back from our camping holiday.

And we can't wait for Pumpkin Soup. We've got quite a few pumpkins growing this year. J11 wanted to feed a milk pumpkin just like in "Farmer Boy", but there were already too many on the plant by the time we noticed them this year.

Tidy Today

2007-03-01T13:25:00.000+13:00

We have done a big tidy-up. And Mama re-organised everything. Now she says there is no excuse for our stuff to get messy!

Still Hot

2007-02-28T08:48:00.000+13:00

Plum sauce in the pot

Plum sauce bubbling hot

Plum sauce in a jar

Can be smelt from afar

Plum sauce rich deep red

Plum sauce thick to spread

Plum sauce tastes so good

I would eat it if I could

written by J12, J11, K9

The plums off this tree were very tart this year so yesterday I made plum sauce.

1 large green apple
1/2C water
Simmer, covered for 10 minutes

2 fresh chillies, chopped finely
1.5kg plums, halved
2C brown sugar
1 1/2C white wine vinegar
1 onion, grated
1/4C soy sauce
2T fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Add and bring to the boil.
Cook uncovered over medium heat for 45 minutes
**stir often**
Remove from heat and press through a seive
Discard the stones
Return to heat and cook rapidly, stirring constantly until thick
Pour into clean warm jar and seal
Leave for a month before opening

Pinocchio

2007-02-27T14:15:00.000+13:00

We were all in hysterics this morning. Mama has started reading us Pinnochio. Gepetto, his creator, called him Pinocchio because "It is a name that will bring him luck. I once knew a whole family so called. There was Pinocchio the father, Pinocchia the mother and Pinocchi the children, and all of them did well. The richest of them was a beggar." Isn't that funny?

But the author is not only humorous, he really understands people. We were reading this bit just before lunchtime:

"Night was coming on, and Pinocchio, remembering that he had eaten nothing all day, began to feel a gnawing in his stomach that very much resembled appetite.

But appetite with boys travels quickly, and in fact after a few minutes his appetite had become hunger, and in no time his hunger became ravenous - a hunger that was really quite insupportable."

Don't you love it?

We think M4 is enjoying it the most out of all of us. Whenever the author asks a question, even if you're not meant to answer it, M4 does!

And when Mama read that first quote above he really laughed hard. When Mama read the other one, he groaned with his own hunger! He giggled lots when the carpenter and Gepetto were fighting too. It was really funny. And especially when the carpenter was sitting on the floor and Gepetto asked him what he was doing and he said, "I am teaching the alphabet to the ants".

We love reading aloud.

LNMNONKX

2007-02-26T14:00:00.000+13:00

I (J11) have been rather fond of codes for quite some time.....I have a wee notebook of various ones I have invented. I never fail to be surprised when Mama manages to break my codes without seeing my key! Ah well.....maybe this time!

So it's inventing at my end of the table today...and adventuring at the other - K9, K8 and L6 are all making games that we will be able to play later.
If you can break the code in the title, you'll know what game they have based their ones on!

Family Church

2007-02-25T20:49:00.000+13:00

Mama writes this time:

This morning I stood at the back of church, ER snuggled in my arms was adding her own gusto to the singing and would continue even when the other musicians stopped! I looked at the couple of rows our family was occupying...J11 standing next to Grandpa....Dadda holding T2....*everyone* heartily singing one of the hymns we have learnt recently as a family.

It was a special moment to be a family and to be part of an even bigger family too. I felt privileged to have friends who are just like family to us. I thought of our special friends and family all around the world - Australia, America, Malaysia, Nepal, Romania, Poland, England.

I wondered if any of them would be singing HOLY HOLY HOLY LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, EARLY IN THE MORNING OUR SONG SHALL RISE TO THEE.

Ride the Wave

2007-02-23T10:46:00.000+13:00

From the littlest boy to the biggest boy, we've been drawing boat plans:

But we didn't stop there......we built a boat too. At one stage it had a big (tarpaulin) cover in case we encountered a storm, but the wind got up and blew that off as well as blowing the ti-tree supports down. So for now we're sticking to scurfing on the ocean.

Look What I Can Do!

2007-02-22T13:27:00.000+13:00

A week ago Mama came in to get me up after my nap and I surprised her....I was sitting up in my cot. I had never gone from lying to sitting before. Mama thinks I used the bars of my cot to pull myself up, but I haven't said;-)

A few nights ago Mama heard a little maaaah come from my cot. As I usually nod off quickly, she came to investigate. I had sat up again....and I couldn't get back down!

A day ago I played Sibling Surprise and was STANDING when they came in to get me.

I'm trying to run before I walk....or crawl for that matter.

Today J12 put me down for my nap and I stood up straight away. Mama raced round the corner with a camera to catch this latest adventure. I just LOVE adventure.

Needle Natter

2007-02-21T14:14:00.000+13:00

(K8's thoughts today)
Last year Mama learnt to knit and I wanted to aswell. For ages I busied myself with plaiting wool (Dadda got a bit annoyed at times with all the plaits that somehow dropped around the house). Then I taught myself to crochet chains. That was much quicker than plaiting! Finally, after I had really tried for a few weeks with bamboo skewers, Mama put her needles down and helped me with mine. Once I got going it was so easy! Now I can use circulars too.
I got the PERFECT birthday present this year. It was a basket to keep all my knitting things in - and it was full of wool and new needles and a knit-a-teddy-bear-kit. Well, none of that was actually *new* because we are doing homemade or recycled gifts this year - but it was all more than I could have hoped for!

Now that I can knit and crochet and embroider, I really want to learn to sew - using the machine!! I'm going to make gift bags out of Christmas material so we reduce our waste at Christmas-time. Mama says that will be a good thing to start with and she's got lots of material for me to practise on.
While I wait to learn, I've got a BEAUTIFUL sewing book out of the library. It is just right for anyone who is just learning to sew by hand. I love the illustrations and would like to make some of the projects too.

work or weed

2007-02-20T16:45:00.000+13:00

This morning we didn't do our chores properly.

*sigh*

So this afternoon Mama worked us.

tidying tidying tidying

weeding weeding weeding

and there's even more to do tomorrow if we forget our lesson

splash...pedal...pound

2007-02-19T14:07:00.000+13:00

Before the sun rose we were up, preparing to race.
breakfast * drink bottles out of freezer * bags in the car * securing bikes * bursting with excitement *

200m swim....8km bike ride....1.5km run (for J12 & J11...half the swimming and biking distances for K9, although we all trained together, so he really could have done the longer one!)

waiting to start * 2697 other competitors * warm sea water * in the mouth * kicks in the face * transition area * trouble finding the bike * overtaking * riding on the road * little wee nose-to-tail * cold breeze in your face * sweltering sun * puffed out * receiving a medal * ALMOST winning a bike

PS Thanks Mama for giving us a snazzy title!

A Moment in Time

2007-02-17T11:37:00.000+13:00

Saturday morning chores are complete and we are free to pursue whatever takes our fancy.
ER8mo takes a nap - as usual, she has kicked her blankets off.

The big three are resting in preparation for tomorrow's triathlon! Monopoly keeps their minds off the big event!

K8's mind is working overtime. "Mama I can do up to 10 or 11 on the clock but I don't know the ones after that" she said as she chopped up garlic to go in the savoury bread they were making. A few minutes later she was enlightened as to how the 24 hour clock works! But subtracting 12 was a bit tricky, so she used the cherry tomatoes just picked from the garden to help her!

The two little boys were in the garden....catching cicadas. Cicada-buzz is surely the most distinctive sound of summer round here.

T2 accompanies dolly playing with the playdough.

It's now 10:26am.

Child's Play

2007-02-16T11:44:00.000+13:00

Today it rained (which is fantastic news for the garden)...and so we couldn't sit outside to read. We each got a little something to do...and then instead of starting Pinnochio, we listened to music from 1685-1740, because Mama wanted to do embroidery (see her quilt on the coffee table?)!

J12 is handsewing little animal pin cushions, K8 knitting a bag on circular needles, T2 is "cooking", M4 is making a boat out of the mancala game, L6 doing the same with mobilo, K9 is building a castle and ends up designing a canon which even works, and J11 is establishing a town for the Playmobil men.

After an hour of Bach, Vivaldi and Purcell, we jumped into the 21st century and listened to Hillsong.

I'd rather be fishing

2007-02-15T15:58:00.000+13:00

After a recent weekend sailing at Lake Rotoiti with friends, a lot of the outdoor games and Lego constructions around here have revolved around sailboats.

K8 made a fishing boat - do you see the polarfleece fishing net with fish in it? The fisherman is wrapped up in his towel asleep at the front of the boat. Just in case he gets in trouble, there are two oars and even a motor for real emergencies.

Time Traveller

2007-02-14T13:39:00.000+13:00

Petrarch lived over 600 years ago....and he liked to read ancient history because it allowed him to forget some of the ills of the day and rejoice in the grandeur of the past, especially of the Roman Empire.

We love to read too. The past few days it's been outside under the plum tree while M4 and T2 potter nearby in the sandpit. Today we were enraptured with the relationship between Donatello and Brunelleschi - you've got to find out about them; they're sooooo funny.

The trouble with reading about places is that you want to go and visit them - it would be amazing to go and see Brunelleschi's dome on the cathedral in Florence. Just imagine standing inside it, knowing it took over 200 years to build and that they started it without knowing if it was even possible. Imagine standing there and thinking about the architect who suggested they fill the cathedral up with dirt so they could build the dome! Imagine.

Here's another book that has sparked our imaginations - we've been reading through the books by Holling Clancy Holling (or "Holey Clanky" as K8 calls him!). So far he has transported us all around the Great Lakes and we've passed through China and Hawaii after spending time on a whaling boat.
Do you see M4 with his arm round Mama's neck? He's always very snuggly.

Flashing Lighthouse

2007-02-13T14:42:00.000+13:00

We were gardeners yesterday...electricians today. K9 K8 and L6 made a house under the stairs complete with two lights - and one of them flashes! Woohoo!!!

Mama loves these days that we do things she didn't know we could do and play nicely together.