Autumn Arty Mess

I figure that if I am bored with schooling the kids then they are probably bored with the schooling schedule too.   I think its entirely unreasonable to expect them to be super excited about learning when I am ho-hum about it. Now don't get me wrong I am NOT bored with schooling the kids at home but more of a need to change things up a little. Well for at least a time anyway.  Here is where 'Radical Unschooling' becomes super appealing to me.  I have a number of philosophies around education and children's learning that I glean bits and pieces that I love from.  Some from the above site, some from the Waldorf Education philosophy, some from the NZ Curriculum, some from my own thinking and reflections. Anyone interested or thinking about Home Schooling (or just wanting to know more about people who embark on this crazy journey with their kids) should read or at least know about John Holt, who was a well known author who left mainstream education where he was a teacher and became a advocate for the home-schooling movement and later the un-schooling movement.  I will openly admit that while I totally agree with it and as much as I would love to, I am not brave enough or trust my kids enough to embrace the entire un-schooling philosophy.  

Anyway this week we had some fun and got a little messier than we normally do. (which is really pretty messy but that's what we do around here)  Google/Facebook/Pinterest has oodles of fantastic ideas for creative play/art/crafty things to do. One of my favorites is Happy Hooligans who feature things that are totally doable and are heaps of fun (be prepared for mess though - which is the whole point, KIDS LOVE MESS!)

So here are our...                                Fabulous Fall Collages

Step One:  Put your boots, jackets and woolly hats on get outside to collect some autumn treasures.

                                           

Step Two.  Put some paper or plastic down to protect your table or floor and squirt some blobs of autumny colours on paper.  Be warned if you children are anything like mine, there maybe some differences of opinion about what colours are autumn ones.  Stay quiet!

 Step Three:  Roll out some Gladwrap (cling film) and tear off a piece just a little larger than the paper and lay over paper.  Then get your kids to moosh all the colours around with their fingers.  You can lift off the gladwrap and re-position for ultimate colour coverage!

Step Four:  Lift off Gladwrap and discard!  Once dry, arrange autumn treasures on paper and glue (or sticky tape extra large bits) to painting.

Step Five: Once satisfied, leave to dry and hang for all to see!!

And since I keep getting asked for an updated pregnancy/baby bump photo I thought I would oblige and post one. Aren't I brave kind!

So here it is!

 20 weeks with #7! 

I have been blessed with this pregnancy as so far I have found it relatively easy.  I have had the normal extended morning (all day/random times) sickness but that is about it.  I haven't suffered from that horrible over-coming tiredness that I usually have had.  Thank goodness for that, I do not have time to be tired!!

I have one of the worlds most loveliest midwives and I just love it when she comes to visit! All the kids are super excited and of course the boys want it to be a boy and the girls want it to be a girl. I on the other hand can honestly say I really don't mind what this wee blessing is - we will be happy with whoever God has blessed us with this time.  I am praying however that this one won't be a whopper like Jesse was and will decide to be born the right way up. (or down depending on how you want to phrase it)

Bring on the next 20 weeks!!

Peace reigns...for now

Can you hear it?  ..........Yes that my friend is called PEACE and it is very rare and very sacred in my house. The older boys are out at for the evening (so is their Dad) and they younger three are snugly tucked up in bed.  Although I had to convince Sophie (4) that tonight wasn't a good night for a pyjama party. Where she gets these random ideas from I don't know.........Hang on.......Well that didn't last long did it.   Unbeknown to me the girls had sneakily shut their bedroom door and proceeded to have a wee bit of a pyjama party complete with the application of blue make up and white cream on the face.  As I said where they get these ideas from ...well I just don't know.  Plus on the back of very loud protesting when I put a dampener on said pyjama party, Jesse was rudely woken up and needed some loving to put him back to sleep.  Not that I minded snuggling on the couch with him in my arms, its one of my most favourite things to do.

I told you peace was a rarity here.  So half an hour later here we are. I have twenty or so minutes to get something down on 'paper' before the others get home.

Its autumn. Not my favourite time of year at all.  Give me Summer and Spring days any day.  I am battling with getting my washing dry. At present there is a three to four day turn around time for clothes to be washed and dried and put back into drawers. So as you can imagine my 'to-be-washed' pile is super huge. I wish I had a drier but not the bill that goes with it though. But in all the dampness and cold-but-not-too-cold days these is a beauty that autumn does display.

 The beauty of COLOUR.

 Casey took this photo the other day, just one of the many foggy but beautiful sunrises we get treated to.

 

Autumns richest colours

 I love this photo.

This Cherry Tomato plant look like its bejewelled with rubies. 

 

Kaitlyn just loves to take herself off and spend vast amounts of time creating and just being.  I love that she has the freedom to do this.  Here she is building a 'Fairy' house.

           

 

 Just one of the many beautiful trees that turns gorgeous shades of autumn...

 

But with beautiful trees comes piles and piles of leaves!

 In School......We spent some time looking at Yeast.  Its actually quite fascinating believe it or not. So we had a go at making some Ginger Beer.  I had never made it before so it was a bit of a gamble to whether or not it was going to work or not.

 

 

  (Our Ginger Beer Making

did not look like the picture below)

 

 

The finish product really surprised me in how it turned out (sadly I didn't get a photo of it) but it was actually REALLY fizzy when we opened it AND tasted not too bad either.  But for future reference less lemon and more ginger!  Most definitely be making it again.

 Jesse, our wee man is SUPER DUPER cute!  Nearly six months now and is growing so fast. I know I always say that they don't stay little for long but they so don't.  He is sitting now can you believe it?! I can't! He can still fold himself completely in half with his feet up by his ears.  He hasn't quite worked out whether or not he wants to suck his thumb or his fingers so just goes with whatever reaches his mouth first, sometimes its even his arm. Still spends the majority of the night snuggled up next to me and likes to sleep with one hand on my cheek. Bless him. Still prefers to sleep on the couch during the day in amongst all the noise and goings on. (see below picture) Sleeping in the resounding quiet of the bedroom just wakes him up, go figure.  Loves to grab the cat when she walks past and intensely watches the ducks and chickens when we feed them.  Loves to bath and splash water all over himself.

By GOLLY he is just so darn cute!

 

 

 

Happy Wednesday to you!

 

  Ps.  The Dress!  Well I tried it on again tonight  AND I fit it!!!  BUT I could fit it better.  But it is still very exciting considering I wouldn't of been able to get it anywhere near me four months ago!  I will try it on again when I lose another 1.5kg I think.

A Day at the Market

I have been sitting here this whole week feeling sorry for myself believing that I had nothing to blog about (and wanting to blog) because my husband took my camera away hunting with him....BUT tonight (the last night) I discovered that he had left the SD card for me with my last lot of photos!  Bless him!  I now am so excited......

So how has your week been?   I have been husband-less for the past four nights and tonight is the last night - do I need to tell you how excited I am (and tired). I really truly take my hat off to solo-parents who have to do the parent thing 24/7 with little support.  I don't think I have even been sleeping well cos I think I have been sleeping with one ear open the whole night, half listening out for a child calling out.  Of course I have been having my midnight visitor crawling into bed with me and snuggling down into my back.

Before Jamie went away I decided that it would be nice if I did something a little special with just my girls and an invitation from my sister-on-law Tash was right on the button!  So a Budd girls trip to the Tamahere Markets was planned....Yes!  My girls were so excited, especially since they had some money that Poppa Peter gave them for their birthdays to spend....Yusssss!

God blessed us with a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L autumn day for it too! Just check out those crunchy leaves underfoot, can't you just smell the autumness.

So much to look at and so many people, holding hands was oh so important.

The girls very first purchase. They pain-stakingly each chose a wee soap. Two for a dollar, can't go wrong with that.  (Thank you to the lady who patiently served them)

Second purchase... a lolly kebab!

I could smell this vendor before I could see it!  Hmmmmm lavender!

Time for a mid-morning snack....this donut lady (I am sure she would love to be called that) had nearly sold out but the time we got to her.  

They were actually the best and biggest donuts I have ever had and next time I am buying a whole one to greedily devour myself! ( I was nibbling on my girls one)

And of course you can't go past the balloon-animal-man without buying a balloon animal!

I love balloon animals and consequently so do my girls!  and did you know that if your balloon animal pops while you are at the market he will make a replacement -free!!

Now that is cool!

It was a great day out and we were there just the right amount of time.  We were just walking out when my girls started to complain of sore legs!

I thoroughly recommend that if you have a market nearby then take the time and a friend to visit and wander around taking in the smells, sights and sounds and of course indulging in a coffee or two and an Almond Croissant!

Not Feeling it....

You may or may not have noticed my lack of blogging of late.   To be truthful I haven't been feeling "it" lately. "It" being in a state of mind to be creative, to get things done, lack of inspiration, in a rut and/or any other reason you may have for not doing something.  Truthfully I can't clean properly if I ain't feeling it.  But once I feel 'it'...then look out I am on a roll!   So its been about 2 - 3 weeks of not feeling 'it' and after uploading some 178 photos (from 2-3 weeks) on to the computer from my camera I have realise I have missed out on blogging on some seriously cool stuff.

 Darn it!!!

 So I am kicking my own butt and forcing myself to feel 'it'.

So I might just give you a quick rundown in colour of our seriously cool stuff and catch up on myself.  I will however leave out our Easter Celebrations and tell you about that next blog!

Ok lets get ready to ruuuuuuumble!.........

Thomas making his very own Bivvy after watching Bear Grylls make own!

I don't know if Bear would of had a saw handy but oh well.....

Even the brothers and sisters joined in to help!

 

Finished Product!

I am quite impressed this was still standing and intact after two nights of gale force winds in which we lost a bit of our roof!

There was two days of creativeness (and sawdust throughout the dining room)...

.....with a box of kindling!

Check out all that honey!

Poppa Peter came to harvest it and we have named it Puahue Gold!

And we harvested a whopping 110 carrots!

Father and Daughter on garden clean up duty. I just love the way Kaitlyn still has 'pink flair' even whilst gardening!

Its coming to the season for amazing sunrises. I will never ever get tired of opening the curtains to vistas like this. 

Just simply beautiful!

So that's about it, very fast and very simple!  I regret not feeling "it" but oh well I am here now!

So until next time when I'll tell you all about our Easter celebrations...such a special time!

In the meantime please check out my sister in laws

 (from Budds1/see previous posts)

blog.

She has just started blogging and recording her adventures with her family of three girls (15, 12, and 10)  They are one of my most favourite families and source of inspirations!

Awake The Desert

Enjoy and see you soon!

Promise!

Simply Apples

I friend of mine rang the other day and arranged a play-date for the following day. (Don't you let my boys here the words 'play-date')  And apart from catching up with each other and letting our children play and discover the hidden gems in her wonderful backyard she arranged for us to go.....

Apple Picking.  How quaint!

So after a cuppa and cake and a decent catch up, we herded the kids into the car and drove to the orchard that had an abundance of apples for us to forage.

I would like to think that every kid gets to go on an apple picking outing.   Its food at its most basic and uncomplicated.  No plastic bags, no tags, no bar codes and no stickers that you have to fish out of your mouth because you forgot to remove them before you took a bite.

Every child should have the opportunity to climb to the highest branch to pick the best and biggest apples. 

And this five year old will not be left behind by her brothers!  Crikey she was climbing things long before she could walk.

Check out this fancy contraption.  The Lady of the Orchard came down to say hello and to show us the easy way of picking the apples way up high.  The kids thought this was really cool and then proceeded to take turns at picking all really out of reach apples.

Little Sophie wasn't so keen on walking around the orchard, she wanted to carried everywhere.

I think it had something to do with the really long grass tickling her wee legs and that there was fallen fruit lying everywhere and she didn't want to stand on the rotting fruit.

Did you know that birds pecked only the ripe fruit?  So if you pick one that has a few holes in it you know that its perfectly ripe and you just need to cut that bit out.  Fancy that!  You learn something everyday.

Apples! 

The Lady of the Orchard is a bird rescuer and her pet Magpie 'Maggie' came down to meet us.  Its not everyday you get to pat and hand feed a magpie!

After today I realised that some of my children are a little snobbish when it comes to food.  Casey was in there, picking loads of apples and eating loads of apples!  But some of my others weren't to keen on eating them straight from the tree. Apparently they needed cleaning! Oh they have a lot to learn!



Twas a great time had by all and loads of apples were picked. Once cleaned(!) I wonder how long they will last in our house.  This type of outing I would recommend to all.

At the risk of sounding new-agey, it allows you to be in touch with nature and the changing seasons.

And to be thankful for our food, to appreciate where it comes from

and to love God, our most awesome Provider!

God almighty first planted a garden.
And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.   by Francis Bacon