Thank You

Thank you all for your encouraging thoughts this past week. I have savoured and appreciated every single word. :)

We are having a happy weekend. A little singing lesson for both Stuart and I with our Music Man vocal coach this morning, then an afternoon spent in play and relaxation, a bit of exercise here and there, and a movie night tonight with our little princess. We watched The Little Princess! Such a story of imagination, of courage and bravery, of determination. Saraya was inspired. :)

We had a delightful afternoon at the children's school yesterday. The school invited all the students to come and meet their teachers, pop their books into their desks (all that covering and labelling is finally at an end, hoorah!), and just hang out for a little while with one another. Saraya met her new teacher and already adores her. She is kind, gentle, softly spoken, interested, enthusiastic about teaching, calm......... everything I could have hoped for. Saraya's class just happens to have 16 girls and only 7 boys, so she is sure she will find a few kindred spirit friends among all those girls! Elijah and William played in the Prep room with lots of Preppies and the dashing Prep teacher ;) (for new readers, he is my husband.) Elijah is still feeling a little overwhelmed, but I trust that once the year gets under way and routines established, friendships formed, new things learned (he is just dying to read!), he will be happier.

My babies are growing up. I am going to be brave and begin to release them a little. I will pray, and watch, and listen, and be there for them every single day in all the ways I can. I am accepting this new season.

It's a wonderful life.

Reflection and Confessions

May I tell you something, my dear readers? I have been thinking and reflecting a lot about my last post. Being very honest with you, it was hard to put all of that out there to you. I am still processing the decisions we have made regarding the children's schooling this year. I haven't yet fully moved passed the guilt.

Yes, I am feeling guilty about putting them in school, and William in day care 2 days a week. For the past 10 years (even before our first baby was born) we have fully believed in and advocated homeschooling and full time mothering. I now know from personal experience that all of these choices can and do change as you monitor the progress of your family, and the development of each child. For us, this year, we firmly believe it to be the best decision for our family. And yet I still struggle with feelings of guilt. Like I'm not being the best Mama to them that I ought to be.

Why is this?

Another question for you.......... If all our children end up in school for the next several years, or all the way through to senior, what do I do? Stuart says he is happy for me to stay home, part-time music teaching and homemaking, being there for our children after school, keeping our home peaceful and running smoothly.

I am so thankful for this. My only concern is "what will people think of me?" What if they think I ought to be working outside the home? And there is the consideration of being able to contribute financially to the household etc. I know it doesn't matter what people think. And really, a decision about this doesn't need to be made at this time. :) I guess I'm just thinking ahead of myself, wondering, pondering thoughts and searching for answers.

I do so love being with my children. I am afraid if I start to search for a new career, pursue new studies, etc. that my attentions will transfer too far out of the home and it will be difficult to care properly for my family while the children are small. Can anyone relate to this? When they are older, perhaps it will feel more right to do these things.

The other day we watched the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and then sat and did some drawing together. I am soaking up these last days of all of us being home together, all the time.

Saraya's beautiful work - the flying Chitty Bang Bang and the house and invention room below.

I did a little sketching which Saraya coloured in.

William drew this one! I was amazed by his form here. :)

Elijah's "Funny hand men with ears". ;) He deviated from the topic a little!

This little man has fully embraced the idea of going to Prep. He will be almost a year older than many of the children in his class - but I don't mind that one bit. :) Look what he did yesterday:

I told him the letters a few at a time from the kitchen, and he wrote out "Welcome Saminda" on the verandah in chalk. Wow!

And this big girl? Well, as long as she has books in her hands she is happy. :)

We visited the library yesterday. She has gobbled up two of these stories already.

I know there won't be as much time for this once school starts. But I have to believe that the months and months of time reading she had last year will help her in her studies at school - and in life in general.

And I will do everything I can to make sure she still gets plenty of free time to keep exploring stories and adventures.

Please friends, I would appreciate any of your ideas / thoughts / opinions on all of the above. I guess I'm after some encouragement. I feel a bit lost "leaving" the beautiful homeschooling community I have been part of the past few years (both real life and online) - despite the fact that we are doing school, I will still parent with very much a homeschool mentality. I'm sure some of you understand what I mean.

Thanks, once again, for listening to my rambles. :)

Another Delightful Story

Thankfully 3 or 4 days after visiting the library, Saraya always finishes her newest stash of Famous Five and Secret Seven mysteries, and goes looking for something else to read. :) A few days ago she plucked this delight from our shelves.....

...... and after being absorbed in it's pages in every spare moment this week, she finished it this morning. She doesn't recall being read this book by Papa when she was only four, so the story was new to her.

She loved Polly. And Ben. Actually, she loved them all.

Thank heavens for books!

An Inside Morning

Well, the weather is setting the mood for our days at the moment. Wet, grey, windy, rainy, cool, bleak = an excuse to stay indoors and do cosy indoor things. :) It may be spring in theory, but it sure doesn't feel like it! We're all still in winter pyjamas and I'm still drinking (herbal ;)) tea all day long. It couldn't be any more different to this time last year, when we had had 8 months of total drought!!!

Anyway, today William was really unwell with a flu. I put on the most comforting music on hand, and we pulled out some bits and pieces to do. It ended up being a lovely morning!

Remember this puzzle? Well, today she pulled it out again and reassembled it with all the blocks of pieces in the box. :) Fun!

William is heavily into puzzles at the moment - more of the peg puzzle kind. ;) So we sat and did at least a dozen of those.

Elijah - not so much. He just sits and stares at all the pieces, feeling overwhelmed I think.

Then he enlists help.

And gets it done!! :D Nothing like some team work.

When all available puzzles were completed, this fairy took to plaiting rainbow thread and decorating herself.
She still adores her wings Jane! They have held up well - they're 4 years old now, amazingly!

Dancing and twirling to the music.

And the piece de resistance was finding my old Connect Four game. Well. These boys just loved it. I don't know that they ever quite got the idea of it, but they sure had a great time.

Especially William, who happily posted those red and yellow coins in random slots for a good hour or more - and forgot all about his stuffy nose and his chesty cough, for awhile.

A Creative Morning

Oh, the freedom of being little, and home, and having time.

The joys of finding old ballet shoes and cowboy costumes hiding in the shed (you'll remember these Mum!)

The pleasure of cutting fabric.........

.......... and turning it into something new.

The fun of playing pretend.

And all this in just one morning!

She's an Artist

We were thrilled to discover a few months back that a lovely artist in town (from far-away Melbourne) would be running a series of art classes for children. We signed Saraya up, much to her delight! And this is what she has brought home so far.

Oil Pastel Volcano

Collaged Fish

Series of Sketches from Nature Cuttings

The teacher offers them loads of instruction in technique as they complete each project. Saraya knows a lot more about art already than I do! At the moment they are working on a sculpture.

She's an artist. Her bedroom proves it. :D

We were at the library this morning, and along with her stack of chapter books for this week a few craft books snuck into the bag.

Bring on the Christmas craft!

Life Goes On

And so Life Goes On!

* We are in 4th Term, the busiest time of year for us (and everyone else)

* Stuart's annual Prep Movie premiered last night at the school, with a shared dinner and an actual Red Carpet for all the little prep movie stars to walk down - gorgeous! The photos above I took last night. We really dressed up for the event!

* Report card time for Stuart

* I started online Christmas Shopping this week. Thank you Ebay and the Oxfam Australia website! Oh, and the Book Depository...

* We have signed a contract on a house!!!! Here is a sneak-peak photo of the front for you:

* It is very different from our current house. It is low maintainance, much smaller block of land, etc. It's going to be a huge change for us, but there are some great points about it - 4 bedrooms instead of 3, rumpus room with internal and external access for my piano teaching, quiet cul-de-sac with only about 6 houses in the street, already has a chook house, sandpit, and the list goes on. We really love it.

* Buying this house will hopefully cut a huge chunk off our current mortgage, which will alleviate the financial stress we've had since moving here.

* We have 60 days in which to have a contract signed on our place for the contract to become unconditional. We'd appreciate your prayers that we sell quickly!

* We are working really hard to get our place listed. The agent is coming out on Wednesday so it's all systems go here. I've been cleaning all week, and gardening/weeding/mulching today. Stuart is working hard on the property as well as dealing with all his teacher responsibilities at the moment. Poor guy is really tired.

* My health is going pretty well, thankfully. I am using my medication as needed, and it definitely helps. Still having lots of headaches and am looking forward to getting to the bottom of those soon. I am heading to another town on Tuesday afternoon to have an exercise stress test for my heart, to make sure it responds normally to exercise. Here's hoping. :)

* The kids are all doing great. Saraya works through her contract sheets each week, as well as several dozen chapter books. :) She continues with her art classes on Saturday mornings which she loves. Stu takes her while I do my music teaching. I'll put up some photos of her art sometime soon. Elijah and Saraya both start swimming lessons on Monday. Eli is really excited for his Prep Orientation Day next Tuesday morning. Will is still his bubbly self, certainly growing up in leaps and bounds. He really wants goggles at the moment. :) I think I'll take him to toddler swimming lessons next year while the children are at school.

* I need to go change Will's nappy and get into some more weeding.

That's it, all caught up!

A Day at the Beach

It's just been one of those weeks this week where lots of fun things have been happening! I've really enjoyed taking my children places and doing fun things as I'm feeling much better. Yesterday we went to our Music group in the morning, grocery shopped, came home and had rests and did a little school work, then went to the pool in the afternoon for a swim. Then today I packed a big esky and took the kids to the beach, the park and the water play park! It was a great day. Bed soon, though - I'm tired. ;)

And tomorrow just happens to be our town's annual "Children's Day in the Park" which promises to be another great day out. Thankfully Saraya tackled all her math on Monday which has freed up the week a little. Still a few literacy activities to go, and more cooking - she has cooked something every day this week so far which she has loved. I've taken a few photos so will share at the end of the week. We have been very inspired by the show Junior Masterchef so declared this week "cooking week" in our house! It's been rather tasty (though I wish I had a dishwasher :)). Happy Wednesday everyone!

Picnic Therapy

Firstly, happy happy birthday to my wonderful husband Stuart!!! He turned 32 on Tuesday. Old man. ;)

Secondly, kind thanks to everyone who has been asking after my health this past week. I am pleased to tell you that my trip to the Cardiologist went very smoothly - safe traveling, found the hospital fairly easily, and met with a very helpful and kind doctor. He is confident that some of the suspected heart problems do not apply to me, and he has given me some medication to try and manage the problems I do have. Thankfully I don't need to take this medication daily, just when I am having a heart episode. I need to start keeping a journal of heart symptoms and migraines and try to work out my triggers, if possible. And a stress test (running on the treadmill and having my heart monitored) is still on the agenda. Aside from all that, we just see how things go. I feel better knowing my condition isn't dangerous, and learning more about how to manage it. :)

Unfortunately I had to have a molar extracted on Tuesday morning, just after Mum went home on the train. :( It was a bit sad saying goodbye to her then heading off to the dentist! Still, the extraction went smoothly with no complications thus far. Just lots of pain, as expected. Which makes it hard to do the daily grind.... but I'm getting there.

Yesterday we had a total home day - our first in a loooong time. It was so refreshing. I made pikelets for morning tea and we had a little picnic on our land. The children enjoyed it. I called it Picnic Therapy. :) Good old fresh air and something yummy to eat.

The kittens still follow us wherever we go!

The grass is long and there are wildflowers everywhere. We have had such a wet winter and spring so far.

Elijah watched ants for ages.

Saraya stood about conversing..... er, reading. ;)

And William grinned and was generally gorgeous.

I'd be lying if I said all has been smooth sailing around here lately......... but still, we're all alive and well and I'm trying hard to focus on all the positives. :) Life sure is full and I feel responsibility weighing heavy on my shoulders at times. I must admit I think a lot about next year, and how much easier things will be in many ways. But then I know I will miss my children while they are away from me... so I am trying to cherish every day of this term with them.

Enough rambling for now!