Elijah's 5th Birthday Party

"Elijah, we are going to give you a birthday party this year! Turning 5 is a very special age."

"A birthday party? With friends and games and everything?"

"Yes!!! And you get to choose what sort of party you would like, who comes, what food we serve.... everything."

"WOW Mama!!! This is my first party!!" Thinks for quite awhile...... "I want to have a Charlie and Lola party!" Then a week or so later.... "I want to have a Mary Poppins party. Yes. And you can make me a Bert cake Mama. 'Cos I want to be Bert, and wear a dressed-up shirt and a hat!"

"Um.... okay. Wow! What a great idea Elijah. All right, a Mary Poppins party it is."

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And so it all began. :) The guest and food lists written, the cake baked

balloons out front

Let the party begin!!!

Great excitement as he opened a birthday gift..... a long-awaited shirt and tie! He had spotted it a few months back and loved it so I secretly bought it and hid it away. :) And it made a perfect Bert shirt!

Of course he posed for some photos in the garden. How handsome is this boy?!

This is my personal favourite!! It's just Elijah's personality shining through!

Balancing Bert........

Cutie William in his bow tie!! Didn't stay on for long but was adorable.

Grandad Fern as Admiral Boom - how impressive is this costume?!!

He even fired 2 blanks from his gun to signal the start and the end of the party - which scared the kids and got the neighbour a bit upset! :(

But oh so in character, and the men who were here thought it was pretty awesome. And Elijah loved having his Grandad here.

Mary Poppins :)

This is the stage Stu rigged up for Eiljah's present. :) He bought the frames for $5 each from a garage sale, and purchased timber to screw on top. Such an appropriate gift for him, and it got a good workout yesterday!

A little friend brought Elijah this spider in a jar - love the look on his face!!

Ruby as miniature Mary Poppins

Declan as a chimney sweep

"Jane and Michael Banks" :) (bits of costumes missing here!)

These two had everyone smiling yesterday. They have known each other since they were 6 months old, and have always had lots of theatrical fun together!

Trying out the stage! We had the soundtrack playing on repeat.

"It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary......."

And "We love to laugh, ha ha ha ha...."

Elijah insisted Stu had to dress up as the laughing Uncle Albert!

"Pavement Painting"

The kids had a great time on this swing Stu rigged up. FUN!!!

Elijah / Bert the one-man-band!

And the kids did Saraya up as well!

Afternoon tea time!! All Elijah's favourites were served.

Blowing out 5 candles.

A game of What's the time Mr Wolf?

Happy birthday beautiful little man!!

I love being your Mama, and am so proud of the confident, creative and loving little boy you are growing up to be. :D xoxoxoxo

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And today (Monday) is his actual birthday, and we are taking things very easy after such a full weekend of fun!!! The children are currently watching the Mary Poppins film. :) And I've been doing lots of cleaning up from yesterday. We will read together later, Saraya will do her lessons, and I have just found out that Mum will be arriving here later this afternoon! Very exciting; she and Ray were meant to be here yesterday but were unwell. Elijah's very excited she is coming for his BBQ tea tonight. :)

Recommended Books for Young Children

Amanda recently asked me to write a list of chapter books I would recommend for a six year old. This is difficult, as all six year olds are different in their interests and level of comprehension when it comes to reading. But I still wanted to help, as reading is a passion in our household!

So instead I decided to list all the chapter books we have read to the children over the last 5 years, and tell you a little about them. I don't think I've forgotten any, but there may have been others. Reading aloud as a family is a wonderful time of closeness, and creates memories and interests and adventure and creativity during free play times too. I have always been very careful about the books I read to my children, starting with pictures books from the library. Introducing concepts too early, encouraging some negative behaviours, or just downright scaring a child can happen easily if we're not careful! We read the children a lot of classics, and of course many, many picture books each day too. It's a big part of life and learning. :) Anyway, here goes.....

I read this one to the older two children when they were 5 and 3. It was a nice simple story. I'm sure the first one is as well!

Well, Saraya scoured the bookcase just this morning and chose The Wishing Chair. I did love Enid Blyton as a child.... wasn't quite sure if I she was ready for this one, but she's half-way through it already and loving it! I found her and Elijah sitting up in the orchard this afternoon on a rug, and Saraya was reading to him. Made me happy. :)

Poor mixed up Amelia Bedelia had us all laughing when we read a few books in this series. A friend loaned them to Saraya when she was just starting to read independently at age 6. These are great books for early readers, and are nice safe stories which get your kids laughing!

Leaving Anne of Green Gables until the children are older, The Story Girl (also by L.M. Montgomery) seemed a more age-appropriate read for them last year. Still, I think we skipped a chapter or two.

For poetry, I would recommend both of these titles. A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson is a classic. We have a large illustrated version and the children all love it.

Now We Are Six is a little collection of poetry by A.A.Milne, the author of the Winnie the Pooh books. Simple, beautiful poetry for little ones. Lots of good verses to memorize in here too!

We only have half of these precious books, but have borrowed the others from the library! Not chapter books, but charming stories in 'old English' that will challenge and inspire young readers.

We are currently reading this one. Elijah is almost 5, and this is his favourite read-aloud so far.

We will read The House at Pooh Corner next. (And after that, Narnia, yay!!!)

A beautiful book of Christian short stories. I read this one to all the children last year, and Saraya read it on her own again earlier this week. Full of moral lessons, it's great!

Heidi by Johanna Spiri was a little challenging for Saraya when we read it - I think she was only 3. :P I plan to offer it as an independent book for her later this year.

Saraya read Book #1 in the Boxcar Children series last week, and LOVED it. There are 19 titles in the series by the original author, and I'll encourage her to read all of them. This would make a great read-aloud for any child 4 and up.

Stuart read Little Men to Saraya when she was 4, and I have just read it again to her and Elijah this year. It is absolute gold. :D I'm leaving the other books by Louisa May Alcott for when the children are older.

We worked through the Little House on the Prairie series when Saraya was 5-6 years old.

They are all absolutely wonderful! My favourite was Farmer Boy.

One of the children pulled Alice In Wonderland off our bookcase last year, and loved the illustrations in it. Of course then they requested it to be read to them. I did read it to them, but some parts were a bit confusing for them. Probably better for 7-8 year olds.

Stuart read Danny, The Champion of the World to Saraya when she was tiny. I think they both really enjoyed it! It's the only Roald Dahl book the children have read so far, but they have listened to James and the Giant Peach on audio CD.

And last but not least, Charlotte's Web. :) This was the very first chapter book we read to Saraya - she was 3 1/2 years old at the time and really enjoyed it.

So there you go. I hope this was helpful! We have read other titles which I haven't included as I wouldn't necessarily recommend them. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew is one we read half of a couple of years ago..... up to the part where one of the children is stolen by a bad man! The story was getting too intense and disturbing for our little ones at that point, so we stopped reading it. We also read The Wizard of Oz last year, purely because Stu and Saraya were in the musical and we were all interested in reading the original story. It was fine, just not generally recommended reading for under 8's.

"If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it

at all". Oscar Wilde

More Sewing, Markets, and Baby Goats!!!!

She started early this morning.

"Mama, pleeeease can I do some more sewing? I don't need any help. I just need you to thread the needle for me." She was still in her pj's, I was trying to clean up the kitchen and help Elijah with something and wrangle William, etc, etc, so I suggested this afternoon during our quiet time might be a better time to sew. "But I want to do it now!!! I don't need help Mama, please? I'll just sit quietly at the table here. It's all I want to do, I just can't think about anything else!!"

It was only 7:30am, but....... I relented.

She was soon at it, measuring and drawing and pinning and cutting and making tiny stitches.

And she made a cat. :D And aside from a couple of little knots she needed tied or untangled, it was all independent. This girl is on fire for craft!!

After morning chores and free time we went to the markets and spent time on the town green with quite a few friends. Cups of coffee all round, playtime for the kids, and lots of baby cuddles for Saraya (she is quickly becoming the adopted big sister of every baby/toddler we know! I'm sure part-time babysitting is on the agenda once she is older...). We stocked up on fresh fruit and visited the library too. We all love Market Day!

Home for unpacking and lunch and rests and washing and reading and school work.

Then mid-afternoon, more fun. We visited some beautiful friends of ours whose goat had 2 little kids on Tuesday!

Saraya the farmer girl was in her element. She even wore the "farm apron" she made, just for the occasion. :P

SO cute!!!!

Will enjoyed the babies. Elijah was off playing with the boys.

And Will's greatest treat.....

A ride on this fantastic little tractor!!!!! Ben obliged him with a push....

...... as did Saraya.

These friends live in the bush, and are currently building their own home out there. Amazing stuff. With all the machinery and bits and pieces on their property, William was just about in heaven. :) That boy is destined to be a farmer or a mechanic, or both!

So grateful tonight for friends to share life with. There is so much beauty in the world, so much love and so many blessings. Hope everyone has had a happy Thursday!

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I am all too aware that I am meant to be cutting back with blogging, and haven't really been doing that too well. It just seems that several times a week there are things I really want to share!! Amanda has asked for a recommended reading list for 6 year olds........ so that will be my next post. And with Elijah's birthday coming up in a few days, there is bound to be a few about that. Maybe after that I can have a little break? Or maybe not? Life is just so exciting and I love to share / record the little things that are going on in our corner of the world. :)

Our Morning and Our Afternoon

Our Morning

The morning tea went well!! I had 23 children and 10 adults here - quite a crowd! But the children were all busy, there was great conversation and lots and lots of food so I think it was a success. :)

Our Afternoon

Saraya has been hassling me to teach her to sew all week. This afternoon after lunch and rests I opened my old sewing basket and pulled out some half-finished projects from about 6 years ago....

These were Christmas decorations, needing to be sewn together and stuffed with wool.

She got into it. A few lessons in how to thread the needle, make the stitches, and I was able to walk away and do a few things I needed to get done.

She made 3 of these, and was pretty chuffed about it!

It's been a good day. So nice to connect with friends, and teach my sweet girl a new skill too.

Tomorrow we're off to the markets and the book library and to visit our friends' new baby goats!! Life's sure never dull. :)

Dot Point Thoughts....

* I love my husband!!! :D

* My parents arrive home from overseas tomorrow morning. I've missed them and can't wait to talk to my Mum.

* The children had their first dance rehearsal on the big theatre stage this afternoon. I wasn't there (dropped them off and went grocery shopping), but I've been told Elijah kind-of stole the show. :P I'm thinking he's his father's son......

* The sunset was absolutely glorious tonight.

* Stu and I took the children to a touring science exhibition at the showgrounds after tea tonight - very exciting stuff!! Just hope they're not tired and cranky tomorrow.

* William's doing great post-weaning...... is asking less and less about the bottles, and basically just drinking water now. He's going to start thinning down fast!

* Saraya has been doing some pretty awesome things in her schooling, can't wait to share more.

* Elijah actually begged me to give him a phonics lesson this morning, even though I hadn't planned to (we only do it once or twice a week). He learnt about the letter H.

* My sweet friend Kate came over last night; we watched the movie The Village (a bit scary!) and she stayed overnight. The best bit was having her here this morning, all morning until lunch time. I realised how much I miss adult company during the day! :( Loved loved loved sitting in the sun and drinking tea and chatting half the morning away. The children love sitting by her and listening, drawing her pictures, reading her stories, showing her their treasures, etc. etc. Then eventually they wander off and play, and we have some true grown-up time!

* We celebrated the first day of winter today. Kate joined us in a half-day of staying in our pj's, doing relaxing things. The children did some winter craft, and we read in the sun LOTS, and they played outside in their pj's and gumboots. :D Happy winter fellow Aussies!

* I am going to go to bed before 10pm tonight. Unheard of but necessary. Our rooster has started crowing PRE-dawn..... and then of course there's William. :) I need sleep!

* Tomorrow morning I am hosting the second homeschool family morning tea here for our region. I'm not sure how many people are coming, but I'm thinking it will be at least 10 families. I'm a bit daunted, but looking forward to the fellowship!

* I need to organise our Eisteddfod entry forms for this year. Saraya is keen to enter too, which gets me excited as I too was 7 when I did my first Eisteddfod.

* And last one......... I will be starting to teach piano lessons for children again, this month! This is something I haven't done since Saraya was tiny. I will have 4 students on a Saturday morning, so it won't effect our weekdays. Hopefully it will become a special time for Stu to spend with our kids, and I know the extra income is going to be very very helpful!