My Elijah Boy

I've noticed some big changes in my beautiful Elijah boy over the past few weeks. He is changing and growing and developing at a new pace.

He suddenly just seems more grown up. The feeling is, for me, bittersweet. :)

He has taken quite an interest in drawing lately, and makes all sorts of little things which delight me. Not just drawings, but characters which have names and interact with one another. Last week he made a "backdrop" (a forest picture with a big slit in it to stick puppets through), and a whole collection of little puppets (drawings of animals and people and clouds and raindrops etc. all stuck onto little coloured matchsticks). He has performed little shows with them. He is so imaginative.

He is getting quite interested in numbers. He loves to work out little sums, and is constantly seeing patterns everywhere.

His interest in space continues. He has found a craft project which he wants to try in one of his big sister's art books. It is basically making cards with pop-out astronauts and planets. etc., and it looks quite tricky. But I want to say "YES!" to him. He is such a gracious, patient little guy and I just love saying yes to Elijah. So make the cards we will.

He has learnt to buckle himself in in the car.

He has learnt to wipe his own bottom, all the time. ;)

He has started to put on his own socks and sneakers; he gets out of the bath on his own, dries off and gets pyjamas on all by himself. :D He gets up early every morning, and finds things to do quietly in his room. By the time we get up (at the oh so late hour of 6am or so :)), he has quite a few things to show me.

Perhaps some little boys Elijah's age have been able to do these things for awhile already. That's okay. Every child develops at their own pace. Eli is small for his age (still wearing a size 3 at 5 and a half years old), he hasn't lost any teeth yet (no wobblies yet either), he doesn't even own a 2-wheeler bike (Christmas is coming though! Hang on Elijah!)......... he is a little man who is taking his time growing up.

But growing up he is.

I'm so proud of my Elijah Samuel. He is a beautiful, sweet little boy who will never eat a bite before giving thanks for his dinner, and making sure we all do too. Who kisses and cuddles me all the day long. Who is humble and kind and won't lay a hand on William despite the hits over the head he receives from time to time. Who tells me I'm the best cook in the whole wide world. :D

Love you Elijah! xx

The Celebrating Begins

Traditionally, I bake our Christmas Cake in early November to allow it several weeks to rest and develop it's delicious flavours. :) Yesterday was Christmas Cake baking day for 2010!

We will cut it on the 1st of December as we put up our tree and decorate the house (and celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary! :)).

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Today (Saturday) has been very restful after the enormous week we have had getting ready to list our house. I had 3 cancellations with music students today, and must say I enjoyed the down time as Stuart did the running around town with the kids. He returned with the boys in time for me to scoot in and collect Saraya from Art Class. I hadn't had the opportunity to get in there yet, and was so delighted with the teacher and the art studio! It is a beautiful space and I plan to take my camera next week to catch some photos to share and remember this time in Saraya's life.

Stuart is at work this afternoon, assembling report cards. I have played and read with the children, pruned the roses, cut a new bunch of flowers for my vase, hung some washing, and written some dates in my newly purchased 'Diggers Gardeners Diary for 2011'. :) Yes, there are dates to go in already. And I'm dreaming gardening dreams for our new, more suburban garden of next year. The diary is inspiring me.

Happy Weekend All! And happy beginning of the Christmas season. :)

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!

My Little Chef

As you all know, one of Saraya's greatest passions is cooking. And now that she is 8, her recipes have gone up to a whole new level. ;) I often forget to photograph things, but here are a few pics of some of her latest creations.

We made the Chicken Schnitzel with a fresh breadcrumb coating as seen on Junior Masterclass.

Pizza Scrolls - these are so yummy we've made them twice!

Tiered raspberry and mango jelly with whipped cream and fresh mango.

She made us all this delicious grilled pear on fruit bread for breakfast on Sunday - yum! It's sprinkled with a little brown sugar and grilled until it's caramalised and golden.

Still, no matter what she has prepared for us to eat, the other passion is never far away. The book. We have a rule now that there is no reading at the table, but her book is in her hand directly before and after the meal is eaten! Unbelievable! She has just re-read a whole stack of books as she has nothing new to read at the moment. There was a 3 day block during which she read 14 books, then another 10 or so the next 2 days. I'm wondering if we should start saving for glasses for her for when her eyes start giving in! :/

Anyway, I'm really proud of her efforts in the kitchen. And she's a great help with the dishes too. :) Love you my little chef.

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!

Our Family Bed

We read many books by Dr Sears and other authors who encouraged the family bed - allowing children to co-sleep with their parents - before we got married and had our babies. For the most part, I have always enjoyed having my children close to me as they sleep. As babies they would either sleep in a cradle next to our bed, or right next to us snuggled up close. This made night-time feeding easier, gave them (and me) peace of mind as we slept, and (as studies are now proving) reduced the risks of SIDS.

By the weaning age of around 2 years, our children have gone into their own beds and rooms. Saraya and Eiljah generally sleep through the night now, though William still joins us at some point during the night. He'll cuddle up next to me and go back to sleep.

Occasionally though, if Stuart is going to be away for the night, I'll invite Saraya to sleep in with me. She LOVES to do this. :) So on Saturday morning, with Stuart away at the Junior School Camp, this is what I woke up to. I had been squished there on the edge with the double pillows.

Two of my babies sleeping soundly beside me, the other one soon to appear and join me on the verandah for an early-morning cup of tea while the sleepy two kept on sleeping.

I love being close to my children, fostering trust and love, and cherishing these times when they are little and actually desire being close to their Mama. ;) They are growing up all too quickly.

Home Beauty On A Sunday Morn

My beautiful old piano

And I even managed a practice this morning with no 'helpers'!

Little boys playing with helium balloons from a party yesterday

Little boys with cheeky grins and dirty faces

Tables where little boys have been playing...

Our beautiful jasmine vine - the smell is overwhelmingly divine!

A lavender hedge that I planted recently is starting to bush out

Little boys peeking out from secret hiding places

Freshly mown grass thanks to my hard working husband

Hardworking husband :)

White roses in bloom in Saraya's Garden

And red ones!

And pink roses by the driveway (ignoring all the grass I need to weed out...)

Lovely Molly

Gum trees shedding their bark - they are everywhere and really amazing to see

Strawberry flowers!

Baby nectarines - William loves to spot them

And a fuzzy little peach!

Apple blossoms

I don't know how I will ever leave this place. I know with God's help I can do anything. So in Him I trust with this one. The beauty here is indescribable, especially on spring days like today. Yes, it's a lot of work living here. But it's so beautiful!! My heart will always be here on this land. I just love it. Thankfully wherever we move I get to take my family with me. ;) And the cats and the chickens. Just as well!