August 2014

I'm not sure what to share from this month as our story is not just our own anymore, which I suppose brings me to the biggest event of the month - that of Jon's family coming to join us! As you know, we moved into a suitable dual living house in July in preparation for Jonathan's parents and two of his brothers to come and live with us. We are settling into what this means for our family and also adjusting to the permanence of it at this time, but very much enjoying having family so close at last and all that means.

Enjoying all the moving boxes :)

Caleb has met his grandparents!

The girls continue to enjoy tree climbing and are both getting good at it

I took some time off of going out this month to have a break and get some routines established at home; shifting was certainly a very long and tiring event, as well as a number of other things happening. Abigail has resumed reading and writing lessons, and I have started the girls keeping nature scrapbooks which we utilise for our natural learning records. Sarah continues to have a big interest in bugs, so we have been identifying the ones we find with the help of books from the library and recording them in their scrapbooks, as well as learning about insects in general. The girls spent a couple of days collecting 'pretty' leaves, they find feathers and identify which bird it is from, I tried to identify a spider we caught, etc. I am learning to capitalise on these learning opportunities - science, general knowledge, writing practice etc all in one! I am being drawn more and more to a natural learning approach for these early years of education.

Grandpa's birthday cake

Collecting pine cones

Sarah with a Gum Tree Shield Bug

Abigail with a Children's Stick Insect

Looking for creepy crawlies while Grandma rearranges the rocks around the garden

Finally tidying up the playroom toys!

We discovered the Berrinba Wetlands in the last fortnight and have made a few trips there already. Jonathan has enjoyed bird spotting and expanding his bird identification record; he was able to go out very early one morning and spend a couple of hours spotting and identifying over 15 different birds there. There are a couple of playgrounds which the kids have enjoyed; and I have enjoyed a walk and a 5 km timed run around the lagoons. We feel very blessed to have such a nature spot so close to us and expect we'll be frequent visitors over this next year.

July 2014

It has been a crazy, busy month. Within an hour of putting my last post up, we were approved for the rental property we had applied for that morning, and so packing, cleaning, moving, more cleaning, unpacking, settling in etc etc has been the order of the month! Getting the old place cleaned up was quite a burden (the to do list never seemed to end) but as of the end of this month we are now completely signed off on it - no more double rent or cleaning or responsibility for it, yay! In the midst of it all we had a run of sickness and I can only thank God for His grace on those days after being up through the nights cleaning vomit that I could function and get work done still. Thankfully things should all settle down now and we can relax a bit. Jon's family arrive in 10 days and we are greatly looking forward to this.

I am loving our new home. The yard is amazing - very large and lots of trees. The children have not used the trampoline since we moved in three weeks ago - there is too much else to do. Abigail has taken to a small mango tree and has gotten good at climbing. With some persistence, Sarah has now worked out how to climb it too. Caleb would like to be able to. I have cleared a couple of the vege garden beds and Sarah had a pet curl grub for a few days - her fascination for bugs has not diminished. Some bees have started to nest in a tree near our back deck (Caleb has managed to get two bee stings so far); lots of butterflies and sounds of birds. It is a little Aussie-style bush paradise.

The house itself has large rooms. It has been quite cold as we don't get a lot of sun on our half due to all the trees in the back yard, but we do have a fire place and that has been a wonderful novelty. There is a grove of pine trees not far from our house where we go and collect pinecones (they have become Jon's favourite way to start a fire as they burn very nicely), and the girls collect sticks from around our yard. We bought a load of firewood not long after we moved in, and our neighbours across the road gave us some wood they were going to dump. It is very pleasant to spend the evening sitting in front of the fire. Having a bath tub has been another wonderful addition to our lives - the girls spend ages in it given the chance. We bought a very large extendable table last weekend (Jon got it from down the Coast) and he spent a large part of this weekend getting a protective cover sorted out and made for it.

I got distracted this week by the arrival of a Sonlight catalogue I ordered months ago as I then did a lot of looking into their curriculum, but have eventually decided to stick with my own plans that I have already sketched out for homeschooling; planning to get back into the basics with Abigail again now that the dust has settled. I have also spent a bit of time keeping up to date with the 2014 Reebok Crossfit Games lately - I got onto watching old Games videos on YouTube during my first trimester when I was confined to bed so much. Jonathan bought me a ChromeCast thingy so now we can play YouTube through the tv screen - I can now do work on the computer while the children watch Beatrix Potter episodes! (They've been on a big BP craze these last weeks - naughty Tom Kitten and Peter Rabbit have been particular favourites, along with silly Jemima Puddleduck. I have been reading the books over and over).

So a very busy month has come to a close, and this next month holds some big changes as Dad and Mum Sheehy, Nick and Philip come to join us. A new chapter of our lives awaits!


(I apologise for the lack of photographs; we have barely taken any this month)