Week Two - Diary Friday 11th Dec 2009

Finally got a half decent sleep last night, thank you Charlie baby, so I was a bit more with it today. All the boys just really wanted to do their knitting this morning.

Josh is knitting a face washer for his Nanna, we have several KG's of melt and pour soap, so he is going to make some soaps and face washers as gifts, nice idea, the face washer is coming along very nicely. Noah started a very special project today too that I will keep a secret for now. He is such a pro, all of them are.So knitting worked well for me as I was aiming for a quiet day anyway, we listened to Dr. Seuss stories while we knitted.

I sewed a little more of my hat, however, I am not very enthused to complete it, as it just isn't going according to plan, but whats more I received a most wonder parcel in the post today from my lovely sister which was exploding with beautiful fabric for a new hat...I need a new hat, I want a new hat so I might have to neglect the blog next week in order to create some sewing time.

The boys made some pictures to send off to different people with some photos I've had printed to share with different family members, They played light sabers (as they do)and other such games.

We read more of King Aurthur. I made home made baked beans for lunch, and all round fave with the kids (way better than the bought kind so they say, Noah will turn into a baked bean if he doesn't be careful) and then we needed to take Josh up to his dad's where he is spending the weekend. Issac was so excited to see him, poor little mite was sick though.

After checking the mail we finished the grocery shopping I didn't finish yesterday (not very exciting).

Kids just played around in the afternoon, while I cleaned up and put shopping away and got Charlie to sleep, several times over.

What sweet sweet brothers (Kylie has lent me her baby sling, so we are having fun carrying Chuckles around in that, thank Kylie.)

Week Two - Diary Thursday 10th Dec 2009

Today was burn out day, you know the ones that are such an effort to get through an you are counting down to bed time. The kids were great it was just me. Sleep deprivation had finally caught up with me. However I did press on as a busy day lay ahead.

We had our friends Khobi and Manny with us today, so we headed off early to pick them up and then drove down to Rosebud to pick up our veges from Rosmary's, a lady who grows and sells organic veges, so the kids talked to the goat and the chooks and their other friends who were there as well. After a couple of other errands we headed home for a play and some lunch before basketball. The kids I think were pretty worn out too, as they just chilled out and played lego.

Basketball was fun again, I had a nice chat with the mums and did some knitting while the boys played, they seem to really enjoy themselves. It was the last one for the year, so there was a picnic afterwards. I had more driving around to do so I left Noah & Eli with Kylie and Josh with Robyn so they could keep playing. They had a nice time and I picked them up after I had run yet more errands.

We had chicken parma for dinner, yummo. Josh helped me cook it and Eli helped cut up the salad.

After dinner, Danny went straight to bed and the boys got in their PJ's and did some knitting. I taught Noah how to do purl stitch too, he picked it up really quickly.

And then a glass of milk and off to bed.

Phew what a busy day, I was so glad when I could crawl into bed, I swear I drove million KM's today.

Week Two - Diary Wednesday 9th Dec 2009

I have this really cute alarm clock that's sounds, looks and smiles just like Charlie and it wakes me up around 6am every morning. At least getting up at this time I can sqeeze more stuff into a day...because I obviously don't do enough as it is!!! If writing this diary has shown me anything, it's how much I acctually do each day, no wonder I am so buggered by the end of it. Another thing I have learned is the I have a shocking memory, thank goodness for camera's and the "voice memo" AP on my iphone. I wont even mention the time spent washing up and putting cloths away and making beds...cus thats just too boring.

So, got up early, well I didn't actually get up I waited in bed until I got a cuppa tea from dearest Danny who was home again today (YAY). I managed to do a bit more on my hat while Danny cuddled Charlie, and got the dinner in the crock pot.

After breakfast Noah and Eli got stuck into decorating their new cardboard cubby house, talk about the best $12 I have every spent.

They started out with texta's and then Noah had the idea that it would be faster to paint it. Their enthusiasm lasted about 2 hours before burn out occured and paint lay baking in the sun out side. But they keep going back to it, it's great investment.

We did our reading, Josh made a to do list, which seemed to be a big help in getting himself organised for the day, so he got on with his stuff as well as going for a drive with Danny up town. Josh learnt how to do "purl" on his knitting and so is now kniting stocking stitch, well done. Noah and Eli did a far bit of knitting today too, Noah is powering along, at this rate he could solve all global warming problems with one great big scarf.

I washed and hung about a hundred loads of washing, it was such a beautiful day too, so we really enjoyed just being outside, the boys jumping on the tramp. Josh looked after Charlie while Noah and I hit the lawns with the mower, he's a champian at it. Josh took over to do the back lawn while I whipper snippered, or tried to , it was very short lived as it konked out a short way into it. The chooks were happy to see some lovley greens to peck though and some fresh water and foods.
Well deserved icecreams all round after mowing and weeding xxoo

Noah did some copywork and maths, he did very well with his school work today. He and Josh went down to the bike jump at around 4 and I gave Charlie and Eli a bath in the laundry tub(lucky Eli is a little match stick man and folds up to the size of a 6 month old). Chuckles loved his bath and nuddie roll round on the floor.

Everyone was a bit tired this afternoon (must have been all the mowing), so the boys watched Tom & Jerry and looked after Charlie while I got dinner and washing sorted. (Charlie has decided he doesn't need to sleep any more), so while everyone ate dinner Charlie & I went for a "relaxing" walk around the block...you have no idea how stimulateing birds & cars are to a 6 month old. (We smelld some roses, Charlie licked them and got rose petals stuck to his boogers, very cute)Needless to say it still took a further hour to get him to sleep when we got home.

Now all babies & Danny are asleep and I am soon o follow. Another wonderful day.

Week Two - Diary Tuesday 8th Dec 2009

I am writing this on Wednesday, and I am having trouble remembering what we did on Tuesday.

We had a mostly at home day which was nice. I made fresh bread early in the AM, from the sourdough spelt dough I'd set to rise the previous evening, I just Looooove fresh bread for breaky.

Thanks for the lovely cuppa Josh.

We are still making our way through a box full of organic apple I'd bought a few weeks ago and they are starting to show their age, so Josh chopped them up and we made a delish apple crumble which we shared with a guests Sam and Alex for morning tea.

We also started making some activity cards to help with the organisation of our homeschooling and daily activities. We took photos of all different things like: readers, maths books, candle making stuff, sewing, knitting, books etc. we printed them out and laminated them. The idea is that each week we choose X mount of activities we'd like to do and spend the week working through them when we can. We certainly are not the most organised family in the world, so i am hoping this will help us a great deal.

As mentioned, we had some friends over for morning tea, Alex is a sweet little girl Eli used to go to kinder with Eli (Noah went to school with her brother, and I am friends with the mum, Sam), they are very lovely people and we had a nice morning. The kids made some bees wax candles and I taught Alex how to knit because she was desperate to, she did very well.

Noah and Eli made some cards, and played with the blocks and cars and horses, Charlie wanted to play too!!!

I had to go down to the shops a bit later, and I was so stoked to buy a $40 pair of jeans for $15, I love it when that happens. Danny was home today, and he and Josh went phone shopping...and came home with ...IPHONES!!! They are very cool. Another thing to wasted my precious time and make my life "simpler. It is good though, I think I will start taking voice memos so i can remember what we do each day...I've always wanted something like that! Lots of very handy AP's.

The boys had dug out their slot car track for a play, this is very weird for Charlie, his head goes round and round and round, as the cars do, it's quite funny to watch.

We had Adam over for dinner and to help us drink some beer, as we desperately need the bottles on the weekend to bottle some beer. Thanks Adam, that's what friends are for.

It was a nice day and felt very spoilt to have new jeans and a very cool new phone all in the same day.

Week Two - Diary Monday 7th Dec 2009

Monday is usual a "catch up with friends day", so that's what we did.

We met with Kylie (& Co.) and Robyn and Ryan at Balnarring. We went for a walk around the Balbirooroo Wetlands. it was really nice. Boys had fun, we spotted some birds and things (despite our noisy selves).

We had to keep a keen eye out for snakes and lots of stamping

Going on a bear hunt...we're going to catch a big one!

We stopped at the bird hide to watch the birds in the water, there was some swans with babies (amongst other things, I'm not very good at remembering names of birds)

After our walk (we decided to take the short cut home, as certain people were beginning to get a bit sensitive about things), we thought some food was in order so we drove down the road to Balnarring beach for our picnic lunch, the boy ate and climbed trees and harassed the high school kids who were also picnicking there.

We had a really nice day, Thank to a lovely friends for sharing such a nice day with us.

Later on we had tennis lessons, unfortunately Josh missed out on his due to lack of numbers, he was a bit bummed out, but he was OK in the end.

Poor Danny didn't get home until 9:30 pm, what a yucky day for him.

Week Two - Diary Sunday 6th Dec 2009

Week Two - Diary

Sunday:

This morning I finished Noah's hat before he was even awake, what a nice surprise for him to wake up to. They have been wearing their hats all day, I love it when I make something they love.

Well we finally got our beer bottled, so far so good. This beer brewing thing is going to be a bit addictive I think, so many options, I am glad Danny is getting into it now...save me another job.


In the afternoon we went for a drive to a friends house up in the Dandenongs, and then picked Josh up on our way home.

Week One - Diary 06/12/2009

I have decided with unconvincing enthusiasm, that I am going to attempt to keep a weekly diary on my blog. But as I know myself so terribly well, this endeavour will probably last a grand total of one week, hence the unconvincing enthusiasm...
I am beginning week one as of the first on December, Summer, and as you may have noticed I am already a week behind. Some weeks will contain very little, usually not because we've done little but because I have little time. Sometime perhaps just a photo or two, and sometimes mostly words, and other times, loads of photos
Whatever it ends up being, this is my endeavour for the next year...good luck to me.
Week One:
Sunday:
Danny and I set down our first ever batch of beer for fermentation. I bought Danny a home brew kit for his birthday in September, so two months later, we finally got around to doing it. I made the most of Danny being home to entertain the kids (by entertain I mean watching transformers with them), and did some sewing. I made a hat for Charlie, I was very impressed with it, it turned out so well.
Monday:
Was met at a park with friends day, it was all a bit windy and threatening to rain, but the kids had fun playing with their friends, which is what they do best...apart from making a mess. Baked my first sourdough wholemeal spelt bread (must take photo of this), it certainly isn't much to look at but it's yummy and chewy, just the way I like it. Tennis lessons. Read books...lots of little things
Tuesday:
We stayed at home (I think, Tuesday was a very long time ago, my medium long term memory is pretty bad) I honestly don't remember what we did Tuesday, I get back to that one day maybe.
Wednesday:
I spent the morning making food and doing kitcheny stuff while the kids played and Charlie slept. We went to a park for lunch and to meet with another home school group in our area, a nicer day this time, and sitting under the Morton Bay Fig Trees is always lovely. The boys enjoyed climbing the trees, playing on the skate park and crab hunting with their friends, although Josh had a buster on his scooter when it hit a bottle top just as he was trying a new trick...bummer. Later that afternoon, Josh went to a friends house for a play, a swim and dinner.

Thursday:

Early start to the organic farm in Rosebud for our veggies, and to the supermarket and the post office. Kylie and the boys came over for a play and a chat, the kids had really missed each other as we have not seen each other for weeks and weeks and they just love playing "boy games" together. Never seems long enough though. After lunch we went to basket ball in Frankston with some other homeschoolers. It's great fun, the kids really enjoy it, they have a great teacher who makes it fun for them. Eli was a little champ, and Noah was sinking hoops left right and center. After B Ball, we all came back to our house again, but with Josh's friend Ryan this time, he was coming for a sleep over, Kylie bought watermelon icy poles for us all...YUMMY.

Friday:

Stayed at home for most of the day, cooking again (I think we went through a box of wheat bix, an entire apple crumble, 4 pizzas), apart from having to check the mail and buy a baby monitor and a very successful trip to the Three Legged Chair (an op shop in Mornington), I love it when you score good goodies. The boys played war games all day, as you do when you are 11, 7 and 5 and a boy. I managed to sew a new hat for Eli too. We had our friend Adam over for dinner as his family is away in the UK at the moment, so that was nice.

Saturday:

Another early start, Josh had Tennis at Red Hill today and I was on duty so I had to do the rounds and pick up kids. Josh was excited because his Friend Jack was playing who he hasn't seen in ages. Unfortunately, the markets were on (well it would have been good had I actually planned to go to the markets and didn't have 5 kids with me and had some money to spend) WOW, talk about a crowd. It took me half an hour just to find a park and walk the two KM's back to the tennis courts. But we did it, and the kids all had a good day, didn't win but had fun as usual. Josh went to his dad's, then Charlie and I had an afternoon nap while the boys played and Danny worked on installing the inter cooler in the Patrol. We are hoping to bottle some beer this afternoon, but we'll see.