Friday, June 29, 2012

In the swim

As term 2 draws to a close I have that funny feeling that we're finally back in the swim.


On the last day! Lol. This week has been a fun week :) 

I've needed to become more flexible and release some of my scheduling, and it's really worked. It's almost as if we burnt out early this term, took a really deep breath & dived back in... only to surface and get into a nice rhythm just as it's time to stop.


But that's the way of the world sometimes! I'd rather be ending this term with a happy heart than a fractious one. So here we are. Officially half way through our first year at home (all) together. Wow. 

We have a busy week of catch ups with friends and cousins next week and then a week away. It's a 2 week break. But I'd like to put up a post reflecting on the work we've done this year so far, a look at my plans for term 3, our New England roadtrip details & hopefully a post about our recent trip to Sydney too. Oh, and I'm participating in A Neighbourhood Walk Around The World with JoJoEbi on July 5 so look forward to lots of posts from me :)

How are you spending your holidays? x



Monday, June 25, 2012

Lazy Sunday Breakfast..

Hot dairy-free rice pudding with lots of berries, tea (of course!) and read-alouds. Mmmmm :)





Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Call of the Wild aka Horse Riding with Boys.


I have wonderful memories of going horse riding through the Australian bush as a child. 

I never had my own horse. And I didn't get to ride often. But, my sister's dad would sometimes pay for us to go out and for a period of time in primary school bush-riding was my chosen option for sport. 

So, while we were in Armidale recently I decided to take my boys for their very first ride. The land around there just seemed like perfect horse riding land. Open, scrubby, inviting. I had to answer the call! H was in heaven - he could have kept riding all day and took to the trotting (which was as much as his guide would allow) like he was born to do it. 6 year old L was heavily disappointed that the instructors decided to lead his horse throughout our entire ride but I know that's only because he so wanted to be a free-riding horse man too :) 

















Friday, June 22, 2012

A wet-on-wet painting morning















Thursday, June 14, 2012

Roadtrip

We're currently traveling in the New England area, around Armidale. We've seen & done so many interesting things! - & there's a post full of details in the making :)


Monday, June 4, 2012

Lunar Eclipse

(Partial) Lunar Eclipse. 9:30pm.




Sunday, June 3, 2012

It's June and this is the weekend edition.

I changed my calendar over today and thought I'd share. Here is L featuring as Mr. June 2012!


I personalised calendars for the first time last Christmas, using Albumworks, and was more than thrilled with how they turned out. I'll definitely be making more in the future.  Cute, huh?

And this is what I've been reading, watching  & listening to this weekend...

:: Beauty that Moves is one of my favourite blogs. Dreamy beautiful and thoughtful. I particularly love her ideas regarding the art of conversation. I look forward to being there.
"Our homeschool these days is very much about conversation. As we fully enter the scholar years for Emily, I am concerned less and less with test scores and textbooks (I was never too concerned with them, but we do use some curriculum that calls for both of these things). What I really care about is, "Can she talk about this subject?  Is she well enough versed in this particular author or political act or scientific discovery to be able to have a conversation about it, could she teach it back to me?" 
Isn't that what the pursuit of knowledge is all about?"

:: FIMBY celebrating the arrival of 13. And considering the dance that is in their imminent future. 

We are still a long way off 13 around here but the inevitable discussions about our boy's high-school education often lead me to considering it. And Renee's take is food for thought...

"In our home, we're calling these the young adult years. So, you won't see me referring to my kids as teenagers. A semantic quibble? Maybe. But I believe that what you name things matters."

::  Spending hours reading through the adventures of Penelope Trunk. Always entertaining! 

::  Tracey asks "Do you need to get out more?" over at MFP.

It's always a challenge balancing the family energy isn't it. We do loads of outside activities here. Sometimes it feels overwhelming but I do believe that it's really important for the children. And, ummm, essential for me ;) Currently I have the boys in separate Scout troops, a drama and performance class, swimming lessons, a fortnightly art class and weekly Soccer (one training-afternoon and match-day). That's activities 6 days a week. And it means we aren't doing music which I really want to squeeze in somewhere! We also had a french tutor coming last term but I'm yet to work out where she fits into our current schedule. What activities are your kids signed up to?

:: Taking this Myer-Briggs personality test. Weirdly spot on.

:: Listening to the very beautiful music of Ethiopian pianist Samuel Yirga and Maori singer/songwriter Maisy Rika - two brilliant new music suggestions from friends.

:: Watching this because my son thought it was hilarious :) Jack-Jack Attack.

:: And finally, did you know that you can now stream talks from the Ted app? Very cool.

L has booby-trapped the house. And himself. Lol.

H in Lego world. 


Leaving you with a few scenes from this lazy Sunday... What are you up to? 


Friday, June 1, 2012

Mama Maintenance Mornings

We celebrated our 22nd (dating) anniversary last night :)

We saw a film ("The Way", directed by Emilio Estevez, I really enjoyed it) and ate out together sans les enfants. Our boys spent the night with their grandparents and this morning T slipped off nice and early to collect them... for dad-school! 

So, I love my kids, right. I purposefully choose to spend almost everyday with them. But, don't imagine for a minute that I no-likey Mama Time!

I ate breakfast in.front.of.morning.tv. (not a regular part of life here!) in the robe that my own sweet mama gave me yesterday and then jumped in the shower and washed my hair (cheap-thrills-for mama's ;) before realising that this morning was my opportunity to do some Mama Maintenance !! 

So my shower turned to bath while I scoured the cupboard for razor, brown sugar scrub, face mask and hairtreatment. Ooo! 


I am a girly-girl. I like pretty. 

It's funny that I ended up with a family of boys because I reckon I would have been awesome at accessorising party dresses, lavishing polka dots, seizing sparkles and, yes, painting ickle toenails. But I don't have any takers here... So I did my own. Fairy-floss pink.


T doesn't *cough* know our new plan yet. Lol. 
But I think dad-school / Mama Maintenance Morning needs to be a regular thing around here. He would love to (and has self-designated sport & writing as his core subjects) but he is pretty focused on work - as is necessary in a 1-income family. Hmmm... but, maybe, once a month? 





Which makes me wonder - how do you find time for yourself? And what is your favourite type of Mama Maintenance

A. x



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