A Day in the Life or A Beautiful Day

Watching the Caterpillar

I am always interested to observe  how our family environment responds when we have different situations come up in our home.
Last week our four oldest children went to Hobart for a day trip. They left early in the morning and returned home after midnight. They had a very enjoyable day even though it consisted of over 7 hours of travel.

The Caterpillar Corbyn found

With our oldest at home for the day being Saxon at 15, I was interested to observe was how different it was all day. In fact it really felt like a day that I remember when we did not have all these young adults and we had a much simpler life style. Yes that is right I am convinced we had  a much simpler lifestyle when our children were all much younger.

As we are on Summer Holidays the flow of the day is different as well, but I really enjoyed the simplicity of the time spent with the children at home. Saxon, Vellvin and Rogan all got up early and started some of the chores, because even though the older kids were gone (even for the day) we still have the same amount of work to get through with washing etc.

I do think this is a wonderful opportunity for the 'middle children' to become more aware of their opportunity to be 'the big kids'. Not that they are not helpful on a regular basis but the fact that they are in a 'new heirachy' that happens as the family circle changes. I really saw this as a trial run to the coming year as we have both Kynan and Braedon 'leaving home' with their work this year. The difference for us with Kynan is he will be going soooooo much further away and so not be able to come home as often as he won't have holidays till the end of the year. Braedon although closer to home will be doing full time work and study together and so his he wont have a lot of free time either.

What did we do on this momentous day?
Not much really!
We spent time outside together, we read books, played games and watched a movie or two.

Moran and Myffwyn were very keen to build a bike jump. This of course reminded me of the first bike jumps we had in our yard made by a very  keen bike enthusiast- Kynan. In fact most of his free time as a little boy was spent on his bike and at one stage we had a huge variety of jumps in our back yard for him and Braedon that they spent hours on.

Of course with the girls getting out their bikes Corbyn wanted me to help him with his bike. He still can't ride it without help as he really struggles with being on it and feeling secure. I did notice he was more confident when we ended our little session and so feel with a little more concentrated effort he will improve. Miss Arwen wanted her bike too and so scooted along on hers for a while together.

One of the delightful parts of the day was when Corbyn found his caterpillar and we spent along time observing it, once we got the dogs our of the way. In a way this was an eye opener for me as I realised I have not spend nearly enough time outside with these younger children doing nature study that I had done with our older children. So guess what is going on the lesson schedule for these little people this year?

I am such a very keen rose person. When we built our home we put in quite a few rose bushes in red and white. White and pink are my favourites but we have had a few casualties care of Autumn's dog who still seems to be in her 'puppy' stage.

While I was out with the little ones Vellvin started to read her book on the trampoline. Every child should have a special spot and it we can't find Vellvin this is where she will be - on the trampoline with a good book or two.

After the bikes Arwen was very keen for me to see her on the slide. Frankly I dont' think they make these as strong as they used to either. I think this is our third one and each time they seem to take less time to break or the more heavy (slightly older) children can't go down them with out a big bend in the middle. Rogan managed to bend it further even after the re-enforcing Stephen did a while ago and he is a very slightly built boy. How I long for a big old slide from our childhood for our children to use!!

OK, yes this one is a little bizarre! this is Rogan's welcome home sign for the older kids on their return home. Sadly, for him, it was too dark to see it.

Our little Trahaearn had a most playful day and I was able to spend quite a lot of time just loving him and spending time with him. He is

He is getting so big and strong now and weighs in at a bout 7 kilo's. He is sitting up really well and enjoys playing with his toys. He  has two teeth and still isn't looking like crawling. However he has a very sunny personality and is a joy and blessing to us all.

This day was his first in the high chair. I had been giving him his solids on my lap but he kept getting me quite dirty in the process. This high chair was one we bought second hand when Eden was a baby and took all the white paint off. I also took the tray off too as we like to have our babies sit right up to the table with us r  of in their own little spot separate from the table. After all a family meal at the table in my mind means ALL the family!

Our little girls also made one of their shops and homes on the back veranda. It was a fabric shop and they had a home attached where Arwen and Corbyn came to visit.

Although this is a great imaginative play for them and I really encourage this in our children the most frustrating time of day can be tidy up time when they leave all these play cloths out and

They then dressed each other up for the event.

I can't believe how long these three played this game for. I think this one took three days and then was followed by two days of Risk.

Making earrings for their princess dresses

To end of here I have just remembered what I kept saying to the children at home and the older ones the next day - It was so quiet!!
I was astounded at how quiet it was and still can't comprehend it really. I would have thought that if the little ones were gone it would be quiet but with the older ones I thought it would not make much difference.
The whole day was so peaceful and quiet, a sense of stillness permeated our home.

When I mentioned this to Kynan he said he was not surprised as the older ones have the computers on and use their I-phones. I am contemplating this and wondering is it this electronic media that causes not so much 'noise' as I thought it was but a sense of dislocation within the family circle.

When our all our children were little the role of the computer and screens was even less than it is now. Even though we monitor this we still are more screen dependent in our home than before.
We have blogs, Facebook, the ability to look up things on the computer and I wonder if this is the 'loudness or busyness' I sense missing in our home with the more screen dependent children gone.

Something I need to ponder as we look forward to a new routine as we are nearing the end of these Summer holidays and look at starting our 'school year!'

Blessings to you and your homes,