Simple Living...........

It really is the simple things that bring much joy in my life. This weekend we were blessed to have a long weekend to share together and we spent it doing a mixture of chores, reorganising of play spaces, maintenance of our family home and spending time together.

One of the things we did together was to have a 'Scavenger Hunt" this is one of the games we do from time to time that usually involves all the family.We do try to  work in teams and keep it reasonably fair within this as much as possible.

Today we had a list of items to get:
A yellow flower
5 duck feathers
Gold flake rock
A blackberry stem
Holly leaf
A fairy wing leaf
2 smooth stones
3 Rose hips
1 Pine Cone
4 Clover flowers

Everyone takes a list along with a bucket or basket breaks off into teams and the fun begins..........

Stephen, myself, Trahaearn and Arwen were one team. Autumn, Eden and Myffwyn were another. Vellvin, Moran and Rogan a third team and Saxon and Corbyn were our fourth team.

This is our the collection that our team collected. We were first finished but failed to collect a pine cone after being told there were none around our only pine tree.

However as you can see  Autumn, Eden and Myffwyn  were able to find one anyway and so in effect were the winners.

After we completed the scavenger hunt we played outside together. Of course if you know anything about our family we are HUGELY KEEN sword fighters. We also played this yesterday with two teams and I must admit I really enjoyed playing again. I haven't played for a while as I don't when expecting a baby and often I hold the baby while we play these games. I think the people on the losing  other side had forgotten how much I enjoy this.

Our little ones so enjoy the swings and Arwen was funny trying to push Trahaearn while swinging herself.

We also had some wood carvers out and about today

Poor little Corbyn had a very hurt toe that needed some attention, which he got.

Myffwyn decided she would arm herself with every available sword (yes we use black polly-pipe to sword fight with). Wooden home made swords are only used for decoration as they have a tendency to break and thus lead to very upset children who have spent ages making them.

Vellvin and Saxon often square of against one another.

Moran doing some carving for herself. All of a sudden she is a very responsible little girl, I think our diet is beneficial to her, more on that to come soon.

Rogan was riding around on his bike, charging it like a horse and just for the fun of it.

These are the simple days that I love, where we are just together, not doing anything spectacular but enjoying the journey together in a simple and loving way..... creating memories of our time together that I will cherish in the years to come.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

'Drunken Bees!!'

As part of our pantry elimination for our sugar free diet we gradually over the last weeks before officially starting ate the remainder of our sugar. I though we had used it up completely as we started our new regimen.

However I did discover we had some sugar left over in some unmarked jars. I had intended to keep this for visitors in their coffee and tea when they came to visit, as well as for our older boys when they came home.

Having that in jars though once discovered and used on oats by a certain 15 year old was  a sure recipe for disaster. What disaster could follow? Well when  Saxon found the sugar, it follows that those who follow him to the pantry would find it too and for little people who have been told 'no more sugar' well the temptation is too great.

So I decided to just throw it all out!

I asked one of the older kids to throw it outside somewhere, which they did and thought no more about it.
Until  Rogan came in and said the bees were all over it.

He watched them for a while and decided that the bees were acting quite 'loopy' flying all over in quite a drunken like fashion and even flying into things. We all went to look and discovered that this was true. Not only were there bees sucking up all this sugar that had melted down but there were wasps as well, not my favourite at all.

This actually continued for almost a week  and they swarmed all over the sugar in clusters as you can see. It was interesting to watch but the children kept accusing me of  making the bees drunk!

We did manage to get a video of them too. I am not sure what this means to those bees and the honey they make, but, well I really didn't mean to have the bees collect it if I may say in my own  defence!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Blackberries and other Nature finds.....

It is Blackberry season here on our property and we have had a lot of avid berry pickers over the last couple of weeks. One morning I came  down to breakfast with the little 'love token' pictured above on the table ...just for me. Flowers and berries picked just that morning by Eden on an early walk. I treasure these gifts of love that are a mostly daily event.....how blessed I am.

She even made this foil bowl for them to sit in, so very like her making individual touches in presentation. Don't they look very juicy and inviting?

I think they were very quickly divided amongst small little ones who were very anxious for a taste.

This is a view up to the back of our home from down toward the dam. I was walking down here with our children and just loved how the house looked through the trees. When we finished building these wattle were not even grown, they started to grow from scattered seed and now they present a lovely 'park like setting'. How beautiful!

It is very hard to see but can you see the mama swallow and her babies on the top of the basket ball net? The father was off scouting for food for these ever hungry babies. We have a family of swallow every spring and summer on our veranda in the same place, they are one of my favourite birds, in fact I think they are my all time favourites. I love to watch them fly around and the beautiful but subdued colours they have are so sweet.

As part of  our lessons this year I am trying to take the younger ones on a nature walk every couple of days, well the original plan was daily but I think we will vary this with some other sport activities.  We collected some finds to come back and draw in our nature notebooks.

Moran was the first to come back and in fact I found her already set up with her finds and drawing already as I came back with Myffy, Corbyn and Arwen.

Of course we found blackberries to draw as well as some moss and gum nuts. Corbyn thought these old dried out gum leaves were very interesting and Arwen kept picking the individual gum nuts off the branch. While out walking I looked at their summer camps they had made and the places they had built fairy houses in the past because I  'just had to see mummy'

As the children have been spending lots of time outside they have seen more insects, perhaps the warmer weather has something to do with it too? Arwen caught a bee and a butterfly that she had to have in a jar for a few hours. It is lovely to see her enjoying this activity and she often asks me to come out and play with her, luckily she has some special sisters and brothers who take this up when I cannot.

After Rogan picked two buckets of blackberries he kept asking to make jam or a pie with them. My reaction was that a pie was much better and I think really he enjoyed having it to share with us for sweets that night.

Another collection of bees and butterflies! The children are convinced they have seen a new type of bee around, one they have not seen before. Arwen once again loved these ones, they had to have clover flowers to climb on and she  actually put them to bed because' they were tired,' what she failed to mention  was the fact she put them on Autumn's bed and not her own.....a pleasant surprise for her big sister.

As the children pick all the blackberries and the cooler weather starts in I am sure these bush ramble swill become a little harder to find interesting things on, but for now the beauty of a late Summer nature walk is a joy to behold.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Spring Has Arrived!!

Today here in Australia we celebrated the first day of Spring and what a beautiful day it was too.
We have had a few Spring type days here lately and it has been lovely to think of Spring arriving.

So today it arrived officially in glorious style. The sun was shinning and there was a very definite feeling  of hope and  joy in the day.

 Funnily enough I think the children had a Spring type day as well. Rogan and Arwen went digging for worms to show.

They put them in this jar for a while and then re dug them a hole when we had all admired them long enough.

 Worm, worms, worms. Of course then Corbyn and Myffwyn had to go collecting there own worms. Except Corbyn took his butterfly catcher and came back with a caterpillar.

For the first time in many months we had a meal outside. It is hardly fancy cuisine but it was lunch and we enjoyed the beauty of the day.

Trahaearn was able to be on the veranda as well for a period of time as it was pleasant and he was rugged up in his 'bear suit'. You can't see it but the hood has little ears on the top, too cute. We will be spending more time outside each day if this beautiful weather continues.

Myffwyn made some sort of whimsical place on the swing set with a tulle dress up dress and her umbrella. Moran had a circus operating for a short period of time too.

Rogan was very busy today in honour of Spring snapping pictures of the various blossoms and trees around our home and in the bush areas.

 I hope you had a beautiful day today, in what ever season you are in.

 Blessings to you and your homes,