Holiday Learning in April

Technically, we were supposed to be on holidays the past few weeks, but learning does not really go on holidays, even if you do choose to put the books aside for a while. 

For the first half of the holidays, the boys spent a fair bit of time on their computers. They like to play online.  Adem chose to spend the majority of his holiday free time online. He did have his friend over for a couple of days to stay and for a change they sat in the same room and played instead of skyping. This is apparently socialization when one is 13. I pretty much let him go for it as we have a busy month ahead of us and he will not have so much gaming time. 

Adem also went to the movies with his dad and sisters to watch Paul and they went out for dinner. I am not sure what else he got up to as he is not very forthcoming with info and Zak and I were off on our travels. 

Zak play's Rohan, Minecraft, League of Legends, Congregate and has just recently started playing Adventure Quest Worlds again. (He does not play anywhere near as much as his brother but likes to have a turn). He is currently on some quest next to me, collecting Easter eggs for some knights.

As he is more of an outdoors kind of boy, and his latest love is his scooter and the skate park, he and his friend have spent a lot of time at the skate park. They have had quite a few sleep overs in the past few weeks before and after we went away and came back. Zak has doctored his scooter yet again. And has shown me how to change parts and update to the newest handlebars, wheels and grips. I don't think there is very much of the original scooter left!!! Oh, well, at least he is learning something with it.

We went to the beach a couple of times and went for a picnic with friends. There was lots of playing, swimming, movie taking on his new camera and taking pictures. 

He explored a submarine and learned about the history of Holbrook and why there was a submarine in the middle of a country park. 

We visited the sound and vision section of  Screen Words ACMI  in Melbourne. It was a short visit but he managed to fit in some shadow puppet making on screen, 

He saw how light travels through the air, and checked it out from all angles. It was apparently "pretty cool"!

He made a short movie clip by adding sound effects and music to screen actions.

He made a jumping video, you can check it out here... (Zak jumping).

He went shopping and bought himself a really cool ocean lamp. (will take a picture later). And he bought a pencil that was carved from a tree branch with a dragon on it. "Heaps cool!" 

He went to some comedy shows and got to be a guinea pig at Jaymie Wilsons show. He watched the Big Laugh Out shows and was very impressed with the circus acts. (will tell you more about that later).

We visited the dog on the tucker box at Gundegai and also a park at Jugiong. We played lots of word games, did puzzles, played cluedo, played I spy. Learned to read maps, and do maths with distances and times. We did lots of money maths. Tried out some  food from different cultures. Checked out some of the city in Melbourne.  Just to name a few things.  It has been a pretty busy "rest" time down here. :-)

Of course there has been the usual watching of documentaries AND a bit of comedy as this is the flavour of the month. There has also been a bit of reading, but we are on holidays so we are not recording this (ahem learning). We are merely playing you know? 

Hope you have also been having fun!

Hugs and smoochies xoxox

First stop.....Holbrook...Melbourne day 1

On the way to Melbourne, there is a little town called Holbrook which is literally right in the middle of the highway. Its quite a good little set up they have there as the road slows down and the first thing you see is a couple of motels. If you have the time, there are also a few little museums to explore.

Of course being Good Friday, and only 7am, there was not much open as we were leaving,  but we did stop quickly before hitting the road again and checked out the submarine "The HMS Otway" which is conveniently planted in the middle of the park.  Zak had a great time climbing all over it.........exploring...... noting that only the top half was actually there....discussing how it got there...... etc etc etc (Yes we had a slight history lesson the night before courtesy of the motel fact sheets) (and yes there is a link for you if you also would like a short history lesson, I am far too lazy to type it all out for you! :-))

 And he had fun taking pictures of course......

 

"Be careful grandad!"

But the visit was very short lived, as we had to hit the road again in the hopes of getting to Melbourne by lunch time.  

Fast forward.....about four hours.....

Oh, HELLO Melbourne.......and good luck to those of you who were headed in the other direction. Yikes! 

After arriving at our destination and surprising the girls, we all went for a walk up to "High Street",  I have never seen so many shops in one street. This street runs through several suburbs all the way to the city and its ALL shops! I am not much of a shopper but even I could not help but venture out that afternoon and have a little look. We just browsed through the windows and bought back some bread but it was interesting. I loved all the different cultures piled together in the one street too. And a nice long walk to stretch stiff legs after sitting in the car for so long. Again, the streets were clean (Sydney, you really need to get your act together, just sayin') and flat and footpaths everywhere so easy to walk around.

We headed into the city that night via a tram ride! We don't have those where we live. It was a rather bumpy noisy ride. We watched a little of the outdoor comedy entertainment, ran into a few giant bunnies running around the city and then went to watch Jaymie Wilson's show which involves guniea pigs. Lots of laughter and fun and after the show we went to have Pizza which Zak found was extremely HOT! He did order the Chilli option! 

And I did not take ANY pictures! Woops! My bad! It was pretty dark when I realised I had my smaller camera in my bag but it was too dark to take a nice picture. I don't much like cities but I did like the old buildings we saw. I did so love the fashion! Anything goes! Such a nice change from all the Surf wear I see around here.

I liked this building! But as you can see the picture is crappy! I have brightened it a bit so you can actually see but it kind of made it look worse.

Of course, I took another picture in the day time but that happened on Day 3 so you will have to wait for that one! hehe!

Hugs and smoochies xoxox

Its a long way to Melbourne........

So Zak found out the hard way! He was very surprised to learn that what looked like a short way on the map was actually a very long way. He spent the trip mostly taking silly pictures of himself, the traffic and out the window. He kept checking on the map and took the time to try and work out how long each section would take between stops for food and leg stretching!

We are here mum! See?

He learned a bit about how to follow the map, where the petrol stations were, the distances and calculating our speed to the distance and how long it would take to get there. As you pretty much follow the one road all the way to Melbourne it was pretty easy for him to find where we were by checking the signs along the road.

We had a good laugh at many of the road signs across the border, and we noted how lovely the roads were in Victoria! Much nicer than the ones in NSW, thats for sure. We played UNO, and read out some of the cards for Mind scape and tried to answer the questions. And we also played I spy for a couple of hours for the last stretch. Nana, was quite funny with her "turn taking" when it was not her turn! LOL

We saw lots of sheep and horses and cows on the way there and lots of dead animals on the way back :-(  (Kangaroos, possums, a wombat, somebodies dog and even a koala).

We saw a submarine in the middle of the countryside!  (I will show you pics from there tomorrow!), Zak got in a quick climb and play before we hit the road again. 

The trip back was not too bad considering we drove all the way without stopping overnight again, I had my crochet so was occupied, Zak slept a lot. We stopped at a lovely little park at Jugiong on the way back and had some lunch before continuing home. 

Zak says he will NEVER go by car again. LOL! He would much rather fly thank you very much! 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxo

The Big Surprise......

Looking up from Jugiong

Keeping a secret around here is no easy task I tell you! Especially when you are the type of person who cannot really tell a blatant lie...So, when, in my ultimate wisdom, I decided to try and pull a rather big one off last week.......well, things got slightly complicated along the way.

What on earth is she talking about, I hear some of you thinking to yourselves, has she even been gone at all? Yes, I was, I queued up a few posts before I left so no one would be the wiser!

So, I better cut to the chase and tell you exactly what happened. You see, since my sister Blossom and then my daughter Meagan moved to Melbourne (which is a good 960 km at least from where we live), I have never been down for a visit. And since my mum and dad were planning a trip for the Easter weekend and they were driving down to deliver some baby goodies that would be too much to transport via air, and taking Zak along for the ride, I thought...hmmm why not invite myself as well? Whats one more hey? And would it not be fun to surprise the girls? Not too hard right?

Wrong! In our family who are very very close, it only takes ONE person to slip the news and its out there, sooooooooo, SB and myself in cahoots with my Mum and Aunty, decided we would tell NO-ONE and for over a week, our secret was safe, THEN Ashlee came to visit and said, Mum I am coming up for the Easter break.....at which point my face must have shown it all. Woops!

"MUM, you are going to be home right?" ...."Yessss"   "Mummmm", so I lean over and whisper ever so quietly in her ear, so as no-one else can hear and tell her "I am going to Melbourne" "Why?""So I can surprise your sister and aunty!" At this stage, big ears Zak begins to get suspicious and starts stalking me! 

I kid you not, he followed me around and kept asking me questions and trying to catch me out. He was pretty convinced that we were going to the Easter show without him and no matter how much I denied this, he was getting quite worked up about it. Of course Adem thought this was hilarious so egged him on a bit. What are big brothers for after all?

So with this going on and on an on throughout the week, I of course began to feel a bit guilty for keeping secrets.  And several times I nearly let the cat out of the bag. In the end a couple of days before lift off, I caved and told Gemma and Adem that I was going. I did not want them to feel put out. Of course this made the situation with Zak even harder as Adem was now not only in on the secret but tormenting him with a bit more laughter thrown in. 

Next my sister in law came around and wanted to come round for a bbq on Easter Sunday. So of course I spilled the beans to her as well, and swore her to secrecy. I was adamant this surprise was going to work. 

In the end, Zak seemed a little dubious about going to Melbourne without us and on the very day that we were to leave, he almost had a meltdown when we could not find the car plug for the portable dvd player.  I had had enough and figured he would not have time to get on facebook and say anything now so said "What if I come too and we can play games in the car?" "Really? Will Nana let you come?" "Sure, why not?" "Okay!"(And he promptly runs off to choose some games with a smile on his face, well until I said "Let me go pack my bag" and walked out with the already packed bag!) "HEY!!!! You were coming already! Why didn't you tell ME!" He was quite miffed with me for a little while there, but got over it pretty quickly. He was not miffed that I was coming, more miffed at the unnecessary self torturing he had put himself through all week because he thought he was going to miss something. LOL

So after a very long drive, which included a stay overnight halfway. We turned up and as no-one was waiting outside, I went ahead and knocked on the door and then hid on the side a bit. My sisters partner opened the door and saw me and I gave him the shhh sign so he says, no-ones here and slowly began to open the door. By now my little sister was curious and came out to the hall way. I knew the secret and been kept as soon as I saw the look on her face. She looked totally shocked as recognition took form, went white, then screamed and ran into my arms (by now I was a bit worried as you see she is six months pregnant and she was shaking so hard and her heart was racing, indeed, so was mine... I was concerned the shock might not have been so good for her!) Then Meagan heard my voice and came running out and joined in on the BIG hugs! 

So they were surprised alright! And I think they were happy to see me! And while it was fun, I don't think I will try it again! Keeping secrets is far too hard for the likes of me!  I will be going back in July for the birth of that baby who I hope waits that long to make his appearance in the world.

Ahhh, I have never been good at keeping devious secrets! For those of you who are relatively new here, go read this and have a laugh! 

Have a wonderful day all, 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxox

Time for tea.....

and bumming around in ones PJ's, and catching up on washing, and hugging certain peoples, and even though its a public holiday, a day of work for me! (I forgot to do the business accounts before I headed off last week, woops!) 

So while I would love to stick around and tell you all about my weekend, I will have to love you and leave you for another day at least, as my man has insisted that I step away from the computer today and spend the little time I will have left with the family! (well those who are left here, they seem to be leaving the nest like a flock of little birds, eager to fly!) 

I just wanted to let you know that I have safely arrived home from our very long trip and to give you some.....

BIG HUGS AND SMOOCHIES XOXOXOXOX

Hope your Easter weekend was full of LOVE and fun!!!

A few of Zaks pic's

Zak has been having a bit of fun with his new camera, and has discovered lots of things about it. 

He has only been in the water once and as the water was a bit rough, his pictures were a little fuzzy, he seems to prefer taking videos at the moment so we will just have to wait for some underwater shots. I would share the videos but he has too many of other peoples kids in them so I can't. For now here are just a few of his gazillion pictures....

He has of course taken loads of self portraits and has discovered the many differerent settings on the camera, eg. black and white, action and deliberate blurring etc. 

 

 Some of the beach pics are pretty cool too.........

I LOVE this one!!!

Will try and post a few underwater shots soon! 

Hugs and smoochies xoxox

A Pasta Dish....

I made this for the kids this week and they loved it so much I thought I better jot down the recipe. Me making things the same way twice can sometimes prove a challenge.  This dish contains meat but for my vegetarian friends you could substitute the meat with silverbeet, dandelion leaves or spinach. ( I posted a similar recipe for Dandelion pasta here.)

Ingredients...

500g ground beef (or greens of your choice)

2 Onions (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (chopped) 

1 large red pepper/capsicum (chopped)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sweet Paprika

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley 

500g bag pasta (we used large shells) 

About a cup of greek yoghurt 

Sumac

Cayenne pepper powder (optional) 

Ok, boil your pasta till aldente! Strain and set aside in a serving dish. Meanwhile........

Brown your beef, add onions and garlic and cook continuously stirring till the onion softens. Next add the chopped red peppers, paprika, salt and a good shake of cayenne pepper if you like it hot! You want to cook it until the meat looks a little dry. Once done, pour this evenly over the pasta. 

Sprinkle the parsley over the top. Then mix your yoghurt with a little water, just enough to give it a smooth texture so you can pour it over easily, it should still be thick not watery. Sprinkle liberally with Sumac and enjoy!  We chose to accompany this dish with a bean salad dressed with salt, lemon and olive oil. My little carnivores enjoyed this meal immensely!

Lettuce, 5 bean mix, grated carrots, onions and parsley.

Have a beautiful day everyone!

Hugs and smoochies

Karismas Kraft.....

So I have a confession to make......while you all thought I was not blogging, I was actually blogging somewhere else.

I have decided that although some of you said that you  like my craft posts I am still going to go ahead and post them elsewhere from now on. Mainly because I have noticed that people who pop by only for the craft tend not to come back when confronted by daily life etc. Also I would eventually like to add links to other craft/knitting/crochet blogs I like or enjoy. I still have not gotten around to adding back all the other blogs I follow in the side bar but hope to do so soon. (I did not put them all back up when I made the homeschoolers list). My bad!

Of course all the childrens crafty adventures will remain here as this blog is for them too.

So if you would like to keep up with my crafting antics, please head over and click on the follow button! There are several posts to catch up on already! :-) Mind you the housework is still not done. I must work out how to fix the banners properly, they really irk me! LOL

Karismas Kraft blog is here!

Sayre asks........

 What do you think you will do with yourself once your last chick has flown the nest?

 Thanks Sayre, you have had me thinking a lot on this one all week. I guess over the years, like anyone, I have had various ideas and thought that I knew what I would do. When the girls were little my plan was to go back to school, then I had the boys and that changed that theory for me, I am not getting any younger you know and I seem to just get busier and busier as my kids get bigger!  I have to admit that now that idea has pretty much changed in my own head. And I am pretty happy with my decisions.

I would totally love to see myself traveling and seeing new places, spending far more time crafting than I do now (I know, you all think I craft away all day, but I am usually found to be crafting in a multi-purpose kind of way rather than a relaxing one, you know, like while sitting in the car, or at a homeschool outing, or in bed before I close my eyes as I did not have time that day!) I think this habit of trying to squeeze so much into a day so I don't miss out on ever doing these things will more than likely continue after my kids grow up. 

I could see myself in a little cottage, one with a balcony that wraps all the way around with loads of comfy cushion filled places to sit at all the hours of the day, no matter which direction the sun was shining from. And one of those outdoor ovens would be lovely for cold winter days. :-) Of course the whole place would be surrounded with plants creeping right up to the balcony and I would be one happy little camper.  With baskets of wool and fabric to keep me company and of course some animals. Paints a lovely serene picture hey? 

However, if my dreams and my little of gift of sometimes "just knowing" things are going to be a bit different from my wants/needs, then what I actually will be doing is working very hard and keeping busy for a lot longer. You see, my dream of moving to a property is not just a fanciful dream, its something that's been nagging at me for years. Several of these nagging thoughts have been coming together in the past few months and I am beginning to see that they actually serve a purpose.

So what is it that I actually SEE myself doing?  Well, I see that property somewhere surrounded my the great Aussie bushland but with fertile ground and enough room for several buildings, lots of animals and a lot of growing. I see this place as being fully self sufficient and filled with the people that need to be there to make it work. I have dreamed about it continuously over the years, so much so, that it feels like it will be real one day. 

And so, I guess I will still be busy and learning as I go. My re-interest in herbs lately has taken me on a very different course to that which I had first imagined. I have been prompted continuously to take note of all things growing around me and learn what they are and am very surprised to find that so much is actually edible and going to waste. I had thought initially that herbs would be the future I would follow... BUT....they are just a small part of the whole picture. I see the learning as being extremely beneficial but don't see myself having a career out of it. My habit of giving everything away for free would can that one. LOL

I am not sure how/why but my future is going to be about children, lots and lots of children. They keep coming up everywhere, but most prominantly in my dreams. So I feel like I will be either living with them or working with them in some way. 

I would LOVE to have some time to give to writing. Not blog writing, just writing. I have started several books over the years, only to shelve them as I can't give them my full attention and felt they were not up to my level of standard. I really enjoy writing for children and like to include a few subliminal messages in the story. LOL My kids loved my stories when they were little. Ahhh now there is a dream to be able to finish my books and get them published. That would be nice, but who has time right? I would like to think that I could squeeze that in too. 

Hmmmm I dont think things are going to change too much Sayre. I think I am still going to be trying to do too much all the time. But I think I am going to LOVE it! I do so enjoy the occasional quiet day when no-one is home but I am so used to the noise and full house life that although mine are slowly moving out. I still have a full house of kids most days.

I am not totally giving up on my desire for that lovely quiet little cottage. Maybe I could squeeze it on the side of the hill somewhere, on that property, hmmmmm. But you know, I am getting used to this universe throwing what I want back in my face and sending me in the totally different direction I am intended to follow. 

Hugs and smoochies all, 

Have a wonderful love filled day! xoxox

 

Hula Girl asks.........

What was your life like before marriage and children?

Wow Hula! That was so long ago now I am not so sure I really remember... Hmmmm... well, I was a kid myself. Much like any other kid I guess, just living, growing and learning life's lessons. 

I was any only child up until the age of 12 1/2 and of course longed for brothers and sisters of my own. Not that this held me back in any way, I made friends easily although my mum tells me I was very shy. I think I must have only been shy with adults or people I did not trust because I remember loving lots of people and having a lot of friends. My earlier years were spent playing with the boys next door who were very much like brothers to me. We loved, we played, we fought like most siblings would. 

I was one of those kids who befriended EVERYBODY, no prejudice tendencies with me, I even befriended the school bully as I felt so sad for her having no friends. Most people really are good underneath you know! 

This of course extended to animals and I was known to bring home all the local smelly strays, I am sure, much to my parents horror! (although they did occasionally let me keep them) :-) There were always pets in my world.

Our house was also my grandmothers so it was always full of uncles, aunts and cousins who kept me company while I was growing. It was a very loving and FULL family life. 

While I loved being surrounded by people or animals, I was also content to be by myself as  long as I had a pile of books to keep me company (ok there was usually a dog or cat curled up next to me ;-)). I LOVED reading and still do, although my choice of reading materials lately is quiet different.

I was never really into sport but I did love my dancing. I did Tap, Jazz and Ballet for a few years. Until I reached the teens and had better things to do. I was also in the school choir throughout my life and enjoyed singing along with my friends. 

I guess you could say children have been in my life forever. Not always my own but I was always the one carrying around the baby if there was one and when my brother finally came along, I joined the procession of pacers trying to calm him as he was born premmie and had a couple of nasty hernias giving him pain. The first six weeks of his life saw him screaming a lot. We all took turns of comforting and holding him (pacing up and down of course as this seemed to make him feel a bit better) until he finally had his operation and was much more content.  My sister came along 22 months later so our house was full of baby lovliness. 

Of course by then I was a teenager AND I met my SB, who at first was just my friend but soon we were inseperable. I was I think 3 months shy of my 15th birthday when we both knew we were going to be together for a very long time. (ok we were teenagers FOR EVA was more what we thought!)

At this time I was in Year 10 at school and had big plans of becoming a primary school teacher. I did work experience at my old primary school and loved being with the kids who were an endless source of amusement. Life however, had other plans for me.

My family moved away that year and I of course did not take to the move very well. I went of course but did not like where they lived, missed my friends etc and so I left school, went to TAFE for six months to do a secretarial course. Got a job and promptly moved out with SB to our very first apartment. By then I was 16 years old and now as a mother myself, all I can say is OMG MY POOR mother! I was rather mature for my age, and responsible but rather tiny. Looking at my own daugther at that age and how little she was I could not fathom her leaving the nest so young!!! 

So within a couple of months, SB and myself were officially engaged and had a religious ceremony to marry us. We were later legally married at the ripe old age of 18. Those early years went by in a blur as we both worked, paid our bills and pretty much had no social life as we were too exhausted to be bothered. Just before our official wedding, his parents went over seas leaving his 10 year old brother with us so he could continue with his schooling. So I instantly became a mother and that was that. They did not return for 18 months by which time I had a 2 month old as well. Of course handing MY boy back was a very hard life lesson.  One I guess, that probably made my bond with my own even stronger.  So life BEFORE children???? I don't think I really had one.  And life before marriage? Well, we were like a married couple for years before it was legal. A bond is a bond you know? When two hearts truly merge there is no getting between them. And a promise is a promise, regardless of when you make it.

Did I have big dreams? Sure....but life itself is a bit of dream at times isn't it? Do I regret it? NO WAY! 

Mmmmmmmmmm :-)

Hugs and smoochies all xoxox 

Have a beautiful day!

Bear with me.....

My week of so called rest and catching up is running away without me. Its been another busy couple of days around here. Monday was spent with me cleaning, cleaning and cleaning some more. Then a bit of cooking, then a good couple of hours of gardening and planting.  Of course no matter how tired, I manage to fit in a little crafting. My new craft space is slowly filling up with gifts to be gifted........

Tuesday, the kids went to the aquatic centre and played while I went shopping for a Birthday present for Zak. I had such a busy day that I am having a mind blank and can't for the life of me remember what I did for the rest of that day. I do know I was running around a lot though. LOL  Thankfully, amongst the chaos, we found his dream present. Yep! My little camera theif now has his very own camera, "underwater proof to 10m", he is very happy and currently jumping up and down with the need to go snorkelling so he can test it out.....

Wednesday, Zak's Birthday, we had friends and family over for lunch and cake and then a quick trip to the op shops on the way to the dentist for me. Will share bargain buys later. Then  a sleep over which went delightfully well. Not too much noise for 4 little boys! 

Thanks to those that answered me yesterday. None of you asked me any questions though! Is there nothing you want to know? LOL It would be most useful right now while I don't have the time to come up with my own ideas. Of course I have plenty to say, but not enough time to write it down right now. 

Have a beautiful day everyone! 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Question time......

So at the risk of sounding extremely lazy......I have been a bit busy around here this week considering its supposed to be holidays.  I have not had time to write much here but I have been thinking about it. LOL really I have.  I have just been trying to catch up with gardening, cleaning and of course my crafting.

This bit of mischief is now complete and ready to be gifted. This bit of carpet has duly been cleaned too!

I have been up to a bit of crafty mischief which I will tell you about next week. But for now I thought I we would have question time. Ask me some general questions and I will try and answer them over the week. (you know make life easy for me and give me something to say!) 

And perhaps you will answer a couple for me?

I am just wondering........

Why do you follow this blog?   

Are you interested in only certain posts or all? E.g.....Homeschooling, craft, kids, pets....  

Is there anything you would like to hear about? 

If you read or follow but never comment, why not? I have to admit I prefer to hear from you occasionally just so I know I am not talking to myself. Not that I mind doing that, I do it all the time. But its nice to have people to talk to as well. :-) 

Why am I asking all this? Well, I am thinking about making some changes around here so I am interested to see how that may effect what my readers are here to absorb. And as a lot of my long time ago blog friends have been swallowed up by facebook, and most of the people who talk to me these days here are homeschoolers I wonder if this should be purely a homeschooling blog?  Just wondering????? I don't want to be boring you and all. So speak to me, tell me what you like or dislike or are you happy as things are?

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Healing moments.....

Did you miss me? I know Karen did ;-) 

This week has seen me attempting to do something I am rarely able to accomplish......Nothing.....sweet nothing! I am repeatedly inundated with messages to REST and rarely manage it. I am one of those people who has to have something in her hands even if I am sitting down. Sooooooooo.....I, in my usual fashion ended up being totally exhausted and a little unwell this week. Woops. 

I decided to distance myself just a little in the hopes of catching up on a little housework (not too much happened),  but I did manage to clean out Ashlee's bathroom, bedroom and sewing room :-(  Its a bit empty down that end of the house now! 

Rounding up the homeschooling term (not much happened there either, the kids mostly amused themselves while I felt sorry for my sick self LOL) Zak did get started on his Ocean Diarama and probably watched FAR too much TV but he did watch a lot of educational shows. (This means, Mum Mum Mum every few minutes to inform me of what he has just discovered about some animal or other! Deadly and dangerous is one of his very favourite shows, along with Backyard Science, Survivor, Scorpian Island  and more recently behind the news.

So, this is how far he has gone with his diarama....

Step one: Over the space of two days, paint, paint and paint some more......do ensure that you refrain from thinking of newspaper BEFORE you paint the tiles....just sayin'....gotta get it right you know...

StepTwo: Go outside and retrieve some of the shells you threw out last year from the garden..(lucky mum has white rocks out there so she did not pick them up and dispose of them, they blended in quite well) ........

Step Three:  After liberally applying GLUE to the floor, pour on a good half a bucket of sand, leaving room for lots to fall out......the more the better you know, we want it to be authentic.....(mum has suggested that now we fold up some of the entry flap to keep that sand inside the box....mum kind of thought something like this would happen, hence the flap left on the front of the box.)

to be cont....(over the next few weeks) 

I will give you one guess where Adem has been! (Ahem Computer Land). He has however, aside from gaming away with his friends from far and wide on this earth been learning to program a bit using Cocoa. He is absolutely thrilled with this in only the way a 13 year old would be. His dad says if he wants to spend all his time gaming he can learn the ropes. LOL

We did fit in some learning endeavours.....like studying the different shapes of leaves and naming them....coz you know even if mum is not well....there is always time for plants....and we had noticed that our seedlings were all spouting some interesting new leaves.....we collected a bunch of different leaves from the garden, checked them out....compared shapes and sizes......drew them in our art books and labelled them......you know, just for something to do.....

So of course ME resting meant, me studying on my back, reading herbals (aren't I exciting? LOL), the occasional trip to the garden, reading up a lot on edible weeds and native bush foods, making herbal medicines, cooking (because we still have to eat you know) and of course crocheting........not really finishing much but crocheting none the less.....well I did finish this one.....so easy, make two hexagons and fold them in halves, join the back.........

and then there was this.....

Works in progress....... 

Green star sweater 

This one is a Hoodie and has been put on the back burner due to the sleeves causing me some havoc, need to feel better to finish this one.....lol....I do so LOVE the pattern though and the Aran wool is so soft and lovley....

And as it is getting rather cold down here lately and I am in desperate need of new clothes.....and at the risk of me having to go shopping! Arghhhhhhh........I thought I'd better start on making myself some clothes....... so.......this is going to be a cardigan for me.....YES Alicia, a holey one, just because I love it when you yell at me when I wear holey cardigans! LOL And you know if I am cold I will put on a REAL jumper!

 Baby soakers, in cotton...halfway there....weird pattern calls for the elastic part to be stitched later, will see how it goes and get back to you with how it turns out........

Yep! That was ME resting! And I am feeling much the better for it too!

OH and we watched the second Narnia movie, so I did sit down a bit. LOL 

I do have to admit, today is the first day I FEEL a little like ME again. I was beginning to feel a bit dispondant and miserable. A very long walk at the beach last night revived me a little. :-) And I think the sun finally coming out today has made it all better! God bless the sun, it is truly a most wonderful thing!

Today I am off to my brothers for a BBQ and maybe trotting off to a book sale later. Maybe. I don't really NEED any books but I could always squeeze in a few more. :-)

Have a beautiful day and a glorious sun shiny weekend!

Much love and light to all. 

Hugs and smoochies lovelies xoxoxoxox