Treasured Moments (6)

The last day of the week, and the last day of another year.  It's a nice time to reflect on all that 2011 brought us with its challenges and successes. 

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read alouds or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

You are invited to join us at the end of every week and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting.

My Treasured Moments this week are:  

1.  A whole week of being together.  No work for Papa.  No after school activities.  That's always a first to put on my list when it happens. (smiles!)

2. A day at the beach with family yesterday.  Papa's brother was visiting for a holiday from Queensland with his family.  We grabbed the boogie boards, sunscreen, some lunch and took off for most of the day.  Watching the cousins have a great time together was very special.

3. Time catching up with my sister and her family, who are visiting from Canberra, happened today.  Wow, that little nephew of mine has grown (5yrs old).  He just loved being outside with the chickens and our dog, Midgy.

4. We've been painting out the bedrooms.  Mariposa's and our rooms have been a harder slog than we thought, but looking great now they're done.  Maestro's room is next on the list, with the carpet coming up as well.

5. An opportunity to pet-sit for our next door neighbour came up for Mariposa.  While I had to supervise with the locking of doors, etc., she independently did her list of chores admirably for 4 days.  This morning, our neighbour arrived home and thanked her.  Mariposa now has a paying pet-sitting job whenever she goes away.

6. We enjoyed Maestro's reading of his latest written work.  He's always enjoyed writing, but it's even more fun listening to him read it out aloud with all the inflections in his voice and pausing for the comical moments.  Seriously, I think we should get this child some acting lessons!  He had us in stitches as he read a version of the little droid, Joey, from an alternative tale of Star Wars.

It's going to be a VERY HOT week here in Melbourne, over the next few days.  Today was quite warm, but there's a lot more heat to come.  I hope you all stay well hydrated, and enjoy Summer now it's here. 

Treasured Moments (5)

 It's the quiet but late hours of the day, well past my bedtime.  I've just finished watching the final episode of "Pride and Prejudice" on tv, then thought I'd make a quick stop here before calling it a night.

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read alouds or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

You are invited to join us at the end of every week and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting.

My Treasured Moments this week are:  

 

1.  This week has been the wrapping up of most of our 'after school' activities.  Dance lessons are finished, art lessons are finished, and some of my piano and singing students are on vacation until February.  So, we've shared goodbyes and well wishes for a lovely summer break.

2.  On Wednesday night, I joined a group of local Christian homeschoolers for an encouragement night.  25 mums were there, and there are plenty more local homeschoolers in the area who couldn't attend that night.  Some I already knew, but there were new acquaintances made and a lovely atmosphere.  We had too much food to share, lovely notebook/pen gifts, and a guest speaker, who is now watching her homeschooled children raise their homeschooled children.

My thanks to a dear friend (I hope you're reading this!) for encouraging me to attend, and for all the work you did in helping organise this lovely evening. (Hugs!)

3.  Monday saw myself, Maestro and his friend attend another digital sound excursion at the Soundhouse. This time he did a 2 hour session called "Film Soundtrack Creator", which extended on the knowledge he'd learnt in August about music technology.  (During this time, Mariposa spent most of the day with a friend.)

4. Maestro's interest in this music field then led me to explore some options for further education.  I spent some time looking at what is usually offered at schools, especially for VCE and then TAFE and universities.  He could have a number of options open to him, but one thing is for certain, I'm very glad that he has a strong music background and is already playing an instrument well, as that's half the battle won.  He's only 13 at the moment, but if he continues along this path, he should do well to be admitted in a course that will interest him further down the line.

5. Mariposa has blossoming in her desire to cook.  She has initiating lots of cooking here, with all it's marks of creativity.  She's invented a version of vanilla pudding that takes only 2 mins in the microwave, but by far her best effort was a lovely creamy mango icecream.  It tasted like one of those Weis bars, but with only a few natural ingredients.  Yummo!  It's just a shame that we've almost used all of those mangoes now.
(I'll post the recipe in my next post.)

Treasured Moments (4)

We've been away in Echuca again.  Warm weather, fresh air, lots of adventurous activities ... plenty of treasured moments to tell you about! :)

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read alouds or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

You are invited to join us at the end of every week and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting.

My Treasured Moments these past 2 weeks were: 


1. We're really enjoying having Papa home on vacation.  It's a change of pace for everyone, and we were away in Echuca for almost a week, soaking up some lovely sunshine and breathing in fresh air. It was even warm enough to enjoy a swim in the outdoor pool.

2.  Ten pin bowling with friends.  They were giving each other such great support .. we were a very noisy group!

3.  Maestro, Papa and I had a go at some archery.  Some pretty keen shooting went on there!
(Mariposa opted for a group horseride instead that day.)

4.  Mariposa had her first ever canoe paddle with me, down the Murray River.  Maestro also came along, but was in another canoe.  We were in a group with a total of seven canoes.

5.  Our Maestro is now officially a TEEN!  Yes, he has just turned 13.  We bought him some Bear Grylls' survival gear he'll be able to use when we go camping and hiking.

6. There's more fun to come, as Papa still has another week and a half at home.  We'll be back to lessons with the children, but will escape for a few extra outings whenever we can.

Treasured Moments (3)

We started off having a lovely weekend, but today I'm the one who's ill, unfortunately.  Having slept most of the day away, my tummy's decided I'm peckish again.  So, whilst I'm sipping some hot tea and dry toast, I thought I'd make an entry into my blog again. Besides, it's nice to reflect back on the good things that happened during the week.

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read alouds or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

You are invited to join us at the end of every week and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting.

My Treasured Moments this week are:  

1.  The children have had a week of minimal screen time, which means playing lots of games, chatting, baking and catching up with friends. We've had time at the park, been out for a lovely luncheon with other families, and had Mariposa's friend spend a day and evening with us. I felt like this has been a great week for settling back into 'getting to know you' time.  Yesterday, in particular, I was delighted with the level of conversations that were happening here.

2. I've started reading a couple of new books, on loan from friends.  The first is "The Soloist".  It's a very moving book about how a journalist chances to meet with an accomplished musician. This man has extraordinary talent, but how did he come to be living on the streets?  I'm about 1/3 or way into this book, and I get the feeling that this journalist is learning what many of us would need to learn in order to really HELP someone .. there's no easy quick fix.

The other book I'm reading is called "Hold on to Your Kids".  This is all about attached parenting, and building wholesome relationships in the family.

3. Today, the children were wonderful helping out around the house and looking after me with extra pillows and drinks of water.  I even had the window opened so I could see the lovely day outside, and smell the native frangipani which has just come into flower.

Treasured Moments (2)

Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting is away at the moment, but I thought I'd still do my week's worth of treasured moments.

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read alouds or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

You are invited to join us at the end of every week and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting

My Treasured Moments this week are:  

 

1. Last weekend was my Dad's 70th 'surprise' birthday party.  Those of my family who could get together were there.  Dad seemed really happy to see us all in one place, and having lots of bouncy grandchildren to play with was a special bonus!  We bought him a musical birthday card, which could record a vocal message.  When he opened the card he heard us all yell out 'Happy Birthday Grandad!", then it played a lively country jig .... which I said he could dance to in celebration of his retirement.


2. We're planning some bedroom renovations with the children.  Each child has an idea of some things they'd like to change, and now that they are a little older, we're giving them some more ownership and responsibility.  It's been lovely watching them get excited about what they could do and sharing ideas together. 



3. This was Mariposa's 'week off' from bookwork.  That means she gets to do lots of 'unschooling' activities. One of her priorities was sorting through her books and toys.  We also took time to go op-shopping together and she found some lovely summer tops and skirts.  She had fun trying to find some outfits for me also.

4. Maestro had more time to do his bookwork with me, due to Mariposa's week off, and we have especially enjoyed reading his Sonlight history book "Caesar Augustus".  Very easy to read and understand; we're 1/2 way through it now.

Later, I'm sure I heard him say "Yay, Mum's going to help me more with my maths this week!" in his put-on 'cutsie' voice.  I realised then that he must be finding the NSM Singapore maths challenging, so we spent lots of time together going through that.  He's covering Fibonacci sequences, so I'm sourcing some more living maths books for him.  It was a good reminder that (i) he needs to let me know when he's struggling, and (ii) I need to clue in more to his needs / read his textbook ahead, so he doesn't feel lost.


5. Both of the children have been working fabulously together using the ACID digital music program.  My husband found he had a sample program already, so it's been downloaded to the family computer and both children enjoy working at compiling their own masterpieces.

Treasured Moments (1)

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?

Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read alouds or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?

Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.

We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?

... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

You are invited to join us at the end of every week and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting

My Treasured Moments this week are:  

1. Taking time with the children to enjoy our trip to the city for an appointment, and having lunch together rather than just rushing back home.  

2. Working together in the garden, planning our new space for a greenhouse and potting up more herbs. We all got involved, and I was so happy to see the children get excited about some new projects.


3. Both children are getting more creative with their cooking, so I'm having to relax and let that happen so they can learn. Timeframes for mealtimes need to be a little more lenient until the methods are well established. There are just so many lessons to learn when preparing food.  So, many treasured moments in the kitchen, and in the eating afterwards!

4. Mariposa worked on a lovely pastel picture, as well as a cake from a new recipe, to give to her horseriding teacher. The joy she had in presenting this was so lovely.  

5. We took another impromptu moment yesterday to catch up with friends for a cuppa. Four mums and ten children had an absolute ball relaxing for afternoon tea and a chat (well, and a few other boisterous games with the children!)

To join in you are welcome to add your post on Seven Little Australians and Counting using the Mr. Linky form (please link to the individual post) and include a link back to Erins post. If you haven't a blog we would still love to hear your voice, just leave your stories in the comments