LC

Elsie believes it is time again for a post all about her! She attended another sword class yesterday. With the half hour drive to get to the academy, we had to leave relatively early to be there only 15 minutes late. Else was quite determined to be there so ended up dressing all three littlies, getting them in the car, and finally herding the others to the vehicle while I threw together some on-the-go brunch. There's a public library not far from the academy, so the other children and I spent the hours playing at the library. Emily brought me a never ending stream of books to read aloud to her. Now see, I didn't write a whole post just about Elsie. And Elsie thinks that's unfair. So I'll finish off with a link to her new blog. http://www.lc-justme.blogspot.com/

My Knight in Shining Armour

Willem loves to dress up just as much as the little girls. He's also been sparring with Elsie, and he takes swords and swordfighting very seriously. He draws his sword from its scabbard with much gusto, and thrusts it forward towards his enemy. This is usually accompanied by a hearty warcry. He advances towards his foe with the footwork of a swordmaster and weilds his weapon with the courage of a lion. All this at just two years of age!

Sewing

Beth is continuing her sewing career by starting on a dress. I posted last year about the quilt block Beth completed, and I'm happy to say she has progressed very well. Of course, she may not finish the project until Christmas ... 2010! No, she'll finish it before then, but she is very methodical and particular about each and every seam.

After she cut out the pattern pieces, Beth and I both thought some machine practice would be a good idea. My only warning was that she should not try to stop the needle moving with her hands. Just take her foot off the treddle.

The really weird thing is that she is learning on the very machine that I learnt on thirty years ago. Good equipment never dies, it just gets passed on down.

Using the Rods

Over the Christmas break I ordered a double tin of coloured (Cuisenaire) rods. They arrived at the local post office at Wallaby Scrub, along with a pack of base 10 blocks. I've encouraged the children to experiment with them, and this is what Lilly and Emily came up with.

Emy's pointy hat... or spikey hair.

Lilly's robot with a bellybutton.

The 'masterpiece'.

Picnic Time

We enjoyed a lunch in the park yesterday. Something we haven't done for a while. Elsie took a class at the 'academy' and then put in a couple of hours work in the shop polishing the swords. The children and I had some time to kill, so shopping, picnic and a trip to the book shop helped us do that.

I couldn't resist these photos of the children lazing around in the park.

Why Play With Toys When...

...when you can play with bottle brushes!

Foiled!

Haha! We've foiled those two puppies of ours. Being such little things they could easily slip under the new fence and run, unhindered, to the neighbours' yards. They go at full speed to the fence, barking and bristling, and then the neighbour's dog starts running up and down the fence line, also barking. Then they stop, look at each other, and look a little dumb struck. "OK, so what do we do now?" So today, we wired 'vermin netting' to the bottom of the wire fence, and even bricked up some bits. Jack ran down the back of the paddock calling for Spuddy to follow. She ran back and forth, to each of her favourite escape holes, but was unable to follow. Of course, we didn't have to test Belle... she's u bi' fick and just follows Spud. Also spent all afternoon performing the first mow of the new turf. Luckily I had to mow half a yard of unturfed, wild grasses. Oh, it was sooooo good, it reminded me of my paddock at Wallaby Scrub.

Emily turns 6!

Happy 6th Birthday, Emily Joy

We all celebrated Emily's sixth birthday on Friday. She woke up at the crack of dawn and stood at my bedroom door hoping John and I would wake. When everyone was awake and on our bed, Emily took the centre position ready to receive her gifts. All the children had made her birthday cards, and her Aunty Sandy had sent one, too. Toys and clothes made up the presents.

John had the day off work (to prepare for his course) and took four of the children shopping. Emy came home with another parcel, ran upstairs, and then presented herself in her new outfit...

(Can you see Jessica? She's wearing one of Emily's new birthday presents. I think she is also eyeing off the princess dress.)

Party pies, fish fingers, chewy lollies and a more sophisticated platter of deli meats were enjoyed by all that evening. Orange cordial washed it all down, and made a bit more room for the icecream.