Back yard campfire

We were planning to go camping these holidays, but couldn't due to covid.  One of our favourite things about autumn and spring camping is having fires every morning and evening, so we decided to have a little campfire in our back yard a few nights.  Not quite the same, but was still fun.  We roasted marshmallows and cooked damper.

Mother's Day

I had a beautiful day for Mother's Day last weekend.  I was treated to a lie in, followed by the most beautiful handmade cards, then an amazing pancakes spread for breakfast made by Stefan and Zac.  My kids indulged me by playing Ticket to Ride with me (they know how much I love it) and then we went for a family bike ride along the rail trail near Bonegilla.  A simple, beautiful day.

Maths game

Zac and Holly playing a maths game that Holly made up for school.

Circuit for a brain break

Last month Holly made up a physical activity circuit for the three of them to do.  Was heaps of fun and a great brain break!  Here's a video.

Happy Claudia

Claudia's loving using the borrowed school laptop to make videos of herself.  We've watched this one over and over, and it's given us the giggles every time!

Online games

We've been doing a few online games with various family members during this isolation period.  Not quite the same as doing them in person, but nice to interact online in a different way to just talking.

Here's a photo of Code Names with Oma.  I haven't taken any other photos of online games yet, but I'm sure there'll be more chances.

March trip to Sydney

Some photos from our trip back in March.  Feels like a million years ago now.  Was just on the cusp of the world changing completely due to the pandemic.  Think it was probably the last weekend we could have done it.  So glad we could do it.

At the party:

Physio with Grandpa:

Proud to be driving the wheelchair:

Cards for Grandpa on his actual birthday:

Learning at home

With everything going on in the world at the moment, it seemed like a good time to take up blogging again.  I don't know how long it will last, but I figured it would be good to have a record of what's going on at the moment for us.

Our learning at home journey started a week or so before it officially became a thing.  We came back from Sydney having been at Dad's 80th birthday, an event which we were all incredibly happy and thankful to be at....

... and we were a little sick.  Nothing major, just colds but that week the world was starting to change, and it seemed wise to stay away from school.  So we started doing some learning at home.  We made up our own daily schedule, picked some activities to do, and got on with it.  It was quite fun that week!

 All at the same table.

Zac doing art.

Claudia did her own made up science lesson (blending up all the green things she found in the yard!)

Holly replicated a science experiment they'd done at school the previous week.  Seeing which slice of bread grew mould the fastest (touched with - hands washed with soap, hands cleaned with hand sanitiser, a computer keyboard, dirty hands and a control slice).

Learning to read

It's an amazing journey watching, and being part of teaching, someone learning to read.  Zac has started school this year, and he's going so great with his reading. It's really exciting to see the new learning which takes place every day.  To spend time reading with him and listening as he works out words on his own.  To watch his eyes opening to the world around him, seeing words everywhere, and beginning to realise he can actually make sense of them.

He received this certificate at assembly the other day.

I'm loving watching him use this skill, and learning how to read.

The best part of my day

Every now and again in the parenting journey, you have one of those moments.  The kind that just make it all worth it, the kind that you replay over in your mind, and never want to forget.  I had one of those the other day.

Holly had been out with Stefan that afternoon, for some daddy/daughter time.  At the end of their park trip, they picked up some decorative note cards from Spotlight, and while I was out at the supermarket later on, they wrote a few notes to people.  Holly had chosen to write one to Zac.  It said something along the lines of "Dear Zac, I hope you feel better soon, love Holly".  (Zac is sick with a nasty virus.)  She'd then put it on his pillow for him to find that night.

When Zac climbed into bed that night, he found the note.  After carefully working out all the words, he immediately hopped out of bed, knocked on Holly's door, and thanked her for the card.  "You're welcome", she replied.  Then in bed just after that, Zac shared that the best part of his day was getting the note from Holly.

Simple but so beautiful.  Definitely the best part of MY day.

Emma!

On Monday, Claudia and I (with Liam and Kara) were lucky enough to be able to go to the Emma concert.  It was so much fun!!  Claudia just loved it.  Such a joy to watch her dance and try to follow Emma's every move.  And we were lucky enough to be able to say hi to Emma afterwards!

She's been talking about Emma non-stop since then. :)

Summer family fun

Some photos from our time in Sydney in December.  So much fun and such lovely memories.

Lunch with Claudia

Today is a glorious spring day, and Claudia wanted to eat her lunch outside.  I took it out to her, fully ready to give it to her, and head back inside to get on with some jobs.  But I changed my mind at the last minute, and sat with my sweet nearly 3 year old, in the middle of the trampoline.  We didn't say much, I just watched her as she ate the different bits of her lunch.  I was so tempted to hop up and grab the camera from inside, to capture the moment, but I didn't want to disturb her as she methodically ate her way through her most favourite bits, to her least favourite.  And so as I watched her, I tried to sear her beauty into my memory.  The way she sat in her undies and t-shirt, soft chubby legs gently crossed in front of her.  Her wild, golden curly hair, escaping from underneath the silver Santa hat (she calls it her 'wake up Emma' hat) that she insists on wearing everywhere at the moment.  Her cheeks, flushed from climbing the cubby house in the sun earlier.  The way she was completely absorbed in the simple task of eating her lunch, blissfully unaware of the adoring scrutiny of her mother.

Snow video

Kids using their snow paddles from Holland.  So much fun!

 

Fun at the snow

Some photos from our trip to Falls Creek yesterday: