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You are here: Home / Archives for NZ Filbruns

NZ Filbruns

Mid-October Gardening

October 26, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We’ve been trying to get the garden planted over the last couple of weeks, and spending a lot of time weeding what we planted in August.  The day we planted peas, Little Miss wanted to help! She only got one packet open, and thankfully, peas are large enough we were able to pick them all up out of the grass.IMG_2114

My boys planted all the peas. It’s a little amusing, now that they are coming up, to see exactly how they were planted! Some rows have long empty spots, and other spots are pretty thick. Oh, well, peas are pretty forgiving. This is Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Intellectual, who was in charge of the planting. I dug the rows this time.

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Soon, Mr. Diligent and Mr. Imagination showed up to help. I think it was about here that the planting started looking funny!

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After I had all the rows dug for the peas, I started planting onions. The onion seedlings were a lot larger this year than most years. They’re looking pretty good.

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We’re eating stuff that we planted last year, still, as well as some Bok Choy that I set out in September. Here is Silverbeet (Swiss Chard), celery, spring onions, broccoli, and some cabbage that was going to seed (I cut off the leaves and used them), from last year’s garden. The carrots were from the shop; we ran out of our own awhile ago.

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Potato planting! Esther came out and helped Gayle and Mr. Inventor. She wanted to discuss the plot for a movie the children were making with the boys, and that was the only way she could talk to them that day.

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I’ve been cooking weeds more this spring than ever before. I harvested stinging nettle from the area in the bottom photo, as well as other areas that grew up in weeds. I also use mallow. I cook them together in chicken broth, blend them thoroughly, and freeze them in muffin tins to put in soups later. Mr. Imagination named the concoction for me—prickle mallow soup!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Canterbury, Garden, Homemaking, Miller Street house

Baby Bookworm

October 23, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Little Miss loves books already. Her very favorite story is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? She loves the colorful pictures, as you can see in this video. This is put together from a number of different readings. In real life, she gets a lot more excited than we were able to capture on video.

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Baby, Books, Little Miss, Video

Sweet Little Children

October 22, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are some recent pictures of some of my favorite little people.

First is a picture of both of my daughters.

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Little Miss has been standing up without support lately. This was the first day she was doing it, and she only did it that day on the edge of the kitchen door! She was enthralled with Mr. Imagination playing with that stool! I couldn’t get a picture of her standing up because she went down again so fast.

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Little Miss, watching us working in the garden.

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Helping Daddy take the sprouts off potatoes.

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Little Miss loves the baby geese—look at her mouth!

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Mr. Imagination wanted to make a recipe video. He really didn’t know where he was going with it—just wanted to make one. He was going to use water and cooked rice. Then, he spilled the water, and then my memory card filled up so we had to quit.

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She was thrilled to be outside!

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This is jealousy. Little Miss was unhappy with Mr. Imagination being on my lap.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Baby, Little Miss

Prayers That Changed History–a book review

October 19, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I’ve recently signed up for a couple of programs in which I can get free books in exchange for reviewing them. I’m primarily reviewing them for Esther’s website (www.ignitelit.com), but occasionally I’ll be posting a review on this blog as well because some of the publishers require that. So, read it if you’re interested, skip it if you’re not!

To read my review, please go to this page on Learning Resource Directory.

 

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review

Goofy Turkey and Cute Geese

October 18, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I was hanging laundry last Saturday morning when someone knocked on the window to get my attention. I looked where they were pointing and saw the funniest sight I’ve seen in a long time. Can you see it? IMG_2123

Yes, that is a turkey carrying a bucket by its handle! Our best guess is that he was showing off for the ladies. There are two toms right now in the flock of turkeys, and frequently we see both of them strutting at the same time. They will actually run with their tails fanned out and their wings dragging, to keep up with the ladies!

We have two baby geese now, the first time we’ve ever had that species of baby in the house! They are so different from chicks or ducklings. They really interact with us. They hate being locked in their box, and beg to be taken outside every day. They are already eating grass (and when we were setting out baby lettuces the other day they pulled two up). Last evening, Little Miss was playing outside, and crawled over to the wire basket under which the goslings were. She let them out, and then chased them.IMG_2104IMG_2130

I thought it was pretty cute the way they slept  with their necks together this time!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Animals, Canterbury, Miller Street house

Dead Boring Concert 2015

October 15, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago was the annual Dead Boring concert. Each family has the opportunity to perform for the entire group. Some families perform a skit, or recite poetry, or play instruments. Our children always sing, and this year Mr. Intellectual recited a funny poem as well.

The first song our children sang was Lift Your Glad Voices.

Lift Your Glad Voices

Lift your glad voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus hath risen, and man cannot die;
Vain were the terrors that gathered around Him,
And short the dominion of death and the grave;

He burst from the fetters of darkness that bound Him,
Resplendent in glory to live and to save!
Loud was the chorus of angels on high,
The Savior hath risen, and man shall not die.

Glory to God, in full anthems of joy;
The being He gave us death cannot destroy:
Sad were the life we must part with tomorrow,
If tears were our birthright, and death were our end;

But Jesus hath cheered the dark valley of sorrow,
And bade us, immortal, to Heaven ascend
Lift then your voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus hath risen, and man shall not die.

Their second song was “Beulah Land”.

Beulah Land

Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling;
Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand;
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling;
None of these shall move me from Beulah Land.

Refrain:
I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky,
I’m drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry;
Oh, yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply,
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.

Far below the storm of doubt upon the world is beating,
Sons of men in battle long the enemy withstand;
Safe am I within the castle of God’s Word retreating;
Nothing then can reach me—’tis Beulah Land.

Let the stormy breezes blow, their cry cannot alarm me;
I am safely sheltered here, protected by God’s hand;
Here the sun is always shining, here there’s naught can harm me;
I am safe forever in Beulah Land.

Viewing here the works of God, I sink in contemplation;
Hearing now His blessed voice, I see the way He planned;
Dwelling in the Spirit, here I learn of full salvation;
Gladly I will tarry in Beulah Land.

After the singing, Mr. Intellectual stayed on the stage and recited, “When Daddy Fell Into the Pond”.

Daddy Fell Into the Pond

Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And there seemed to be nothing beyond,
THEN
Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone’s face grew merry and bright,
And Timothy danced for sheer delight.
“Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!
He’s crawling out of the duckweed.”
Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,
And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft
And is sounded as if the old drake laughed.

O, there wasn’t a thing that didn’t respond
WHEN
Daddy fell into the pond!

Filed Under: Away From Home Tagged With: Dead Boring Concert, Video

More School Pictures (the different kind)

October 13, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

School happens around here in all different sorts of ways. One Sunday afternoon after church, the boys were doing geometry without knowing it. They took these puzzle pieces and laid them out in different shapes, then challenged each other to form a cube. They were soon able to visualize if a pattern would work or not. Two of the big boys have been doing that in Math recently; their Math books called the shape the “net” of the solid form.IMG_2032

Esther saw this in a video online recently, so she demonstrated it for us. Take a saucer or plate of milk, and add drops of food coloring at random spots. Then, drop one drop of dish soap in the middle. It was incredible to watch the colors swirling and sort of boiling around on the plate!

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We’ve been doing exercises together every morning lately. I learned awhile ago that some of my boys cannot touch their toes! They need to limber up, and I just need some exercise, so we do it this way, Here you can see Mr. Handyman and Mr. Inventor doing squats, and Mr. Imagination watching.

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Little Miss loves helping her brothers with their school! Here, she is on Mr. Inventor’s shoulders.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homeschooling

Extra September 2015 Pictures

October 11, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last of the pictures from September that I thought Grandma might like to see.

Mr. Handyman wanted me to see how much loose hay we have left, so he took a picture, and Mr. Imagination wanted in the picture!IMG_1867

One of my little boys (can’t remember anymore which one) brought me this bouquet one Sunday afternoon at church.

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Little Miss playing on the floor at church.

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Another chick in the house! This was the first to hatch, so we brought it in to feed it till we knew if more would hatch.

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Does Little Miss want to go along with her big brother and sister, when they travel to America next month?

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More chicks hatched! We kept them in the house a couple of days, till we were sure no more would hatch, then gave them back to their mother, who is happily raising them.

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More little tomato plants! I counted them out in the greenhouse last week. I only have 166! Think that will be enough?

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Mr. Inventor and his favorite little sister.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Canterbury, Miller Street house, Random Photos

Bacon Bone Soup

October 9, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Since moving to New Zealand, we have learned about bacon bones. It’s not easy to get all the meat off some of the bones of a pig, of course, so often a lot of meat will be left on deliberately. Then, the meat is brined just like ham or bacon, and smoked, and sold as bacon bones. A favorite winter soup here is Bacon Bone Soup. Gayle got hungry for it recently, so he bought a bunch of pig tails (attached to a long portion of the backbone) and turned them into bacon bones for us. I thought maybe some of you would be interested in this delicious soup.

I first cook the bones for several hours with plenty of water.IMG_2081

Then, take out the bones and add vegetables. This time, I used potatoes, carrots, and onions. Sweet potato is also very good in it. Cook till soft; add black pepper and maybe a bay leaf. Debone the meat and add it back in.

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Enjoy this delicious soup! I felt like we needed more protein, so I made filled eggs to go with it.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking, Recipes

Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination

October 7, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

These two little boys are a lot of fun! Mr. Sweetie just turned six, and Mr. Imagination is three and a half, and they add a lot of enjoyment to our lives. We are so thankful to have them. Mr. Diligent was already nearly four when Mr. Sweetie was born, our biggest gap between children, and we were wondering if there would be anymore babies. Here are a few glimpses into what the two of them have been up to lately.

I got a package in the mail one day, and Mr. Sweetie turned the packaging into a hat!IMG_2062

When Mr. Sweetie was done with it, Mr. Imagination took it over.

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Mr. Inventor made a robot mask out of a piece of cardboard packaging from another parcel, and Mr. Sweetie dressed up!

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Mr. Sweetie helped Esther make the pavlova for his birthday a week or so ago.

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Mr. Imagination made a bed for himself and his baby, and I tucked Little Miss in with him. She loved it! She adores her big brothers.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Boys, Joseph, Nathan

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The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

Boy #3, Mr. Intellectual

Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

Boy #5, Mr. Sweetie

Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

Girl #2, Little Miss

Girl #3, Miss Joy

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