And here we are at the end of August again! I’ve been spending my spare time packing. I hope to do everything we can do without for a week or two in the kitchen, today. Gayle has next week off work, and we plan to load all we can into the container, then get that moved. He and the boys will also move the outside stuff, including firewood, and then next Saturday we hope to move the last of our things and the animals. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what goes into the container and what doesn’t—what can we live without for a week or two, in case the container doesn’t get moved on schedule? It’s an interesting exercise. At this point, I’m thinking we need to keep out mattresses (but bed frames can go in), table, benches and chairs, clothing (and dressers), some food, and just basic dishes for cooking and eating. We can sit on the floor in the living room for a little while, although I do want to keep my rocker/recliner: I need a comfortable place to sit down once in awhile! Busy week ahead. Anyway, here are this month’s pictures that I haven’t already shared.

We took one, and then two lambs with us to church and Dead Boring for a couple of weeks. They’re big enough now not to need so many feeds, so we can leave them home now.One Sunday afternoon, we went to the waterfall north of Kaikoura to see the baby seals. We were almost too late; most had already gone out to sea. There were seven, though, and a couple were really putting on a show just upstream from the beach. They are so graceful in the water!

After watching the seals for a bit, we walked across the road to the beach and watched the big waves. It was high tide, and the waves were really crashing up and over a large rock right below us. Two boys had fun running out onto that rock between waves, then dashing back to safety. The cliff in the picture above was across the road, over the path back to the waterfall.

One of our boys (Simon) is getting some practice fabricating. He cut apart a broken sack bearer, then welded it back together to make this small one for his little brothers.

We have three teenagers now! We had an informal birthday party for the birthday boy (Simon), and he requested this game.

We’ve had a bad flu go through the house this week. The youngest got it first, and was down two days. Several days later I got it and was in bed for three days. Two other boys got it right after I did, and they were down for two days each. A few days later, three more got it; one was down only a day, but the other two for two days. This morning, everyone is feeling better! We’re praying that Gayle and Esther don’t get it. The downside of homeschooling (from a child’s perspective) is that sick days don’t mean days off school! Teacher Mom insists that they do at least a little! This boy did extra, though; he completed three lessons yesterday while he was down sick!

This little boy loves his books! One of his most common sayings right now is, “Can’t read it!” as he presents you with a book he wants to hear. The boy who made the sack bearer also made this cradle by cutting apart a big plastic drum and putting wooden ends on. In my opinion, it’s too tipsy for the new baby, which is who he intended it for, but the first day this little boy loved it as a place to sit and read.