Random Photos

5-year-old Photographer

January 21, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

My five-year-old begs for my camera every so often. Sometimes I let him have it, and it’s interesting to see what he comes up with. (Good reason to buy a cheap camera?) Here are the most interesting/best of the pictures I found on the memory card last time I looked at them after he had it.

His little brother wearing the crowns some of the boys made for the Christmas Eve service.

Little brother “sweeping” the front porch.

All the boys spent hours for a few weeks, building this town out of mud in the dry creek bed (they hauled water from the tap).

Little brother rolling in the grass.

The boys have spent many hours building different things out by one of the sleepouts (the one close to the kitchen). They often have the CD player playing a recorded story. The boys who aren’t actively involved in building lounge around, listening, till Mom comes up with a job! I frequently hear requests to turn the CD player off for a minute while someone runs a noisy tool. Can’t miss a word of the story, you know!

This young photographer took my camera outside again the other evening, but I haven’t looked at the pictures yet. I suspect they won’t turn out very well, since the flash doesn’t work. He likes to take videos, but they are the type to make you seasick!

December Pictures

January 10, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yes, I’m a bit late, but here are some more pictures from December. And, by the way, we are still waiting for baby to arrive. It’s due in a couple more days, but I won’t be surprised if it’s late—we’ll see! We’re pretty anxious to meet this little one and see who he/she is!

The day after Grandma left, the two littlest boys decided to lay in her bed and study a leaflet we got at Willowbank.

We cleaned the garage out one day. I finally gave the permission the boys had been waiting for since we moved: I let them haul out and burn a lot of boxes! First they loaded ALL of them onto the wheelbarrow Simon got free at the dump (he just had to buy a new tube for the tire and had a good tool!).

Seth’s birthday landed on Sunday this year, and he wanted to walk over the Kaikoura Peninsula. Gayle took all the children across, while I drove around to the other side. Two of the boys ran the whole way, so had to wait a long time, and one of them was so bored that I handed him my camera and told him to take some pictures.

We had three little turkeys in the house for a few weeks. They were rather fun to watch! Some nights, their owner, Simon, would go around catching moths for them to eat. That was pretty hilarious to watch, as at the time, the moths were bigger than the turkey’s heads! After awhile, it was time to put them outside. They are thriving in a small pen now. We let them free-range until they ate all the leaves off my pepper plants one day.

One sunny warm day I got all the newborn clothes washed and hung out. So fun!

Just for fun, a couple of random shots of some of our critters—the steers and the ducks.

On Christmas Eve, the local Anglican church always has a special service for the children. They are supposed to dress in Nativity-scene costumes and sort of act out the story as it is read. Our boys were asked to be Joseph and the wise men, and one ended up being Herod when the boy who had that role backed out. We still had enough wise men, as the two littlest boys decided at the last minute they wanted to be kings, too! Esther created the costumes, and each boy designed and made his own crown, except the two littlest.

This has been a common scene this summer. I have had the boys spend half an hour a day in the garden pulling weeds, and they are doing well at keeping the weeds under control. One of the days Gayle had off work over Christmas he joined them; they were doing the job before breakfast, before the day got hot. I’ll do another post soon to show the garden. It is gorgeous this year!

One afternoon, Nathan wanted to take a picture of a spider in his room. He couldn’t quite get a picture of it, but played with the camera for awhile anyway!

November Pictures

December 22, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last few pictures from November that haven’t made it into other posts.

My wonderful mother, several days after she arrived here. We sure enjoyed her time here, and everyone was sad when she left.

I think this is the same nest that I had a picture of recently, with the eggs in it. How ugly those babies are!

These babies are a bit cuter! The ducklings are all Indian Runners. The picture in the middle is a turkey. Our second son has the ducks and a pair of turkeys. He put some of each kind of egg under a hen, so the turkey hatched with the ducklings. For several days, until two more turkeys hatched, he thought he was a duckling—see how he’s wading in his water! The ducklings love water from day one; they take baths frequently. It is quite a challenge to keep their water dish full, and their bedding halfway dry. We were all glad when they could be moved out to the chicken coop.

We went to Gore Bay the last week Mom was here. I think it had been a year or so since we had gone out there. The boys loved playing in the water!

Near the end of Mom’s stay, we celebrated American Thanksgiving Day. We made a Thanksgiving dinner for our evening meal, and invited some local friends to enjoy it with us. We roasted a large chicken, made mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing, corn, and a big salad (fresh from the garden—not exactly normal in America this time of year!) and some cranberry sauce with a package of frozen cranberries I had been able to find awhile back. For dessert I made a pumpkin custard, and Mom and one of the boys made lemon meringue pies. I intended to get a few more pictures, but I guess I’m not a real good blogger—this is the only one I remembered to take!

Late October Pictures

December 19, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yes, I’m behind. I should make a list of things that ought to be caught up before the baby arrives. Anyway, here are a few last pictures from October that I liked, that never got posted.

Several of the boys have been finding bird’s nests this year. This was one of the first to be discovered.

When you want to re-hang a gate that got crushed by a tree, you have to straighten it out first. Gayle and the boys spent an hour or two, using both vehicles, to try to get it straight. They still have to do a bit of welding, but it should be usable when they are finished.

Esther did a little photo-shoot with the two youngest one day. I love the expressions on their faces!

Early October pictures

October 20, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

One of the smallest praying mantises I’ve ever seen (that’s Esther’s hand). It was incredibly hard to get the picture because the camera didn’t want to focus there, and it kept moving (jumped onto the lens once!).

And this is something I was glad to have not known about until I found the pictures on the memory card later! This is my daredevil second boy, way up high in a gum tree. He hauled the ladder up after him to bridge the gap between branches. He did make it back down safely!

The second and fourth boys have been diligently working at lining their sleepout walls with cardboard, and then painting it.

This little boy (our youngest) is so cute! I love the way he walks so purposefully across the yard. His favorite place in the kitchen is up on the countertop, where he can see what’s going on.

One evening our silly boys had a contest to see who could put the most different items on their bread. It started when one put plum jam, grapefruit marmalade, and pumpkin butter on his bread, in separate stripes—that one was actually sensible, in Mom’s opinion. This boy, #2, was the ultimate winner (in his opinion)—he found 15 things to put on his bread! Yes, I made him eat it.

Ryan Craig, from Twizel, is walking the length of New Zealand for the fourth time pulling a cross, carrying the message of forgiveness. He stayed with us for a night, and our boys really enjoyed him. To learn more about him, visit https://www.facebook.com/RyanCraigsWalk2014/timeline

Last Sunday on our way home from church we stopped for a little while along the coast, which we haven’t done in a long time. The boys sure enjoyed climbing around on the rocks! Top picture is James, our 4th boy; next is Joseph, the 5th. Beyond them was a huge flock of birds on the water. Next picture is James, then Elijah, then Simon. The next two include Seth and Joseph with us.

A beautiful spiderweb I noticed while milking one morning.

The calf we were given a few weeks ago. She was born in the yards where Gayle works, just before her mother was butchered. She was initially given to a friend of ours who works there also, who got her started eating but then decided she couldn’t afford to keep her cattle and gave her to us! This calf is very healthy and frisky, and absolutely loves her foster “mother”—Seth, our first boy!

We got our potatoes planted last week, and then I assigned the boys to mulch them with a bale of straw we had. They did a great job!

September Pictures

October 18, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Esther took these pictures around her little house soon after we moved. The chickens were left here when the owners moved out; they’ve now been locked up. Our cat, Ginger, loves her house. He has a comfortable bed on the front porch!

The littlest boy loves the little picnic table close to the kitchen door! He wants to take his lunch out there to eat it, and sometimes asks to take his breakfast out. The other boys sometimes join him. Apparently, this time, the youngest had gone elsewhere, because the ones in the picture are Simon and Joseph, the second and fifth boys.

I’m horrible about getting before-and-after photos, but we put two shelves up in the kitchen to make more space. Simon bought himself a cordless drill, and was thrilled to use it to put up the shelves. That’s James helping him.

Time to work up the garden—but the tiller (rotary hoe here) broke. They’re busy fixing it. That’s Seth, James and Simon.

Nathan is enjoying this swing, and James likes to swing him!

August Pictures

August 30, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

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.

July Pictures

August 11, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I saved a grand total of four pictures from the memory card in July! Apparently, we didn’t do much during that month. We’ve basically been doing school and looking at houses.

Cats, as you know, like their comfort. This one found a sunny window out of reach of the chickens where he could keep warm one afternoon.

This is a model heart, made of homemade graham crackers, marshmallows, and icing. It is supposed to represent the circulation of deoxygenated blood into the heart and out to the lungs; then oxygenated blood into the heart and back out to the body. Of course the most fun part was eating it. Looks like the little brother in the background is afraid he won’t get a taste! (This was Seth and Elijah.)

Who can say no to that little face asking sweetly, “Pwum?” Of course, he got one!

June Pictures

July 8, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We haven’t taken very many pictures this month. Mainly, we’ve been doing school and trying to recover from the shock of being told we have to move again, and of course, I’m dealing with morning sickness (although that is getting better, thankfully!). We have not found a house yet; there isn’t anything available to rent, and especially not anything that will suit us. We’re still praying about what to do, and pursuing any option that we are told about. We’re wondering if it is time to buy a house, although we really wanted a couple more years to save first. We’ll see what God opens up for us! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the month.

I dug one parsnip—but what a parsnip!

We went to Christchurch one day, and on our way home got to watch the moon rise. What a sight! Esther asked me to pull over so she could get a photo. Later that evening, I saw on Facebook something about the “honey moon” that was happening that night!

A hollow log across the creek, just before the digger pulled it out when our landlord cleaned out the creek.

One Sunday afternoon, Gayle took the children walking along the shore for a little while after church, while I rested in the van. They rolled down the steep bank in the gravel.

While the digger was here, we asked the man to move our container out of the paddock to the road, where it can be picked up by a truck to move it, when we move. We have no idea yet where we’re going, but we plan to pack as much as possible into the container, then get a truck with a crane to move it all to the new house. The paddock will still be too wet, so this will make it possible.

I had a lot of lemons to juice one day, and these two helped—until the juicer burned out.

The two little boys get pretty bored during school, so one day they invaded Esther’s room. They rearranged the jars on the shelves, then made themselves “beds”!

My little helper. I was making peanut butter, and he ate handfuls of peanuts!

Late May Pictures

June 15, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

One evening, Mr. Sweetie was trying to make himself a costume with a blanket and clothespins. His little brother tried to help!

We had another heavy rain, and were afraid that we would have another flood, but thankfully the rain slackened just before the creek overflowed. We did have water running along the footpaths in front of the house again, though.

A mob of a couple hundred—maybe several hundred—sheep went past several days ago. The leaders were approaching our place, and the tail end of the flock had still not turned onto our road! Those vehicles in the distance are on the other road, behind the mob. The sheep were spread out over about half a kilometer (over a quarter mile).

This is probably the winner of the giant pumpkin contest for this year, although there is still one more to be weighed. This one weighed 30 kg (66 pounds). Unfortunately, we proved to ourselves that Atlantic Giant pumpkins don’t taste good. Actually, that is a mis-statement. They have no flavor at all! The cow got it, but didn’t get through the whole thing before it rotted.

I came in from milking one evening and found the little boys washing the window! They had great fun.

One Saturday, Gayle took all the older children to clean a house that his co-worker is moving into. I stayed home with the little boys. They get along so well together—it is great fun to watch them play! They got this barrel and set it up under the tree, then climbed the tree to get on top of the barrel. Big brother helped little brother get settled, and they pretended there was a flood. The barrel rocked back and forth rather violently, then toppled over!

Little fellow got hold of a small ball of yarn, and “tied” it onto various things, stringing it from the hallway into the kitchen. Then, someone helped him make it into a “hut”, which he is standing in in this photo.