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You are here: Home / Archives for Random Photos

Random Photos

Little Glimpses into Our Life

December 19, 2015 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, the boys noticed a peacock running along the fence on the north side of this property. The next morning, the peacock was in our paddock, preening and generally making himself at home. We frequently see him showing off his ragged, beautiful tail, and the sounds we hear multiple times through the day make it sound like a zoo here!

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I got out this box of milk bottles so I could put milk in the freezer. Looks like the rats got there first. I was glad to hear that the bait we put out is gone; we haven’t seen signs of rats recently (these bottles have been stored in that spot since about March). Why they would eat empty, clean milk bottles, and the calf bottle, is beyond me.

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Mr. Imagination

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Gayle decided they needed to find out what exactly it was like in the underground water tank. The water level was down to about 2 feet deep, after watering the garden for a couple of days, so he tied a rope around Mr. Diligence and lowered him in. He walked around and reported that the floor is solid concrete, covered with a layer of mud and debris.

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I liked this—all the boys laying around the hole, looking in.

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The boys found this hedgehog while they were feeding the chickens one evening.

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Little Miss was delighted to be able to see the hen with her four chicks!

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Mr. Sweetie can read! I found a couple of beginning readers for him the other evening, and he didn’t want to go to bed; he wanted to keep reading. I told him he was allowed to get up early in the morning to read. He didn’t like that idea, but as soon as he was up in the morning he was reading!

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

Fun Times

November 24, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Life in this family can be a lot of fun! Here are a few glimpses into the past few weeks of life here.

Our oldest two left for America the beginning of the month. This was our last glimpse of them, as they headed for their gate at the airport.

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The lemon tree outside my kitchen window is blooming.

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Mr. Sweetie lost a top front tooth—but this is the look I got when I tried to get a picture of his gap!

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I had Mr. Sweetie clean out the container cupboard one day.

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Little Miss loves to stand up by herself!

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She also loves being carried in the backpack. This time, Mr. Inventor carried her for awhile, and then Mr. Intellectual took a turn. She is very happy in there!

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Mr. Imagination and Mr. Sweetie were busily reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. They had the story pretty close to right! Mr. Sweetie was taking apart a pallet last week and fell, giving himself a greenstick fracture just above his wrist. He still hasn’t had an x-ray and doesn’t have a cast on it, but two doctors have said that is the problem and we’ll be going to Christchurch in a couple more days to get the x-ray and the cast. They said there shouldn’t be a problem if we keep his arm wrapped and he doesn’t do anything silly with it.

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The cat comes in to beg for food when the door is open. Little Miss was sure checking him out!

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She is such a happy little girl!

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

October 2015 Pictures

November 12, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the rest of the pictures I saved from October but haven’t shared here yet—just a mish-mosh of random glimpses into our life.

One Sunday afternoon when we arrived home from church, a howling nor-wester was blowing. Mr. Inventor figured out a way to get a free ride. He had taken the engine off this old lawn mower (although now he’s put it back on and it works again!), and this time, he took a sheet of plywood to act as a sail. It didn’t work as well as he hoped, but every so often a particularly strong gust of wind would really push him along his track.IMG_2090

Since Mr. Handyman has a job in the afternoons now, we often have worship in the evening, in the kitchen while dishes are being done.

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Story time. Little Miss just got out of her bath. Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Imagination, and Mr. Diligence were enthralled.

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Mr. Inventor goes to the local dump (a transfer station) at least once a week to see what treasures he can find. This hand-crank washing machine was one. We scrubbed it out thoroughly and have used it twice now to churn butter. This was the first try, but I decided that the drill would probably end up breaking it so now we do it by hand. It works pretty well!

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My two daughters! Little Miss was very upset because she had to sit still for worship. Pure torture—see that face?

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Little Miss is standing up frequently without support right now. She also loves to be under the table, or a chair. Here, she had a shoelace and was trying to pick up the shoe.

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One Sunday afternoon the boys were playing with snails. Mr. Inventor, especially, played with them for a long time.

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This shed got crunched a year ago when a tree fell on it. A few weeks ago, Gayle and the boys fixed it; this is the before picture.

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A turkey on her nest.

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Two turkeys sharing a nest. It turned out that they didn’t have any eggs! Mixed-up birds.

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We’re hoping to soon have the money to spare for plastic to cover a small greenhouse! Mr. Imagination here.

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Choretime. I thought it was cute the way the ducks were all flocking around Mr. Diligence.

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Busy Little Miss—she loves to be outside.

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I have the boys work in the garden for 30 minutes most days, to help pay for the food they eat. This day, it was wet so I said they didn’t have to—but then there were enough spats that I sent them out anyway! This is Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Intellectual, and Mr. Diligence.

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

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

August 2015 Pictures

September 18, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last few pictures I wanted to share from August. I’m getting close to caught up!

We’ve had rain a couple of times. We’re still desperately dry, but since the weather is cool the little bit of rain we’ve gotten has been able to soak in and make the grass grow a bit. The ducks were delighted this particular morning to have water to play in!IMG_1692

I started peppers the first week or so of August. I planted the seeds in potting soil in this ice cream container, and put it, with a tight lid on, above the hot water heater. The peppers came up incredibly fast—I think this picture was taken after only a week!

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I liked this picture of Mr. Imagination peeking into Esther’s room (just before she moved back out to the sleepout).

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Mr. Handyman and Mr. Inventor have been tilling the garden. The ducks love the freshly tilled soil—they must be finding worms.

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Mr. Handyman brought this skink in to show us. I believe this is about lifesize on my computer screen.

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A goose nest. I hear that there are now two geese sitting on it simultaneously. We’ll see if anything hatches!

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Gayle frequently brings home a load of compost from work for the garden. This time, he took Little Miss out to supervise the unloading from her Bumbo. Mr. Handyman was helping unload, and Mr. Sweetie is watching.

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

July Pictures

August 15, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

When the seed catalog arrived, the boys had fun poring over it and making out their wish lists. I let them order what they wanted, so we’ll be trying a couple of interesting things this year. This is Mr. Handyman and Mr. Intellectual.IMG_1230

We have sausages every Sunday evening, and Mr. Imagination loves to put them in the baking dish for me.

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One chilly day, Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination were soaking up the sun on top of the barbeque between the house and garage. Mr. Sweetie hid from me.IMG_1323

Mr. Inventor’s newest trailer—a local man helped him weld it with his MIG welder—now my boy is saving for a welder like that!

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A beautiful morning on the way to church, with the Kaikoura range covered with snow.

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Afternoon music at church—two ladies playing while other people sing.

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We stopped on the way to church to watch some dolphins jumping. Then, we saw this kingfisher, and then noticed a whale (probably humpback) just offshore! We couldn’t get a picture of it, but sure were thrilled to see it!

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This intense chess game between Mr. Intellectual and my sister-in-law lasted three hours! Finally, Mr. Intellectual won.

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Winter chicks! We had two hens decide this winter that they wanted to set, and the first one hatched out five babies that lived. The other is still setting, but she won’t have more than a couple, if they hatch at all. She kicked most of her eggs out, because the boy who set her forgot she needed a nest and just put the eggs on the bare floor. Oops.

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A friend of our boys spent a couple of nights here, and they had great fun. Here they were Indian wrestling. The point was to flip their opponent over.

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They also did a lot of arm wrestling.

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Mr. Imagination and Mr. Inventor were sick one Sunday morning, so I kept them home. They enjoyed building their own lunch.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

More of Mr. Sweetie’s Pictures

July 25, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Mr. Sweetie took my camera outside again last week. The creek in front of the house, by the road, is finally flowing again! It’s been dry since about October or November. He and Mr. Diligence were playing in it for awhile.IMG_1284

Apparently, Mr. Diligence was clearing a dam of leaves so the water could flow in from the neighboring property.

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A selfie.

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There is a healthy crop of stinging nettles in the cabbage patch! I keep thinking I ought to cut some and use them…. Supposedly, they are very good for you….

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Somebody’s hut.

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

Late June Pictures

July 12, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

It looks like most of our pictures are of Little Miss! With good reason; she’s the cutest person in the family right now, and changing the fastest. This is Mr. Imagination, building something with legos in Esther’s bedroom.DSCF9027

A beautiful sunset.

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Our favorite (and only cat), Ginger.

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I want that camera! It must taste yummy!

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Mr. Imagination

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“Pick me up, please!”

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One Sunday afternoon at church, Mr. Inventor put Little Miss in this old pram that lives in the building, and gave her rides around the room. She loved it!

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That same day, after we got home, Gayle helped the boys pop some popcorn—a rare treat in our house.

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Esther was holding Little Miss while she slept, and getting some reading done for school. I decided to take a picture of this common scene, and said as much. I reached up for the camera, turned it on, and stepped over to take the picture. Just as I lifted it up, Little Miss flung her arm out and her eyes popped open!

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

Mr. Imagination’s Pictures

July 11, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

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You never know what a three-year-old will think makes a good picture!

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

Early June Pictures

June 26, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One morning, a day that Gayle was home, one of the boys brought wood in for the fire. The wheelbarrow tire was flat, so they started taking it apart—in the living room—to figure out what the problem was! Clockwise from left, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Intellectual, Mr. Inventor, and Mr. Diligence.IMG_0796

Mr. Inventor’s turkeys are gorgeous! I do love turkeys, so maybe I’m prejudiced, but I love watching them strut around and show off. Of the four young ones who have been living in the paddock with their parents (only three now, as we roasted one last week), three were toms. So funny to see them slowly turning around, with all feathers fluffed up and tails fanned out, and wings brushing the ground. Then, you touch them and they instantly deflate.IMG_0810IMG_1103

Gayle and the boys built me a laundry-dryer that hangs up by the ceiling. The ceilings in this 100-year-old house are very high, so of course there is a lot of heat lost up there. They took the side of an old baby crib and tied ropes to it, then ran the ropes through some eye-bolts they screwed securely into the ceiling joists. When there is laundry to dry, let the dryer down, load it, then pull it up, above eye-level, and forget about it till the laundry is dry!IMG_1100IMG_1129

A few more pictures of our littlest cutie.IMG_1124IMG_1125IMG_1126

And a Katydid that Mr. Intellectual found in the house!IMG_1131

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Baby, laundry, Random Photos, Turkeys

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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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