Our family's life in New Zealand
And here is the assortment of pictures from March that didn’t make it into their own posts!
A beautiful fall day–Esther enjoyed watching these steers out her bedroom window.
One night, we ran out of hot water, so my oldest son fired up the coal range. He stuffed it full of pine cones–and soon this is what the oven thermometer registered! I made him quit feeding it at that point. We had hot water!
Bigger brother reading to littlest brother!
This is the way to do math!
Just a few miscellaneous pictures from February that didn’t fit in anywhere else!
Breakfast time for two happy little boys!
See the crack? My washer did that suddenly one morning! We decided it was time to stop fixing it and get a new one.
The new washer was delivered two days later, and the boys were fascinated by the first load washing!
Early morning mist from Esther’s bedroom window.
When I’m too busy to fix lunch or don’t have leftovers to heat, I sometimes let the children make their own lunches. This was my oldest boy’s lunch on one such day: Three pieces of cheese bread, two eggs, in a sandwich with two slices of bread, and two pieces of cinnamon toast! He ate it all, too.
I enjoyed watching these three playing together on this water tank one evening. They had great fun up there!
Time to catch up! Here are some pictures we took back in January that I never shared.
The littlest fellow still needs naps, although he doesn’t necessarily want them. One evening he fell asleep, and I laid him on the couch. When he started waking up awhile later, he ended up like this! While we were working on the new house, he took naps on a blanket in the corner of the living room.
This is a close-up of the windowsill in the living room. For 16 years, flies and bees had been the only occupants of the room! We scrubbed the white windowsill, then sanded and painted it—now it looks much better! I was amused at the layers of old paint on the outside; can you see all three?
The kitchen remodeling, getting closer to completion!
I painted the living room ceiling. It is wallpaper, but was looking old and dirty. The paint really freshened and brightened the room. I had to glue a lot of spots up, too.
The boys love playing around the creek!
The creek is nearly dried up.
This has been another busy day. We started out butchering roosters and making tomato juice, and while I cut up the roosters the boys worked on their projects. We also picked apples and made applesauce, and the boys helped their daddy cut off the rest of the cornstalks from the garden and bring them home; we’ll husk the corn tomorrow.
Now it is tomorrow; I didn’t get this finished last night. So, I’ll add the pictures and try to get it posted today!
Simon (boy # 2) is working on building a workshop to store his tools in, in this picture.
The base for Simon’s sleepout.
James working on his sleepout–a defunct freezer that served as a swimming pool for a couple of years.
And this is what the kitchen looked like!
Applesauce,
dehydrated onions,
tomato juice, applesauce and a jar of lentils to fill the canner,
vinegar, I hope,
and corn being cooked!
Gayle and the boys brought home all the corn, then picked it off the stalks and husked it.
The cows enjoyed the stalks, husks, and cobs. They would have enjoyed the corn, too, but we didn’t share.
Just some miscellaneous pictures my two chief photographers and I took recently.
The older four boys are participating in the local library’s summer reading program. That has gotten the two littlest quite interested in books, too.
The day before, and the day after, New Year’s Day, two hens each hatched 11 chicks out of the 12 we had put under each of them three weeks before. We gave all 22 chicks to one of the hens, and she is taking superb care of them.
We rarely see dolphins on the way to church, but one recent Sunday morning they were up very close to the shore. I was glad we were early so we could stop and watch them for 10 minutes. That’s a Whale Watch boat just beyond the dolphins. It is a little hard to make them out, but you can see splashing where the dolphins are jumping.
The boys are weeding the garden for me this summer. They are each required to pull a bucketful a day, and show me before they dump them. To ensure honestly, they have to stand on them in my sight!
Looks like he likes summer!
Is your book more interesting than mine?
Little brother watches closely to see exactly how big brother does things, then does it himself!
Just some random pictures from the past month around here.
The youngest participant in the library’s summer reading program!
We removed all the books from our shelves and packed them. He thought it made a nice place to hide!
Not sure what this was all about!
The books I weeded out of our collection–I think he lost his balance as he brought them in for me to sort and list!
The youngest (Nathan) loves to play with toy animals. When I told him it was time for bed, he was holding all three of these ducks, and very carefully set them down. I had to laugh when I saw how they were arranged in order of size, and in a straight line!
We have a cute visitor this week–a California quail!
Our harvest from the garden a few days ago. I have a hard time believing that this is the equivalent of the middle of June in Michigan!
Two of our cuties–numbers 5 and 7 (James and Nathan).
Our eight-year-old borrowed a camera yesterday from his sister and went around the place taking pictures of anything and everything. He wants to make a book of these pictures so he can remember this place! I asked if he would let me post some of his pictures, and he was happy to grant permission. So, enjoy his first set of pictures!
The boys’ museum.
Part of the big garden
A raised-bed garden
Inside the museum
The pullets we bought
Indian Runner ducklings
Ducky Lucky setting on a nest
The laying hens.
A pretend fire in a play hut.
More of the big garden.
My Rosemary plant–I’m hoping I can move it to the new house.
Ginger likes to sleep in the strawberry bed.
Inside the greenhouse
The boxes I’ve packed.
The Indian Runners again.
The shell and fossil collection
The photographer!
A geranium by the porch.
In other news, we’re working towards moving. I’ve packed a grand total of five boxes this week (up to 32 altogether), and did a lot of sorting and pitching. That feels good! We’re still working on sleeping quarters; we have a bid in on a sleepout. The auction closes in 44 minutes. I’ll report on the results another time!
Update: I had a phone call, so didn’t get this finished, and now the auction has closed. We got the sleepout! Someone else wanted it, too, but weren’t willing to go as high as we had decided on. It is a 20-foot shipping container that has been insulated and lined, with a glass sliding door in one end. Just a plain shipping container is more than we’re paying for this, and then we’d have to convert it yet.
Here I am again–no new posts for awhile! So, you can enjoy a random sampling of photos from the past couple of weeks.
How do you like this for a place to do your math lesson?
Look at that tail wagging!
We are enjoying salad every day.
Baby in the woodbox!
Playing with a birthday gift.
New Zealand road block–these two people sat here talking on the road by us for at least 15 minutes! Not much traffic on our road.
First you empty the cupboard…then you climb in!
Starting the moving process by sorting books–baby wants in on it, too.
Building a birthday gift: a model cathedral.
Ah hah! Now I can get Esther’s door open!
See the trail of rose petals he left behind? He loves picking huge roses and bringing them in for us to smell.
Camelia–the rest are just a sampling of the roses around our house.
Whew! Another month has gone by, in a hurry! It’s already been two weeks since I posted. Here are a few pictures, just to give you a tiny glimpse into our lives.
Nearly the last of the old harvest–beets, carrots, and a few leeks.
I finished harvesting everything except the leeks from last year’s garden, and this boy helped me bring the harvest in.
Busy, busy around here!
This little boy had a birthday! He was showered with gifts, and of course loved the attention!
Off they go on a bike ride! The four-year-old just learned to ride with training wheels.
A few of the 28 chicks we’ve hatched out over the past week or so.
I’ve been busy living life, not blogging it. So, here’s a collection of pictures from the past few weeks.
Two little boys who like to do things together.
Snuggled up to big brother, doing what he does.
Our first calf for the year. The boy who has taken over calf-feeding had trouble with the bottle, and the calf followed him up on the porch when he came to ask me for help.
“I’m washing my hands, of course!” He climbed up on the sink counter when no one was watching, and rubbed soap all over his hands (and clothes!)
Sorry if this is too much for some people. I put this on for Mom. It’s a trail of mucous, with a dried-out slug at the end!
Helping big brother do school.
Under the hot water heater! This little fellow has recently discovered the joys of climbing into tight places! Usually, though, by the time I find the camera, he’s done.
Into the pot cupboard!
Sunday we walked along a creek in Kaikoura. The boys all walked along the top of this wall.
This shag obligingly posed for us.
Instead of retracing our steps when we got to where the creek flows into the sea, Gayle carried most of us over!
There! I got them posted. I had to take the pictures out and put them back in several times because they weren’t cooperating the way I wanted! (And my daughter laughed at my struggles! And, enjoy the new header–she spent several days making it.) (Edit: I’m putting it here, since it is no longer at the top of the blog. Isn’t it creative?)