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You are here: Home / Archives for Random Photos

Random Photos

June 2020 Photos—Part 1

July 26, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I have a lot of random photos from June that I don’t know how to group together well, so I’ll just post them this way.

Mr. Imagination badly wanted to make a braided loaf, so one day when we made bread we allowed him to. This is the result.

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We were given a whole sheep when we went to visit some friends—what a gift! The boys and Gayle got it cut up as soon as we arrived home, and we’ve been enjoying ribs, chops and roasts. Yum!

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Mr. Sweetie took this picture so that he could paint a picture of the tree and the treehut for Grandma.

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We spent one Friday morning making cards for Grandma’s birthday. They loved doing it!

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Miss Joy was thrilled the day she figured out how to climb on the stool and stand up! She’s pretty daring.

24-IMG_6459She was also thrilled to be able to play in the toybox.

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Daddy and his two little girls.

34-IMG_646148-IMG_6462A new bridge is being built beside our village. We can see the cranes from our house; it’s only half a mile or less from us. One day, we saw a pilot vehicle stopping traffic on the highway in front of our house. Nothing came past, and when the pilot vehicle moved away, we looked out the window to the next street over, and saw this. It was an enormous pipe for the bridge. These are being pounded deep into the riverbed to fill with concrete to form the piles for the new bridge. It was as long as a long semi trailer.

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A couple of days later, we saw this load: the reinforcing mesh to go inside the pipes! It’s always interesting to see what has changed when we go past the bridge site. The old bridge is a one-lane wooden bridge, built in the 1930s. There is asphalt over the wood, but it requires a lot of upkeep. The new bridge will be two lanes. It will likely feel safer—but I think I’ll miss the old one!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

May 2020 Photos

July 12, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Here are the rest of our photos from May! Miss Joy is a favorite subject.

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My oldest and youngest!08-IMG_6249

Miss Joy went into Esther’s room one evening and found her crocheting bag. She spent half an hour making a mess of this ball of yarn. Then, Esther got to straighten it out! Miss Joy had fun.19-IMG_389620-IMG_3897

We cleaned up a strip of land beside our garden, which was covered in large rhododendron bushes. Esther got a picture of the end of the process. We’re now planting fruit trees in that strip.22-IMG_3909

The boys also finished cleaning out the last of the corn stalks that day.23-IMG_3912

This little girl does not like coats!

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While she was away, Esther recorded herself reading a book she had started to read to the younger ones before she left. Here they are listening to another chapter. Can you tell that Simon loves stories, too?18-IMG_635619-IMG_6361

I was pleased with the green beans I harvested from the greenhouse in mid-May!20-IMG_6368

The younger ones did art for school for a few days—just art! They loved it.25-IMG_6372

Sleeping beauty. I love holding her when she’s asleep. She doesn’t last very long that way, though; she sleeps a lot longer if I put her in her bed.27-IMG_635428-IMG_6363

She loves sourkraut!29-IMG_637531-IMG_6378

While Esther was away, Mr. Intellectual got to make the bread for the family. He was quite pleased with how this first batch turned out.33-IMG_6365

Miss Joy is in love with this blanket!38-IMG_6369

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Miss Joy, Random Photos

April 2020 Photos

May 31, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 4 Comments

Esther took this picture from her bedroom window one evening. See how Simon’s red van is cocked up? He had just power-washed it inside and was letting it drain and dry.

4-IMG_3854Simon also spent a day power-washing the other vehicles. Here in our wet climate on the Coast, moss and lichens grow on vehicles, and they need a good cleaning every so often.

11-IMG_3869I’m not sure what these two pictures are all about! This is Mr. Diligence, followed by Mr. Imagination.

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Someone was playing with candle wax!06-IMG_6214

One day, I made play dough. Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Imagination, and Little Miss spent a couple of afternoons playing with it. Mr. Imagination made this strawberry.

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All three of them worked together on this sculpture. I had found a set of playdough cutters at a shop, and they had great fun with them.07-IMG_623308-IMG_6241

Princess loves the fire!

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Little Miss says that she was pretending that her bears had a broken leg, but they didn’t.12-IMG_3870

One afternoon when Miss Joy had been quiet for a good while, I found this. She had found that the lid on the white flour cannister isn’t tight! Such fun! She was puzzled when we all stood there laughing.13-IMG_3875

I read the book A Grain of Rice to Little Miss recently, and got out some rice to illustrate what was happening. 14-IMG_3878

What a happy baby!15-IMG_3880

It’s fun having two little girls.17-IMG_388718-IMG_3888

We’re able to make all the cheese we need. Each of these cheeses is made from about 20 L (five gallons) of milk, and weighs a little over 2 kg (5 pounds). We let it sit on the counter, turning it once a day, for a week or two. When it has a good rind on it, we label it with a pencil and put it in the fridge. I have a notebook in which I write down times and temperatures for each step of the process of making the cheese, so we can trouble-shoot if one isn’t good. We’ve been making Colby for the past six months, and it’s turning out the way we like it, every time.19-IMG_389120-IMG_3893

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

March 2020 Photos

April 26, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last of the photos from March that I didn’t get fitted into other posts.

For science this  year, we’re working our way through Exploring Creation With Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. When we studied the chapter about cats, the grand finale was to cut out pictures of cougars and deer from the notebooking journals, and toss the cougar onto the deer. If the cougar landed on three deer, that meant it had enough food and could live and reproduce. If not, it died. Each deer that didn’t get eaten reproduced, and another cougar would move into the area. It was very interesting to see how the number of cougars rose with the number of deer, and then the deer population dropped when there were too many cougars. It was a very vivid illustration of the balance of nature!

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Mr. Intellectual dissected a shark for his Biology course. He was supposed to have a perch, but we made do with what we had. The shark had been in the freezer for a year!

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Little Miss loves to haul things in her wheelbarrow! This was before Simon fixed it up and painted it.

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I’m not sure who took this picture, but I liked it. This is a rare picture of Mr. Diligence sitting still for a few minutes—obviously Goofball made herself at home on his knee very quickly!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homeschooling, Random Photos

Lockdown

April 12, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Here are a few of the things we have done during lockdown. Gayle has spent a lot more time than normal playing with the children! He has never been at home without having a lot on his mind, and had energy to do things with them. His health is better than in past times when he had time like this. He has helped Little Miss with her preschool work a number of times.

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He did an art lesson with Mr. Imagination and Little Miss one day.38-IMG_6193

Miss Joy loves having him around! She can steal treats from him sometimes. This was apple crumble with coconut cream on top.

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Mr. Diligence hauled home grass clippings and other stuff for mulch from across the road one day. Little Miss helped him, so he gave her a ride home.

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Gayle made soap for us. I had intended to do this job in January, and got the tallow out of the freezer for it then. In early March I got the supplies out to make the soap—and discovered we didn’t have enough caustic soda (lye). I ordered more, and it arrived just before lockdown started—was I ever glad I ordered when I did, as we couldn’t get it now. I still hadn’t gotten the job done, so Gayle did it for me, with my supervision, one morning while I taught school, and then he cut it into bars a few days later. Now we have enough soap for a year or two.

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He also pumped a ham full of brine. We’ll eat the ham next week, after Mr. Intellectual smokes it for us.

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Today (Sunday) there are two board games going on at the kitchen table. Esther and Mr. Intellectual are playing a variation of Settlers of Catan, and Gayle is playing Monopoly with Simon and Mr. Diligence.

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Since Simon is home, he’s been working on his van. He also took time to wirebrush the rust off a little wheelbarrow that was given to Little Miss, weld it together, and paint it. She is very happy with her “new” wheelbarrow!

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As we walked home from our picnic down by the river today (we beat the rain!) we saw something unfamiliar beside the highway across the river. Esther zoomed in with her camera, and this is what we were seeing! Someone got creative.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Lockdown, Random Photos

March 2020, Before Lockdown

March 28, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

As of three days ago, our entire nation is in lockdown for a month, to try to eliminate COVID-19. We’re still trying to adjust mentally to not being able to leave home without a very good reason, and not being able to order anything non-essential online. We can still buy groceries and animal feed and fuel for vehicles, and medicines, but that’s all. Gayle is off work for at least four weeks, although Simon, as a mechanic, has an essential job and is allowed to continue working. For the most part, our life hasn’t changed, other than Gayle being at home, since the children are at home every day, anyway.

Here are pictures of some of the things we did earlier in the month, before things suddenly shut down.  Simon got to help cut down this huge pine tree that was on the hill above the garage in which he works. The fear was that someday it would fall on the building, so a neighbor from the top of the hill helped cut it down. Esther took the younger children over to watch it fall.03-IMG_363504-IMG_3647

The garage from above. This is where Simon spends his days!05-IMG_3650

One day, Mr. Imagination cut up a cardboard box to make himself a zoo. 09-IMG_3661

The figure on the left is a horse with a carrot in its mouth; the one on the right is a donkey. The box is the feed trough, with vegetables in it. 10-IMG_3662

This is a scarecrow, a cat and a mouse, with a fence in front of the cat.11-IMG_3663

These three boys took a tramp two weeks ago with three friends. They spent two nights in remote huts up in the mountains, and climbed to the top of a mountain on the day in between. Esther took these photos as they were leaving. They had the time of their lives! They came back very tired and needing showers, but they want to do it again!12-IMG_367113-IMG_3672

Little Miss got to vacuum the living room. She wanted ear protection—and wore a crown!14-IMG_3675

This Land Rover pulled in at the neighbor’s one afternoon. We took a picture to show Simon. He said, “I’ve worked on that Land Rover!” He says he spent 4-5 days working on it.15-IMG_3677

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

This Week

March 21, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We took quite a few pictures this week! Miss Joy has been quite busy, and she is so cute we can’t resist taking pictures of her. She learned to climb up on things, and one evening she was delighted to get up on a box and find another box within reach, with delicious peaches in it! Then, she sampled the zucchinis that were next to her.

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We were given a lot of black boy peaches last week, and spent several days canning them. Isn’t canned fruit beautiful!18-IMG_3684

I came home from my trip to town this week and found these “zumpkins”. Now I know who picked them! We left the self-seeded pumpkin plants in the garden; obviously some of them were a cross between spaghetti squash and zucchini. They are good with meatloaf baked in them.

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After we got home from town, I carried Miss Joy into the house in her carseat. The next day she was playing in the living room, and climbed into it. Somehow she tipped it over on top of herself. She  wasn’t worried; she just crawled away, with the seat going with her! Someone called her a turtle.

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Mr. Sweetie was washing the kitchen floor, so I told him to turn a bench over to keep Miss Joy out of the kitchen. She immediately crawled over to it, stood up, and put her leg over it. So much for that idea!

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Storytime!

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And game time!

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While I was making lunch today, I went out to the garden to harvest veges for our stir-fry. I brought in this kale, silverbeet (Swiss Chard), basil, spring onions, and a rock melon. I told Gayle I had been to the shop. He said I’m the kind of woman who goes to the market every day. I replied that it’s sometimes several times a day! Sure enough, by the end of the day I had been out there three times, even though it was raining. This is my favorite kind of shop!25-IMG_3696

This is the stir-fry I made. Except for the chicken breast, it was all fresh from the garden. We’re eating well right now.26-IMG_3697

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Food, Garden, Miss Joy, Random Photos

February 2020 Photos

March 15, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the last several photos we took in February. Enjoy!

Mr. Intellectual has continued his boat-building hobby. His latest creation is this flatboat, made of plywood. By now, he has finished painting it on the outside, but they haven’t tried it out in the water yet.

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The outside of the strip canoe is finished. The yellow is kevlar, which is intended to protect from rocks, of which there are plenty in our shallow West Coast rivers!13-IMG_356315-IMG_3567

For the first time, we can see the inside of the canoe!

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Mr. Intellectual made this crossbow.

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One afternoon when Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination both had a little schoolwork to finish, they set this up. They both worked diligently!

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Esther had to stop in at the garage where Simon works, one afternoon, so I asked her to take some pictures of Simon at work. He’s been there for 2 1/2 years and I still didn’t have a picture of him doing what he does best!

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Miss Joy enjoying and being enjoyed by her big brothers, Simon and Mr. Intellectual.

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Miss Joy

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I bought some new clothespins in town one day, and when we came home the little ones put them in the bucket for me. Then, Miss Joy discovered the joys of dumping them!

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My girls!7-IMG_3624

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

January 2020 Photos

February 22, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Little Miss, right around her 5th birthday

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Mr. Intellectual made oars for their boat. Here are Simon, Mr. Intellectual, and Mr. Diligence, rowing their boat on Orwell Creek.05-IMG_3013

Miss Joy has discovered a mirror!14-IMG_3026

She also enjoyed being in a box!17-IMG_3057

A flower was fascinating, too—for a little while! She quickly becomes bored with almost anything.18-IMG_3059

We had more brilliant sunsets while the Australian bush fires were sending a lot of smoke this way.19-IMG_306320-IMG_3064

Little Miss loved getting presents for her birthday!

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We had a cookout down in the paddock our cows live in when a family from Timaru was in the area. We roasted sausages over a bonfire of gorse branches.03-IMG_307305-IMG_3081

Mr. Sweetie put Miss Joy inside the closet one day.06-IMG_3090

What fun! A bowlful of greens to play with!07-IMG_3092

I thought it was pretty cute to see her sitting beside Simon, talking to Mr. Intellectual.08-IMG_3098

At the end of January, we made another trip to Canterbury. The boys reassembled the trampoline for our friends. They had disassembled it when we were there in November, because it needed fixing.24-IMG_345125-IMG_3452

The younger children played in the sandbox.26-IMG_345427-IMG_345828-IMG_3461

Little Miss with one of her dearest friends.29-IMG_3464

After the trampoline was fixed, they went for a swim.30-IMG_3466

Apparently, Simon helped Miss Joy wash dishes!34-IMG_3494

Five months old, and moving around!35-IMG_3496

Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Miss Joy, Random Photos

Photos From December 2019

January 18, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We often have homemade pizza on Sunday nights. Here, Mr. Diligence and Mr. Sweetie are working on shaping the crust, which Esther mixed up.

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Mr. Imagination made many fun desserts for awhile, inspired by watching MasterChef. This is apple, banana, and raisins, with custard drizzled over.3-IMG_2769

Little Miss made this one. 4-IMG_2770

One morning we found a dead tui. We were quite sad that such a beautiful bird was dead, but Mr. Diligence decided to try to stuff it. He spent all morning carefully skinning it and trying to make it look somewhat life-like. 05-IMG_281306-IMG_2814

He sprinkled salt inside the skin, then stuffed it with cotton balls and sewed it up.07-IMG_2815

Little Miss loves to play with her baby sister! For awhile, she lined her up with the dolls. Miss Joy won’t stay put for that now, though—she’s on the move at this point.08-IMG_281809-IMG_2820

Big boys doing press-ups. That’s Mr. Intellectual to the left and Simon to the right.16-IMG_2830

The boys went down to the riverbed one day to collect willow branches for tomato stakes. They had to cross the creek to get them. Here are Mr. Intellectual and  Mr. Diligence.17-IMG_2834

Mr. Sweetie went along.18-IMG_283519-IMG_2836

Miss Joy is a happy girl!20-IMG_2857

Mr. Sweetie and Little Miss were pretending to be asleep, and Miss Joy looked from one to the other and back again, trying to figure out what they were doing.21-IMG_2858

All dressed up for church!22-IMG_2867

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

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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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