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You are here: Home / Archives for Random Photos

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

November 2019 Photos

December 14, 2019 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

This first one was actually taken in late October. Mr. Intellectual got his Learners License, and that evening he persuaded his daddy to take him on his first driving lesson. Esther grabbed the picture as they were leaving.

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Mr. Intellectual built this safe. He watched some YouTube videos on how to build a number lock, and then put it together. I’m not sure what he’s storing in it.

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Mr. Sweetie drew this one evening, and then asked if he could take a picture of it.

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Mr. Imagination drew this one, and posted it on the wall. 12-IMG_2590

Mr. Sweetie flopped into the wheelbarrow one day as I was coming out of the house, and immediately Goofball jumped up and settled down on him for a nap. She’s quite a goofy cat—lives up to her name!13-IMG_2724

Gayle brought Little Miss the dolls she had left behind in Michigan in January, when he came home from his mother’s funeral. She is loving playing with them! I didn’t get  a photo of it, but one day she had several dolls, as well as her baby sister, lined up in the living room! It was quite cute.16-IMG_2731

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

October 2019 Photos

November 9, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Here are the last of my photos from October! This year is almost over already—how can that be?

One more bubble picture, from when that was the fad. This is Mr. Imagination.

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Gayle and all the children except Miss Joy went fishing one Saturday. They didn’t catch anything except a blackberry vine, and they lost some hooks and the handle of a reel—but they had fun!

05-IMG_249806-IMG_249907-IMG_250208-IMG_2504Little Miss wanted to dress her baby sister one morning, so I let her try. She discovered it’s a little harder than dressing a doll! Mr. Imagination helped her.

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The cow and calf enjoyed the sunshine a few days after the calf was born during a rainy spell.04-IMG_6076

The boys were trying to make a stack of people. Mr. Sweetie climbed onto Mr. Diligence’s shoulders, but when Mr. Imagination got on, the stack collapsed.04-IMG_6119

Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination made these fish out of silly putty. The fish are playing with a ball, and the top of the frame is the sea.07-IMG_6091

Simon bought a new backpack, and Mr. Diligence wanted to try it out. He got Little Miss to climb in, and gave her a ride. She loved it!

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This enormous dump truck is used in mining, likely coal mining. It is not licensed for using on the road, so they had to haul it this way.08-IMG_6094

Mr. Imagination was quite impressed with the length of this potato sprout when he helped his daddy plant potatoes a few weeks ago!08-IMG_6126

We enjoy watching episodes of MasterChef together, and Mr. Imagination has been inspired to create pretty food. This was a “dessert” he made one morning. He has pieces of banana and orange, and he made a sauce with mashed bananas and cream.09-IMG_6127

Miss Joy at a little over two months. She lives up to her name most of the time, and is a joy to have in the family. As I type this, she is sleeping snuggled up on my chest.10-IMG_6128

Some friends gave us a praying mantis egg case. We were fascinated to watch the baby insects hatch! Esther took a video of it, then sped it up 8 times.

Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Fishing, Random Photos, Videos

August 2019 Photos

September 8, 2019 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Simon turned 18 near the beginning of the month. We had visitors over to help celebrate, and Esther baked pavlova.

19-IMG_5945Indian wrestling in our living room! Simon and Mr. Intellectual are pretty evenly matched.

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Little Miss wanted to show me her new hairstyle one day! The sticks were her hands.01-IMG_5960

One morning I noticed this helicopter spreading lime just across the river from our town. There is a company just up the hill from us that has several helicopters, and we frequently see them fly over with the fertilizer spreader dangling underneath.

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More heavy equipment going past our house!

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Here are several pictures from Miss Joy’s second week.1-IMG_59792-IMG_59804-IMG_5989

I love seeing that little head snuggling up to big brother. This is a happy baby, very much a joy to all of us!5-IMG_5992

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

Last Part of July 2019

August 3, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Here are the rest of my pictures from July. This month went by crazily fast! And, now that we’re in August, we’re very close to meeting the newest member of our family—hopefully, in about three more weeks.

Esther achieved a major goal in July—she passed the test for her full license! Now, she can take passengers with her. She also bought a car, a Honda Accord, which she’s quite happy with.

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Mr. Intellectual finished this cup, made from four different types of wood. With all the glue that went into it, we advised him not to drink from it, so he’s using it for a pencil cup.15-IMG_5857

Another of Mr. Diligence’s pictures of big trucks! He saw this load of sheets of steel going past one day.23-IMG_5871

I asked the boys to recover the frame I used for starting seeds last year with new plastic. They decided to scrap it and build me a new one, twice the size, to better utilize the sheet of plastic they had available! It is now finished and waiting for baby plants.

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Last weekend, Gayle and the younger boys dug the last of our potato crop. Mr. Imagination was delighted to find this enormous one, and brought it in to show me. See the weight?3-IMG_58834-IMG_5884

Little Miss played with the potatoes in her own way. That big one is her; she’s the mother, sitting on stones, and her babies are on top of her. The other stack, just on the other side of her, is more of her children, also sitting on rocks.5-IMG_5885

We had nearly a bushel of potatoes that needed used quickly, so we cut a lot up Saturday night for Sunday dinner. They needed a lot of trimming, between stabs from the fork and the wireworms that our garden is infested with.

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Grandma asked what Mr. Imagination has been building from legos. He took this picture for her, of his fire ship. See all the nozzles for spraying water?8-IMG_5889

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

Photos From Early July 2019

July 27, 2019 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We’ve had a busy month! Here are a few photos from the first couple of weeks of the month.

We’ve had a few sunrises! It’s been a very rainy month, but here is proof that occasionally we see a little sunshine (actually, this week has been sunny). The person walking along the road is Mr. Intellectual, heading down to bring up the milk for me.

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Esther went to the library one day, and the little ones spent a lot of time that evening reading library books!05-IMG_5840

Every time a pilot vehicle goes past, Mr. Diligence tries to grab my camera to get a photo of whatever big thing is passing this time.

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This is a kayak going down the Nile River!

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Something that makes me very happy! Mr. Diligence actually reads for fun sometimes now. This has taken a lot of years and much hard work to accomplish. He discovered he can enjoy reading when he was sick in the States in February and didn’t have an audio book to listen to, but couldn’t do anything else.

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A few years ago, my boys found a huge ball of yarn at the dump. It was hand-spun, and fairly loose; I suspect it was actually roving, which was intended to be spun into better yarn. I crocheted it into a rough rectangle, and now I’m making it into the inner for a baby-sized duvet. It smells of lanolin—a smell I love! I’ve gotten as far as sewing a cover over it, and sort of quilting it together with the sewing machine, and cutting out fabric patches for another, removable cover.

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So, we wash a tub and put it outside in the sun to dry—and what does Goofball do? Ensure that we have to wash it again! Doesn’t she look happy.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

June 2019 Photos Part 2

July 13, 2019 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Here are the rest of June’s random photos.

Little Miss got hold of my camera one afternoon and took a bunch of pictures of the toys she was playing with. I saved a couple I thought were interesting!

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One Saturday evening, Simon went with me to milk. Because of the steep hill down which we have to go to reach the cow right now, and the fact that I’m pregnant, I need help carrying the bucket back up, so the bigger three boys all help out. Simon rarely gets the privilege, because he’s usually not home from work yet when I head down. This time, though, he needed a piece of wood for a project he was working on, so he took his ax along and accompanied me. Just after we left our street, Esther and Mr. Sweetie came up towards us from a walk around the block, so she took our picture.

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All seven children played a game of Skip-Bo Golf together one Sunday evening!03-IMG_5768

Mr. Imagination created this deer for his daddy’s birthday present!5-IMG_5822

I was amused when this happened one evening! I was helping Simon with a lesson for his apprenticeship, since he has trouble reading, and Esther wanted input on an order she was putting through for me with some company.11-IMG_5756

Princess is rather a spoiled cat. She thinks the space in front of the fire belongs to her. A lot of mornings, she will sleep there with her paw tightly clamped around her eyes, like this!13-IMG_5788

Mr. Sweetie built this train track one day, then wanted to document it.15-IMG_579216-IMG_5794

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

May 2019 Photos

June 1, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Can you believe the first of June has arrived already? This year is flying past!

Here is the canoe the boys have built. Mr. Intellectual worked on the epoxy a day or two at the beginning of the month, then pulled it out of the garage into the sunshine to get the epoxy dry. With the cold, wet weather we’re having, it’s been next to impossible to work on this project.

One morning while her brothers did school, Little Miss played, “Going to a Conference.” She took all her dolls along. Here, she had been singing, pretending to be in a meeting; later they went to a bedroom (she carried all four at once) for lunch, and then went to the hallway to “sleep at Katie’s house.”

The boys noticed a pear tree across the road, beside where the cow grazes, with pears littering the ground under it. They asked the owner of the property if we could have the pears, and he gave them to us, so Gayle and the younger boys picked them all up one Saturday. We made a couple of large pans of pear/cranberry crumble–yum! Mr. Imagination and Little Miss helped me peel and cut up the pears for it.

When I placed an order recently for schoolbooks, I added the last two Pleasant Valley Farm picture books to the order for Esther. When they came, she showed them to these two, and they jumped up and down and squealed in glee–they love those books!

 

One day this week, we noticed a 20-foot shipping container being loaded into this truck! We had never seen that done before. Notice the rain falling heavily in this photo? That was the story of our week. For five days straight, we had torrential rains, for a total, here, of nearly 10 inches.

Mr. Imagination took this picture of a digger he is building. He loves to put things together.

Little Miss apparently brought a wasp in the house on her hair one day. It stung her just below the eye. She screamed for a good while. The next day, when I took this photo, it had swollen some, but not as bad as I thought it might. We had put plantain on as quickly as possible–it really helps!

I guess Mr. Sweetie was quite impressed by the way his milk foamed one day! I have several boys who love foamed milk (Esther found a foamer at a secondhand shop recently), but our milk often won’t foam.

This was our living room one evening this month. Simon and Mr. Diligence were listening to an audio book on Simon’s phone (which is only used as an audiobook player, by the way!). It looks like Mr. Sweetie was trying to listen in, as well. These boys are addicted to audiobooks.

My artist, Mr. Imagination, with the horse he made from marbles one day.

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Boys' Projects, Children, Random Photos, Trucking

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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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