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Our family's life in New Zealand

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Spring Flowers

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One thing that I love about spring is the flowers! Our lemon tree, just outside the main door of the house, was covered in blossoms this spring. They smelled heavenly! I love it when the aroma of citrus blossoms wafts through the house.

Our one lonely peony, which has been moved several times in the last several years, put on its normal one bloom this year.

These columbines bloom every year in the bathtub in which we grow strawberries.

The flax plants have put up a record number of flower stalks, and we are enjoying seeing tuis, like this one, as well as bellbirds and wax eyes, sipping nectar.

I’m not sure how a lavender plant got into the strawberry barrel, but it adds a touch of color there.

One morning, Mom was going to take a walk with the girls, and I decided to drop what I was doing and go along. It was a beautiful morning!

A train came through while we were enjoying the flowers beside the tracks.

A few minutes later, we saw another train going the opposite direction!

We picked raspberries at a friend’s farm, and noticed lots of these flowering shrubs. I had an inkling they were a weed, so asked him. Sure enough, they are Himalayan Honeysuckle, and very invasive. They’re sure pretty, though!

Baptisms

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We had the joy yesterday of seeing two of our children baptized! Both Mr. Imagination and Little Miss made that decision on the same day not long ago. Gayle led the service; we sang four songs, he gave a message about baptism, then the children each shared a brief testimony, and he baptized them. After they came out of the water, Gayle invited everyone to gather around and pray for them. Afterward, a person who was coming down to swim came up to us and offered to send us some pictures she took. That gave us a brief opportunity to talk to her about the Lord!

Here is a video I got of the baptism. The sun was so bright I couldn’t see the screen of my phone, so it isn’t the best, but you can hear a lot of it anyway.

October 2025 Photos

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Here are the rest of the photos from October. Can you tell that Miss Joy loves the cat?

Reepicheep

We had visitors for a couple of days, and the little children spent an hour or so reading the Magic School Bus books.

The girls on a moa in Waikari.

When we went to Dunedin, there had been snow earlier in the week, and this ball was still left on top of the hill.

Base 10 blocks are great for building castles!

Is she protecting the hatching chicks…or dreaming of chicken dinner?

See box? Get in box.

Getting ready to do a science lesson. We have the audio book, and he is supposed to follow along while he listens.

I picked up a book at the Bookarama that a friend recommended, and gave it to Elijah for his birthday. It turned out to be just the type of book he loves!

The little girls made this flax basket for my birthday present! Sadly, it fell apart as it dried. It was sure beautiful when it was new, though.

One day after church, James was sitting on a chair talking to a man. The man decided to sit down, so pulled up a soft chair. Not to be outdone, Simon grabbed a couch and pulled it over, so he could lounge while they talked!

Clouds as we traveled somewhere–I can’t remember where.

Mr. Imagination went through a phase of making bows.

Out and About in September 2025

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The girls love to stop along the road in the spring to pick some daffodils–and their daddy loves to oblige them. So, we did that.

This is a lake along the road going over Arthurs Pass to Christchurch. It was actually much bluer than this picture shows–it’s breathtaking at times!

One thing I love about going to a homeschool mother’s retreat every September is the views from the hill, looking over Lyttleton Harbour. Such a gorgeous view!

This is the new house in front of ours. James got hurt while working on this house, so he didn’t get to help finish it. Joe did, though! (Joe was formerly called Mr. Sweetie on this blog; he’s over 16 now, so I’ll use his name.) He works two days a week with James and his crew; here he is talking to their boss and doing some work on the house.

The day we went to the Bookarama, we had a picnic out by the beach. There is an enormous structure built of driftwood above the high-tide line, and we had some fun exploring it.

Around Home in September 2025

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We brought a few jump ropes home from America, ones that were made from strips of t-shirts braided together. The girls loved them–the boys decided they were too small and light for them.

I had never seen a rainbow as low to the horizon as this one! It was incredibly bright.

Mr. Imagination still has the right name! We were given a boxful of citrus fruits, and he carefully crafted these teeth from a rind, to wear over his own teeth.

Tui like kowhai blossoms!

Miss Joy and her cats! Sometimes when she’s bored I hand her my phone and tell her to photograph the cats. This time, she obviously decided to feed them so they would all be in the same picture.

And, another picture of a cat!

The fad for a few days was building houses of cards.

This is Mr Imagination, tossing a piece of food in the air and trying to catch it in his mouth. He and Simon, who also stayed home from Bible Study one evening, did this as long as the pineapple pieces held out!

I think one of the girls took this picture–not sure which one. The flowers are in one of their playhouses.

Little Miss got to raise two calves this year. Our cow Maple had the brown one the end of July. We were delighted to have an A2A2 heifer calf from her! We needed a companion for Maggie when we brought her home from where the two were boarding while we were in America, so we asked some dairy farmer friends for a beef cross, and they gave us the white one, a Charolais-cross that we named Misty. We’re quite happy that both calves are quiet and calm.

For several days, the fad was taking pictures of Reepicheep sitting on a phone.

James dislocated and fractured his shoulder the day we traveled home from America, so he was off work for six weeks. Because he can’t stand to do nothing, he found all sorts of projects that could be done one-handed. One of those jobs was collecting all the buckets around the place and water blasting them. Here they are, stacked up to dry. I could hardly believe the size of the stack.

This was another job–a tool rack for the front of the chicken coop, which is in the middle of the garden. He got one of his two-handed brothers to pound the pipes in to make the holders for the tools. We are delighted to have this rack; because it is handy, and easy to use, we actually put our tools away instead of leaving them around the garden. Now, the spot where the tool rack was has hooks for raincoats, and boots can sit on the floor of the carport under them. Perfect!

Spring flowers!

School time!

The base-10 blocks are much more fun for building with than for counting with!

Wild Weather!

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The weather this week has been wild! On Tuesday, it started raining around midnight -1:00. I lay awake for an hour or so because the rain and wind were so loud. By about 8:00, we had received 96 mm of rain here (about 4 inches). All the ditches were full, and the corner creek in our paddock down the hill was overflowing. The cows were up here, so they were all right, and both pens of chickens happened to be on high enough ground that they were fine. About 10:00, a neighbor from down the hill stopped in to let us know that the paddock was flooding, in case we didn’t know already. He told us that the main creek down there was still rising. Mr. Imagination and I walked down to make sure the chickens were still all right. By then, the sun was shining brightly. This is what we saw. The first picture is our paddock, with water pouring into the corner creek (to the right) from the main creek from two directions: under the road, and beside the milking shed. There are normally two drainage ditches through the paddock, the one curving in the middle of this picture and the one to the left, but on this day, there was water everywhere it could be. The other two pictures show the neighbor’s paddocks across the road, where the floodwater from Orwell Creek was covering everything.

Here’s a video of what we were seeing.

After we returned to the house, Esther took the girls down to the river to see the flood there. There were trees down in the Domain. The second picture shows the Ahaura River, about as full as we’ve ever seen it. Then, they walked the other way, down in the direction of the confluence of the Grey and Ahaura Rivers. Obviously, there was no way to get close! The entire valley was under water.

After that, they walked down to our paddock. The water had dropped a bit, but was still pretty impressive!

The next day, Mr. Imagination took these video clips in the paddock. They’re not very easy to watch, but the footage of him petting an eel is pretty amazing!

Two days later, another storm came through. This one “only” gave us 60 mm (2 1/2 inches), but the wind! It was the worst wind we’ve experienced here. The children were doing school in the kitchen, and looked out just in time to see a huge tree across the road fall down! We were immediately thankful that our cattle were not there. They often graze there, and in fact, they’ll be there tomorrow! They would have been sheltering under the tree, and the entire herd would have been destroyed. It’s a little hard to see here, but the tree is laying on its side behind the electric pole.

This is the size of the rootball!

This is the kind of view we have had out our window many days this month!

July 2025 Photos

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Here are the rest of the pictures I have from before we left home for our visit to the United States.

A new house is being built in front of us. The man for whom James and Joe work was hired to do the job. One day when they ran out of other work, they started building wall frames. It was pouring that morning, so James threw up a roof to shelter the saw.

By evening of the second day, they had all the frames built and stacked up–and then the boss dropped his nail gun down the stack! Joe was the only one small enough to climb down and get it; the other option was to unscrew the frames and dismantle the stack!

I went out and offered to take a picture of them with their pile.

Simon went hunting one night and got a pig. We turned all of it into sausage meat, and while I was mincing it, the girls used it for playdough. (Hands washed before and after!)

I loved seeing so many of my children lined up one evening, so tried taking a picture. Well, did you know what happens when a flash is used with hi-vis clothing? Rather startling!

I spent a lot of time sewing for the girls in preparation for our trip. I found simple patterns for both their sizes, and had a lot of fun. It’s satisfying to create something pretty as well as useful.

The girls got the Jenga blocks out to play with.

More work on the new house. This was assembling the forms to pour the pad. It was a different system than they have ever used before, and they aren’t impressed with the price. James is at the right in orange; Joe is in the middle with yellow rain pants.

The day I went to town to buy a washer, I stopped on the way home to take a picture of the cloud flowing across the Brunner Gorge near Dobson.

The chicken house that burned down is being replaced! By the time I left, there were walls and rafters, but I hadn’t gotten a picture.

Apparently, Joe was trying out a remote to take a picture from my phone, and he and a visiting friend were having fun!

This is a Bowie knife that Mr. Imagination made. I told him it must remain hidden!

June 2025 Photos

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Here are the rest of June’s pictures! We often see beautiful rainbows toward the south, out our living room window.

One day when we were in town, we ate a picnic lunch at the breakwall. This bird was flying up the river, then swiftly riding the wind back out to sea. I thought at first it was an albatross, but a week or two later we went out to the breakwall on the other side of the Grey River mouth and saw the sign below. I’m guessing that it was a Petrel, instead. It certainly had a different way of flying than the seagulls that flocked around!

This was the view across the river mouth on the second day.

The cows spent a day in the empty section in front of us just before work began on a new house there, and Miss Joy enjoyed watching and photographing them. This won’t happen again; the new owners have moved a caravan in and are living on the section.

Miss Joy

Mr. Imagination has been making a lot of knives; lately, he’s been working on learning how to harden the saw blade steel he uses. He is doing it in the fire in our lounge, and then quenching the blade in oil. The only problem with that? People often kick the oil accidentally.

March 2025 Photos

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I feel like I’m getting very behind with posting photos of our life. Let’s see what I can do today! Gayle took several of the children to the sea one Sunday evening to go fishing with a friend who has a long-line. This was the only fish they caught. Several of the rest of us stayed home and watched The King’s Speech, which is a movie with a wonderful story, but too much profanity for a family movie.

People around here often think of Grandma when they see interesting things in nature. Not sure if you like pictures of big spiders, but here’s one!

Mr. Imagination found this moth at Elijah’s house. I’ve never seen a green moth!

Our chicken coop burned down one early morning. That is a terrible way to be awakened, in case you didn’t know. We lost most of the chicks that were in it (a heat lamp fell down on the bedding), but a few lived. We took the little ones into the house to keep them warm, and the children enjoyed playing with them for a few days.

Gayle took the girls down to the river one day and they had fun there.

This part of the garden was beautiful all summer! I’ve started planting flowers in this bed, beside the driveway. It quickly turns into an overgrown riot of color.

We also had humor in the garden. I have so much trouble getting carrots to germinate that last year, in desperation, I started some in punnets and then set them out. They grew extremely twisted. Esther refuses to use them if she can help it, but they are rather funny!

One of the boys bought himself a set of tools, and they all loved investigating them.

Miss Joy and Little Miss must have taken pictures of each other goofing around in Elijah’s room while they were moving their things from that room back to their own.

The girls showed me this picture, and I thought these were large-scale weapons. Then, they showed me the real thing–they were about 3 inches long, made of dried grass and twigs!

James went to the first auction of his life and got some good deals. He bought these enormous steel beams for only $20! Then, he had to figure out how to get them home. He enlisted several brothers, a sister and a friend, and they spent an hour or so man-handling them onto the trailer. He brought them home overnight, and then got help to unload them at Simon’s house. He mentioned them to some dairy-farmer friends, and they needed beams to build a bridge, so he sold them for many times what he paid, and passed the money along to those who helped him.

We were eating dinner one evening when a pilot vehicle came past slowly. Then another… and then we saw this house pull up and stop at the end of our street! It stayed there for over half an hour while the truck unhooked and went to the trucking yard across from us to refuel.

I went with the boys to work at Elijah’s house one day, and they found an advertisement from Pizza Hut in the letter box. That made Simon hungry for pizza, so they bought enough for the family for dinner.