Little Sister

Mmmm...we're enjoying special sprinkles from our Dutch friends with our yoghurt. Tasty and pretty too :) 

 Little Sister (The only sibling currently not in her 'home' country - an unusual state of affairs for our family!)

Sister-in-between travelling!

The summer holidays are here!

Hooray! Hooray!

2 flights later

winter clothes are out,

and we are enjoying special times with family.

I just love Mum's rainbow scarf 

and haven't we got pretty flowery bags!

Tonight we had wonderful comfort food, so missed in our part of the world

. . . sausages and mash with gravy!

All in the company of Grand-parents and Little Brother!!

xxx

Sister-in-between

Little Sister

Last week the kids and I took a 'sanity day'; a day off school in the middle of the week because we were all over-tired (after some VERY hot nights) and getting grumpy! We swam, drank home-made strawberry milkshakes and did some creating. Having some space to breathe meant I didn't cry over a spilt milkshake or even when my entire kitchen was flooded by my landlord who was 'fixing' the drains...


Over the weekend the rain came down and the temperature plummeted - to below 30 degrees!!! Our driveway quickly turned into 4WD-access-only so we only went out when really necessary - with Mr Ag away for a couple of weeks I wasn't keen to get myself bogged! Cooler temperatures meant lovely sleep-ins, hot milos for breakfast, time to read and play army men and lots of energy for more creating.


Cutting up magazines must be in the genes. Mr Sports created this humorous piece

and also got into some stitching.

Miss Creative produced a different kind of magazine collage,

finished some weaving for a school project

and sewed some hexagons.

Mr Active enjoyed working on his stitchery too and then was off to play more army men :) The whole upstairs landing has been turned into a giant army base.

I wanted to create something that I could start and finish in one sitting. Like my new potholders? 

I have even managed to add a few rows to my rug in between re-threading other people's needles.

The kids can't wait to show Mr Ag all they've been up to. 4 more sleeps :)

Little Sister xox

Sister-in-between

thank you

for my

beautiful

flowers

pink and pretty!

xxx

Sister-in-bewteen

Sister-in-between

magazines

cutting

gluing

beautiful pictures

patterns

colours

xxx

Sister-in-between

Sister-in-between

a great machine

Big Sister's recipe

chocolate icing

a few sprinkles

a very happy

afternoon! 

xxx

Sister-in-between

Am I not just the cutest face you have ever seen ?!@$#$

Mr G'tar Man has a new toy

- any early Birthday present - 

so K9 has been the subject of 

many snaps this weekend!

xo Big Sister

Sister-in-between

1 packet of corn flour

a jug of water

hours of fun

xxx

Sister-in-between

Big Sister Update

It has been busy in our neck of the woods but this weekend we are enjoying the Queen's Birthday long weekend! 

Today I completed my last exam - thankfully 60% of the assessment is open book with a week to work on each of the four tests! The final 40% is two two-hour exams - I am just not that quick!! My poor old brain struggles to translate quickly so am not expecting brilliant results! Anyhow, all over red rover - at least for this semester!

This afternoon Mr A and I escaped for a cup of tea - he read a book and I knitted for an hour or so. Bliss! Picked up some poetry fun for the fridge -

Bookworm has a friend sleeping over, Bloss has been busy making coconut cake (thank you Sister-in-between for the recipe all those years ago!) and all have had fun building a bonfire on the stump of our recently felled tree - I was too slow to enjoy any toasted marshmallows though!

Mr A and I also managed to get out into the garden this afternoon - he mulched the remains of the tree and I pulled out honeysuckle that was threatening to totally take over one corner of the garden. Very satisfying!

Nearly finished all my marking and report writing and then the countdown to the holidays begins!

Tomorrow we will enjoy some music making and cake and tea with friends from down the road - must also make sure Bookworm does some violin practice as he has an exam on Friday.

Much love to all from our household!

Big sister and the clan xo

What's in your fruit bowl?

This morning I decided to deal with this...a pomello.

It's been staring at me from my fruit bowl for a few days now.
We all loooove eating them. But they are an absolute pain to peel! When attempted in a hurry, the result is a squishy mess and a high level of frustration.
Today I felt up to the challenge.

First the incredibly thick peel and pith had to be ripped off.

This drastically reduced the size of the fruit.

Then came the delicate process of peeling away the skin of each segment without destroying the juicy bits inside.

Ta da! A little box of fruit and a big pile of peelings. The gang had better enjoy it :)

What's in your fruit bowl?

Little Sister

p.s. Now would NOT be the time for Sister-in-between to remind me that she can pick up pre-peeled pomello segments in little foam trays from her local supermarket....

Sister-in-between

the storm has passed

the sun is shining

this morning

I am thankful for

 a quiet house

and

two cups of tea!

No. 1 son is at a drama practise, Mr Capable has taken No. 2 son plus friend to rugby, Little Miss is still at her sleep over/shopping play date, and No. 3 son is happily being entertained by technology.

The past two weeks have felt like a rollercoaster.

Re-structure in the workplace is never a peaceful time.

Emotions run high, there is loss and gain.

Interviews, questions, proving your worth.

My second cup of tea this morning is even more enjoyable as I sit and reflect,

not only did I survive the process

but have been promoted.

My aspirations are now a reality.

Exciting and daunting.

My worth, well that comes from a deeper sense of knowing Him, and I feel deeply grateful for that!

xxx

Sister-in-between

Sister-in-between

today 

a

storm

is

raging

outside

big rain

huge thunder

puddles

today

I am thankful

to be inside

cosy

protected

and

dry!

xxx

Sister-in-between

Busy days...

It's been a busy time at our house lately! Good days but very full. Here's a few snapshots of what's been happening...

The kids were delighted by the surprise arrival of 3 baby guinea pigs. I'm so glad that they arrived able to run, eat, drink and generally look after themselves (apart from a few cage modifications to keep them contained!). Their names are Squiggles, DNA the 4th and Tom. So cute!

Last week we travelled south on the overnight bus to the town where we lived for 4 1/2 years - it was our first trip back since we left last August. We had a wonderful time catching up with friends, revisiting favourite haunts and seeing all the things that had changed since we were last there. But I had forgotten what a stir we caused in that town; how every time we walked down the street we nearly caused accidents as cyclists and motorcyclists craned their necks for a better look at us! THAT hadn't changed...

The highlight of the trip for Mr Energy and Mr Sport was playing soccer with their local friends at our old house. Our former landlord kindly allowed them to use the concrete pad next to the house and the game was as riotous and fun as ever.

The highlight of the trip for me was a visit to a nearby village where Mr Ag and his colleagues are working with the villagers to build a suspension bridge. We have been hearing about this bridge for months and months - I know more about steel, cables, clamps and concrete than I ever really needed to know!! Sourcing the parts, having them partially assembled here, trucking them to the village 650km away and supervising construction has been a huge logistical exercise.

Here is the bridge in progress...

The village school is a one room, multi-age classroom from grades 1-3. Normally students have to walk across the river and then on to another village a few kilometres away to access higher grades, but crossing the raging, wet-season torrent is not possible. The bridge will make a big difference for them.

We enjoyed the beautiful and peaceful atmosphere of the village. The people were friendly and welcoming and delighted to meet Mr Ag's family at last.

The kids enjoyed a swim in the river and playing on the school playground (below!).

I enjoyed talking with the village women and hearing their stories but it was also very confronting.

I met an older lady (60 plus) who had 19 children, but only 7 survived to adulthood.

Another lady lost 8 of her 16 children.

A third lady said she had 8 children and the last was disabled; she actually has 9 children but the disabled child doesn't figure in the count.

Unimaginable for us.

I have read these kinds of stories so many times before and know the statistics, but meeting the people behind the stories is a whole lot more powerful.

Mr Ag's colleagues have been training traditional birth attendants in this village and the bridge will allow villagers to travel to medical care in all seasons. Hopefully there will be less sad stories like this in coming years.

Little Sister :)