Yesterday was the kids last day at Playcentre. It coincided with the end of year breakup. We started there 18mths ago and it was when Nathan had just turned 4 and Danielle 2. We joined knowing that we were going to be homeschooling and I wanted us to attend a centre that was non-structured, child-led play and it was great being a parent co-operative. We have made some good friends over our time there who we will keep in touch with. I was reflecting the night before whether I had made the right decision for us to leave (Nathan could keep going as they have a homeschooling policy that would allow us to continue as long as we liked) but everything just felt "right" and no gut wrenching feeling that might tell me otherwise.

We were fortunate to have one of the mums who is a professional face painter come along and we had a wee shared morning tea to send my two plus one other off.


Last night we went for a walk around a few streets that had some Christmas Lights displayed. I had managed to get the kids to have an afternoon nap so they would be all bright and perky until dark (not till after 9pm). We came across one cool house where the guy who owns it was right into the whole thing, brought out a candy cane for the kids and a little glow-stick thing.

Today we had a quiet one at home as a break between a few busy days and some more to come.

Nathan wanted to make his own board game including a dice.

I was chatting on the phone and my lovely boy collected some flowers for the table.

Nathan was wanting to dig for potatoes today and came up with this lot.

Danielle's been right into the magnetix still and it's cool to see her skill with them developing.

Nathan *still* playing with his blocks that he got for his 1st birthday.

We spotted this lovely waterlily in our pond today. Seemed to appear totally out of the blue!

A Summery Saturday

The kids started doing some puzzles this morning and Nathan pulled out his dinosaur puzzle which led him to ask questions about how they became extinct. We did a bit of googling and then got out his dinosaur book (I'm thinking I must have the only 5yr old who has never been interested in dinosaurs lol). It had a few crafty ideas which led him wanting to make a model of a trilobite which we decided to do a little later.

In the meantime they were keen on making a hut, so rather than constructing something inside I suggested we make one out on the front lawn using the bamboo shade structure we made during winter with the intention of growing some vines over it (which just hasn't happened yet). So I slung some sheets over it and pegged them on. The kids then proceeded to turn it into a campsite by getting out their sleeping bags and cushions.

When this was done Nathan was back onto wanting to make the trilobites, so I bought outside some materials that we could use and we intended on putting them into our paddling pool that is currently full of seaweed after they brought some home from the beach when they were out with Grampy a few days back (I'm intending on making some seaweed tea for the garden, so multi purpose ;)). So looked just right for an ocean setting.


(Gross looking water eh? Who knows how long I can stand that being left to brew...)
I had forgotten about a friend popping in with her boys and at 9.30am I was still in my PJs constructing the playhut when she arrived. So a hasty getting dressed and the kids had a little play before they headed off again.

After lunch, Nathan then moved on to browsing through a science experiment book I'd found at the library and he was keen to do a yeast experiment. So we set up the jars and followed the instructions. He was rapt with the results of the yeast in warm moist temperature.

While the yeast was doing its thing he then moved on to wanting to make a tunnel like one in the book using cardboard, scrunched up paper and papier mache. So we made up some paste using rice and the kids set to work. It's now outside drying so it can be painted.

No day is complete at the moment without using the hammer for SOMETHING. Lately it has been for smashing ice. Many an ice lump is being made throughout the day - there are buried mandarins and toys. But the hammer was then used to puncture the plastic on top of the yeast to see if it would explode.

This evening after Simon returned from work and scoffed down his dinner we headed out for the local Carols by the Sea. After a 1/2 hr of listening to the singing they wanted to head to the playground, but that was too crowded so we wandered over to the beach. What a perfect evening for playing and building. Nathan wanted to make a teepee, so they gathered driftwood and built. Danielle added something and when daddy asked what it was for she replied "it's the water for the garden", then Nathan brought over a large log that was too big for the hut and he said "that's ok, this one can be for building the vege garden". I like the way these kids think lol.

On the way back to the car the kids spotted four dead fish in various states on the beach (probably dumped by the fishing boats returning back) and they were thoroughly inspected and flipped over with a stick, one was even being devoured by a seagull. Blech, but they were interested...

Finally, time for bed. They have been taking to both going to bed in our bed and then being transferred into their beds when we go to bed. Nathan read one of the Dr Suess books - it's interesting to notice him trying to read it by memory and then realising that he's said the wrong word and go back and correct himself.

Phew! One tired mama needs to sit down with a cuppa tea...

Summer fun

Wow, time's flying by!

We've had a few end of year BBQs, swimming at the pools and down at the river with our homeschooling groups with just a good mix of just chilling at home. Summer is here good and proper now and we're soaking it up.

Today the kids Grampy took them out for the afternoon. He took them for a drive to an inlet area, got out the Canadian canoe, popped them in with the dog and walked them around in it. Nathan got to try out some paddling and really enjoyed it - Danielle not so much. They cooked up some sausages at the beach and munched on ice blocks on the way home. They collected me a variety of seaweed for my compost and washed it all in the paddling pool along with their wetsuits. Good fun!

I've been hunting out summer events and things to do with the kids. So far I've come up with going to see the Dragonboat races, Chinese New Year celebrations, Baby Proms, and a night light display at the botanic gardens as well as camping at the organic river festival (Nathan always looks forward to the pony rides). Along with the organised events we'll be camping in the backyard, more canoeing and kayaking with the grandparents and perhaps a spot of fishing at some stage, harvesting a lot more yummy fruit and veges from our garden and whatever else comes up in the next 4 months.

Conversations...

It was just one of those days where Nathan must have been pondering things and wanting to chat about it all.

This morning after getting dressed and while I was tidying up the bedrooms etc, Nathan came and started telling me about "the market I'm going to set up". I questioned him what market that might be and he enthusiastically started telling me how he wanted to set up a stall outside the house to sell excess produce from our garden. We had briefly discussed something like this probably 3-4mths ago, so it was neat to see it as something that made an impact on him. The kids then moved on to playing "shops" with the cash register.

As part of an ongoing understanding about families and how people fit together and him observing differences in family structures he announced that when he grows up he wants to be a daddy to children with no daddy. We haven't discussed the different scenarios around this as yet.

The kids made some Christmas cards for their grandparents and put together a collage on a canvas frame for their nana using the hot glue gun.

While I was preparing lunch and Nathan was sitting up at the bench chatting to me he suddenly asked me if he had layers. Hmmm, my thinking quickly took me to Shrek (which he hasn't watched for a long, long time) and he confirmed yes, that's what he meant. So I explained that yes (from my perspective) he does have layers - the outside that most people see, what he talks about, his interests and his moods, then there's a layer in from that that Simon and myself see a bit more of than other people and then there's probably a layer inside that that only he knows about - his thoughts and feelings etc. Interesting.

We raced off with our prepared lunch and met up with our unschooling group (recently renamed as natural learners) for a walk, swim and bike rides.

Over dinner I mentioned how the meal delighted my taste buds - he queried what I meant, so we had a wee discussion about taste buds and their purpose.

An all round pleasant day.

A full on weekend

On Friday morning, Simon went away for a mountain bike race with some friends. The kids and I had no plans for our weekend at that stage but boy did it fill up fast.

Friday was spent getting groceries in the morning, home to pack the bags with togs, towels and food for swimming with the homeschoolers and a play at the park afterwards and home in time to get some dinner on.

Saturday we went to the kids grandparents by 9am as they were going away on holiday and we needed to sort out some things for them, dropped their dog off to the kennels and decided to go to the markets. The afternoon was spent around home.

Sunday morning saw us on a train by 10am to travel just down the line to a local school fair and back home again by 12.30pm, had the friends that we went with over to play for a while, then headed off to some other friends for a catch up, then off to playcentre for a parent meeting and the kids all had a play for a few hours followed by fish and chips for dinner and home for bed.

Phew! Exhausting, but fun. The kids spent every night in my bed - plenty of room with just the 3 of us, beats the usual 4 of us squished in there at times. I had Danielle put herself to bed there on the Friday night and when I discovered her fast asleep - the window as still wide open, bright day still, curtains open and the birds chirping, then Saturday night Nathan put himself to bed there and then Sunday night they both put themselves to bed there. Mama just pretended she had no idea what was going on ;).

Today, we just spent it at home. We put up the Christmas tree, the kids made up various games, looked through their little boxes of baby cards and memorabilia, watched a video or two, bounced on the trampoline and hung out in the garden collecting veges for dinner. I got a bit of much needed housework done. At some stage Nathan told me that 2 + 2 + 2 was 6 and had me sit down with him for a while to write out some numbers.

I keep finding toys wrapped up in sellotape (by Danielle). And a lot seem to have acorn tops stuck on them...

We made a spontaneous visit to the local markets this morning since we were dropping my parent's dog off to the nearby kennels. Eating locally made ice cream. I had no shoes for the kids, but I came up with a pair of Nathan's gumboots for him floating around the car, and found a smaller size of the same for Danielle in the back of the car in amongst the emergency supplies. She was dubbed the Taihape Fairy by a few of the stall owners lol. They wooed their way with the cheese lady and she gave them the last (but opened-and-taste-tested-so-no-point-having-on-display) block of sheep's milk feta which was YUM! We were looking at the locally made pork sausages and Nathan wanted to try an unusual looking variety (and gluten free). So I think we'll be having an international meal of cheese and sausage tomorrow!

Danielle wanted a hat for her doll and I noticed this going on...;)

(and yes, that's a sleeping Nathan in the background, guess those 5.45am starts are doing him in - coz they sure are doing me in...)
This afternoon Nathan got out a maths workbook and wanted to do a few of the things in there.

It really is almost summer

Wow, the weather has really warmed up in the past week and we've been enjoying more time out in the garden, going for walks and thinking about Christmas and the summer ahead of us.

Today we went for a walk and gathered together some materials to make some decorations and blogged about here.

We also read quite a bit, the kids played on the computer on the starfall site for a wee while and then Nathan created a game for them to play (I love how he turns a technology game back into an old-fashioned game - kinda lol). He asked me to use the hand controller and he would be the character of the game who would jump, leap, run, spit fire out his mouth etc. Danielle then had her turn.

We had some firewood for next winter delivered the other day and it went across our whole driveway. So Nathan made a path down the side for us to get down to the garden still. Later on in the day (yesterday) he then wanted to make a track through the centre and spent time working on that and carried on this morning. I'm thinking it's work in progress as there is still about a 1/4 to go.