boy-man

these lads of mine are such treasures- the are growing into fine young lads, I'm proud of their maleness and celebrate and encourage it everyday.  Sometimes their 'maleness'  baffles me, sometimes it frustrates me, but mostly it delights my soul...grow strong my sons, free in the very things that make you 'man'. l

easter 2012

my fav photo of the night...unstaged candlelit guitar song writing...under the stars - sigh

the egg hunt in our rather overgrown jungle garden

mr mans idea of dressing up was adding a tie - ahem

a special feast was prepared ... a real treat

We love Easter and the precious meaning it has to our family...I love family traditions and rhythms, and Easter definately has them at our place.  We always spend time together exploring the Easter story, and egg hunt at some pojtn and a dressup dinner where we read the Easter story once again together...no ICT allowed...just stillness and reflection.  I love that our  girls are helping to lead our little boys in these rhythms....

all `bout...well, me!

Dee the wee sweetie, tagged me in a brag book style questionaire...

::favourite colour::

ooooo, tricky. It has to be the colour of my second daughters eyes, they are teal with a grey base...so pretty. Closely followed but deep reds, and duck egg blue and green..yup too tricky to answer with a single colour ;-)

::favourite animal::

hmmm, I so love our animals, and different parts of different animals...can't go past a jaguar at the mo tho.

::favourite non-alcoholic drink::

bundenberg peachee

::favourite number::

21...twas when I became a Mama...

::favourite pattern::

french tolie in a island style...have it poping up on cushions, bags and table runners at the mo – in red and white – too cute. But anything that Cath Kidston or Heather Bailey creates is super beautiful too.

::favourite flower::

pink scented tiger lilles win hands down.

::favourite day of the week::

Friday...when I stay home with my Micah and we clean and shop, and sing and giggle, and make yummy snack s for the other 3 to come home to.

::facebook or twitter::

facebook...although I'm a bit over it at the mo.

::passions::

mothering, 'living in the moment', family and friends, exploring our beautiful country, growing as much food as we are able to, crafting, reading and lots of other bits n bobs

::giving or receiving presents::
hmmm, giving wins for me.

tagging some other lovelies.... Kirsty / Hanna / Renee / Cait / Widge

sniffff...a new chapter book

This new year...its like starting a new book isn't it...open the book, press the cover open and inhale the scent of posibilities...I so do love a new novel...anyho; after much procrastinating...tooing and froing, wondering and thinking and racking of my brain, I came up with a set of seemingly achieveable goals for this new adventure.....and thought I would share them on here.

When I went to jot them all down, they still seemed complicated, distracting and wordy.  But the underlying theme in each came out clear...and with a single word in mind, this year I am aiming to be ...present;

in all aspects of my life.  To take notice (even more so); to give the best of my attention to whoever I'm talking to.....so often my head spins out to all the other things that need doing, juggling, sorting, commenting on, making, creating, organising etc etc.  I wish to be intentially present.

xx

christmas in the tent

a wee bit different for us than usual, and although the kids vote its their favourite, I'm unsure yet, as I so love fussing and faffing about, with the food, decor, outfits etc....um, gulp, maybe thats why the tent rocked??!!
Anyho, we are back from a magnificent time up North, camping....in the beautiful Waipu cove...such a magical place, with bird estuary sanctuaries, caves, forests, dolphins in the sea, the beaches of course.  We drank yummy coffee everyday, slurped icecreams and wandered about soaking all the sun we got, and delighting in just being still, and with each other.  Our mega highlight was being able to go and spend the day in the Bay of Islands, watching the dolphins romp from our boat, and take in the spectacular scenery and history steeped islands.  Truly amazing. 

This year has been a roller coaster, challenging, rewarding, beautiful, devastating, filled with personal achievements and challenges for all our family individuals.  We are so thankful to those who have walked by our sides, sometimes leading, sometimes following....for His Grace who has eased us through it, and for a deep abiding love - that is family.  Bring on 2012 - we are gonna love the life outta ya!!

Easter-part 2

On sunday we always have done a treaure hunt and chocolate eggs, I thought this year our 11 year old might wanna be incharge of it for the younger kids.....but no, she was so excited about it and sooo wanted to be part of it- funny thing....apparently the crazy clues, digging for treaure, twirling down the hill and singing Mum songs is still cool (all to get to the next clue! Totally can milk that one! "Tell Mum have wondeful she is in 6 different ways"- teehee)....anyho, I also made them each a wee basket of Easter things to do, crosswords, an Easter Poem, wee handstitched felt hearts with their initals on, to use as a book mark and remind them of Jesus's love for them and ours too...etc....these went down well, although I suspect it was the weeny eggs in the bottom that were the favourite bit! Kids after my own heart!! oh, and who can let Easter happen without making delicious Hot Cross Buns....but hey thery are good anytime of the year! Steaming hot outta the oven, smothered in butter and homemade jam....gonna make some more today!

NB: the wee fellas sooo didn't eat all that chocolate, its totally for show, and meant wee could have a wee nosh too!!

Easter weekend

I know this is a little late, but oh well! Easter weekend for us as a family has always been special, in previous years we have gathered with all my family, but the last 2 have been just us....so I have made extra effort to make it alive with rememberance and thanksgiving. We didn't get to do everything I'd planned, but thats ok, theres always next year!

We started Thursday night by looking at passover and all that means to both the Jewish people and to us as a family....we talked about the food, the fun and the reasons for it. Friday night we had our traditional Easter rememberance meal...and this year we invited another family to join us, which was lovely to have their company. My girls spent some of the day making decorations and decorating the dining room, we set the table up and made a 'crown of thorns' and 'the tombstone rock' the centre piece, to remind us of the gift of salvation and the hope of what is to come.....we made sweet name places, and sahred after dinner the Easter story in picture form (a wee project I did with our girls a few years ago)...it was wonderful to share this night with our boys too, and for Jose to be a bigger part of it as his understanding deepens and his love of being a part of everything grows -hes sooo cute-.

Beach frolicks and germy bugs

Despite a grotty weekend of sick family...the weather was just beautiful and we did mangare to get out and enjoy it between kids coming down with 'the bug'....here some of what we saw....what an amazing way to enjoy the finest company ever in the most beautiful of places...just down the road and round the corner from our place (well 10kms!)....


...I also finished my tote...its made form some beautiful apolstry off cuts and lines with the most bnrilliant taffata for curtaining...a real bargin at this local furninshing shop where they pop everythingout in the bargin bin....I like the end result but probably should've made it a little shorter or a little wider....

....on another note, our dear friends father passed away this weekend so that has been sad...but a relief too as he was in such pain...we rpay that we will know how to comfort and bolster them in a way they need it over the coming time....death is such a big word isn't it? And makes you think of you own mortality...for me this also has a massive hope and peace factor, which I know our friends Dad experinced in the last week of his life, when he became a believer....