A Birthday Present

Besides going nuts trying to get the house into functioning order again after rearranging it and in the middle of it getting really sick with the flu and having to get a present ready for my mother, lessons have been waning, alas. But they have not been non-existant. The children still draw a fair bit, they have been reading to me, out loud to each other and to themselves.

So, this is the Off-The-Page Rainbow Children Project I did as a gift to my mother, and I don't really want to give it away now I've completed it, its great! This and the last brag book I did of Monika are my favourite pieces so far. Enjoy, Q.

Not much happening as we reclaim the house

after we finished having that horrid 'flu... which we are not completely over yet. Above is Kai's work, below Labyrinth (who is now an aspiring fashion designer, and futher below is Raven's picture.

One bright thing is that I've been able to get much craft done. Currently doing a cross stitch of the Heliotrope Fairy and an off the page scrap hangy thing for my mum's birthday which is happening on Wednesday next week. Then birthday's for Raven and Kai will be up next month too... Oh, and on a less than bright note, the sea monkeys have been killed by an accident by Labyrinth, she dropped them across the floor.

Lace and Leather, Reading Nook... and Our Avarian Friends...

Here is a picture from Kai of a cut out drawing of a man:

Below is a Liger Zero fro Dante, part of Zoids:
Below is Labyrinth's Garden (or our garden she's drawn):
Leather and Lace... The final version of Monika's Brag Book, complete with Leather Whip-Stitching, ribbons and Lace:

You know, most of the time I'd say it's not easy living with bipolar in the house, but today Andrew did amazing things and set up the children's reading corner (which they are soooo happy about) and he completely rearranged the layout of the loungeroom where it resides:

Oh, and these are not posed. As soon as it was set up they were in there (and as I was cooking tea wasn't aware they were in there), and basically once I heard what they were up to I grabbed the camera to catch a very special moment! Even Monika was there wanting to join in! Yes, the boys spikes, Raven says he wants one but when the clippers comes out he runs away! I am so pleased... Dante had the most beautiful long hair (I will drag out a picture to share) and I may be able to convince Raven to have long hair too...) Below is how the TV stand,media centre and new paludarium will be set up!
Below is our little Swan family we often see with 5 cygnets that the children get so excited to see and so disappointed if they are not there.

We were busy rearranging today so we didn't get any study done much... but we did do the good thing by freecycling 3 bags of various sizes of baby clothes that Monika no longer or will never wear we swapped it for three new aloe vera plants. We then brought some more from Big W - Another Jasmine plant and as you can see above the TV a huge drooping fern. Also two new cushions for our little reading corner. While the fire blazed tonight though, I did enjoy listening Labyrinth read Eastmans Are you my mother? Dante read nearly all Dr Suess (not really by him just using Cat etc) Oh say, can you say Dinosaur and Kai read several pages of Cat in the Hat which he read so smoothly, Andrew and I just sat back and were amazed! Also I read a Thomas the Tank Engine math book with little trains that actually move around the numbers in the book. It was a little rushed towards the end as it was after 9 pm at this stage and everyone was tired.

And a huge thank you to my mother for donating that rag rug in the reading nook for the children!

Home schooling really is the best, and the children are growing up so fast! Hoping all is well, Q.

Monika Baby Brag Book

I believe that is what they are called.... to me its my almost finished off the page project. I hope to gift this to Monika on the arrival of her first baby or some other significant event in her life...

I've had so much trouble getting this thing to work! In the end I had to call in Andrew's expertise in HTML to get it to work. It has taken well over 24 hours (broken up times obviously). I haven't finished binding it yet, but I'm going to do some purple whipstitching and add ribbons and lace later.

Yesterday, we went and visited a friend who is giving away her puppy (her X partner gave it to the children on their visits over the holidays). Being in rented accomodation and the size he was growing up to be and the expense made it impossible to take the puppy on. There were many tears shed and hearts broken. I feel so sad for their little family at the moment... we went to have a nice visit and see the puppy and see the angora bunnies they are bunny sitting right now for a friend.

For some stupid reason theres this whole big gap between the typing and the images, and the frustration of trying to get them to be side by side and in the right order has left me and Andrew frustrated. But at least they are actually in the right places now, so here they are: Back and Front pages, first and second, third and fourth, fifth and sixth respectively... M is For Monika, my cut-out baby :D

Garden of Earthly Delights... er I wish... part 6

The terrarium part of our paludarium... below is our 'erbs in a pot...

Our obligatory Venus Fly Trap:
Our ferny bushy bits:
Some of our outdoor garden. Strawberries and herbs and rocket grows, but we await the rest here of our edible bits:

Our tarty kitten... his name is Wolfie. He is too naughty to live inside as he wees and everywhere. Starting with my pregnancy. He has his own little house and bed outside in a sheltered bit with blankets etc, but really he is best suited to outdoors. He's not really a kitten either, he is just the runt of the litter and he is going to be a little cat. He's such a pretty boy, its such a shame really.

Well its that day of the fortnight again... pay day. The children spent money on things to build this time - wood work this time around (steiner/wardorf). Also wooden board books in shapes as they were inspired what I've done with Monika's butterfly off the page scrap book which isn't quite finished and therefore not posted! Dante has a car, Labyrinth a tabbed book. I brought another butterfly wings and a train, amongst many other things! I couldn't help myself. Love Kaiser paint!!! I got some co-ordination paper (which is one coloured textured cardstock layered in two colours so if you sand or tear or age in some way it uncovers the colour lurking underneath, how lush is that???

Also brought another motherboard to complete our media centre (purely started as a save the DVDs from the terrible monsters who were trashing them to an exciting thing!) We have a new discus as well! It is a Dragon Flame, very red and has lines like a turq but is just lush. I was taken by the pure white ones today, but at $90 it was beyond us just yet, next pay.... come faaassst! $55 was enough on one fish today.

We did some grocery shopping in bulk today, rice, sundried tomaties, satay sauces etc. We will get bulk meat tommorrow. We have an affectionate name for the store: Second Hand Meat Shop. Ooops, did I say that online???

Checked out the so called awesome cambridge shopping outlets today (meant to be factory outlets my ***). Expensive, boring, boring boring!!! I miss factory outlets where bras are like $10, and things really are heavily discounted. There should be no fears from sellers in the city, this place is doomed. Golden Circle was one of our favourites except for the pineapple in everything (but I suppose thats what a Golden Circle is, after all.)

Brought more desperately needed pencils and other supplies for homeschooling today, they just go through them so fast, we have to lock em out! Therefore it's not there when needed and I have to go and hide from the world for a LONG time, so I don't get too angry and frustrated and say something I don't want to say because I am so ticked. So, it will be carefully monitered from now on, these supplies I have now (and then we will gradually reintroduce the idea that if they look after said supplies they will be on demand again.

Also got the "View From My House" Pic printed up at HN today. Wide print and all.

Well, that's all from me today. Nighty, Night, Q.

Woes of the Internet

Unfortunately, been off line basically for the last week. This is great because *this is the first week of my distance uni course which requires broadband*, and wonderful because it was during this time I could have *opened a non receipt of item dispute* on ebay for a Totoro Organiser I so want and can't seem to find anywhere else on the net. It also meant I couldn't moderate on the Family Value Forum, or frequent other forums. I also could *not* blog. It was a tough 5 days, and I am not pleased.

So is the woes of no internet, and the woes of allowing my hubby to run our finances when I know I shouldn't because of this bipolar financial symptom he has ie, no control. So this time I made sure things happened as they should (and am keeping us to it).

So, last week in brief.
Monday, It was Andrew's birthday, and as I'd been ill for the weekend, it fell to me to clean up and get a roast lunch ready (after brekkie in bed). It was also going to be a bbq tea and play for the children, but he was far too depressed. We've also been working on an off the page piece for Andrew's birthday.
Tuesday, Andrew and I both did lessons. These being maths, reading and writing. Labyrinth actually played up for her dear Dad! No one except Kai finished their writing lesson. Labyrinth had a cooking lesson with making a chicken stirfry.
Wednesday, was a good day for reading all round. I took over the ardous task of reading lessons with Labyrinth and she did really well. Dante is coming along beautifully much to my delight. Kai is slow and steady, but that's OK, I'm not pushing him. Dante did the cooking lesson this time, and we had chicken wraps. There was a documentary on Sharks that Dante watched today, and the rest of the family in bits.
Thursday, another good day for homeschooling. Lessons all around in maths and spelling and reading. Labyrinth watched a documentary on medical sciences, in particular, when labour goes horribly wrong. This was fascinating for her as she got to "see" a ceaser being done on about four different women, one with triplets. This interests her because of Monika being the token "cut-out baby" in our family.

Friday I'll dedicate an entire post to...