2017

  • 2017,  Taking Stock

    Taking Stock – December 2017

    Oh my goodness, we are at the end of December, about to embark on a brand new year.  The New year (2018) will start in about 26 hours!  I am personally looking forward to the clock ticking over into 2018. Before it does though, we need to do the very last ‘Taking Stock’ edition for the year!  I don’t think I will be doing ‘Taking Stock’ in 2018.    I have an idea for something else. Cooking: Due to feeling over committed, I stuck to my old family favourites this month.   I must say though that Christmas food was relatively a big deal in our household this month, so…

  • 2017,  Family

    The 2017 Wrap Up

    What an amazing, huge, emotionally charged, crazy year!   How does one really evaluate a year that has been so big in so many ways!!!  If I was to link a song to this year, I think I would probably choose Myley Cyrus’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ song!  2017 came in like a wrecking ball! At the start of 2017, I had a lot of ideas for how I wanted the year to play out – things I wanted to do personally, and a number of things I wanted to achieve for our family.  I knew it was going to be a little challenging to do it all, but I think I…

  • 2017,  Family,  Family,  values

    The Game of Life

    One of our family’s favourite board games is ‘The Game of Life’.  I personally prefer the original version of the game, but after many years of play, we needed to update and buy the new version.  Unfortunately, the new version’s board is a lot smaller, and they have changed the format of the game.   I suppose that happens when we try to modernise something that doesn’t need modernising.   The only reason we decided to upgrade to the newer version was that our game was literally falling apart.   Pieces were missing and the board was broken.  Our trusty original ‘Game of Life’ had been thoroughly enjoyed and used…

  • 2017,  Taking Stock

    Taking Stock – November 2017

    This month has been huge.  I know I say it every month, but I find it crazy that we are in late November already.  While it has been a massive year, and I feel the wear and tear of a challenging year, I cannot believe we are in November.  Another year has literally flown by. Cooking: Due to feeling over committed, I stuck to my old family favourites this month.   I must say though that Christmas is coming, and my favourite Donna Hay Christmas recipe book is calling out to me “Pick me up! Pick me up!”   My reply, “I’m coming, I’m coming!!” Drinking : Soda water and…

  • 2017,  Family

    Christmas is coming!

    Over the weekend we put up our Christmas tree! It was a wet overcast afternoon, and the kids were eager to put the tree up. It was the perfect day to put up our family Christmas tree.   We put my new favourite Christmas carol album on Spotify and enjoyed watching the kids put the decorations on the tree. By the way, my new favourite Christmas album is by a band called ‘For King and Country’.   This year I am pushing Michael Buble and Mariah Carey off the Spotify Christmas carol list. We usually wait till the first weekend of December to put up the tree, but not this…

  • 2017,  Taking Stock

    Taking Stock – October 2017

    What a month!  October has been a good month.  Seems life takes interesting turns at times.   A turn we didn’t expect we would have to deal with this month, was that our hot water system decided to die, and had to be replaced.    I was thankful it didn’t happen mid shower!   It is now done, and it is nice to be on the other side of the issue. So here we are again,  at the end of another month.   I feel as though I blinked and the month of October came to an end quicker than it started.   This is Taking Stock – October 2017.…

  • 2017,  Family

    Daring to Love

    Last Sunday morning at church, we dropped our two younger kids in at kids church and grabbed our seats.   The music was playing and as I looked around the room my eyes landed on the elderly couple in the seats in front of us to the right.   I found myself watching them.  I couldn’t help watch the way the gentleman held his arm around his wife, how he supported her while standing and worshipping God together. It was a gorgeous sight to behold.   I hope and pray we are like that down the track. The reward to working hard in our marriage was right there in front…

  • 2017,  Taking Stock

    Taking Stock – August 2017

    I’m not quite ready to say good bye to August, but that seems to be out of my control.   I will say though that I am pretty thrilled with the idea that as I publish this post, it will only be a few hours till we can say hello to Spring.   Spring is absolutely my favourite season of the year, and I am not exactly sure how to hide my enthusiasm. So lets get started… Making :   Art is an important subject in our homeschooling life.  Over the last week we have been attempting to paint rocks using mandala techniques. Lets just say that we need to…