iSonto #23

Elnathan was so sweet this morning when he hugged Mercy and said "Do I love my sister?" Here he is intently doing a puzzle that would have been too hard for him a few months ago. I have enjoyed precious moments this week watching the two of them focus their tiny hands on puzzle pieces.

Natey's memory verse was "All Scripture was given by inspiration of God".

Mercy was delighted to pull apart a rose on the front porch.

This week we are thankful for the . . .

* Lovely abundance of corn and pumpkins and gem squash and climbing beans all together at the back corner of the garden, and the marigolds at the front entrance

* Happy days with cousins on holiday. Esther came one day, Jeriah another. Esther is an excellent play mate and shows the little ones how to use their toys.

* Curls on the back of Mercy's head

* A great time at the beach this morning, with Mercy loving the water with Daddy

* A picnic with friends at the beach this evening.

* Mercy is walking beautifully, which is an absolute delight to me and my sore back as I don't have to pick up and carry her much anymore. It is also just very cute, and she took off boldly up the beach this morning, with great determination to go who knows where!

* God slowly showing me what meekness is

* The stillness sleep brings to active bodies and curious eyes

* Shells to decorate a sand tortoise

* Songs for Saplings ABC CD teaching us God's word as we do our work or play

From garden to tummies . . .

We have had lots of butter beans, which Nate likes to eat raw. I had them all in a bowl and Mercy tipped them out, and it was so cute when she obeyed us and started packing them away again.

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, a deep and vibrant call to a life of thanksgiving.  


One funny moment was when Dave came in and said to Nate "Is that my boy" and Nate replied "I'm not a boy, I'm a car". He has started contradicting most things we say. This presents a new training challenge, but also brings some comedy.

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iSonto #22

This week we are thankful for . . .

• Harvesting baby beets and carrots
• Bright colours of marigolds in the evening light
• A few great nights of sleep
• An evening to do some sewing
• A date 
• Laughter

Mercy was incredibly cute and made us laugh lots playing peek-a-boo behind curtains and chairs.

Boo!

Bye bye Mum!

Lets do it again!

 
Some of her outfits are especially cute for toddling, such as the one above. 

Elnathan was delighted with the cooking set and tea set we purchased for the children with some money given by his great aunt. They are perfect for making a mess while practicing pouring!

We have started a regular colouring time after morning tea, which will hopefully in time allow me to do some household admin while the children are colouring. In the background you can see Mercy going off with her own paper and crayon.

From garden to tummies . . .

Right now Dave is making basil pesto using our fresh basil and garlic.

A book we enjoyed together was Cinderella. This was Nate's request before most of his naps this week. 

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from Maybe This Year, a blog post that reminded me to "ask God to dissolve all our hopes (however good they may be!) into a single hope: to know Christ and to be found in Him."


One funny moment was when Mum told me that Elnathan informed her that Grandad and Uncle Aidan were married.

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iSonto #21

Mercy loved watching the chooks this week.

This created some excellent photo opportunities for her great aunts when they were here yesterday! Here is the twosome posing for their aunties.

This week we are thankful for . . .

* The arrival of Sherrin's two brothers from Canada and Queensland respectively.

* Three aunts and a cousin also joining us from mainland Australia. 

* Sherrin's parents wedding 40th wedding anniversary, which is the occcasion of them joining us to celebrate.

* The Occupational Therapy home visit Sherrin had that gave us good ideas about how to improve our home to make it more back pain friendly!

* The children can do  more together all of a sudden. With Mercy walking, Nate going to the potty, and being able to even put them at a little table together to do puzzles with me for a while, I am beginning to see a new stage of parenting emerge.

Here they are at the piano.

Mercy has even been watching a little Playschool with Elnathan.

Elnathan was developing his imagination. One day he was a dog, the next a bee. The rest of the family similarly morphed. It seems to provide a way to work through things that happen. For example, "The boy bee pushed over the car, that wasn't good, the Mummy bee was shocked because the boy bee pushed the baby bee and hurt her". Here he is in his "tent".

Natey's memory verse was  Matthew 22: 27 - 28, Jesus said to him "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment".

From garden to tummies . . .  

We had lots of basil and oregano on our pizza.

A book we enjoyed together was The Cobra in the Barn: Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology by Tom Cotter. Dave borrowed it from the library and Nate has been "reading" it several times a day. "I'll just finish reading my book about cars" has been a frequent response to my statement that we would be going outside or doing something else!

One funny moment was when Nate was told his Aunty Jen skied in Canada. He immediately said "Aunty Jen went in a rocket to the moon, didn't you". Hmm. . .  it seems "Charlie Bear", a character on a show he watches on iview, both skies and pretended to go to the moon.

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iSonto #21

This week we are thankful for . . .

Mercy and Nate playing together with less supervision necessary and more enjoyment!

Only one lot of cloth nappies now, due to one person graduating from them . . . yay!

Elnathan was taking leaps and bounds in his comprehension. He has got the concept of going to the potty and become very interested in why Mum and Dad are allowed to say no to him but he is not allowed to say no to our instructions.

Here he is putting grass into his wheelbarrow to help Dad. All the rubble is the remains of a BBQ structure that we could never work out how to use. Dave has also dismantled the free standing deck during his break, and we are loving the extra space becoming more child friendly and useful to us. I am praising God for Dave's industry and initiative in serving us in this way.

Mercy was incredibly sweet toddling around on her two tiny feet.

Here she is going to see Nate in his "cubby".

From garden to tummies . . .

Beets roasted with other vegetables and chicken breasts for a delicious dinner.

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from Knowing God free audiobook which I downloaded from Christianaudio.

One funny moment was Mercy collapsing onto Nate in his cubby and them both laughing together.

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