iSonto #54

Mercy "taking Bill for a walk".  Mercy feels very blessed that we have a baby, even such a big one who is becoming more little boy than baby. Last week Nate said "We birthed Bill ages ago"!

Mercy and Nate have been earning dress ups when they accumulate seven clean and dry days (yes, they still need toilet training). Here they are as king and queen.

We have a great book called "The Big Book of Bible Story Art Activities". For this one we made playdough and used it to create gardens with pasta shapes. It occupied the little ones for about an hour. You can see below that Bill is a climber. At sixteen months he pushes a seat up to the bar stools and climbs onto them. I like to describe his increasing skills as "bracing" . . . for me, that is!

Nate has decided he needs a "desk". He likes to look at photos on the computer. Behind you can see the pink case we picked up for Mercy at a garage sale for our trip. We also got Nate one and they are old enough to begin anticipating our trip and running around with their cases pretending to go on an airplane.

Here are some more things to be thankful for I jotted down over the past two weeks:

Nate saying he would come home and make me vegetable soup to cheer me up!
Nate being polite at grandmas birthday party.
Bill learning to love books and sitting with me for 25 minutes listening while I read to him!
Bill loves being outdoors.
Mercy loudly singing to a praise CD, and dancing.
Nate matching letter blocks. I tried this about two years ago, and every few months since then, with no interest until now so it is lovely to have it happening now!
Nate telling me he wants to live with me forever because he loves me so much! (This is sweet because I trust he will feel differently when he grows up . . . not about the love, but about his living situation).
Dancing with Mercy to the praise CD.
Dave bringing me home flowers.
Nate building sand castles.
Nate creating lots of stencil pictures with colorix crayons.
Mercy creating a train family.
Happy children eating garden carrots and "camping".
Scent of jasmine
Mild winter day
A little girl walking up to me at kinder gym holding mercy's hand saying "I have a new friend", both looking starry eyed!
Renewed appreciation for breathing through my nose after having a cold.

Read more...

iSonto #53

   Mischief Billy was into sister's jewelry box. 

Elnathan was excited to create an E shape from blocks.

Bill gained an interest in puzzles and continued with his interest in climbing onto chairs and then onto the table. The latter is an interest we are aiming to redirect!

The children decided some plants needed moving . . . our winter garden belongs to them and the chooks! We are still getting some kale leaves from under the net at the back.

I love the blackboard we stuck onto our wall like contact where we are now displaying a verse to learn each week. This one is longer and is taking a couple of weeks.

Finally, here are some gratitude points I popped in as they came up over the course of the week.

Dark and stressful days remind me of the kind of mother I would be without the benefits of being a child of God. Truly all the good in us is only from Him.
Children pretending bean bags are platypus.
Ribbon bow in mercy's hair.
Mercy asking for it again the next day.
Mercy is quiet most of the time when I brush her hair now
Watching Bill focused and content playing with the same wooden block train that was Nate's first toy.
Heaping encouragement on the person who reminds me of mini-Nate, a chance to try again and experience "all things new".
Keeping the good and adding to it as we go on in parenting.
Our flights Sydney to Hobart on the way back from South Africa will cost us nothing thanks to credit card points (it pays to keep it in the positive)!
Able to photocopy pages from parenting books here at home.
Friends serving us a yummy chicken curry at their home for dinner and our children happily gobbling it up, I was grateful not to have rudeness issues with them!
Children able to undo buttons and put on shoes.
Nate able to do up buttons.
After years of effort Nate is quite reliable at sitting through church.
Going to Crossroads feels like going back to a spiritual home.
Seeing old friends.
Revive our hearts 30 day mom challenge and stress jar idea from one of the emails.
Mercy concentrating as I showed her the numbers on our alphabet blocks. Then she wanted me to spell her name Lorraine.
Extra grateful for every day of life after sudden death of child whose family we know.

Read more...

iSonto #52

Nate had a renewed interest in Duplo, resulting in this fun creation.

Mercy made a boat for her "friends" Morgan (the one in the red shirt with the black hair) and co.

Nate was also into the lego.

More things to be thankful for . . .

Bill slept well after dinner with cousins
I love our house!
A chance to sit and look at scrapbooks and rejoice in god's kindness.
Janelle invited us for dinner.
Nate made a love collage with duplo and it occupied him for half an hour.
Dave found a scripture about provocation to help us teach about this, Proverbs 27:3.
Nate made a frog garden on an outdoor window sill with bricks, weeds, branches and a pond.
Put away washing and finished online food shopping without interruption!
Sticking cloves in oranges occupied children for half an hour. This was one of the suggested activities for the letter "O" in their Sonlight curriculum. They can be used as scented ornaments hung from ribbons.
Mercy told us that our family is rich because we have plenty of food :). Grandma is very rich though because "she has a farm".

Read more...

iSonto #51

There are many more things to be thankful for this week.

Another Botanical Gardens trip, this time with Dad, uncle, and cousins! There was a great leaf monster.

Silvereye finches flitting through dead corn stalks.

Nate comforting Bill.

Bill toddling in rain in outdoor suit, rain coat and gum boots.

Brown Winter Cole pears from Geeveston in a yellow fruit bowl.

Gratitude that comes whenever I did into a box of hand me downs and realise how much money and trouble they have saved us.

Nate old enough for autumn leaf rubbings.

Chance to purchase glitter and messy fun had with it creating shapes and sea scene.

Sunset clouds shining through yellow birch leaves.

Watching a flock of birds alight over Browns river.

Public parks.

Sharing the observation of new birds with the children.

Read more...

iSonto #50

The brothers had a photo taken together on a trip to the Botanical Gardens. Nate was excited about these photos, asking for one of him with Billy.

It is fun to have elaborate box constructions like this one on the play mat in the living room. Great to see what a small boy can turn blocks into, isn't it? This construction is "Jack the taxi" from the library book.

I'll finish with some more pictures of our trip yesterday to the Botanical Gardens. This trip was an answer-to-prayer gift that was just what we needed to refresh us and help us out of some temptations we were facing. You know the kind of temptations to anger, provoking one another, etc. that can be helped in some fresh air in a beautiful place!

Watching Bill run around remains a cute and fun novelty. He makes us laugh and rejoice! Bill was 15 months on Monday.

In an attempt to revitalise some relaxing pursuits, I am aiming to return to iSonto in a simplified form. It will be focused on things to be thankful for from the previous week. So expect another one in your inbox one Wednesday :).

Read more...

iSonto #49

This week we are thankful for the fun morning we spent creating little pictures for our doll house, "framing" them with paper and laminating them.

It was one of those rare times where an activity with my children actually happened in the pleasant way I imagined it!

Elnathan was always eager to watch Daddy go in the morning.

 Mercy was happy to dress up Bill as, apparently, a "stripy elephant".

Bill was moving further! It was so cute when he crawled out the door.

One memory verse we practiced was "Be kind to one another" Ephesians 4:32.

From garden to tummies . . . the first broad beans in a risotto.

A book we enjoyed together was "Things People Do", part of our Sonlight P 4/5 Curriculum. You know that you're onto a good thing when the children keep bringing the book to the dinner table to show Daddy what they learned!

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from the Girltalk blog. A post about the kind of young women the church needs was perfect tonight as I've been thinking over the need to embrace rather than resent the massive learning curve that is raising little children. There are so many great posts on this blog I've been perusing the archives in the few spare moments over the past two weeks.

One funny moment was seeing the children with their massive pieces of cake at a friend's party! Three layers for three years of life. Each child started pleading for a different bit of the bird decoration . . . please may I eat the tail, the feet, the beak, etc. It was the most perfect afternoon garden party.

Read more...

iSonto #48: cubby progress, bye to Gramps, and spider families

This week we are thankful for the progress Dave made on the cubby, and the little people darting through it.

We had some last happy days with Dave's Dad before he left for Queensland. Here he is with his namesake baby William.

We heard a good sermon this morning on the necessity of us all receiving wisdom and instruction and discipline.

Elnathan was full of enthusiasm for "the spider family" under the house. He and Mercy often visited their "house" for parties.

Mercy was was calling herself "Missing Crown Affair" this week, after reading the book with me a few times.

Bill was starting to teethe and cry more. He also now crawls, sits up, and rolls, learning these skills quickly in the last couple of weeks. Here he is with "Fred". Gran Gran gave Fred to the children during her visit, which we all enjoyed.

From garden to tummies . . .

Lettuce and spinach for Gramps' last dinner with us.

 A book we enjoyed together "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie" by May Gibbs.

One memory verse was "May my prayers be set before you like incense" from the Songs for Saplings ABC.

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from "When I Don't Desire God by John Piper.

One funny moment was Elnathan informing us very seriously that if we had three children we would have to move house, because otherwise the beds would not fit, we would have to put one in the living room, and climb over it to get to the bathroom.

Read more...