End of Year Blog Catch-up - November & Abigail's 10th Birthday, etc

When you've got a 1,000 word essay you're meant to be writing for your university course ... you decide to do a blog post instead, right?! :-) I guess it's that time of year when you realise that you've not updated your blog in a while, and doing it will be one less thing on that mental "To-Do" list, so I'll concentrate better once I get it done. Or so I'm telling myself! :-) I've already got photos for a second post - who knows, maybe I'll do that tomorrow - or at least soon.

This is my little study buddy! :-) Though he likes to grab all my pens and highlighters and throw my notebooks over the couch!

He thinks it's great fun hanging out with me when all the other kids are asleep at night!

In November, my biggest girl turned 10!! It's hard to believe I've already got a child this old. It feel like she'll be grown up before I realise it! Abigail is a huge blessing - so thankful for her! :-)

Goofy faces! ;-)

Sister cuddles

My girls!

Opening presents - books are always appreciated!

Birthday cake!

Candles

Fergus likes to hang out in the kitchen with me - using spoons on metal stuff is always fun - and noisy! :-)

Right now Fergus is a bit mad over trying to fit *into* things - like toy boxes, buckets, anything! This time, I had to laugh when he sat inside a small casserole dish! :-D Yes, he's a lot of fun!

Stacking tins of food is fun!

As I said, sitting in toy boxes! ;-)

Over the past several weeks, I've been doing lots of re-organising of bedrooms. The girls room is very small and an odd shape, and as they've gotten older, it's become more cramped and not enough proper places to keep their things tidy! So it was time for a major makeover, and thanks to clever Ikea stuff, the room has been totally transformed. THIS is the horrible *before* photo! Yes, it was bad!

Girls' room before - it was a mess!

This was after, but the other end of the room - don't have a before photo posted of this end of the room. But they had a large bunk bed with double bed on the bottom, so it took up a lot of room in their small space. So we replaced it with a short/compact bunk bed which made the room feel so much bigger. The girls love it! (Oh, and the wood trim here has since been painted white! lol This was an early "after" photo.)

This is the after photo (same area as the very messy photo above). Ikea wardrobes have given them lots of space for clothes (because girls always like lots of clothes!) and the Kallax units are amazing. I like the one under the window, which is a favourite place for the girls to sit and play. It's 4 units wide, but only part of it is seen in the photo here.

Wardrobe being filled here - it's totally full now! ;-)

My second "project" was to re-purpose this under-used hallway into a sewing workstation! Again, with Ikea space saving units! This is the hall between girls' and younger boys' bedrooms (the whole area was originally un upstairs lounge/living room when we bought the house - but we turned it into bedrooms soon after we moved in).

Part way thru creating the sewing and craft workstation area! I came up with the original idea of using Billy bookcases, and Peter did ALL the assembling and putting it together for me ;-) and also he thought of using a Billy shelf extension unit to make the top shelf to bridge the gap between the two bookcases. Then doors on the front to keep the fabrics and sewing supplies tidy and out of the way of small hands!

And being put to good use! :-) Deborah was designing doll dresses before school, before breakfast, and before she even got dressed in the morning! :-P They quite like having this creative space outside their bedroom! :-)

I've also re-organised the little boys' room too! Someone local-ish was selling some secondhand Kallax units, and having seen how well they worked for the girls' room, I just had to sort out the boys room too! Yes, it does look a bit like a toy store! ;-) But Fergus loves being able to see all the toys. And having an orderly place for everything, means it's easy for the children to tidy the rooms by themselves, so less work for me! ;-)

One last photo - yes, it will be Fergus, of course! :-) He was trying to SIT in the sink of the toy kitchen set! He loves to explore everything, that's for sure!

Well, maybe I'll go work on that essay now ... or just do some more housework and other jobs that always need to be done! ;-)

October Birthdays and Homeschool Group Museum Trip

I am finally taking a moment to update this blog! Over the past several weeks, I'm usually grabbing my psychology text books and notebook and pen whenever I need to sit down (i.e. giving Fergus a feed and putting him to sleep). And it's not like I don't have any studying to do ... but I just felt like getting my blog  up to date before I have photos from *three* birthdays that need to go on here! Abigail is turning 10 this week - can't believe I've almost reached the stage of having a child with a double digit age. 

We've had  nearly 2 weeks of poorly kids - aches, sore throat, cough, fever, chills, etc. For some reason, it's only the youngest 3 who really came down with it. Clement seemed to have it slightly, but didn't really suffer too much. Whereas Elijah had it the worst, and was miserable for 10 days! He spent a good bit of a week just lying on the couch under his duvet. Fergus was the last one to get it and has needed a lot of cuddles from his mama, which of course makes it a bit more tricky to look after everyone else! So thankful for slings and being able to wear him on my back when he just needs to be next to me! :-)

Starting to feel better here - "If you're happy and you know it, clap your feet!" :-)

 

 

In the middle of October, Deborah turned 5! :-) She requested a big doll, and was very pleased with this one here!

Opening presents

She had the very specific request of cupcakes with YELLOW ladybirds (ladybugs) on top! :-P Which, of course meant that I couldn't just buy them ready made! lol But thankfully a bit of searching online and I managed to get an idea for making these with fondant icing, and the birthday girl was very happy! :-)

Birthday girl and cakes

Then a couple of weeks later, Fergus turned 1! :-) It seems like just yesterday he was born - not sure how a whole year has passed! I can't imagine life without him - he brings such joy to everyone! :-)

Funny face while playing with birthday presents!

He loved this present of squeaky eggs best, which some friends gave him! :-)

Birthday boy and his cake!

Clumsy cake, but when the recipient is only 1 year old, you can get away with it! ;-)

He loved the marshmallows and thought they were great for picking off and putting back on.

While I was baking his cake, coming to see me in the kitchen! :-)

:-)

Not sure what all the fuss is about, but thinking about it all! :-)

Some late night playing one evening, when all the other children were asleep! ;-)

Just hanging out with his mama! :-)

Brothers!

I'm a big boy now - I can ride Elijah's Scuttle Bug bike! :-)

We've had *beautiful* weather this autumn - nicer weather, more sunshine, and even some warmer days than in the summer! It's been wonderful! It is finally getting a bit colder now. Though we've only today put the wood stove on for the first time, so really can't complain.

Also in October, we had a "school trip" with our homeschool group to a museum of childhood, where the children got to see and learn about all things Victorian! They all had a wonderful time together!

Listening to the museum lady's talk

Girls dressing up

Clement and Benjamin!

The older children having an educational activity session with the lady

Abigail always loves to dress up!

Afterwards they enjoyed the outdoors beyond the museum

Victorian games

Elijah outside the museum

And this was Elijah over the recent spell of illness. As I said, he was like this for the best part of 10 days! It's such a relief to have him feeling well again!

And now I'd better get this published, and do some chores - or cook dinner, or 1,000 other possible things that need to be done! :-)