I've decided that it's a good thing I did not make any kind of "New Year's resolutions" about keeping up with my blog better! ;-) I didn't start 2015 off very well without a single post in January, and now nearly in the middle of February before I finally get down to it again! There's no good excuse or reason for my absence here, just busy with living and lots of small people to love and look after! :-)
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| Here's Deborah & Fergus tonight - he'll be 16 weeks tomorrow. Time is flying by - I feel like he was hardly a newborn at all! But I guess his big size to start with made him seem to grow faster! He's thriving and weighs over 17lbs now. As you can see, his older siblings are still very much in love with him. |
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| Yesterday, the middle 3 decided to have a "Great British Bake-off"! They told me the challenge was a 40 course meal (!!!) and 3 tiered cake. They even had a timer to see how fast they could do it, and "Judge Clement" was making all kinds of comments about something being raw in the middle, or burnt on the edges! LOL |
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| Elijah still enjoys hanging out in the real kitchen - he's there most evenings when I'm cooking dinner! The only time he seems to be too distracted from it is when he's on the Starfall website, where he loves to work on phonics and basic maths. It's great that he thinks he's just having fun, but is actually learning quite a lot! |
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| Deborah is making good progress with writing words. She's not reading yet, but she loves to write! |
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| This was Fergus the other night - chilling out while I did the dishes. He's not so sure about the flash on my camera - makes his eyes look like they're popping out! [oops] |
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| My birthday was on Monday this week - now the grand old age of 33! The children greeted me nice and early with lots of birthday cards. I think Deborah had made me at least 4! The TY Beanie toy cat was from Benjamin - he asked his dad to take him shopping and picked it out himself. And the silk scarf was painted by Abigail and Deborah - they spent many hours working on it in the summer, and then kept it hidden away until now. They certainly made sure I felt very loved! :-) And then I made some cupcakes for them! ;-) They can't imagine a birthday without cake - so had to bake something! |
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| Fergus is busy teething! No idea how long it will be before a tooth appears, but he seems mad about chewing everything he can get his hands on! |
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| We've had some wonderful mild weather recently - I actually got washing on the line for the first time in *many* months! And we've had lots of sunshine this week, which I always love! And kids playing in the garden again is the best part! They've been in the house toooo much over the winter, and they always have tons of energy! :-P So it's great when they are outdoors again. |
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| Fergus at midnight the other day! Yes, he sometimes likes to have fun with his toys late at night! And then he had a long lie-in the next morning - wasn't awake until 10:30am! |
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| Abigail continues to be a big help! It's wonderful having an older daughter who can give the baby a cuddle when I'm in the middle of dishing out dinner, or doing the washing up, etc. |
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| 3 youngest boys! |
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| Deborah "reading" a book to Fergus! He was totally taken up with the book and the story that Deborah imagined was on the pages. |
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| Yes, they ALL love him! And Fergus loves them too! |
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| Elijah playing dressing up - and looking a bit too cute for the scary warrior he was meant to be! ;-) |
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| Going back in time - this was at 11 weeks old. |
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| Enjoying his toys - 12.5 weeks old. |
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| He really is nearly always happy - the most content baby I've ever had! :-) |
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| Tummy time at 13 weeks |
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| 14 weeks old |
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| I love all his funny faces he makes! |
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| Looking shocked (at nothing in particular!) and then dreaming the next minute! :-) |
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| Giggles at 12 weeks |
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| My little boys! |
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| We've continued to make progress clearing out the house in Dingwall - we finally got the kitchen all done a couple of weeks ago. |
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| This was not slave labour - honest! The children begged to help scrub. But eventually I had to chase them out, before we had soap & water everywhere! :-P |
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Well, I guess there's not much else happening! We've just been busy with ordinary days and homeschooling. In history we've been learning about various Spanish Conquistadors, Ferdinand Magellan and the voyage around the world (not that he made it, or even planned to go around the world!), and most recently we've got to Martin Luther and the Reformation. We've just finished the science course we've been studying for the past 18 months or so - all about astronomy. Elijah has enjoyed hearing about planets and the moon & stars and will probably continue to talk about it for some time to come! :-) Not that he's anything like school age, but they all enjoy sitting around and listening when I read aloud - though sometimes I think they like to see if they can talk louder than me! :-P Abigail is looking forward to starting a new science book next week - she's very keen to study human anatomy & physiology! I have to admit I'm excited about that too! I studied two levels of it at college in Texas and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I can't wait to explore the subject with Abigail, and I'm sure the other children will have fun too! Though I'm planning to try a new science curriculum with the younger children, which has simple hands-on and visual activites to do each day. It doesn't look too involved or messy [yay!] so I'm hoping Clement & Deborah will enjoy that.
13 comments:
Astronomy? What science curriculum are you using? Curious as we just did that last year and are onto Human Anatomy and Physiology this year! Apologia is what we use. :)
(1) Belated Birthday Greetings Rachel for last week. (2) The pictures of ALL your family especially those of Fergus pulling funny faces are BRILLIANT. (3) I am slightly puzzled as to why "teacher" had to make her own birthday cake!!! Couldn't daddy NOT have taken the children out so that they could choose one for Mummy's 33rd Birthday Party? Hope the "birthday girl" aka you was not made to do the washing up afterwards! D in Glasgow Scotland
Hi Evelyn,
Yes, we use Apologia too! :-) I love the depth of detail and get to learn so much along with the children! ;-) I think some say Astronomy is at the easiest level, with human anatomy closer to the hardest level. But having done Abeka science for a couple of years at the beginning, the kids learned a lot of plants and animals already, so they weren't keen for botany or the zoology ones. So we decided learning about the human body sounded best! :)
The other science curriculum I've just found out about is Dr Wile's "Science in the Beginning", which is a K-6th grade sort of level - meant to be a bit easier than Apologia. Dr Wile wrote the high school texts for Apologia but isn't with them anymore, and has now done this elementary science series on his own. So it will be interesting to see what it's like (I think it's being published from Australia maybe?). Anyway, I ordred my science books the other day, so they should be arriving in the post on Monday - can't wait to get started with them! :)
David: Thanks for the birthday wishes. I guess I just never think of buying cake - making homemade is best! ;-) But probably by next year, I should think Abigail could bake one herself! LOL
Rachel Somehow I doubt next year a 34 yr old mom would ideally want to redecorate her kitchen if she was to get her eldest child to bake a cake. My point was Daddy could/should have gone out and bought mommy a birthday cake and given it to his wife on her birthday as a surprise. PS I was sorry to hear your sister Leah has NOT been well recently. I do hope she is feeling better. I also hope that Rev C Hembd, Leah and family DO NOT have to wait too long before they can start setting off for Gisborne New Zealand. Kindly pass on our regards to them + to the rest of your family in Texas U S A
Leah is recovering well from the operation. We were all very thankful that the skull tumor was benign. It could take 3 months before she's feeling more normal, but the surgeon is hopeful that it was a success and she shouldn't have anymore problems with it. It's a great blessing she was able to find a doctor who could help her with this surgery, as there aren't many who would do the operation.
PLEASE TELL Leah and Caleb we are thinking of them and praying that it will be less than 3 months before Leah is feeling her usual self once again DV. It must be so hard on them especially when they have such a young family. I hope a 33 Yr old Birthday Girl in Tain, got loads of nice presents for her birthday too. D in Glasgow
I have the book "Science in the Beginning" by Wile, and it looks quite good. I haven't actually started using it yet - life has been a bit hectic and I plan to start after I have the baby (hmm, as if I will be less busy then, lol!) I quite like it from what I've seen just reading through it. I think the girls will enjoy it and learn quite a bit from it.
That's good to hear, Mercy! And neat that you're going to be using it too! :) I looked at a preview of the first 15 or so lessons online and thought it looked a good book. So I look forward to seeing how the kids like it. I hope all is well with yourselves - how much longer until baby is due?
Hi Rachel. I hope it WONT take too long before Caleb, Leah and family get the documents which will enable them to set off for their new life in New Zealand DV. I saw on your blog this morning, that Leah is going to be an auntie AGAIN with Caleb's sister Mercy expecting another baby. D in Glasgow
Hi Rachel. Any word yet re your sister Leah, Rev Caleb Hembd and fanily getting theur visas etc in order to start their new life in New Zealand? Hope Leah's recovery from her recent op is going to plan too DV.
I'm guessing it could be a while yet before they get their visas. It's quite a long process for any country - and seems to take even longer for New Zealand! :) But I think they're busy with the paperwork and all.
I guess that explains why when Rev Hutton ex Inverness received the call from Grafton Australia to be their new minister, it took a generation before they received their visas for Australia. I think it was the last day of October before he was inducted! Let's hope and pray they don't have too long to wait DV before everything gets finalised. D in Scotland
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