Photos from my garden.

I love taking photos of flowers with our awesome camera but I haven't taken many lately. This morning while the rest of the family was still snoozing I snuck outside to get some shots of early summer flowers around my garden. I still haven't figured out how to use the macro feature but have started reading the book and will take some more later.

This is a sage flower real close up. I think it's just gorgeous and it smells beautiful too.


I'm not sure what this plant is....will have to ask my Mum, she'll know (one of her granddaughters calls her a "plant freak"!!) but the flowers are sure cool.

Halloween party

DD, DS and I went to the Halloween party with Auntie and cousin. The kids had heaps of fun playing with friends and scoffing lots of lollies, hot chips and sausages. I even dressed up but unfortunately didn't think to get a photo of myself.
DS went as a demon.


And DD went as a rock chick princess type.


Next year we will get a bit more sorted with our decorations. We love Christmas decorations, so it'll be cool to have another excuse to buy a heap of crepe paper!!

Kids played Singstar and Sims on PS2 late (as I type this). Sims game is cool....I might have a wee play later! lol They also played on Neopets, that's a very cool site too. Possibly have to get one myself cos they look like fun.

Our Tuesday

Today we all went into town for groceries and other weekly errands.
DS8 asked if they could get their allowance a couple of days early cos they wanted to get some stuff for Halloween. It was a very enjoyable day and we all found some great bargains.

We went to Savemart and DD9 found this beautiful dress for only $4.99.

We also went to the library which we haven't been to for about 2 months.
DH wanted to get something else to read, and I had to let them know about another lost book. I chose heaps of new books for the kids. DS was too interested in the PC and DD was pushing DH around in a wheelchair but that's cool cos I love picking out kid's books.

DH was happy with his choice. : )

We also went to Dollar Star and DS spent some of his allowance on some cool stuff. Gee I love that shop.

I got some more neat trays for meals and kids projects.

We also visited our friendly Video Ezy - love the staff there, the kids think they are great and they always spend time chatting to us.

We didn't get anything for Halloween in the end - I'll have to find something around the house to jazz up what we already have.

There's a party for the kids at our local hall tomorrow which should be fun.

Better go and sort something now or else it'll be panic and rush tomorrow.

The orange cast!

This is DH's second cast that was put on last week. The first one was plaster and this one and further ones (they will change it fortnightly) are fibreglass.

The kids chose the colour for him. I wonder what colour they will pick next week. : )

Busy sunny days

The last few days have been really sunny and I've been doing what many others around the country have been doing - mowing grass.
This is most unusual for me as in all my 38 years I have never mown!
This was due to my arthritis but, as I seem to be having a bit of a remission (dare I actually say it - hope I don't jinx it!), and my DH is laid up with ruptured Achilles, I/we thought that I could give it a go.
Well, I really love it. We have a huge lawn (not in the slightest bit flat either) and it has only had one spring cut so far so it's pretty long in places.
I intend to do some each day so I can keep on top of it while DH is out of action and so far I've done some on Saturday, Sunday and today. No pain bar a tiny tender spot on the ball of my thumb where I was really pushing against the push bar thing (what do you call it anyway?).
I'm looking forward to doing more tomorrow cos it looks really nice out there now and I want to finish it.....which of course I never will because when I think it's done, I'll have to start all over again. LOL
I'll wait til I've done a bit more before I take any photos so it looks real good.

Well, not much about the kids today. They played with school friends (6 year old girl & 8 year old boy) after school today while the Mum and I (who are good friends) sat in the sun and chatted for an hour or so. It was lovely and the kids played really well together.
As I type this DD9 is in her room watching a DVD of Scrubs (she loves this show), DS8 is watching Angry Beavers on Nick and DH has just hobbled out on his crutches and kindly finished making my cup of tea for me.

More playdough.

Pita bread a la DS8. We could have a baker in the family.

Cornflour and playdough fun!

We have been having heaps of fun lately playing with cornflour and water and playdough. They started with playdough but then we ran out of regular flour so they switched to cornflour and water gloop. We added some food colouring and different glitters and they played with it for HOURS.

After a trip to the supermarket to stock up on flour, they have now gone back to playdough. The lounge looks like a bakery!

They are getting more and more creative with the things they are making. DH and I are amazed at how long it has been keeping them occupied.

I have promised them tomorrow we can make some real dough so they can bake and then eat their creations.

Whoa.........time for an update I think!!!

Gawd, I can hardly believe it's been so long since I last put something here!

Things have been like never before in our household. There is a whole lot more playstation, tv and pc happening and a whole lot less fuss about bed times, food and household chores.
Most importantly, it has been a time of deschooling, contemplating, reassessing and LOTS of learning for me.

The kids are certainly enjoying less limits on previously restricted things. We have become well known at our local video rental shop!

Hannah has been doing lots of baking and is very capable at reading recipes and doubling quantities when needed. She also loves helping me with dinner and recently has started tidying the kitchen and washing dishes when I'm out, as a surprise. Yeehaa!!!
The other day she discovered YouTube and really enjoys looking at some of her favourite songs. In fact we both like looking together. What a time waster! lol DH also just discovered it so we will definitely be using all our 5GB this month!!

Darcy is SO enjoying the new PS2, although is still a big cartoon fan. I am becoming VERY knowledgeable about all his favourite games. The look on his face when he has my undivided attention for an entire spiel about Ben 10 is just priceless. Talk about feeling connected with him!!!
The rugby season is just about over - one game left this Saturday and then the final. So far our team is unbeaten so this week will be a big game. Darcy is playing so well and really enjoying it.
I shall have to put up some recent photos soon.

I've been thinking about some kind of online group for local unschoolers, but I actually have no idea how many unschoolers there are around here. If I keep this blog active I may have a better chance of finding more so a huge effort will be needed to post regularly. *bwg*

Kids home!

The kids came home from their dad's today (well, actually yesterday now). Hooray - it's great to see them again.

They were away for 12 days and Darcy had a pretty hard time being away from me this time. I spoke to him a coupla times and it always ended in tears. I think he's gotten clingier because since leaving school he has spent so much time with me. It's very obviously an area that needs some work. : )

Also this weekend I have my 4 yr old niece staying.....probably not such a great idea the same weekend the kids come home, but hey, we do these thing to ourselves.
Things are going good so far -kids are all asleep right now.

Tomorrow we have rugby at 10.10am and are meeting their dad there. After rugby he is taking them for the rest of the day which is cool cos' I didn't get time to finish the house and that'll give me a few more hours.

I'm going to see if Hannah wants to post something here. I think she might really like it.

I should go and get some sleep while I can.
Night
Stacey

Some pics.

Darcy scoring a try during his first season of under 7's rugby.

Shame you can't see the line clearly, but it is definitely a try!!

Cutting our wedding cake.

Kingsley and I got married on September 9, 2006.

The kids were very involved in the wedding and had a fantastic time.

Hannah & Darcy off for a walk in the beautiful stand of native trees that is right across the road from our house. We call it "our bush" and we can see it through our living room window. There is always heaps of birdlife around and I love taking photos when I have the chance.

Our weekend without the kids!

Wow, we have the whole weekend to ourselves. The kids are at their Dad's and have been since last Sunday. He's going to bring them home next Friday so he can come with them to rugby on Saturday morning and watch Darcy play. (I must put up one of his rugby photos) The will come home with us after rugby.

We miss them terribly when they are away, yet, thoroughly enjoy having the (tidyish) house to ourselves.

I always look through our photos a lot when they are away and this is one of the kids on our wedding day last September. They behaved so well and looked just awesome. They both really enjoyed dressing up and since the wedding keep asking to wear their "wedding clothes". : )

I hear my darling husband coming home from getting firewood, so I will post this now and show him what I have done. This is fun!

Saturdays at home are lovely.

Stacey

Our Introduction

Hi and welcome to my first ever attempt at a blog.
I don't know how on earth I'll be able to fill it with anything half way interesting, but I'll give it a go!

Our family is Stacey (me), husband & Stepdad Kingsley and children Hannah (9) and Darcy (7).
I am a full time stay-at-home Mum and kingsley works full time for a printing company.
We live in a cosy wee house on the outskirts of a village in rural New Zealand. My parents live right next door and 1 of my sisters is just a few streets away.

We took the kids out of school in late February this year so we are very much "newbies", although we are so much more relaxed already.
We plan to unschool and really want to meet other unschooling families from around the world to share this marvelous adventure that we are embarking on.

Have a fantastic joy-filled day.
Stacey