April Activities

April has been a productive month.  We have enjoyed the settled autumn weather of cool nights and warm, sunny days.

I sometimes think, when I see other peoples photos of their nature walks, that we don't have anything as pretty.  But really the beauty is there if you choose to look hard enough.  It is more about perspective than it is about location.  

Life is just like that too.  Sometimes what we see around us seems boring or maybe ugly, but there is beauty there if we choose to see it.  The same goes for people.

This day I decided to take the youngest 3 on an adventure.  We headed down to the local river and went exploring.  It was great fun.

Life's simple pleasures - dandelion blowing.

The adventurer.

"This is my kingdom!" he cried aloud

Then we headed into the forest.

This is the only shot we seem to be able to get of these 2 lately.

Besties <3

 And sometimes I find lovely things on my camera...

Lego is a daily staple for the little boys.  One particular day Arrow saw Master Yoda from Star Wars on the computer and he wanted to make him.  This is where we found the instructions.  Yoda Lego Instructions

Our city clock tower was lit up red for Anzac Day.  We had made a family trip into town for dinner and we walked to the clock tower to see the Anzac displays.

Our silhouettes - can you guess who is who? 

 Autumn is my personal favourite season.  We found a decent pile of leaves in a park and had some fun with them.

We joined a community food harvesting group which gathers food to give to the organisations in our city who distribute free food to those in need.
The first harvesting we did was the University apple orchard.  We got to take some apples home with us too, which was a lovely bonus.

The second harvesting we went to was an enormous paddock of pumpkins...hundreds of thousands of them!  The estimate I heard was 500 tonnes!  Can you even imagine it!

The girls did a great job, and I am sure they now have a deeper appreciation of giving to others.
It is quite a humbling experience to work hard to collect food for others, and knowing that it was just going to rot and that it was impossible to gather all that was there so most of it will is a real life lesson.  There is so much waste in our world.

Look at those happy faces!  Good job girls.  

~Lorna

The Story In The Carols Day 8

Today the angels were found in the Sylvanian house living room holding a picture of Bethlehem once again.

Bethlehem was the city of King David's family.  Jesus was descended from that family line and therefore was descended from earthly royalty as well as being the Son of God.

Christmas Bead Story

Star Bead - A very bright star appeared in the sky.

 Cedar opened the book today.

Here is my trusty creative girl making a nativity out of cookies!

~Lorna

The Story In The Carols Day 7

Our angels were holding a picture of a little town in a desert.

O, Little Town of Bethlehem is our carol.  I was interested to learn, a few years ago, that Bethlehem means "house of bread".  Jesus is referred to as the "bread of life" and he was born in a town whose name is "house of bread".  God sure loves to have every finest detail in there!

Christmas Bead Story

2 Green Beads - The shepherds go to see Jesus.

Today's book was opened by Blossom.  Cedar chose the counting book.

The girls are in a little Christmas play being put on by our local home educators group.  I snapped these at their practice.

Butterfly and her friend singing a duet.

Dancing Angels

Finale

~Lorna

The Story In The Carols Day 6

Today the angels hid in the tree with a picture of a manger.

Today's carol is Away In A Manger.  We talked about our response to Jesus as sung in the 3rd verse.  Christmas is a time to reflect on our response to the birth of Jesus and all that it means.

Christmas Bead Story

White Bead - An angel appears to shepherds keeping watch in the field and tells them Jesus has been born.

 Today's book, Follow The Star, was opened by Crystal, and Blossom chose Frosty to read.

Our snack today was White Chocolate Popcorn with Christmas sprinkles.

FINALLY DECORATING THE TREE!

Slightly blurry, much fun.

~Lorna

The Story In The Carols Day 5

Just a short post for Day 5, a day late.  This is due to the fact that to add to one broken down vehicle, vehicle #2 broke down on our way home from collecting our Christmas tree.  Then to discover that vehicle #3 we hoped to use until we could fix the work van had a blown out tire!  Not such fun today.

However, before that sad wee note, we did do our little activities.

Today the angels were holding a picture of Mary and Joseph watching over the manger.

The carol was Silent Night.  I talked to the children about how night feels, and what "the dawn of redeeming grace" means.  Redeeming Grace is actually what Christmas is about.

Christmas Bead Story

Purple flat bead - Baby Jesus, the new king, is born. Purple represents royalty.

Arrow opened todays book, Silent Night.  I am always a bit amazed when these things match up without my planning!  Crystal chose the book, The Steadfast Tin Soldier.

 Here are the boys carrying the tree to the van.

~Lorna