Wild Black Berry Picking

Along the railway line near where we live there are some really large black berry patches.  These are frequented by the locals so we didn't go to those!

Carefully as she goes.

We found some other smaller bushes along a less populated stretch of track that were full of ripe berries!  

***Essential to safe berry picking you need gumboots, long pants, long sleeve tops, a large stick and a sense of adventure.***

Blossom helping Cedar.  

Little buddies scoping out a big bunch of berries.

Very industrious big girls.

In the midst of a huge blackberry patch...no berries in sight though.

Surrounded by the prickly branches.

Crystal.

They found a hideout.

Coming out of the hideout.

Last search.

A moment together enjoying the fruits of their labour!

And this is the fruits of my labour...jam.  Jam recipe.

~Lorna

Blossom's Birthday

Today she is 10 years old.  

The birthday girl is "Elsa" 

We searched for "Elsa" dress ups in stores and they were all too small.  So we made our own.  One white dress she fell in love with {$26} and organza ribbon {$5} ...cheaper than the real ones!!

Beautiful Princess

She had her party on Saturday.  A Frozen theme.  
I am so thankful for Pinterest, $2 shops, and her siblings who all willingly took on a task to make her party a success! 

"Do you want to build a snowman?..."
I made a special dice with Olaf the snowman's body parts on each side.  You roll the dice; the body part on the dice showing it the one you choose from your pile to begin to build your own Olaf.  Find it here.

The Cake.  Anna from Frozen.  Made by big sister Butterfly.

Singing happy birthday.

Lots of princesses

Pinterest was a great place to find party ideas.  I thought the label for the bottle was funny.  And the Olaf cups were neat.  Olaf cup. I am glad for older children who happily drew his face on for me!  Printables here.

Some of the party food...
Hershey's Kisses = True Loves Kiss
Strawberries/white chocolate = Frozen Hearts
Blue finger jelly = Ice Cubes
Plain biscuit/Marshmallow = melting snowman

Olaf having a summer swim.
If you haven't seen the movie you MUST MUST watch Olaf's "In Summer" song.  It is so cute.
Olaf's "In Summer" song here.

Happy Birthday sweetie!

We Love You!

XO

~Lorna

Painting a Rose

We learn by copying others.  So when Angel decided to paint so did Arrow and Cedar.

Simple watercolours...

Little masterpieces!

Angel's painting project.

Using acrylic on a real rose.

Looking good so far...

Done.

Angel's photography skills are sharpening up too.  This next photo is her work and her words in the caption.

{'Would you tell me, why are you painting the roses red?' -Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  
Bringing the fairy tales to life.  And in fact it is possible to paint a white rose.
(I've been wanting to do this forever.) ~Angel}

~Lorna

It Rained!!

We have had a very hot dry January.  Summer came quickly and hot, and everything looked thirsty and dusty!  And then it rained.  A good all day rain.  

All the worms and snails and flies and mosquitos were dancing their happy little dances, and the flowers bobbed their pretty little heads in joy!

And my little boys donned their rain jackets and headed out to the first puddle they could find!!

I wondered why my house had become so quiet!  Good fun.

~Lorna

Our Frogs

Each year in October or November I buy some tiny Whistling Tree Frog tadpoles.  We watch them grow bigger, get legs, loose tails and eventually become cute little frogs.  This year I decided to try keeping the frogs so the children could enjoy them a little longer.  

Our frogs are called Mr. Samuel Squishy, Mrs. Rosie Bubbles, and Lexi Stretchy. 

This is our frog terrarium.  Eagle made sure it had all a little frog could need.

They are hard to spot, but our little guy is sitting on the stones in the centre of the picture.

Here he is on a finger.

These little frogs eat ants, fruit flies, meal worms and other small bugs.
Ants are the easiest for us to catch.  As long as the ants have a source of sugar to eat they are content to mingle around their feast and not try to escape!

They like to hide under the little log bridge, and as they are aboreal frogs (tree dwelling) they like to climb the little tree twigs.

This is a link I found that was helpful.

http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/whistle.html

~Lorna

Cedar's Birthday

Today Cedar turned 4 years old.  He was so cute opening his presents; such expression in his surprise and joy at getting a special gift.  Most of them were Lightning McQueen themed!

I  took him in to town for a special birthday treat, as is our custom.  He wanted to go to the little side show on the railway land.  He chose to ride the merry-go-round with Arrow.

Happy Cedar in a rocket ship

Happy Arrow in a rocket ship

After heading home and a lovely chat with Nanny on the phone, we decided it was so hot we should head down to the local river for a swim.

Our favourite spot 

Straight in!

Slow flowing and shallow...perfect.

And a deeper spot for the confident.

Eagle has a broken wrist so he was flying his quad-copter.

Big sister Angel taking pictures of our beautiful New Zealand scenery, and of her siblings too.

The birthday boy!

Eagle and Angel off on an adventure up the river.

Most importantly is the cake!  Cedar's cake was made by his sister Butterfly.  

And singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 

WE LOVE YOU. 

XO

~Lorna