Crazy Catch Up

The problem with missing a few blog entries on schedule, is remembering everything that's been going on.
Since my last entry way too much has happened to mention so it'll be just the highlights.
Hmmmm, thinking, thinking.
I guess Ill begin with what I can remember, our Archery and damper day. A few weeks back Wednesdays excursion for the older kids was archery. 9 year olds and up were allowed to participate in an amazing activity. Not wanted the little ones to miss out on some fun we planned an exciting day for them also.
The older kids had a ball shooting targets and learning the correct technique. They all did an amazing job even though the instructor was .......  how can I put it nicely ....... not very fond of children.

 

 

 

 

 I love this shot of Sammy and Sisi with their makeshift bow and arrows, they desperately wanted to join in the fun.
After watching the older children for a while, Kym and I took the little kids further up the road where we collected wood, built a fire and made some very messy damper, this was by far the highlight for the little ones, getting their fingers dirty. Unfortunately cooking the damper was a little more difficult as I gave them all too much butter so when they held their sticks of damper over the fire, they kept loosing bits, their damper was melting :) we finally managed to rewrap again and again and cook most of what the kids had made.

 

 

 

 

 The older children joined us once their archery was finished and we went for a bush walk.

The Gang, only little Sione is missing

  There have been weeks of running with LRC. Ash is improving each week, coming second and third, her rate per km is getting faster and faster, a mass achievement for her. Sammy has missed a few weeks as some soccer games are at the same time as the run but he is still improving also with his running, and loving every minute of it.
Each week the run is at a different destination which works perfect for us, its a great way to see some beautiful towns in this state that we would otherwise never see, or pass through. We have had a few beach destinations, and forests and parks.


kids ready for a race

Sammy getting ready with fast boy Alex

and they're off

 

 

 

Ash finishing second

Sam caught up to Archie, then had a sprint off to the finish

 

 The nicest part of our running days is once all the runs are over and the presentations have finished, the kids and I get to explore our surroundings. Its always worth taking lunch and snacks so there is no need to rush home afterwards. What a perfect way to get to know our new home.

One of the beautiful running places, Low Head

 

 We had the privilege of having both Nanna and Nanna Romayne over from Melbourne for a few days. There is something very special about Nannas and we spent as much time with them as we could. As it was Nanna Romayne's first time here in Tassie, the kiddies and I took her to the Museum and then spent a day tiring her out with beautiful walks at the Gorge. We got up close and personal with some very cute Wallabies who after a while were eating out of our hands.

It was as always sad to say goodbye.

 

 

 

 

 At the museum I took the kiddies upstairs to look around the war exhibit. It was amazing and a great way to educated the kids on the lives and sacrifices of our soldiers past and present.

Sammy found it all a bit daunting looking and reading about the soldiers who had lost limbs or lives, been shot and attacked by acid. Reading about the families back home who were waiting for their sons and fathers, sisters and daughters to return seemed to make it all the more real for the kids.

I feel that my children really appreciated the true spirit of the soldier which made our Anzac Day that little more special. We attended the dawn service and spent the day with family and friends (and of course watched the game), the kids wrote a special Anzac poem that I framed for them.

 

 

 

 

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 There you go Al, just what you've been waiting for :) a pic of me decked out as a Bomber. I am still learning the theme song though so don't ask me to sing it.

Now as for the kids learning, Ash has been working hard, getting a lot of work done but Sam still needs the constant supervision and reminding, his listening skills (as with most boys his age) need a lot of work. I had enough of the constant distraction so dragging my desk from downstairs and rearranged the room to fit the desk and chair in was the best decision I ever made for Sammy's schooling. He can now study alone with no distraction from anyone, since bringing the desk up he has studied more in the past week than he did in the last two months.

The kids reading is going well, Ash is reading her fairy books daily, some days finishing two. Ash and I have begun Anne Of Green Gables together, while Sammy and I are getting through The BoxCar Children Series. The Three of us sit together once a day to read a book appropriate for both the kids so currently it is Black Beauty.

Here Sammy is practicing his spelling and writing, finding two, three, four, five, six and seven letter words, spelling them correctly, writing them down, then forming sentences. A great way to get him writing without him even realising how much of it he's doing :)

Another awesome excursion I'll mention was our day to Franklin House. An old Heritage listed property in Young Town that was built by convicts in 1838 for a business man who was also an ex convict named Britton Jones. The house is stunning and the gardens beautiful. We were able to tour the property and the kids got involved in the different activities.

They even bought out some old games for the children to try.

Learning of the history of the house was fascinating, specially of when it was a successful private school.

I thought the kids may not enjoy the day as much as myself but they both want to go back.

 

 

 

To finish off my entry for the last weeks I cant forget to mention our day at AgFest. I've heard all about AgFest from the sisters who have been attending annually for years and it was finally our time to experience the day of Arts and Craft, Tractors and Bulls, Sheep Dogs and mud, lots and lots of mud. It was a great full day and we were all pretty exhausted by the end of it all.

The kids climbed in Army trucks, tested the night vision goggles, painted cows, watched the sheep dogs, bulls, ponies and shopped. Definitely an annual event for us now too.

 

favourite thing about Agfest for these two. They spent 80% of the day playing in mud,

 

 

 

 

Making up for lost time

This week has seen the Rogers return from Melbourne and us return to the Tai's.

As previously mentioned I was determined to find a little routine and although we still have a long way to go, we have improved.

Sammy is my biggest challenge, he is so excited to be surrounded by his cousins that its hard to get his attention or focus his interests on anything other than spending time with Sisi or Benny.

I do enjoy watching him when he is immersed in play or books or army training (something he participates in regularly with Benny).

I purchases new journals for both the kids, nice, sparkly cool ones in the hope they would be more willing to write in them, thankfully it paid off. With printed photos and lots of stickers and colour their journal writing is now enjoyable and something they take pride in. We are still working on Sammy's perfectionist  ways with his handwriting, though he is definitely improving, now accepting crossing out a letter rather than tear up an entire page and begin again.

Our morning routine is finally falling into place. Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays we begin our day with a run, Ash is surprising me with her amazing efforts where Sammy who has done a lot of running is mentally struggling to push himself, something he had become great with back in Melbourne, still no matter how fast or far they run, its a great way to begin our mornings. From there I make breakfast while they complete their ' 6 things'. They made a little poster each to stick on their doors, 6 things as a morning routine to keep them on track and accountable for getting ready.

One of the best things about home schooling is that we can  decide to go for a hike, or an extra excursion if we feel, if the day is beautiful, why stay indoors? We took advantage of such a day last Thursday when we went for a hike and orienteering fun with all the cousins. As usual, the day started a little slower than planned (it isn't so easy to organise 13 children) but we had an amazing day making irreplaceable memories and coming home with happy, tired and hungry children ( and way too many animal bones ).

 

Saturday saw another run with LRC, everyone running well. Archie taking first place for the kids, Joe Joe second and Lani third. What talented nieces and nephews I have, of course they completely take after their Aunty :)

Sammy had another amazing day at soccer, two more games played and two more games won. He was a little disappointed that he kicked no goals this week. I helped him to recognise his amazing efforts, that without his enthusiasm and constant energy and ability to stay with the ball, the goals that his team kicked would not have been possible, that every player on that field helped to contribute to each and every goal. A hard lesson to accept when your 6 years old.

What an amazing little team he has, some amazing players and when put together, a great little group of mates and a very talented little team. Winning four out of four games, I feel they may be the team to beat.

 

Yesterday was General Conference, Sammy, Ash and I staying home to watch it online, take notes and discuss what we learnt from each speaker.

Sammy lost focus after the first few speakers but Ash Pash took a lot in.

Then we ventured to the Rogers, all of us. We had a pot luck dinner, put on a church movie then put all the kids to bed so us adults could begin the fun of games. The older kids slept outside in the tent while all the others shared rooms and beds. We all loved the crazy chaos of 13 children and 5 adults having a sleepover that we're doing it again tonight :) ( I think Kym and Joe want to redeem themselves after mine and Leona awesome win last night).

No matter how crazy and chaotic our times are when we're all together, I wouldn't change it for the world, we spent so many years looking at photos of the Tai's and Roger's here in Tassie, growing up together and always feeling a little sad that my kiddies weren't able to share all those memories.

We are now making up for lost time.

 

 

 

Trying and failing to find routine among the mayhem

Three weeks overdue but here it is.

Since my last entry we have been kicking on as usual. Crazy, blurry existence.
There have been many little things going on which when added together seem to be nothing but mayhem.
Sometimes I will sit at the end of the day thinking 'now why didn't we do this? or that?, I had planned for this today and once again it didn't get done.' I think these are my thoughts every night. And so every night I will make a list in my head of the following days plans, of our learning, of our goals. Now I'm beginning to wonder if this is the reason for failing everyday to complete (or even begin) these tasks.
Part of the Thomas Jefferson Education (the style we are following for our home-schooling) is to allow the children to learn through play, to develop a love of learning that is bought about by their own interests and curiosities. Have I even asked my children once what they would like to learn today?
Reading and writing are interests that both Ash and Sam do a lot of everyday, especially the reading and I am learning to recognise that any situation, or question or interest can be a great  learning opportunity for both my children and I.

I never considered myself a routine kind of person though I am realising now that I most definitely am and I have been feeling lost and discouraged not having one.

We are currently house sitting and bird and cat sitting for the Rogers while they are in Melbourne, we are returning back to my other sisters house tomorrow where I am determined to try my hardest to encourage a little routine into our lives.

This time I will be sitting down with my kiddies and we will prepare this schedule together. The only time schedule we will keep to is the usual morning routine, after that we will list learning interests for our day.

We'll see how that goes :)

 As for the rest of our time we have been having a lot of fun.

We camped overnight in a beautiful town called Derby, and participated in our fist trail run. Us mums and the kiddies only did the 2km while all the blokes did the half marathon.

Poor Sam was stuck in the dunny when the race began and although he tried his hardest to catch up, he just couldn't quite get there.

Ash Pash did a smashing effort for her first ever run, she definitely found it difficult but crossed the finish line feeling proud.

 All the cousins ran and did an amazing job and especially the men who completed the half marathon. Trail run being very, very different to a normal run as any step could be potential broken leg. There were many tumbles by the marathon runners, a few injuries but smiles all round.

We travelled to Deloraine one Saturday so Ash, Lani, Benny, Joe Joe and Chelsea could attend a stake primary activity, the rest of us went and hung out at the park, had lunch, did a bit of shopping and I got to have a good catch up with my sis Kym. Although we've been here for a while we haven't really had the chance for a good chat. We stood on the bridge overlooking the river and park and caught up on life while yelling down at the kids every now and then when they got too close to the water (the little ones were hilarious, thinking no one was watching then hearing their mothers voice and having no clue where it was coming from :)

As we were getting ready to leave JJ decided to throw a spanner in the works and break an ankle, so he's now affectionately known by me as 'hobble' who is using his lameness as a way of getting out of as many jobs as possible.

We spent an amazing day at a crop maze, yes it is exactly as it sounds, a crop of wheat made into a maze. Absolutely amazing with activities and clues set around the two mazes to keep the kids entertained and the adults completely lost for hours. What an amazing concept, something I would never have seen in Melbourne.

We ventured out for a third camping trip since arriving two months ago ,staying at a beautiful location in the hills called Myrtle Park. This trip was just myself and the kiddies although the Rogers came for a visit and a swim in the icy river on the Saturday. As it was the Easter weekend, we camped from Friday to Monday. Now I totally love Tasmania but camping reminded me very quickly how much I'm going to hate winter here, each night was freezing, ice on our tents every morning and having to sleep fully clothed, with gloves and beanies :(

The days were beautiful and warm and we all got a little burnt, not that you would notice cause the ice would come along as soon as the sun went down and freeze any burns received that day.

Warning: Spoiler alert. if any kids are looking over shoulders now would be a good time to tell em to buzz off and do something more productive than read my post :)

So my lil Ash Pash busted the tooth fairy a while ago now and over the Easter weekend she also busted the Easter bunny. She woke at 6am as I was sneaking out of the tent, I told her to stay in bed as I had to run to the toilet. I guess lying to a nine year old doesn't work like it use to, specially once she heard me sneaking around our camping spot.

I figured because she now knew about the Easter bunny and Tooth Fairy she would also figure that Santa isn't who he says he is.

Me: 'So Ash, I guess now that you know about the Tooth Fairy and Easter bunny you'd be thinking that Santa.........'

Ash: Oh mum I know Santa's definitely real cause we don't have a lot of money and there is no way you could afford the electric guitar that Santa got for Sammy'

Me: 'Ahhh, yes that's right bub'

Ash: 'And besides, your not nearly magical enough.'

So Ash has decided she will be the bunny next year and I've decided that she can believe in Santa for as long as she wants :)

Now I cant leave this post without mentioning the awesome efforts by both my kiddies over the weekend.

It was our first run for the year with the LRC (Launceston Running Club). Sammy ran a great run and now has a new goal to beat his cousin Lani who ran 27 seconds faster, now 27 seconds is a lot in a race but he doesn't seem to think it'll be too hard... who am I to bust his bubble?

My beautiful Ash who has never been a runner, is finding joy in running which to me means she is a definite winner. she came in last and received an encouragement award. I'm so proud of her for never giving up and finishing her race. I unfortunately missed the awards ceremony as Sammy and I had to run off to his very first soccer game.

This is his first year of playing soccer and has had two training nights prior to the game. He is in under 7's Scorpions, a team of the Westside Devils.

He and his team played two amazing games.

First game they won 8 - 0, Sammy kicking two of the eight goals.

Second game they also won 5 - 3, and Sammy kicked one of the goals.

So proud of him kicking three goals on his first day, he has a great team, they are all so cute, I could watch them all day. The parents of all the boys are also amazing, super friendly bunch who's boys have all been playing together on the same team for the last two years. Sammy's the newbie but definitely doesn't feel it as they all adore each other, and have made both he and I feel very welcome, as does everyone here in Tassy, such friendly people.

The more time I spend here, the more I fall in love with this town and the people.

Till next time, Adios