1 Our five oldest are off adventuring, gone for ten days! Attending a Ball and then a pilgrimage. Princess (13) was very excited to be joining her older brothers and sister on the pilgrimage this year, not sure how excited she will be after walking 130km though;) Please pray for safety, Anna Maria (21) and Einstein (17) are sensible drivers but three days travel is a long trip. 2 Having only five children at home and all of them under 10 years is very strange. Enjoying it thus far, certainly it is a much slower pace, is quieter, less housework and cooking to do and everyone is in bed hours…

1 My brother proposed to his girlfriend this week and she said….”Yes!” Congratulations to Dominic and Laura:) who incidentally are my most faithful blog readers within the family! (aside from PC and my children that is) So a huge Congrats shout out to the newly engaged couple:) “Love is in the air..” 2 Taking advantage of the school holidays I’ve spent time this week updating my book website. Aussie Book Threads now sports a new look, receiving a colour facelift, and a more synchronized layout, my favourite new feature is the drop down menu, it looks so professional!  I’d love some feedback, I’m aware the Home page is rather bland,…

1 Home today from our annual Catholic home education camp. Another fantastic and successful year! Whilst we (the children and I) were off enjoying ourselves PC stayed behind and was a bachelor for the week.  He has stated several times the house was very quiet, also he was surprised that when he left a room neat in the morning he returned to find it in the same state in the evening, apparently homes stay clean when people aren’t there through the day. 2 Taking ten people to camp meant it was easier to transport our luggage via the trailer.  I’m a fairly confident driver and normally towing a trailer doesn’t…

1 Jem’s (5) funny of the week: “Superman has two weaknesses, Kryptonite and Good Looking Girls” Um yeah… 2 One of the benefits of educating your children is furthering your own education along with them. Currently the younger four children and I are reading Our Island Story and for my own recreational reading I’ve been enjoying a few of the Brother Cadfael mysteries. This week I realised our history reading was background to my lighter reading, Brother Cadfael’s Penance is set in England 1145 during the Civil War between King Stephen and Empress Maud. I became engrossed in the Civil War and wanted to know the outcome, I only needed to skip forward in our History book to…

1 We heard some very exciting news this week, Spotlight is to open in our town in a couple of months.  I’m very excited, but the children were not so thrilled when I told them the news;) Years ago when I sewed more, I always used to pop into the store whenever we visited our neighbouring City.  It got to the point that when the car turned towards the carpark a howl would emit from the backseat, “No!! Not Spotlight!! No!!!” 2 Actually we still have howls of “No!” emitting from the back, but these days it is when we turn into the Bunnings carpark.  PC seems to disappear into…

1 What is your book preference, paperback or hardback? I prefer hardback believing them to have a longer life expectancy, but our children prefer paperback as they are lighter to hold. 2 For several weeks I’ve been a little frustrated regards lessons, feeling that we weren’t achieving a great deal.  Which was odd as we were completing the majority of lessons planned, what we were skipping as I believed we didn’t have time and energy for was our ‘gathering time/morning time’.  Yet it is this very gathering time where we enjoy poetry, literature, and faith together that nurtures our souls. Reading is so much an integral part of who I…

1 Well the sourdough was a complete flop!:(  Too, too wet, very disappointing.  However thanks to the help of a friend I have made contact with a local blogger who bakes sourdough all the time, so down, but not out, hoping I’ll get it right next time. 2 Jelly Bean, 10 is a later reader, whilst she can read, she doesn’t yet believe she can.  We had yet another discussion about the topic this week, me bolstering her abilities, her denying interest in reading anyhow, JB: “I don’t like reading”Me: “Well how will you learn anything?” JB: “You can read for me”Me: “How would it be if I couldn’t read?”…

1 July through to October for us has no less than ten major events!! Last week we survived four; 3 children’s birthdays, their birthday party, our niece’s engagement party 6 hours away and our Deacon’s Ordination.  Now though it’s time to focus energy towards the next 6, all of which involve far more details, planning and execution.  In two weeks we co-ordinate and host our local homeschool sports day, in five weeks we host our annual Catholic homeschool camp, and Anna Maria’s 21st, in eight weeks we all attend my brother’s Wedding (one son is in the Groom’s Party) this will be held 7+hours away, and in eleven weeks we all attend…

1 Well I did it, I deactivated my facebook account (yes again) Facebook is so not me, not really sure why cause all my fb friends are lovely(all 16 of them, and mostly family) but it was just one too many social media to keep abreast with. 2 When I went clothes shopping earlier this week I convinced myself the mirrors were unkind, when I weighed myself later in the week I realised the mirrors were reflecting a truth I didn’t want to see.  I am 10kgs (22lbs) overweight.  With two weddings to attend in two months it is time to get serious. 3 Quite timely my reserved copy of…