Term Two: Week One ~ ANZAC Day and a Change in Plans

I worked SO hard over our extended school holidays to plan Term 2 so that it would go off without a hitch and we would hit the ground running. After the weak ending to Term 1 due to the necessity of dealing with Munchkin's health issues, I really wanted to start the new term with a BANG and I thought the extra long holidays would give us the energy and renewal to do that.

But plans for the start of Term 2 came to a screeching halt as COVID entered our home for the second time this year. My husband and Monkey tested positive (via PCR test) early Sunday morning and then Munchkin tested positive via this RAT test early Monday morning. The biggest bummer of this is that Monkey and Munchkin missed out on attending the all day (9am-3pm) pupil free Lego Day that they haven't been able to attend because of COVID for a year. SIGH. But it is what it is, so I readjusted my idea for Term 2, lowered our work level to just read alouds, and we all hunkered down for our seven day isolation period. 

Interestingly, I started showing symptoms as well on Monday. I chose NOT to get another test and instead just assumed that I had been reinfected and chose to follow Munchkin's isolation period. Additionally, Monster NEVER got sick, so the weirdness of COVID and how it affects different people, continues to amaze me.

Thankfully none of us had a really SERIOUS case... we all had some combination of congestion, sore throat, runny noses, sneezing, coughing and tiredness.

Monkey has been busy creating more beautiful artworks while he has been sick. I have to be a bit sneaky to get photos these days, but he does understand that it is important to make sure we keep evidence of his work... not JUST for school but because his growing ability with drawing and painting continues to improve daily and I like having photos that show the progression...

He is slightly obsessed with Huntsman spiders at the moment, so completely normal for him to decide to draw a picture of one. I'm really excited to see the finished product of this drawing.

This looks like it is only a quick little painting to test out his watercolour paints, but in itself it is still beautiful and I love finding these little treasures mixed in with his work.

This is how he works... either at the dining table (as shown here) or on the lounge... with his notebook, a pencil or fine line pen, and his phone. He pulls up a photograph of whatever he wants to draw and gets to work.

None of the boys were EVER feeling sick enough NOT to enjoy their daily computer play time.

If I've not mentioned it before... all three boys have chore charts. Blue is Monster, green is Monkey and red is Munchkin... 

Every Saturday they each have a list of chores they MUST do before they are allowed their computer play time. I have printed up a list of chores, laminated them, and each week I rotate who does what chore (with the exception of a few that only the two older boys do). This week, due to our illness and a week of rain, I severely shortened the chores they had to do. We stuck with the necessary chores and from next week they will go back to their full load. Also, they are NOT impressed that I printed and laminated the chores so small, especially since I mentioned that I did that intentionally so that I can add MORE chores to their lists as they get older and more capable of doing more around the house.!!

Monday was ANZAC Day and per our tradition we spent most of the day reading a large selection of books from the library. I had to do the reading in shifts to work around my scratchy throat and cough, but we made it work. We always enjoy hot chocolate and ANZAC biscuits while we read as well.

This was a new book we read this year that gave an overview of ANZAC Day and the reasons behind why Australia observes it.

These two selections focused on the Aboriginal soldiers who served in WWI and I feel it is very important to find books that give them the respect and credit that is due for their service and sacrifice.

Two books about items from WWI. Jack's Bugle is really lovely. This Old Thing was a new book and wasn't as impressive as I thought it was going to be, but this could be because it is aimed at much younger children then I have now.

Digger is a family favourite about a girl's stuffed kangaroo that goes off to war with a young soldier (her brother) to keep him company. Even though it is a picture book meant for a much younger audience, I fully intend to keep reading this book for many years to come...

We always include some more factual picture books in our choices each year and these two are favourites of our family.

These final three picture books are our absolute favourite books to read each ANZAC day. I struggle to read these three books without getting emotional and fighting back tears.

Another exception ANZAC book that gets me very emotional. I highly recommend it to my Australian friends and family.

Munchkin's independent reading...

A Premier's Reading Challenge book that Monkey finished this week...

Finally, the remainder of Munchkin's independent reading for the week.

More Books to Read

Despite already reading SIX books at the same time, I have picked another two books up from the library! Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment... Yes, it is CRAZY to read so many books at one time... But I just can't help myself sometimes!! 

This book was a recommendation from several people... a really good friend in Queensland, our pastor, and also our pharmacist and so I put it on reserve at the library and anxiously awaited its arrival!  BOY OH BOY, I can see why so many people have recommended it for me... I am LOVING it! As you can see I have (so far) two sticky notes in the book. These are marking information that I found really useful and I want to make note of! 

I can't wait to finish this book so I can read the "sequel" that Jordan Peterson wrote last year.

As I read aloud ANZAC picture books to the boys every year, I've felt that I need to do a bit more learning about ANZAC day and the history of it for my own knowledge. So when this book popped up as I was searching for the picture books for the boys, I quickly put it on reserve and have started reading it. I am only just starting the book so we shall see what tidbits I learn as I move through all the chapters.

April School Holidays: Week Two ~ Easter Celebrations

This week began with Easter Sunday. I LOVE Easter weekend. In Australia, Easter weekend is a four day weekend because Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays. This means my husband doesn't have to work for four days in a row and this is the ONLY time in a year when he gets that many days off without a client needing him. So we protect our Easter weekend and devote it to family time as we concentrate on Jesus' death and resurrection from the dead.

When I headed outside to get in the car for the drive to church, I noticed this beautiful day lily in bloom in our front garden. The newest challenge for my Facebook Photography group is "Fill the Frame" so I took the opportunity to use this beautiful flower to complete that challenge and the right hand photo is my submission for the challenge. We shall see if I get the chance to photograph and submit two more photos...

Special photos with Munchkin and Pastor A in celebration of Munchkin's 10th birthday. We intended to take the photos after church on Good Friday (his actual birthday) but she had to leave right after the service so we postponed to Easter Sunday. First we did the "serious" nice photos...

Then we did some funny ones... Pastor A wanted to put her hat back on as she is still adjusting to her "new" hair and from there they got the idea for Munchkin to try the hat on and it got pretty silly for awhile...

Then we did a nice photo with Pastor A, Munchkin, and Munchkin's birthday buddy, Mr A... his birthday is about a week before Munchkin's though he is a year younger, and his parents are Munchkin's god parents, so they have a pretty special friendship.

Pastor A then asked for another set of photos with Monster so I took these lovely photos of the two of them together. I'm still in shock at just how much taller Monster is than Pastor A now!!

Finally I asked to have some photos taken with Pastor A as well and Monster took over the job of photographer and snapped a couple of shots of us together. I plan to keep my hair short short short until Pastor A's hair has grown back to the length it was before her chemotherapy treatment.

I'm so glad we had this opportunity to get all these photographs... they are absolutely precious to me.

After church on Easter we headed to the beach for the first time this year... the La Nina summer has really made it difficult to do things outdoors so we jumped at the chance when the weather was so glorious... While the boys played in the sand and the water I took the opportunity to have fun with my photography!

Munchkin enjoyed playing in the water even though it was a bit cold for his liking...

I found this piece of seaweed on the sand and decided to have some fun with composition and settings... I do love that I have a monochrome setting on my camera so I can take black and white photos without having to fiddle around with an editing program later.

Trying (and failing really) to get some wave photos with the rocks...

Monkey and Munchkin having lots of fun in the water...

More fun photographing the waves on the rocks and a beautiful shell on the sand. I would have LOVED to get a bit more creative with the shell but the sand was really wet and cold so I did NOT want to get down on the ground at all.

The seagulls flocked around our blanket in the sand when Monster decided to feed them our leftover chips (french fries) from lunch.

Monkey spent a good amount of time rubbing a rock on top of this rock and actually wearing away a bunch of the rock and creating a little crater... so he begged me to take a photo of it. They are hoping that when the tide goes out it leaves water in the "hole".

Monday Munchkin and I tackled his "creative clutter" on the bookshelves in the playroom as there was NO WAY I intended to start Term 2 with this mess still staring me in the face. This is the BEFORE shot... In fairness to Munchkin the hose, box, and two drawers on the left hand side of the photo was stuff of his dad's and NOT his mess.

The DURING photo... Munchkin and I worked hard and he really stuck with the process so I'm incredibly proud of him. He knew it would be easier to have things organised even though it is really stressful for him to clean and de-clutter.

In the end it was all worth it! The AFTER photo and both of us felt REALLY good to see how much better the room looked when we were finished. Now the tough part (for both of us) is going to be keeping it this clean (or close to this clean)!!

As we were cleaning the bookshelves in the playroom, we discovered that one of our resident Blue Tongue Lizards was sunbathing on our front veranda. We get sunshine in the front of our house all afternoon each day so the lizards do know it is the place to hang out... He stayed there for a really long time and we gave him his space and didn't disturb him because we want him to stick around.

The next day we discovered the lizard hanging out on this pot plant "grass" that we have on a bookshelf on our front veranda. It was at this point that we realised this lizard is "Legless" the injured lizard I discovered near our rubbish bins several months ago. When we first found him he had a facial wound and was missing a leg and had almost NO tail. So it is good to see that "Legless" is still alive, his facial wound has healed nicely, his tail is growing back, and he is doing well without his leg. Legless climbed into an old tennis shoe on the shelf when night fell, spent the night there, and then took off early the next morning.

A "far away" photo taken on my phone... Legless is on the left-hand side of the photo just to the right of the pot plant if you can spot him.

The two younger boys were THRILLED that Bingo was back at the library for school holidays and they really enjoyed the activity. Meanwhile, Monster settled himself in a chair by the window where he could soak up autumn sunshine and read a book... and I spent my time browsing books and checking out ALL our reserves for Term 2 that had arrived by then.

All of the books below are Munchkin's independent reading choices for the week... the older boys ARE reading but much less than Munchkin and much longer books then Munchkin chooses as well.

I love that Munchkin enjoys the Roald Dahl books so much. Buying the boxed set well before we even HAD children was a very good investment.

Being given the first Captain Underpants book by our Pastor's wife and a friend sparked Munchkin to purchase a few more books from our local op-shop. He enjoys reading and re-reading them.

His favourite choices for the week...

While at the library for Bingo, the boys chose some picture books they love, plus I had put Nick Bland's Bear books on reserve as well because they are so fun to read aloud.