Our 2023 summer school holidays were NOT what we thought they were going to be. We had to move, so most of December was spent packing and cleaning the old house, and January has been spent unpacking and organising and trying to get functional in the new house. In the midst of all that the boys finished school, we sort of celebrated Christmas and my birthday, and Monkey and Munchkin were also due for homeschool registration. We got the call to arrange our home visit JUST as we got moved in, so boxes and stuff were still EVERYWHERE. Also, we moved out of area for our normal Authorized Person who we have been blessed to have for the entire twelve years we've been home educating so far. Thankfully, with an email to the Department of Education from both myself and our AP, she was still able to visit us, and the boys are now fully registered until February 2026.
This "holidays" blog post will be MUCH different from my previous years. I'm not doing a week-by-week illustration. Instead I've lumped everything together (sort of in chronological order) and I'm hoping my faithful readers are willing to wade through a LOT of photos with much explanation. I'm also not writing up our Term Four reviews since registration is finished. But the new school year is upon us and it will be back to "normal" although with only two students now, and both in high school, I suspect the "normal" of this blog post may be a bit different. Time will tell. So, sit back, have a cuppa if you like, and enjoy seeing what our hectic holidays were like.
We somehow continued to read Christmas picture books, though I didn't give it the attention and the justice that I normally would. Such is life. Christmas 2024 will be more traditional and "normal" I hope. Our usual favourites are featured in this selection with only one new book, "Zola and the Christmas Lights" - which was a nice book but I'm not sure if it was good enough to make it into our yearly rotation. We'll see what the boys suggest when Christmas rolls around again.
Munchkin and I cooked dinner and dessert on Christmas Day. I was in charge of dinner (roast chicken, pasta and vegetables) while Munchkin took care of dessert - gingerbread men and chocolate chip cookies. It was all rather delicious.
After dinner we enjoyed a card game - keeping everything very simple this year. We also attended two carols events, both at new venues, one was fabulous and the other was extremely disappointing.
We got to enjoy one last visit from one of our three Blue-Tongue Lizards. This one is very unsure of humans so we had to be pretty sneaky to get these photos. As you can see his tail is very short and only just starting to grow back so I suspect he was injured at some point, though neither Munchkin nor I could see evidence of any other injuries.
We THINK we have a resident Blue Tongue at the new house because we've seen it once, but we were mowing the lawn at the time and there is a good possibility that we scared it so much that it left to find a new home. Time will tell.
The rose bush at our old house was beautiful and I loved photographing the flowers. Munchkin tried several times to propagate it with no success so sadly there will be no more photos of these beautiful flowers. Thankfully several flowers bloomed during the moving process so I took every opportunity to grab a last lot of pictures of them.
The same is true for this beautiful rose that the neighbours behind us at our old house have in their yard. Again, Munchkin has made a couple of attempts to propagate it, and we didn't have any luck, so when it was in bloom I took these photos as well.
Moving is EXTRA fun when you add rain into the equation.
The beautiful hibiscus flowers were blooming one Sunday at church.
Moving can be dangerous. Hubby sliced his finger nicely one night. Thankfully with some advice from my mum we avoided a trip to the hospital. Tight bandaging, elevation of the finger, and everything was fine. Keeping it clean during the move was a bit of a challenge, but thankfully there was no infection and it healed nicely. Hubby, Monster, and I also suffered wounds of various sorts but if I had photographed them all it would have been ridiculous.
Something bit my leg, just above my left knee, and it definitely was NOT a mosquito. So I applied cortisone cream and watched it carefully (hence the outline of the reaction area) and again we avoided any medical treatment.
I found this beautiful St Andrew's Cross spider in the backyard as we moved in to the new place. For my readers who may not be familiar with this type of spider, please click on the name above to read more about them. During a VERY early walk to our new local shopping centre for some groceries I discovered this group of Rainbow Lorikeets. The owners of this home appear to feed a variety of birds in the early mornings. These guys were so tame they let me get very close for the photos.
On my birthday I took Munchkin to the beautiful park that is a five minute walk from our home.
Huge catfish and ducks were fighting over bread that a family was feeding them.
An existing playground has been upgraded and a brand new playground has been added to this park recently so Munchkin has lots to keep him occupied.
While he ran around and played, I found a shady place to sit and did some reading.
More nature photos - left is another cicada I spotted during one of our many walks and right is a native orchid growing out of a tree trunk
There are THREE "free little libraries" within reasonable walking distance of our new house and it has been wonderful. I was ecstatic when I discovered these two treasures. I have been wanting to read "The Indian in the Cupboard" to the boys ever since they started school but no libraries have ever had the book. NOW we can finally read it!! Happy Day!!
Munchkin has always had the best balance of the three boys. Some of it probably comes naturally, but he was also carried and rocked the most as a baby which moves the fluid in the inner ear and helps a baby with balance apparently!
Along with lovely to cook and bake, Munchkin has also discovered a love of gardening. He spent some of his Christmas money and bought himself lots of lovely garden things. Here are photos of him planting tomato seeds in this fancy little caterpillar themed green house planter. It also came with cucumber and lettuce seeds which he'll plant next.
I am so pleased with how this photo turned out and it has reminded me just how much I enjoy photography and how much I have missed taking photos this past year. I am hoping that in 2024 I can make more time to focus on photography.
Munchkin's tomato plants are doing quite well on the kitchen windowsill. They will be ready for planting in our tomato growing pot very soon.
I remember growing "grass heads" when I was young so it was rather exciting for both of us when Munchkin discovered "grass head" kits in the local discount store. He picked out this cute elephant and got straight to work planting it when we got home.
Lots of different plants have taken up residence on the windowsill and are growing nicely.
We met a lovely lady up the road who has a beautiful garden full of native plants. It attracts native bees and Munchkin is so excited about it. We chatted with her at length one day and she will be a wealth of knowledge for Munchkin as he gardens through this coming year. She allowed us to take a cutting of her apple mint which we want to grow in two pots for the front and backyard. Apple mint attracts flies which means they are less likely to enter your home. Restaurants will often keep large pots of the plant at their back kitchen door so that they don't get flies in the kitchen when the door is open. We are keen to see if it helps once they are established and growing in pots.
These are seedling pellets that Munchkin found, which seemed like a fabulous idea, but don't seem to be expanding as they box shows they should. But we're not too concerned providing that seeds can grow in them. Munchkin has planted a sunflower and some wildflowers to test them out.
An example of photos that are out of chronological order - but as it is just books I don't care. These were the last books Munchkin read independently before I quit taking photos of the books he was reading. I will resume the practice of photographing all books I read aloud to the boys for school and all books Munchkin reads independently, once the new school year starts.
Knife skills - Munchkin chopping up red onion as he worked on a recipe for an organic pest repellent spray he found out about on the Creative Explained YouTube channel he enjoys. Again, if you would like more information, click on the link above. This is a HILARIOUS story...
So, on our many walks to the shopping centre, Munchkin and I noticed this poor elf on the grass that looked like it had been almost torn apart. After two or three trips, suddenly we noticed that someone had picked up the elf, fixed him (if he needed it) and hung him up on the fence. However, on another trip a few days later, we discovered that the elf was completely gone - kidnapped we decided. It made for some interesting discussions which made the walk more fun.
Despite the chaos and hard work of the move, I carved out quiet time for myself. I have been waking (without an alarm) between 5:30am and 6am so I've been making myself a cup of tea, grabbing a book, and sitting on the front veranda. I read and people watch and try not to get bitten by mosquitos (hence the citronella candle) and it is a beautiful way to start the day. I intend to keep this routine through the year, I will just have to move indoors once it is dark at that time of the day.
Munchkin missed out on all the summer school holidays events at our local library where we used to live, so it was super exciting when he was able to attend the last event at our new local library. It was an event all about magnets and he enjoyed himself, even though it was a little bit below his learning ability and he actually knew everything they taught about.
A little note about our new library...
I was rather disappointed on our first visit. They were busy and severely understaffed on the particular day, but were rather unwelcoming. Munchkin and I got a library card each, and Munchkin signed up for the summer reading challenge there, but there was no discussion about the hours they were open, or the rules for borrowing, or any of that. I had to go searching for all that information on their website, which I find difficult to navigate. On another trip there was another librarian there who was very friendly and helpful (turns out she was the children's librarian at a different branch for twelve years) and so we will use this local library on occasion. However, due to some of their rules, our old library will still be our main library. It is a bit of a trip to travel there, but we'll plan to go once a month, and it will work well with visiting friends and will be a nice day out.
More plants that Munchkin spent Christmas money on... A coriander (cilantro) plant, and flower bouquet kit, and a packet of mint seeds.
Planting his bouquet seeds...
The grass head needed his first hair cut, and the apple mint has roots and can be planted in a pot now.
Last but not least... Monkey just keeps growing and growing.
The left photo was taken on the 26th of November. That is his godmother standing next to him.
Then on Sunday 21st of January, when we arrived at church, our pastor's wife greeted Monkey and immediately commented that he had grown. We weren't positive so after church he and his godmother took their shoes off and stood back-to-back again.
As you can see... he has grown substantially in not quite two months time.
I don't have children... I'm growing weeds apparently!!
