learning to live
The A kids (that’s us) built a mud hut this last summer.
The hut is now finished and we have fun playing in it.
We have built a roof so that when it rains we race to the mud hut.
There is an oven, a play one not a real one!
We have green potatoes and bran (out of the compost), leaves and bad tomatoes from the real garden.
We make bread, salads and mashed potato.
We have a marmite container that we pretend is soy sauce.
There is also a letter box and a garden.
The other day I made out of a baby’s formula tin a small boat frame. Then after I glued the sail in, I put a few layers of tin foil to make it bigger and better. It sails well.
“The Merry Adventures Of Robin Hood” by Howard Pyle is one of our favourite books and since Mum read it to us we have all been interested in the story. It was that book that inspired us to make bows and arrows and act out our version of Robin Hood, and after watching BBC’s “Robin Hood“ and “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” we wondered about making a Robin Hood cape/hood. That was about a year ago, but just lately we made a camp (a platform up in a tree with a barn underneath for our bikes horses) and whilst Robin (J12) was sitting at camp, with Guy Of Gisborne and The Sheriff Of Nottingham (K10 and L7) putting him under siege, Robin thought of making a Cape of Lincoln Green so that he could escape without being seen! So after seeking the help of Marian (J13) they together made a cape, or “hood” as Robin likes to call it, out of Lincoln Green.
We based our cape design on the capes from the two Robin Hood movies that we have seen and the outcome was better than we we expected. 🙂
It’s so good to see you smiling again and to see some colour in your cheek and a sparkle in your eye after your bout with pneumonia. Soapy has loved you this last two weeks, hasn’t he?
And now you have reciprocated his love by making him his own special quilt. I hope he likes it as much as you love yours! I’m sure he will be especially fond of the mirror button.
(Now here’s a little secret: even though you have been sad lying on the mattress on the floor beside us each day, it was kinda nice to see you all snuggled up in your-specially-requested-brand-new-made-with-love-for-you quilt. I’m so glad it helped you feel better. M5 is on the mend – YAY)
By K10
I wanted to make a catapault from The Dangerous Book For Boys that I got for my birthday, so I asked Mama if I could and she said, “Yes”. I drew a plan, which I followed. Here’s the end result:
I used chopsticks (which I got told off about), a bottle lid and copious quantities of wool.
Coming up in three weeks is a church family camp…and on the Saturday night there’s a concert. Last time we acted out the story of The Little Red Hen. This year it’s Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar. We spent this afternoon making props with items we got at the recycling centre:
We’ll see you on stage at 7:42….not giving away any more than that for now;-)
Mama and Dadda have a track record of staying in a house for under a year….well they used to….they lived in eleven houses in ten years! But now we have been in this house for five years. We gave it a big tidy-up this week and moved furniture around and cleaned every nook and cranny. It looks really nice now.
Here’s Mama and Dadda’s bedroom….
with the chair Mama recovered:
Here’s one girls’ room….
and the other one:
And all the boys are in together (the girls would be too except that there’s only one set of bunks so they get split up)
Once someone said it was sad that we would never get to have our own room and Mama said that she doesn’t expect us to do anything she doesn’t do. She shares with Dadda and we get to share with our siblings;-)
thanks for taking the time to teach us Dadda
we know it is quicker for you to do things on your own
but we love learning from you
Bikes play an interal part in many of our outdoor adventures…actually it’s an adventure just to find your own bike in the assortment!
Apart from the fun of biking, we like to be like our Grandpa too. He’s in his late seventies and he still gets out on his bike a few times a week. This summer he did a cycle tour with some other mates round the East Cape – 450km in three days. And he always does the 160km Lake Taupo cycle challenge. He’s a legend.
L6 felt the need to identify his bike with a number plate – Mama thought it said COPS TEA, but in fact it’s 78PST34….and that’s just the first line! Numbers are routinely written backwards – seems to be a feature unique to our left-handers.
When Mama is particularly dreamy, she would like to get a bike and one of these for the littlest kiddos. Then we could all bike to the local shops instead of walking (which takes a couple of hours there and back) or instead of taking the car (which pollutes the atmosphere)
(K8‘s thoughts today)
Last year Mama learnt to knit and I wanted to aswell. For ages I busied myself with plaiting wool (Dadda got a bit annoyed at times with all the plaits that somehow dropped around the house). Then I taught myself to crochet chains. That was much quicker than plaiting! Finally, after I had really tried for a few weeks with bamboo skewers, Mama put her needles down and helped me with mine. Once I got going it was so easy! Now I can use circulars too.
I got the PERFECT birthday present this year. It was a basket to keep all my knitting things in – and it was full of wool and new needles and a knit-a-teddy-bear-kit. Well, none of that was actually *new* because we are doing homemade or recycled gifts this year – but it was all more than I could have hoped for!
Now that I can knit and crochet and embroider, I really want to learn to sew – using the machine!! I’m going to make gift bags out of Christmas material so we reduce our waste at Christmas-time. Mama says that will be a good thing to start with and she’s got lots of material for me to practise on.
While I wait to learn, I’ve got a BEAUTIFUL sewing book out of the library. It is just right for anyone who is just learning to sew by hand. I love the illustrations and would like to make some of the projects too.
inventions & adventures 