January done

Friday 24th Jan. Ruth asked if they could "PLEASE" make sushi for dinner tonight. It was made early so we ate early and then they asked if they could go for a swim. With Asher having a red ear and throat just yesterday (even though she was much better today) I decided to stay home with her and keep her out the wind. I am glad we did as Brendon said the water was only 20 and so he did not even get it. I am glad he could take the others though - Hezekiah especially loves "going to swim".

And look at how that little monkey watches TV sometimes. Such a cutie.

Saturday 25th. Brendon was cutting the grass and I heard Hezekiah crying. We don't know what happened (perhaps a big peace of bark was shot up from the ride on) but he had a nasty scratch on his arm. He was happy to sit with ice in a cloth around it to help with swelling and bruising.

Brooke was here visiting when we had weekend ice-creams. Hannah misses out on these because she bites her nails. When she stops biting her nails she will get to enjoy ice-creams with us. This is the only reason I buy the ice-creams - hoping that it will give her the motivation to stop. We have tried so many things and although they make work for a couple of days or weeks, she ends up biting again. With her just deciding to not get upset about her hair getting washed the other day, we are hoping she can just decide to stop the biting her nails. I know many people say it's a very hard habit to break - so if anyone can share with me what helped them I would be interested.
Hezekiah's sore 3 hours later. Thankfully the cuts are not deep and so far there is no swelling.
School's start back on Wednesday so the children made the most of the last few days of having extra time with their friends. Briar slept over Saturday night - on the tramp. I only found out once they were in bed that they had already had a tramp sleep over during the week when I was in hospital. At least I got a photo this time. :-)

Monday 27th. I love watching Hannah when she plays outside on her own.
I love that even though she is surrounded by siblings she finds time to just enjoy playing on her own - and with the dogs. :-)


The wind over night broke this big branch. Brendon got up and cut it down when he got home.
Tuesday 28th - Brendon and I did this section today. So rewarding to look at the finished product (and so much easier to maintain - no more weeding).

Ruth took this photo. You can see above that we are a white rose missing. It had broken at the base and died. So we will have to try and find a matching rose to replace it.

Wednesday 29th. A nice surprise for the children was having 3 of the Love children come visit. Ruth Love attended the local school assembly with their one child who will be attending there this year. The girls were excited to think there may be more opportunities like this in the months ahead.
Back to the stones after dinner again tonight.

Hannah and Hezekiah have been doing a great job of helping me sift through the more sandy parts.

A close up of what we are doing. If we are able to get some plants at some stage then we will just make gaps for those.
Below: The bed almost done now. At least it's weed free. In time we can hopefully make it look pretty.

These younger ones having fun climbing over the rocks. I had to tell myself that this is what childhood is about and what wonderful memories are made of (and not worry about safety as much).

Good thing I had gone through that thought process because on Thursday morning I noticed this long cut on Hezekiah's foot (which must have happened on the rocks last night). First he bathed then I soaked the foot even more (with disinfectant) and it was still looking this dirty. I was not sure how clean it needed to be (or could get) and so took him down to the medical centre for the nurse to have a look.
When I took a photo of his foot he asked that I take a photo of his other sore too. His arm is looking so much better.
Even though we had an appointment we had to wait an hour to see the nurse as they were running late. I was VERY thankful that a friend had been able to pop over and watch the others so that I only had him with me.
He was very good with the long wait and happy for the nurse to have a look and give it a bit of a clean. She didn't do much more than I had done and said it was nice and clean. We agreed that although deep, the thick skin on his foot was what helped that it did not even get to blood. Uncomfortable though, so with some steri strips to try hold it together and make it more comfortable we headed home. I tried to keep it clean but just before bible study he ran out to greet people without socks on and when he got in I noticed all the dressings were off too. So I spent the first bit of bible study time re-cleaning it. It ended up being a blessing though because I was able to get it really clean. I was in a hurry to get finished so didn't take a photo - but it was amazing to see how much cleaner I got it.
I found using a tissue dipped in the disinfectant actually worked better than cotton wool and I was able to get all the dirt out (the dark you see on the photo above). I re-dressed it and told him he needed to keep a sock on that foot to help keep it clean. Let's hope it can stay on for more than a day.
Friday 31 January. These three had a great time after lunch playing with play dough in the garage. It was a bit sticky but having flour and playing with it like that was part of the fun of it all.
And just like that, January is done.