Hezekiah is 1

Wed 3 October. One today!!!
Getting the hang of unwrapping a present. With a little help from Dad. If we let the sisters help he would get no unwrapping done himself. This stacking toy from Gogo looked so nice though that he was not really interested in unwrapping the other presents.












So we let Hannah have a look at those and get him interested in the next bit of paper.
Even though we were heading off for church camp after lunch and would be having his cake the next day - we enjoyed some of the off-cuts for morning tea.
Hezekiah was not really interested in the cake. One he had tasted a pebble (smarties) that was all he was interested in.











He loved the look of his cake though. Even when he saw it yesterday the colours obviously looked really appealing and the lovely smile on his face when he saw it was just so precious.

Cake time on Thursday after lunch. What a big crowd to sing "Happy Birthday".
He was not even that put off with the very loud volume.
The photo on the left captures (although poor in photo quality) his happy little face.
And then the photo on the right (nicely in focus this time) captures his coy little smile as someone is talking to him.
We missed camp last year because he was just a new born - so it was great to get to meet up with everyone again and for most of them to meet Hezekiah for the first time.

Ruth then asked if she could hand the cake out. So off she went - as happy as can be. She is so pleased to be old enough (and strong enough) to help do more things. What a blessings she is.

Fellowship group and family

On Saturday we had the first of hopefully many Saturday fellowship groups. I had told Kerry and Holly about my idea of getting together on a Saturday - either over lunch or for afternoon tea and getting some Christian fellowship and encouragement around the word. Kerry was really excited about it and so we did not put it off but organized for a shared BBQ for today (before they head off for holidays). We had a lovely spread of food.
It was nice to get a photo of our first meeting. It will be great to see how much this group grows in the months ahead.
And once the meal was over the children all headed off to play with Brendon as the supervisor. This allowed Kerry, Holly and myself time to chat and share what the Lord has been doing in our lives. It was a blessed time of fellowship and encouragement and I think we all look forward to these times in the future.
And what a beautiful day for a garden full of children - all eleven of them having a wonderful time.











I think Hezekiah had the best time though with that lovely puddle that had formed under the garden tap.
He just loves water - so this was a real treat for him.
And for those who were wondering - yes - he is walking already. Not with loads of confidence and not very far at this stage but he is on the move.

Daylight savings change happened overnight - so on Sunday morning instead of having this sky at 6am - it was 7am. Lovely long days have started. :-)
Brendon was able to borrow a rotary hoe and so the boxes we had put on this bed got taken off so that the lovely compost and remains of the boxes and straw from Jan could be nicely broken up and mixed with the soil.
Brendon got busy on this bed while Ruth worked on the other. The soil looks so lovely and rich with so many earth worms. I am so glad we got all the boxes and straw on before we went away in Feb. It not only eliminated all weeding but also helped bring loads of earth worms.

And any time that Brendon had the hoe off - Hezekiah had a "turn".
I look Hannah for morning tea and for a special treat we went all the way to Culverden's Red Post cafe (all 25km away - that's FAR for me). There is a 4 square in Culverden though - and so after our tea we got the car loaded up with boxes
I had to get a photo of this. Rachel does loads of mucking out (cleaning up horse poo) as payment for her riding but she does not generally do much around the garden at home. So we thought we had better get it on record. Rachel helping out in the garden. :-)
Once the ground was nice and even (thanks Rachel) we put two layers of boxes on (Ruth was my big helper in this job) and then Brendon put straw on top. So a nice family effort and our beds are ready for summer.

Finally I got an updated photo of Ruth's hair. Her braidlocs are now almost 1 1/2 years old.
The photo on the right is what it looked like in May 2011 when the 260 braids where first put in. It is so much thicker and longer now.

11 months and on the go

Here come fun and games. Hezekiah has discovered that he is now tall enough to get a knee up onto these chairs and so can manage to climb up. When I picked up the camera he was just kneeling. Standing like this while I took the photo and then by the time I put the camera down next to me he had let go and was standing without holding on. I think he has seen Hannah singing on these (as her stage) and he decided he wanted to join her. It even looked like he wanted to dance a bit too while up there.
Then he discovered that the kitchen step was nice and easy to climb on too. No back to help him stand - so for now he seems happy to just kneel on it and be that little bit higher so he can watch what I am doing.



On Wednesday I took his 11 month photos. So standing very confidently at this stage and perhaps willing to take just one or two steps.



It's getting a bit more tricky to get a sitting pose. He is not one to sit still for long. :-)

Time for a monthly children photo again.

Hezekiah sure does love eating bananas. And now that we just give it to him to eat he is so pleased.








I finally took a photo of the beautiful flowers I get to look at our my kitchen window.
On Thursday we did BBQ pork chops for our shared meal before Bible Study. Ruth likes helping Dad with the meat.
And who says you need a fancy toy from the library to get walking practice. A deck and plastic chair work fine. :-) He enjoyed being out there with Dad and the girls too. It did start cooling off a bit though.
On Friday the girls had breakfast at Play Centre IN THEIR PAJAMAS. Hannah as been looking forward to this the whole week. And boy did she eat. She had a small bowl of ricies (rice krispies) when she got up (otherwise she would never have made it to 9:30) and then had corn flakes, ricies and weetbix (and a 2nd bowl of corn flakes later). The highlight was using some of the left over cupcake decorations in the cereal. 100s and 1,000s make a lovely little addition to cereal and add to the excitement and special memories created.

And into Spring

It was so good to be well enough to enjoy the beautiful day on Tuesday and the week just seemed to follow with the same. On Wednesday I had hoped to perhaps surprise Brendon with getting the grass cut but the ride on would not start. It's getting rather long now - but the ground is finally drying out.
Rachel has been looking after a neighbours chooks while she is away this week and when Rachel walked up on Thursday she met a different neighbour (one of the girls from the Music Festival practices) that had just gotten back from the dentist and was not going to bother going to school and was already bored. So they asked if she could come and play and spent a number of hours of fun outside together. Included in the game was this restaurant. They had so much fun.
On Friday Rachel was VERY excited about the Music Festival practice in town. They left at 11am and got back at around 4pm. There are many schools involved in this and although almost all the practising is done at the individual schools - they do at least have this combined practice before the day. Rachel borrowed some school clothes from a friend so that she would blend in.
When she got home she changed and got busy helping the rest of the family in the garden. Brendon managed to jump start the ride on when he got home from work today (thankfully it was just the battery) and so with our team effort we got it all done. So that means more free hours over the weekend. :-)







Saturday was a little chilly to start out but was another enjoyable day outside for Hezekiah and the girls with their Dad. Ruth and I did a bit of shopping before our special "morning tea" and surprised the family with hot dogs for lunch. Hezekiah was thrilled with getting his own roll.
Although Brendon had to work this morning he was home by morning tea time. Again it was a little chilly in the morning so once he had had a cuppa and Hezekiah was up from his nap - they headed out again. This time to fill the wood box. Hezekiah was happy to just watch from his pram - with a stick in hand mind you. He really does just LOVE being outside.
After lunch it warmed up nicely and Hezekiah and the girls played so nicely outside (giving Dad time to do some weed eating). Hezekiah so enjoyed the bike ride with Ruth. Ruth looks like quite the serious driver though. ;-)
It was wonderful to plan a BBQ for dinner today. It just smelled so nice and it made me realize how much I am looking forward to all the salad and easy meals in summer. Especially with Brendon doing most of the real "cooking" on the BBQ. My only challenge now is to work out what Hezekiah is going to eat at these meals. He was quite happy with a bone to chew on and meat from Dad - but did not fill his tummy enough as he was not interested in the carrot salad or couscous. A banana had to fill him up later - but I do hope I can work something out that makes these meals still nice and easy.

10 months, pizza and hair

10 month photo shoot (finally on Thursday 9th). Standing well with a little help from the chair. He likes standing but always wants a hand on someone or something to give him the confidence.

Sitting with his teddies. Ok - some borrowed from his sisters. Boys don't need all that many teddies. :-)

And the monthly children photo.

On Saturday we made pizza again. This time with the girls favourite - bacon and pineapple. Aunty Joyce had made little pizzas at play centre yesterday and they were SO good it inspired today's meal. I decided also to allow the girls to make their own "smaller" pizzas - although they ended up being a bit big for both of them. Hannah made a nice pineapple H and Ruth made a pineapple R. They were both willing to try a bit of mushroom on too. Eventually with the last one I made I chopped up the mushroom really finely and that was even nicer.

I have been slowly working on Ruth's hair over the last few months. The last time I got it all tightened was before we left for SA. It's taking me a while to get through it all - but it always looks so nice when it's been tightened.
A nice one with her pretty face.

A close up of how much nicer it looks when the braids are done all the way down (on the left). There was at least 5cm to tighten.

Catch up the new normal

Time really has flown and so let me do another week in one go. This one taken on 9 July - Hezekiah loves playing in this little "hiding spot" with the younger girls. Just enough space between the two chairs to crawl through. Sometimes they put a blanket over the top and make a little tent too. Here he is sitting with a pair of toy keys - playing with the one peace that goes round and round. Happily sitting spinning it and making his little car noises. :-)
4 Square birthday time again and so that means colouring in competition time. For every picture submitted you get a little cool drink - so at least they all get something for their efforts. I was really impressed with HANNAH's creation this year (at only 4 years old). She worked so diligently and carefully. Good job Hannah.
15 July: Hezekiah enjoying some sun in his swing.
Something we have not kept you all up to date with is Tiger's wanderings. He had been missing again for months but we got a phone call over a week ago to say that he was at our old place. Brendon quickly headed over and returned with a VERY friendly Tiger.
We were thrilled to see him again and even more pleased to see how friendly he still was. We kept him locked indoors (with the cat flap locked) for a number of days before we started letting him have supervised time outside. Eventually he was looking so relaxed that we started leaving the cat flap open at night.
Unfortunately a few days after this photo was taken - a neighbourhood cat came INTO our house during the night and I think that frightened Tiger just too much and he made a dash for it again. Such a pity that he can find his way to the old house but even though he misses us after a while - can't find his way back again.
You can see Tiger on the left there - happily watching the girls outside. Whenever the girls were out he enjoyed walking around with them. He will again be very missed.
The girls got into a bit of a spring clean mood with the lovely sunny weather (and with Ruth's birthday part coming up). So they did such a good job of cleaning Rose Cottage. Rachel was such a great help to them. Especially as she can't really plan much with them in there (it really is getting a bit too small for her).
It was lovely to do a meat swap with someone and get some beef mince. A big batch of bobotie got made (with 4 meals going into the freezer). Thankfully Hezekiah loves bobotie as much as the girls. This was Hezekiah's bowl of food before it all got mashed together. The sweet potato and pumpkin (yes both are orange) worked well in softening it a bit for him. He does not really like the texture of the rice - so the veg helps hide that a bit.
16 July: Enjoying some time in the sun and getting more cleaning done outside. Hannah got very upset about how "dirty" Hezekiah's pants were. I assured her it was fine. I agreed that we should have put darker pants on - but he had a wonderful time with them.