Weaving the Tapestry

Our Dexter Heifer

I can't remember why this has become so hard.
Perhaps life has created too many blocked ways for me to return here.
Perhaps my time for this blog has ended here but I can't let it go in my heart.

So many treasured events have been recorded here.
Certainly not all and certainly not for a long time.

But I still remember the children waiting for their birthday post and wanting to see what I would write  this year, and the cherished feast days and family celebrations. The everyday activities that mattered to us and that we had shared them together.
It all started with a desire to share our family life and to have a record of that life for myself and our family.

Gifts of love 

Then  I think it changed, without me even noticing -  I got sucked into the world of comparison and what would make my little world of cyber space more attractive to others and have them visit here.
I do think the world of blogging changed as well, the family type blogs had become a thing of the past and the more slick and fancy, information, how to type blogs became the way of the future and I felt inadequate in comparison. Blogging had changed- it wasn't personal anymore with visits back and forth leaving comments here and there, like a conversation. It was more just read and move on to another blog an,d move on again without that personal exchange, and I had not been able to keep up with those changes and so like my personality I turned inward and stopped enjoying and sharing what was close to my heart.

I still feel joy when I look at this blog and the memories shared, but I can't seem to think of anything to write. The joy and the desire are still here but the content seems to be lacking.

So in a bid to reopen dialogue  I would like to share some recent events that have happened in our lives.
Boring and everyday events but this is what make up the fabric of our live.  This is what weaves our family tapestry and it brings joy and contentment. It is what I cherish and that is what my blog was all about CHERISHED HEARTS AT HOME!!

Lenten Preparation

Its time for me to take a deep breath and remember my blog title and live it :)
So here a few of  our recent happenings in pictures-

Our first Jersey Cow- a long awaited dream come true

Making my soap for our Home business

Saxon has entered Vianney College as a Seminarian

Crazy brothers

St Patrick's display this year

Grand dumpling and one of the new puppies

More Grand Dumplings come for a visit at "Mama;s House"

First reader finished with real progress

Blessings to you and your homes, 

It is a gift to Treasure!

I never ever tire of gazing into the precious faces of our sleeping children.
Truly who can resist such total innocence and beauty?
As they drip off to sleep and start to actually slow down their breathing, relaxing their grip on the fast based world we live in and just melt into my arms or snuggle in and throw an arm over my neck if we are cuddled up in bed together.

I have always cuddled our babies to sleep and when I say babies I mean up to quite an age.
Little Trahaearn is now 2years and 5 months old and we still cuddle up with him.
Well lets be honest here Arwen will be 5 in January and it was her sweet face I cuddled up to tonight and got me thinking about  how blessed we are to be able to have this time with the children.

We were laying in bed together, we had said her prayers, had a little chat and rubbed noses together and were listening to Gentle Woman on my I-phone.
I watched her and was so utterly grateful for the sweetness that I am privileged to be a part of each day.
As I was thinking this and cuddling her she threw her arm around my neck drawing herself in closer and just moulded herself into me.

How can my heart not melt to such a gift of love. A gift that I am not always deserving of, but still it is given so often throughout the day.
Unconditional and complete love and so I learn from the smallest and most vulnerable in our family.

It is so easy to think we don't have time for this cuddle time and snuggling up when it is time to put these blessings to bed.
There are many things that compete for my attention- older children, dinner clean up other household duties or even my own selfish desires for reading that great book I am enjoying or catching up with on line distractions.

But these things will always be there (and older children can han have their time at a later time) but those little ones who want to snuggle up to go to sleep listening to me sing or us listening to music together after that time of prayer and chatting, why these will disappear so very quickly without me even noticing that the time has moved on, and then if I don't relish these days I know I will look back with regret that I did not take each and every opportunity to gaze into the faces of our most precious treasures each night.

Blessings to you and your homes,
  

A New Life!!!

How to start this post? Why not straight out?

We are expecting a new precious little baby to be welcomed into our family around mid June next year.

While I have shared this news with some of my other on line community of friends I have delayed sharing it here.
I'm not really sure why that is really, as it really is the best and loveliest news we have had in a long while.

In fact I am told by some that they really did not expect to hear this sweet news again and so they are even more delighted to be able anticipating this new baby.

Truly we are once again so very thankful for the gift of a baby into our family.
We do view each and every child we are given as a gift from God.
We do believe that God alone is responsible for opening and closing the womb.
Even as we/you pray for or against a new child it is God who ultimately decides, and let me tell you it had been difficult to think that our prayers had not been answered as we constantly leave our selves open to the blessings of  new life and to not seem to have them answered.

Indeed perhaps that along with other reflections I have recently on our older children leaving home and the new dynamics that happen within a family as this happens that has helped me to reconnect with how quickly time passes  and how our lives change so very quickly.

It has made me in a way speechless in how I am unable to share how much this little baby means to us.
I really cannot convey the joy and peace we have about this precious little life (lives) with which we have been entrusted but I can tell you form the bottom of my heart how very very thankful and full of love I am for this privileged of once again becoming a mama.

Now just for your interest we still have children who are praying for twins (or more in the case of much smaller ones who have no idea of what they are ACTUALLY  asking)
We have never had twins before and as a single baby would result in an odd number of boys and girls (we have 6 of each) some of the children think a boy and girl twin would do just nicely thank you very much!

For my part I have always wanted twins (which is why my oldest daughter says I wont get any) but I also recognise the hard work involved in such a gift.
So until we actually have an ultrasound I think the general consensus is to still be praying for twins :)

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Making a Play Garden for the Kids

Last week end we made a play garden for the children.
I had been wanting to make one of these for so very long after seeing the inspiration from The Imagination Tree

So as we came into Spring and I started planning the many things I want to achieve for a very outdoor inspired Spring and Summer one of these was to have a play garden.
It really seemed such an extension of the Mud Kitchen's we have had over the years that I thought our children would love it.

And so our plans were made!

Here is what we bought to make the garden with:
a roll of timber border
2 bags of potting mix
terracotta pots in various sizes
4 new digging shovels
a decorative lantern
a bamboo light
2 garden decorations
2 windmills (not pictured)
various plants as follows-
a pink and a white daisy
Italian lavender
Allyssum (Stephen's favourites)
Seaside Daisy (my favourite)
catnip
Marigolds
Felicia
Creeping pin Thyme
Pink Geranium
Hollyhocks
Pink Rosemary
Lanandula

Now let me take you through the steps we made-

We chose an area under a tree that would have a nice lot of shade for the children in the hotter months

First step: Gather the children to help with the project

They seemed enthusiastic enough and wanted to start digging up the grass straight away.

However we needed to call in the big guns to help as the ground is a little hard here

Did I mention while we were doing the play garden that Stephen and Saxon were starting to make our long awaited swing set?

Arwen and Trahaearn were keen to dig........just about anywhere except the  play garden area.

I finished up the last bit of weeding

and we have a garden play area

Now we poured out those two bags of potting mix on top

Next we started to do the fun part and add the plants and bits and pieces

Vellvin brought the small windmills we forgot to get earlier.

The finished garden all ready to play with!!!!

A small tour around the garden

The plants were planted around the outside, some annuals as well as some cottage garden plants that will re seed year after year.

I love the pot plants at the top part of the garden and the little water holder for some birds to come and drink from

This part is fun, the upside down pots for some little bugs and worms etc to make a mini habitat in.

At either end we put the small shovels to do digging in the middle of the play garden.
Cause we all know that if children are digging they prefer the dirt to a sandpit anyway.
In our experience a sandpit is a completely different play area with different types of play activities

This is one of my favourite parts - the small lantern that we can put a tea light in

We only just finished before the end of the day but I was happy with how it came together.

The little watering cans were a big hit too and are kept in the play garden so the children can water the plants easily.

Of course our littlest just had to go into the middle and kneel down in his best Church pants.

Over the week we have had quite a few little trips by small ones to the play garden for some outside fun.

Next up on my list- to finish that swing set plus platform and a very nice sandpit.
Blessings to you and your homes,
  

HAPPY FATHERS DAY (belated post)

Fathers Day comes only about a week after our oldest son/child's birthday.
To me Fathers Day has always been a very special event as it came so soon after our first baby's birth and then his Daddy was celebrating the joy in a more formal way in the celebration of 'Fathers Day'

Of course the  joy of being a father is a year round thing and I know the Daddy in our home treasures the role of Daddy much more than all his other roles apart from husband.
It is often noted by his children, and me as well that the longer he stays away from home the crankier he gets.
This was certainly noticed those years he lived and worked interstate from us and it still takes it toll as Stephen does NOT like to be away from his family for even an overnight trip.

This Fathers day started fairly relaxed as we had decided to go to Mass on the Sunday evening so we could all enjoy a little sleep in.
However Trahaearn and I were up early so we made the 'Breaky in bed' that Daddy was expecting and Trahaearn decided he would have a little plateful too and sit up with Daddy in bed to eat it too.
A treasure memory for him and his Daddy.

The other children slept in and it was so nice to relax after a very busy week.

Now you know of course the most important thing to do on Fathers Day is to go to Bunnings to buy the materials for the long awaited wooden swing set and platform  that we have planned for so very long.
Naturally some of the younger children, in fact all except Myffwyn decided they really needed to come to Bunnings with us to buy the said supplies.
I think they thought the swing set would be very quickly put together and obviously the timber and bits and bobs they saw us buying looked nothing like a swing set.
You can see that of course they would become very bored very quickly as we measure and decide on what timber to buy and other fittings we needed.
I think they thought the swing set would be very quickly put together
Thankfully Eden came and she was a great help with the children.

You know how these days go don't you?
We have plans and then we have reality.
The Plans- A quick trip to Bunnings and shopping then coming back to have a BBQ lunch on Stephen's new BBQ he received for Fathers Day have a relaxing afternoon and then off to Mass.

Of course it didn't go like this!
Reality - Stephen decided to wash the car at the car wash and the engine got wet somehow and so we spent a good 45 mins sitting in the car wash trying to get the car started again.
This obviously delayed us on our way to Bunnings and this took far longer than we had anticipated and then we needed to buy groceries fro the lunch.
Talk about well prepared hey?

So we finally arrive back home with some very hot, tired and out of sorts children.

Braedon and Anna-Lisa arrived not long after, just in time to help put the BBQ together.
Anna had brought a lovely Chocolate cake for sweets which was wonderful as  mine was still in the process of being created.

We did managed to get the BBQ cooked and sat down for  a very late lunch together (minus Kynan and Autumn, sigh!!) nearly all the children at home.
I seriously guess this is how it will be in years to come.

Anyway we had our lunch enjoyed the cake and then realised we needed to be moving very quickly to get to Mass on time.

Mass was beautiful and we stopped on the way home for an ice-cream and off home for an evening together and a quiet end to the day.

We love you my heart
Love F and the little ones
xxxxooooo

Growing Herbs

As we look forward to the coming of Spring, my thoughts turn to gardening and what we may be able to  do.
As it looks like we may be  living in a much smaller area, especially garden area I have been giving thought to container gardening and as herbs are so easy to grow I thought we might start with these.

For a starting place here are some ideas I have had on file for years to share with you also~

You can easily grow herbs on the kitchen windowsill and enjoy the fragrance and flavors of herbs in your country cooking!

Starting herb seeds - plant your seeds in potting soil and keep moist until they sprout. The top of the refrigerator is a nice warm spot to sprout seedlings. Once they have sprouted, place on a sunny windowsill and water as needed. Once they are well established, you can cut back a bit on the water. Herbs tend to like their soil a little dry.

(tip - you can use many cute containers for your herbs - a cracked teapot or cup, pretty jars, an old gravy boat, etc..)

Choosing Savory Herbs for your windowsill garden:

Dill - One of the all time most popular herbs. Both seeds and leaves of dill have have sharp, slightly bitter taste. The aromatic young branches are used to flavor salads, pickles, vinegar, sauces, soups, stews, and chicken, lamb and fish dishes.

Cooking: Use dried or fresh leaves, known as dill weed, to make dill butter, flavor broiled fish, soups, salads, meats, poultry, omelets, and potatoes.

Coriander - (Also called Cilantro) This easy to grow herb is similar in appearance to parsley. Young leaves taste like dried orange peel. Coriander is rich in vitamins A & B, calcium, riboflavin, and niacin. Used frequently in Latin American cooking.

Cooking: Use fresh or dried leaves in salads and soups, serve chopped with avocados. Great for spicy meat dishes. As seeds ripen, gather them and use them whole or crushed on pastry, French dressing, beans, stew, sausage, and fish.

Sweet Basil - Basil's aromatic leaves have a warm and spicy flavor. A must have for Italian cooking and Thai Cuisine. Basil is known to fight toxins and aids the digestion.

Cooking: Use sparingly in tomato dishes and sauces, green salads, omelets, cucumbers, and with meat, poultry, fish and Stir Fry dishes.

Parsley - Everyone knows parsley as a garnish, but it also has a wonderful flavor. Great for almost everything from sauces to gourmet fish dishes. It'll make an attractive, deep green, frilly plant on your windowsill, but if you set some of the root outside, you'll have it every year.

Cooking: Mix parsley leaves into salads, soups, stews, casseroles, and omelets. Serve fresh as garnish with meat, fish and onion dishes.

Chives - An all-time favorite, this relative of the onion is great for flavoring any dish that needs a "zing." They improve almost any dish. The plants also reward you with lovely purplish flowers, which are also edible!

Cooking: Chop chives and add to salads, egg and cheese dishes, cream cheese, mashed potatoes, hamburgers, sandwich spreads, and sauces.

What are some of your favourite herbs?

Blessings to you and your homes,