Holiday in Karamea

I've got the photos from our holiday in Karamea organised and if I do say so myself, there are some neat photos. You're going to love them - although the only small problem is that there are quite a few so get yourself a cup of tea and a piece of cake and make yourself comfy. :)

Also not all the photos are exactly in order... but they are all captioned so hopefully you don't get too lost! :D

On with the photos....

Photo Dump: Dugout, Cute Children + Chickens

I was thinking it must be time I shared some photos. These were all taken recently (by me unless specified). Enjoy! 

My Day - in selfies!

Who loves all the tags that ask questions about you? Me, although I can sometimes get tired of them. So I've decided to begin a new tag - although this one will be slightly different. I've decided to start a tag where.... wait, it will be easier if you just read the rules.

Off my phone

Today I thought I might share a few photos that I had taken on my phone and were languishing there waiting to be uploaded onto the computer.

I've been making a few bookmarks recently. These are just coloured pencil and Faber Castell Pitt pens.

Also I hadn't done a sketch for ages... until I did one the other day! It was awesome. Had so much fun. You guys, don't pass up on spare moments to play with a pencil and paper.

Look at this little cutie! There was a really lovely light in the sky coming towards dusk... and so Jana, Lydia and I went out and took a few photos together. This is one of the ones we did.

So photogenic!!

So is Lydia, actually

Awww.... now that is ridiculously cute.

I love that light!! It is so pretty coming through the gap between the trees.

Jana and yours truly...

Yours truly

Here's Ben collecting chestnuts

Jana being very helpful and raking up some leaves (we start them young, here :P )

Massive leaf-pile!!

Ben burying Baxter in leaves

Johnny being buried 

Lydia

Jacob

I just can't resist showing you these cuties again!

Oh look, here I am again! Selfie-ing with Jana. :)

And my favourite one, to finish with. The view from the end of our driveway.

What have you been up to?
Do you enjoy playing in leaves? 

PS. I'm away this week so that's why I'm not replying to emails or comments. :)

A Moving Experience // Part 2: The New House

This is part two in a two part series on our moving experience. If you haven't read part 1 yet, you can read it here! 

Well, it's now time to give you a photographic tour of our new house and property. Ready or not... here we go.

First of all.... our front door... see the sign?

Close-up of the sign

Daddy fixing some of the fridge wiring

Piano and a bit of the lounge

Ben on an errand

Perfect spot on the lawn for the trampolines

Working hard outside (see swimming pool in background!!)

Jana' helping

Little miss adorable

Caleb watching the garden being hoed

Some boxes are now unpacked! A rather large pile, in fact. 

Some friends came and helped us hoe the garden, cut down trees and remove massive weeds

Our play equipment still exists :P

I love this photo! Am including it because the sky is blue and there are some pretty flowers... :) 

The upstairs room is the boy's bedroom; downstairs is Mum and Dad's.

Beautiful autumn colours

Our vehicles parked outside

Stuff still stacked in the garage awaiting time to put it in the house and somewhere to put it

Our office is just up those stairs on the mezzanine

Stuff everywhere and empty bookshelves (they are now filled, just saying) 

The hallway

Annnnnnnd that's all the photos I've got for you today. Maybe there will be more another time.

What's your favourite thing about the house you currently live in?
What are some features your 'dream house' would have?

A Moving Experience // Part 1: The Move

The time has come to write up something exciting - our experience with moving house and a bit of a photographic tour of our new home/property! This is post number one of two. Next time I'll show you round our new place... this time I'll show you photos of our move!

Our new property has 18 acres- hopefully enough room for Abbie's horses, some chickens, my brothers' inventions and treehouses and dirt bike tracks and bits and bobs, our dogs, some other animals (goats? beef cattle? we'll see!) and all of us. The house isn't as big as our old one, which has been an interesting experience given that we have a lot of stuff.

We eventually managed to move all our our lot of stuff and put it somewhere in our new place. This was managed with the help of lots of amazing friends, lots of cardboard boxes and a garage that most of the boxes were stacked in until we could put their contents somewhere!

Apologies for the photo quality. They are all from my cellphone (which takes horrific photos indoors) so if you don't like bad quality photos... skip them and read the rest of the post below the photos! :)

Lots of boxes.... 

Piles of filled boxes (and other random things) in the garage

Managing to empty things out a bit. This used to be lined with bookshelves and the hooks on the right had bags filled with shoes.

The famous couches that couldn't fit through our front door so had to go out through the dining room ranch slider and over the gate!

Our empty garage

Empty house

Empty dining room and kitchen and a Lydia sneaking through the photo

The first night in our new place. A bit of a shambles!!

Finding a moment to relax and catch up on texts/Facebook.

The builders doing their thing while we tried to move in around them

Gradually getting some things settled in

There were unexpected dramas.

For example:
- Discovering that the landline phone inexplicably didn't work and the previous owner didn't fix the problem but just used cellphones instead
- Discovering that the previous owner's fridge had actually been connected to the thermostat heating arrangement for power. Don't ask me how a fridge can be powered off a heater. I don't actually know. It's not ideal, I do know that much. It meant it was complicated connecting our fridge to the right things.
- Having to have the carpet and lino replaced because it had been ruined by dogs who had been allowed into the house and then not taken outside for bathroom breaks

There were some slightly stressful moments surrounding us moving house, let me tell you that.

But, all things considered, we're in it now. And it's becoming more like our home. We're slowly getting our pictures on the walls and putting books in bookshelves and sorting things out a bit. We got a walk-in pantry built into the kitchen which is AMAZING. Guys, walk-in pantries are the best.

There is lots of lawn where the younger kids can run and play. There are interesting things in the house to explore like a 'secret' passage behind the wall that goes between the two upstairs bedrooms.
There is a nice big lounge and a big conservatory which is doubling as a homeschooling and dining room. There are some lovely big trees on the property that we are going to make swings off and build treehouses in.

Yes, it's been stressful but it's getting better and more exciting as it becomes more like our home. :) A lot of us love it and the ones who don't love it yet still like it.

Keep a look out for Part 2 of the Moving Experience!

Have you moved house before? 
Did you have a good experience? 
Any tips for settling in?