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? 

'Get to know me' Tag!

Hey everyone! Well, we've moved, and I'm so excited to show you our new house and tell you all about it... but that will have to wait because life is CRAZY right now! :) Sometime. Within the next month or so. I promise.

In the meantime, Katie from Concealed Foundation tagged me in the Get To Know Me tag. Thanks, Katie! :)

I often don't do tags when I get tagged.... partly busyness, other things to post, life in general... the other part whether the tag catches my fancy or not! Today I thought this looked like a fun tag and I needed to post something, so, here goes!

Now it begins…

Vital Stats
Name:
 Bonnie

Nicknames:
Bons, Bonsaroozles (don't ask me where that came from), Bonnn-eeeee (okay that last one is not really a nickname)

Place of Birth:
Christchurch, New Zealand

Firsts
Best Friend:
 My big sister Abigail who was definitely my first best friend.

Award:
I won a Challenge Cup in Girl's Brigade when I was younger. I'm not sure if that was my first award... but I was thrilled about it. :) It was the only cup awarded at that year's prizegiving if I remember correctly!

Sport:
Ballet (does that count), or netball. We did athletics at an athletics club for a while too. Also I did tennis when I was young. I'm not sure which was first!

Real Holiday:
Hmmmmm...... not sure.

Concert:
Going to see Andre Rieu performing with his orchestra!

Favorites
Film:
The Lassie film is such a classic that I enjoyed. And I love The Sound of Music. Of course, the movies by the Kendrick brothers are always awesome too! I really enjoyed watching the new Star Wars (The Force Awakens) movie when it was released recently.

TV Shows:
We don't watch TV shows generally.... we watched the new version of Thunderbirds every week for a while but that's finished now.

Color:
Sunshine yellow!
Navy blue
The colours in the sunsets and sunrises
Rose pink
Burgundy
Pale greens and blues
.....okay I just really love lots of colours
Song:
I do love “Praise You In This Storm” by Casting Crowns. Also there's a really cool song Radio Rhema plays sometimes.... I forget the name and the artist but it's amazing. Lol that's helpful.

Restaurant:
the Joyful Restaurant! It's a Chinese restaurant with such. Good. Food.

Books:
At the moment I'm enjoying reading a series of novels written by Jennifer Chiaverini. I think the series is titled Elm Creek Quilts. They're all about a group of quilters. I'm not a quilter (I can mend things neatly, use a sewing machine and knit but quilting's another kettle of fish!) I'm enjoying reading the novels and learning lots of American history and quilting terminology as well as being fascinated by the interesting storylines.

Currently
Feeling:
 Quite tired.

Single or Taken:
 Single

Eating:
 Drinking hot plum juice... mmmm

Wearing:
 A green shirt, black cardigan and denim shorts

Watching:
 Jana eating her breakfast in front of me

Future
Want Children:
Yes!

Want to Get Married:
 Before having children :P

Careers in Mind:
 Robot, tightrope walker, Annoyer of Flies, professional chocolate taster... I have some very random careers in my mind. Oh wait were they supposed to be careers I have in mind for myself??

Where You Want To Live:
 Earth.

Do You Believe In
God:
Absolutely!

Miracles:
Yes!

Love At First Sight:
 Not sure.

Ghosts:
 Nope.

Heaven:
 Yes!!! I'm going there one day!!

Hell:
 Yes. Heaven and hell are real and I'm so grateful that God's given us a way to reach Heaven's perfection.

Kissing On The First Date:
 I was like, "What shall I say for this one?" and Danella sitting next to me was like, "Get rid of it and no  one will notice" Haha :P

Yourself:
 I believe I exist, but I don't believe that man is the center of everything. I believe God created us in His image.


I tag..... nobody. Unless you want to do it, in which case leave your answers in the comments or do a blog post. :)
Hope you enjoyed finding out a bit more about me!

I want a principle within

I want a principle within

Of watchful, godly fear,

A sensibility of sin,

A pain to feel it near.

I want the first approach to feel

Of pride or wrong desire

To catch the wand’ring of my will,

And quench the kindling fire.

From Thee that I no more may part,

No more Thy goodness grieve,

The filial awe, the fleshly heart,

The tender conscience, give.

Quick as the apple of an eye,

O God, my conscience make;

Awake my soul when sin is nigh,

And keep it still awake.

Almighty God of truth and love,

To me Thy pow’r impart;

The mountain from my soul remove,

The hardness from my heart.

Oh, may the least omission pain

My reawakened soul,

And drive me to that blood again,

Which makes the wounded whole.

- Charles Wesley

What I've been listening to

Today I'd like to share a couple of lovely songs with you that I've been touched by recently. I'm at camp this week, so enjoy the posts I've scheduled in the meantime! I will be back on Friday evening.

I love the lyrics of this first one. So meaningful. Do have a listen.




This second song is incredibly beautiful. I just love their voices and the song... well, you just have to hear it for yourself.



What is your favourite song?

A + A // Please, 21st, stay in the distant future!

Awkward:
- Lying in bed just thinking of all the things you've forgotten to write down that you've got to do the next day... so up you get, write them down, and go back to bed. To sleep. But no, you keep thinking of more things. So you get up (at least four times) to write them down. Moving house creates sleepless nights, a fuzzy brain and lots of work to be done.
- When your family discovers something you wrote in 2009 (it's rather embarrassing actually) and are like, "Oh, this is great! We're going to save this for your 21st!" and proceed to photocopy it so it doesn't get lost and you're just like.... well... 21st, stay in the far distant future please, and thank you.
- Someone seeing you and being like, "Oh you actually look really nice today!" leaving you wondering if that means you don't normally look nice. :/ It's the addition of that 'actually'. Makes you question rather a lot.
- Getting a REALLY BAD fit of the giggles at the dinner table where you literally cannot stop laughing. And your family just all start laughing at you. Because you're so hilarious. And eventually the comments start rolling in when your siblings start describing (in between giggles) exactly what you look like when you're unable to stop laughing. "Your face looks flat." "You look like a Chinese person." "No, you look like a sunburnt Chinese person". (Me asking after I've managed to stop laughing eventually: "Why a sunburnt Chinese person?" Them: "Because your face is so red." Right......)
- When one of your younger younger brothers (the younger younger brothers as opposed to the younger brothers - that means Caleb and Jacob instead of Ben and Johnny) - packages up a box to be moved when we move house. He tapes it up and everything and then writes on the top, "Very heavy!" I picked up the box to see how heavy it was and it is not heavy at all. I could hold it using about two fingers. It was hilarious considering the weight of some of those book boxes I packed and didn't write 'heavy' on the top of!
- Dropping an entire Cambro (approx 5 litre container we put meat and vegetables into) full of sliced onion while at work. Seriously. I was also carrying a Cambro of bacon and two bags of lettuce so I'm glad those didn't fall, but honestly, people, dropping an entire Cambro of food is the sort of horror story we tell new employees! Such a waste of the onion and it completely ruins your day. My boss wasn't too thrilled with me. As you can probably imagine.


Awesome:
- Kind friends who help us move house. And more kind friends who babysit the younger children so us older ones and Mum can pack up.
- Weddings!!! Two friends marrying each other is just so exciting.
- Heaps and heaps of nice ripe blackboy peaches.

Sorry about the picture quality - it's from Instagram, taken by my phone. (Before you ask, my Instagram username is @bonsthebunny so feel free to go follow me.) I do the occasional post.

- Finishing a Progress Review for my course really early
- Getting to hold a really really really tiny baby who is just super adorable... I can't wait for our own little tiny super adorable baby to make his or her appearance at the end of August!
- Being invited to be a counselor at a Bible camp (Jumpstart, for those who are familiar with it) in Nelson. The campers are aged up to 18 and I won't have even turned 18 before the camp! I mentioned this to the man organizing it when he rang me asking me if I would like to be a counselor.... and I was so encouraged and thrilled when he said that he thinks I'm really spiritually mature or else he wouldn't have asked me! Totally made my day.
- Paying for something with the exact right change. It's just so exciting.
- My lovely sister's photography. I haven't had photos of me playing my violin really before (Grandma took one once but I was actually wearing my pyjamas in the photo, believe it or not, and I've never liked it at all! Obviously it's not terrible because Grandma hung it on the wall in their kitchen... but still, pyjamas?!) so I was thrilled with how they turned out. Thanks, Danella.


- Unearthing all kinds of interesting things in the process of packing up and moving. Not a day (or hour) goes past without Mum (or any of us, really) going, "Come and look at this, everyone!"
- Saying the same thing as someone else at the same time. It just makes you feel quite (oh, I don't know), special? That your mind runs along the same track as another's at times.
- Picking up a Q in Scrabble when you already have a U
- Being invited to a friend's birthday where you have to dress up as someone from Ancient Rome. And thinking, what on earth am I going to wear. And after a little foray into some wardrobes and a little advice from helpful siblings coming up with something relatively painlessly and quickly! Such a good feeling.
- Taking your shoes off.

Do you ever get the giggles? 
Does your family save all the embarassing stories from your life to share at your 21st?
What is your favourite fruit?

Pin-spiration

I must confess that I do like Pinterest. It's fascinating. The magic of how Pinterest somehow knows the sorts of things you like (okay, after you tell it) and then shows you those things for you to save and be inspired by. It's pretty awesome. As long as you don't become distracted by it and only use it on occasion when you're bored (which isn't actually very often).

 

I come across some rather neat things on Pinterest. And I thought maybe for this post I would share some of my favourite finds with you.

 

Before I do, may I please apologise for the temporary lack of substantial, well thought out posts. I mean, showing you a few things I liked on Pinterest is hardly a time consuming task. Well my excuse is that we are moving house and life is really rather crazy busy round here! I'm also going on camp for a week shortly so I may have to abandon you for a bit.. but while I'm here I shall at least try to pop in for a little bit every three days! :D

 

Without further ado, here is my Pin-spiration!



 

 

Oh, the colours in this image are just so beautiful. Are they not? The pinks, the blossoms, the reflection, well I'm not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination but I can appreciate a pretty photo!

 

And this. This. If you want to see it bigger do click on it and it will hopefully open up a bigger version for you. It's potato, cooked in this awesome way with all sorts of delectable things done to it. I must say, it does look rather enticing.

I just picked these cupcakes to include in this post because I love cupcakes and I thought the idea of nutella in a chocolate cupcake with raspberry icing doesn't sound at all bad.

 

The beauty of this sketch!!!!!! I have this art board among my Pinterest board collection and I can never struggle to find beautiful sketches and artworks to put in it! Some people are ridiculously talented.

 

This is the sort of sketch I would do. Not fancy, not impressive really, just a girl with an umbrella. And there's something quite sweet and appealing about it.

This is for my musical friends! :) Who can relate???

 

 

I have to say, this looks ridiculously time consuming and I shall probably never attempt it in my life but I think it's incredibly cute.

Well, this is so true. God's ways are so much higher than ours! He has everything planned out for us and while we may not necessarily like his plan to begin with, it's always so much better for us at the end! Trust him. Always trust him. He knows what's best for you.

This doesn't need my caption.

 

This is my last one. Just a little reminder to us all!

 

Have a fantastical day! Do you use Pinterest? What is your favourite thing about it?