Never Too Late to Put In An Appearance

It's been so long but surely my blog doesn't have an expiry date? I've visited a few times with the intention of posting at least a short update, but I always clicked the log off button feeling simultaneously, like we are the most boring family on earth but also that there has just been too much of the great bloggable moments missed over the last few months to find the foggiest of where to begin again. Without a doubt though, I definitely regret not keeping the blog up. My boys have grown and changed and I've missed recording that, but it isn't too late.

When I dropped off the face of blogosphere I'd sprained my ankle and Mr E's mother was living with us temporarily. My ankle has since healed, although I fear it will never again be as slim as its partner and Mr E's mother who stayed with us for about two months, ended up buying a house near our block just before Christmas. Great news for our family to have grandparents so close. One thing though, thank goodness for having our space back! I know while she was here I became very preoccupied with a fastidiously clean house, lots of very nice meals and well educated children. Blah! The pressure had me ready to crack!!

But that's all over now and the focus has naturally shifted to getting on with the house building. I feel that we could easily go on record as being the most stuffed around family ever as far as builders and brokers and so on go but everything is for a reason right? And I am grateful for all the steps it has taken to get us this far. To the point where our loan is approved and our building contract has been signed, sealed and delivered. It's been about two years since we sold our old Queenslander and invested our hopes and future in this five acre block. Now it appears we're on the final count down and building should begin hopefully next month with an even more hopeful approximate hand over date in July, admittedly, that would be the earliest. The timing will be just right as we have some big news to share in the next few weeks. I'm super excited and really can not wait to tell!

The builders sign is up at the block. We think it's a scream that
they've posted it in front of our poor neglected cubby house though!

Gum Tree Kid & The Lone Musketeer

If you check out my right hand side bar you'll see.... Ta Da! Kangaroo and Kookaburra nagged me into submission and we have created their own blogs :D! Completely moderated, edited and controlled by Mumma Me, they are only little 'uns after all! Unbeknown to my little men they'll be learning a heck of a lot about computer skills, online safety, writing and communication skills. I know there will be a lot more to be gained from this exercise but most importantly, they want to do this. My boys want to know how to create and write a blog. They've seen me enjoying Iri'ni as my place to chronicle our family's happenings and homeschooling journey and inspired by this, they wanted to create their own online place for whatever they may want to blog about. Aah :D Internal motivation is becoming a key to unlocking learning in our home. Yeehaa! I'm pretty pleased. Our first years of homeschooling have been a bit of a hard slog but I do believe that this year we'll begin to reap the real rewards. Homeschooling is challenging but I think, just maybe, hopefully, we might be over that bump and if I'm clever enough (Ha! *says a quick prayer*) homeschooling should get easier from here on in.

Due to this bloggy creativeness Kookaburra has discovered that he would Really like to be able to type. Google one free typing program and we came up with BBC Schools Dance Mat Typing. One hour later Kookaburra had learnt his home row and probably more (I wasn't peaking over his shoulder, too much to do). Kookaburra has named his blog Gum Tree Kid Hideaway - too cool - and has produced his first drawing tutorial for other kids. This one is about World War I Bi-Planes.

So Kangaroo is looking to use his blog, The Lone Musketeer, to write fairytales and stories, with illustrations by him. He's a prolific producer of arts and bits so it'll be great to have a nice place for him to have it all after a year when the paper has been stored away in a scrapbook on top of the cupboard.

Well, I guess they've caught my addiction and somehow I need to dig down deep within to find my sharing powers because I know my boys will be wanting to blog more than I want them too. Sigh.

Well, asides from the me needing to share issue, they've happily caught the blogging bug for now, and I'm excited for them. I'm looking forward to seeing how far they'll go with it and what will be gained from their new hobby.