Of Visiting and Further Room Rearrangements

My family came down to their holiday house at Golden Beach for a fortnight, finishing last week, and we got to see them four times! I also didn't get a single photo!! Drat! When I get distracted and busy, I forget things.
The first time we saw them we drove over on a Thursday. It is only an hour and a bits drive, so we can make the drive there and back easily in a day without my wearing myself out too much. The day was spent talking, and sitting, and doing a little walking, and we finished up with dinner and the ride home in the night time ended with me pulling into our driveway with a car full of sleeping people!
The next time we saw them was on the Saturday. Mum came over with all the girls in the morning because Tamar wanted to go to 'Ninja School' with Malachi and Hadassah. While they were away (Michael drove them in our car) Mum and I collected everyone that was left and we walked up the road the Martha's house for a chat and a coffee. It was a lovely visit! Martha's brother dropped in and he is terrific, with a better grasp of the English language than Martha and a wicked sense of humour! He and Mum got along like a house on fire, lol!
Next visit was Thursday again, because I figured it worked out so well last time we would try it again. This time I brought dinner with us, because Mum was so tired last time I wanted to try and spare her a bit. It was a very rough king Neptune's pie, though in reality the only thing like King Neptune's Pie about it was that it had tuna in it, and mashed potato on top! I was slightly concerned how my little sisters would like it, as they are a little fussy, but it all went down the neck hole well, no complaints.
While we were on our walk this time we saw an echidna trying to bury itself on the side of the road, and then later on we saw four kangaroos.
The last visit was by Mum, once again on Saturday, but this time Tamar didn't go to Taekwondo because her back was sore. So this time we walked into Morwell to do some shopping :)
Michael has progressed further on Malachi's room. Below is him finishing a second toybox to go under the bed beside the one already there.

 Here is the beginning of Malachi's desk up at the end of his bed (and hopefully out of reach of Eli),

 And here is Eli's desk nestled next to the wardrobe. He just needs some more shelves above it and a lick of paint and its finished.

 

We have decided we have been too lax with the children and their schoolwork, so we have upped the anti. They now need to complete either 15 pages, or do 4 hours of work every school day. This means that instead of a leisurely start school at 9ish and work till lunch time, they need to get cracking at 8am, since trying to get them to concentrate after lunch is nearly impossible. This means, however, that Michael needs to be on the ball, because I leave for Martha's house at 7:30 every morning to help her get her three ready for school, so Michael needs to be giving them breakfast by the time I leave so they can be finished by 8 and start. He's having a hard time adjusting, as he likes to play on the computer in the morning, but he is being a good sport about it, lol. Most of the time...

So we have been doing the funky crafty thing lately. Here is what we have been up to:

Malachi on his loom, making what will hopefully end up being a beanie,

 Phebe embroidering a cardboard picture,

 Hadassah sewing buttons on her pj shirt,

 And here is Dassah modeling her newly finished scarf! Doesn't it look lovely? No, we didn't make the beanie, unfortunately.

 And this is Malachi wearing my very first home made from scratch top! I had a little creative thinking to do as it was only a little piece of material (The white one with words and stuff on it), but I think it looks rather kewel on him :)

In the brief lull between rain falls I got outside tidying again. I put the dog house back under the house (It was on the veranda) and have set up an hold wooden ladder for the kiwi fruit vine to climb,

 I think it looks rather nice :)

 This was our slush a few days ago, but this area is under water now :(

 Michael and I moved the children's cubby shed so that it can be made into a chook  house. We made the desision the use it for this as the children never played in it, and I hate wasting opportunities! We will organize for another play house to go up in the same spot some other time.

 See? There it is! It will need finessing, but we are making steps towards chooks! Weee!

 So, you know how I get the children to do their sewing during Bible reading at night to try and keep them awake? Well, this is what happened last night.

 All except Eli, who was the only one I wouldn't have minded going to sleep!!

 And on that note, I am off to bed! 'Night :)