Folklore all around us

The hatchlings and I enjoy taking walks any day the wind is not blowing too strong.

Meanwhile, I am currently writing a book on Orkney folklore, 

and since I started researching,

Orkney no longer looks the same.

Let me share with you,

some of the things we have seen along our adventures.

A house within a house.

That house is actually Clestrain Hall, where John Rae was born. 

(John Rae is the explorer credited with finding the northwest passage.)

Land trow?

A selkie on the shore.

St. George?

And a pipe band at the Lammas fayre.

A beautiful Monday

Let me introduce Mrs. Sheep, gosh, can she chat the day away.

And here are her beautiful babies.

A little boy picked bunches of flowers,

while hatchling no6 slept.

We stopped at the park,

and this guy

really likes to swing.

He makes me so happy.

And these two boys played football in the sun,

 and even shared the ball!

Hope your Monday was as happy and sunny as ours.

Sunday mornings are happy

Teddy and me,

Teddy and me,

we like to...

jump all the way to space on the big bed!

One very lucky teddy bear.

Weird things happen on cameras that disappear

I do not own any of the furniture items in this video.

Nor do I recognise them.

I am guessing, somewhere, someplace, one of the hatchlings must have filmed this.

Which is kind of neat, if you think about it.

Like a geocache video clue...

I expect I will spend the next few weeks going about looking at under table level to try to find out where this came from.

And just because I was flipping through old photos, here is one of hatchling no3, not impressed that I wanted her to sit with the pretty flowers, and not eat them, while I took a photo. 

Happy Easter!

Some fudgy brownies

and

lots of squares and cakes,

french toast for breakfast,

before a successful

egg hunt.

Marshmallows 

and ridiculous quantities of chocolate,

before painting

all the duck eggs we could find.

Then,

time for a lunch of sandwiches

and a good run around outside.

Happy Easter!

Back to Saturday activities

Saturday activities have started again for the term and make for an early morning routine.

This little lady is very cheerful today.

'Am I going too?'

'Yay!'

Now, off on an adventure!

Sunny day out

Getting ready.

To go to the park.

Little bit of swinging.

Sliding.

And climbing.

Happy sunny day.

He's photo bombing me, isn't he?

Is it easter yet?

Is it Easter yet?

How 'bout now?

How many more minutes?

How about now?

I've been waiting for - ev - er!

Hatchlings do not like to wait for holidays.

Remind you of anyone?

Not wanting to wait for the good stuff.

Today they made chocolate birds nests.

Somehow the chocolate fix wasn't enough.

At bedtime tonight...

'Is it Easter yet?'

Sigh.

At the end of a long day

a rainbow.

After this long day,

I am simply going to be thankful.

Thankful for the good health of my family.

Thankful for the future being full of opportunities.

And

Very thankful for such a generous community,

who rally around and go to great lengths to help

when life goes pear shaped and upside down.

We are very blessed.

Buttons

Buttons are under rated.

The joy they bring to a hatchling when you pour out a beautiful treasure trove.

Great for crafts, math counters, game pieces, and more.

Such a great learning tool too.

From find this colour button, or can you find a matching button to this one?

We lay out patterns of buttons blue... red..  green... blue...

What comes next?

Look at this big black button.

Can you find a smaller one?

Look this button has four holes.

Can you find one with only two holes?

And so on.

The hatchlings love buttons

and on a rainy day,

buttons keep him amused 

and

he's learning at the same time.

Mini egg rocky road bars

500g Melted dark chocolate

3 tbs butter, melted

8 malterser bunnies, chopped

150g chocolate digestive biscuits, chopped

200g mini marshmallows

400g Cadbury mini eggs

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of water.

Stir in remaing ingredients, saving half the mini eggs for decoration.

Then place in the fridge to set for one hour.

Always more to go around

The hatchlings had a birthday party to attend today.

At which I was asked if I didn't worry about not having enough to go around.

How am I going to have enough time and attention to give a 6th child.

It is funny how blunt and rude people are happy to be.

(Same person asked me if they were ALL my husband's children too.)

And yes, they are.

The humorous part is that, I have worried each and every time we decide to have another child. 

That I won't have enough, be enough, to meet their every need, whim and want.

Then reality kicks in.

I'm not in this alone.

There are big sisters who can't wait to read stories while I help a two year old to the potty.

(This is home education.)

Songs are not solely sung in my voice alone.

This baby girl practically has her very own devoted choir.

Secrets and kisses are shared in abundance.

And there is plenty of love to go around.

The best part of this ever growing family is that with every new person that comes into our family there is more to go around.