The planned unplanned

This weekend in Freckle HQ we planned to have no plans. It was time to take a break from the frenetic visitors and hosting we seemed to have been doing all year and just be. What made it even more awesome was that we had a Thursday public holiday for our local Show and then the kids had cross country on Friday so I took the day off my  normal study to watch them. Despite the hottest March day since 1957, we managed to have an extremely enjoyable (almost) long weekend! 

I am always amazed at what kids do when they have "nothing to do". I don't know about yours but mine have so many toys that we could fill a toyshop and still have truck loads left over! In fact we have so many toys that we haven't even unpacked most of them from our move 4 months ago. And the reason why we haven't unpacked them is that our kids just don't play with them*. They play with each other! Part of the blessing of having 5 kids is that there is always someone else to play with ....And what I love best about being a parent of 5 kids is watching them develop their own relationships with each other. 

This weekend it was the box of dress ups that was found and everyone took turns in being fairies, scientists, maids, pirates and soldiers. And the adventure that were had would turn a Science Fiction novel into a historical drama - the plot twists were doin my head in. My favourite though was when Master Freckle 7, who was at the time wearing an ensemble consisting of a unbuttoned pirate shirt, army pants and 3D glasses, said to me that he was a salesman! That kid cracks me up!

But seriously, this weekend, a simple, "home" weekend reminded me that there is so much power in the unscheduled. In the unplanned and the unorganised (note not disorganised!)..... And part of the fun is watching it happen.

Miss Freckles 1 & 10 casting a spell on their dog... I believe it went something along the lines of "this dog is to grow wings and become a fairy".... Maybe next weekend they'll have more luck with that one!

Let the party begin....

So I can report that the 7th Birthday Bash proved to be a success, despite having a crazy busy weekend on and not getting to bed before 1am the night before we had a simple fun filled party that Mr 7 was thrilled with!

We decorated the hall (very lucky to have a hall in out backyard... literally!) with mine craft bunting, streamers and balloons and the day before I had Mr Freckle and Miss Freckle with their mini rollers painting moving boxes that we had in our garage with leftover paint. They had a ball doing it (although they complained at the time!) and they looked great. Best bit was that the kids just loved them! The boys stacked them, knocked them down, stacked them again, knocked them down - you can see the cycle.

Miss Freckle put her face painting skills to the test and face painted any willing victims who wanted some colour - with fabulous results.... So proud of my budding artiste!

Minecraft Mania

So this week has been a big one for my little freckles! We had school camp, first wee in the toilet and first chess tournament (not all for the same freckle!)... And the planning for minecraft-birthday-extravaganza began. I was a little late with invites but from the looks on 10 little boys faces when they opened their envelope, they didn't care one bit. 

I designed the invitations myself, with input from 3x minecraft freckles who assured me that I was on the right track. I'll keep you posted as to the rest of my Minecraft Party Planning as it unfolds....

Meanwhile, here's the invitations!

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/225158567/minecraft-invitations?