Things I’m Loving: Nature abound

It has been a week of celebrating the beauty of nature.

♥ Loved learning of New Zealand’s native trees and the amazing variety of different trees the world over.

♥ Loved identifying different tree species in our garden at home and in Wellington’s Botanical Garden with Sophie and Alice. Sophie worked so enthusiastically and wrote up a good recount on our trip for her blog.

♥ Loved the joy of seeing seeds scattered in spring come to bloom in summer.

♥ Loved cutting fresh sweet pea flowers from our garden to fill a vase each day.

♥ Loved seeing Sophie happy and relaxed in learning at home. She’s been reading, writing and loving maths. She’s been drawing and creating, playing the piano and singing. She’s been wonderful with Alice too, sharing the love of learning and discovering.

♥ Loved dear Charlotte persevering through her second week of formal school. She ended last year on a high, so sad to break up for the long summer holiday.

She’s returned to goal setting and testing and feeling frustrated, but she’s persevering. She was shattered on Thursday and rested at home.

Nature charged her up and bathed her frustrations. She swam in the sea, played with the seaweed and discovered an eleven-armed star-fish at Scorching Bay.

♥ Loved collecting her from school this Friday and taking her to the Botanical Garden to let loose on the flying fox, ride on the cable car and eat gelato with her sisters!

♥ Loved seeing Alice delight in everything and talk with amazing sentences and vocabulary beyond her age. I am grappling with the reality she turns two on Thursday!

It seems such a long, long time ago that she was a newborn curled in my arms.

She has wisdom beyond her years (and a cheeky character combined!).

♥ Love, above all, the hard working, supportive man of our family who makes it possible for us to live as we do in such beauty, blessed with nature abound.

In Sophie’s words…

We all have our ups and downs, personal challenges and battles to fight, but knowing we have the love and support of each other helps us to keep strong and see the hard times through.

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