these days......

....... i'm eating healthily, fresh, whole, homemade food, walking more, breathing deeper, taking in  fresh air; to revive and rejuvenate.
im on a journey......i want to eat better, be more active, live healthier.
why don't you join me!

a winter walk

the best walks are the walks, when you go out expecting it to be an ordinary walk, but then something surprises you, like the walk at the beginning of spring when you spot the first crocuses and daffodils, or the walk in autumn, when you find a tree full of apples, in a spot that you walk past almost everyday, but this tree has gone unnoticed, but the best walk is the walk in winter, when you expect the tree's to be bare, but instead you are faced with one of the most prettiest sights that you'll see at this time of year.



today we.....

.....after so many grey and dark days saw the sun shining so we put our books away and went outside, even though there were winds which felt as if they were blowing 100mph.

splashed about in puddles that were left behind from last nights rain.

saw this hole and discussed what kinds of animals might live in there.



my two year old told the ducks off because they were stealing each others bread.

got chased by huge white swans who wanted all the bread for themselves. 

eventually the clouds moved in and the winds blew us all the way home.

pottery

our first pottery class (organised by our home-ed group) was a total success. the kids really enjoyed getting their hands stuck in, touching, feeling, moulding the clay. they made pots, which can be used for a number of purposes, pencil holder, flower pot, utensils in the kitchen are just a few ways that it can be used (as if my kids are going to let me put my kitchen utensils in it). we will collect them in two weeks, when the pots will have dried out.
glitter, paint, glue, sequins are all the the ready. watch this space.

apple day

a day full of apples, a day to get plenty of fresh air and exercise, i day to press fresh apples and see how apple juice is made, a day to get lost in a fabulous holly maze, a day to learn about the apple's life cycle, a day to taste freshly squeezed apple juice, a day to enter an apple colouring competition, a day to get some apples to take home........a day when apples took centre stage big time!

autumn is....

a season that inspires us to take lots of nature walks.

kyaking

i just recently found out that regular kyaking classes have been taking place, so i thought i'd take the kids down and see what they made of it, they loved it and they made me promise to take them again next week, insha'Allah.

my fears of how they would do, whether they would fall in, and what would hapen if they did were soon washed away when i watched them gracefully gliding along the water, it was quite serene.

no disasters, no one fell in, and everyone got the hang of it immediatly, masha'Allah.

and do want to know what the best bit was? the fact that it's happening at my very own local park!

preparing for autumn

although it feels like we're in the middle of summer, the reality is that it's autumn and the cold whether will be moving in any day now. so what better way to welcome autumn than by beginning the autumn chores, weeding, digging, mulching, collecting the first batch of leaves for making leaf mould, you catch my drift right? we are busy preparing the allotment for next year.

another job that i have done today is clean out the compost bin on my allotment. i want to start making my own compost for next year, i'm quite excited about this as i haven't really attempted this before and another thing that excites me is the fact that i won't have to bin all my vegetable peelings etc (forgive me if im boring you talking about compost, but i can't help it, i'm excited).

and as the whether was soooooo glorious we invited some of the family along and had good old picnic and everything else that comes along with a picnic, bike riding, tree climbing, children wondering off in all directions and finishing off with a water fight!

i only remembered my camera while i was eating, hence the several shots of food and none of the actual allotment, maybe next time insha'Allah.

harvest

although this relationship has been a rocky one, and although we didn't get to spend much time together, we didn't bond very well or hit it off immediately, i know it's going to be a long term relationship (between myself and my allotment that is).

we didn't get a lot of anything, but we did get a little bit of everything, Alhamdulillah.

:: weekending ::

the honey show was the highlight of our weekend. we saw live honey bees in action, the kids enjoyed searching for the queen bee. there was fresh local honey on sale. they rolled beeswax candles. the gardens were great, there were fruit orchards and vegetable patches, the kids got to do lots of forest foraging, discovering, finding, playing, and the bonus was that the sun came out, Alhamdulillah.

it was definitely a place that fed the mind and nurtured the soul, Alahmdulillah.

we've been discussing bees ever since we got home that day, we've learned so much but there is definitely a lot more learning to be done.

i'd like to end this post with a little reminder for all of us:

'And thy Lord taught the bee to build its cells in hills, on trees and in (men's) habitations..... there issues from within their bodies a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for mankind. Verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought'.(Translation of Quran 16:68-69)

In addition, the Prophet (PBUH) said:
'Honey is a remedy for every illness and the Qur'an is a remedy for all illness of the mind, therefore I recommend to you both remedies, the Qur'an and honey.'(Bukhari)

a long break!!!

Assalamu Alaikum dear readers,
after a long time of, putting homeschooling on the back bench, taking a break (for a while), of being hectic with everyday chores, appointments and illnesses, of being worn out to do anything, of having no energy to sit and explain work in workbooks, of putting blogging somewhere very low down on the the 'things to do' list....we are back! 'official' homeschooling is still sitting on the back bench, i still can't be bothered with workbooks and work sheets, still haven't got the energy to nag my children to write this or read that, so i have made a very important decision, yes, we are now un-schooling! for how long? i don't know, but that's the great thing about home-education, you can go with the flow and not have to answer to anyone!

these are pictures are from the bug hunt we went on today, we didn't find anything exciting, but whatever we did find, we recorded on a chart.

another thing we did today was go to the library. normally i control the books that my children bring home, but today i let them get whatever they wanted, my son picked up a comic book with his favourite characters and a book about the 'toy story' characters and my daughter picked up a book on baking and story book about two girls who are friends, as long as they read it, i don't really care.

to the sisters who have been concerned and have left comments but received no reply, i am sincerely sorry!

'signs of spring' walk

we went for a 'signs of spring' walk with our home-school group at our allotments and leisure gardens. it was an amazing day. the sun was shining 'bright', our allotments are very quiet and peaceful, we ate, relaxed, the kids played, picked flowers, climbed trees, grew seeds and searched for the signs of springs, of course.

pots made from newspaper which can be planted with the seed inside (genius, unfortunately i don't know how to make them)

frozen yogurt tubes (another spot of genius on another sisters part (wonder why i didn't think of this)

and at the end of the day.....need i say more.