Post 700!!! And I thought it was time for a fresh About page… really it has been a while since we updated and families grow and blogs change as they grow… Our blog began as the story of our life and times about a year and a half ago… when we had Se7en kids and since then Hood #8 has joined us and hence our blog has become se7en + 1.
So here we are:
Welcome to se7en + 1, and we hope you enjoy your visit:
We are a family of Se7en + 1 kids, we live in Fish Hoek, which is a beach town in Cape Town, South Africa. We homeschool and do lots of arts and crafts, and reading. We blog snapshots of our life that will hopefully provide some encouragement and ideas for families with young kids. I don’t blog about the nitty gritty daily grumbles, there are enough blogs about that, we try and keep our blog fun and positive and a bit of a haven to come to for some family fun inspiration.
Our blog has a weekly rhythm:
- Monday Munchies: Recipes and cook book reviews that our family have enjoyed.
- Tuesday Art Tasks: We do a weekly craft that is usually suitable for all ages since I can’t imagine any of my kids being willing to not participate!!!
- Working Wednesdays: On Wednesdays I usually blog about school stuff or organizing life with kids.
- Thoughtful Thursdays: On Thursdays we usually blog about parenting and life with more than a few kids.
- Fabulous Fridays: We have a Fun Carnival going where we link to a couple of great posts around the blog world.
- Saturday Spots: On Saturdays we post reviews of places we visit or show you spots around our house that we thank you would like to see.
- Sunday Snippets: Sundays we review and link to resources that would be useful for Sunday School and Family Bible Study.
Since I blog late at night once the kidlets are in bed our posts often lag behind their relevant days… but don’t worry if you hang on a while the post you are waiting for will come around!!! Meanwhile a lot of our posts are question driven so if you have homeschool questions or “life with little kids” questions please feel free to ask away on our contact page. I will respond given time!!! I don’t claim to be an expert but I do promise to share, straight from the trenches, our experiences and what works for us.
Otherwise apart from our Weekly rhythm we have a couple of feature posts:
- Celebrity Calendar: We blog a list of events and days to celebrate in the week ahead.
- GiveAways and Swaps: We love these, look out for them, we usually have one on the go.
- Practical Parties: We have a lot of parties round here and we have covered heaps of party themes and are building up a party resource list over time.
- The Week That Was: Is a weekly post that summarizes the things we have been getting up to.
- Home Truths: These are bits and pieces about us and life with a whole bunch of kids.
Our blog is all about our family, so lets meet the kids:
Hood #1: Age 12 and Avid Reader. Lover of Shakespeare and trumpeting. Spends his time writing and illustrating epics.
Hood #1: Age 10 and Avid Reader. Inventor of note and lover of gadgets. He is mad about electronics and kitchen science.
Hood #3: Age 8 and Avid Reader. Crafter of note. Loves stitching and sewing and anything pretty.
Hood #4: Age 6 and Avid Reader. Mad about sports. Player of note, without him we wouldn’t need toys!!! With a wild imagination he generates a whole new world every day!!!
Hood #5: Age 5 and Avid book lover, especially cook books. He is our resident chef and active partaker in meal preparation – and there is a lot of that around here.
Hood #6: Age 3 and Avid Book Lover. Mad about animals, the wilder the better. And you have never met anyone who can snip with a pair of scissors like this one… she has been snipping madly for two years straight!!!
Hood #7: Just 2 and Avid Book Lover. Simply adores babies and drawing. Has a great way of speaking, that I don’t want to forget: Whatever you say she responds with No, “and the last word you said.” Would you like something to drink? “No, drink.” Did you have a good sleep? “No, sleep” and so on… positive or negative it all starts with a no!!!
Hood #7 + 1: Almost four months and is not too familiar with books, though he does sit through a lot of stories. He is mad about arm waving and totally smothered in love!!! He has a brilliant laugh and it is well worth provoking!!!
That’s us!!! Really we hope you enjoy your visit and take the time to say “hi.” We would love to hear from you.
Love the update! 🙂 You are so generous to share your family with the world. And they are precious, precious, precious. Love their update pictures. And all such avid readers! Lovely.
Congratulations! Thank you for 700 wonderful posts, I’m looking forward to 700 more!
ohhhh so wonderful to see you and your crew up and close! I love how you have organized your blog into a glorious day by day play out!!!! If only I could be that organized. :):)
Hi SK, So good to hear from you!!! Glad you like our update… It never ceases to amaze me how many people want to read about our family. What started off as a little family “keep up with everyone” just grows and grows. I hope you have a fabulous week!!!
Hi JK, Good to hear from you!!! I have no idea how we got to 700 posts… far too prolific!!! And oh! the pressure to produce 700 more – can’t wait!!!
Hi KM, How ya doing? I love your blog just the way it is… I have to organize mine because it seems to have rather an insane number of posts lurking in it!!! I hope you have a fabulous week!!!
Of course, you forgot to introduce yourself or your hubby. . .
Mother and Father “persons” are important to the “life and times” too.
Hi C, The who?!!! You can’t be serious!!! Have a funny day!!!
Very fun to see the pictures of everyone [smile].
~Luke
Hay Luke, Yes, that’s us!!! Great to have you come by!!! Have a good week!!!
Beautiful pictures! Much Love!
Thank you so much for sharing your family’s journey with us!
Hi C, Thank you for stopping by!!! Hope you have a great weekend!
Ok…I am in awe at the fact that you have all the kids looking at the camera! I know how hard it is for 4 kids…someone is bound to be looking in another direction or doing a really strained smile! hehehe…I wonder if your family photo has some interesting history behind it! Thanks for sharing.
Hi M, I tried and failed (250 million photographs later) and posted our family pics by me at Christmas… and then a friend took this photo – she was very formal: “all stand here, all look at the camera, all smile now” SNAP. Done. One photograph and she was done!!! That’s life I guess!!! Hope you have a great day!!!
I always wondered which town you lived in. I spent time in the Eastern Cape in 2003 teaching at a little school for the summer. I was in Willowvale, quite far from you, yet I fell madly in love with South Africa and your Ricoffy! Toodles.
Hi A, Aaahh! So glad you stopped by to say hi!!! I went on a surfing holiday through the Eastern Cape when was a student… no wonder you fell in love with it!!! Have a great day!!!
I just found your blog! I can’t remember where I clicked from (maybe simple homeschool?). But you are such an inspiration!
I’m so torn right now deciding whether or not to begin homeschooling my kids. (I need to register my oldest for kindergarten soon, if we choose that route.) I have 3 right now (4 yrs, 19 mos & 1 mo) and I’m worried I won’t be able to juggle it all if I choose to homeschool (kids, home, wife, school, self). We live in a small 1 bedroom apartment in Manhattan and even though I love where we live and all that the city has to offer, I just can’t wrap my head around adding homeschool to our tiny living space and to my lack of energy.
What I’m really trying to say is I love what you share here! You inspire me to find a way to homeschool my little ones. Thank you!
Hi Kiasa, Well I am so glad you stopped by to say hi!!! Congrats on your new baby… what a cutie!!! New York is on our list of cities to visit one day!!! If I told you we homeschool our troop in a two bedroom home with a tiny garden would it help!!! The year before I started homeschooling I read everything I could lay my hands on … keep reading away and eventually an answer will come to you!!! Have a great weekend!!!