A Time for Everything...

Bags, glasses and drawings...

2009-09-08T22:09:00.005+10:00

It's amazing what a day with the computer switched to the OFF position (yes you can turn your computer off, how funny) can do....

I gave myself a forced 'computer-free' day yesterday and was surprised at how much I got done. Actually I'd even say it was refreshing. And sad to think how 'addicted' I am to this darn thing...

Where was I? Oh yes, I got a lot of other things done. Not so much in the housework department (much to my husband's dismay), but I got a lot of sewing done... and can you actually believe it.... wait for it... I finished a project.

I've been procrastinating a lot (it's one of my better skills) lately with this gorgeous bag pattern I bought (Janelle Wind Collection). I decided I was going to make one for my friend Sarah who's about to pop with twins. A twin mumma needs a big bag. And this one is fantastic. 16 pockets in total. If that's not enough room for twin supplies... you need two bags!!

Ah yes, procrastinating. I've cut bits here, bits there, I even buckled down and sewed a bit the other night. But yesterday I really got into it... and come 11.30pm last night, she was finished!!

I'll be a little sad to part with this. (in fact I seem to make most things as gifts, and as such don't actually have many of the things I've made) But I think its created a passion for bag-making, so I look forward to picking fabrics for and making the other 3 Janelle Wind patterns I have... nice.

Anyway, so here she is. Sarah's Nappy Bag. I made it in the fabrics (plus a few more) she's used for decorating the nursery. So it will match nicely. And suit girls, boys or one of each.

One side...
The other side...
And inside...
Storage heaven. I hope she likes it.

In other happenings, we did our weekly cooking experience today. Ah, the simple stay-at-home life. Today we made a low-fat chocolate weet-bix slice. But the camera battery was dead, so no pics. I do love taking pics of the kids cooking though. Its so cute and they just love it. I think next week we might try something a little more healthy - maybe a quiche or zucchini slice or something...

Here's a couple of pics I did take this morning of the monkeys mucking around on the trampoline. Lani found my old glasses and was trying them on. So cute. Eli wanted in on the funny action too. He has some crazy posing antics lately. Crazy child.

Yes... he has no pants on. This is a regular occurence around our house. At least I don't have to wash extra pants. Even if its not so flattering for photo ops...

And yesterday... Lani had a great time practicing her cutting. I'm not sure if she's done much before (not with me she hasn't) but she had a great time making little cuts all around the edge of the paper. Actually I remember Eli starting much the same way. He's progressed a little more th cutting into the paper now, he just hasn't quite got a hold on how to hold his scissors...

And I taught Eli how to draw a person. I was most impressed, as was he. First he drew him - head, eyes, mouth and arms and legs attached to the head. Then I showed him how to draw a girl with a dress (triangle) for a body. And he seemed to grasp that pretty well. Then he also drew me with curly hair (a bit tricky!) and he even wrote MUM. What a clever boy he is... proud Mummy moment. These are now on the fridge.

Well, that's all for now. I need to go to bed. Night all.

Happy Fathers Day!!

2009-09-06T14:23:00.006+10:00

Hope all the Dads are having a lovely day today.

We gave Daddy a spot of breaky and coffee in bed and pressies before we headed to my Mum and Dad's place for a cooked breakfast!

Greg got a couple of bits and pieces - a shirt, thermal flask for work, choccies and a couple of works of art from the little ones... and we bought something else special yesterday, but haven't set it up yet - a BIG Plasma! Nice (we're just on the hunt for a high TV unit before we set them up).

It is also my sister Alissa's 25th b'day today, so we celebrated with some yummy cupcakes (with gorgeous little flower toppers that my friend Lou sent me).

It was great to see my neice Emmeson again too, coz even though her and Liss are living with my parents, either Emme or both of them have been elsewhere when we've visited the last couple of times...

Here's my Daddy and I! Love you Dad...

Hope you've all had a lovely day with your Dads!!

Just some funny pics...

2009-09-01T16:57:00.005+10:00

I wanted to share...

Eli and I posing and being silly for the camera (he's just like his Mumma this one!)

And Lani and I too, but she wasn't as obliging for the funny photos, and rather preferred to cry...

And we took the kids out the back for a picnic morning tea on Saturday. We took some pics, and Greg attempted to set up a family pic, but we only got this far, this kids didn't want to lie down together without kicking and trying to kill each other! (pic#3)

Have a great night!

P.S. I have no idea why the pics are showing up all speckled-y, they are clear when I view them on my computer... hmmm... I don't think I even made the file sizes very small either.... oh well...

Play rooms, craft rooms and dragons...

2009-09-01T08:18:00.007+10:00

Hi everyone!

Life has been busy. How's yours??

We have our playroom back - yahoo!!

Still working on transferring all the stuff into my craft room and deciding what gets the flick, but we're getting there and its SO GOOD to have the playroom back. This alone entertained the kids last week as they had *new* toys to play with again - things they hadn't seen in 2 months were favourites again!

Here's some work-in-progress pics...

The reading/puzzle/quiet play corner... (complete with number cards that are amazingly still there and haven't been ripped off the wall yet!)

The arts/crafts/manipulatives table and chest of drawers to house everything like puzzles, crafts etc.

Looking across most of the room from the sliding door to backyard...
(yes that is a giant Batman poster donning thw whole wall - compliments of Greg being an ex-manager of Toys R Us!)

The TV... and I FINALLY hung this IKEA toy storage thing up after having it for about 4 years! Oh, and my ABCs :)

Eli's train table... (and looking through the doorway of my craft room)

The walls are looking a little bare, and so I've got some things in store for those too, but they'll come when I get around to making/buying the things I need...

Which brings me to my craft room... which is DEFINITELY a work-in-progress right now. I've spend hours and hours this week searching eBay and my new IKEA catalogue (drool) and google for inspiration and pieces of furniture to put in here to jazz it up and make it feel crafty and gorgeous and comfortable and dare I even say 'organised'... ha, now I just need the money and the time...

Here's what it currently looks like...

Looking from the door across the little room to the window with its gorgeous window covering (a baby quilt I made for Jaidyn) while it awaits me to make some curtains...

Really the only part of the room that's 'set up' - this shelf housing photo albums, scrapbooking albums (which I wasted a few hours looking back through - ahh memories...), and some special things I love. Teddies made by my Nana. Circle Journals. Tins and other BTPs I've made (most not actually finished). And some things that friends have made me too.

Here's my sewing desk looking a bit drab and lonely - currently its being used as a 'dump as you sort things out' desk. I actually need to use it tonight though. Yay!

And here's the space where my scrapping desk used to go. We're getting rid of it coz I can't fit my legs underneath it properly (it has an annoying cut out for your legs - and well maybe I'm just too fat now, but it sucks either way.)

I'm looking to put a tall desk/table here for cutting out. I need something that is me height (which may be hard being 6ft tall) so that I can cut without killing my back and without sitting on the floor, coz there ain't a lot of that in this room! I'm hoping to get an adjustable height table from IKEA. Then these fabric boxes will fit underneath, and maybe another storage unit too. (this table will probably also double as an outdoor table when we need it, so adjustable and moveable is a must).

AND NOW..... THIS is the room I've been drooling over. Now I know mine will look nothing like it in the end, but I'm modelling my decor colours on this - yummy red and aqua and lots of polkadots - and I'm loving some of her storage ideas too.

So drool away...

And lastly, but not leastly, here's a little guy that Jai and I whipped up yesterday afternoon in about 40 minutes. Jai is doing drama at school and they need to make a sock puppet. He was not happy with his attempt and so I thought we'd make a simple one with some felt and button eyes... well it turned out harder than I thought for Jai to be able to sew when you have you make sure you don't sew through the other side of the sock.... and well we got a bit carried away with body parts too..

It's a dragon, can you tell... I think he's pretty cute for a quick job!! Jai loves him too...

Well, that's all. Its been a pretty mammoth effort to post all these pics, align them all right etc etc (blogger really doesn't like me I don't think) and I've almost used up all my 'kids sleeping' time...

Ciao!

Baking, riding bikes... just loving being at home!

2009-08-19T14:10:00.004+10:00

I am really enjoying being a SAHM this week, and getting into a good routine regarding housework etc. There's still a lot I need to get in place, but its starting to get rolling, and the house is being 'maintained' pretty well now, to that if we have visitors I don't feel horribly embarrased about the state of my home!

This week we have enjoyed a playdate with one of my besties Sarah and her little man on Monday. Sarah is 6 weeks away from having twins - how exciting! I haven't seen her in so long either, hopefully we can make it a little more often now that I'm home (although soon she'll have her hands busy with twin newborns!)...

Yesterday we did a bit of this.... baking choc/strawberry swirl cupcakes:

(Eli wanted chocolate, Lani wanted pink, so we did both and swirled them together, YUM!)

And a bit of this... riding bikes and trikes (changed over often) under the house:

And also a bit of this... Lani's favourite thing to do - jumping!!

In other news, Greg and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary last Friday. We would have *liked* to have been celebrating in New Zealand, but our potential babysitters (the in-laws) were galavanting around Scotland... so we might just do it next year!!

Greg took the day off work (the joy of being able to choose his own hours, yay!) - and the monkeys were in kindy, so we had a hot date!! We went to the movies to see 'The Ugly Truth' and then had Hogs Breathe for lunch - YUM!! I forgot to take my camera to lunch though...

Then we had a rematch of Risk (coz I beat him the first time, ha) and a cheese/bickies platter after the kids were in bed. On Sunday we went for our tradition of buffet breakfast up at Mt Cootha (where Greg proposed)... we just LOVE going up there - child-less of course, although it would be nice to take them up there some time too...

Here's a couple of snaps we took 'up top'...

Love you so much honey!!

The joy of being a SAHM will see me going on a school excursion with Jaidyn tomorrow to a local environmental educational centre. I used to LOVE going one when I was in school, so I'm looking forward to being able to support Jai in his schooling and hopefully I won't be an embarrasing Mumma - too much!

Bye for now xx

Today I'm thankful for:

1. Not really losing too much money by stopping work - which REALLY makes it worth it!

2. Rest time... ahh bweet bliss

3. A mostly tidy home (just don't look too closely, ha!)

4. That our flooring will be FINISHED this time tomorrow, and we will be able to set up downstairs again - yay my craft room back!!!

5. Godly women. Love you all xx

August so far, in pictures...

2009-08-12T07:59:00.012+10:00

Was just looking over my pics from the last couple of weeks (I am taking many more now that I'm *home*, yay!). And I thought I would get some up here, just 'in review' kinda thing...

Most are from around the house, playing and spending time together...

Jaidyn, up a tree in the backyard... he loves it.

And striking a pose...

Eli having a ball at the playground...

Proud Mummy moment - Eli writing his name - at only 3!!

Making playdough cakes and blowing out the candles...

Lani NOT going to bed! Cheeky (but beautiful) girl...

Eli being cute...

And my time...

Washing and folding...

Dishes (and lots of them at times!)...

Baking some gorgeous black and white cupcakes for a special Ladies Pamper Night at church... and spending time with my friend Kerryanne at said Pamper Night (except thre's no more photos coz my battery died right at the start of the evening!)

And a spot of sewing (I found my patterns and some fabrics!)...

I made this journal cover from Janelle Wind's Thelma's Day Out pattern. Its for a friend for her birthday this weekend. I really like how it turned out, just don't look too closely! I'm going to make a few of these - they will make lovely gifts. I was thinking I might even try and modify one to fit my Bible, what a pretty cover that would be.

Anyway, that's about it. This post has taken me AGES to get right! (blogger is not liking uploading photos for me at the moment...ggrrrrr...)
We have our Brisbane Show holiday today. Greg's currently out playing golf, the kids are happily playing outside (for a few moments at a time between yelling at each other) and we're off to a friends for a BBQ lunch soon, so I better get out of my PJs and get organised!
Hope you're having a lovely day...

N xx

5 things I'm thankful for today:
1. A day off to spend with family (even if they are currently driving me nuts)
2. That I got my sewing finished, yay!
3. Coffee (Eli thought it good to wake up at 5am, so I'm tired already!)
4. Times Tables on CD
5. The Word of God - refreshing and renewing each day.

He pampers my soul...

2009-08-08T09:15:00.002+10:00

Our church is having a Ladies Pamper Night tonight, and I've been asked to share a testimony on how I feel 'pampered' by God. I had some great God time last night, and this is what I'm going to share tonight:

HOW I FEEL PAMPERED BY GOD...

There are many ways in which my God pampers me, making me feel loved, cherished and special. I know that He loves me so much, and wants me to sit in His beautiful presence and feel like a Princess. Tonight I will share 3 ways with you.

1. His People...
I feel very blessed by the people that God has brought into my life – people from all places (many here in this room) - and many that I would not have met without the Lord’s leading and perfect timing and ‘divine appointments’. He has brought me many beautiful strong Christian friendships with women of all ages –and He uses these friendships to strengthen me and speak to me in times of need. It might be a phone call, an email, a simple encouragement or even a spiritual rebuke. But God uses the people around me to refresh my soul, to give me rest, to encourage me, and this makes me feel very loved and very blessed. He looks after me by the people He puts around me.

2. His Word...
The Word of God is truly a pampering in itself. God reveals Himself to me slowly and beautifully through His Word. He shows me that He knows the deepest desires of my hearts, that He knows when I’m hurting (and reminds me that He has felt this too), that He knows the temptations that might be plaguing me at any given time… and He guides me in His ways, gently and lovingly. He also uses His Word to unlock the promises He has for me – promises to prosper me with a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11), promises that He will never leave or forsake me (Deut 31:6); promises that I have been set free (John 8:36), promises that He will never give me more temptation than I can bear (1 Cor 10:13), promises that I do not need to worry about my life because He has it in His hands (Matt 6:25-34). These (and the hundreds more that are in His Word) nourish my soul, give me strength and help me to face every day.

3. His Rest...
As a mother of three young, boisterous and energetic children, one of my biggest pampers from God is being able to Rest in Him. He knows when I’m weary, He knows when I need some sustenance and He gives it to me if I seek Him with my whole heart. He calls me gently to come and give Him my burdens (Matthew 11:28-30) Sometimes it might be a feeling of peace that washes over me, sometimes He whispers a sweet reminder of His love for me, and at other times he speaks directly to my heart about something I’m facing. It’s amazing how different a day of mine can pan out if I give Him some time each day – time to just stop and listen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect at this or anything, in fact, only in the last few weeks have I REALLY heard God talking to me in that still small voice. And He has shown me glimpses of His plans for me, He has given me overwhelming rest at times (sometimes almost instant even) and He has refreshed my soul and given me energy to face the rest of my day.

And so I encourage you all to give your whole hearts to Jesus every day, so that you don’t miss out on the pampering He has just for You. I think we can all too easily just miss it. We get caught up in our day to day events – work, the kids, housework, cooking - as a woman the list goes on and on… but don’t be too busy for Jesus. He has so many treasures in store for you and me. He wants to shower you with His Love and His gifts and His presence. So stop, just for a few moments even, and give that time to Him. And you will be pampered. For we are His Princesses and He wants to treat us like royalty!

And I want to end with this excerpt from the book 'His Princess: Love Letters from Your King' by Sheri Rose Shepherd.

My Princess - Hear My Voice
I am always here for you. I'm never too busy to talk to you, My beloved. If you will turn off the things around you that drown out My voice, you will begin to hear Me in your spirit. When you don't know where to go, you will hear Me give you divine direction. When you are in need of a friend, you will hear Me whisper "I am here". When you need comfort, you will hear Me call to you, "Come to me." Don't let the voice of your own uncertainties distract you from My still, small voice. Quiet your spirit, and know that I am your Heavenly Father and you are My precious daughter - and I love when you listen to Me.
Love, your King and the Voice of Heaven.
John 10:27 - My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

An ending, some happy snaps and a pig...

2009-08-06T13:20:00.005+10:00

I finished up at work yesterday, and it was a bit of a bittersweet day. I was very excited to be finishing work and starting my new (again) role as SAHM but I will miss all the kids and staff too.

I had a great day though.

My gorgeous Assistant Elizabeth made me a cute piggy cakewhich we all oohed and ahhed over and then devoured... poor piggy....

Me and Liz... this girl rocks. She's so much fun and so great with the kids. I'll miss this smiling face and beautiful character.

My piggy cake... (which ones the pig huh? Knew you were thinking it...)

The girls (and boy!) bought me some lovely gifts too - a pretty bookmark, a perpetual calendar with verses for Mums on it, a cute packet of buttons and a voucher for Spotlight - they know me well! And beautiful words in a card too. I have loved working with these fabulous people - learnt so much about myself and each other too, grown in God together, shared parts of ourselves, even cried together - and of course many many laughs too. I have learnt so much about being a teacher, working with children, and being a Christian, and feel very blessed for this great opportunity I've had to work in a Christian childcare centre. They aren't getting rid of me totally though, and I'll be in and out doing relief work.

Here's me and my beautiful boss, Glenda. Amazing boss.

Me and Suzie, who I job-shared with for a while last. This woman has a beautiful passion for God and for His children.

Miss Nita and I - have loved sharing stories with Nita and learning about her home in the Phillipines. Passionate sould too, this one.

Telesia and I - funny girl, lots of fun.

Kerryanne is taking my place as Group Leader. Yes, we look alike.. and have had many of the kids calling Miss KA, Miss Natalie! Ha! I haven't worked a lot with Kerryanne but we've come to realise we have a lot in common and I'm sure its just the start of a beautiful friendship - I hope so at least.

And there are a few that I didn't get to take a pic with - Chloe and Teresa who are overseas right now; Mr Reece, Fiona and our chaplain Mel who has been such a blessing to me.

I even took pics with most of my kids... and had to take some with my *real* kids too!

Ahh, I'll miss being 'Miss Natalie' but I know that this is where God wants for this season, and I know that I'm going to thrive as 'Mum'...

God bless! xx

Crafty goodness...

2009-08-01T14:35:00.007+10:00

In my frustration that I can't actually CREATE anything, what is a girl to do but search and drool and bookmark for later creative time...

Found One Pretty Thing linked from Lusi's blog this morning, and OMGolly gosh, there are SO MANY gorgeous things to make there... its like a whole LIBRARY of tutorials...

So here's just a few I'd like to try...

this *gorgeous* gypsy button bracelet from Creative Kismet

And this other button bracelet too, also from Creative Kismet

Ooh and this one is equally nice... or even a little nicer, I like the leather... and the beads... from Hope Studios

And also this sweet little cupcake purse from Paper and String

That's gonna give my button collection a good run hey - think I might have to rally some friends and make button bracelets together - who wants to come?? Sounds like a great girly evening to me!

Can't. Wait. To. Have. My. Craft. Room. Back. !!!

N xx

Re-decorating...

2009-08-01T08:39:00.004+10:00

Have done a little redecorating around my blog, hopefully making it a nicer place to visit :)

I've had a nice two days as SAHM, and think I'm going to do an OK job of this!
I just need to remember to take some pics of our days, to share and to keep as reminders... Maybe I'll even scrap a mini-book or something with activity ideas or something... not a bad idea.

On Thursday we had a couple of things to get at the shops first, so we went straight after dropping Jai to school - yes we were organised! The monkeys were well-bahaved, thankfully!

Then we went for a play at the park to wear them out. Eli and Lani both climb so high on the climbing walls - above my head! Its a little scary, but I know they are both great climbers, so *hopefully* won't fall - I'll just stand below them in case though! Next time we go to the park I'll take some snaps.

After rest-time, it was home to lunch and a little play - or did they watch a movie? - and rest time. I even got out my sewing machine during rest time and had a little sew (finishing off some nappies) while listening to my worship music and stopping a little to read some of the Word. Glorious!! I love the monkeys to death, but I do LOVE rest time!!

They wake up not long before Jaidyn comes home. Greg was also home pretty early, so I worked on homework with Jaidyn while Greg took the monkeys outside to burn some more energy on the trampoline and swings. Homework with Jai always seems to be a struggle, esp as Thurs is currently the only afternoon we get a good chunk of time to go through it - and of course he's left most of it till then *sigh*. It always seems to end in tears of some sort. He just doesn't seem to get that I'm trying to *help* him by explaining things out properly. Definitely one thing about being a SAHM that will be good - getting into a DAILY homework routine that's manageable for both of us! Jai has been struggling quite a bit with his times tables lately. Well actually, he's never really learnt them - and that's partly my fault too for not being diligent to go through them with him each day. He's been getting barely any right on his tests recently, and so we really nutted out the 8x last week (of course the hardest ones!) and I showed him a way to work them out. He seemed to understand them, and got 4 right on his test, which was really good coz it was an improvement! He was happy when we were going through them at home, and appeared confident too. Which is a great lot more than he was the week before! And so come this week - the 9x - I knew he'd do better again. I showed him an easier way to remember the 9x (on your hands... remember?) and he seemed to get it (although I'm not sure what the teacher would think with him holding his two hands up in front of his face for the test, lol)... his Nan also sent a Times Tables CD that she bought him in London last week. Its great! Jai and I spent some of Thurs evening dancing around the loungeroom calling out our 9x tables to the music, and making up different dance moves for each answer. I think at first he spend more time laughing at his goofy mum's rap moves than actually learning his times tables ,but by the time he was in the bath, he could throw me a few answers - x2, x3, x4, x5, x8, x10...! So we'll definitely be using this CD with all of them, as we'll need to go back over all the earlier ones that he doesn't really know at all... AND he got 7 on his test yesterday!! Woohoo! So proud of my boy!

Yesterday I took the risk and did a small grocery shop with the littlies. We are flat broke this week, but I managed to keep the weekly shop to under half our normal budget, so we'll get by. We'll eat. I know God looks after us and provides us all our needs. In fact, its quite liberating to menu plan with little sometimes, and actually doing it! Makes you wonder what you actually spend more on? Well, I'll have to get use to a little tighter budgeting as I won't be working anymore. Life is good though.

The little ones were really good at the shops again, praise God! They can really be a handful if they want, so its fully God with us when they are well-behaved! We came home and made some playdough together and they amused themselves with that (and some buttons and paper-clips) for a little while so Mumma could hang out washing and all those domestic things. Then chicken nuggets for lunch and bed! I just pottered around this rest time, read some Word again, played with the minimal fabric I have upstairs, but not enough to really DO anything with,, ggrrrrrr...

I am feeling really blessed by getting into His Word each day. Its been ages since I've actually done it consistently, but its not that hard right now - well on the days I've been home anyway. God's really placing the desire in my heart to just get into it and see what He has in store for me.

I've been keeping up with the 'Restoring our Womanhood' devotions each week on the SOF blog. Its really helping to keep things in perspective, and to seek God for my answers to the weekly questions, and what He wants me to do. I still have to make a journal and actually get into a habit of writing it all down, but I'm still there reading and thinking and praying about it.

Anyway, Saturday is running away before my eyes, so we should probably do something (get that husband of mine out of bed for starters!).

Hope you have a blessed weekend.

10 things I'm thankful for today:
1. The Word - I'm reading the Psalms right now, good stuff!
2. Jai's new times table CD - gonna really help!
3. Weekends. Love that I can just do nothing if I want to...
4. That my sis is coming to church with us tomorrow night, that ROCKS!
5. Kids Craft Weekly - gonna save me being a SAHM - lots of crafty goodness
6. Lusi's gorgeous blog and all her encouraging words.
7. My gorgeous kids - even if they're fighting much of the time *sigh*
8. Worship music
9. Crafty blogs/sites - love em! Just found 'one pretty thing' today - see sidebar... yummm!
10. beautiful wintery weather today - gotta get outside and do something!!

Thankfulness

2009-07-30T11:35:00.002+10:00

I was really blessed this morning as I did a bit of blog-searching - coming across two little 'gems' with wonderful words of wisdom to bless your day and change your attitudes right on the spot. Check out Karen L's blog and Gayle's too.

This little list was on Karen's blog this morning - about having an attitude of gratitude. Thanks Karen, I was really inspired as I read through this list - being thankful is such a great thing to have in life - it can change your mood, your day and those of the lives and people around you. So put into practice a few of these little treasures.

20 Little Attitudes of Gratitude

1. Mind your manners. Say please, thank you and excuse me.

2. Smile when you see your family. Turn your frown upside down.

3. Pick up after yourself.

4. Notice when others do kind things for you, show gratitude by action or words.

5. Say I love you before going to bed.6.Give hugs daily.

7. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Focus on what you are happy about today.

8. Create gratitude journals to keep track of daily blessings.

9. Show thankfulness for even the little things others do for you.

10. Leave love notes in unexpected places like lunch boxes and under pillows.

11. Encourage someone with a compliment.

12. Verbalize what you are grateful for when you feel like complaining about life.

13. Keep a basket of small slips of paper on the table. Write notes of thankfulness during the week and read them to each other during a family meal.

14. Remember to thank God for blessings each day.

15. Surprise your family (or friends) with little gifts or treats to show you thought of them.

16. No grumbling about minor annoyances around the house.

17. Do special things to cherish time with your family. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

18. Reflect on happy memories regularly. Make inspiration boards of special times.

19. Help someone out without them having to ask you. Watch for someone in need.

20. When you are doing household chores, be grateful you have a home to clean.

10 Things I'm thankful for today:

1. Being at home today
2. That my house is still clean from our inspection on Tuesday
3. A great night's sleep (no waking children for once, yay!)
4. A lovely chat with a friend last night
5. That my husband loves his new job
6. Talking about the Holy Spirit openly at work yesterday - how awesome is that!
7. A cup of coffee in a pretty, tall mug
8. The Word of God and how God leads us to treasures He has just for us!
9. That the munchkins are sitting quietly watching a movie (or were 5 mins ago)
10. My family, with all our strengths and flaws

New Do... and a wedding...

2009-07-27T21:13:00.005+10:00

I spent a lovely relaxing 3 hours at the hairdressers on Friday. They had a special of 3 services for $99 so I took advantage and had a style cut, colour and foils... I only ever get colour/foils when they're on special, so it was nice to have a little indulgence. I like my hair long (so does DH), and want to grow it longer, so I have kept most of my length and just had it re-styled and a fringe cut again. I went with a chocolate brown colour mixed with a bit of red, and red foils. The foils aren't as noticeable as I had hoped, but they look good in the sun particularly! I will have to take some pics in the sun, but here's some I took the other night at my friend's wedding (yes I took them of myself, lol!)... (actually, you can't really even see the foils at all here - it was night-time!)

We went to the wedding of a good friend of mine from highschool - Roxy and Robin. They have been together for 7 years and finally tied the knot at The Spit beach near SeaWorld, where they first met. It was a little windy, but was still a lovely service. Here's a few snaps.

Walking down the 'aisle' with her Dad. What bride wouldn't wear pluggers on the beach!?

Exchanging rings... (they were clever and put ribbons on them just in case they dropped in the sand!)

The kiss - how cute is this dip!!

Mr and Mrs Coleman!!

And a little speech at the reception...

Roxane was a beautiful bride in a gorgeous vintage-style dress. It was so nice to share this special day with her and Robin - we have been friends for 15 years!!

I also got to have a little chat with her younger sister, Jacqui who loves my nappies and wants some. She's just started her own small business making stone casts of baby's hands and feet, much like the businesses Twinkly Toes or Lasting Impressions... except as she tells me, she's cheaper! AND she also does kitty or puppy friends paw casts too - so cute! So if you're looking at getting some casts of your little one as keepsakes, and you're in the Gold Coast/Brisbane area, search her on FaceBook (Lil' Sunshine) and book an appt. Tell her I sent you too!

5 more days..... I'm not counting much huh??

5 things I'm thankful for today:

1. iTunes and listening to worship music

2. Orange chocolate (thanks Marion)

3. My SOF girls

4. God's grace

5. That we have mad-cleaned the house for our inspection tomorrow! Yay, love having a clean house - pity it won't last long :(

Creating.... well sorta...

2009-07-21T21:20:00.003+10:00

My sewing room and all it entails is currently in storage, crammed into our study, along with all the toys and furniture from the play room. We are in-limbo of having work done to re-waterproof downstairs - we have new walls and new paint-job, and now just waiting for the floor guy to come (was supposed to last Thurs but haven't heard from him, ggrrr)... so my stuff is in-accessible... but I'm starting to have withdrawals.... admittedly, I don't actually do a lot of crafting as I work 4 of 7 days, but I think not being 'able' to, I want to!!

So anyway, in the absense of my sewing/scrapping stuff, I have been creating in the kitchen.

My mate from work had his 19th birthday on Monday and he asked me to make him a police car cake (he wants to be a cop eventually)... and so on Sunday evening I embarked on the challenge to make a police car cake, which I thought would be much easier than it actually was. There was not many police car cakes that I could replicate from the Net, so I went about designing it myself. Ended up using a square cake and a bar cake and cutting and adding bits from both cakes together to make a shape that I think looked pretty good for a car (commodore style)...

I used cream cheese icing, because its apparently whiter than buttercream, and the Qld Police cars are mostly white. I had a pretty cool idea too, to add pics of my mate to the front seat, then thought it would be pretty funny if I added pics of myself and the other girls from work in the backseat of the car - like he's arrested us and taking us to the station!

Don't look *too* closely, but it turned out pretty good I think.

He loved it, and so did the other girls from work. The actual *cake* wasn't too crash hot, and I need to work on some yummier ones - maybe mud cake or something for next time?

Over at SOF, the girls are all participating in a Restoring our Womanhood study at the moment. Its VERY timely for me too, with becoming a SAHM - what I believe God has called me to be for this season of my life - again in a few weeks.

Its a huge challenge to me about being the woman God has called me to be. First, His daughter: spending time with Him and reading His Word - a two-way relationship. This is something that needs a little work... Second, as a wife: serving, honouring, respecting my husband as head of our home. Loving him and showing him that love - and speaking his love language a bit more too. And thirdly, as a mother: spending quality time with all my kids, helping Jaidyn with his schooling, leading them in the ways of God, praying with and for them...

That's enough personal challenges to keep a girl busy for a while, don't you think? And something that I will need DAILY help with - from God of course. I know that He will get me through these things... and it won't be all on Day One, in fact, it will take many many years, and I'll always be growing in these areas, but I have recognised that what these things are now is not what I or God wants them to be, not the PRIORITY they need to be. And so I will come to the cross each day, and ask for my God to get me through and teach me and help me to learn and change.

Knew there was something else....

2009-07-17T14:01:00.008+10:00

... I was going to post about...

We took the kids to the Abbey Medieval Festival. We hadn't ever been before, and had lots of fun. Admittedly, its probably better for children a little older than Eli and Lani (Jaidyn loved it!), as there were times when they were a little unsettled - probably mostly from having to sit in the pram... but it was good regardless!

Here's some pics!

Checking out the chainmail - its heavy!

A very cool tree lady on stilts who was walking around...

One of the medieval encampments out on the field...

My handsome big guy...

Jaidyn and Eli patting the goats at the gypsy settling...

Nuns in authentic attire...

My boys posing with some serious knights armour!

The boys in particular loved the sword-fighting tournaments. Muscle, brawn and metal - what else could a boy need?? Greg watched in awe and a bit of envy too I think... he took sword-fighting lessons a little while ago and loved it, and would still be doing it if it wasn't so expensive... so he was in his element...

They had a few small fights throughout the day, and a big tournament at the end of all the knights, fighting for their ladies' love! Greg sat in the sun with the zoom lens on, loving every minute of it...

All the knights' swords lined up for battle...

Knights in action!

A noble knight taking a bow to his opponent...

Jaidyn in his shining armour (and later Grandad made him a sword too!)It was a very exhausting day for little knights... he's asleep with his helmet on! Too cute!

And if you're wondering where Lani was, yes she was with us, she just chucked a wobbly each time I tried to take a pic of her - so the only one I have, she is screaming at me!

We decided that if we go again (maybe not next year but year after?), we'll all dress up in costume!! Fun!!

Practicing...

2009-07-17T13:38:00.003+10:00

I have officially resigned and will be a full-time SAHM in about 4 weeks time.. Woot!!

Have had two days this week to practice this SAHM mum thing with 2 toddlers!! And eek, its going to be tough! My two are at a 'wonderful' stage (mostly the 3 year old one) where they just pick and fight and argue with each other all day - its very draining!!

Yesterday was tough! We don't have access to our playroom (and most of the toys) right now, and it was cold and windy outside and so it was a loooong day inside together! There's only so much movie-watching and duplo building they want to do! We did cook some choc-chip cookies together too though. They enjoyed that. I think cooking will definitely be on the program once or twice a week.

Today was better (so far!)... we went to the shops for about an hour, which wasn't pleasant by all means (they hate being in the pram), but we managed. Then I took them to the park for a run. We maade min pizzas for lunch and now they are asleep, yes! I don't know how I'll handle the days when they don't sleep anymore - I NEED this time!!

Anyway, I'll be needing lots of things to do with them. When our playroom is all fixed (needed new waterproofing so new floors and walls and paint-job - nice!) we'll have all our things back at least. Trainset, dolls, doll house, play kitchen and access to the scrapbooking and painting too. I think I'll try and use some of my ideas from daycare to use at home - different ways of painting, like with fly swats, spray bottles, outside etc, just to shake things up a bit... and we can have playdough on hand all the time... and I think I might be giving my Kids Craft Weekly emails and book a little more of a work-out!!

In all that difficulty, I still really think its the right thing to do. And particularly for Jaidyn. I was able to give him time and help with his homework yesterday afternoon, and this is great. He hasn't been so good at keeping up with his homework each afternoon when he goes home with our friends, so we'll try and do it after dinner with him I think - until I finish work at least...

We've been busy working on (well nagging Jai to work on) his science project on dragonflies and ants. He didn't do a great deal of work on it in school last term when he was supposed to, so his teacher gave him the holidays to do it too... this was a little hard though as he wasn't home a lot, as I was working so he spent a few days/nights here and there at his grandparent's, so not a lot of time to work on it at home. But, we got it finished, got the pictures put in etc, and handed in! Yes!! He did most of it himself, I just helped to put the pictures in the right place and search for them a little on google images. Found out some interesting facts about dragonflies and ants along the way too...

Eli has his first b'day party tomorrow - well, of someone who isn't our friend! He's going to a McDonald's party for his friend from kindy, and he's excited! Fun!

We have starting doing family devotions each night before bed. Yeah, pretty slack that we haven't done previously, but we are now. It's been pretty good so far. Well, Eli and Lani don't really listen, but we'll get there. Its the seed we're planting, and they participate in praying together so that's good enough!

I have been requested by my mate at work to make him a police car cake for his b'day on Monday, so guess what I'm doing Sunday night? Should be fun! When I'm a 'lady of leisure' as one of my bosses said (yeah sure, you try having a 2 & 3 yr old at home - its NOT leisure by any means!! Ha!).. I plan to try out some of my cupcake recipes and cake recipes too and get a bit of a group of 'good' cakes for me to make for b'day cakes etc... I am going to make my friend a 2-tier cake for her baby shower in Sept, so that will probably be my first 'more elegant' cake... I am keep to try lots of different ways of doing things, and who knows if I might be able to get a little money on the side from selling specialty cakes too... we'll see!!

Anyway, need a coffee, and to do something more productive (read: housework) while the monkeys are asleep...

Ciao xx

P.S. I'm not doing too badly at this updating thing huh?? ;)
P.P.S. Will need to get some pics happening too huh.

Big girl bed :(

2009-07-11T21:16:00.002+10:00

Now that Lani is two, and definitely not a baby anymore, we thought we'd get around to buying her a new bed.

Greg picked up the last parts today and assembled it.... I picked out a doona cover today, and now she has almost all she needs for her new big bed!!

Here's a picture I took just before... she's gone to sleep no problem, let's pray it lasts all night!

I am actually looking forward to finishing the decorating of her room, now that all the furniture 'matches'... (she used to have a Nemo toddler bed which REALLY didn't go with the butterfly canvases and white/green curtains!)

It was a little tricky to find a doona set that went well with the green and pink butterfly canvases and the green gingham in the curtains. I found this one, which I think will work pretty well.

I plan to give the curtains a good wash first, and then I think I'll add a few more strips of fabric or ribbon to tie in the purple, pink and yellow better too... then a few photos around her room, a 'LANI' for one of those walls above her bed and hopefully in a little while we'll get rid of the change table (that you can't see in this pic) and I'll get her one of those open box bookshelves (Ikea Expedit style) to put in its place. I've seen a pic of one in a mag that looked lovely with bright coloured boxes and some baskets too in it to hold things.... so I think I might do that - when the time and finances come available!!

Well, that's all tonight!

P.S. Things still in progress with my resignation, but I've pretty much done it! Feels awesome!

Get Real Baby...

2009-07-06T19:59:00.002+10:00

Well, its about time I did a "Get Real Baby" challenge care of the awesome Lusi Austin.

Well, actually, I'm not doing her exact challenge for this week, but I AM getting real, and that's what its all about, right??

So, REALLY, right now, I am NOT a superMum. I am NOT really coping with my too-busy life right now, and I have some HUGE decisions to make in the next few weeks.

Really, my house looks like a bomb hit. There are clothes half-folded all over the lounge. There are dishes in the kitchen (and that's after we've already done a load of dishes tonight). My toilet and bathroom need a clean. The boys sheets haven't been changed in too long.
And that's pretty normal.

Really, I don't spend enough quality time with my kids.

Really, I NEED to spend some more time with my eldest who's really struggling at school atm.

Really, I don't spend anywhere near enough time with my Creator. I want to though.

So REALLY, there's LOTS going through my head right now. Over the last couple of weeks, I've felt the Lord talking to me about what He's called me to. I don't think He's really called me to be stressed out, messy and angry... do you?

I'm reading a really inspiring book right now that the gorgeous Lusi gave me (thanks mate!). It's called 'The Most Important Place on Earth - what a Christian Home looks like, and how to build one"... and God's been using it to speak to me. There are LOT of things that SHOULD be in my 'Christian' home that just aren't. In fact, it probably doesn't look or feel like a Christian home if you popped in. AND I DON'T WANT IT TO BE THAT WAY. So yeah, God's been speaking to me about what's REALLY important...? And its my family. He's called me to be His child, first of all. He's called me to be a wife and a mother. And all the other things should come AFTER that.

I am very blessed that I don't HAVE to work for us to live. We don't have a mortgage, and quite frankly, we'd rather not and not be under financial strain. We'd rather live, than only live/work to pay off a home loan. We know that God will provide us with that when and where its in His Timing. Greg has started his new job today and has a nice pay-rise, so we'd be quite comfortable for me to be at home... so it's REALLY go me thinking.... and thinking... and thinking.... and praying.... but I need to do a bit more of that...

After visiting with Lusi, I know God used being in her home, with her family to speak to me about this too... her home is beautiful, loving, her family are God-fearing. Mine isn't so much. Now, I'm not comparing myself to her, in a woe-is-me way or anything, but in a 'maybe it doesn't have to be like this' way. Its all good.

And now, I've also just read part of Psalm 128 on Lusi's blog too, which says "your wife will be like a fruitful vine planted within your house"... and boy does that say something. I'm not being fruitful in my house at all right now. 'Happy wife, happy home?'.... 'stressed out wife, stressed out home', is more like it...

So yeah, getting real here. And in reading over this, it seems quite obvious what I should do hey. But its a pretty huge decision, so I'm going to sit and pray on it a bit more. But the desire is there.

There are a few things I'm worried about though. One being that I really struggle being home with Eli and Lani. They are really full-on. I guess taking them to kindy is the easy way out though. So yeah, that's one thing I need to tackle head on. I guess, really, its about being determined to be a good Mum. To actually DO things with them, take them out... stay OFF the computer.

I'm also a little scared of talking to my boss.... but that's the non-confrontational side of me. I hate confrontation. Just gotta suck it up hey!

I was thinking of asking to drop my days, but more and more, I think I want to stop altogether. Maybe that's not the wisest 'career' move... but who really cares about my career when I only get a few precious years with my babies, and they'll be in school.... I can work then, right??

Anyway, enough ramble. I'm just writing all the things that are going through my head really.

But being real.

Yeah, real.

Well, that's my heart right now anyway.

Please uphold me in your prayers if you're the praying type. It's a huge thing for me. And our family.

Signing out... N xx

Another cake...

2009-07-04T15:56:00.007+10:00

Greg starts a new job on Monday. We've been waiting 5 (or 6?) long weeks until he was offered the job, so yesterday was a special day with Greg's last day as a contact centre consultant. Next week he's moving up the ranks a little, and across the departments to work in City Waste. He will be a field officer setting up and maintaining a new system of industrial recycling bins for apartment complexes. I'm sure he'll do a great job, and it seems to be a great mix of what he's learnt both as a retail manager and a contact centre consultant with Council. So proud of my man.

And so seeing as though I was home yesterday with Lani sick, I decided to bake him a cake. He's been saying for a few weeks now I could make him a bin cake... and so I did! I don't think he really expected me to, but it was fun, and quick and easy too.

So here it is... a recycling bin, complete with Brisbane City logo and milk bottles and coke bottles!

Eli wanted to make Daddy a red cake, so we also tried out a red velvet cupcake recipe... not too bad, but nowhere near as good as my vanilla cupcakes! The cream-cheese icing is good though!!

We even had a candle and Greg made up his own rendition of Happy Birthday: "Happy new job to meeeeee!!!!!"

And the traditional cutting of the cake... not sure if this is how it's traditionally done though, and Lani looks a little shocked by Daddy's technique!

Having his cake and eating it too!! Yum!! So much icing on the lid there!

The inside of the cake... I made 2 bar cakes, cut them in half and stacked them on top of each other...

But a piece is very hard to fit in one's mouth!!

Happy Saturday! What have you been doing today? We've been up to our church this morning as we're finally moving back into out building after repairs from the Nov 08 storms have *finally* been finished... its very exciting to be going back 'home'... last night we had a 1/2 night of prayer and I went up to the church for about 2.5 hours. Was great to really seek God's words for our church and where he wants us to go next.

We've also been clearing downstairs, as we're having tradies in to do OUR repairs after the storm from last year too.... well some parts... we need a new flooring downstairs as there's a pipe that's broken through the cement floor - BAD reno job of whoever did it!! So new lino, which means clearing out all the things in the playroom, and my sewing room (that one's a big job!) Am thinking its a good opportunity to re-design things and decorate a little down there!! I sort of just plonked things in last time, might finally get some curtains for my room and put some pics up on the wall or something too...

We're off to friends for a BBQ dinner soon. Nice. Life seems to be a little 'back to normal' again... we've been a little hermit-ty lately and I love being with friends and family, so I'm happy!

Hope you have a great rest of your weekend.

Missing this girl xxx

2009-06-29T20:55:00.002+10:00

Love you Lus. Miss you all. - xxx -

Happy 2nd Birthday Lani!

2009-06-28T15:28:00.007+10:00

Yes, this is truly me... Lusi's post gave me a little 'boost' to try and keep up a little... I did say 'try' so we'll see how we go...

Yesterday our little princess turned 2. Can you believe it? 2 years ago, we were racing to the hospital in the car, me in full transition mode... and then giving birth - while still in the car!

She arrived into this world in a spectacular way, and lives pretty much that way too. She's a full-on little bundle of energy - inquisitive, cheeky, often defiant, very talkative, active, and very adventurous.

She's learning to go to the toilet, and to recognise her colours, and to count to 10.

She loves playing with her babies - rocking them, patting them to sleep, wrapping them in blankets and giving them a bath. She got some new dolls clothes for her b'day, so no doubt now we'll be dressing and undressing them a lot too.

She loves to play outside, and is usually happiest jumping up and down on the trampoline, swinging high on the swings, kicking or rolling balls, riding bikes and climbing ladders and play equipment at kindy.

She talks a lot and is very confident.

*sigh* She's not a baby anymore.

We celebrated her birthday with a low-key family BBQ at home. Greg's parents are visiting at the moment, so it was a great opportunity just for the families to get together.

Lani got spoilt with lots of lovely presents, cards and a little money to spend too. Some of these included a Tigger and Pooh flip-out sofa, trike with pedals, wooden dolls house, In The Night Garden (her favourite!) books, plastic food for the kids kitchen, hand-made (by Nan) dolls clothes, a Tinkerbell fairy dress, and some gorgeous clothes.

Lani's favourite character is Upsy Daisy from In The Night Garden - she now takes both her Pink bear and Upsy Daisy to bed with her. And so it seemed the logical choice (but scary one) to try and make Lani an Upsy Diasy cake. I had previously looked at a few on the net, but didn't see many I really liked (and they all used ready-made icing for the whole thing which I didn't want to do)... so I sat down with my cake tins, the Upsy Daisy dolls, baking paper and scissors and designed it myself. It used 3 cakes - one round, one square and one bar cake, all cut into different parts of her body, but in all I think she looked pretty perfect!!

Only took me 3 hours too!! (not including baking the cake the day before - thanks Nan!)

Lani loved it though! And I even made a special little gluten-free cupcake for my sister who is a coeliac (sp?) - also Upsy Daisy of course.

We had a lovely busy day celebrating our Princess's special day... love you darling!!

Hey everyone :)

2009-06-21T00:56:00.003+10:00

It's Lusi here, one of Nat's bestie's :)

She has come interstate here to my house and I thought I would hijack her blog on her behalf (with her permission of course!) because I'm wondering if anyone else out there checks in here to see if she has updated it :)

I think Nat is awesome (she told me to write that) and she is teaching me tonight how to make a modern cloth nappy! She is also telling me to add that I think she is gorgeous (which i of course do) :)
Did you know that her beautiful daughter Lani is going to be 2 next week? And that since she last posted here Eli has turned 3 and Jai will be 9 in short months time? Wow time flies hey.
I'll leave you with a little ditti i made up for my special Natti :)

There once was a cutie named Nat
She did not own a cat
She visited me here
And we shed a tear
When she had to go back

ok so that last bit was a bit lame but still :)
I've just read it aloud to her and she said very sarcastically, 'yeah that was great. but what happened to (and this is her own song i might add)

Nat is awesome
Nat is great
She ate chicken schnitzel
Off my plate

Ahem.

Well with it being after 1am now, I will sign off and say this was the only way I could get this blog updated :) Sorry to bore you!

Love you Natti!
Lus x

Merry Christmas 2008!

2008-12-27T06:01:00.012+10:00

Well, Christmas is over for another year. I hope you all had a great one.

We hope you all had a lovely time, and that you might have remembered the reason that we celebrate this special holiday - the birth of Jesus Christ, son of God come to the Earth in humble and meek form of a baby -to live among us, and eventually to die for us.

We all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus while at church, and reflected on the wonderful things He has done in our life this year.

Christmas this year was a little different for us. Instead of having Christmas Day with my family as we do most years, we were very blessed to have Greg's parents visiting this year, and so we had a Mardon Christmas. Jeremy came and my sister Shanyn also slept over and spent Christmas with the Mardons, as Mum and Dad were in Townsville this year. Shanny and I had fun watching and singing to the Carols and wrapping presents Christmas Eve while Greg was downstairs setting up one of the kids presents. I think Shanny enjoyed having all the fun of opening and playing with new toys with the kids - except maybe being jumped on at 5.30am coz she was sleeping in front of the Christmas tree!! It was really special to have her with us - love you Shan.

The day started with the kids looking at the Christmas tree, and being allowed to play with a few things that were unwrapped. They were then allowed to open one present before church. At church I was singing, and we had a birthday cake for Jesus. After church we came home and I prepared most of the lunch (a new thing for me!) while the kids played, and while Sandy & Chris were picking up Jeremy from the other side of town. When they came back, we got out some nibblies, and sat around the tree opening presents together.

Then came lunch - nothing too fancy, but we certainly didn't go without - we enjoyed cold turkey and Christmas ham, crunchy noodle salad, potato salad and roast pumpkin & feta salad. And a little bubbly too - well for the adults! For dessert, Sandy and I decided to take the easy way when the Home Icecream van came by on Christmas Eve - perfect! Icecream! and Sandy made a beautiful Christmas cake too.

Then we did it all again on Boxing Day at my parents house, after they'd just returned from Townsville (poor Mum was pretty tired!). We feasted on BBQed steaks & sausages and a few gourmet salads, plus I made banoffie pie for dessert, and my sister made cupcakes.

The kids gathered around the tree, this time with my gorgeous neice Emmeson too. We did a Secret Santa with my family this year - for adults - so it made it easier to just buy for one person. I ended up wanting to make something for my sister and Mum too, so spent most of the day beading them bracelets and earrings!! Was fun though. :)

I bought Lani and Emmeson matching dresses and hair-clips to wear for Christmas, and oh they looked so beautiful together! Pity Lani was having a patty when I was trying to take photos!

The children received some lovely gifts (but not too many). Greg managed to get a big play kitchen on clearance when he worked at Toys R Us, and its been sitting in a box downstairs for about a year, but as my BIL was living with us last year we couldn't set it up. It turned out to be great this year because Lani is now old enough to enjoy it.

Jaidyn received just about everything I think they possibly make in Wall.E merchandise. Well, maybe not all, but a lot! I will have to take a 'group shot' of all his Wall.E stuff today! He was very happy :) He also got some books and clothes.

Eli received various things - some duplo, and various books, puzzles, toys from In the Night Garden figurines, The Wiggles and Tigger & Pooh. He loves all these shows/characters so he was happy too. And some clothes & shoes too.

Lani received lots of doll things - much to my delight! Now, I know I bought these for Lani, but after 8 years of boys toys, I am going to LOVE playing and dressing dolls!! Woohoo! Mum bought her Cabbage Patch newborn twins - so cute! Rory and Caroline. Takes me back to when I had CPK when I was younger... I want one again! Greg's mum is going to make Lani some dolls clothes, so we can have more fun! I might copy the pattern from her so I can make some too if the urge and time present themselves!

Greg and I didn't fare too badly either. We bought each other perfume/cologne - I got Ralph Lauren Romance, and I bought Greg Hugo Boss Energize. We also received 2 'How to Hose a Murder' games, which we LOVE, and can't wait to play with our friends again - hopefully they will oblige again. Some clothes and PJs too, and a bottle of chivas Regal for Greg and Baileys for me - nice!

We have a busy few days ahead too! We're off to Greg's Aunts for a swim and BBQ tea this afternoon, and then my gorgeous neice Emmeson's 1st birthday party tomorrow!! Its her b'day today, Happy Birthday beautiful girl!! Phew, we'll be busy!!

Hope you had a great one, and a big hello and 'we missed you' to my SIL Andrea in England!!

Jaidyn...

2008-12-24T05:45:00.004+10:00

So I've just been reading a friend's blog, and realised I need to adopt her method of posting...

Short and sweet. One kid at a time. Then I might actually get some posts actually posted (instead of sitting in my draft box half done coz I don't have time to finish them!) So here goes...

JAIDYN...

Jaidyn turned 8 in November. At times I find it really hard to believe I have an 8-yr old! And at times I realise that the teenage years are not too far away... now that will be scary!! We didn't have a big party this year, just a little BBQ lunch at my parents house and an awesome b'day cake of course! One of Jaidyn's interests this year has been dragons, so I searched the net for the perfect dragon cake to make. We iced her blue so she could be a 'frost dragon'. And her name is Sapphira, named after his frost dragon toy, who is named after the dragon from the movie 'Eragon'...

For the last few months, Jai has been OBSESSED with anything to do with the movie Wall.E, which came out a few months ago (I think even last school holidays it would have been that he saw it). His obsession has not paled yet!! I don't know what it is about Wall.E that he loves, but he's completely hooked. He never tires of drawing Wall.E and the other various characters, he got a Playstation game for his b'day which he almost finished, then accidentally wiped, so he's going through it all again. He's also got a couple of figurines, if which he pretty much always has in hand, or making play-worlds for (usually out of my cups, placemats, books etc!). He has the novel, and the 'Intergalactic Guide' to everything Wall.E. Oh and we watch the movie from time to time too! He's hooked, and has asked for more Wall.E stuff for Christmas. He even turns into a Wall.E robot each night when he sets and clears the table. Its a bit strange... but cute... lol.

Jai did well at school this year. He's particularly good at his English (just like his Mumma was) and he acheived well above average in the English parts of his National Testing earlier this year, and still average or above on his Maths aswell. He got mainly Bs and As (effort), and Sounds and a High (academic) for his report this semester, and he was VERY proud of himself. And so are we. Wow, grade 4 next year, he's growing up so fast.

Having a little brother has it trials for Jai. They are at the stage now where they fight ALL the time. Poor Jai gets quite frustrated at Eli for wrecking his things sometimes, and Eli just wants to play most of the time. And they wrestle (play!) a lot.. but that's boys huh. Then there's those beautiful moments when Jai sets up a train set for Eli and they play nicely for a bit... before Lani comes and destroys it... lol.. never a dull moment in our house!

Jai has been a part of Boys Brigade this year and is enjoying it a lot. I think its really good for him to have that thing 'just for him', and the Christian program is great too. He's been away on 2 camps this year. A 'parent and son' camp earlier in the year with Greg, and more recently the State Camp... was his first time at a camp by himself. And he had a ball. His award ceremony was a few weeks ago, and we went along, as well as his grandparents and aunty Shanny, and he was so proud to receive some badges for his uniform. They performed their figure march that they did in a competition earlier in the year, and it was really good! I had a huge 'proud Mummy' moment watching them!!

I will need to get some new pics of Jaidyn. As he doesn't grow as fast as the other two, photos are scarcer around here... but I WILL get some over Christmas.

Love him xx

Hair clips and Boys Brigade

2008-09-20T06:43:00.004+10:00

Not much to report from me. Life is really really busy, but really really normal too. Work, sewing, cleaning, washing, feeding kids, changing kids, having fun with kids. Same old same old.

I've put the kids in daycare one extra day so I can catch up on my nappy orders. I'm swamped and it really wasn't going anywhere... so an extra 5-6 hours - depending how diligent I am - will help. That's an extra 2 nappies a week roughly. So I'm hoping I can get back up to 5/6 a week, and get through these orders again.... I'm very sorry to any of you who are still waiting!!

School holidays are now upon us. To be honest, I don't really like holidays, the two little drive me nuts enough!! lol... Jaidyn is going with my Mum up to Hervey Bay to stay with my sister and neice for 2 nights, while I'm at work this week. She might even take him whale watching - lucky boy!! There won't be much room for much stuff to do with Jai, but he's going to get stuck into some craft on Thursday while I'm working from home and the kids are in care. Hopefully I can help him a little too.

Jai had a figure marching competition for Boys Brigade last weekend. We couldn't really go coz it was right over dinner and bed time (almost impossible with two littlies) but his grandparents took him and they did a good job. Jai really enjoys BB... they have a State Camp coming up, which he'll be going to. I'm looking forward to it for him, some time just for him and doing something he likes, and hopefully will help instill a bit of responsibility... or he'll only come back with half his belongings...

We have a couple of big weekends coming up - in fact, the last few months of the year are already looking busy. Next weekend I'm meeting a group of the girls from the Maternal forum, should be fun. Sunday I'm off to a baby shower.

My school friend Louise is getting married in a few weeks time too!! That's on the 18th Oct. Her hen's night is on Friday 10th, but I'm not sure if I'll go yet.... its dinner and a show, a bit on the exxy side, and the dress code is dress-up - 'naughty girls'... oh dear... little conservative Christian me can't dress up like that!! Not to mention how hideous I'd look... to me 'naughty girl' requires showing lots of leg... ewwwww..... we'll see... I wouldn't be very comfortable I can tell you now. But also don't want to let Lou down by not going. Will have to see if we can afford it - its getting to the expensive time of year for us - Christmas coming and a few family birthdays to add to that - my sister in Oct, Dad and Jai in Nov, and Greg and Emmeson in Dec!! Phew!!

The SOF retreat is getting closer - yay!! 2 nights just for ME, with NO KIDS!!! BLISS!! Can't wait... I think I might have to start prepping Greg for a weekend with the kids on his own though...? Hmm, yeah, maybe I should go out on my own a few times over the weekends in the lead-up... purely for him of course!!

Oh, and Lani seems to be getting closer to mastering this walking thing. In the last few days, she's actually been walking around more and more, rather than dropping to her knees (even tho its a lot quicker!)... yay!! So proud of my little girl!! I really want her to walk so she doesn't dirty the knees of her clothes and babylegs anymore!! Oh, and we have bindis everywhere in the backyard, so it will be better if she can walk!

Anyway, found this little quiz on Mel Goodsell's blog, thought since you've not really heard from me in a while, you might like to see this....

1) LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE? KungFu Panda with the kids last school holidays... might go and see 'Wall-e' today though...

2) WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?None, don't have any time!!

3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? Cluedo or Pictionary

4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? I don't really buy any, but I like Spotlight's 'Get Creative' coz it has bits of everything in it.

5) FAVOURITE SMELLS? Rain... coffee when you first open the jar...

6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS? My children's laughter... worship music...

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Fear

8 ) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE? Usually, why are the kids awake SO EARLY!!

9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE? Fasta Pasta or Subway

10) FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? I have always wanted to call a daughter Esther but Greg won't have a bar of it... I also like Ashton for a boy, but it sounds kinda funny with our last name.

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D……hire a cleaner!! And someone to help me sew nappies...

12) DO YOU DRIVE FAST? Not much.

13) DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? No.

14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY? I LOVE storms.

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? A white 1990 Holden Apollo

16) FAVOURITE DRINK? A large hot cup of coffee

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD… do a lot of things!! Sew myself the skirts I bought the patterns for for Spring... sew Lani some dresses... sew gifts for Christmas.... make Xmas cards this year... do more for other ppl.

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?Yes

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? I love red, but moreso highlights I think. I'd do a few more red highlights than I have, if I had the money!!

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN? West, North and South Brisbane... lol... adventurous aren't I!!

21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? None, don't really like any.

22) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? Nothing because our bed goes all the way to the floor - its a waterbed frame (with a crappy foam mattress that needs replacing, in it)

24) WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Strange question...

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?I used to be a morning person, but nowadays that usually means the children are awake too... so I prefer some time to myself at night these days, and I've become a night owl, don't usually get to bed untill 11pm at the earliest.

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? Sunny side up please :)

27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX? In bed, sitting on our front verandah with a cuppa (prefereably watching the rain) or on holidays somewhere without the kids (lol, like that every happens!)

28) FAVOURITE PIE? Hmmm... don't eat a lot of pie really... I had pumpkin pie once and it was to die for!

29) FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR? Choc-mint, but closely followed by Cookies N Cream.

Oh, that's the end!! I was on a roll there!!

Just a couple of pics to end the post.... not much really... and I never seem to get many of Jai, but then being older, he doesn't change much in a month or two...

I have another new obsession - gorgeous hair clips for Lani... add that to MCNs and BabyLegs.... oh dear... anyway, these are the first of my collection... cute huh!!! I will take some pics of her in them soon - possibly today...
... the cupcakes and cherry ones I bought for the purpose of motivating me to make the matching nappies for Lani - I have some gorgeous cupcakes and cherry fabrics.... so far I've cut them out!! lol...

My gorgeous boy looking like a model I reckon!!

Miss Lani with her new outfit all ready for church :) I love black right now!!

And another of Princess wearing a pair of Babylegs...

And just pretend there's a pic of Jaiyn here... isn't he handsome!!

Well I guess for 'not much to report' that was kinda longish....

Quick update

2008-09-05T08:20:00.003+10:00

Not really much to report - life is pretty much same old same old.

Greg is enjoying his new job. Has finished training and is now on the phone all by himself - what a big boy! LOL

Lani is still not walking much. She's lazy! Only does it when she feels like it. I guess she doesn't see the need for it. Not like Eli and Jai, they were off and going as soon as they worked it out... maybe a difference between girls and boys...?

My job is getting better. I am now working with a girl who knows childcare and what we need to do, so its helping me to gain confidence in myself and my teaching and most importantly, to get organised.

Still way behind on nappies... ggrrr..... I'm finding it hard to get motivated to sew right now. But just gotta keep plugging along.

Am going to have my nails done tomorrow... nice!! Greg and the kids gave me a voucher for Mothers Day, which expires next week, so thought I better use it... I've been growing my nails nice and long.... but of course one would have to break wouldn't it!! I accidentally 'grated/peeled' it when I was peeling an apple the other day, how annoying.....

Have been a little obsessed with BabyLegs or leg warmers for Lani lately... I know, its spring now, but they are sooo cute with a MCN.... I picked up a few pairs from BigW on clearance yesterday, and some knee-high socks that I'm going to make into leg warmers... I also bought some off an etsy store last night (and some gorgeous hair clips for Lani), but some for gifts too.... well she's just going to have to wear them while its still a touch cool... and then next year too I guess.... here's some pics of her in one pair from Wed...

Too cute!!

New do..

2008-08-22T14:38:00.003+10:00

I finally got my hair done yesterday, after saying I need to for about, uh, 6 months... lol.... maybe not quite that long, but its been since the start of the year that I had it done I think!!

A local salon has a great special for the month of August, where a regular could bring along a friend (new customer) and both receive 50% off your services. That was too good a deal to pass up!! So I went all out and had a cut, 1/2 head foils and my eyebrows shapes.. I NEVER get colour coz its too much more than we can afford for a hairdresser, so its such a lovely treat!! Got 3 colours too - voilet, red and blonde... nice!! I decided to keep the length this time (I usually cut it much shorter), and just get heaps of layers... well that I did, lol...

Here's what I look like now:

We've had the flu pass through the family quite badly the last week. Well, I've had it bad anyway.... Got hit on the Ekka Wednesday holiday, and I'm still coughing a lot... it gave me a bit of asthma too, which I don't normally get, so I think that's why the nasty cough is still around. The kids have been on-off for most of the week and a half too... and I think we got a small dose of the vomiting bug in there too - fun!! Needless to say, I think I'll be getting the flu shot next year, esp as I now work in childcare...

Being sick has put me behind even further with my nappies though. I usually sew at nights, but there's been a good number of nights when I've been in bed by 8pm... it seems like such a waste of time, but I just have no energy!! So I'm hoping I can stay up tonight, after having a little nana nap this arvo while the babies slept.... I have so much to do!!!

Am going to a low-key hens party tomorrow night - just a nice dinner out in the city... still trying to figure out how I'm getting in there, but it will be nice to have a break! We aren't able to attend the wedding unfortunately, as its the same weekend as our church camp, which we missed out on last year due to me being very heavily pregnant, so we are looking forward to that time to spend together and with our church family.

Anyway, I think that's about it.... oh, if you would pray for my little neice, I would appreciate it... the poor little pet spilt hot tea on herself on Wednesday, and has 3rd degree burns to her leg and foot... apparently she's doing so very well, but I'd love some prayers for quick healing and no scars.. and also for my sister who you can imagine would also be feeling terrible about it.

Cya, N xx

AWOL blogger

2008-08-09T16:41:00.003+10:00

I haven't blogged in a while, but life is crazy busy atm...

Don't really have much to report, just thought I should update 'something'...

If you asked me last week how my new job was I would have said I'm not really enjoying it.. but I think something has 'clicked' this week. I had a great week last week, things actually *worked* and I felt much more confident (and competent) as a teacher... its all baby steps though and getting better all the time...

but it doesn't help when my mind is consumed with MCN thoughts right now...

I have orders left, right and centre, and about 7 women wanting some when I'm taking orders again!! I was hoping to get some spare time to design and make some cute sets for Christmas time, but I forsee I'll just be swamped with my regular orders, and that will probably have to wait till next Christmas... oh well, I'm not complaining about the business at all, coz its ALL GOOD!!

I've probably made my time management harder for myself by joining the 'Maternal' forum too, but am really loving chatting to this group of mums and fellow MCN addicts... but just another thing keeping me away from the sewing machine right now... soooo gotta get my time better organised...

Greg is really enjoying his new job... and I'm loving that he's loving it... he comes home from work (at a reasonable hour, when its still light out, yay!)a happy man with energy to play with the kids, not like a zombie... so that's a good thing! There seems to be so many perks with working with Council too, we look forward to it all!

We went to a 1st b'day party last weekend, for my friend's little twins, Evie and Jett. There was a Noah's Ark theme, and the kids came home with cute fur tails that we'll add to the dress-up box - fun!! I might have to make some ears or something to go with them at some stage... OMGoodness, the cake was SENSATIONAL!! Easily the most gorgeous looking cake I've EVER seen.... a friend of Bec's is a chef and she made an ark cake complete with 2 of so many sorts of animals all over - all fondant... sooo gorgeous!! Was a shame to cut it up and eat it.. check this out - As Bec uses MCNs with the twins, I made them each a yummy scrummy soft minky nappy (and bought a pair of pants each too)

In other big news (almost forgot I hadn't mentioned it yet!), Lani took her first few steps (2 weeks ago now)! So exciting... she's not in a hurry to master it though, and walks a little bit here and there when she feels like it... about 3-4 steps at a time.

And here's a couple of random pics from the last week or so.. I've been so slack with taking pics lately...

Just quickly...

2008-07-22T22:22:00.003+10:00

Things are very busy but good in the Mardon household. So in dot-point...

* I am trying to juggle this working part-time / running a business / and a family / and a home - thing... on many occasions its proving a little overwhelming for me and I wonder if I should have gone into working... but I'm sure its just all in the 'getting used to it' phase.

* Greg finished up at Toys R Us last week, woohoo. He's having a week off - mind you, he's been sick as a dog the last 2 days - and then starts at his new job next Monday.

* I have been totally blown away by the amount of interest and orders that Patooties has received in the last 2 weeks.... so much so that I've had to stop processing new orders for a little while while I catch up! I hate having to do this, but its a little stressful have 3 months of orders waiting for me, and getting more quicker than I can fill the ones I have - and telling customers they have to wait 3 months for their product....

* We have a busy few weeks with b'day celebrations and other events on the weekends. We're going to an 80s party this Saturday night, so hoping we can get our costumes coming together. A couple of 1st b'day parties too. Should be fun, but busy!

Well, I've had a big day at work, so I'm off to bed, that's us in a nutshell for now.
N xx

Blessings and changes

2008-07-11T06:50:00.002+10:00

It's been a very busy couple of weeks around here - a time of wonderful blessings and new things in the Mardon household, and we are praising our God for His awesome provision. Looking back, it seems He has always given us new things in multiples. Makes it a little harder to adjust to all at once, but He knows our hearts, and I beleive that He is rewarding us for our faith in Him and His provisions in our life.

Firstly, I started my new job on Monday! I am working Mon/Tues as a group leader for a brand new Christian childcare centre. I feel very blessed to be able to work in such a wonderful, spiritaul and encouraging workplace, and just knowing that we are all sisters of the Kingdom of God makes it all a little easier. We started with small numbers (of kids) - I had 2 on Monday, but 8 on Tuesday - but this is good as it allows us all to find our feet, get to know each other, and for myself and my teaching partner, who have both not been in this role before, to get our head around it too! Its a change for me working full days too, so I'll have to get used to that aspect too! Had a great first week though, and am excited to get into planning for next week.

My home-based business, Patooties has had a real blessing this week, with a new influx of orders (praise God), keeping me very busy. I just thought I would get on top of the orders, and I've had more come in, putting me back to a longer wait time than I would like, but who am I to complain about God's blessings for me and my family? Its still super exciting to get each new order too, and thankfully I still love doing this, even if it does take up a lot (if not all) of my 'me' time...

So life for me right now is about finding the perfect balance between it all - work & programming, making nappies, time with my husband, time with my kids, house-work, and time with God - which I really need to work on a bit more... my life is about as full as it can be I think!

In other super exciting news in our house, Greg has got a new job!! We are so over the moon about it too, and thanking God for His Awesome provision and answer to our prayers. He knows the desires of our heart, and has a plan for us.
Work in Toys R Us has been really difficult for him lately. He's been continually denied a promotion that he deserves, the hours are long, and he's just not been happy as a result. We have long-term plans for him to do an electrical apprenticeship, but the companies are not really hiring at the moment, so we looked for something else for now. He has found a job working with the Brisbane City Council, in their call-centre. Mon-Fri, 38 hours/week, a rostered day every f/n, and only $1k less than he was earning for being a manager (responsibility) and working up to 53 hours a week! A 'sacrifice', that with my new employment subsidising the loss, we are willing to take!! I am very much looking forward to having him home on Saturdays!! (esp as I'm now working Mon which is his current day off, so we can't even have it together anymore)... And as an added bonus, Greg's best mate Mark also landed the same job... I swear those two are the same person sometimes... they worked together in Aldi a couple of years ago, and now will be working together again! It's all good here!! He starts on the 28th of this month. We will be counting down the days.

Greg's actually been home this week, and we're thoroughly enjoying it. Yesterday we ventured into the city and went to see Kung Fu Panda all together. We had written off the movies as a family activity for a while, with the 2 babes at ages that wouldn't work with movies, but we decided to see how it went again, and I think its definitely do-able!! Lani slept through most of the movie, and Eli only got a bit restless towards the end, when he wanted to walk up and down the aisles... it was a cute movie though, and we were all practicing our Kung Fu afterwards. We had a little walk around SouthBank and then headed to Maccas for lunch... it was so nice to have a day out together, as its something that we hardly ever get to do - with church things on Sundays, and Jai at school on Mondays (Greg's other day off currently)... so you can imagine how much we look forward to having Saturdays for 'family stuff' again!!

So that's life in the Mardon household right now. Very busy and full, but all good! Our God is a good God.

Just want to also send my love to Jac and family - a terrible accident happened to little Miss Emily this week. My thoughts and prayers are with you all Jac, as you take this journey to healing for Miss Em.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week.
Nat xx

5 things I'm thankful for today (its easy to make this list today):
1. God's awesome provision in every little way for our family!
2. Greg's new job!!
3. My new job, and the wonderful working environment I have, and the friendships I'm going to make with the girls there.
4. New orders for Patooties (even if I can't keep up with them!)
5. A wonderful day together as a family yesterday

If you go out in the woods today...

2008-07-02T15:01:00.005+10:00

For Lani's 1st birthday we celebrated with a 'Teddy Bears Picnic' party on Sunday.

Was a busy but fun afternoon, everyone enjoyed the food and teddy games, the kids were well and truly exhausted by the end of the day (and in bed early, yay!) and we have toys and b'day presents sitting in every possible place around the house.... a success!!

Here's some piccies:

Happy Birthday baby girl :)

2008-06-27T08:21:00.006+10:00

This time one year ago, Greg and I would have been bonding for the first time (after a rather crazy delivery in the car!) with our beautiful baby daughter. We had so very much hoped and prayed for a little girl, and God answered that prayer with our beautiful little Lani Faith.

It's hard to believe that it was all a year ago now. I still remember it so vividly, remember the beautiful little thing she was, and then I think about the last year, and how fast it has gone - my baby has grown up in a blur!

Here's how she's grown in the last 12 months:

Happy Birthday my beautiful baby girl :):) Love you forever. xxx

OMGoodness

2008-06-26T08:14:00.001+10:00

My baby girl turns ONE tomorrow... how the heck did that happen!!!???

Cute Nappy up for grabs :)

2008-06-25T16:08:00.005+10:00

If you've got a little girl, or a friend or family member with a little girl, and you've been thinking about using modern cloth nappies, I have this gorgeously soft pink minky All-in-Two in a size Medium for sale on the Patooties blog.

Normally I make my nappies to order, so there's usually a bit of a turn-around time, but if this one takes your fancy, you can have it now! For more details, check out the PATOOTIES blog.

Bye bye salicylates

2008-06-22T14:24:00.003+10:00

Greg and I have been looking into the salicylate intolerance a little more over the last day or so. It seems a lot of the symptoms that both he and Eli show - fatique, echzema, headaches and often sleeplessness in babies (getting up at 4.30am!) - can be attributed to an intolerance of an overdose of salicylates in the diet. As its an intolerance, it doesn't mean we have to eliminate them all together, which I'm really releived about, so we're going to focus on one 'list' at a time and note differences etc. This week, we say goodbye to all the foods on the very high list - mainly a lot of fruits, but also juice, cordial and a couple of vegies that are usually in our diet. So we'll just have to get a bit more creative with some meals and snacks I buy.

No more:
Vegetables - capsicum & tomatoes (both of which I actually use a lot of in my cooking)
Fruit - grapes, sultanas (and other dried fruits), oranges, pineapple, rockmelon & strawberries
Other - mueesli bars, savoury chips/snacks, cordial, fruit juice (other than pear), honey, jams & commercial sauces/gravy.
And there's a lot of spices/herbs I've just realised are on it, so dinners are going to be hard!!

Will still appreciate any recipes or tips from anyone (Lus, Lu?) also on low-salicylate diets.

Hope you're having a lovely Sunday xx

P.S. Jumping on Lusi's bandwagon with the thankfulness
5 things I'm thankful for today:
1. the Internet and the wealth of information I can find on it
2. That in my weakness GOD is my strength - I can do this.
3. A lovely winter day
4. A fantastic, and healthy lunch date with friends :)
5. Coffee. :):)

Scrappy Bargains

2008-06-20T15:56:00.002+10:00

Attention Scrappers!!!

My SoF buddy Cass has just started a new blog site where she'll be selling lots of scrapbooking goodies (and sometimes non-scrapping stuff too)... lots of packs, embelishments, and for a fantastic price!

So add www.scrappybargains.blogspot.com to your bloglines.

Failsafe??

2008-06-20T14:36:00.002+10:00

Greg never seems to be 100%. He's always tired, always has migraines and has a constant dermatitis/eczema on his hands. As a child he had an intolerance to salicylates, but apparently he grew out of it. I'm not entirely convinced of this, as I'm just concerned that the fact that none of these symptoms ever seem to clear/go away. Increasingly I've been thinking it might be the salicylates again.

I haven't done a lot of research into it, but from what I have done, well to be honest, it just stresses the hell out of me. At the moment, I'm doing Weight Watchers, and having to cook low-fat foods, and the thought of having to take out pretty much all the things we eat a lot of (a huge overhaul!!), well its almost too much for my poor stressed-out little brain to handle.

BUT, I don't want my husband always in pain,tired etc etc. Something needs to be done.

I think I really need to try the FAILSAFE diet, but by golly, its going to take a lot of prayers for me to be in a place where I feel I can.

I trust that God has led me to this for a reason, but I just don't think I have the strength to do it. My life is so full and so crazy and I'm stressed-out/emotional/over it so many times during the week already, can I really do this too!!???

So I'm asking for your prayers, and for those of you doing the FAILSAFE with your families, please email me and tell me about your situation, how you've managed it, and I would love some recipes and food ideas too... I really don't know where to start!!

Our Family Shoot, and other stuff...

2008-06-19T08:22:00.013+10:00

* Warning - long post with lots of pics, you might want to grab a cuppa :):)

Finally, I'm getting around to uploading the gorgeous family photos that we had taken by Katie Toland when we were in Melbourne on our holiday recently. I love love love these pics, thanks so much Katie!! I bought a big multi-frame for the loungeroom (well actually we had to buy two as Eli broke the glass in the first one, ggrrr... so much for it being cheap, it ended up costing $60 anyway!) to display them all, so now I just have to pick which ones to put where, and get them printed.

Here are some of my faves, be prepared, there's about 20 of them!

First, we took some in the studio...

Then we headed down to the beach...

Hasn't she done a beautiful job!! Can't wait to get these up around the house!!

In other news, I went and visited the new childcare centre where I'll be working on Monday. It's still being painted and out-fitted and such, but it looks great so far, its nice and big and spacious, and I can't wait to start and be a part of this great community centre and family ministry. We now have a start/opening date of 7th July - less than 3 weeks away now! So excited about it.

I can't believe my baby girl is going to be ONE next week!! Where did that time go?? I'm getting into 'party plan' mode now, there's lots to organise when you do a themed party, and well I have high expectations of myself too. In case I didn't mention it before, we're having a Teddy Bear's Picnic. So gotta start collecting ingredients for all the cute teddy-bear food I'm going to make, plus get some other things for some activities for the kids, loot bags, and decorations. Fun fun!!

Been busy as usual making nappies. Here's some I've been working on lately, you can see a few more pics of them if you want on the Patooties blog.

Looking forward to some seriously-needed Mummy time on Saturday!! Heading across town to scrap with a bunch of girls from Scrap of Faith. Greg's taking the day off work to look after the kids - woohoo!! I won't be staying all day though, as Greg's best mate and his little boy are having their b'day party in the afternoon, so we'll go there together.. a Wiggles party - so gotta get together some Wiggles-coloured shirts or costumes or something...

And finally, here's a couple of random pics from the last week or so...

Playing with playdough:

Then he fell asleep in his morning tea, so cute!!

Went for a nice family trip to a local park the other day.... was so good!! We took the boys' bikes too, and went for a long ride/walk.

Well, that's it for now, hope you made it to the end.... this post has taken me much of the morning (lots of photos take a while to upload!) so I better go and do something domestic.

God Bless xx

Elijah @ 2

2008-06-08T06:42:00.008+10:00

Thought I better record some of the things about Eli @ 2 yrs old. (don't have time to write the letter, so dot-point will have to do!)

* Eli is wearing a size 2/size 3 clothes. He's really tall!!

* He goes to 'kindy' one day a week and now enjoys it thoroughly. He gets very excited to go to 'kinny' on Tuesdays.

* His favourite foods are sultanas (tarnies), yoghurt (wogik), fruit bars (bit bar), baked beans (bake beans) and he loves yummy treats like biscuits (bickies), milo (mino) and chocolates (kokik). Oh, and cordial (cor-yoo, which used to be cor-cor) and water (woka, which used to be just wok).

* He's getting fussy at dinnertime though. It took a few smacks for him to see we are serious about him eating. Now we are having to encourage him every little step of the way by saying 'Yay!' after every mouthful - but it works, mostly.

* He knows his colours VERY well, and can distinguish between them all. He knows blue (boo), green (geen), red (wed), yellow (arllow), black (back), white (white), pink (pik), purple (purpoo), orange (oyij), and brown (blem).

* He can nearly count to ten even! 'one, two, pee, bor, bise, kix, seden, ate, nine, den.' He can count to 4, then needs a little help for 5. He knows that 6 comes after 5, isn't too sure about 7, but knows that 8 comes after 7. And needs a bit of help to get to 10. Won't be too long and he'll be rattling it off no problems though. It wasn't even something I was really conscious about teaching him, but rather we just count things (and talk about colours) all the time.

* Oh my, he's going through the 'terrible twos' at the moment something shocking! He stirs up Jaidyn, he stirs up Lani. He jumps on them and wrestles them and hits Lani with random objects all the time. He's disobedient and oh-so strong-willed. He says 'no' to me all the time, and gets a smack at least once a day!

* We are going through a horrible sleeping cycle with him at the moment. He wakes up, without fail at about 4.30am every day. He comes down the hallway into our bed, and sometimes goes back to sleep, but mostly he just wiggles. We usually give in at about 5am and come out and watch a movie or try to play 'quietly'... I tell you what though, I'm almost at the end of my rope with it. He is then cranky and feral most of the morning (well, day!) because he really needed more sleep. He ready for his sleep again sometimes as early as 9.30am! NOT good. As he then won't have one in the afternoon and he's a right little monster all afternoon. If I can, I try to take him and Lani outside, or go out somewhere in the morning so I can delay his sleep, but then he'll often fall asleep in the car. So we're ALL out of whack, and now we have to really try to put a stop to this yucky habit.

* He loves to play outside on the swing, trampoline and on his bikes. He loves following Jaidyn around catching bugs too. And he loves going for a walk sometimes in the afternoons too.

* He's really into the Wiggles right now. We have a few DVDs that he loves and he got some cool Wiggles clothes and toys for his b'day too. He knows all their names too.

* We watch a lot of movies - too many really (bad mummy). He loves watching his Wiggles DVDs, sometimes VegieTales too, but equally loves the movies too - his favourites this week are 'Cars' and 'Happy Feet'. He's over 'The Bee Movie' which was last month's favourite.

* He's developing a real love of books now. He goes to bed at night fairly well now - I usually read a story, and then he'll sit and 'read' for a while too before going to sleep (although sometimes him and Lani like to play silly-buggers from across the room, giggling at each other.). His favourite books this week are 'God made Puppies', 'Pop goes the Wiggles', 'Wiggly Friends', 'On the Farm' (complete with cool googly eyes) and 'Ben the Bee'. Sometimes he'll 'read' saying 'bla bla bla'.

* Him and Lani have started screaming randomly at each other. Fun. Its a big game really. When Lani screams, Eli says 'No keeming!!' (no screaming) but he screams it at her, so then she screams again, and back and forth we go. Who knows what the neighbours think... sigh...

* Blue, his beloved teddy bear, is no longer. We lost him somewhere, and I can't for the life of me work out where. We've looked all over the house, and called the shops we were at last time I remember seeing him... he's ok with it though ('boo gone') and I think the sentimentality of it gets to me more - I would have liked to have kept him :( Not sure I even have any pics of him :(

* He can pretty much say anything we ask him too. He just copies us. He actually said his full name 'Elijah' last night, but that's still a work in progress.

Some things he says:

* Wa-wake!! (wake up)

* No keeming! (no screaming)

* Un-no (I don't know)

* wahoo!! (so cute, says it when he's excited about something, like if we go outside to play)

* Li-Li opib (Li-Li open - he likes to open everything himself these days)

* Li-Li turn!

* boo-goos (boogas! lol)

... and I can't think of any others off the top of my head!!

Well, better go attend to the ferals that are running rampant all over the house... happy Sunday.

New things...

2008-06-05T12:11:00.006+10:00

I've got some new things in the pipelines for Patooties... keeping me very busy.

Firstly, I decided to change blog hosts, so I can make it more like a website, with separate pages and albums and such that unfortunately, blogger just doesn't offer. So I'm going with Typepad now - I've only heard good reports about it really. The new blog is still a work in progress, but you can go and check it out if you like. Still have a few information, FAQ pages to add, but it's the general gist! Tell me what you think?? www.patooties.typepad.com

Second thing that is new for the business, is my new design One-Size-Fits-Most pocket nappy. After some trial and error and research, I think this new way is going to work much better... at least I hope so!!

Have been buying lots of yummy new fabrics too - I now have over 40 different fabrics to choose from!! I've been REALLY busy trying to keep up with all the orders I got with my introductory prices... still plodding through them, but still enjoying the process too. Am still amazed at how God has blessed this for me!

And another new thing - I'm going to be working part-time from the end of June!! As if I don't already have enough to do huh.... I'm really looking forward to this though! I'm going to be job-sharing as a group leader in a Christian (!!) childcare centre that the director from the centre I used to work in is building with her church. I'm really looking forward to being able to use christian resources and the Word of God to teach kids!! Awesome!! I'll just need lots of prayer for being able to balance it with the rest of life :) :)

Oh, and I need to also find time in there to plan a Teddy Bear's Picnic themed party for Lani's b'day party on 29 June. I want it to be great too, so will have to put some effort - and probably money - into it. If anyone has any cool ideas for a Teddy Bear's picnic for lots of adults and a whole mix of kids of all ages, please let me know!!

Oh, and I've also been doing Weight Watchers. I've lost 2.8kgs in the last 3 weeks, pretty happy with that!! I have a long way to go though, but am trying to take it all in smaller parts of a bigger picture.

Well, sorry to be short and sweet, but time is of the essense.

God bless all xxx

A little tag I found...

2008-05-28T07:00:00.002+10:00

Well no-one tagged me but I found this one in my blog travels this morning, so I'm going to start it!! (I don't think I've seen this one yet)

***

5 things found in my bag:

1. Blistex lip conditioner - have had really bad cracked lips this week!
2. a dummy
3. random dockets and my shopping list
4. An ALDI trolley token - ahh, that's where it is...
5. a pen

5 favourite things in my craft room: (or what would be if it was in a 'room')

1. storage crates organised into girl and boy prints
2. my snap press and lots of coloured snaps
3. my sewing machine (I *heart* my sewing machine)
4. lots of photographs that really need sorting (and scrapping!!)
5. a couple of circle journals from the SOF girls

5 things I have always wanted to do:

1. learn to play the piano
2. wear a bikini... *sigh* long way off that one!!
3. travel to Europe and NZ
4. be organised
5. have my own home

5 things I am currently into:

1. modern cloth nappies
2. LOST
3. sewing sewing sewing
4. themed kids birthday parties
5. wasting time online

5 people I am tagging:

1. Karen L
2. Lusi
3. Susan (denimangel)
4. Chrissy
5. Carol

Eli's 2nd birthday party

2008-05-25T05:00:00.003+10:00

I think the pictures say it all...

But for my own reference as well as if you want the finer details:

* We had 4 families (us, Nana & Pop, the Krisanskis and the Camplings) & Uncle Jeremy.

* We ate yummy steak, chicken kebabs, sausages and salads.

* We had ladybird cupcakes, made by Mummy and Daddy.

* We played Pass the Parcel, and Julie won - some clown dress-ups :)

* Eli got lots of lovely pressies - a Wiggles guitar, light-up Wiggles shoes, a Wiggles jumper and 2 DVDs, a talking Scoop (Bob the Builder), a Cars colouring-in pack, a Cars outfit and a VegieTales DVD. (can you tell he likes the Wiggles!?)

* Eli and Jacob ate far too many lollies.

* The boys had fun on the trampoline.

* Everyone had fun playing with Eli's Wiggles guitars (he got another one on his b'day - both different).

* Jacob enjoyed quiet reading time. Eli did not...

* Lani enjoyed smooshing her cupcake between her hands.

* Eli woke up at 4.30am and didn't sleep till 4pm.... then slept through till 2.30am and got up then (its now 5am and we're still awake - Mummy is going to be a zombie today).

* All in all, a great time had by all.

2 years ago today...

2008-05-22T19:57:00.003+10:00

after a somewhat long and frustrating birthing experience, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, my second, whom we named Elijah Christopher Mardon.

Since then we've had a rollercoaster of a time with him... lots and lots of fun and great times, and a few more difficult times too.

Today our little man celebrated his 2nd birthday!! I know we all say it a lot, but the time seems to have gone so fast... it really doesn't feel like it was all 2 years ago!

Greg stayed up late last night putting together his fantastic present - a train set and table. I was up early this morning, waiting for him to wake, ready with the camera to try and capture his reaction.... but I waited and waited and waited... everyone slept in today!! Finally out he came at 7.15am, teddy in hand, to see what this cool thing in the middle of the loungeroom was. He was still asleep mostly, so his reaction wasn't much. but he absolutely LOVES his train set!! He didn't even have a sleep today - something I don't think has ever happened before - as he was so excited and occupied playing with the trains. The set has one electronic engine, and when you go over different parts of the track, different noises sound - very fun!! And its got great drawers in the table to keep it all in! Greg picked it up on special at work - the joys of being a Toy Store manager!

He also had a couple of presents to open from Nan, Gran and Aunty Andi - lots of Wiggles and Cars things - his favourites!!

Anyway, here's a little collage of this morning:

Greg ended up staying home from work today coz he wasn't really feeling to well, which meant a better b'day for Li :) We went along to a little playgroup at Sarah's for a couple of hours, and of course I took a little cake for Eli to blow out the candles (the best thing ever huh!)...

Then he came home and instead of sleeping, he just played and played with his train set.

He requested pizza for dinner (idea placed in his head by Dad!) so we ordered some in (and I ate a WW meal). Then of course the birthday cake. I didn't bake one for tonight - not enough time!! But it was a cake and it had candles on it and that's all that matters to the birthday boy!! He just LOVES blowing out the candles!! And of course eating it too!! Yumm......

We are having a small party/casual BBQ for him on Saturday, but unfortunately a couple of our friends can't make it, but I'm sure it will still be enjoyable with a few extra kids to play with. I'm going to make cupcakes (of course!) so I'll be baking tomorrow and icing and decorating tomorrow night - fun!

Will be back with photos from his party soon

xxx

Sweet Sleep :)

2008-05-20T07:54:00.003+10:00

I've had two great nights of sleep, praise the Lord!
Thanks to any of you who said a little prayer for me. Our God cares about all things!

1.50am

2008-05-18T01:48:00.004+10:00

Well, its 1.50am and Eli is lying on the loungeroom floor watching a movie...

Yes, at 1.50AM!!

He just seems not to be able to fall back asleep (since stirring at around 11pm) and I'm sick of getting into and out of bed again... so I thought, a good time for me to upload some recent pics of the kids.

The babies have been sleeping ATROCIOUSLY since we got back from our holidays, which is now 2 weeks ago!! I don't really think its transition anymore, so they're probably both just going through different phases right now that are not helping with sleep... Eli's had a bit of echzema and now a cough, and Lani seems to be back into terrible night-feeding habits again after just doing whatever worked while we were away.

Whatever it is though, I tell you what - I'M OVER IT!!
I think I'm averaging about 4-5 hours sleep a night, if I'm lucky.
With myself *needing* to be up fairly late working on nappy orders - because I just can't find uninterrupted time during the day - I don't really have another option!!
But its totally burning me out! I NEED sleep!
(oh, and now he's also eating a muesli bar at 2am... *sigh*)

So, despite serious sleep deprivation, here's some random shots that still make me smile...

Lani sitting up at the big table with Li to have lunch together - so cute!

The aftermath of chocolate biscuit... that last one is her 'let me out of this chair!' face...

Playing outside. Lani loves to push this car around the backyard - so cute!
And don't you just LOVE the tongue hanging out while she's crawling to me!? That's a Glover trait that one... every one of us (bar Greg) do it - I get it from my Dad... love it.

Well, I think I will try for bed again now...
Night (hopefully!)
xxx

Mothers Day, another year older and the gift of compassion...

2008-05-17T03:08:00.002+10:00

Hope you all had a lovely Mothers Day last Sunday. Mine was great! It started with my frist gift which I call 'death by cuddles'! All three kids were in bed with me, jumping and cuddling every which way - was soooo nice... was also a little painful too though, and I think my bruises had bruises at one stage! I got lovely and spoilt with breakfast and coffee in bed, brought in on the gift Jai made me at Boys Brigade - a breakfast tray! Then Jaidyn was so eager to give me his other gift from the Mothers Day stall at school - some lollies in a glass-painted jar, and then a special wall hanging made by Eli at childcare. I thought Lani's gift was in very good taste - a voucher for a spa pedicure and manicure!! How thoughtful of her - just what a busy mumma needs. Now I just have to grow my fingernails back!
The service at church was especially lovely. The ladies group made bookmarks with quotes or verses on them for each of the mums, and a lovely bright gerbera to go with them. A wonderful message on mothers, and some special prayer for mums and those who struggle on mothers day too, a few of which are somewonderful friends I thought about throughout the day.
We then headed to my folks place for a BBQ lunch. Yum! We gave Mum a big frame with some of the new pics taken by Katie Toland Photography - she absolutely loved it, so can't wait to see it on her wall. Topped the day off with a birthday cake for me :)

Yep, Mothers Day and Birthday all in the one week for me (a few years ago even the same day!) I turned 26 on Wednesday. Had a rather low-key and uneventful day, and even had a bit of a pity party for myself... but then it really got much better. A beautiful gift arrived in the mail from my bestie Lusi - another yummy cupcake cookbook - thanks hun!! And a few cards too. And then my other bestie Sarah came over after school with a pressie and afternoon tea. I don't think many ppl get excited about sewing pins, but I did, lol... plus another voucher for a spa treatment of some kind - spoilt! Greg came home from work with a lovely bunch of flowers for me, and told me what my gift would be. My sister Shanyn then came over for dinner too, and her and Greg made taccitos (tacos but using burrito tortillas). In the end, a nice day, and I did feel spoilt (as a girl should on her b'day) after all. In the next couple of days I also ended up with more cards in the mail and a nice sum of birthday money to spend on something special all for me!

Thursday was 'Compassion Day'. This is the one day a year when Compassion Australia does a sponsorship drive for children in the third world. I have been wanting a sponsor child for at least a year, if not more, and this year, this is what Greg gave me as my birthday gift! It was one of the best gifts ever, and will be one that keeps on sowing into our family year after year, as we see our little friend grow, go through education, and hopefully all the way into his adult life. We chose a little boy named Braian (pr Brian?). He is 7, like Jaidyn, and like Jai also has a mother,father, sister and brother. He was on the 'priority list' and while I thought we might initially like a little girl, this little guy tugged at my heart-strings right from the start. So we have a new family member now, and I can't wait to receive all the info about him and start writing him letters from us! It certainly gives me a great sense of joy to know that instead of spending more money on myself and stuff I really don't need, my birthday gift was really a gift for someone else much more in need. Something truly dear to my heart lately, and something we are most-definitely called to do in the Bible (Matthew 25:31-46).

Well, I was going to write more, but its actually 3.30am and I thought I'd do this while up with Lani for a few hours (*sigh* almost worthy of another whole post that is *sigh*)... so yeah, I better get back to sleep now or I'll totally be a zombie in the morning.

Lusi's new range!!

2008-05-13T14:52:00.002+10:00

Have you checked them out yet??? All I can say is YUM mate... well done.

If you haven't seen yet, go to her blog http://lusi-austin.blogspot.com/ to see the new Lusi Austin chipboard from Buzz & Bloom...

Babies everywhere!!

2008-05-09T22:26:00.003+10:00

Just a quick post to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the beautiful Erica who had a baby boy, Cooper Jack on Monday. He's just beautiful sweetie... and she gave birth at home - a woman after my own heart - something super special about that!! I just wish we lived closer so I could visit you, miss you xxx

So many new babies lately!! Making me a bit clucky again!!

We're home!!

2008-05-05T05:12:00.012+10:00

And boy, I tell you what, Dorothy was right - there's no place like home!! We certainly realised this while being away with 3 kids, two of which are babies - for 2 weeks!! We're pooped!!
WARNING - long post ahead.... 2 week holiday to report. If you make it through, good for you!!

We had a lovely time though. We flew into Melbourne and hired a car to drive to Mt Gambier. You may think 5 hours in a car with 2 babies is not such a good idea, but they were pretty good, and better than having the 2 of them on our laps in a teeny Regional Express plane I think!! The laptop with movies was a life-saver! So the cartrip was not too bad at all. We got into Mt Gambier at 10pm and the kids were wired and up till about midnight!! lol...

We spent the first week mostly at home because the gastro bug had made its way into the house. It hit one of two us each day for a while week almost!! Miraculously, I was the only one spared - praise God!! Mum's don't get sick right? I guess I'm around the kids so much that I've built up a good immunity to nasty stuff! So yeah, the first week was almost a write-off for doing stuff, so we had to cram in the last 5 days there!!

We did manage to fit in a day play at the farm owned by Greg's Aunt and Uncle on the Monday though, before the gastro set in... Aunty Di took the boys with her for a few hours, so we had a nice few lazy hours with only Lani to worry about. Then we joined them for a pizza lunch. Andy and Di own a plant farm, with lots of space and a few animals to boot - chickens and ducks and the dog! The boys had a ball making cubbies out of tree branches that were being trimmed at the time. The space is so lovely!! I would love to live in a farm if it wasn't so much work - as Greg and I are not green-thumbs, it would probably never happen for us...

We had such a lovely surprise on the first Tuesday night! Greg and I went out for a date for coffee and a movie, and Greg's cousin decided to meet us for coffee, but instead of his wife, he brought Greg's sister, Andrea - who'd come as a surprise all the way from the UK!! It was soooo good to have the whole family together!!

We celebrated my MIL's 60th birthday on the Friday. ANZAC Day means lots of parades for MIL Sandy and FIL Chris though, as they both play in the Pipe Band. We took the kids along for the 10am parade and service, and I was surprised how emotional it made me. I felt so proud to see the diggers coming (mostly driving) down the street - proud of our heritage, proud of what they did for our country, proud to be Australian. The kids (especially Jai, being older and all) enjoyed watching the parade too. We stayed for most of the service too, before the little ones started protesting! Not sure if we'll be taking them to the one in the city, but if we happen to move to Mt Gambier at any stage (hopefully!) we'll certainly be taking them along each year - its an important part of our heritage... We also had a small dinner and cake for Sandy Friday night, but a few of the family were out with the bug, so it wasn't quite the same.
We celebrated Saturday night with a party though. Everyone was mostly better by then, so were able to enjoy the night, praise God for that! We ate roasts cooked in the BBQ, and salads, and traditional fruit cake with marzipan icing (Greg's absolute favourite!) for the birthday cake, and other yummy desserts. We got the family together for a photo too - everyone together... probably won't happen again for a very long time!! The family were interested in seeing my Patooties Nappies and I had a couple with me that I needed to give to customers, so I could show them off too... got a few tips from Aunty Di who's a seamstress, and some more from Greg's cousin Brooke whose a graphic/website designer and offered to help me with a business card. Family are great huh!! Greg's Aunt Heather asked me to send her a bunch of brochures too as she works at a uni and will hand them out at the childcare centre there! Thanks Heather!!

We said goodbye to Andrea early Sunday morning. Was too short a visit really, but with only 12 days to plan it (last minute), she could only get a week off work. We then headed to the family church to worship together, even if Greg and I spent most of the time in the cry room playing with toys!! lol... the worship was lovely though, open and really just lead by the Holy Spirit, just how I love it - lots of time for worshipping and call for prayer needs too.

We were hoping to go Ice Skating while we were in Mt G, as they had a special school holiday program in town, but with everyone sick, it just didn't happen!! Poor Greg has been wanting to ice skating forever and it never seems to work out. :(

So we were able to do a few small outings the next week. However the rain also decided to join us that week, hindering plans a little more too.

Took the kids out to one of the other cousin's house for a play. They also have acreage and the kids had a ball. They also have a pet peacock!! How cool - was strange just seeing a peacock strutting his stuff around the yard though, lol.

Despite being sick and bad weather, the boys lucked out with a few trips to the local parks to play though. Greg and I took the kids to the local wildlife park and playground on Tuesday arvo, and it was nice to just walk around as a family, looking at the kangaroos, swamp hens and turtles and we even spotted an echidna hiding in the brush. The kids loved the park and so did Greg - I reckon I seem to get just as many photos of Greg playing on the playgrounds as I do the boys! lol, he's just a big kid really...
We went along with Sandy and Chris to a friend's re-affirmation of wedding vows party on Tuesday night. It was so lovely to see an older couple re-affirming their love for each other in an intimate ceremony with friends and family (and us tag-alongs too)... great feed too! We actually went to visit them earlier in the day too to feed their cows and sheep. Eli and Jai loved it!
Wednesday Greg and I went out for a lovely breakfast together, and a little walk around town without the kids. We love going out for breakfast, but obviously don't get to do it much!!
I also got to catch up with the beautiful Ali, my mate from SOF. We had a lovely lunch together -at the same cafe where I was for breakfast (lol, I think the girl looked at me strange...). Was so good to chat with you IRL honey! And of course we got a few snaps to prove it!

Thursday saw us pack up and get in the car for a few days in Melbourne. We were going to stop at Sovereign Hill to kill a few hours, but it was raining on the way, so we decided we'd try and come back the next day for the day. We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle in Essendon. They have not had little babies around the house for a LONG time, so I think it was a bit of a different thing for them, and the house was a little hard for the kids too as it was not really baby-proof at all... but we were very thankful for the hospitality of course. And it was fantastic to catch up with the family again. While we were there, the gastro bug went through their house too... I felt so bad in case it was from us or if I was a carrier (seeing as though I didn't get it myself)... but it was a week since any of us had it, so I think it might just have been co-incidence...

Friday we took the kids back to Sovereign Hill for the day/afternoon... it rained on the way out there so we half-thought we'd have to turn back, but the rain held off for most of the day, just a little mud to deal with and a few sprinnkles... needless to say, we ended up hiring a buggy pram with nice big wheels that could handle the mud and dirt tracks, instead of our teeny stroller. And Lani loved being in the Baby Bjorn for the afternoon, being able to see everything happening. Jai really loved the place, there was lots of interesting things to do and see. Not so interesting for the little ones though, except Eli loved the big horses and carts that went by frequently.
We took the kids on the Underground Mine Tour, which possibly wasn't the best idea... Eli wasn't too interested in the man talking and just wanted to run around in the dark, lol... he was particularly not impressed with the train ride (rollercoaster ride really) back to the start.. I thought it was great though, but he screamed the whole way, poor Monkey. Lani loved it though! Go figure, lol.

They have the BEST boiled sweets that are made in the confectionary company at the Hill. We watched them make the lollies, and of course had to bring some home. The Raspberry Drops are THE BEST.... maybe not so good for my diet though, as Greg and I will be starting Weight Watchers next week (well he'll be eating healthily with me, but not actually coming to the meetings...).
We were well and truly pooped when we got home... but the night wasn't over. My cousin from Townsville was in Melb for a conference, so she popped in Friday night to hang out... was nice and chilling though, as we were tired!! Saturday we got ready nice and early and headed down to the Mornington Peninsula. We were having a family photo shoot with my beautiful friend and talented photographer Katie Toland. It was SOOO GOOD to meet you IRL honey, and I can't wait to see the photos all edited up. I decided though, that I don't want to be a children's photographer anymore - and I take my hat off to you darl... children are HARD to photgraph - or just mine! LOL... I was exhausted just from chasing them around and telling them to look at the camera! Ha!! We got a few in the studio and some at the beach too.

Saturday afternoon, Greg headed off to visit his WOW mate, and a few of the SOF girls came down to Katie's for woodfired pizza and a hang-out! It was lovely to meet Megan and Mary, and we missed Gennie and Tam who couldn't make it :( Katie took some fun photos in the studio of us girls, so will be fun to see them when Katie gets a chance to edit them (she's a busy lady this week trying to get orders our before Mother's Day!)...
Poor Eli didn't sleep all day so was rather feral. I think everyone was a little over our holiday and just wanting to get home by this stage too! The kids mostly slept on the way home, but Eli was woken at one stage and decided to cry for about 15 mins! Ohhh that's so hard when you're in a car and can't do anything!! Not to mention when we're all dead-tired!!
The kids all slept so well that night though, and Eli even slept in till almost 7am, which was a nice change after he'd been getting up anywhere from 4.30-6am every other morning!! (and still up at 5am at home today :()

I met my beautiful friend Hayley briefly, as she leant me her portacot for Lani to use. I was sad that I didn't get the time to spend more than 10 mins with you honey, but I made sure we snapped a quick piccie:

We were SO HAPPY to get on the plane yesterday!! And even happier to walk in the door. Oh, it was so good to be home! We've realised that a 2-week holiday with 2 babies is an awfully long time!! They were unsettled a lot of the time coz they were out of their comfort zone, and had all sorts of sleeping problems, but we're happy to be home!!

Don't think I've forgotten anything... hope not....

Today is Labour Day here in Qld. So we're having an old friend of the big boys (Greg and Jeremy) - and his wife and new daughter - over for dinner tonight - so I gotta unpack, do grocery shopping, a quicky tidy and make a couple of nappies that are a gift for them from my SIL today!! (they are going to use MCNs so I get to talk nappies!)

Oh, and I almost forgot to say, we came home to a lovely clean home. My dear BIL got the cleaning bug yesterday and went for it - HOORAY!! Sooo appreciated!! He CLRed the toilet, cleaned the oven (!!) and the bathroom and a lot of things I've been *meaning* to do... THANKS JED!! I just need to mop the floors today really and we should be right!! Now to just try and keep it clean, which will be a feat in itself with the kids around!! *sigh* nothing stays clean for long with kids around!

And a few other things to mention that happened while I was away...

CONGRATULATIONS to the beautiful Carol who welcomed her little princess Lily Angelica into the world on Anzac Day.... and also to my wonderful friend Tam who delivered little Xander Levi last Friday - I was so sad I didn't get a chance to visit you honey.... will just have to stick with virtual cuddles like I had to with D... he's beautiful!

Also thinking of Gayle and family today at little Ella's funeral... may the Holy Spirit comfort you all as you celebrate her short little life today. HUGS honey, it devastated us all xxx

CONGRATS to my Lusi for your new line of stamps - can't wait to see them honey. Need a chat-ski soon K. Love you xx

Uhmmm, there was probably more but I forget.... to all my mates, love you all! xx

Anyway, if you made it through, good for you. This post is mostly for my own records really... maybe I'll get a chance to scrap it sometime....

Ciao, N xx

Some piccies to share :)

2008-04-16T11:14:00.003+10:00

Ok so I should really be packing or cleaning or sewing, but instead I've been editing pics in PS!

I took these ones this morning while the kids and I were playing on the front deck.

Lani is now able to stand on her own - she wobbles a bit but can hold teh stance for a while now! She thinks she's so clever - and she is!

And my beautiful Eli :) (I love this photo)
Karen Latham asked me to take some pics of the nappies I've been working on. I really must take more pics of the ones as they're finished, even just for my own reference!

Here's a couple I've been working on this week:
A couple of Extra-Large ones - back one is a pocket, front one is an AIO

Some AIOs in progress (I just LOVE looking at my labels on them... squeal!)
Yummy soft minky AIO - this is soooo soft and pat-able
Another newborn gift pack
Well, just wanted to update with a couple of things. Need to go and clean, and cut out hemp.

N xx

78!

2008-04-09T18:28:00.005+10:00

That's how many nappies I have to make between now and the end of June....

Holy Smokes!!

I think I'm a couple into that now.... but still!!

Therefore I probably won't be blogging much in the next couple of months. I really CAN'T get behind on my orders...

BUT I will try to pop in when I can, and I do still read most of your blogs too.

We are going on a 2 week holiday in just over a week... WE CAN'T WAIT!! We SOOOOO need this holiday, so we're going to thoroughly enjoy it! Going to Mt Gambier (a place we both love and hope to move to one day) to visit Greg's family, and celebrate his Mum's 60th, and then a few days in Melbourne to visit my cousins and a few friends too (and get a photoshoot with the lovely Katie Toland - can't WAIT for that, such a talented girl).

No, I'm not taking my work with me. I think I'll probably get withdrawals from sewing nappies, but welcome withdrawals I think! It will be good to know I shouldn't be sewing instead of whatever I'm doing... I might take down a few pre-cut ones to sew up for Lani though, as with all my orders she doesn't see a chance of getting any more any time soon - and she REALLY needs the next size up!

Anyway, gotta get these kids into bed and get to the machine!
Night xx

Last Day...

2008-04-05T10:51:00.002+10:00

.. to get your Patooties MCN orders in before the price rise....
www.patootiesnappies.blogspot.com
patooties@live.com.au

Easter, cars and nappies

2008-03-29T11:03:00.003+10:00

Well, its only a week late with my Easter photos!!

We had a really great weekend over Easter, which would have only been made better if Greg didn't have to work Saturdays (Easter included!).

The kids woke up eager for the easter egg hunt (well Jai did, don't think Eli really noticed much). So we got Greg out of bed, and Jai and I made pancakes for breakfast while Greg went and hid the eggs.

After eating breakfast, we headed downstairs for the hunt!! Jai was so fast as usual, we had to slow him down as Eli hadn't done it before!! Eli had a ball though, he thought it was so fantastic finding eggs in the garden and in his cubbyhouse and tunnel...

Here's a few pics - Greg didn't really get many of Jai as he was running and grabbing too quickly!!

In other news, we got our new car, FINALLY!!! Sorry, no pic yet - its grey and dismal here and my washing is kinda hanging over the top of it, so won't make for a nice pic. Will get Greg to get one on Monday... but anyway, IT'S. SO. GOOD!!!!! I am totally in love!! Its so good to drive a car that I can't hear over the radio!! I have a CD player, cruise control, it beeps at me to put my seatbelt on, tells me how many k's before I need more fuel, the indicators make a nice soft clicking, central locking, alarm... ohhh nice...... I love it!! If fuel wasn't so $$ I might go for a long drive somewhere!! Oh, and its a silver 2005 Ford Falcon wagon. I love it!!

Lani is now 9 months old - how did that happen!! In the last month she's sprouted FOUR teeth!! Hasn't had too much trouble with them thankfully. But she's growing too fast! She's a pro at crawling now, and pulls herself up on anything she can. She's just starting to let go and stand on her own and things she's the bees knees when she does. She's into everything just like her brother, and her fave naughty thing to do is play with the buttons and dials on the television receiver... I remember writing that exact thing not that long ago for Elijah!! We just got him not touching the buttons, and now we have to deal with it all over again! *sigh*

She's as cute as anything though.

PATOOTIES Nappies is going great-guns! If you go and check out the blog, you will see that the introductory prices that are currently offered are ending on the 5th April - that will be a month from when I started it all. The time has gone so fast, and I've been abundantly blessed with lots of customers and orders to fill, so thankyou from the bottom of my heart to all who have been supporting the business. If you've been thinking about ordering, get in and do it in the next week before the price-rise.

Well, half my Saturday seems to have melted away already, better go do some homemaker duties and look after these kids!!

N xx

2008-03-23T08:42:00.000+10:00

HE IS RISEN!!!!

The REAL Easter story...

2008-03-21T07:37:00.003+10:00

Well today brings us to Good Friday. (I still can't believe Easter is upon us already, so not ready for it really, mentally that is...)

I wonder if you all know what Easter is *really* about.
Forget the bunny.
Forget the egg hunt.
Even forget the chocolate (although it does taste great!).
Don't you know its really all about JESUS!!

JESUS!!

God manifest into a man. Easter was the whole reason He even came to Earth. A real glimpse into the true heart of my great God.

If you don't know what happened today many many years ago, here's a brief run down:

Jesus Christ if Nazareth had been preaching the Good News, sharing Love and healing in the name of God! The high priests did not like this one bit, so they plotted to get rid of Jesus. One of his own disciples, Judas was the one they needed to get to him. Judas was paid for his time of course (and a terrible show of what the love of money can do) - and he betrayed his friend and our Saviour for it. Jesus was arrested, trialled and sentenced to be crucified.
He was mocked (because He was called the King of Kings) - they placed a crown of thorns around His head, a purple robe on Him and then spat on Him. They beat and whipped Him... then they hammered nails into his wrists and ankles and hung him up on a cross to die...

Do you know that He was innocent? (the only man ever to have never sinned)

And do you know that He did that all for YOU!! Yes, you.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of God died so that you and I could have eternal life, through Him!!

WOW!!

It makes me realise just how much God loves me! Can you imagine Him having to see His son go through that? It says in the Bible that the sky went dark when Jesus died - I think God was pretty upset! BUT He gave his only begotten son so that WE could have eternal life! Amazing! Something that I know I do not deserve, but a gift that I thankfully receive!

But that's not the end of the story...

In three days time (Easter Monday), some women were visiting Jesus' tomb. But instead they were greeted with an angel of the Lord telling them that Jesus was not there! How it that so? Well, get this!!
HE HAD RISEN FROM THE DEAD!!
Oh yeah!! Awesome huh.

So that's what Easter is about. The choccy eggs are a symbol of new life, because just like Christ, when you give your heart to Jesus, when you say 'Yes Jesus, I want you to be Lord of my life! I repent of all my sins and I ask that you come and live in me!' - you are given a new life!

If you want to read about it in the Bible (go on, I'm sure there's one lying around somewhere!), have a look in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. For starters.
Read from Matthew 26.
Have a read from Mark 14.
From Luke 22 the story is also told.
And in the book of John, read from chapter 17.

Acts 1 tells us of the glorious encounter when Jesus was taken up to Heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father.

And Romans 6 will tell you a little about your new life in Christ.

Have a blessed Easter weekend, and may you and your family reflect on the REAL reason!!

Newborn pack

2008-03-17T08:17:00.004+10:00

Am about to send off an order today, but just had to share a piccie - so cute!!
This is a newborn gift pack with 2 all-in-ones (and obviously in girly prints) $27.00

Makes me want a newborn again!!
patooties@live.com.au

* Oops, I was supposed to post this on the Patooties blog but didn't realise I was signed in to this one - so now its on both - sorry if you have de ja vu by reading it twice! lol

Almost forgot...

2008-03-16T07:55:00.002+10:00

I almost forgot to mention that Jaidyn lost his second tooth last week... but not just any way. We were eating dinner when he realised it had fallen out.... he must have swallowed it!! We had a nice little chuckle about it....
We don't have 'the toothfairy' in this house, but I still gave him $1.

Happy Sunday!

Update

2008-03-15T18:13:00.002+10:00

Just a quick update:

* Greg and Jai headed off this morning for Boys Brigade father & son camp. They were both looking forward to it, and I too - for them to spend some quality time together. So its me and the babes for the weekend. We've been to vote and to the shops today but the b'day party we were supposed to go to was cancelled as the little girl was sick. :( So we've just pottered around here, played in the sunshine in the backyard and the babes are both fed, bathed and lying down on the loungeroom floor watching a movie before bed (oh wait, no I think Lani is sitting up now!) Perfect - they'll be in bed early tonight - the joys of little ones not knowing how to tell the time!

My life has been pretty much nappies, mummy-ing, sewing, nappies, mummy-ing, sewing this last week. I'm swamped with orders, which is so exciting, so I gotta get to it! Have been cutting them out throughout the days at quiet times, but gotta put in a lot of sewing effort tonight! I'm looking forward to it :) I spent up big on fleece and a few more prints yesterday so I should be set for the next couple of months. Had a really great business opportunity yesterday, but haven't decided (or heard from God) whether to take it or not - really gotta assess what I can handle and how much time I want to be putting into it.

Not much else to report really - that's about for my life at the moment!!

Hope you're all having a great weekend xx

Yummy scrummy prints

2008-03-12T11:17:00.002+10:00

Have updated the Patooties blog with all the yummy scrummy prints I have.. yum.. I could just look at and touch them all day (but I better cut them out instead!)

I have been inundated with orders - well enough that I think I can handle at the moment. So I gotta get sewing!! My mate Sarah is coming over tonight to sew up a storm together as she has 4 she needs to make too. Gotta get cutting out today, so its just the actual sewing tonight.

My poor hubby is still feeling a bit sore after he twisted his ankle on Monday playing golf. He says he doesn't know how he did it - I reckon he tried some big pro swing and clutzed it up, lol! But he came home yesterday from work, and has just gone to the doc to see what's up with it - so he might stay home for the rest of the day today too... poor bub.

Anyway, not a lot to report really.
God bless!

Look at this handsome young man...

2008-03-10T07:54:00.004+10:00

Jaidyn started Boys Brigade a few weeks back, and they had their first church parade yesterday morning. We made sure we got the uniform this week so he could wear it for the first parade (just minus the badges which I haven't sewn on yet). And he looked so handsome! And so grown up!! Just look at this handsome young man would you!

Such a proud mumma I was watching him walk up to the front of the church :)

He's loving Boys Brigade so far, and Greg and him are off on a Father & Son camp this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to them spending some quality time together too. Will be strange not having them around for Sat night though - but I'm sure I can survive - Sarah and I will probably have a sewing night, as her hubby is the BB captain so he'll be off camping too.

In other news, GOD IS SO GOOD!! I have been blown away with the support and response I've had for my new business already in just a couple of days. I have a couple of orders on the go now already, so exciting!! I got a little stressed for a couple of moments yesterday thinking 'what if I get too many orders at once and I can't keep up!' (optimistic I know ;) but I know that God has not blessed this for me to get stressed out and overwhelmed... and that He will not give me more than I can handle at any given time. So I trust in Him that He will allow me to balance this well, and bring in the business when I can do it.

Greg bought himself some golf clubs off eBay last week, and he's going to play with a couple of his mates today - with his own clubs. We we were having a laugh about it, saying he must be getting old coz he's enjoying playing golf - not that you can't if you're young, moreso that he never thought he'd be interested in golf!

I'm off to Spotlight today to buy some more prints for the nappies. New fabric makes me smile! I love all the bright colours and cute prints. And now that I can justify buying more - coz it will get used - I'm happy :) And even better that Spotlight has 20% off everything today - great!!

Anyway, thought I would end with some thankfulness today -

5 things that I'm thankful for today:
1. Monday - Greg's day off - Monday's are good!
2. God blessing my new business! I'm still in awe of His goodness! Soooo thankful for this one!
3. Great friends
4. Coffee (been staying up late a bit lately, so caffeine is my friend :))
5. Matthew 19:26b - with God all things are possible!!

Business venture...

2008-03-08T06:30:00.002+10:00

The last couple of weeks I've been working hard behind the scenes to get a few things ready to launch my new business! Yes, Nat is starting a business!

You probably all know of my latest obsession with modern cloth nappies, and sewing my own. Well, I'm taking it a step further and making them for you too (well your bub of course!). I have tried a wide range of styles with my two bubbas, so I'll be offering all of them.

If you're interested, please pop over to http://www.patootiesnappies.blogspot.com/ and have a little squizzie. I've had so many lovely friends interested already, and I'm so excited to see God blessing this little venture for me. It seems I've had little business ideas every now and then, but nothing has ever come to fruition, but God is totally blessing this one for me. Praise the Lord! Now just to get actual orders in and get to the sewing machine!

I have my friend Hayley to thanks for giving me the little push I needed, when she asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would make some for her little girl. Well, I sent her first lot to her on Thursday and was rather excited to see it leaving my hands. And I look forward to seeing them on Miette soon! Hopefully they fit.

So please, if you have bubbas, why not consider modern cloth nappies. You'll be saving both the environment and your wallet (saving an average of $1500 over the 2.5 years your bubba is in nappies - nice little family holiday huh?) and your bubba's butt will be the talk of all your friends!

Visit my new blog at http://www.patootiesnappies.blogspot.com/ or email me at patooties@live.com.au if you'd like a product/price list.

A special day...

2008-03-03T09:47:00.005+10:00

Yesterday was a very special day, as we had our bubbas - Elijah and Lani - dedicated to God at our church. It was a lovely ceremony with some family and friends, and the kids looked just oh-so-cute!!! I sang a song with my worship leader and friend, Paula - it was a song she wrote for her eldest son when he was dedicated, and it is just beautiful. My Dad videoed the ceremony, so I'll try to put up my song at some stage - if its any good! lol... and I'll be able to send the vid to some special people who couldn't make it - like Greg's parents and sister, and my Lusi...

Anyway, here are some of the snaps from the day:

My beautiful princess in her pretty dress -

Eli in his cuteness (OK so I cheated and took this just then!):

Singing the song with Paula:

A family snap (albeit not a really great one):

The cuppies Liss and I made:

Photo of all my family that was there: esp great to have my Nana and Gran and Pop and sis Liss there.

My beautiful sisters and I - Shan (left) and Liss (middle)

Jai, playing around in the playground:

Eli and Uncle Jeremy:

Bye bye beautiful curls.. sob sob...

2008-02-26T13:38:00.003+10:00

Well, with the babies' dedication this coming Sunday, I thought I had better take Elijah for that much needed haircut - and unfortunately *sniff* get rid of his gorgeous curls. So we went in yesterday and Greg got his done at the same time so Eli could see and be more comfortable with his hair being cut too (we tried a few weeks ago and he just wouldn't co-operate!)... but he was VERY good!! He sat up on the boosted chair, all high and mighty looking, and we read a book about Wags the Dog while the lady cut his hair - and she was nice and quick I might add... this poor mumma had to watch as his beautiful curls were chopped off :(:( (I did keep some though!)

Here he is with his curls a few weeks ago:

And here he is now:

Ok, so he's still cute, but there were definitely something about those curls.... sob sob... and now I see again why he was referred to as 'mini-Greg'... he looks just like him again without the curls! It seems those curls are all the look-in I get with Elijah :)

Well gotta go, just wanted to share that.

Been AFK

2008-02-21T09:38:00.002+10:00

AFK - away from keyboard.
OK, so that's a term Greg uses on his World of Warcraft game, but I haven't really been on the computer so much lately... (I just checked my bloglines account and I think it would be best to just ignore it, there are so many updates it would take me all day!)

Just a quick run-down though:

Greg has had a week and a half off work. Been SO GOOD!! (he goes back today :() We didn't go away or anything as we are saving for our family holiday to Mt Gambier to visit Greg's folks in April. We got a new computer though - so good - our poor old monitor was warped and dying - this new one is a lovely big widescreen - love it! We're also on the hunt for a new car. Have a friend who's Dad is a car broker though so he's doing the hard work for us, yay! We've done a couple of other bits and pieces we wanted to get done, but just really enjoyed relaxing and spending time with each other and the kids.

Greg is looking into changing careers. We've been looking into him starting an electrician's apprenticeship. We're both excited about it. He's put in his resume to one of the apprenticeship companies and now we're just waiting to hear. I think it will be the best day when he gets to hand in his resignation and leave the world of retail forever! Prayers for the right opportunity will be greatly appreciated :)

I'm still busy in the nappy-making business... I have my first 'commission' job which I'm really excited about - making ten for a friend who's going to start on cloth (yeah!). I'm a bit of a perfectionist though so have been spending some time researching and seeing what other WAHMs make, I want mine to be perfect (have to remind myself I'm still fairly beginner though so not to compare myself to those who've been in the business for years! we all start somewhere.) I hope to eventually be able to sell more. We'll see where God takes me with that one. In His hands really.

Eli still won't say 'monkey'. He giggles and screws up his face and says' Li-Li'. Its all a big game now. Maybe one day he'll realise he's not actually a monkey.

We are getting the babies dedicated at church on the 2nd March. Really looking forward to this special occasion. Unfortunately Greg's parents couldn't come up, which they were originally going to do, but my Nana will be here for a visit at the same time, so will be nice to have her there. And my sis will be here for a week with Emmeson too.
I found a dress to wear too - so pleased with my purchase. Got a long dress and a thin cardy-type wrap to go over it - $90 value, all for $35! What a bargain!! Chuffed with that.

Lani is on the move and getting into stuff! She's crawling really well now, getting quicker too. Her fave maughty thing to touch is the receiver on the TV... *sigh* we just got over Eli touching it, and have to deal with it all over again. When (if) my BIL moves out, we will have the playroom and a DVD player downstairs for the kids so they won't touch Greg's equipment anymore! We can't wait till that day :)

Jaidyn started going to Boys Brigade. He's loving it. He really needs something that is 'for him'. A lot of life revolves around the babies at home, and having to share his toys or keep his door closed etc, so its great for Jai to be able to go and do something that is with boys his age. And its a great group with solid Christian foundations and discipline, which will be great for Jai. The week before Easter (only a few weeks away really!) they have a father/son camp. We are really hoping Greg can get the Saturday off work, coz I think this would be really GREAT for them both and their relationship too, which is rocky at the best of times.

Well, that's it in a nutshell I think. Probably be back in a couple of weeks time (seems that long between posts these days - but that's ok with me). xx

"Li-Li is a cheeky monkey"

2008-02-12T08:53:00.000+10:00

Eli's at that stage where he attempts to copy every word we say now... here's a funny one from yesterday:

Mummy: Eli, say 'Li-Li' (his nickname)
Eli: Li-Li
Mummy: 'is'
Eli: is
Mummy: 'a'
Eli: ahh
Mummy: 'cheeky'
Eli: keekee
Mummy: 'monkey'
Eli: Li-Li
Mummy: Eli, say 'monkey'
Eli: Li-Li
Mummy: No, 'mon-key' (said slowly)
Eli: Li-Li!
Mummy: 'monkey!'
Eli: LI-LI!! and a giggle!!

You see, Eli's other nickname is 'monkey'... Daddy has been teaching Eli that he IS a monkey... and so he thinks he is!! LOL

Just wanted to record that..... a day later, we still have yet to get him to actually say 'monkey' - it's still 'Li-Li'...

...

2008-02-09T09:06:00.001+10:00

Been trying to get this done since last weekend... finally!
Had a nice little play with my camera last weekend during a wonderful spontaneous and fun afternoon. It was raining, and the kids were playing out on the verandah. After a while, I couldn't hear Elijah out there anymore, and went for a wander to see where he was.. well I found him outside running around in the rain like it was the best thing in the world!! It crossed my mind to tell him to come in out of the rain, then I realised it wouldn't hurt to let him have his fun... so of course I went and grabbed the camera, put on the zoom lens and clicked away.

Here's some of my favourites: (Eli was so dirty, we took the singlet off, then the nappy... got some REALLY cute nudie ones!!)

This week's been fairly usual... actually a little more 'social' than normal really... a few catch-ups with friends, went to sew with my mate Sarah Tuesday night - have to do that regularly - fun!

We're trying to do a 'No-Spend' challenge for the month of February, as set out by www.simplesavings.com.au So far, hhmmm, not sure how well we're doing - I've had to buy some more fabric coz the 12 nappies I've got just aren't lasting - but then again, nappies are a neccessity, so I guess fabric is too.... we've not bought coffees, cokes or little bits and pieces though, and its those little things that really add up each month.... however, it will be interesting next week as Greg starts holidays tomorrow, so we still want to do a few things that we would have done in school holidays had Greg had some time off then... like Bowling I think... and we are also upgrading the computer and hopefully getting a new (not brand new) car. OK, so there'll be some BIG ticket items, but these are things we've got savings put away for, so I'm not counting them in the challenge. For me, its about watching what I'm spending, and really assessing if what I buy is a 'need' or just a 'want'... and hopefully not purchasing any of the latter this month!

Anyway, its Saturday - should go and catch up on some washing, do some baking with the kids maybe too....

Nat xx

My baby boy is BIG now!!

2008-01-29T11:42:00.000+10:00

Eli went into a big bed last night... *sniff* well, its a toddler bed that Greg picked up cheap from work... but no cot anymore.... oh, *sniff* he is growing up so fast.... he was SO excited to sleep in his bed though, and jumped right in and fell straight asleep after his bottle (the next thing to go I think!)... we were a bit worried about him falling out numerous times coz he's a bit of a squirmy-wormy sleeper... but he only fell out once really.... he didn't notice though... and then at other intervals during the night I found him sleeping with his head on the bed, but his legs off... and once on his tummy on the floor... lol.... here he is all ready for bed!! *sniff*

I also got a few snaps yesterday while we were all just mucking around on the bed...

My 3 beautifuls...

Love love love these ones of Greg and Lani... he's gonna love them too when he sees them!! He's got a special place in his heart for his little girl, as I'm sure most Daddy's do for their daughters. Definitely have to scrap these ones too.

This one we call 'kiss monster'... Lani LOVES the kiss monster.

The two babes in their cow-print MCNs... beeing meaning to get one of this for a while... its not a very good pic, but anyway.... they are still so cute!

And a couple of Eli...

(We attempted to have his hair cut at the hairdresser the other day.... unsuccessful... he would not sit still.... so looks like I'm going to have to try myself!!)

And a couple of Lani...

Jai went off very eagerly to Grade 3 today. We have both been looking forward to school going back all week.. I personally think that 6 weeks off is too long - for parents AND the kids!! But I'm happy to have life back to 'normal' now, as much as we had fun on the holidays, and it was good not having the school morning routine! I intended to get a pic of him before school today, but 8.30pm rolled around too fast and we were out the door... might try and get a quick snap this arvo - still technically the first day back right!?

Well that's about all for now, just wanted to get those pics up there...

Ciao!!

7 months old

2008-01-27T08:04:00.000+10:00

Baby girl,

You are now 7 months old, boy oh boy that time has gone so fast.

You certainly make life around here very enjoyable. We just LOVE having a little girl around.
Your brothers adore you, and Elijah especially expresses this. Almost the first thing he says each morning when I come in to you both, is 'Lani!' - he wants to see his little sister. He looks at you with this big proud loving cheesy grin most of the time. Its so nice to see that sibling love. I'm sure it will die down once you're into his toys though...

You are almost crawling now - your own version of it though. It looks like what I can only explain as a 'caterpillar'... you get up on your hands and knees, then sometimes you'll reach out your arms, and sometimes you'll just fall back to your belly, then you stretch those arms out, and scoot along on your tummy, then get back up on your haunches again. It's definitely starting to serve its purpose now though, as we can no longer contain you to the loungeroom - you want to be under the computer, the dining table, in the kitchen when Mummy is cooking - wherever the action is. You seem to slowly be getting the gist of moving your arms alternately, but haven't quite got the arms and legs together.... I'm sure it won't be too long and you'll have it. We wonder if you will crawl the way your brother ended up doing it - with his bum in the air and his legs straight... we figure its the way to get around when you have wooden floors - no sore knees!

You love bouncing in the Jolly Jumper. You grin from ear to ear as you bounce up and down. You also love playing a peek-a-boo game while you bounce; as the JJ is away from the main rooms, in my bedroom (the closest door frame), you can't see me when I'm in the kitchen. But you love it when Mummy jumps out from the kitchen and says 'Boo!' You giggle and bounce and giggle and bounce some more. We have started taking the JJ downstairs under the house (carport) so that you can still be with us when the boys are playing outside and Mum's putting washing on the line.

You started on solids about5 weeks ago now, consistently at 6 months. You LOVE your food, and I've not once had you spit out anything we've tried. For breakfast you have either Baby Rice and fruit mixed together, or the Farex Banana Custard mixed with some yoghurt. For lunch you usually have vegies and either custard, fruit or yoghurt, and the same sort of thing for dinner. I have you your first little bit of toast yesterday, you sucked away at it to your heart's content. We will continue to introduce some more finger food as we go - with careful supervision of course.

Which leads me to your teeth!! Your first little toothy-peg has sprouted! It's hardly visible yet, but I can definitely feel it. You weren't too unsettled when it was coming through, which is nice. Just chomped hard on stuff a lot! We will need to give your cold teethings rings a better work-out I think, and I keep forgetting to get you some teething rusks to chomp down on.

You have your first cold at the moment my poor little darling. Last night you looked so stuffed up, and Mummy had a kind-of rough night with you. You didn't stay up for long, but woke frequently, I bet its a pain in the butt when you can't breathe through your nose Missy! A bit of Dimetapp I hope helped last night - and hopefully you'll be better by this arvo... unfortunately Eli has woken with lots of snot too, so maybe we'll all get it.

Speaking of sleeping, we've been perservering over the last month, trying to get you to sleep through the night. I must admit, this have been a bit of a frustrating esxperience for me darling. Both boys slept throug hthe night from about 3 months old, so I'm finding it hard and annoying that you still wake. But I have definitely learnt that each baby is different and do things in their own time. To help you along though, we started following a daily routine, and have dropped the middle-of-the-night feed. I realised you were waking for that feed out of habit, and you have not missed it. You still wake, but you are not hunger-crying, so its just a matter of teaching you to settle yourself back to sleep. This is a little more difficult than it could normally be, as you share a bedroom with Elijah, so we can't just let you cry it out, as he will wake. On many occasions, I have had to drape you over my lap (trying to keep you away from the boobs) and patted your back.... to keep myself awake, I usually surf the web and pat with one hand. On many occasions, its taken up to an hour to put you back to sleep. But on others, less time, and a handful of times you've not woken at all. I think it will just take a bit of time, and maybe once Jai is back at school, fine-tuning that routine a bit more. Please start sleeping through baby girl. Mummy would so love some unbroken sleep again.

You are a cloth nappy baby. We are well on our way to getting your brother out of the disposables too. You look very cute with your big nappy bums, of various colour and pattern. I'm making them all for you and Eli, and I love doing it. You wear mainly pocket nappies now, which are great coz I can have lots of cute patterns on the outside and they dry quickly as I pull the stuffer out to wash. My favourite is your cow-print one with purple inner.... I have just bought some new cow-print though, so you'll have a couple more soon - red and pink inners I think.

You bring us lots of joy little one. Your precious smile brings warmth to me and your Daddy. Mummy still loves dressing you up and playing with all things pink.

We love you little princess xxx

Bits and pieces...

2008-01-25T09:45:00.000+10:00

Don't have a real reason to update, just thought I'd share some random things from my last 2 weeks:

* I did my first 'real' photoshoot last Saturday. I was a little nervous, as I don't know how to use my camera really well, but I played around with the settings a bit, and photoshop is a beautiful thing - I've learnt a few new things in there too! Thanks for the opportunity and your generosity too Alex! I hope you do like the photos.

* School holidays are nearly over! YES!! It's been great having less of a routine and having Jai around to play with too, but we're both ready for school again. Jai's been hounding me to do the naming and covering of his books etc, but I keep putting it off... suppose I should make a start on that or I'll be up all night on Monday night doing it (can totally see myself doing that though!)Bring on next week and a return to my normal schedule!

* Greg is taking some holidays in 2 weeks time. We can't wait! Not sure if we'll go away for the weekend somewhere - might do.... but one thing we are going to do is getting into our 'junk' room and purging and sorting - I think it will mostly be purging coz there's so much un-needed stuff there.... good thing we don't have to pay to go to our dump (and that its only a 2 min drive from our house!). Will be really great for him to get some time off though - he's worked so hard since the end of November - too many hours! So hopefully he'll get the recuperation he (and all of us!) needs.

* Today I am stalking my parcel man.... I have a very special parcel arriving - my SNAP PRESS!! Can't wait to get it and finish off the 5 nappies I've got waiting for snaps for Eli :)

* Sal and I had a play-date yesterday :) Well OK maybe the kids were the ones that played, coz between looking after 7 kids, we didn't get much sewing done at all! I didn't even turn on my machine!! Did cut out a nappy though, and sewed it up last night. Oh, we did go to Spotlight for some new fabric for the nappies :) I got a few cute ones for Eli's nappies, I already have heaps for Lani :)

Well, I should go and do some stuff. Ciao xx

Leaving you with a couple of cute pics of my two babes... yes I know I do have 3 kids... just don't seem to actually take many pics of Jai, oops!

Murder, cropping and sitting up...

2008-01-16T09:30:00.000+10:00

Our 'How to Host a Murder Party' was so much fun!! Everyone got dressed up and did well to stay in character most of the night. I wasn't the murderer either... but who could ever think I would/could murder my husband (I was the wife of the dead dude. Flabbius Corpus)!! The pics aren't great coz I don't really know how to use our camera at night, and we don't have a good flash or speed-light or anything, but yeah, the memories are still there in the pics.

Greg and I... Greg played 'Maximus Testosterus', military commander; and I played 'Mercedes Acceleratti', rich party girl and wife to the dead guy! (funnily enough, our characters hooked up towards the end of the game - our plan was to be Emperor and Emperess of the known world!

Our friends Ben and Michelle played 'Harangus Adnauseum', philosopher and senator; and 'Rotunda Immaculata', vestil virgin, servant to the Empire.

Mark and Karen played 'Bogus Fortunatus', cult priest; and 'Flotilla Submergia' who owned a large shipping company.

And Marty and Melinda played 'Licentius Caesar', emperor of Rome; and 'Cleptopatra', his love affair and Queen of the Nile.

And poor Flabbius Corpis was played by a basketball, a pillow and a sheet. This role was played VERY convincingly I might add! heehee

None of us had ever been to a murder mystery party before so it was new and exciting ground for all of us. It was GREAT FUN!! Some were worried that conversation would not 'flow' but there are so many things that have to be mentioned each round that everyone's comments just run off eachother, with a few suspicious questions to weasle out information thrown in the mix too. I think everyone would like to do it again, and I know Greg and I are hooked, line and sinker now.... lots of fun!!

***

Now onto Saturday. I spent a lovely abd relaxing afternoon - JUST what this busy Mumma needed - with the girls from Scrap of Faith. The beautiful Alex was visiting from WA so we thought we'd have a crop. Great idea, and hopefully we'll actually keep it up now, not only when someone comes to visit Brissie!! There was a lovely bunch of girls there, and an equally gorgeous gaggle of cute bubbas to cuddle too. I didn't get much scrapping done - I never d0, BUT I'm quite pleased to say I at least did SOMETHING! I have finished most of a layout, I just need to do a LOT of hand-stitching on it.. for some reason I was possessed to punch holes around a large circle for a hand-stitched accent... the sewing machine was right there, I just didn't quite like my luck at sewing a perfect cirlde... maybe I should have at least tried coz it would have taken a LOT less time.... as it is, I'll have to find a good TV program one night and sew to my heart's content while watching TV! Must try and do that this week.

Anyway, here's a piccie of the girls from the crop (oh and ONE boy - Cowper Clifford!):

L-R: Sal and Cowper; Michelle and Asha; Alex and Joanna; Leanne; Chrissy; Amy and Amalia; Kerryn and Lani and I.

And token 'silly faces' photo" - (Chrissy and Amy, where are your silly faces??)

And one of my beautiful girl and I:

Thanks to Kerryn for letting us use your church kids room - it was so perfect, and I look forward to cropping altogether again soon!

In other news, Lani can *nearly* sit up all by herself! You go girl! She is particularly good propped against this pretty ball... and of course with pillows all around for a soft landing!!

She's very close to crawling too... she moves around a bit like a caterpillar... who knows if this will just be 'her way' or if she'll master the hand-work... she likes to get away from the loungeroom and find her way under and around the dining table. She's made it to the kitchen too. She does NOT like it when you place her back on the mat in the loungeroom, obviously spoiling all her hard work.

I could eat her, she's so delicious.

Well, I need to go to bed. (despite the time this post will say, as I started it yesterday morning, its 4am and I was merely waiting for Lani to go back to sleep... again..... hoping its teething now though as the Bonjella did the job! So I'm off to bed again to get some more sleep!)

Been busy (when am I not!?)

2008-01-10T19:52:00.000+10:00

I do have some shares - no sorry, not of the scrapping variety though.

I've been busy making pocket nappies for my babes. Yes, for MY babies this time, not others which I seem to be doing more than my own bubs, lol.

I even got to use snaps for fastening rather than velcro and I love these SO MUCH MORE!! A friend has a snap press on loan (but has to give it back on Saturday :() but I think I'm a good part of the way convincing Greg that I need one of my own. Might use some christmas money to get it.

Anyway, here are some of the nappies - there were a couple in the wash, so haven't got pics of them yet!

Lani's newies:

And Eli's (poor boy needs a lot more though!)

In other news, Lani slept through the night the night after my last post... she went 2 full nights, but has woken again for a few.... I guess its going to be a process till its perfect, if it ever is!

Greg and I are hosting a 'How to Host a Murder' party tomorrow night. We got one for Christmas and have wanted to have one for a long time now... the theme is 'Roman Ruins' and therefore we are dressing as romans! Greg's character is a military commander and mine is a rich party animal, so to speak - I think the wife of the deceased maybe. We have a friend who's Mum collects costumes, so we were able to get most of what we need from her and for only a gold coin donation - awesome! Greg got a centurion military outfit (think Gladiator) and I got a dress and lots of accessories - gold jewellery and belt etc.... not sure if I really like the dress, and I was going to try to whip something up myself out of an old sheet, but I don't think I can really be bothered too! lol. Will try to get some decent photos throughout the party :) Should be fun.

Am looking forward to seeing a group of the Scrap of Faith girls for a crop on Saturday! I soooo need this break without kids (well I'll have Lani, but she's a given while breastfeeding still)... and I hope to even get some scrapping done - I'm not going in till about midday so should give me time to get some sketches together so I can actually do something that doesn't need *too* much brain power.

Oh, and I should probably share a piccie of me and my little neice Emmeson too!

And Uncle Greg and baby Emmeson too:

And here's one of my sis and her baby girl, not the best though. Hopefully I can get a little shoot happening when I see them on Sunday morning :)

Take care and have a fantastically blessed weekend! xxx

Perserverence...

2008-01-04T02:16:00.000+10:00

It's 2am, and I have Lani draped over my lap,
patting her back,
putting her back to sleep.
It's night number 4 of this.

I realised that she no longer actually *needed* that 2am feed but rather was waking just out of habit... so we're on a mission to kick that habit good-bye!

So far she has not been bothered about not getting the boob, but she's having a lot of trouble with settling herself back to sleep. And as she is a screamer (I know, many of you can't believe that from my angel!) I just can't leave her go for too long in her room as she will wake up Eli (they share). So we're (I say we but I mean I coz Greg is sound asleep) doing a bit of leave her at her own devices for a while, and then give in and pat her back to sleep over my lap... progressively she's screaming less and less, and is more just protesting, but then gets a bit more distressed... (so I pick her up and end up here, with her over my lap).
(NB: I'm writing this more for my own record than anything, so sorry if its boring you)
I know I should really just pat her back to sleep in her bed, but it doesn't seem to comfort her in the slightest, gggrrr....

On recommendation of a friend, we have started following the daily routine set out by Tizzie Hall, commonly known as 'the baby whisperer', and so far the actual routine is working pretty well. Changes have included upping Lani's solid feeds to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and she's loving it! (and yes I actually got around to cooking her *real* vegies too!) The routine also helps ME to be better organised I think, so that's always a good thing! So far though, her 'dreamfeed' (supposed to give the last feed of the night while she is still asleep) has not been so much while she's dreaming, as she has woken or stirred before 10.30 every night and I have given it to her early to try to make at least semi-dreamy!

I'm really hoping and praying that this only takes about a week, and she'll have this waking thing out of her system. Can you pray for me too please?

I guess perseverence is the key! I'm determined to make this work, so absolutely no booby feed in the night.... my boobs really protested to that the first night, but they are OK now, not sore like they were that first night!

Anyway, just wanted to get some of that down for my records. She seems to have dropped off now, so I might try and go put her back to bed and see if she can settle the remainder back to a deeper sleep on her own.

I'm an Aunty!!!

2007-12-27T14:17:00.000+10:00

Woohoo!! My sister Alissa gave birth to a baby girl at 12.15pm today :) They have called her Emmerson Paige, but not sure if that's the right way to spell it yet... she is something over 8lb apparently, don't have all the details yet...

BUT I'M SO EXCITED!!! This is my first time as a Aunty :) Nice to be able to spoil someone else's baby and give it back!!

I have to wait till tomorrow to visit though, coz I'll wait till Greg is home so I don't have to take the 3 kids up myself.... gives me time to find a pressie and make a card!!

:) :) :)

P.S. Today is my baby girl's 6 month birthday, so little Emmi is exactly 6 months younger!! And she is a due-date baby too, not very usual :)

When did we move into a TOY STORE????

2007-12-26T07:30:00.000+10:00

Must have been yesterday coz that's what my loungeroom resembles right now! The children got absolutely SPOILT ROTTEN this Christmas.... now today we have the dreaded task of finding homes for all the new things!! Eek..... I think thre will be a lot of purging of old toys today!!

Hoping you all had a lovely day yesterday. Ours was long but nice... but I think we're going to stay home for our own Mardon Christmas next year!

The day started about 6am, and surprisingly we managed to get Daddy out of bed at 6.30am! Think that must be a record.... but it WAS Christmas so no sleeping in!! Lani managed to stay awake for all the present opening, unlike Eli last year (who was back in bed by the time Daddy got out of bed!)... the kids opened gifts, then seemed to only want to play with each other's toys, strange... lol... they got spoilt rotten, the best bit was when Jai thought he'd opened everything and there was a note in the tree to go and look outside... he screamed when he looked out the back window and saw the new trampoline!! Unfortunately it was rainy so they couldn't go on it straight away... So we opened our presents, played for a bit, then went to church (we were a bit late - the story of our life recently, we're never on time anymore) ... after church it was a mad rush home to pack the esky, presents, let the boys have a quick jump on the new tramp, feed the baby, and jump back in the car for the long two-hour trip to Toowoomba for christmas lunch with my family.

It was a yummy lunch and fairly relaxing... present-opening time was crazy, presents going everywhere, and all too fast, so I really don't know who gave the kids what! And they got spoilt rotten again... thankfully we borrowed a wagon from our pastors (our car needs a wheel balance among other things!) coz we needed the extra boot space... it was full on the way home, oh I should have got a photo of that.....

The trip home was a LONG one... Miss Lani does not like car trips and what should have taken 2 hours, ended up taking a lot longer.... we had to stop a few times coz she was just screaming and screaming and then she was overtired so was just screaming some more... we decided to stop in at Mum and Dad's on the way past to try and settle her to sleep.. well we were there for an hour, she didn't go to sleep, but then did in the car, PTL! So we finally got home at about 8.30pm, put the kids to bed, unloaded the car.... and my BIL gave us a bottle of Kahlua and of Baileys (which I've not had much of before), so we REALLY enjoyed a yummy drink to wind down.... and some left-over banoffee pie too, yum!!

So now is the long task of finding where to put all these toys!!! BIL is *hopefully* (fingers crossed) moving out in a week or so, so if and when that happens, we'll be able to set up the rumpus room again as a playroom, and I can't wait!! We'll have somewhere to put the toys for one!!

As usual, I didn't get a lot of photos.... I never seem to get around to it, and would rather be joining in than running around behind the camera all day... and the lighting is never any good around our christmas tree... but here's a few from the day.... (oh a couple from today too)

Greg got this electric shock game from his sister..... here's all the big strong 'men' (boys) trying to out-play eachother and see who's a sissy and who's a 'man', lol..... I won't play... lol.... don't see the need to intentionally give myself an electric shock, coz no doubt I'd lose....

Jaidyn and Elijah were given matching shirts from their Nan (MIL) and of course I had to put them on them for christmas day.... really wanted to get a full-length pic of them, but Eli won't stay still for more than a second so this was the best I could do - Dad had to be in it... still a nice photo of my boys though :)

Li-Li and Daddy playing on the new tramp today:

And I attempted to take some pics of the kids together.... never seems to work does it... got a couple of half-decent ones though, so that will have to do!

And beautiful Miss Lani on her first christmas (she's in her christmas dress too, but the headband was lost in the pile of gifts and wrapping and boxes in our loungeroom!)

Ooh, wanted to say I got really spoilt... Greg bought me a gorgeous bracelet, and my parents had a freshwater pearl necklace made for me over in Singapore on their holiday earlier this month. Also got the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake cookbook and a cupcake tree, so can't wait to do some baking!! Will make a beautful cupcake tree for Greg's birthday next week.

Hope you all had a beautiful day with your families and stopped to remember the birth of Jesus.

OK, now onto the new year...

One more sleep...

2007-12-24T08:52:00.000+10:00

Just thought I should get on quickly, as I might not have time later, to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (if you celebrate it of course!). Hoping you all have a beautiful and relaxing day tomorrow with family and loved ones, and that you may all take some time to reflect on the REAL reason we celebrate this holiday! That is, the birth so many years ago of one special babe who was to grow and save his people from their sins... that'd be us, and that'd be our Saviour Jesus Christ!! And if you don't know Him, why not just ask Him to come and fill you this Christmas? He's waiting for you... :)

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Luke 2:11
Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.

Matthew 1:21
"She sahall bring forth a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins."

Makes a girl feel good...

2007-12-21T16:26:00.000+10:00

... a new hair cut that is... and mine has been WAY overdue... so finally got the chop the other day, and I like it short!!! Haven't been bothered to straighten my fringe yet (hope I can find time to regularly though!), so for now a clip has to do!

Anyway, here's me now :)

Hope you're all nearly organised for Christmas.. I so AM NOT!! Eeek... still have a few pressies to get, probably have to go tomorrow or might drag Greg out on Sunday too.....

Well have a great weekend all!!

Congrats and cupcakes...

2007-12-17T08:29:00.000+10:00

So HOW did it get to be the 17th of December already!! Eek!! I'm sooo not organised for christmas...... thankfully though, Greg is working 2.30-12.30 this week so I have a bit more time during the day to go and do the dreaded christmas shopping without the kids (well the boys at least)...

A few things to catch up on...

A HUGE congrats to Amy (my SOF buddy) and Michael on the early arrival of their beautiful daughter, Amalia.... it seems Amy liked my trick of delivering her own baby in the car, coz that's what she did too!! Good on you Amy, its a great experience wouldn't you say... I hope to meet the princess soon!!

Another CONGRATS to Cass (another SOF buddy!) and Dale on the arrival of their baby girl, Annabelle... great name too!! Can't wait to see some piccies of her!!

My sister has a week or so left till her bub is due... can't wait!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I had a lovely high-tea afternoon tea with my girlfriends from school, that I don't see nearly often enough, in fact, I'm not even sure I saw them at all this year, except for one.... oops, must change that for next year.... anyway, of course, I made cupcakes again, this time minis and I tried my hand at making christmas trees again, and this time they actually worked to my liking!! Yay... here's a piccie...

The food at the high-tea (yes all for 5 people, eek!)

ETA: the high-tea WASN'T at my house, so therefore it was not me who went to all the trouble to make this table all pretty... I just took my cupcakes along.... :)

And the 5 of us (gotta get our yearly group shot!) Two girls missing this year, Mel and Jo are overseas in the UK... here's Lou, Erinna, Katrina, myself and Jade.

Other news.... Mum and Dad returned from their cruise last week.... I think Mum is finding it hard to adjust to having to cook and clean again!! Jaidyn is having a few nights at Mum's this week, ahhh, love holidays..... now just have to entertain him when he gets back... I think a bit of christmas craft and cooking this week is on the agenda, maybe a play-date too.

Well, I'm frantically rushing around trying to get christmas presents sent off, cards sent off and the rest of the christmas shopping done. Thought I better do a quick update, but now I have to go and get my hubby out of bed and shower and go do some christmas shopping!!

Have a great day all xxx

Beautiful beautiful Lani...

2007-12-13T03:55:00.000+10:00

** I started this post a few days ago (really today is the 17th!) so I'm just gonna post it to get it out and do another one too I think, can't seem to keep up with this these days, but things I want to get down! **

My girl is now 5 months (and a half nearly!) old... where did that time go.... thought it about time I did an update on her development and did a shoot....

She is rolling like a trooper (has been for a couple of months really). She hardly stays on her back these days unless she's particularly happy and then she is seen goo-ing and gaa-ing as in off in another land anyway... or eating her toes...

She has started getting up on her knees a little, and rocking back and forth. At this rate, she'll be crawling by Christmas, just over 6 months, my clever girl. (However in saying that, both the boys were crawling by 7 months I think)

I have given her the taste of solid food a few times. From today though, I think I'm going to make sure its every day, as he sleeping patterns at night have been shot to pieces lately.... she's reverting to worse than when she was born, waking every 3 hours like its daytime!! (as it is, I am updating this at 4am coz she's got up every TWO hours tonight... I'm so sleepy!!) Would just love a *bit* more sleep!! So obviously her tummy needs something more.... maybe I should try the bottle before bed again too. Yes, she's still breast-fed. However, who knows how long that will keep up if as it seems, she's not getting enough!! Hopefully the solids will help though, and I can continue to breastfeed for at least a few more months.

Well here's some piccies I took at 5 months old:

Post overload!!

2007-12-06T12:10:00.000+10:00

Oh why do I leave it so long between posts, and then have about 100 things to mention when I *do* get around to posting - really must just do it in dribs and drabs mustn't I!!
So LOTS to mention...

Yes, I got to see my gorgeous Lusi, even though that in itself seems ages ago now (nearly two weeks!). Of course it was too short of a visit, but SO GOOD to see her, as we really don't know when it will be next... here's a pic I nicked off her blog... I managed to show her a lot more of Brisbane than I had intended, as we got a little lost getting from the airport to Maccas where I was meeting my sister.... so she has now been over every major bridge in Brisbane, and got more snaps of bits she didn't get last visit, hehe.... I was sad to hand her over to Cass and Lu though :( Hope its not too long till I see you again sweet girl xxx

It's definitely Christmas in full swing in our house now! The start of December definitely brought with it all things christmassy... This year I have made the boys an advent calendar using an activity each day rather than a chocolate - but actually they have the choccie calendars too, which I had bought before this idea was given to me from the wonderful Ange at SOF... Well as for the actual calendar, hopefully I'll get something made next year, but I've designated a christmas/family related activity for each day leading up to Christmas Day. So far, we've missed actually doing a few of them - due to disorganisation or wet weather - but hopefully we can catch them up. So far we have:

* Been to the local christmas carols

* Put up our tree

* written christmas cards

Today after school we are making some felt baubles... these activities are much harder to find time for with school to work around though! Today's should be fun, and might actually be good enough for yesterday's activity of getting a new ornament each for the tree (even though we just bought new red ones on Sunday) - we will make them this year I think!

So the weekend saw us at our playgroup (the one I've been going to with a couple of girls I went to school with - love facebook!) christmas party. One of the guys dressed up as Santa, which was for sure the highlight of the afternoon, at least for us adults... it was one of the cheap costumes I gather coz it fitted oh-so-bad and Pete had a nice hole in his crotch area - so funny!! The kids thought he was great though, except Pete's own son who was petrified... lol... we had done a little secret santa with gifts for the kids. Its actually the first 'christmas party' I've been to for a playgroup or group of friends, and it was really nice... maybe I should organise one with our other friends from church too! Eli got a little teddy that has velcro, laces, buttons etc to play with; Jaidyn got some matchbox cars; and Lani got a couple of rompers. Of course I made cupcakes again!! Spent ages the day before looking up pics on the net to decorate them..... well they didn't really turn out how I initially wanted them too, but were good anyway!

And Eli thought so too :)

Straight from the playgroup break-up, we headed to our local christmas carols... it was so good that it was on last weekend, as otherwise Greg would not have been able to go (working 6 days/week from now on), and I wasn't sure I would be with the kids on my own (Eli is enough to handle in a place like that!). They were lovely. I really LOVE going to our carols. Ours are particularly great because they are put on by the combined churches in the area, so there is really a big Jesus focus, which is so often lost these days, and I love that Jesus' birth was the main focus still, with only a little bit of Santa, Rudolph and Frosty...

In preparation for this last weekend, I spent the nights of the week before at the machine, sewing a christmas dress for Miss Lani. So of course she wore it and looked just gorgeous!! Might have to put it on her regularly in December to get some wear out of it, and of course on Christmas Day! And Eli wanted in on the photos too:

On Sunday we put up our tree and a few christmas lights... just as we were putting the tree together though, we decided we wanted some more fairy lights for it and I wanted to add some red to the blue and silver we've had for years.... so the tree stood there a little bare while we trundled off to Crazy Clarks to get some more decorations! Then we came home and Jai and I (and Eli tried to help too, but of course really just got in the way!) decorated the tree and Greg chuffed off outside to put up the lights on the house... we don't have a lot, but might just collect a new set each year I think.... we now have one set of icicle lights hanging from our gutter, and Greg bought a set of net lights to hang from the deck (really, we could have done with 2 of these ones though), and we got a neon red christmas tree which is hanging in the baby's room's window (which faces the front of the house).... here's the tree though... I just LOVE looking at it, esp with the lights on at night...

And here's a special little friend on our tree - a snow baby that my grandmother made for Jaidyn (he has 4 - the first 4 years of his life, but she's not making them anymore :()

I have a list about a MILE long of things to make and do.... its getting closer to christmas and I seem to keep adding to it and then not doing much..... I did get some inspiration from Ali Edwards this morning while reading her AEzine email, when she encouraged us to do these projects in the bits and pieces when we can, and they will come together... I am forever waiting for a nice big chunk of time to do it, which face it, doesn't happen much in the life of a SAHM to 3!! So I'm going to try to get these things done in small amounts now...

Anyway, this has taken a good chunk of time to do already, so I'll leave it for now... possibly missed something but oh well.

Take care all xxx

Will be short, but so sweet!!

2007-11-23T20:43:00.000+10:00

I get to see my beautiful best friend LUSI tomorrow!! Woohoo!!! Who'da thunk huh!! She'll be up in Brissie for Lu's wedding (of which she will make a beautiful bridesmaid!) but its a rather short stay, esp with a wedding going on too.... but I just could NOT go without seeing her!! So we have arranged for me to pick her up from the airport and then we'll grab a bite to eat (probably Maccas!!) and then I'll take her out to Cass' place where I shall leave her!!

Even though we won't get much time (maybe an hour or two?) it will so great to still see her, and I'll make sure I take the camera for a quick piccie!!

Aaarrhhh... Pirate Party!!!

2007-11-21T10:53:00.000+10:00

On Saturday we celebrated Jaidyn's 7th birthday by having 11 of his friends, and some family over for a pirate party!!

I spent AGES researching pirate parties on the net, narrowing down what I wanted and what was do-able for my time and budget (some of the Americans seem to go WAY overboard and these parties would no doubt cost hundreds of dollars!)... I wanted it to be fully pirate themed, so it was fun picking games, foods, decoration ideas etc.... You've already seen the invite (see a few posts back if you missed it). So I set myself some expectations by having that really cool already... had to live up to them!!

It was lots of work, but soooo much fun!! I didn't realise how full-on kids parties are too.. we've hosted more 'adult' parties before, where I can duck upstairs to prepare food etc, but I didn't really take into account I'd really need to be with the kids all the time, so I'm soooo thankful to my Mum and sisters for doing the food upstairs for me!!

When the kids arrived, they had name badges to put their pirate names on (most kids missed this point though and just wrote their names!)... and we set up some icing and lollies for them to decorate some pirate bikkies while waiting for everyone to arrive. There were also temp tattoos to apply... most of the boys were more interested in wsord-fighting though!! (and we only have one or two lots of tears, thankfully short-lived).

Once everyone was here, we started into the Treasure Hunt! Greg was Captain Gut-ripper Greg (nice name huh!) and he was in full costume (as was I too) and most of the time we were able to pull off the pirate-slang too! The kids loved the treasure hunt I think!! We broke it up at parts to play a couple of games. I want to record the actual clues here too, so sorry if you're not really interested in the finer details!

We started by reading the 'pirates code' to them (rules for the booty hunt):

1. Only th' Captain be t' read th' clues. He will read 'em once all sea dogs be havin' assembled.
2. Any gentleman o' fortunes caught runnin' will keel haul th' plank.
3. All ye scurvy dogs must nay be movin' till Gutripper Greg tells ya.
4. Any lowly pirates caught tryin' to pillage th' booty will be marooned on th' next island – bring th' treasure back t' th' ship before ye split it.
5. Any disputes an' ye be leavin' ya treasure t' davey jones!

Then Greg produced the first clue from his pocket:

Ahoy all ye pirates!
Ye booty has been stolen!
All th’ remains is this one clue:

A message in a bottle be th'
only way t' send mail.
Ye Seafarin' heartys these days
be havin' 't much easier now wi' these…

Which sent the kids to the letterbox... then....

Aarrgh, ye lily-livered land lubbers!
Can ye smell them doubloons?

Ye might find th' booty in a hut near th' cliffs…

The next clue was hidden in our playhouse next to our rock wall... took a bit for them to find this one! Some of them were looking right at but couldn't see it, lol! then:

By th’ Powers!
We be und’r attack!

Avast, man yer cannons!

Here we played 'Sink the Ship' where there were two teams in 'ships' Greg made of boxes... they had 2 'cannonballs' each (scrunched up newspaper balls) and the point of the game was to get as many of the balls behind the other teams ship in an allocated time. They LOVED this one, so we played it through twice. Then they got a chocolate coin for their booty collection, and this clue:

Ye be gettin' closer t' ya pieces o' eight!
After that swashbuckle
we need t' restock our cannonballs.
Ye clue be hidden amongst them.

There were black balloons blown up and hidden in our pop-up tent.... the kids had to tie one to their ankle and on GO they all popped each-others or their own balloon and one of them had the next clue in it (unfortunately the clue was actually in one of the spare ones, go figure!!):

The next clue was a coded message, and:

Shiver me timbers! Th' decoder be what ye need.
Ye may find 't near th' tree…

They found the decoder near a tree and then had to go about cracking the code... many of the boys ran off here coz I think they got a bit bored - it took about 5 mins to get the code out, which said: The treasure is buried beneath the cooker.

They had to think for a sec.. "The oven?" "No guys, its all outside. What might you cook on outside?" "A BBQ?" Yes, so Jaidyn led the way up the back stairs to the BBQ, where they found the booty hiden under the cover! I managed to follow them up there but the only pic I got was hands!! (quite humourous really, they'd obviously forgotten the rules, lol!)
With the booty was this message:

Wave ye jolly roger!
Th' booty be yaaaaaarrrrrrrrs!
Now alls t' do be celebrate wi' some grub,
an' a drink or three!

Then it was time to eat! The kids were only semi-interested in the food, but moreso in playing sword-fighting and on our swings again!! The pirate food consisted of:

* 'Scavenger Dogs' - mini hotdogs with sails!

* 'Cannonballs dipped in blood' - meatballs and tomato sauce of course!

* 'Shark's Blood' to drink - red cordial ice-cubes dropped into lemonade and swirled around so it looks like blood (didn't really though but cool though!)

* 'Rum' or 'Grog' - coke! A couple of the girls asked a couple of times - 'can we please have some more rum?' lol...

* Fruit skewers - so pirates don't get scurvy!

Plus some lolly snakes and chips, and bickies and dip for the adults...... the hot stuff was snuffed up pretty fast!!

After some grub and abit more playing, I brought down the cake. I was SO relieved that my cake actually worked and didn't fall apart - it was perfect... the key is freezing the cake overnight, then again after 'gluing' the bits together..... I did a pirate ship, and had a bit left-over so made a little deserted island too, which was supposed to have another little lego pirate on it, but not sure what happened to him (maybe he was eaten by a shark, or had to walk the plank instead?).

The kids ate cake and played a bit more, then we opened the presents and gave them their 'booty' to take home... Oh my word, Jai now has soooo many new toys!! We are really struggling to find places for them to go - I think his room will need a clean-out and to put away some of the older toys maybe!! His room is only pretty small!

The kids all had a BALL, and we were soooo exhausted afterwards!! Of course we had to snap a couple of family pics while we were all dressed up though...

It was so much fun! But I don't think I'll be doing anything so in depth for a little while!! Phew!! Here's some more pics from the day - hopefully you can see them ok!

7 years ago today...

2007-11-20T14:26:00.000+10:00

I was 18 years old and holding my new baby. I was in wonder of new life but a bit scared at how this would change my life. Well, Jaidyn changed my life immensely but not once have I ever wanted to take it back. God has given me so many wonderful opportunities out of this experience. Being a young mum is cool. I love it. Sure, its hard, but its so 'me' and its what God has for me for my life right now.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful young man Jaidyn. He has been through lots of changes in life so far - living with just me, his father visiting on weekends. Then his father deciding to waver his role as a dad (4 years ago now?) and Jai having to adjust to having a new Dad. Its a lot for a little guy to deal with really (but happens so much in todays society), and I'm sure as he gets older, Jai will have a lot more questions and possibly want to see his biological father again. But he is such a sweet kid. He's so smart, so social, so sensitive, so loving. He's also a bit stubborn and messy and forgetful like his Mumma, but I love him with every ounce of my being!!

Happy Birthday sweetie!!

Pirate party review and pics to come, but for now I have to go and make some ganache icing for my special boy's birthday cake for tonight!

A full-on weekend!

2007-11-12T21:28:00.000+10:00

Hey hey, I'm trying to keep on top of updating here or else none of this will ever make it on here. I have so much to do, so many things to go to in November that I'll have too much to update if I don't do it now!!

This last week and weekend have been FULL-ON!! Had quite a social weekend really. My sister came over to babysit Friday night for me so I could go to an Engagement party, but I ended up being so tired that I didn't want to drive into the city on my own (Greg works weeknights), so I didn't go. Sorry again Hails!! Was nice to have a bit of a chat with my sis though, as we usually only see each other at family lunches these days.

Friday saw me tired as I spent most of the day making cupcakes! lol... I made 2 double-batches, which gave me about 65 cupcakes in total!! Thanks to a yummy recipe and thread from the Nappycino forums I just had to try! So Friday night after my sister left, I iced about 30 cupcakes... now I've never done piped icing before and it took me a bit to get the hang of it, but by my second lot of icing on Sunday morning, I think I had it pretty good. I took 24 along to the SOF Charity Crop on Saturday, about 20 along to my sisters baby shower on Sunday, and well the other, however-many got polished off pretty easily around here. I iced half in pink with little lolly butterflies sprinkled over the top, and the other half blue with stars sprinkled over - as my sister doesn't know the sex of her baby, I though I'd better do both colours! I was pretty happy with how they turned out actually - and they taste DIVINE!! Good recipe!

And Eli thought so too! Yummy!!

Saturday I went along to the Scrap of Faith Charity Crop at Caboolture. What a fantastic day and just what I needed!! I get a little stressed with two bubbas at home sometimes, so a day out with friends was just what the doctor ordered as the saying goes. Was great to catch up with my girls again - Sal, Amy, Chrissy, Rozzie (been too long) Karen, Sarah and Kat... and great to meet some more IRL finally - Gennie, Donna, Ange & Katie... and even make some new friends - Leanne, Sarah and Naomi. I did absolutely NOTHING scrap-wise, which I know is terribly pathetic for 12 hours!! But I'm sure I made up for it in chatting! Lol, and I had to mother Lani too... but its ok. Sure, I would have *liked* to have done something - even if just to prove to myself that I can actually crop at a crop - but oh well, I can scrap at home, its catching up with these beautiful girls that is the important part!

One of the best things about the day was that we raised over $800 for the organisation Mercy Ministries, who have a residential program for girls in crisis. I was so blessed to hear about this ministry and I really pray that I can sow into this ministry in the coming months (Sal and I hope to be able to do some scrapbooking with the girls one weekend - or more regularly even).

Here's some piccies - unfortunately, I didn't really get a lot.... but the wonderful Karen is going to put everyone's pics together on a CD and post them all out to us, yay!

All the SOF girls - (back L-R) Ange & Lucas, Katie, me (Lani was asleep!), Katrina, Karen, Rozzie, Sal... (front L-R) Amy, Chrissy, Gennie, Donna (and Benjamin).

The beautiful Gennie and I.. LOVED meeting you girl!

Rozzie 'busy' scrapping...
On Sunday, I skipped church to ice another batch (which I froze to keep fresh) of yummy cupcakes to take to my sister Alissa's baby shower - half pink and half blue. We then headed over to my parent's house for a lovely 'Baby Shower BBQ' with Liss & Drew's friends... played fun baby games, opened lots of baby gifts and ate lots of yummy food. I made her a gift-set of 2 fitted cloth nappies and a fleece cover - and I hope to make her a lot more in the coming weeks/months. It was soooo cute making the teeny weeny newborn nappies, makes Lani's nappies look huge!! These ones were 'gender-neutral' - but I'll be sure to make some more pink or blue after she has bubby!And here's just some other pics to share:
Me and my beautiful Mumsy -

Lani in her beautiful party dress that Donna gave us on Saturday... she looked soooo cute in this thanks Donna - and everyone else thought so too...

Me and my gorgeous girl!!

And this one cracked me up!! I came out to the lounge and here she was with her headband over here eyes... but coz its lace, she can see through it, so she was still happy playing! I think I almost wet my pants laughing so much! How funny and how cuuuuuuute is she!!!!

Well, somehow it got to be 11pm already!! I better get to bed! Night :)

Busy Beaver....

2007-11-06T13:12:00.000+10:00

Whoah!! My life is a crazy blur of creativity and projects at the moment. And they aren't really even Christmas related!! I've been sewing up a storm lately, loving making the MCNs but really I need more time!!

On Sunday we went to the baptism of my friend Bec's gorgeous twins, Evie May and Jett Christian. Bec is also another MCN lover so I thought I would try my hand at applique to make the twins a special nappy cover each. They took a while (especially as I'm such a newbie to it all) but it was fun and I was pretty pleased with how they turned out - and Bec LOVED them.

Now, I'll just have to have a go at making some for my little Miss. Thinking hearts... and flowers... and a Christmas tree .. hmmm or an angel... for Christmas!! Yay!!

Here's what the twins covers look like (and I couldn't resist Lani modelling them coz the cute effect is definitely better with a bum to fill them out):

I've also been busy organising Jaidyn's 7th birthday party which we will have on the 17th. We're having a Pirate Party - Aaarrrgh!! Lots of fun, I can't wait!! Yes, lots of work too (and I'll probably kick myself later) but I couldn't resist! Jai love pirates and I know they'll just have the best time!! Here's the ultra authentic invitations I made the other night (and my thumb is finally feeling better after being a tad sore from lighting a lighter for 30 mins straight!):

The invitation reads:

Ahoy Matey!
Stop yer pillaging: lend me yer ear,
I have a message fer ye to hear!
The Treasure's been stolen,
it must be found,
So tighten ye sashes
Buccaneer Bay bound!
Shiver me timbers,
thar's a pirate on board,
Drinkin shark's blood
and flailin his sword!
I'm Captain Jaidyn,
and will lead the way,
On Saturday, November 17th,
I turn 7 that day!
Chart ye course fer
(address).
We be settin sail at 2pm
fer some swashbucklin fun, grub and kiddie spirits.
Wave yer flag if ye be attending
or hav yer Mum send message by yer phone
to deck hand Natalie at (ph number).
Sees ye there.
Aarrgh!!!

P.S. All pirates need come with yer swashbucklin pirate names

and dressed in yer best attire, or yel walk the plank!

Cute huh! (no, I didn't make it up - the Internet is a wealth of information!)

I've got some fun pirate games planned, have roped my Mum into doing a pirate ship cake (yes!) and lots of loot to find in a treasure hunt of course!! Just to source some more pirate stuff, and costumes for Greg and myself!!

And... darn it, I was going to write lots more, but both of the baby's have just woken - they were supposed to BOTH sleep longer, ggrrrr.... so I gotta get back to that whole Mum thing... oh a little more time in the day would be a good thing!!

Lotsa love to you all, and thanks for stopping by :)

She's gone (MCN) crazy!!

2007-10-25T12:14:00.000+10:00

MCN = Modern Cloth Nappies... and yep, I've gone a bit crazy and obsessed...

Been sewing up a storm (well when I can get a chance to!)...

Here's what I've made so far - 5 nappies and 2 covers. Been trying out a few different patterns, seeing what I like.
For any of you out there doing the same, the back left is the Mama Bird in little size... don't like the leg elastic in this one.. the blue one is a side-snap pocket I made for Eli (he's worn it twice but I'm not too keen on it really.... for now I'm concentrating on making the rest of Lani's and then will try a different front-fastening pocket pattern for Eli again)... the two at the front are the Weeweka one-size pattern which I like the best so far!

This is the inside of the Weekeka (for Katie mainly coz you asked to see). They have a microfleece inner layer, and a fold-out soaker for quicker drying!

Here is the little doll modelling her new nappy - the weeweka above (and my favourite one). this one is a nice trim fit and will fit her until she's toilet trained hopefully - its a one-size-fits-all...

Here's another pattern I tried - the Ottobre... I made this one with a PUL cover so its waterproof and doesn't need a cover on top. Not much liking this pattern too, so probably won't do this one again - bit gapey at the legs...

This is the MiaLa cover I made this morning.. I also made one the same in a pale green last night... coz her covers are WAY too small for her now (newbie sized!). It looks a bit bulky on her but that's coz she's got one of the old fat fluffies fitted nappies under - they're really bulky. Good to know that this cover covers even them though...

Next mission is applique and embroidery... I'm hoping to do a few for gifts like this, so want to practice one for Lani first, to make sure I don't totally SUCK at it!! lol

Ordered some more fleece yesterday - coloured yay! Bit sick of white inners.... fleece will ALWAYS get used!!

Anyway, better feed these babies, just wanted to share :)

My beautiful sister....

2007-10-21T20:06:00.000+10:00

Just look at this beautiful blooming bud of a pregnant woman!! My sister Alissa is 30 weeks pregnant - due 27th December.

I hadnot seen her in 6 weeks, and to say her belly had grown significantly is an understatement. I think I almost cried when I saw her today... isn't she just gorgeous!!!

I find it quite surreal looking at my sister with that little belly. Like its just not meant to be there! Oh, I'm so excited about her baby coming in only 10 weeks time now!! How exciting!!

Oh, and I've been busy busy and have so much I really need to catch up in the world of blog... hopefully I'll find some time this week to update! Bye for now xxx

Where we left off - weekend with Lus, #2

2007-10-08T12:20:00.000+10:00

OK, so where were we? Saturday right? Well, yep, we had a great morning catching up with new and old friends from online at Mt Cootha... on the way home, I took Lus up to the lookout on the Mt to see what Brisbane looks like in whole... I just love it up there (where Greg proposed too!)...

My poor Lusi was sick on and off throughout the weekend. She'd come down with some tonsilitis late in the week before she came... and by Saturday afternoon was feeling pretty rotten (which is NOT good for Lus as she has no spleen and therefore not too many natural antibodies to fight diseases) So we had a really easy night saturday night, a little practice for worship Sunday morning (however Lus had lost her voice, so I was to sing on my own!).... and then she quietly asked me to do her a 'favour' and take her to the hospital... I freaked a little to say the least... but really it was more precautionary than anything... so off we went to Emergency, with Lani sleeping peacefully in her capsule the whole time... they took Lus off and I think I saw her an hour later... however , I was quite amused enough, as I'd never been into ER before, so was watching people coming and going (mostly of the drunken disorderly variety!)... and prayed for each person as they came and left too, so that was nice. They finally said I could go in with Lus while they put a drip of anti-biotics through her and we had a nice chat with the nurses (probably a nice change for them who are used to drunks most of the time!). I realised as I went in that the hallway was the same hallway I'd been wheeled up when I had Lani in the car, so then of course I had to tell the nurses that story too! So we came home at 1.30am, armed with a script for more antibiotics to get her better! And crashed into bed! (well I did)

Sunday:

I'd been looking forward to leading worship at my church with Lus for months! But the enemy had his little way there (the only foothold he could get!) and Lus still had no voice to sing, so I did it on my own, and she accompanied me with guitar and piano. It was still SUCH a blessing to have her there with me, and she really taught me so much about having a heart of worship. Was a great service even if she couldn't sing with me. I also enjoyed introducing her to my 'family' at church and my pastor in particular. Everyone said to her 'see you again soon'... lol, I hope!!

We were supposed to go to a cell BBQ but Lus was pretty written off so we stayed home and she slept for 3 hours! After that she felt pretty good though, so it was really great that she got that rest.

At night, we took on the boys (Greg and BIL Jeremy) at Pictionary. We started oout kicking butt... but at the last picture, we were both on the last square and the boys came through and won. Lus had a funny case of the giggles throughout! It was great fun though - I *heart* playing board games!

Monday:

Once we finally got out of bed and worked out we were going to do something for the day... we took the kids into the city. Jai wanted to go to the museum again (seriously he could probably go every day and not get bored!) and we also decided to show Lus a bit of the city via a ride on the CityCat.... well this ride turned out to be a LOT longer than anticipated (note to self - the round trip takes over an hour!), but oh well!! Lus took LOTS of pics to show her fam when she got back :)

Monday night we headed back up Mt Cootha to meet her friends Lu and Cass for a coffee. Was nice to meet these girls and have a proper chat without 10 other ladies around! I must admit I was a bit tired, and didn't really have much to say - as they girls talked a lot about scrapping stuff, the 'who's of who' and the like that I'm not really 'up' with, lol... but it was great to just hang out! And great to go out at night too - something that doesn't happen around here much! Lani slept through the whole lot again - don't know how though, as her capsule sat right in the middle of the 4 of us gas-bagging (loudly) away! I think Lus will probably have a few pics to share from this on her blog when she gets around to it...

Tuesday:

Photoshoot!! I've been wanting a photoshoot of our family ever since Lani was born, and hadn't got one of the 5 of us yet.. but oh-my! I didn't really anticipate how difficult it would be to get a decent photo when there are 2 babies!! We did get one half-decent family shot though, and lots of other fun ones too, so it was semi-successful! (despite a rather unco-operative 16 month old!)Here's the collage of the family shots:

And then Lus and I let loose with the posing too! Sooooo much fun!! I cherish these pics sooo much and can't wait to scrap some!! (hopefully in the next few weeks you'll see a few pages!)

Here's a couple of collections of us:

Love love LOVE these ones!!!

Well, I think that's about it!! Was so sad to see my Lusi go home :( It totally sucks that we live so far away from each other... but I hope its not too long (6 months maybe?) till we see each other again!!

Love you girl xxx

Weekend with Lusi.. part 1

2007-10-07T15:13:00.000+10:00

OMGosh, I have sooooo much to update its not funny!! And that's not JUST my weekend with Lusi.... now just to find some time to do it all!!

I've decided I'm going to have to do this in segments because in my crazy life, I just don't seem to find a good chunk of time to sit down and do up the whole story and pics from the whole weekend.... so hopefully 2 parts will do it....

Last weekend was one of the best of my life I think! As most of you know, I had my beautiful best friend Lusi come and stay for 4 nights. We’ve been friends since July last year, when we met through Roz’s blog. I was initially drawn to Lusi’s amazing passion for God, and life in general. We started chatting on the phone, and since then it’s hardly been a week or two between chatting to each other (and that’s usually an hour or two!) So you can just imagine how much we’ve longed to meet each other IRL! And the wonderful Lord provided it to us - after being patient, non-impulsive… OK, and maybe a little obsessive too (just ask our husbands!).

The enemy (Satan!) did NOT want us to meet! He tried so many times over the weekend to steal our joy, but we did not let him. The Bible tells us in part of Nehemiah 8:10 that ‘the joy of the Lord is my strength!’ So we tried to hold fast to that (and Lusi did a lot better than I did on occasions…) Anyway, here’s a run-down, and I hope it doesn’t bore you, but I want to get this ALL down for my own records and when I find time to scrap it!

Friday:
Lus was meant to come at 10am... but the problems started before we even got going! There was more traffic than normal on the commute from Lusi’s house to Sydney, and she MISSED the place! Talk about GGGrrrrrrrr… but it was OK. We were very thankful that she was able to get another in the afternoon, and she spent a lovely day in the city with her family instead, and took the kids to the movies, which they’ve never done altogether before, so I reckon that was good time spent together anyway! (Although it meant we didn’t get to go to the Paper Arts show (or whatever it was called) and meet a few of Lusi’s girls from EMM, cluding Ruthie :(.)
So I just pottered around here for the day, danced around with Eli to the Wiggles a lot, and well, I can’t really remember what else! Lol… but I was soooo excited when 4.45pm came around and I popped the babies in the car (Jai went away with his grandparents for the weekend) and headed to the airport!! Was SOOOO excited to see my Lusi IN THE FLESH!! Wow… we spent a bit of time pinching each other and saying ‘You’re Real!’ lol…. and of course Lus had the camera in her hand for that first snap of us together!! And we took a few more in the car too.. and some video footage… lol…. we got home and had a lovely evening just chatting, eating, exchanging a few pressies and then finally got the scrap stuff out. Lusi used my photos and a bit of my product and hers and made these two gorgeous masterpieces. I, on the other hand, played around with stuff but it just wasn’t working so I chucked a little ‘narna’ and put it all away! LOL… was still great to scrap with you honey!! Here's her work :)

And this one I challenged Lus to use pastel colours and flowers.... not her usual style huh! Our styles are soooo different its not funny! It was so AWESOME to watch her just put things together so quickly though! Reminds me I need to stop being such a perfectionist!!

Saturday:
We left Eli home with his Daddy (woohoo, kid-free for once!) and headed into town to Mt Coot-tha gardens to have a lovely picnic with some other girls we’ve met on the Net. Most were from SOF (Sal, Karen [& Karen], Sarah, Kerryn), but there was also Lu Griffith and Jill G-G. And some husbands and lots of kids too. Had a GREAT time! Was great to meet some girls I hadn’t before (Lu, Jill, Kerryn, Karen) and I had plenty of babysitters for Miss Lani who made everyone goo-goo I think! (yeah, she’s so cute!) And of course, there was about 10 cameras around, so we posed… and posed.. and posed!! Here’s a collection:

Oops, and I'll have to finish this later as the baby's just woken up! The joys of 3 kids!

I'll be back (said in my best Terminator voice)...

Miss you xxx

2007-10-04T21:38:00.000+10:00

Just looking through my pics from our weekend together... and I'm totally missing this beautiful face (and soul!) right now..... :(

Wish we lived much closer honey.

I'm going to try to get down there as soon as I can!!

ONE MORE SLEEP!!

2007-09-27T11:58:00.000+10:00

Woohoo!! Only one more sleep until this beautiful girl will be here!! CAN'T WAIT!!!

Meanwhile I'm running around like a MAD CHOOK today trying to organise a few things around this place and give it a good tidy up.... this task is only made more difficult by having three kids home and its wet outside so the boys are in my face all the time! lol....

I used Lusi coming to set myself some goals and deadlines..... many of them have not happened (like cleaning the fridge - or I may still find time for that today huh)... but a few have. For a scrapbooker, my house is a sad sad story with pretty much NO photos up... terrible huh, considering I have soooo many good ones! Well, I finally put some up on our TV wall... see...

Oh, its really not a very exciting wall or living room! I'm thinking another row would make it look better, but will see how that goes.. (we may be moving end of Nov if we can find somewhere that has what we want...)

I also finally bought some decor for the new table... I decided to go with some greens, nice!! And I managed to scrounge around here for some 'adornments'.... probably temporary, but at least the table doesn't look bare now... (and no, it totally doesn't go with the curtains, but then again, the curtains don't even go with each other - a thing on my list, but unfortunately an $$ one, so may never happen!!) See my table:

Oh, I've also finally finished my pages for Gayle's CJ. The topic is 'Words to live by' and I included my favourite scriptures because I try to live by the Word of God. See:

Well, better go. The boys are having fun downstairs now so gives me a bit of time to sort some more things out up here!!

I'm still here...

2007-09-25T12:35:00.000+10:00

Sorry to those of you who have my blog as your primary way of knowing what's happening with us... namely my MIL Sandy... ok, so I've been busy and blogging seems to take such a long time (especially when you leave it so long in between posts!), so I just haven't done it! My bad...

What's been happening here the last week and a half (or so..?) In a nutshell...

I was sick for half of last week. Not fun. But my wonderful husband stayed home on Wednesday to look after me, the kids and do some Mummy stuff like washing, dishes and cooking dinner. Bless him! Fingers crossed no-one else has got the bug, however Eli's been a bit off his food yeaterday and today so well, I'mhoping its just teething or something! Poor little monkey...

Greg had his AFP testing last Monday. Poor thing was pretty-much brain-dead at the end of the day - he had 6 tests (psych, aptitude etc) and there was close to 1000 questions all up. We were told that we'd hear in a week if he didn't pass the benchmarks, and we've not received an email yet, so hoping he's passed that bit.... they were told though that only 21% of ppl at the test day will get offered a place... eek.... so we're praying that God's Will will prevail here! Would appreciate your prayers too :)

Eli is now 16 months old. Lani is 3 months old this week. Separate updates on them to follow.

We went to a lovely naming day/2nd b'day party on Saturday with a couple I went to school with, but have only really started befriending in the last few weeks (thanks to Facebook!)... it was a lovely sunny day, and they had a jumping castle (their own, how cool!) and plenty of ride-ons and other toys for the kids. Was really nice to see them and I really look forward to talking properly over a BBQ (and so they can get to know Greg too)...

I'm going sligthly mad trying to get a few things organised around this house... coz my BEST FRIEND LUSI is coming in only THREE days time to stay for 4 nights!! We've been counting down the days for ages now, so its hard to beleive it will be so soon! Can't WAIT to see you honey (for the firs ttime, lol!).... so will have a huge crazy busy time over the next week. And look out for lots of pics too - am also hoping to get Lusi to take some family snaps for us.

Don't have time for much else, so will just leave you with some random pics from the last few weeks:
My first attempt at 'the feet' shot... note to self: use someone else's hands to hold her feet... while am happy enough with this, will have to try again...

I love love love this one of Jai that I took on Satureday... sure, he's being silly, but I love it!

This is what Lani constantly does if she's wearing a dress... actually she pulls up her shirts too! lol.. Greg says we're gonna have a handful with this one ;)
Two peas in a pod.. this pose knows as 'squishy face cuddles' (well from Greg anyway, lol)

My CJ

2007-09-11T20:53:00.000+10:00

Am really not in much of a blogging mood hey. My life doesn't seem interesting enough to blog about...

But I wanted to share these pics of my 2nd CJ with SOF. For this one, I made my own album, the first I've ever really done actually.... it was fun and I like how it turned out...

My topic is 'Simple Pleasures' and its 5x5 size...

Well, I can't really think of anything remotely interesting happening.... so I'll just leave it there I think....

N xxx

I'm addicted

2007-09-05T12:16:00.000+10:00

.. to Facebook!!

Thanks to Tam, I fianlly signed up to Facebook last week and am hooked! Oh my, I've found soooo many ppl that I went to school with - what's more fun is ppl I went to PRIMARY school with!! Some people are just party animals (a lot it seems), many are jetting and working around the world, and a few are married with kids too - yay!

Hooked up with a guy I wasn't really friends with in school, Peter, but he married one of the girls from school and they have two boys, so there's some common ground there. AND, he is friends with a girl from uni I'd lost contact with, so was super excited to get Bec's number... and am going to a little mother's group at her place (with Pete's wife Kylie too) tomorrow morning... will be GREAT to catch up, she's had a little girl and twins since I saw her!

How was your Fathers Days? Ours was both good and bad. Bad in that Greg's grandpa died the night before so there was a bit of a downer there. Hopefully he's with our Lord though. We had my parents over for afternoon tea... were meant to be going to their place to also celebrate my sister's b'day but she went to Hervey Bay to her man and his family instead, so we're doing it this Sunday instead.

Greg started his new job yesterday. Moved to Aspley store but unfortunately as night-fill manager. Crappy hours (12pm-10pm), but it has pros and cons. Pros are that we can walk Jai to school together 3x a week, and get fit and have a nice chat together then too. Greg needs to get fit to get into the Aust Fed Police. He has his first round of testing (medical, psych, aptitude etc) on the 17th Sept. Prayerfully he'll pass that (I'm sure he will) and then hopefully it won't be too long before he's fit enough to pass those tests, and we're hoping to get into an intake early in the new year! May involve a move yet, but not sure... lots to discuss about that.... will cross that bridge when we come to it I guess.

Well, I've been totally wasting my whole day sitting on this computer!! eek... better go do some thing domestic.