A few pics

A few pics from our morning........

Yes, it's FREEZING here this week!!!!!

Elijah's lunch made interesting. :) Funny the things we come up with! Sometimes simple things like this can brighten up our whole day. (and get Elijah to eat his kiwi fruit with a smile ;))

An emergency that made me smile :)

Well, it's been a quiet rainy week thus far. We've done very little out and about as it's just too cold!! William really dislikes being in the wind...... he gasps and struggles and I just have to go back indoors with him. I feel a bit housebound and yesterday we tried to have an afternoon walk which lasted about 4 minutes! It's been a cold winter so far. The fireplace is getting a good workout and I'm so thankful for it!

This morning after returning home from the school drive, Elijah exclaimed that he needed the toilet. I sent him in, lay William on the rug in the living room to and went to add another log to the fire. Next thing Elijah shrieked out from the toilet, "MAMMA!! There is a wee emergency in here! It's flooding the whole floor!!" Needless to say I ran in to find a huge puddle on the floor but couldn't help laughing in response to Elijah's funny way of calling me in! He is such a character sometimes. Well, the clean-up from that little incident took awhile and by the time I returned to William he had filled his nappy and clothes (3 layers worth) with that nice yellow baby poo. So he was next to be stripped off and changed. While he had his nappy off he decided to do a big fountain wee in the air. What is it with boys? Grr.......

The rug was next to be cleaned up. :(

In the middle of typing this I just had to go help Elijah on the toilet again (no accident this time thankfully). I feel like all I've done so far this morning is to help my two boys with toileting....! Looking forward to getting on with some other things soon. Even if they are housework and washing etc. I am looking forward to the cooking I need to do today. And I'm thankful to have found the 10 minutes or so to write this! I am constantly writing posts in my head that I never get time to actually blog. :) Anyone else do this?

Oh, just wanted to say too how excited I am that my Mum and Ray are coming THIS weekend! They have been overseas for 6 weeks so we haven't seen them for ages. Mum is going to be staying on next week for a few days which I always look forward to. I love having her company during the weekdays!

Here's my beautiful Mum a couple of years ago with my bubby Elijah.

I'm so glad she's coming. I've been a bit down this week with the financial stress of needing to sell the house next door in the next few months, and it's nice to have something happy to look forward to.

Have a great day everyone.

Feminine Friday (umm... Saturday ;))

Well, yesterday was a busy day and I didn't get my Feminine Friday post posted.

The little boys and I did some grocery shopping and went to playgroup, had rests and did a little housework before picking Saraya up from school. I made a yummy Apple Cobbler for dessert last night, to have after our pumpkin soup and bread. A nice start to the weekend, and a busy day!

Well, here's my Feminine Friday for this week.

The humble plait. I like trying different ways to wear my hair. In the somewhat repetitious life of a Mum, a "change is as good as a holiday". (Well, almost.)

I like plaits, and braids. They keep your hair out of the way and, well... look feminine too!

And this is my favourite bracelet. It was a birthday gift from my friend Jen down in Brisbane. This bracelet is great because it would be lovely to wear out (which I rarely get to do) but also really dresses up a casual everyday outfit (my usual attire!). I feel "happy" in this bracelet. :)

Thanks Jen!!

Pacifiers

I've been experimenting with using a pacifier / dummy with William a little bit this week.
He likes to take it to suck when tired during the day, to settle off to sleep. At the moment I'm not using it for him at night as he doesn't seem to need it.

Dummies are new to us as we didn't use them with our first two children. Just wondered what your experiences have been with dummies...... for or against, pros, cons, ideas, tips, etc.!

Thanks everyone, have a great weekend.

Wordless Wednesday- An old favourite of my bouncy Elijah!

Elijah gets a haircut

This morning Elijah's hair looked like this.

And tonight it looked like this.

My little boy is really growing up!

What a spiffy 3-year-old haircut he has now. :)

Fun in the kitchen :)

Generally, I love having my little ones help out in the kitchen. Some days I get frustrated when they want to help because it slows everything down, but when I remember that I am teaching them to love cooking (and how to cook), I try to be patient! A few deep breaths and we're on our way. :)

Saraya is just getting to be a genuine help. Today we made a nice fruit platter for afternoon tea, and she managed to peel and cut up the kiwi fruit, banana and strawberries all on her own! Oh, and Elijah washed everything at the tap. 3-year-olds and water..... it's fun and games!





I made my very first-ever meat pie for dinner tonight. Stuart LOVES meat pie, and it's always something I've wanted to try but haven't- partly for fear of it not turning out! Thankfully, it did and Saraya's words "Mmmmmmm, can you make this again Mamma?" summed up what everyone thought of it. I was very very happy!



My recipe for Meat Pie:


Saute a finely chopped onion in some olive oil.
Add a few chopped mushrooms, and about 700grams of diced casserole beef. I would like to have added some chopped garlic too, but was doing this with a baby in one arm so didn't manage it. :)

Season it well, add some ground coriander and curry powder and brown over high heat to seal the meat. Reduce heat, and add about a tablespoon of plain flour and a little stock, stir gently. I also added about a teaspoon of soy sauce for extra flavour.

Cover tightly with a lid, and cook very slowly for about 3 or 4 hours. Stir occasionally. If it gets too dry, add a little water. You want it to be like a thick gravy consistency.

Brush a pie dish with a little butter or oil. Lay in a sheet of puff pastry, letting the edges hang over the sides. Spoon in the meat mixture. Cut another sheet of pastry to fit the top. Lay on top, and fold the edges of the bottom sheet over, pressing together to make a "rustic" look. :) Brush with a beaten egg to make it golden.

Bake in a 190 degree oven for about 35 minutes, or until pastry is cooked. Enjoy!!!

Feminine Friday

Kelly from The Barefoot Mama is hosting Feminine Friday................... a chance to share a hairstyle, outfit, or anything really that makes you feel feminine! Check it out at her blog here.

I love a chance to embrace my femininity, remembering that I am a woman and although I (sadly) don't live in an era of long dresses, petticoats and horses and carriages, I can still be a lady!

Things that make me feel like a lady are..........
* nice earings
* a long skirt or dress (I look forward to wearing dresses again once I am no longer breastfeeding!)
* putting on a little mascara and lip gloss (about the extent of my makeup regime, but enough to make me feel a bit special :))
* having fresh flowers around my home
* the occasional flower in my hair :)
* wearing both my wedding ring AND my engagement ring
* wearing my apron while I bake or cook in the kitchen

......... I'm sure there are other things but I'm tired and can't think of any more at the moment.
Kelly suggested we post a photo of a favourite outfit or hairdo. This week I wanted to share that I have just discovered bobbie pins. Yep, good old bobbie pins. Not exactly a new invention, but it's amazing what you can do with them! My hair is pretty wild. I actually really like to straighten it, but with a newborn I'm finding no time to do it lately. So instead I've been wearing it natural- wavy I guess you'd say- and using bobbie pins to keep it out of the way, in a kind-of loose bun.
Saraya saw me putting it up for church last week and wanted to have hers up too. Here was the result.....


After seeing this photo on the camera screen, I actually went and tidied mine up with a few extra pins as I hadn't realised half of it had fallen out. :)



Us girls from the front.

It's fun to "dress up", doing whatever you have time to do and whatever makes you feel lovely.

Wordless Wednesday - A near-perfect day!

A rainy day outside

A happy, smiley baby

An afternoon nap

Homemade baked beans and freshly baked bread for dinner

And a toasty fire to keep us warm.

A movie night

Saturday was one of THOSE days.

Sad really, because it was the last weekend of the holidays and I wanted it to be a happy one. Everyone seemed to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, my mouth was aching from the extraction, and the children were really squabbly. We seemed to spend most of the day disciplining the children and trying to achieve a few bits and pieces along the way.

More than once, I was thinking to myself "Where have Stu and I gone?" You know that feeling, where it seems everything is about the children and there's no time left for just you two? Or even -just me?

I wanted to be here again..........................



(in Oklahoma last March- with a pregnant tummy- second left)

And Stuart here................................

Stuart used to do sword-sparring, and misses the performance and physical nature of that too.

And I LOVE musical theatre; performing is one of my favourite things to do.

I know it's important to maintain our own interests......... but that has do be within reason too. And right now, with Will still a newborn, just about all our focus and time is on family and home and school and Stuart's work. And most days, that's okay. Because I know this is a season. And the occasional feelings of being overwhelmed and lost, and wanting to get on a train with nothing but a backpack and a soundtrack playing in the background are okay.

All this to be said, to say......
I ended up tucking the two little boys in at 7pm on Saturday night, sending Stuart off to watch a movie with a mate, and keeping my girl up for icecream and a movie night. It seemed all I had done all day was correct and train her, and I realised all she really needed was ME. She needed some "quality time" with her Mamma. So, we watched an episode of the old Little House on the Prairie series and felt suitably warm and fuzzy afterwards. :) Just sitting on the couch and cuddling was exactly what we both needed after the day we had had. I'm so glad I realised that rather than just putting her to bed cranky and upset (which is of course what I felt like doing, to finally get some peace and quiet!!).

It's easy when we get caught up in "there's no me time", and "gosh these children are awful".... to want to just run away, or get really cranky with everyone.
But on those hard days, if we can actually stop, take a short break, breathe, pray and breathe some more, we can see that there is some humour and love needed. Our kids need to see us smiling. They need to see us laugh. We need to keep things light, and keep having fun toghether! And we need to do whatever we need to do to stay sane during these early childhood years.

So, as soon as William is big enough, I'll be back on the stage.
And when Stu feels he can balance work and family, and fit in something a little extra, he'll be back with that sword in hand. And won't that feel great!!!

And maybe we'll have our bigger little ones by our sides. :)

Ouch :(

I'm feeling very sore and sorry tonight.

I've had a tooth slowly decaying for awhile now.......... when I was pregnant with William I went to have it checked and they couldn't do much as I couldn't have an x-ray to see what needed to be done. Just this week it's become very sore, throbbing at night etc. so I had the x-ray and it needed to be extracted. I had it out today.
Pregnancies have really caused my teeth to suffer...... they were virtually perfect before I became pregnant with Saraya, and since then I have had several fillings, lost two molars and all four of my wisdom teeth!! And this from a girl who really really dislikes extractions. :(

I'm off to bed soon to rest. I'm sure I'll feel brighter tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday - One of my favourite photos ever!

Our "House of Dreams"

Remember this?

Ready to find out what Stuart was digging?...............................

A front path!!! Yay!!! Woohoo!!!!

Every little home deserves a front path to welcome people in. And now we have one! Stu worked hard over a couple of days last week to create this lovely path. In these photos it's not quite finished but already you can see what a great job he's done! Here is Saraya trying it out.

Also, our home finally has a name. :) If you're an Anne of Green Gables fan, you will appreciate the name.......................

That's right, it is inspired by the novel Anne's House of Dreams........... which happens to be my favourite Anne book (I LOVE the Anne of Green Gables books!). Just after we moved here, we had a long conversations about what we would name our home. We plan to live here for a long time while we raise our family, and wanted to give it a name and a sign! We came up with lots of ideas, but both settled on this one.

We both desire our home to be a happy, peaceful place filled with love and laughter and beauty. We want our children to feel settled and safe to live and learn and dream and be. We hope to welcome in friends and family and create a lovely atmosphere in which to live.

So, our "House of Dreams" now has a sign for all to see..........

It hangs just above the "ship bell" we purchased a few years ago as a doorbell. A passion of Stuart's is nautical history, tall ships etc. so this was a special addition to our home also.

The children are always keen to help their Papa! So nice to have him around all the time over the holidays.

So what else has been happening in the House of Dreams this week?

Well, yesterday was one of those crazy days where we managed to fit in a surreal amount of work, and feel very satisfied with our efforts at the end of it. Saraya has had a few symptoms of having worms, so I decided to treat all of us just in case and also do a major clean! Thankfully William had a happy day and allowed me to do all I needed to do. I dusted the entire house, cleaned the bathroom and toilet, vacuumed and mopped all the floors, changed the sheets on all the beds, washed 4 loads of laundry, dried and folded it all............ AND managed to bake a batch of muffins for afternoon tea!! How?? I have no idea. Consider it a miracle! A great post-birth fitness regime considering much of my work was done with a baby in the sling. :) Today was a much quieter day, thankfully, with the children and I indoors with the fire warming us for most of it. Lots of book-reading ("Alice In Wonderland" at the moment) and board games ("Guess Who?" is the favourite!).

And Stuart has been incredibly busy planning for work for Term 3, building a front path :), and also doing a stack of work on the property next door. A long-winded story that, but just let me say that by default the house next door has wound up as an investment home of sorts - one that we don't actually want, we can't keep and we are desperately trying to sell. The last 2 days Stu has spent following the advice of our Real Estate agent, re turfing the entire backyard to make it more sell-able. On his own, in the rain. This follows after we re-did the gardens etc. 2 weeks ago with the help of some beautiful friends. We have also been cleaning the whole interior, shampooing the carpets etc. Needless to say, it's not the ideal way to be spending the holidays............. but we're keeping our spirits up, it's almost there and is looking great. Stuart has worked so hard and he really is my hero. We're praying the house will sell soon and all the hard work will pay off. Feel free to pray for this along with us.

The rest of the holidays we will spend as much time together as we can. We have a few fun things in mind to do with the children, weather permitting. Will post pictures as they come! Happy Tuesday everyone. :)

A new video!

Last night Stu stayed up late having fun putting together a little video of our oldest two, made with footage from Elijah's 3rd birthday in June. Take a peek at the top "our video" link below.... and the others too, if you haven't already!

My Winter garden

Today was very very cold, a real nip in the air, showers, and a chilly breeze blowing. We ventured out to church this morning, and came home to light the fire and enjoy a pizza lunch in front of it! After a few hours of down time, the children were getting slightly crazy so we all headed outside to spend some time in the fresh (VERY fresh) air. I ended up walking around with William in the sling, taking some photos of what's going on in the garden at the moment. Thought I'd share it with you.

Roses rambling over the bird bath

This one is called "Pinky"

I love this variegated lemon thyme - it's really yummy and smells delicious too!

Nasturtiums which have popped up every winter, since I planted them 2 years ago

A delicate white Camelia flower on Elijah's bush (a gift from Cathy and her family for his 1st birthday)

Some flowering natives - the birds all LOVE these of course, so I want to plant more of them

They'll probably love these too........... hope we get to them first! The mulberries are just appearing on Saraya's tree (a 4th birthday gift from us - she loves mulberries!) Looking forward to Spring...

Flat-leaf parsely and mint gone MAD

The orange tree is flowering!

So is the French lavender.............

And the happy orange Calendulas..............

And who are these gorgeous little creatures running around the garden trying to keep warm??

This cracked me up....... a swim ring? Was she dreaming of summer beaches, or what?

The veggie patch could be fuller, but I haven't had much time for gardening lately! Lucky it's thriving on neglect. Broccoli, brown/red lettuces, parsely, capsicums....................

Oh, I also photographed this handsome man working hard on something.....................

Stay tuned for the next post to find out what it is! :)