Creative Opportunities for Elijah

Elijah Samuel is such a dynamic, creative little guy. No matter where he is..... playground, bathroom, dining table eating dinner..... he is bopping and grooving. He just has music in his veins, and he's seriously been like that since birth! He is still tiny for his age and I think of him as my little pocket rocket. ;)

He is studying jazz dancing this year in the best dance school in town. His teacher is amazing, very strict and expects a lot from the children - but they rise to meet the challenge. And he is loving it. A lady who came over recently asked Elijah "So what are you into Elijah? What do you enjoy?" His answer was "Dancing, suits and top hats". !

Recently at Prep, the two classes combined to perform a story dance to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Woah. Amazing stuff. It's worth seeing this for the costumes alone! I'm hoping a recording will be online at some stage so I can share it with you. The kids were divided into four groups - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Elijah is part of Summer - he is the "Storm Master" who rises majestically out of a painted cardboard box, and brings thunder and lightning to the stage. His facial expressions were priceless! This is him in only part of his costume.

And with the little girl who played the bee in Spring. :) She too is a little dancer and they are great friends! So nice to see my boy coming out of himself more at Prep, happy to just be who he is and to have opportunities to grow and perform in the area he loves.

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Thanks to those who have already commented on this post. Please, if you ever drop in and read my blog, if you are a long-term follower or a brand new reader, I want to hear from you! It's a chance for me to discover who is out there, and for you to let me know what you enjoy reading here or have always wanted to know! :)

New Home Tour - My Boys' Room

My two beautiful, rumbustious, noisy, loving boys share this bedroom. It has an open doorway into Saraya's bedroom which makes night time settling very easy - I can sit on the mat between the two rooms and pray with / sing to all 3 children at once! It also means one CD player (in Saraya's room) for sleepy music plays to all 3 children.

Elijah Samuel's bed

And William David's toddler bed

The rooms are quite small but certainly big enough for them at their ages for the moment.

I really love how the boys room turned out. :) It has the vibe of a little boys room! Lots of cheeky giggles and play times in here. Oh, and sleeping. :)

Hope you're enjoying seeing my new home. I'm looking forward to getting this tour done so I can blog about some other things!

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful...

... Beautiful Boy.

Elijah Turns Six!

Well, technically not until Tuesday...... but we celebrated his turning six last night!

He wanted a "fancy dinner party please", so we invited some special Prep friends and voila! I think he enjoyed every minute.

Elijah is not your average six year old. He loves to dress up, and feels dapper in a suit and top hat. ;) He loves musical theatre (hmmm, no idea where he gets that from), singing, and dancing. But he knows who he is, and isn't afraid to be himself. I so admire that in him.

Happy birthday darling Elijah Samuel!

What's Happening?

I've received several personal emails from readers, asking what's happening here at the moment. My blogging isn't very regular lately, and for that I apologise! I'm sure one day soon things will settle and I'll be back into some sort of routine.

So.... what's been happening?

The children have been busy with school and all that that entails. Projects, homework, reading, friends, birthday parties, life. All three of them are really thriving at the moment.

William and I have enjoyed long walks in the mornings together, and cuddles at home - trying to keep warm, it has been really cold the last couple of weeks!

I have visited my home city twice in the last month - the first time was a fleeting visit, to see an amazing vocal teacher and have a singing lesson with her - that was incredibly inspiring. I've been working hard on my singing ever since, both as a soloist and in a female quartet some friends and I have formed up here. We're already being offered some gigs, so that's promising. :)

The second time was to spend a day with my Mum, and visit with some old friends if mine. It has given me strength, spending time there.

Stuart and I are still living together, though as separate people. We are going through the looong processes you must go through when separating... and it's been a rather gruelling time for us both. There's not much else to report - other than we are okay, I have started having counselling, and we are both getting lots of support from friends.

Today I'm planning for Elijah's 6th birthday party, which is tomorrow. He is SO excited. :D

I'll leave you with this link to one of our "Sisters" rehearsals the other night. It's rough, and one of the quartet is missing, but it's something to show you! Cover of "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO6ElPxwRuc

Garlicky Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin

Garlic

Onions, potatoes, carrots, stock

Warm soup for my patient.

Oh, and the little brother!

Elijah's still not quite himself, but a little better.

And I must say a big WELCOME to my 2 new followers who jumped in today - warm greetings and blessings to you both!

Meal Plan Monday

Linking up with Vicki today for her Meal Plan Monday.

I find I stick to my meal plan better if I don't designate days on which to cook the various meals. Here's my plan for our family, for this week.

* Roast chicken with roast veggies and green beans

* Stew in the Crock Pot

* Pumpkin Soup and rolls

* Sausages, baby potatoes and salad

* Zucchini Slice and salad

* Scrambled eggs, ham, toast and sliced tomato

* Chicken and vegetable stir-fry with rice

The soup I am working on right now. Lunch for good health for my Elijah. :)

Sunday Evening Thoughts

It's sleep time now.

I just wanted to say I was part of a Flood Relief Concert this afternoon at our local theatre, and it went great! It was a huge team - 300 people on stage? - of dancers, singers and musicians from our local district. Ian (my 'Harold') and I sang a song each from The Music Man, and gave the show a good plug. ;) Hoping this attracts more people in the community to come along and see it!

Thank you all for your kind words following my last post. They mean so much to me. The weekend has been sweet time together, despite having an Open Home here, jobs to do in town, music students to teach, rehearsals to attend... and then this concert this afternoon. It's so busy at the moment, but we're making the most of the time we do have together. The children are being so patient, and making the best of things too. They LOVE being at the theatre!! :) They are truly growing up to be theatre kids, just like their Mama and Papa.

Elijah is a little sick today. Throughout the day he developed a fever and has been complaining over the weekend about a sore throat and neck. He's sleeping now and seems to be more comfortable. I may give him a home day tomorrow. Lots of rest and cuddles would do him good I'm sure. Please pray for his quick recovery? Thank you.

Goodnight all.

My Elijah Boy

I've noticed some big changes in my beautiful Elijah boy over the past few weeks. He is changing and growing and developing at a new pace.

He suddenly just seems more grown up. The feeling is, for me, bittersweet. :)

He has taken quite an interest in drawing lately, and makes all sorts of little things which delight me. Not just drawings, but characters which have names and interact with one another. Last week he made a "backdrop" (a forest picture with a big slit in it to stick puppets through), and a whole collection of little puppets (drawings of animals and people and clouds and raindrops etc. all stuck onto little coloured matchsticks). He has performed little shows with them. He is so imaginative.

He is getting quite interested in numbers. He loves to work out little sums, and is constantly seeing patterns everywhere.

His interest in space continues. He has found a craft project which he wants to try in one of his big sister's art books. It is basically making cards with pop-out astronauts and planets. etc., and it looks quite tricky. But I want to say "YES!" to him. He is such a gracious, patient little guy and I just love saying yes to Elijah. So make the cards we will.

He has learnt to buckle himself in in the car.

He has learnt to wipe his own bottom, all the time. ;)

He has started to put on his own socks and sneakers; he gets out of the bath on his own, dries off and gets pyjamas on all by himself. :D He gets up early every morning, and finds things to do quietly in his room. By the time we get up (at the oh so late hour of 6am or so :)), he has quite a few things to show me.

Perhaps some little boys Elijah's age have been able to do these things for awhile already. That's okay. Every child develops at their own pace. Eli is small for his age (still wearing a size 3 at 5 and a half years old), he hasn't lost any teeth yet (no wobblies yet either), he doesn't even own a 2-wheeler bike (Christmas is coming though! Hang on Elijah!)......... he is a little man who is taking his time growing up.

But growing up he is.

I'm so proud of my Elijah Samuel. He is a beautiful, sweet little boy who will never eat a bite before giving thanks for his dinner, and making sure we all do too. Who kisses and cuddles me all the day long. Who is humble and kind and won't lay a hand on William despite the hits over the head he receives from time to time. Who tells me I'm the best cook in the whole wide world. :D

Love you Elijah! xx

Elijah's 5th Birthday Party

"Elijah, we are going to give you a birthday party this year! Turning 5 is a very special age."

"A birthday party? With friends and games and everything?"

"Yes!!! And you get to choose what sort of party you would like, who comes, what food we serve.... everything."

"WOW Mama!!! This is my first party!!" Thinks for quite awhile...... "I want to have a Charlie and Lola party!" Then a week or so later.... "I want to have a Mary Poppins party. Yes. And you can make me a Bert cake Mama. 'Cos I want to be Bert, and wear a dressed-up shirt and a hat!"

"Um.... okay. Wow! What a great idea Elijah. All right, a Mary Poppins party it is."

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And so it all began. :) The guest and food lists written, the cake baked

balloons out front

Let the party begin!!!

Great excitement as he opened a birthday gift..... a long-awaited shirt and tie! He had spotted it a few months back and loved it so I secretly bought it and hid it away. :) And it made a perfect Bert shirt!

Of course he posed for some photos in the garden. How handsome is this boy?!

This is my personal favourite!! It's just Elijah's personality shining through!

Balancing Bert........

Cutie William in his bow tie!! Didn't stay on for long but was adorable.

Grandad Fern as Admiral Boom - how impressive is this costume?!!

He even fired 2 blanks from his gun to signal the start and the end of the party - which scared the kids and got the neighbour a bit upset! :(

But oh so in character, and the men who were here thought it was pretty awesome. And Elijah loved having his Grandad here.

Mary Poppins :)

This is the stage Stu rigged up for Eiljah's present. :) He bought the frames for $5 each from a garage sale, and purchased timber to screw on top. Such an appropriate gift for him, and it got a good workout yesterday!

A little friend brought Elijah this spider in a jar - love the look on his face!!

Ruby as miniature Mary Poppins

Declan as a chimney sweep

"Jane and Michael Banks" :) (bits of costumes missing here!)

These two had everyone smiling yesterday. They have known each other since they were 6 months old, and have always had lots of theatrical fun together!

Trying out the stage! We had the soundtrack playing on repeat.

"It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary......."

And "We love to laugh, ha ha ha ha...."

Elijah insisted Stu had to dress up as the laughing Uncle Albert!

"Pavement Painting"

The kids had a great time on this swing Stu rigged up. FUN!!!

Elijah / Bert the one-man-band!

And the kids did Saraya up as well!

Afternoon tea time!! All Elijah's favourites were served.

Blowing out 5 candles.

A game of What's the time Mr Wolf?

Happy birthday beautiful little man!!

I love being your Mama, and am so proud of the confident, creative and loving little boy you are growing up to be. :D xoxoxoxo

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And today (Monday) is his actual birthday, and we are taking things very easy after such a full weekend of fun!!! The children are currently watching the Mary Poppins film. :) And I've been doing lots of cleaning up from yesterday. We will read together later, Saraya will do her lessons, and I have just found out that Mum will be arriving here later this afternoon! Very exciting; she and Ray were meant to be here yesterday but were unwell. Elijah's very excited she is coming for his BBQ tea tonight. :)