A day to remind myself of why I do what I do

After a couple of weeks of letting things get the better of me, I had a "moment". I LOVE homeschooling my children and I LOVE MY children. None of the other "stuff" matters.

I decided to take the time out and shake off the cob webs! We abandoned our plans for the day and threw routine out the window and headed for the beach. We are blessed to live only half an hour away to the beautiful Gold Coast, such beauty right at our door step.

The children played so beautifully and I soaked up some much needed sunshine and fresh air.

Need to remind myself to do this more often


Psalm 118 vs 24
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it

She can walk....she can talk!

Baby number 3 has stolen our hearts!

We were a picture perfect(even if I do say so myself) family of 4 for nearly 5 years before baby number 3 graced us with her presence. She has definitely thrown me out of my "comfort zone" so to speak. Up till then I had life sorted with my little pigeon pair BUT oh how I was not ready for another little cherub to come and steal my heart but she did just that and I love her more than words can say and she is a true "joy" to our family.

As can often happen with baby number 3 we forget about the traditional "baby record book" so this is when I thought before I forget I will blog the milestones to 17 months(which she turns in 5 days)

• SMILE 8 weeks
• LAUGH 3 months
• SLEEP THRU THE NIGHT(which I count from 8 plus hours or more) 4 months
• ROLL OVER 5 months
• TASTE FOOD 5 months
• SIT 6 months
• CRAWLING 10 months
• STAND HOLDING ON 12 months
• STAND ALONE 15 months
• FIRST STEPS 15.5 months
• WALKING 16 months

FIRST WORDS(not necessarily in order of appearance)
Muma : )
Dada
Buba
Bye bye
Ta
Thank you(which she pronounces-tan tu)
shoes(pronounced sooz)
zhu zhu(those pet toys)
Elmo (pronounced emo)
Meme(grandma in french)
Tata(aunty in french)
Bubbles
Na nights (pats herself when she's tired)
broom broom(playing with cars or trains)
beep beep(relation to cars)
woo(impersonating a dog)


1 Peter 2 vs 2-3
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Those melt my heart moments!

As a busy homeschooling mum of 3 I really hold onto the what I call, "melt my heart" moments.

I am a person who gets very overwhelmed easily. I like to be busy and am a bit of an over achiever at times! Today is a good example. I was meant to be having the day at home to take it easy and relax, just enjoy the kids after an extremely busy week full of birthday parties and play dates. BUT I started my day by beginning to make brekky, but after putting milk in my thermomix I started thinking about dinner...."oh I may just put dinner on while Im in here" I thought to myself. So in go the onions and garlic into the thermomix!!!!! Hmmmm now I knew I forgot something.....my smoothie I was in the middle of preparing! So I had to rescue the onion and garlic and pour the milk out and restart the soup and decided to hand shake my smoothie and instead of a berry one I had a mocha one.
So the soup was ready, I had to make some bread to go with it. I made a focacia.
Put a load of washing on, bathed the toddler C who by 9am was onto her 2nd number 2 for the day!!! while I was in the bathroom I was reminded that the en suite needed a good clean so I scrubbed it from head to toe, oh geez its sparkling now!!! oh back to the washing and then that reminded me that we better start packing for our camping trip.
This is when I had a "melt my heart" moment. Little C was getting grumpy. So I scooped her up and gave her a cuddle. We rolled around on the couch, she giggled as she blew raspberries on my shoulder and then she climbed into her pram and said "na nights' which indicated to me it was nap time. I nursed her to sleep and thought to myself  "how blessed am I ?"
Ok, back to my day!!!
While all this was happening, the computer was on and I was typing the kids assessment that's due to be handed in at the end of term 2 school holidays and instructed the kids at the table to do their sample of work that had to be handed in. We had lunch and I answered some emails, organised product for 2 customers orders and had a cup of tea.....oooh how I cherish my cup of tea!

In the busyness again another "melt my heart moment" I was taking the washing in off the deck(as its been a bit rainy) and I saw in the corner of my eye J painting R's nails for her! "how cute" I thought to myself..... and I am so pleased that my 8.5 yr old son enjoys spending time with his recently turned 7 little sister and can do things that she enjoys. J is such a caring boy and R makes me laugh by saying "look mummy he's my slave" ......yup that's my girl LOL!!!

Now, not everyday is like this but you get the drift, life gets busy but we just need to make sure that we take time to notice the "melt my heart" moments with our beautiful children. We will not remember how clean our house was or how much money we made but we will remember those precious moments with our kids but only if we stop and take that memory shot and put it in the archive.

There will definitely be more in this "melt my heart" serious : )

Matthew 6vs 34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own

Happy 7!!!

My gorgeous second child and my eldest daughter has been such a blessing to us since the day she was born. I had a smooth pregnancy and had prepared myself for a VBAC after having an emergency c-section with my first just 16 months prior. The birth went well, long and painful but well. Little did we know during the "pushing" stage she was losing oxygen and she was born blue and didn't make a single sound. A team of DR's and nurses rushed her to the side and with lots of prayer, including a very specific one from my mum in the side room, "breathe the breath of life" our baby was ok.
I will never forget the moment hubby walked over to me with tears in his eyes and said "thank you for giving me a baby girl" . We haven't found out the sex of our baby during pregnancy, its always been a surprise. I LOVE SURPRISES!!!

R's story continues and she spent a long week in intensive care, and after a lot of tests,medication and of course prayer she was given the all clear and sent home.

My faith was tested for sure during that week. Wandering whether our little girl would have long term problems, worrying that she wouldn't make it through one of her seizures, standing by watching her have test after test with tubes and machines attached to her tiny (well not so tiny-she was 8.5 pounds) body. I kept praying and my faith in God remained strong. He was looking after my little girl and as always he would give us the strength we needed to get through this.

Watching R grow over the last seven years has been a pure joy! She was a happy, carefree baby and always bopping to music and smiling at her family.

R loves animals(doesn't get that from me), has a great interest in the weather(definitely a trait from my hubbys side),she also has a great sense of direction(another trait from hubbys side) and she enjoys singing and dancing(she is often heard playing in her room whilst making up and singing a song at the top of her lungs)She always makes us laugh as she makes us see the world through her eyes.

This last year she has taken on dancing(which she loves), she has also done drama and science classes and is learning spanish. R Started "grade 1" this year and it is her first year at the distance ed school where my kids are registered, they have fortnightly(or thereabouts) EC days and she looks forward to these and runs off to classes quite happily. This year she has also started attending her class at kids church on a Sunday, another thing she looks forward to now and that over a year ago was so hard to get her to let go of my leg!!!

This last few years she has grown a lot, physically of course but in other ways too. She has a lot more confidence and is not afraid to try new things and push herself out of her comfort zone. Its nice to see the people around us, like family notice this also. A couple of anecdotes to explain....

Recently after spending 4 days with her Meme, my mum messages me and says "I really enjoyed R's company, she has come out of her shell, loosing her inhibitions and she is showing affection"
and finishes with "R has many hidden treasures and only those who take the time to wait will discover them"
This is so true and bought a tear to my eye.

At her 7th birthday party(a horse riding 1/2 day workshop with 3 friends of her choice) her friend was upset as the horse that was assigned to her frightened her. R noticed that her friend was upset and said to me " Mummy, I can swap I don't mind which horse I ride". Another hold back the proud tears moment! This same little girl would not have done this even a year ago.

Love you my little princess xxx

Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5 vs 16

Logan Eco Action Festival 2011

LEAF-
I took my eldest 2 and a friend to this. What a well organised, well worth it event to attend. For starters it was FREE and held at a great venue, the local university.

From a homeschooling point of view, this excursion will tick off many outcomes.

The children visited various stands learning about wetlands, endangered animals, saving water, solar energy among lots of other "environmental" awareness activities.
They interacted with adults and children and had a wonderful day.

paper making

rock climbing!

Tomato plants

getting up close with some wildlife
J was asking lots of questions and learning a lot about these cuddly animals!!!

Another "hands on" activity. The children had to categorise "where the animals live" and another one was "what the animals eat".

We also had a yummy Hungarian bread and enjoyed some catchy music by a love band.

A great day, beautiful weather with lots of learning to be had. This ones definitely going in the calendar next year.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
Genesis 1vs 1

Celebrating LOVE

My little brother who I love dearly has grown up and is not so "little" anymore. Actually he is taller than our whole family and he is the baby of the family.

This is a pic of him with my oldest daughter. (my kids love their Uncle, whom they call "Tio" which is Uncle in Spanish)

Recently he asked his girlfriend to marry him, so we celebrated their engagement with lots of friends and family. They are a beautiful couple, great friends and a breath of fresh air.

It was nice to all get "dressed up" and for for a night out all together! The kids were so excited....and ready to PARTY!
It was in a very nice function room at a Hotel in the city, with lots of music, fancy lights and ambiance. We spent the night talking, laughing and loads of dancing.

I love how the kids were socialising with people of all ages, they had no inhibitions and got right in there and danced and had a great time. They were inspiring and their energy contagious, so yes after many years(an I'm not that old!!! I'm turning 30 this year) I DANCED and had a FABULOUS time. Cant wait to do it again.

And while I danced, my wonderful hubby(the best man for the wedding) put our precious baby girl to sleep! With all the music and lights, she just could no longer handle it : )

The night finished(well for us as it was 11:30) with a yummy white mud cake and a very brief speech. We shared this special night with so many other people(a lot of who we didn't know) but I was so proud of my brother and his fiance and it warmed my heart to see how much they meant to not only us but sooooo many other people who love them also.

We love you both and pray God's blessings and favour on your lives as you embark on this wonderful journey of marriage(sharing your life with your best friend) oxox

*Watch this space, as in a few months we will have a post about THE WEDDING!!!

Camping with friends

What a way to spend a weekend! I have been "meaning" to get into camping for many years and have finally taken the step. By Christmas 2010 we had all our camping gear and had a site booked but due to torrential rain(the season of the floods!!!) we decided to post pone our first camping trip as we wanted our first one to be a good one.

April 2011, we went for our first camp and after that I was hooked!!! I am officially a "camper" I LOVE it.

Just recently we camped with friends at Mount Barney. This is the first time our kids have been camping with another family. We surprised them that morning with the news and they were so excited!

Kids love putting the pegs in when setting up the tent. They actually are helpful

Got to love pre dinner nibbles with friends. I have quickly learnt that you spend a lot of time eating or thinking about what you want to eat whilst camping

Nice and cosy by the fire. Sitting around the campfire on a cold night is definitely another one of my fav camping things to do especially with a bag of marshmallows to toast. With friends, great conversation and getting to know you happens. I also like reflecting with the kids about their favourite things from the day.

Lots of teamwork, problem solving, exploring and fun had in the creek. Whilst the adults sat back with drink in hand and eating of course.
Now my kids want one of these boats. I better add that to my list of things we want to add to our camping things along with a camp shower....thanks B and B ; )

A little homeschooling lesson. What can you buy for $2 each at the kiosk? They were so excited that we were letting them go on their own. J recalled when they got back that on their way K said "I feel like a teenager" was so cute that such a small thing made them feel so "big" J was also stocked that the shop keeper gave him a extra lolly for free for looking out for the littlies and helping them decide.

J taught K how to play Monopoly(one of his favourite games)
Sad to go home after just 2 nights but happy that our camping adventures have only begun and we have many more times ahead with family and friends making happy memories.