Picture Update

Birthday twins

The boys enjoying the circus - part of the birthday celebrations.



The boys were invited to a Garden Tea Party for a sweet 5 year old friend.




Complete with balloon animals...




and yummy treats.



The bush telegraph at work - news spread that Cameron could play the guitar and sing.  Here he is performing at the Wowan/Dululu Mother's Day morning tea!!



Me and my boys, Mother's Day 2012.



Holidays for us now.  Looking forward to 3 weeks of family time and visiting friends.


Blessings,

And Sasha turns 5

I have been wanting to post pictures of Sasha's birthday celebrations since we returned from holidays, but it feels like we hit the ground running so I never had time.  I decided it must be done before the month changes, because April brings two more birthdays to celebrate.

Sasha's birthday fell near the end of our holidays but we made a special trip to Maryborough and threw him a ten-pin bowling party with friends and family.  He had a blast.

How cute are those little shoes?

We had a great time as a family during the holidays.  We went on three separate trips and home for just a day or so to wash in between.  I was a bit worried at first that it would be too much travelling but I tried to stay positive and it went really smoothly.  It was so wonderful that during these holidays we were able to see all members of both sides of our family (even if just briefly, Uncle Berty!).

The last day of holidays was our 8th wedding anniversary.  Cameron took one of the boys grocery shopping, brought dinner home for us and a surprise present as well (which was just what I wanted, so someone was listening!!!).  It's funny, I have two photos on our fridge of Cameron and I.  The first one was taken when we were first dating and the next one was taken close to 8 years later.  Check it out - we still have the same pose.

Anyway, here's to us.  May there be many more happy years together.

Hopefully I won't be a stranger to my own blog.  I'm working on it.

Blessings,

February!!!

It has been such a busy season for visitors.  We love having visitors and I think we counted about 10 overnight visitors in the 6 months we have lived here!!  That's amazing.  It got to the stage where the boys would wake up and say "who is coming today Mum?"  Funny.  It has been a bit of a struggle to get back to routine though but now we are back to no visitors and obviously we miss everyone and want them to come again.  Such is life.

It's been a while since I posted, so I am thinking this will turn out to be a long post that rambles from one topic to the next and includes heaps of photos!!  Here goes:

School is back in full swing for us.  We are finishing off "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".  The boys are reading well now but we still have about 15 lessons to go before we complete the book.  After that we will move onto First Language Lessons and Writing With Ease. 

We are pressing through with our Math curriculum but we may well switch before too long.  One of my boys really needs manipulatives to help him along a bit.  We've heard great things about Math-U-See so that may be where we go next.  My boys are still so young so I am really letting them set the pace and not expecting them to complete pages and pages of worksheets each day. 

I need to focus on Character Study for my boys also.  We've noticed a few behaviour issues that I really don't want to become a habit, so I really want to focus on working with the boys regarding patience, obedience, not arguing, and also having a good work ethic.  They are old enough now to be able to remember simple chores.  The laziness habit is trying to show its ugly head ("it's too hard", "I'm tired") so we are going to nip that quickly also.

Anyway, on a personal note, I've been reading some great books lately and one which really made an impact on me was 'Reshaping it All' by Candace Cameron Bure.  It's not that I had lots of weight to lose or anything like that but I find that I eat out of habit.  I am not conscious of the things I am putting in my mouth sometimes.  I'm not being religious about it but I am just noticing my decisions and using will power.  For instance I will stop half way through a meal and check whether I am satisfied (not full, but satisfied).  Most of the things in the book I knew already, but for some reason it just clicked with me and it has been the tool for me to change the way I approach food.  I am already noticing a change in the way my clothes fit, so that is a nice extra.  I want to keep this up!!!  So I probably should put some encouraging verses and quotes from the book around the house for me to remember and apply.

Ok, so let the photo deluge begin.

Yay to be able to tick things off the plan!!

Note to self - do not turn your back when a 3 year old has a marker.





So amazed that Eddie was able to complete this.  He had no help whatsoever.

Eddie and Sasha won prizes for the library's summer reading competition.  So proud.

And the mobile librarian knew we had three boys, so asked the library for another prize for Isaac.  Showing off his watch.  Sorry about the scary eyes!!!

Our excitement for the day.  Rescue chopper lands across the road.  Always attracts a crowd.

Cameron has a couple of weeks off after this rotation.  During this time we will be able to celebrate his sister's birthday, Sasha's birthday and our anniversary.  Good times.

Belated Happy New Year greetings to you all,

Finally ...

... The Holidays - they have arrived.  I know it probably seems like we haven't been here long enough to earn a holiday, but Cameron has been issued with 5 weeks because he has too many holidays up his sleeve - and I tell you, it is perfect timing.  Cameron has been doing a lot of overtime lately and even though it isn't too taxing in our small town, it just makes him unavailable.  Because a colleague has been very sick, he has been working 11 days straight with 3 days off for a little while now so we are ready to chill for a while. 


Next week we've booked in for a few local activities in Rockhampton for school holidays - things like a trip to Heritage Village where the boys will be able to feed animals, milk cows etc, then a couple of trips to different train museums for a train ride and kids crafts with goody bags and so on.  The boys are excited and I will try to remember to pack my camera for show and tell next week!!


Last weekend we had a lovely overnight visit from my sister, her husband and 5 beautiful children.  It was a full house but it was so much fun and lovely to see her precious crew growing up so fast.  Took a great cousins shot (oldest to youngest) this time, so we'll be able to compare height changes over the years.  My sisters are like my best friends and it is very hard to catch up and I feel sad when they leave, but this time I was determined to make the most of it and enjoy what special time we had.

My nephew kept forgetting names, so was calling his cousins "bro".  Love that Eddie dressed up for the occasion.

Can you tell we are sisters?

Awwwwww

 

The cousins - aren't they a gorgeous bunch?

I am truly blessed,

This Too Shall Pass

It's been a tough week this week.  On Monday Eddie woke with a fever and bad cough, so spent the day in bed.  He seemed to pick up in the early evening and was better the next day.  I however went to bed that night feeling the symptoms and woke on Tuesday feeling worse, with a headache as well and ended the day vomiting.  Good times.  Sasha woke yesterday morning with "sore arms and legs" and a sore tummy.  He spent the day in bed but felt better towards the end of the day and was determined to "eat everything off my plate" at dinner time.  He did too, and fortunately there wasn't a colourful show of it afterwards, which was what I expected.

I sometimes feel a crisis of faith when there is sickness in the family (especially when it is my own).  I wonder why I don't see instant results to my prayers for healing.  Anyway, I got over myself and decided to live in hope.  Hope for a better day tomorrow; hope for healing; hope in the God I know who has never let me down.  We live in a sinful world so we are not promised a smooth ride.  But I can still pray, and still believe for all good things, and trust God for the rest. 

Today is a better day.  We decided to start the week off again (sound familiar Jen) and things are looking up and I am very thankful.

Anyway, here are some random thoughts I've been mulling over (humour me - I don't get out much!!)

1.  The lady who works at the Post Office sells farm fresh eggs for $3/dz.  No more marble-sized eggs from the nearest IGA (and by nearest I mean 50km away).  Yay.
2.  I think I may be intolerant to wheat and maybe lactose.  I'm also thinking I might ignore this thought, because I would then have to do research and find alternatives and that just sounds like too much work.  Anyone else wheat intolerant/lactose intolerant?  And does wheat intolerant mean gluten intolerant?  Okay, okay, I will do the research.
3.  Cameron gets holidays in about 18 days - for five weeks.  He does have a lot of overtime to do before those holidays, so I am hoping it goes smoothly.  Instead of 8 days on, he will need to do at least 11 and possibly 14 days straight.  Hoping it is just the 11.

I should sign off before those random thoughts become ramblings.  Oh, too late.

Blessings,

Holidays, Celebrations - and now for the routine!

Five weeks of holidays flew by like I knew they would.  The back-to-work date sat on the calendar as a distant engagement but before we could blink, it was upon us.  Usually after a good break we are refreshed and ready to get back into the routine … this time it is different.  Going back to work for Cameron was a chore; not having him with us was a struggle; and it has reinforced our plans to have him retire sooner rather than later.  We’ll kick the plan into high gear and try to be patient, keeping an eye on the prize!

It was a week of celebrations for us.  Not only Easter celebrations with family and friends but also Cameron and Eddie’s birthday yesterday.  We ended up celebrating Cameron’s birthday on the Wednesday (complete with cake) and then having the Thursday to celebrate Eddie’s birthday (with more cake!!).  I think they both enjoyed their days.  I’m not sure if we’ll always have separate days for them but it worked for this year. 

Photo courtesy of Eddie



Eddie's last night as a 4 year-old



I must admit I have thrown routine and order out the window a bit.  After being so run down leading into the holidays, we tended to just spend time with the boys and not worry too much about school, structure, routine or anything.  Starting to pay for that a bit now though, as they boys really thrive on routine.  I’m not a strict clock watcher or anything, but I know my boys respond well to a plan and purpose to the day so I really need to find out where Miss Motivation went and get her back to work!!  There’ll always be tomorrow though, because today we have to worry about settling in Eddie’s birthday present.  Mistake #1 – assuming that when your child asks for a dog he will choose a compact and manageable one.  

Meet Mutley!!!

Blessings,