Chocolate Hangover...... already!!

We had a lovely start to the school holidays... we made chocolates! We started the tradition last year and have continued it on with the same little group. It was lovely to see the kids be able to do more independently this year, especially the older girls who loved choosing the colours and checking the melting chocolate.

We rode our bikes up the road this morning.....(well the kids did while I waddled close behind).

Then we got down to work melting the chocolate and white chocolate, colouring the white chocolate and filling the moulds.....The weather today is lovely and starting to cool off especially in the mornings. It's only reaching a top tempreture in the early 30's so the moulds actually set this year.

Miss 8 and Miss 5 loved choosing their colours although we ended up with lots of green and pink chocolates.... funny that!!

After the moulds were filled into the freezer they went for 10 mins then out they came..... pop the mould then....eat!!

Well the first few were eaten then the rest made it home in a container. Now we have so many left over I am thinking of a few people in town that may need some chocolates this Easter so I am planning on using a few for some little gifts for some special people around town. It was a lovely morning out...... and my headache this afternoon has nothing to do with a chocolate hangover... I'm sure!!

We have some other little activities planned for over Easter but I am planning on getting some nesting of my own done through the holidays too. 

Happy Easter everyone.... enjoy...'these Beautiful Days'.

It's official.... I have an 8 year old!!

Okay so today Miss 7 is now Miss 8.

It really is a little freaky that I am the parent of a 8 year old, she is no longer a little kid. Miss 8 has always had opinions, but now she has reasonable, educated, well thought out opinions on a range of topics from her favourite colours (bright pink, not quite dark pink followed by gold) and bone marrow donation (why doesn't everybody do it?) to Harry Potter (should have married Hermione) and why we should get a fish ( I will look after it by feeding it, cleaning the tank and talking to it, it should be a red fighting fish). We are definitely hitting the next phase of parenting that's for sure!!

I think Miss 8 will be okay through this next phase after reading her recent writing at school. She said in her 'If I was Ruler of the World' paper that she would give all the children toys namely Lalaloopsys to play with and schools to go to, and in her 'Superhero' piece she created not one but two female superheros that saved the world .... This tells me that our parenting job is done. Miss 8 believes in giving to others, values education and can see women as being independent.... I can exhale.

Some of her favourite things at the moment are interesting she loves Harry Potter, (the books and movies), Lalaloopsys, Taylor Swift, My Kitchen Rules, cooking, and she has an amazing imagination. Though sometimes I wish you can freeze time, it feels like not that long ago she was just born and feeding all the time (she has never and still isn't a fan of the sleeping part), 8 is such an awesome age you can get away with still being a kid then also have opinions and learn about the world.

To celebrate we had a party on Friday..... she invited some friends over for a sleepover.... the first one.

They had afternoon tea (smoko)....

With a Lalaloopsy cake topper sent up by Aunty Rach from Sugercraft Cakes... it is amazing!!

They then sang Karaoke on the Wii Glee Karaoke...

And we went for a swim at the local pool before coming home and making pizza for dinner....

The had a great afternoon, laughed lots, played lots, laughed lots and went to sleep about 11pm.... not bad for the first sleepover.

I am so proud of the way she is turning out and growing up, I can't wait to see what the next few years bring as she gets to experience more of the world in her own way. I look forward to watching as she gets tackle more challenges on her own, and find her little path in the world.... parenting is so exciting, it gets better as time goes on and you get to see these little people grow and watch as they navigate their own way.

Happy Birthday Miss 8.... today is a special one of ...'these beautiful days'.

Sorry for the delay in posts.... it's been a big few months!!!

So this week Miss 7 turns into Miss 8, I can't believe that I am about to be the mother of an 8 year old! This also got me to thinking that it can't be that long ago that we were celebrating Miss 5's birthday, it seems like only a few weeks ago.... but it was in October which got me to thinking of all that has happened between then and now.

Miss 5's birthday was a very green affair... it's her favourite colour you see.... can you tell?

We had a party ... the next day Miss 5, Master 2 and I boarded a plane for 8 weeks of Prac in NSW to finish my university degree.

During this time I waved them off each day while my magical parents and amazing sister in laws' and beautiful mother in law looked after them and I finished a 7 week prac at a local high school.

It was my second week in and I wasn't feeling great so I did a test..... baby no. 4 was on the way!!

It was around this time I also got my hair cut.... like really cut,  about 30 cms off the end. It was a big change and I love it!!

Before I left the 3 girls and our long hair!

We got to spend time with friends and family we hadn't seen for ages including my brother and sister...

And the cousins....

Including the beautiful Miss Marlie, who we had never met...

We did lots of skyping with Dad while we were away..

We were reunited in November to celebrate my beautiful mothers 60th, this was a great day and for me it was special to have my little family together again to celebrate.

After I finished the prac finally.... we spent the week up in Brisbane and packed this with visits with friends, trip to Dreamworld and spending time with family... it was great!!
In December we returned north for a few weeks then headed back south for Christmas with the family. Even though we had just seen everyone we knew that we wouldn't have the opportunity to have Christmas with our family for the next few years so we wanted to make the most of it!!
We also had a lovely holiday at the beach.... this was special because it was where we had met many years ago!!
It was lovely to bring the kids here so many years later, and have them enjoying the same places I enjoyed in my childhood.

We also celebrated our wedding anniversary here on New Years Eve.... we have been married 7 years, and celebrated by waking the kids up to walk them up town for a late night icecream.... they didn't seem too worried!!

Then came the start of 2013..... we returned up north and prepared for Miss 5 to start school... and now that I had completed my teaching degree I was lucky enough to be able to head to work at the school 1 day a week... I am now officially a teacher (it still hasn't sunk in... I'm not sure it ever will).

Our first day of school

Now for the rest of the year... well this little person will be joining us before too long...

It's only when I look at what we have been up to since the start of October that I realise 'We have been busy.... super busy' and I may need to take it a little easier over the coming months.... doing a little more sitting, knitting, reading and relaxing enjoying 'these beautiful days'.... but first someone is turning 8!!!

Why I do photo a day.....

A few months ago I started doing the Fat Mum Slim Photo a day. This is a challenge where at the start of the month you recieve a list of prompts for each day, everyone recieves the same prompts and you take pictures relating to that prompt and post them online each day. I liked the idea of capturing a moment in each day, just one second of what happens in my life. I liked the idea of following prompts that force me to be creative and think a little outside the square.

Now I am no photographer, and the digital photography course I have on my bucket list hasn't happened yet.... something to do with living in the bush, having babies, working, having babies, studying, having babies, baking ,sewing knitting and having more babies... you get the idea. But I plan to do one before I have grankids so I can be their official photographer and get some half decent shots of them.
There are loads of photos a day out there, but the one that I follow is from the Fat Mum Slim Blog... the link is here  http://fatmumslim.com.au/. There aren't too many 'rules' but the photos have to be your own, you can upload them onto Instagram as I do and share them on facebook. It's no dramas if you miss a day or use an old picture, but I try and use a picture from the day of the prompt.

I try not to include my kids in too many of the pictures of Photo a Day because as beautiful as they are to me.... it would be a bit boring to have an extra 30 photos or so of them a month uploaded. It also helps me be a person as well as a Mum to take a few seconds each day to focus on something other than the kids, but sometimes I can't help it. The prompt for the picture on the left was 'Dream' and I checked it in the morning when I got up.... they were all still sleeping so I snapped it.

I try to always take the picture on the day of the prompt, so that it's like a diary as time goes on. The Photo a Day has encouraged me to snap pictures of such ordinary moments and things like our letter box on the 'Mail Box' day prompt.

I hope the kids will be able to look back and remember things often forgotten with time. Like what Mum's bedside table looked like when we were little from the 'On your bedside table' prompt.

These photos are a great opportunity to show off our little town as well as remember special times, like this picture from the end of the Christmas holidays when Miss 7 and I went walking together most mornings from the 'Ready' prompt... because we were ready for our morning walk.

And this picture from the 'Angle' promt, looking at the angle of the veranda at my parents house while I was on my university Prac late last year. If it wasn't for this prompt I would have stayed here, in my childhood home for 7 weeks without once photographing the view.

This picture was taken in response to the 'Letters' prompt the day I found out I was pregnant.... se so many memories, but all it takes is one look at the picture and I can remember feeling excited and anxious all at once on the way to this place where I absent-mindedly snapped the picture.

This picture is also particularly special because after I had just found out I was pregnant with baby no. 4 while on Prac and I was feeling so unwell. My Mum was also not feeling well but she took us to my favourite ice cream shop for an ice cream, I captured this picture in response to the 'Where you are' prompt... and I am so happy I did, I will always remember this day when I see this picture.... I am so thankful!!

 I love being creative with the prompts, I have captured some beautiful moments thanks to the Fat Mum Slim photo a day challenge..... these memories help remind me of all those feelings at each moment in  time so special and part of..'these beautiful days'.