One lucky day...

So I am having another baby soon and I am getting so excited at the thought of meeting this new, bonus, mystery baby sometime in the next few months, but whenever it gets to this stage of the pregnancy I make an effort to spend a day and record it with the older sibling. I have been so incredibly lucky that I have had one on one time with all my children before the next one comes along, and at the time of the next one they have been between 2 1/2 or 3 so they have been old enough to hold a conversation with (and still young enough to throw an awesome tantrum). I have also been so incredibly lucky that our family situation has given me this time with our toddlers.

 So with Miss 8 before her younger sibling came along we went shopping, got our nails painted at a salon, her hair trimmed and had coffee (her babychino) and a sweet treat together. With Miss 5 we had coffee at a cafe together, went to the park then McDonalds for lunch before Master now 2 was born.

These days have always been about concentrating on the child for the whole day, just one special day where they have my full attention before they have to get used to sharing me all the time again. So yesterday was Master 2's day..........

We started the day by reading books...He loves reading books at the moment

especially anything with animals and crocodiles in them.

We then said goodbye to the sisters or "stinkys" as he now calls them. He called out to them from our back deck as they wandered through the backyard to school for the day.

We then set to the most important task of the morning making the coffee. My husband usually spoils me by making me one to two coffees everyday so I dont use the machine alot, but he was away so we had to make our own...... I think we did okay...

I usually try to sit outside watch the chickens roam, have my coffee, call my mum, check facebook during this time. Master 2 loves playing with the chickens and Luna is his special chicken. Luna is all grown up now and fully recovered from her near death experience, she is by far the tamest one of our chicks and Master 2 catches her easily in the backyard for a cuddle most mornings.

We had one job to do today and that was to take our rubbish to the dump there is no council rubbish service out here! This is a job Master 2 loves because we don't use the car very much so it is such a special treat for him to get to go in the car. We loaded up our rubbish, drove to the dump and dumped it in. For those of you who haven't been for a long time this is what a country dump looks like.... a big hole in the ground filled with rubbish.

Master 2 loves cooking, so we had to make something.... so we made jelly for desert, he turns the jug on I do the pouring and he does the stirring. We also made banana mango smoothies for afternoon tea with frozen banana and mango, milk, chia seeds, sustagen and honey (his recipe).... they were delicious!!!

My little mate in into Lego Duplo at the moment he loves it.... so while I sat down and had a cup of tea we made some boats and cars and other crazy things with the lego. He loves playing with it and also loves packing it up himself....... I hope the packing up thing stays with him his whole life!!!

No my aim most days is to tire this little buddy out, you see he has boundless energy and needs to run around outside for a few hours every day, just so he goes to sleep at a 'normal time' most days I try and do at least one of these activities with him either before the 'sisters' get home or just after they do otherwise he drives them crazy. Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon out there with him and he loved it!! I can see the baby spending many afternoons in a rocker under a tree while we run around like crazy doing his favourite activities.



We played cricket





Climbed Trees



Jumped on the trampoline

After our busy awesome day together he was tired out and went to sleep at about 8pm. I am so lucky just to be able to spend this time one on one with him before his new sister or brother comes along. Just getting to know him and interacting with him, watching him grow and change. Its so lovely just to have a record of this special day.....just one of .....'these beautiful days'.



 

Another love......

I have another love in my life other than my wonderful husband, beautiful children, amazing family, crazy animals, knitting, sewing, running, baking.... the list goes on. This love is so ingrained in my life that I hardly thought of it as being something I do until the other day. It is simply so much a part of me and an empirical part of my everyday life. I do it while I am eating, before I go to sleep, in the ads of a Tv show, while I am waiting in the car, when I am happy, when I am sad, and especially on a holiday...... it is reading. I know where this love came from... my Dad. I remember reading with him almost everyday as a child and even though he worked long hours he always read to me (usually 'The Cat in the Hat') and was encouraging me to read and reading himself. Even in retirement he spends hours reading, the papers and novels, he always has at least one book on the run with a stack of others waiting patiently in a pile beside his bed. My maternal grandmother died when I was 3 but many of my memories of her are sitting with her in her bed whilst she read to me book after book. So this reading thing has been a part of my life even before I could actually read myself.

One of my "ah ha" moments in life occurred while sitting in my kindergarten classroom and I was reading one of those early reader books and all of a sudden it happened I could read silently.... just like that the switch in my brain turned on and I could do it. No longer did I need to read out loud I could read silently. This moment was so profound that I could walk into that classroom today and tell you exactly where I was sitting at that exact moment.

I am never without a book to read... never. If I am close to ending a book without the next one planned I sort of panic... like really panic resulting in a random book purchase from anywhere. I usually borrow from libraries, rarely do I read a book twice and I was so relieved when we moved to the bush that there is a library here. It is open Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday mornings and we go there for a cup of tea and a chat and of course the books every week. It is run by the beautifil Miss Silvia, who always has a friendly ear, a hot cup of tea, a hug, a box of tissues and a friendly face each and every week. The kids love going too beacuse she makes it such a fun, happy place where the kids mix reading, with play and the odd chocolate.



The library in town, much more than just a library





Miss Silvia with the kids lining up for a chocolate in the school holidays


 

As my life gets busier I love the indulgence of sitting down or lying in bed and reading. It is my time and I am doing something just for me. I still haven't been able to do the 'e-reader' thing. I love turning the pages and the smell of the books. But I am not a complete 'techno-phob' do have a Pinterest Board of books I want to read.  I love buying second hand books from stalls and thinking of all the places and people that have shared these words with me. I also love buying a brand new book the smell and the crisp pages, such luxury. I usually pass any books I purchase on to others but I have recently started a collection of my favourites for the girls to read as they grow up.

At the moment my brain isn't working to it's full potential, something about pregnancy hormones and no concentration so my book selection reflects this. Short, interesting books are on the agenda. Nothing too sad or gruesome, books that are too the point and don't require any brain power. I don't think they will ever make my favourites list, but I have read some that do.

Some of my favourites of all time are:

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

I could not put this book down, I am still not sure of the facts that make the story up but a amazing story it is.

Nancy Wake - Peter Fitzsimons

What an inspirational Australian women, this is on the list for my girls to read when they are older.

Desert Flower/Desert Dawn - Waris Dirie

Another one for the girls to read when they are much much older. Never have I felt so lucky to be born in Australia where women's bodies are protected by the law.

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

A novel that demonstrates beautifully how difficult everyday life is for women in some places still today.

The light between oceans -M.L. Stedman

I recently read this heartbreaking tale and the ethics of the situation had me questioning my own beliefs for days after.

My very favourite author is Kate Morton. She is from Brisbane and has written four novels. I have loved each one. Kate writes beautifully and I cannot help be swept up in the stories as I travel through time and place with her. Each of her books takes you on a journey with the characters as they unfold and evolve throughout the novel. I always hang out for her next read.

I have always read to the kids even since they were tiny babies, and I have spent the majority of the time I an feeding them with a book in my hand. So they are used to seeing adults reading and having books lying around the place. As a result Miss 8 is an avid reader and since she isn't much of a sleeper she will read quietly in her bed till all hours. Miss 5 wasn't so much of a reader until she started school, now she loves it. Learning new words and letters each day, it is magical to see the world of books opening up to her. Master 2 also loves reading, he gets really into books with animals and cars. I often catch him sitting quietly 'reading' to himself making up the story from the pictures.

Now to the kids books, these are some favourites:

Where is the Green Sheep? - Mem Fox

Okay so we all know where the green sheep is but all my kids have loved this book, and really anything by Mem Fox the kids love.

Guess how much I love you? - Sam Mc Bratney

The kids love this  'to the moon and back'.

Hairy Maclary - Lynley Dodd

One can't help getting caught up in this book, it's impossible to read it slowly and without animation, so clever.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

I have always wanted to try and eat what the Caterpillar eats on  Saturday... what a wonderful way to teach kids about the life cycle of a butterfly.

The Wonky Donkey - Craig Smith

The Hee-Haw repetition in this book makes it a favourite.

Crocodile Beat - Gail Jorgensen

So many animals so much fun and it has Croc's in it so my boy loves it.

For older readers the girls are really into the Harry Potter books, so much so that I call Miss 8 a 'Potterhead' because she has always got her face buried in one of them. Miss 5 is loving the 'Tashi' series books at the moment.

Now my favourite book of all time for adults as much as kids is....

'Oh the places you'll go' - Dr Seuss.

Almost every page has a quote to get you through life, even today I can read this book and get so much out of it. I have bought this book countless times, most recently for my God Daughter, I urge anyone going through changes, or a difficult time to read this book, it's great to be reminded that this to shall pass as

'Somehow you'll escape

all that waiting and staying.

You'll find the bright places

where Boom Bands are playing'...... I love it!!

So I am interested in knowing what are your favourites, what books do you and your kids love, I am preparing for alot of reading and feeding when this baby arrives one of...... these beautiful days.

Adventuring

This morning we went on an adventure. We drove a few minutes out of town and with our torches and lanterns we explored the caves.

The country around our area is magical and majestic with hundreds of limestone caves formed when this land was an inland sea a few million years ago. You can see many different formations in and surrounding the town, but inside of the caves are endless passages, formations and chambers. 

 Now there are heaps of caves around the area and you can do Ranger guided tours on 3 of them, but there are also countless others that you can explore yourself with little more than a torch, some decent shoes and a good sense of direction (to find your way out).

We started off walking down the path towards the cave opening......

This track continued on for a few hundred metres then we came to our first minor obstacle... to get through these rocks. The kids are amazing, just like little mountain goats and they love the climbing and scrambling that goes along with the adventure. They are really good at working together, helping each other and looking at the safest way to move forward. I am normally right there with them and quite agile though this morning I felt every bit of being 28 weeks pregnant while not so elegantly moving over the rocks.

Then we walked on and came to the cave opening through here...

Inside the caves it is dark... like pitch black. When you turn your torches off you literally can't see a thing, you wait for your eyes to adjust.... but they don't, it's that dark in there. The temperature is always beautiful about 23 degrees I believe, many years ago the town people used to picnic in the caves to escape the heat in the blistering summer..... now everyone stays inside in the air conditioning, emerging to collect the mail and run errands in the cool of the afternoon.

Once inside the walls are covered in different textures of rocks these are just some of the pictures snapped this morning inside the cave. It's well worth doing the Ranger guided tours before you go off exploring by yourself so that you can learn all about how the caves and walls are formed. I find them so magical!!

Master 2 was very sweet this morning always turing around and asking "are you right Mum?" and " hows the baby going?" before bounding off through the cave torch in hand to spot the next spider, toad, bat or animal skelton. I think these adventures will have a lifelong impact on him, he is already showing such a sense of adventure and a caring nature towards and wonder of living things.

In the height of the wet season some of the caves flood and you can see previous water marks imprinted in the most beautiful earthy colours on the floor of the cave. I was surprised at how damp it was inside even though we haven't had any decent rain recently.

Miss 8 was our only complainer this morning, she was a bit nervous in the dark small passages but loved the beautiful green mossy areas like the green velvet chamber, where the floor is covered in delicate green moss.



I love the open chambers where you walk through a tunnel and the next chamber unexpectedly opens up to a view of blue sky framed by the rocks. This allows greenery to grow throughout the chamber where the dark chambers have no plant growth only the skeletons of birds or bats and colonies of micro bats, which aren't much bigger than moths.

My husband, Master 2 and I love the exploration part. He has visited this cave before so he knew his way around which is preferable when you have 3 small kids, a pregnant wife and no mobile phone coverage for kms. Even so we still managed to get lost briefly once. Each chamber looks different and when it so dark it is easy to miss the passages that you have moved through before.... we soon found our way by retracing our steps... it was all a bit of fun.. especially with Miss 8 and her attitude.

We were only in there for an hour and a half, it was a lovely morning out and so very different to how we would spend a holiday morning in our previous life in the city. We have some visitors coming up in a few weeks so we will have to put this on the list when they are here sharing with us....... 'these beautiful days'.

NOTE: With a busy few months coming up I am going to just Blog on a Friday for the next few months at least!!

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!!!