Last weeks learning...

We had another busy week of learning around here. Much of it, child inspired thankfully, as I had the flu for a few days and was feeling a bit low in energy.

Science and Technology:

Lego:

Zak spent every spare moment building with LEGO. That pyramid was pulled apart and many villiages, robots, cars and even furniture was built. There was a bit of a lego war going on between the natives to see who could build the best contraptions. TBF showed her skills with some furniture, including a tv complete with remote control. AND she made some pretty funny glasses that fitted her head.

SB build a flexible type contraption which moved in and out which then had Zak trying out different moving pieces as well. Of course everything that was built he ended up breaking as he wanted to play with them. We also pulled out an old lego robot we made ages ago and played with that again. New batteries had it running around and it was a source of amusement for a little while.

Magnets:

We also played for hours conducted many experiments revolving around magnets. Testing different magnetic fields and even had a race car moving around via magnetic forces! Gotta love those pre-packed science kits on a rainy day! Most helpful!

Elastic Band Science:

Another kit, which consisted of building various contraptions such as a catapult or planes and then flinging things around the room. The air planes were quiet popular and they had races to see who could send theirs the furthest.

Adem also worked in his science text book learning about DOMAINS.

Stargate1 (TV series)

Yes we have been watching TV. A bit of fun and education at the same time. We have been watching through the seasons. Discussing different scientific theories (no matter how far fetched) and mainly enjoying all the Ancient Egyptian or other civilization references, costumes, artifacts etc and they even incorporate a lot of the stories of the "gods" which links in with our Mythology. Of course the boys were building with Lego and mama was cross stitching away at the same time!

This talk about space and aliens prompted Zak to also build a rocket ship out of a book he has called Alien spotters Guide.....he decided the book was a bit too "far fetched" but enjoyed putting the rocket together.

HSIE:

We have been chugging along with our Ancient Egypt activities. Mainly reading and looking at pictures this week as we did not have time to do much more. Barbie brought over some great books and statues she had collected over the years for us to look at. We also practiced writing our names in Egyptian Hieroglyphics. We read various stories about the Gods and some Ancient Egyptian beliefs.

We went on an excursion (see post below) to Sydney to check out a Mythical Creatures exhibition.

Played Zhufu (Atmosphere interactive game) - mummies etc.

CREATIVE ART:

We drew lots of pictures in our art books. Designed some Egyptian wall paintings which we ended up painting today.

Zak painted a Unicorn sculpture!

Maths:

Played Spider Maths (Multiplication) to get in some practice.

Adem worked with Maths Online and completed several lessons. (Have to say we are loving this program. The lessons are short and to the point and he is doing really well with it. He loves the fact that its on the computer too! :-) ).

Zak worked with his targeting maths book. (Ten thousands, place values, Large numbers in words)

Used Lego to make patterns and counted/tried various methods to build in proportion etc. Planning before building. Layouts.

English:

Lots of reading. Grammar, Vocabulary, Comprehension. Adem also did some work with Poetry. Pretty boring text book stuff!

We are reading The Dragon of Never Was together.

PDHP:

We did not do any physical sport last week. Other than riding rip sticks and scooters. Walking the dogs etc. We did go to the beach one day and they had a swim. Zak did some excercise on the walking machine too and jumped on the trampoline a fair bit.

Talked a bit about feelings and interaction with others. The boys have been squabbling an awful lot lately. So we are trying to sort this out in a friendly manner.

Music:

They did some singing and played Rock Band on the playstation. Listened to various types of music and decided they like heavy noisy stuff and they don't like Mamas mantra music! Hmmm!

Zak did some drumming practice.

Computer:

Computer time consisted mainly of Online adventure games this week. Adem spent a while with that, Zak tended to play more outside instead.

Egyptian Wall Paintings....

1. Draw your picture

After pouring some plaster onto a sheet of paper. Wait to dry then sand back....

After drawing your picture onto your plaster...paint...

The boys found the plaster a little hard to paint on...

Zaks effort.........(of course being Zak he completely changed the picture he started with)

Adems effort......

The gyphs at the top spell his name!

Well thats it for today! We are going to do some housework and then watch a little more Stargate! Have a great day everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxxox

Mythical Creatures Excursion

On Friday, we caught the train down to Sydney with some friends and visited the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour to see the Mythical Creatures exhibition. At first I have to admit we were a little disappointed as there was a small strip of artifacts and then went into the main part of the museum. Later though we discovered another section where there was lots of mythical creatures to be found.


We saw dragons, a unicorn, a griffon, big foot, pegasus and many other interesting creatures from mythology . I won't share all the pictures as there were too many and the lighting was not too great for the small automatic camera. But here are a few from the day.........

The children quite liked the dophin lights reflected on the floor.. Ciaran tries to get an "Ommming" session going.....

This dragon was really big and pretty "Awesome".
(excuse the over exposure, the picture was too dark to see so I tried to make it visable!)

I quite liked this Chinese dragon as it was all hand sewn and had so much detail. It was hanging around the roof.....


The muesem also had lots of information about boats and history etc. Including these old swimmers..........can just imagine someone getting about in them these days......


When we were done at the museum, we went and had lunch and then sat outside near a water fountain which the children played in before hopping back on the train for the long ride home. It was a fun day all round!

Another snip in those Apron Strings....

BRAIN and HEART are at it again. This time, I wish they would both shut up! As I sit here drinking my morning coffee, Cameragirl is packing her bags and preparing for her very first holiday overseas! She is off to Bali with Ninjaboy and his family for 10 days. While I am very happy for her, I am also extremely worried and concerned for her safety.

Bali is a popular holiday destination for aussies, but in the past few years there has been a few hiccups for some. Of course there have been several terrorist attacks, A huge Tsunami, people having drugs planted on them (and I am not talking about the ones that were caught and jailed, I heard of one old couple who found some in their bags and luckily were rid of them before they were "found" as they noticed their bag had been tampered with). Not to mention some friends we know who ended up stranded on some island last time they went for 2 weeks when the boat they were on broke down and dumped them there. And NO it was no luxury trip, they had hardly any food and slept on mats on the floor. Now all horror stories aside, I also know lots of people who have been and had a wonderful time and come back none the worse for wear.

However, as a mother, my emotions have been running rife! HEART has been busy counting down the days and worrying anyway. HEART remembers that this child, when she went off to Canberra 10 years ago with a school group, called her and cried because she wanted to come home. HEART remembers that this child can sometimes be prone to panic attacks and worries that considering she is also terrified of heights that she will have one on the airplane.

BRAIN reminds HEART that she is a big girl now and she will be just fine. That this is just another snip in those apron strings! Another step in launching her on her own life journey as an independant adult. BRAIN reminds HEART to calm herself and keep those what ifs deep inside and stifle them so they will not manifest into reality.

HEART remembers her plan to wrap the child in a cocoon of protective light before she leaves. Be silent and calm and positive! Hari Om Tat Sat! This trip is a huge step in her independance and she will have a wonderful enriching experience! Ommmmmmmmmmm!

Safe journey child! HAVE FUN!

NO You May Not Kill Your Brothers.....

Today I was planning on a little sleep in being Sunday morning and all. The boys however, had other plans and were making some pretty loud banging, screeching, arguing type noises from upstairs. Their sister who had worked last night and did not get home until nearly 12.30 am obviously found this a bit annoying to say the least and after screaming at them to shut up and clean their rooms.....she posted on face book.....

TC: " plotting the murder of my little brothers!"

:-O Now while I understood her pain, I was feeling a bit sad that the revenge would be quite so drastic! I began to plot a reply (well the little voices in my head did, lets call them BRAIN and HEART).

HEART: Oh that's not nice! Couldn't you just tell them to be quiet?

BRAIN: Oh they totally deserve what ever is coming to them! Where's the coffee?

HEART: Dear Daughter, While I do not wish to curb your creative side whilst planning the demise of your annoying little brothers..... I would really prefer that you refrained from doing so.

Or

I realise how annoying they may be, but I will have to insist that you refrain from carrying out your evil plan to obliterate them from their earthly bodies! I would like to keep them! They're really not that bad are they?

Or

I understand your pain right now but by posting your intention on facebook you are really putting out a bad feeling to the universe! I am concerned for your immortal soul! And I would like to keep your brothers, even if they are a little annoying.

BRAIN: SHUT UP HEART...........

Face Book reply: STOP THAT!

Not back to school day.....

Well, today was officially, back to school day for kids in NSW, well some of them anyway. While Cameragirl went of to college for the day, TBF , TC and Barbie were travelling home by train from Melbourne and Adem and Zak got back to learning at home.

We started the day, as per normal for the past week and while mama checked her mail and tried to prise her eyes open, the boys started the day squabbling amongst themselves. So I called them downstairs and gave them a maths game to play while I decided what to do for the day.

We ended up doing a maths lesson each. Zak did some work with four digit numbers and Adem did a lesson on Expanded Notation. He is doing his math through Maths Online so while he watched the lesson, Zak and I went out the back and did some exercises to give him a little quiet. Then they both did their worksheets together.



Next we did a little reading on Ancient Egypt and the boys built a pyramid with lego. Zak decided after building for over an hour finishing a very nice sized pyramid, that it was not big enough and pulled it all apart and started again. While this was great in theory, he has run out of lego and its not finished. Oh well, its a work in progress now.

Next we started reading "The Dragon That Never Was" and talked a bit about dragons and wizards. Then we went back to Ancient Egypt and drew some pictures in our art books and wrote our names in Egptian Hieroglyphics. We then made some plaster of paris and spread it over some paper to set. Tomorrow we will hopefully sand it back and copy our pictures from our art books onto them and then paint them.

The girls arrived home and we spent some time listening to their stories about their week away. TBF was not feeling well and went to bed. TC chattered all afternoon, while we played with the dogs, filling me in on her adventures, and advised me that the train was NOT the way to travel at night. Too many inconsiderate types to travel with. Apparently two old ladies spent the whole night chatting loudly while everyone else was trying to sleep. Not to mention the one that rudely took up four seats on the connection train from Sydney to our place, while other people had to stand. (its was another 2 hour train trip so not too comfy for tired girls) She then told the girls to MOVE as they were in her way when they were waiting to get off as they arrived at the station. (Hmm and they say young people are rude these days! Lucky I was not there!) Apparently she had the right to get off first. They did meet another nice grandma though, who helped them and called them when a seat was free upstairs, she actually saved it for them when it became free as she realised how tired they were. At least there are some nice people still out there. :-) As you can imagine by the time they got home they were exhausted.


Zak was still busy building in the afternoon, Adem read a couple of books and then hit the computer. I did some cooking, grounded up some mint I had drying, and somehow managed to fit a little housework in in between. Later we had dinner early and then went to the vet with my mum to pick up her cat who is not well. Now I'm thinking a nice hot shower and bed.

So what did you get up to today? Hope you had fun!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Be kind to animals......

(Maybe big, but still just a baby)

It never ceases to amaze me how some people have no regard what so ever for animals feelings. If you just sit back and take notice, you will see, that like us, they care for their children and nurture them just as we do.

Last week we went to a Music Festival and they had a Kindi-farm at the event. Apart from thousands of people running around, there were three stages from which extremely loud music was being pumped out. Not really the best environment for any animal, let alone a baby.

We were there before lunch and already the animals were in distress. The ducklings were being passed around, baby chickens and baby rabbits were quite popular. As the young girl behind the fence went to hand me a bunny, I said no thanks I'll just pet him. He was so frightened. She said someone had dropped him. I suggested that maybe she should just let people pet him rather than hold him, young children especially are not always gentle. She replied that an adult had dropped him and the children were "mostly" more gentle. As she said that a duckling was dropped by a child. The second in just a matter of minutes.


While this may have been fine in a less crowded more controlled scene. I really felt sad for these babies in this situation. Sure, its nice for our kids to see and hold animals they might not get to see otherwise. But we would not let strangers pass our babies around and drop them would we? Why is it considered ok for animals? Generally children would be asked to sit while they held the baby animals. Not stand while people jostled around them.

I feel so blessed that my children have inherited by great love for animals. I was appalled yesterday when Zak told me a boy he knows just kicks dogs or cats for something to do. He thankfully, gave this boy a good talking to. TC was appalled when she was dropped at work at 7pm and a teenage boy was swearing and tugging at his tiny puppy by the lead choking it because it was crying. "Its a baby mum, it should be home in bed".

Yes, it should. But there is not much we can do about it is there? We can only do the best we can with our own animals and hope people have the decency to do the same. Now on that note. My puppy was always in bed at bedtime, thoroughly spoiled and although she is now huge, she still likes to sit on her mamas lap. Wrap her arms around my neck for a cuddle and nibble my ear. And she is learning to say "I love you!" Seriously, I am hoping to get it on video one day. She has a short sharp bark sound for "mama" and "I love you!" is like a rolling sound from her throat. Kind of sounds like ar arghhhh rrrrrrrr! Hey! I know what she is saying! LOL! Just like when a human baby starts to form words.

I love my fur babies!

Have a great day! Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Sharing....

. . ✫ . .☽☀THE☽SACRED☆JOURNEY ★OF☆THE☽SOUL ☀★¸¸.☆.¸¸ . ✶*¨*. ¸ .✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨

I joined this group on facebook about a week ago and everyday there are really nice uplifting posts shared with love by others. I could not resist re-posting this poem, (Shared by Alyson) it is beautiful............

One

One song can spark a moment,

One flower can wake the dream.

One tree can start a forest,

One bird can herald spring.

One smile begins a friendship,

One handclasp lifts a soul.

One star can guide a ship at sea,

One word can frame the goal.

One vote can change a nation,

One sunbeam lights a room.

One candle wipes out darkness,

One laugh will conquer gloom.

One step must start each journey,

One word must start each prayer.

One hope will raise our spirits,

One touch can show you care.

One voice can speak with wisdom,

One heart can know what's true.

One life can make the difference,

You see it's up to YOU!"

Author Anon

Budget Vegetarian cooking....

A few of my friends have been looking for cheap and easy recipes lately and as I know I promised ages ago to start posting some here, I thought I would share a couple of favourites and a new one today. (For those not interested, you can be excused from reading this post today!)

For those of you who are relatively new around here, you will have to excuse the blaze instructions. I never measure anything so am guessing at quantities. These are pretty easy ones though so would be hard to get wrong!

FRIED CARROT

(This recipe is quick, easy and a big favourite with my kids, best eaten hot but can also be eaten cold as a dip or a side salad with any meal. You eat it straight from the plate with chunks of bread)

3 large carrots (grated)
one teaspoon of crushed garlic (optional)
enough canola or olive oil to coat the carrot
About a 1/4 cup of Greek Yoghurt
Nutmeg

Simply fry the carrot and garlic until the carrots are nice and soft stirring with a wooden spoon. Turn onto a plate. Mix the yoghurt with a little water to make it smooth and pour over the top. Sprinkle with nutmeg and eat! Too easy!

Cost: und $1 for the whole dish.

STUFFED CAPSICUMS

(This is a really simple recipe I use when I have basically run out of other ingredients. I would normally add pine nuts, sultanas, onions, olives or tomatoes to the recipe but as we were down to the dregs as I call it. This is with herbs only. You can add whatever you like. Meat eaters, you can mix the rice with lamb mince and spices for a heavier meal)

8 small capsicums/peppers
1 1/2 cups long grain rice
Fresh or dry herbs (this time I used fresh oregano and parsley and some dry basil and oregano to top up, you can add as little or as much as you like depending on taste)
Salt (just a sprinkle)
about a tablespoon of oil

Mix rice, oil and herbs together in a bowl. Cut the tops off the capsicums, de-seed and wash and then fill each to about 3/4 full with rice mixture. Place in the bottom of a pot standing upright and wedged in so they do not fall. Pour enough boiling water to come almost to the top of the capsicums and place on the cook top on high until it boils, then turn down to a lower temperature keeping the lid on the pot so it steams. Check after about 1/2 hour. Depending on the size of the capsicums, it could take 30 -45 minutes to cook through.

Serve up with some greek yoghurt. (sorry, the kids were hungry and did not wait for a finished picture to be taken). Two of my little darlings while loving this recipe, never eat the capsicum shell. They love the rice inside which is enhanced with the capsicum flavour however. As I mentioned, this recipe can be pretty much changed to suit many as you can add whatever you like to the stuffing.

Cost: $4 for the lot. (Fresh herbs were straight from my garden so free!)

ZUCCHINI RICE SLICE

(This is a really versatile recipe. You can pretty much use whatever fillings you want. I mixed one of my old Tomato Rice slice recipe favourites with Ariads idea of Zuchhini slice, the results were very nice, it disappeared in a flash!)

1 large Zucchini (grated)
2 cups Cooked rice
2 medium onions (chopped)
1 red capsicum (diced)
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
125g grated tasty cheese
Sweet Paprika
1-2 tablespoons oil

Heat oil in a fry pan and saute onions and capsicum till soft. Mix with Zucchini and rice in an oven safe dish. Whisk eggs and milk and then mix in with rice mixture. Sprinkle top with cheese and sweet paprika and bake until golden brown on top. 30-40 minutes should do it. This time we served it up with spinach on the side. (see recipe below)



Cost: Under $3 for the lot.

SAUTEED SPINACH (OR SILVERBEET)

This another easy one. Lots of kids don't like the gritty taste of spinach, serving it up like this gives it a bit of flavour.

One bunch of spinach/silverbeet
A handful of sultanas
Pinenuts (if you have them, we had run out :-) )

Wash your spinach thoroughly and chop out most of the stalks. Slice thinly.

Heat a little oil in a fry pan with your sultanas and pine nuts and simply fry until it reduces. You can add a little salt if you like. And thats it! Too easy! For the stubborn child you can also serve this one with a little Greek Yoghurt.

Ok lovelies, what are you waiting for? Get cooking already! And have a great weekend!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxxo

Little Bits and Pieces...

As some of you may remember, my oldest daughter, Cameragirl is studying for her diploma in Fashion Design. With all the sewing she does, there are often lots of left overs and little bits of fabric or cotton threads that most people would throw out!

Not my girl! Sewing supplies are too precious! She turns all the left overs into little purses, plushies, beautiful hair bows or broaches to match the dresses she sews. (Of course she cannot resist buying some of the gorgeous fabrics just to make the bows! These bow necklaces have proven to be popular!


This week she went one step further and made some owls which she stuffed with the leftovers that were too small to make anything with. They are whipped up by hand only........


Zak and Adem quickly claimed one each which she obligingly handed over. Then Zak decided in his usual fashion that he would make one too! He drew his picture, cut out the dinosaur, sewed on the eyes and half way round then got fed up and demanded his sister finish it for him!


Note the plushies are made with different fabrics on each side. The owls actually have gorgeous hearts on their butts, but I forgot to take a picture! Here Zak Models the other side of his creation........


Isn't he cute? His mum thinks so! And speaking of cute, here is our little Peanut modeling a satin pink bow for Cameragirl........ahhhhhhh.......the cuteness never ends around here............:-)


You can check out some of Cameragirls other designs and creations over at Whispy Love Creations her Etsy store. If anything takes your fancy drop her a line. She has been busy setting up a new blog as well, I will link to that when its finished.

Today we took Zak out to spend his birthday $ and he bought a video game (go figure), we then went out for a nice lunch and purchased some cakes for after dinner tonight when his Nana is coming to visit.



There were only a couple of sponge cakes left and he wanted one, so I asked if he wanted Pink or Chocolate. Of course they were decorated with HAPPY BIRTHDAY on them. As I was asking him a lady leaned over and grabbed the chocolate one from in front of us and I said flippantly "Oh, well I guess we will have the pink one then!" The lady turned and said "My son would kill me if I got him a pink birthday cake" in explanation. I just smiled and was about to say, thats fine, when SB piped up with, "well HE (as in Zak) is getting one now" and laughed.

The woman looked mortified but then in an effort to make herself feel better she said "But my son is 16". I have no idea why she felt the need to explain. We were fine with it. We were giggling as we walked off. Zak thought it was the funniest as a lot of the boys around here have been getting around in bright pink shoes lately. Zak thinks they are ugly, but he does not mind eating strawberry cake!

Mmmmmm Pink Cake and Pavlova.......

What can I say? I think we liked it!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

What is it about this picture that makes me all gooey inside?

New Life is always so amazing.......

Its hard to imagine that this time 11 years ago I was waiting anxiously for some sign that my fifth child might make an appearance! He was afterall 13 days late. Of course he waited till I sent his daddy off to work, a good couple of hours drive away before he finally decided he was ready! I awoke early the next morning and had a feeling it would be that day!

Our boy was born, 14 days late, well and truly ready at 9.6 pounds at 13.13 on the 13th of April. We almost did not make it to the hospital with him being born 15 minutes after we arrived. He was a big baby and has grown into a beautiful big boy!

He has a kind and loving heart and a gentle soul. I am proud to be his mama.........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAK! WE LOVE YOU!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Unschooling moments.....

So there I was, sitting in the semi-dark (yes, one has to imagine, our pergola out the back, has two lights. One, right outside the sliding door, that leads to the pergola, and one towards the back yard, at the back of the pergola.....We have a fence dividing the space, so as the dogs don't seek and destroy everything in sight! One of the lights works! And yes it is the one outside the door, where ONE was NOT sitting!

So, as I said, I was sitting there, with the light from CG's Bedroom helping a little (through the window), feeding my doggie girls titbits of chicken wings and bikkies and giving them some attention as one does. When CG yelled through the window "MUM....hurry up! Im turning off the light!" No joke...she did so immediately and left her mama in the dark! "Ow Rude!"

So, I continued to feed the doggie girls and noticed that the sky was amazingly clear, so went inside and retrieved the telescope to have a closer look! Funnily enough, one has never used a telescope and could not quite fathom how the silly thing worked. There I was looking through the lense and seeing...........well, nothing! Pretty much a lot less than the naked eye could see, anyway!

So, in my ultimate wisdom, I thought I would go knock on the girls window! (Ahem, I was looking for help you know?) HEHE! She was not amused, she ran away! Damn! Pain in the Ass! So after I went inside to ask for assistance, only to find she had run to her daddy as there was a strange knock at her window. (geez, its not as if we are not used to ghosts around here! LOL) Woops! I guess, ghosts don't go around knocking on ones window though, do they? Bah..... Anyway .... So then, the BOY, you know him! Mr Zak himself came outside to (ahem) take over the class! So he looked and he scanned and he came up with one rather amazing light pulsing across the sky (it was a plane, I could see it myself without the telescope) but anyway, he comes inside dragging the telescope in his wake and immediately demands his sketch pad, so he can draw his findings and explain it all in utmost thoroughness to us! (I was all ears AND eyes I tell you! You know you learn new things every day!)

What ensued, was a picture of a circle with lines coming out in several directions???????? "UMMM What is this Zak?" "Well its the lights I saw!!! Pulsating outwards, clearly!!!!" " Ahem, Of course it is! I see it now!" "But.......what is it?"

(Now of course we had a little discussion about satellites, air planes passing by and satellites again...because really, why are they out there? The boys wanted to know?")

HIS DEDUCTION.....

"Clearly, it is a space station or a UFO or something! We require more identification before we work it out! We should further check out my drawings and watch a video to work it out!!!"

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......So it turns out.......We are none the wiser!........Ahhhh well??????? So does anyone have a video to explain this? Because, really, I could not even work the damn telescope!!!! The naked stars however, were amazing!!!! :-)

Awakening........beachside.....

Watching the sun creep up ........

The beginning of a new day.....

Small things! :-)

Dear Maxi.......

Sometimes letting go can be a hard thing! I have been wanting to write this post for weeks now and could not bring myself to do it. I realised today that the post I want to write is still some time away from happening. We are missing you, our baby girl so much and although life goes on, I find that every time I look at pictures of you or start planning to write what I would like to say, I cry fresh tears. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad, but mostly just I miss you tears!

I miss the way you would find the only piece of dirt in the yard to rub your nose in. Or to dirty yourself after a fresh bath.

I miss your daily cuddles.

I miss your funny little face.

I miss the way you licked your lips to tell us you were hungry!

I miss your selective hearing! And know you understood everything we said even when you pretended not to.

I even miss your annoying bark when you wanted to get attention.

I miss tripping over you every time I go outside or walk through the back door.

I wish I could just hold you one more time. But I can't!

I am sorry that you had to put up with yet another puppy when you were so old. I know Miko drove you nuts. But Im glad you had Bella. She misses you, you know!

I am so so sorry that I had to be the one to take you away from your home and leave you behind. I did not want to do it. But you were so so sick and I did not want you to have any more pain. Please forgive me little one! I have loved you so much all your life, and I always will. Goodbye Maxi, never forget how much I love you!

Hugs, Mama xoxoxox


PS...Gemma made this video of your last days on Earth and to remind you how much we all miss you.......

Mr Yakka! Sit Still!

Trying to take a picture of a rather boisterous three year old can sometimes prove a bit of a challenge. Especially when that three year old is such a wise ass! So when Aunty Karisma decided a picture was in order of Mr Yakka's new hat, he decided that that might be a bit boring! So to spruce things up a bit, he decided it would be far funnier to play fart and run! (A game invented entirely by himself!)



So this time as opposed to telling me I had a big bum, (if you missed that post its here) he was trying to point his at me while making loud fart noises and running away, rolling around the floor laughing and in general being highly amused by his own antics as usual.

"He he! I am so so funny!"

Of course a gazillion bad shots later and finally I decided enough was enough!

"Ok boy! I am NOT taking any more photos! We are finished!"

"No No K, I will sit still, I will smile! Take my photo again!"

"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Where did I go?"

"I am so so funny!"

"Ha Ha! I got a picture of your hat! :-)"

And while Zak and Peanut plead for a bit of quiet........

Mr Yakka can not resist, JUST one more go....

Ahem! Who's got a big bum?



Hugs and smoochies everyone! Hope you have a wonderful day! mwah xoxoxox

Happy Easter...

To those of you who celebrate.....

Happy Easter!

To those who don't........Happy Sunday!

As my children so kindly pointed out to me last week. We do not really celebrate Easter as such. We do not believe in the Easter Bunny and do not celebrate in a religious fashion. We do however LOVE chocolate and since last week Zak and mum won a huge hamper of eggs to go with the one they won the week before, it was decided unanimously that the eggs should be shared out there and then!

There were lots of eggs, so some people had a huge pig out while others savoured theirs slowly during the week. Nana and Grandad dropped off some more eggs for the kids mid week and Adem and Zak received a huge one in a box each. SB thought it would be hilarious to swap them for two much smaller eggs of the same colour and see how long it took before they noticed.

I was all horrified at first but then remembered the time I left a letter from the tooth fairy under TBF's door as the fairy could not find the tooth through all the mess! And then there was the time Santa left cards to everyone suggesting they behave a little better! (Oh the shame!) So ahem, he got to have his joke. They did not notice for a whole day and then TBF could not contain herself any longer (yes she was enjoying the joke immensely, it was also April fools day) so she dropped a hint to Zak who ran downstairs to check. His jaw dropped and he came running to tell his mum. Must have shrunk? Must have got wet! He was half laughing and half looking worried that his dad might have eaten the eggs.

Adem came running down and immediately ran for our room to look for the eggs, then he checked the freezer...Bingo! The whole time he was yelling NO WAY NO WAY OH NO....he was very relieved once he found his precious egg! LOL

Yesterday I knitted till my fingers nearly fell off, I made this Wee Willie Winkie beanie for Mr Yakka. He needed a new beanie and as I did not want to give him chocolate, it was the perfect solution. Peanut is getting a little jumper that is not quite finished as yet. Hopefully I can finish it over the weekend.

AND for other breaking news.........SOMEONE HAD A FIGHT WITH THE CLIPPERS AND LOST.....

Seriously people, the effort to find the child under this mess, after the chase, the tears, and the fact that he was growing a huge birds nest as opposed to his curls or even dreadies proved to be too much for all of us! He loves his new cut! (I miss his curls! LOL)

Have a great weekend everyone! May your lives be filled with LOVE, LIGHT and laughter!

Hugs and Smoochies xoxoxoxox