Traditions

Next Saturday is Caitlyn's 5th Birthday party. In our house you get big birthday parties on your 1st birthday, 5th Birthday and 8th Birthday. Probably also 12th birthday, but we haven't gotten that far yet! I love to plan parties and all the things that go along with it. Buzz would say that I'm a bit obsessed.

Anyway it got me thinking about some of our other family traditions. When Buzz and I first got married we spoke about some of the traditions that we had in our different families that we wanted to continue in our own family. Here are just some of them. I'm sure that as we go through life new ones will start.

Christmas
Our Christmas season begins with a trip to the Credit union Christmas Pageant. Buzz gets up super early and saves us a good spot, then i come in a bit later with the kids. All the family is invited and we eat yummy donuts and watch the floats go past.

We always put our Christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. When we lived in America we always put it up on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but here in Australia it is usually the last weekend in November or the first one in December.

We always go into the city to go visit Santa. We like to go on a Friday night and have dinner and visit The Magic Cave and Santaland! We also usually stop in at the toy departments!

We also like to go a see The Brewery lights one night before Christmas.

On Christmas Eve day we bake cookies for Santa and drop off presents to our friends.

On Christmas Eve the kids are allowed to open one present. This present is always a new pair of pi's to wear that night!

On Christmas morning the kids aren't allowed to go out to the lounge room without us. They have to come to our bedroom where we read the Christmas story from the scriptures and have family prayer before Daddy goes to get the stockings from the lounge room. The kids then look through their stockings before we all head out to the lounge room.

Birthdays
Special, big birthday parties are on 1st, 5th, 8th and 12th Birthdays.

The birthday person gets to choose what we have for dinner on the night of their birthday. It can be something that I make or it can be take away.

We always open presents first thing in the morning.

On years that it's not a big birthday party we always have a family get together.

Other
Apart from Fast Sunday Buzz always cooks breakfast on Sunday mornings.

The kids have stories every night before bed.


That's all that I can think of right now. I'm sure that as we go through life I'll think of some more.

What are some of your family traditions? Was it hard when you were first married to merge your family traditions together?

The Octonauts: An Obsession

The Octonauts have taken over at my house. Haylie is obsessed and the rest of the kids love it too! We have about 50 episodes recorded on our TiVo and we watch a few daily.

If you've never heard of the Octonauts it is a cute tv show about a group of characters who help out sea creatures in trouble. There is Captain Barnacles, a Polar Bear, Kwazai, a pirate cat, Peso, the medic penguin and many more. Haylies favourite is Dashi. She is a dog who like to take pictures and video of their adventures. Haylie goes around the house taking photos just like Dashi.

For Haylie's 3rd Birthday we had to have an Octonauts birthday party. The only problem in that the show is very new so they don't have any toys or merchandise out at the moment. All they have is the books that started it all.

My sitter, Lisa, Painted the pictures for me. They turned out brilliant! Haylie loves them and looks at them all the time.

Everyone got to take home some bubbles!

The photos didn't turn out great, but Haylie loved the whole night and that's all that I needed!

Reflections

My Dad is the most patient person that I know. I can only remember a few times in my whole life when I have seen my Dad lose his cool. Growing up with one brother and four sisters our house was sometime chaotic and usually very noisy. Through all of this my Dad would always be the calm one. That's just who he is. I think that's why my parents get along so well. My mum is the worrier and my Dad is the calm one.

My mum has always said that I'm very much like my Dad in this way. That I am patient and that it takes a lot to get me upset. I don't always think this is true. Just ask Buzz. He knows how I can go on and on about something that is on my mind and that I can stress about simple things. But that is usually behind closed doors where no one else can see.

This week I haven't been very good at being patient. I have been easily frustrated and quick to be annoyed. Lots of things have been happening over the last few months and I guess they all just built up until they burst. I'm not proud of how I handled these situations, if fact I wish that I could go back a try again. But they did happen and now I have to try and fix them.

We all have trials in our lives. Life is complicated and life is hard. But life is also fun and filled with happiness. I guess this week I need to take a harder look at the many things that I have been blessed with. Maybe then all the frustration and stress will disappear and I will be able to look clearly at a solution for my troubles.

In Ether 12:27 it reads, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness, I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things became strong unto them."

This scripture reminds me that, 'Yes I do have weaknesses, but if I recognise them and be humble and have faith in Christ, then my weaknesses can be made strong.'

This week I really need this reminder. Hopefully as I apply these things my frustration and stress will disappear and I will be calm and patient, just like my Dad.

Go to a Park!

If we ask the kids what they want to do on a Saturday the normal answer is "Go to a Park!" They love to go to any park. Whether it be one that we have been to many times before or trying to find a brand new one. They just love parks. Recently we had a public holiday and we didn't have other plans so we headed to one of the kids favourite parks. Well it actually involves about three parks. We headed down to Semaphore so that they could ride their scooters and we did a bit of park hopping!

We started down one end . . . . .

 We rode scooters . . .

 And bikes . . .

Played on Playgrounds. . . . 

 Headed back to the car . . . 

And stopped for ice cream on the way. (Every trip to the beach MUST include ice cream, even in winter)

We had a great day, enjoying each others company, playing tag with Daddy, laughing, talking and playing. I love my family and I'm so grateful for each and every one of them.

Ten Things Tuesday

As I've done for the past couple of weeks here is this weeks list of ten things, in no particular order, of a random topic that inspires me that day.

Ten Things Lachlan loves to do!

1. Read. Since he was a baby we have read books with Lachlan. When he got old enough to choose it was often the same books over and over again. He is a great reader and can read really fast. His favourites are Harry Potter (Only the first three), The Chronicles of Narnia, The Rangers Apprentice and Captain Underpants!

2. Ride his BMX. At our old house he wore a path through the grass were he would ride back and forth over his own homemade ramps and jumps. He would often ask to go to the local park, which had a hill that he could jump his bike over. He even joined the local BMX club for a short time, but found that he didn't like the racing part of it that much, he just wanted to do his own thing. I'm grateful for some friends, who also have a passion for riding, who take him out often to get his BMX fix!

3. Playing music. a couple of years ago Lachlan took some guitar lessons so we got him a small guitar. Now he is learning the recorder at school. He enjoys playing it and can often be heard practising in his bedroom. He has even made up a few songs all by himself.

4. Collecting rocks. This is kind of a new thing and was brought about by his school teacher. They started learning about the different kinds of rocks and he started to collect them to take to his teacher and work out what kind they were. He now has a rather big collection of rocks, including some that Nana gave him that used to belong to Grandad.

5. To play outside and can often be found kicking a ball or riding his scooter in the back garden. Whenever we ask the kids what they want to do his answer is always to go to a park or do something outside.

6. To bake. He loves to make cakes or cookies. He is getting a lot better at measuring the ingredients and mixing everything together. Soon he'll be able to do it better than me.

7. Make people laugh. Especially his younger cousins. He likes to tell jokes and when he finds a good one he tells it over and over again.

8. To play with his friends. He is surrounded by girls most of the time so any chance he get to play with some boys he is all into it. He loves his cousins Samuel and Ethan, but he also has many good friends at school at church.

9. Loves to go camping. He loves to get dirty, collect firewood, be outside, sit around the camp fire and sleep in the tent.

10. Lachlans favourite thing to do is . . . . . . to ride his Quad Bike! He got his first quad bike for his 6th Birthday and been hooked since the start. Whenever we go camping he is on his quad bike the whole time. He loves to go fast, go round corners and do some small jumps! He would love to do bigger jumps but Mummy won't let him!

Mt Crawford Forest

Once a year our family goes into the hills to Mt Crawford to spend the afternoon, have a bonfire and eat dinner.  This year everyone was able to make it and even though the weather was very cold and a little bit wet we had a great time. 

From the minute we got there the kids were off exploring and playing with their cousins. They don't always get to see all of their cousins so it was a real treat, Lachlan especially was in heaven.

(Side note : On Sunday I asked everyone what their favourite thing had been over the weekend. Lachlan's answer, "Seeing my two best friends, Samuel and Ethan!")

They helped collect some firewood, picked up pine cones, collected rocks, kicked balls, looked at sheep, splashed in puddles, hid behind trees, climbed over rocks, played hide and seek, roasted marshmallows, chatted, squealed and laughed!

Love the beanies! Grandma and Addi.

If you look closely you can see the sheep in the top left corner!

Love this one!

 This is what the boys did the whole time. Ethan found a piece of rope and they used it to collect firewood. Apparently they named a couple of areas. One was called 'Pinecone slip' because when they were walking along Samuel slipped on a pine cone!

These girls were never apart for the whole afternoon. They spent a lot of time collecting rocks and hiding from the boys.

We all had a great time and can't wait to go again. Now if I can just get the smell of campfire out of my car!

Sunday Thoughts . . .

As I stood in my kitchen getting dinner ready the other day I looked out my back door, into the back garden, and thought to myself, 'You need to take a picture of that'. So I hurried and got dinner in the oven, grabbed my camera and headed outside.

This is what I saw......

At our old house we didn't have any trees in our garden that lost their leaves in the winter. What struck me as funny was how two of the trees were fairly far along in the process and the other two were barely starting off.

I love how, even though it was overcast, the sun was shinning through just a little and was making the golden leaves shine and glimmer as the wind moved them around.

I was struck by how beautiful they truly are and how grateful I am to live on the earth and enjoy Heavenly Fathers creations. Sometimes we take all the beauty of the earth for granted and only see things like the work involved in cleaning up the leaves.

It also reminds me that in a few months time new buds will form on these very same branches and new leaves will grow. I am grateful too for the opportunity to shed my leaves, my faults and my weaknesses, and start anew and grow and bloom.

Today I am grateful for the small reminder that I am a Child of God and that He loves me and that he shows me in small and simple ways.

Today I'm .....

Feeling . . . inspired! Mum and I spent some time in some amazing shops this afternoon. It makes me want to decorate and create and make beautiful things. I can't wait to go back and visit these shops again!

Enjoying . . .  some time to myself. Lachlan and Amie had school, Haylie had Daycare and Caitlyn had her first school visit. And what did I do with my free couple of hours?! I went to shops of course! It's so nice to just wander around and not be constantly telling children to follow you, or not to touch, or whine because they want to leave.

Loving . . . Cupcakes! One our adventures this afternoon we visited a cupcake shop called Pink Frosting. They sell the most delicious, yummy, tasty cupcakes I've ever tasted!

Thinking . . . that I really should do some exercise tonight to burn off the cupcakes that I ate for lunch!

Wishing . . . that I owned my own home so that I could decorate exactly how I want to. Instead I have to try and work out how to decorate without painting the walls, putting holes in the walls, etc. I can be hard but one day I will own a house and then I can have lots of fun!

Wanting . . . my husband to come home so we can veg on the couch and watch a movie. He has been working so hard for the last two weeks that we have hardly seen him.

Debating . . . with myself if I have enough energy to really exercise tonight. I really should but I can always do twice as much tomorrow, but tomorrow is Saturday and we have things on and I don't want to have to get up early to exercise double, so I should just do it tonight. Maybe when the kids go to bed I'll feel the desire to exercise!

Knowing . . . that I have really enjoyed my day and even my week. What more could I ask for!

Sleeping Beauty

 

Haylie gave up her naps when she was about 18 months old. But every now and then she just can't wait until bed time to go to sleep. If she does have a sleep though, even if it was only 5 minutes long she will be up until 9-10 o-clock that night. No matter how cute she is and how nice it is to have some quiet time I have to be the mean mummy that wakes her up and gets her moving again.

Here are just some of the places and positions that I have found her sleeping.

With her two favourite things in the world, at the time, Dora and Upsy Daisy!

The day after we moved into our new house Mum came over and was helping me unpack. All the other kids were off somewhere so we just had Haylie. We noticed that it had gotten quiet so we went to find Haylie. She was in my bed, with the covers on fast asleep and it was only 11 o-clock in the the morning!

We spent the afternoon at the swimming pool and Haylie did not stop the whole afternoon. When we got home so was so worn out that I couldn't stop her from falling asleep. Grandma joined her for awhile!

Sunday afternoon, after church is nap time for Daddy. Haylie joined him this time. Aren't they so cute together. I don't know how comfortable it is though. This is where they were sleeping!

These two are nearly identical. In both of them it was about 6pm and I was sitting right there on the other couch. One minute she was talking and playing the next she was asleep! I just love how she is half on and half off the couch.

These were taken just the other day right before dinner. I thought she was watching TV but she was fast asleep. I don't think it was very comfortable on the Wii Fit board!