Houseboats

A couple of weeks ago Buzz called me on a Thursday afternoon to ask me what we were doing on the weekend.
I thought, "Great! He has to work on Saturday!"
I reminded him about Haylie's surgery the next day and that we had a Ward Activity on Saturday night but that was it.
Buzz, "Would you like to spend the weekend on a houseboat......for free!"
Me, "Yes please!"

Turns out the owner of the houseboat needed the it moved up river and didn't have time to do it himself. Buzz has been doing some work for him on the houseboat and we had previously used one of his houseboats so he asked Buzz if he would like to use it for the weekend and move it for him.

After a very hectic Friday of packing, taking Haylie to the Hospital for her surgery, taking Caitlyn to swimming lessons and working we managed to head off about 6:30pm to the houseboat. 

The next morning this was our view over the river. Perfect! It was totally worth the crazy day the day before to wake up to that view.

Before leaving Mannum on Saturday morning we saw these ducklings on the shore. I ran inside to get some bread to see if we could get them to come closer. They ended up right next to the houseboat! They were so cute and fluffy.....and hungry! They could get enough of the the bread. It was funny because everywhere we stopped along the way if you went outside you would get all these ducks coming over to you looking for a feed.

After re-learning how to drive the houseboat we were off up river. The place we had to take it was about 8 hours by river but only 15 minutes by car. The weather wasn't too cold so we sat out the front and on the top deck a bit, watching the world go by as we putted up the river. Just after lunch we reached the midway point on our journey so we decided to stop for the night and get out a canoe to do some exploring. On the map we could see a little side creek that opened up into a large lake. I took Lachlan for a ride first and we set out to have a look at the lake. He did try and help and paddle occasionally but it was easier to do it myself. About halfway through our ride it got really windy, which made the water really choppy and, of course, we had to paddle into the wind to get back to the houseboat. We figured out afterwards that we had gone about 4kms. After that I let Buzz take the girls for some short rides!

                             

(The view of the lake from the top of the houseboat)

(The girls chillin' on their bed watching a movie. I think this was after they had used the spa on the top deck. Poor Haylie was so upset because she wasn't aloud in because of her surgery.)

(The view out the back of the houseboat from the girls bedroom.)

On Saturday night the weather got a little bit wild. It was really windy and it rained quite a bit but when we woke in the morning the sun was shinning again. The wind stuck around all day though. As we made our way up the river again there would be times when we would look out the side window and see a tree, look forward, then look back out the side window and see the same tree! The wind was blowing so hard that we weren't moving forward! We had to turn the boat a little bit to keep moving forward. Then sometimes we would be going along straight and all of a sudden the wind would blow and start turning the boat. It was a bit of a battle but we finally made it to the owners dock late in the afternoon.

(Lachlan in his PJ's with Teddy)

(This is Seth. We invited our friends Casey and Nicola to come with us. It was very last minute but we had a great time together. Bytheway, this picture was taken by Haylie)

All in all it was a very nice, relaxing, fun weekend!

Family

Well we have just finished week five of our seven week long school summer holiday break. Buzz had to get his car fixed this week so he decided to take a bit of a break from work at the same time. It has been nice to have him home and to get out and so some fun things as a family.

We started the week by heading down to Victor Harbour. Grandma and Poppy joined us and we headed off for the long drive. As we got up into the hills it got really foggy. The kids thought that it looked like we were driving through an enchanted forest!

When we got down to the coast we headed across to Hindmarsh island to see where the Murray river goes into the sea. When we got out of the car it was really cold. Luckily I had bought jumpers for all of us. We didn't stay very long because the wind was blowing and it was fairly cold. We got back into the car and headed down to Port Elliot to go on the rocks and watch the waves crash. It wasn't quite as cold here as we were more sheltered from the wind. The water was very choppy so there weren't many big waves coming in. We did see a couple of guys trying to boggie board. One of them couldn't even make it past the waves.

It started raining a bit but we just grabbed the umbrella's and headed down the main street to look at some shops and grab some lunch.

After lunch we headed off to Victor Harbour. The weather cleared up a bit and the kids were able to play at the playground for a little while before they went on a little ride each at the carnival on the foreshore. After doing a bit more window shopping and getting an ice cream we called it a day and headed home.

This week I am grateful for my husband and my children and the time that we get to spend together having fun and enjoying one another's company.

Gratitude

Over the last month or so I have been thinking a lot about Gratitude and being Thankful. We all have trials in our life and wish that things were different. It helps to remember all of the things that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with. Just like the song says, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

This year I hope you be able to keep a record of all the things that I am grateful for. It's kind of like a New Year's Resolution but it's more just something that I want to do for myself so that when life gets hard and can easily be reminded of the many things I have been blessed with.

To start with I am so grateful for my calling in Primary as the Primary music leader. I've been in the calling for about a year now and though it can be tiring and frustrating it can also be really fun and uplifting. This year the theme is 'I know the scriptures are true.' All the children have been challenged to read their scriptures everyday so far our family is not doing very good at this but I am hoping to get better and to be able to encourage my children to join the challenge.

The songs for the year are beautiful and I'm looking forward to teaching them to the children. I have learnt so much through this calling. I am much more confident in many things like singing, teaching and working with others. It really is a fun calling. I get to have lots of fun with the kids but I also get to teach them beautiful, spiritual songs that they will remember all their lives. It is one of the things that you remember from all your years in Primary.

I hope that this year I can teach with the spirit and help the children to start growing their testimonies and their joy of singing!

Who Me?

Just look at that sweet, little, innocent face. That face is the reason why she gets away with so much. How can you be angry with that face. The gorgeous blue eyes, the little button nose and those chubby little cheeks. No one can stay mad at that, especially when she turns on the charm. She knows exactly how to turn your frown into a smile.

When I get up in the morning she is always so happy to see me. She will stop whatever she is doing, usually eating breakfast and come running up calling "Mama, mama, mama", and give me a great big hug. I love it!! What better way to start the day.

She loves climbing up onto Daddy's chair to see what she can discover on his desk. Her favourite thing to find is a pen. And what does she do with these pens when, or if, she finds them, that's right she draws all over herself. Usually she starts with the legs, then the belly and if left long enough, the face!

But, that face, it will get you everytime!!

What's in a name?

As parents we thought long and hard about each of our children's names. Firstly I didn't want any names that started with M because I didn't want any M&M's! Also once I had used a letter to start someones name no-one else's name could start with the same letter. I also didn't want them to be really weird names that no-one had ever heard of, but I didn't want them to be so common that everyone had the same name.

Anyway, lately Amie has started to write her name AMY, instead of AMIE. When I asked her why she did that she said it was the short version of her name and she liked it better. Well it's only one letter shorter so that wasn't a good enough argument. I told her about when we choose her name and how we decided to spell it and that you can't just go around changing your name. I've still found her writing like that again but I think she is getting the right idea.

When I was choosing our children's names I also thought about what nicknames would likely go along with the name. Some names I didn't choose because I didn't like the nickname. For example for a boy we like the name Benjamin, but I really don't like the name Ben or Benny so we didn't choose it. It's funny though because Lachlan never really has used a nickname. We don't call him Loc or Lochie, it's always Lachlan. Ever since he was a baby though I have called him Buddy. I remember when my Mum was visiting us when Lachlan was born telling me that maybe I should have called him Buddy instead of Lachlan!

Amie's name can't really be shortened anymore, but I do remember when Grandma and Grandpa Montague came over to visit one time that Grandpa would call her Aim a few times! Buzz also used to call her Beans. I don't actually remember why he started doing this and it was only ever Buzz that said it. He still does it occasionally but not so much anymore.

When Caitlyn came along it took us a little while to actually give her a name. We had a few in mind but none of them really fit. In the end it was between Caitlyn and Rachael. She is definitely a Caitlyn though. There were many ways to spell her name as well. We both wanted it to start with 'C' and I wanted it to be 'y' in lyn. She does get called Cate, which she is fine with. The kids actually say 'cake' and not 'cate' which I think is so funny! Sometimes I play with her and call her 'Catie-weighty' or 'caitlyn-baitlyn' but she always firmly tells me that that is not her name!

Haylie was the hardest of all. We really didn't have a name for her at all. When we came home from the hospital she still didn't have a name. That afternoon we sat around with some friends going through all the baby name books trying to work out the perfect name. In the end Haylie was the one that stuck out to me. When we were still in the hospital she was nearly going to be called Jasmyn. We were even writing in down and working out how we wanted to spelt but it just didn't feel quite right. Again there were many ways to spell it and I love the way that we did. Haylie also has a nickname. Apart from her name being shortened to 'hay' she is often called midget. Again I think it was Buzz that started calling her that. She has always been small and when she started walking she looked really funny because she was so small. It was really funny because sometimes she wouldn't answer to 'Haylie' but you call her 'midget' and she would answer you!

I love all of my children's names and wouldn't change them at all!

Back to normal

So it's been awhile since I posted anything on here so i thought it was time that I got back into it. Christmas is past and so are the school holidays. Everything is getting back to normal. On the kids first day back at school I spent the whole day cleaning the house after it had been total chaos for weeks! It is so nice to be a routine again. As much as I don't like getting up early in the morning it is nice for the kids to go to school and learn and for me to have the time to do everything that needs to be done around the house and have a little bit of time to myself.

Housework is something that I constantly battle with. I hate doing it but I love to have a clean house. I can't win! I do need to come up with a better plan of attack though. I do try hard to do the dishes every night and tidy the lounge room and dinning room. I feel so much better getting up to a house that is clean and ready to start the day. Sometimes though by the end of the day I just want to put the kids in bed and sit in front of the tv for the rest of the night.

I must admit though that laundry is my nemisses. I really hate laundry. No matter how hard I try to keep up with it I just can't do it. I hate sorting it, washing it, hanging is out, bringing it in and folding it and putting it away. basically I hate the whole lot. If I could hire someone just to do all the washing I would!

Hopefully now I will also get some free time to do some craft projects. I have a few things that I'm working on at the moment, mostly for a baby shower that I am planning for a friend. I helps me to have a deadline. Things get done a lot quicker that way. Can't wait to show you.

And just because I don't want to blog without a picture. Here is one with Caitlyn, her cousin Zoe and her friend Monika feeding the ducks!

A visit to Santa

Last Friday night we went into the city to go a visit Santa. Grandma came with us and Poppy ended up joining us as well. While we were waiting for Daddy and Poppy to finish work we went to check out one of the toy stores. Haylie loved it and was going around grabbing things off the shelves and bringing them back to the stroller. Lachlan loved looking at all the Lego. He especially loved one that you made into a quad bike! Amie and Caitlyn loved looking at all the barbies and anything that was pink. When Daddy and Poppy got there we went to visit Santa. There was only a couple of other people in line so we didn't have to wait long. At this Santa you could take your own photos which was fantastic.

Here are Amie and Caitlyn telling Santa their names and ages. They had no trouble talking to Santa.

Then I tried to get Haylie to say Hello............

....... but she wasn't really a fan of Santa! She just screamed and tried to get away. She was ok if I stood inbetween her and Santa, but even then she was still shaking. Lachlan also wasn't a big fan of Santa until he gave out some chocolate at the end.

We then went to another department store where they have a place called Santaland. It was really cool. There was a free train ride for the kids, you could write a letter to Santa or email him, they also had the Polar Express movie playing. We didn't see Santa here but the kids went around on the train, twice. There was hardly any people there so they stayed on for another ride!

After some dinner we headed over to the Magic Cave. Again, we didn't go to see Santa we just had a ride on the carousel and looked in the funny mirrors. Here they are next to the talking tree!

We to the other big toy store in the city and a big book store before heading home. Along the way we looked out for Christmas lights! It was a really fun night out. The kids ended up writing a letter to Santa while we had dinner and they got replies in the mail a couple of days ago. They were sooooo excited to get mail just for them.