We are PIGPEN :(

I like to believe that we keep a clean house.. but the pile of dirt I sweep up everyday seems to say that maybe we aren't! I am starting to think we are like the Peanuts character PigPen - the one that has dirt following him around.

I blame it on the 6 people that live here, I blame it on the kids that seem to leave so many crumbs wherever they go, I blame it on me because I am a crazy messy cook - the floor of the kitchen after I cook - which I like to do so often cook twice a day - is a mess.

Today we lost the nintendo DS stylis/stick (borrowed DS!! so we had to find it) so had to search for it - we knew it was in the loungeroom - but where - so Ken turns the couches upside down and the amount of crap that came out was amazing and I clean under the couch every few weeks, though I can't pick up the couch and shake it - so I can say that it has never been done before. Anyway I will spare you the details but we collected a pile of grossness.

Now today we also had a fix it man come to look at the fridge - leaking water and the washing machine - very noisy, and I was embarrassed at the state of the house - you know it isn't that bad, but of course they turn up at 4pm in the afternoon - the worse time of the day. So while I had a clean house during the day I now had school bags, clothes strewn everywhere, snacks, drinks, food, cooking dinner, rubbish etc... - now people you are all free to come and visit me with notice and not in the afternoon!!

So I was saying this to Ken about how is it possible that people could have immaculate houses when people drop by. On saturday we had some friends drop by un annouced and I was in my PJ's (which I stayed in all day until we went to the swimming carnival) house was a mess etc. So I was whining to Ken about why are we like this when he said we are like Pigpen with the dirt trailing behind.

Then he won extra husband points by saying "Our house is clean, You clean to the best of your abilities given the time you have and people that live here" OOOOOOHHHHHH!! What a sweetie - well he can stay! Stay right here with me in our pile of dirt!

Brrrrrr A Cold Swimming Carnival

Our Ward came 3rd overall - fantastic achievement for us. We don't have many youth so miss out on all those points - but the oldies made up for it! Go to my travel blog to read the whole story

www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/travellingmum

It was a chilly night but lots of fun.

The Chicks are now relaxing in the Peaceful pastures of Grandma's - But Earlier....

Kalani was so in love with the little chickens at her grandparents house, she begged and pleaded to Grandma and Grandad if she could take the chickens for show and tell. Now these chickens were reared at a Day Care Centre in a chicken hatching program. After a few weeks they need to be retired to somewhere peaceful. My brother (who works at the daycare) offered my parents house as they already have some chickens.

So therefore the poor things were probably still tramatised from hatching out with a bunch of kids looking at them. They had one week on peace and then we shipped them off to the girls school. Now that I have 2 children at school - we of course had to show and tell at each class - that means 50 children. So with grandma and myself we braved the crowds of very excited children.

Constantly telling children to sit down and move back drives you crazy - I now know that I don't want to be a prep or lower grades teacher - oh my - the headache from spending 2 hours defending poor little chickens! Each child got to hold a chicken for a few minutes then it was someone elses turn. The chickens even pooped on people (lucky mum bought towels for the kids legs) so of course the children laughed so loud and went on and on for like 20 mins "the chicken pooed, the chicken pooped ....etc etc"

Some children were scared of the chicks, so it was hilarious to watch kids petrified of them. I held the chicken for them and some bravely snapped a finger out at lightning speed to give a less than 1 second touch. This reminded me that even though we have no pets ( I hate animals :) - well I don't like them living with me, or looking after them ) my kids still have opportunities that most don't, which is nice - they aren't scared of anything unfortunately :(

Well the chicks survived, I don't think they will require too much therapy....

My walking days are numbered - now how will I get anywhere?

I thought I had more time...

Everything was going smoothly - there wasn't even a hint of evidence that Gabrielle would soon mutiny. I thought I had a well behaved toddler, who was always going to perfectly comply with everything I wanted her to do ;)

On the way to school yesterday she decided that she no longer needs her pram! No matter how tight I tied the belt/restraint she still got out of it! She was like a little houdini! I decided to take the hard line - if you let them out once - it's all downhill from there (speaking from experience - I let the other two girls out of their prams way too early!)

So back to my hardline tactics - it was a firm NO!! and put the belt back on, holding her down while I do it. I wasn't going to back down - so had to repeat this action about 10 times on the way to school. She is just so stong and tricky, she is a little goat. She was so desperate to get out that she started just jumping out - yes jumping! Onto the path very close to a main road - this is NOT good! All this turned our normal 20 min walk into about 35 so we were late for school.

So who won in the end? - it certainly wasn't me!

I'm FREE!!

We are now perfecting the art of how many ways to carry a 1 and 1/2 year old . She even rode on top of the pram and waved at cars with a queen like wave - I saw one lady in a car laughing hysterically at us.

At least someone is laughing - I am not!

This is her 'jumping' out!!! Crazy!

Zanabelle Photography

Need some photos? - then you need to get my sister in law Elizabeth to do your photos. As she has recently started her business she is very reasonably priced - so do it now - book her for some photos!! She took these ones of us early morning and we had no make up or hair done - totally natural and she still made us look good! She has many images she can show you of her work some are here on her website http://zanabellephotography.blogspot.com/

Thankful Thursday

Ok, this will be the final thing on "how much I loved my husband being a Bishop" as we have now moved on and Ken is now on the High Council which I am sure will keep him busy enough.

During the week we recieved these letters. For a Family Home Evening Activity the YSA had written letters of thanks to us (well to Ken really, I am just taking credit). We recieved about 20 letters. We can't describe how amazing it was to read these. I think that the letters weren't really for the YSA to learn or grow from, but they really were for us to know how much we are loved and that we did mean something to them.

You very rarely if ever recieve that many letters in one go - It really warmed my heart to read them... So now I think I might go write some letters to people I care about -

So for thankful thursday maybe go write a letter, it could change someones life - mine was!

Traumatised - I caught a bus with 3 kids!!

OK - I dont like catching buses - and it has been many years since I have - give me the trains or the city cat - thats cool - but I know from previous experience how horrifying it can be to catch a bus with small children - the last time I did I only had 2 kids and a mum to help me!!

I have sucessfully dodged having to catch a bus with kids in tow for 3-4 years, that record was broken yesterday. We were invited to a birthday party at McDonalds. The only one that does mid week parties was the Coorparoo one. Ken was working - the only way for us to get there :

CATCH A BUS!!

Well as I expected - it was a nightmare.

We walked to the woolloongabba bus station and the bus was there - the kids wanted to run on but I said no as we had so much stuff and no money out yet. So we put the school bags on their backs, got out the money and another 204 bus comes along, so we attempt to jump on. I send the girls on to sit on a seat while I pay, fold up the pram and sit down - Gabrielle gets scared, cries breaks away from her sisters, so I am now trying to work out where we are going, how much it will be, the ages of my kids - which ones I have to pay for and I have Gabrielle under my feet crying, I attempt to fold the pram but with all our junk in it - it is not complying - i throw my purse and change onto a nearby chair - pull Gabrielle by one arm and put her up there, contend with the crazy not folding pram and deal with the sway of the bus as it takes off almost sending Gabrielle flying along with all my coins down the isle.

*Breathe* ok so finally we are sitting but as it is only a few minutes to Coorparoo we were soon doing the same thing to get out of the bus! I quickly took all the kids out of the bus, put them as far from the road as I could - told the girls to hold Gabrielle back even if she cries and then I ran back in the pull the pram out of the cage it was in - the bus driver got up to help - I think he realised it would be quicker if he did it - he learnt from when we tried to board the bus!!

In the few non crazy minutes I did manage to snap a few photos - of course all this stress was completely delegated to only their mum - the kids had a great time. They want to do it again!

I think the saddest thing really was that noone helped me. I know if I saw someone in a similar situation I would have helped, grabbed the baby, or the pram etc.It makes you sad that really you went thru that alone and the few people on the bus, didn't really care - I am sure if a young mother was on there she would have helped - they were mainly all students. The driver was nice, but they can't get out of the seat really, he did hand back 50 cents that went rolling down the isle.

Lucky Ken came and picked us up and we didn't have to ride the bus home in the dark! I don't think I would have survived - HA!

No More Chocolate!!

So I know it was Easter.. and I didn't even buy my kids any eggs.... yet some how we have an over abundance of chocolate in the house.

They were awake at 5:30 am and on the top bunk playing nicely - this should have been a clue that something was up, as they nearly always pull me out of bed to get them breakfast. When I got up at 6am I found the reason why - one of them had put an egg under their pillow last night and now all three of them were happily eating it - Great way to start the day - I thought Easter was over - we are meant to be on detox now! I then found Gabrielle with chocolate in her hand atleast 4 times over the morning - each time I confiscated it whilst saying "Where did you find that chocolate!" Eggs are hidden all over the house, and after the last time, she resorted to fishing chocolate out of the garbage!! Eeeeewwww!!

I think I have finally rounded all the stray eggs up, they are put away in the cupboard to be used for bribery at a later date - PHEW!!

30 year old honey anyone?

Ken decided to open some honey his parents gave us a few years ago. It was a 20 Litre container for food storage bought and sealed in Melbourne many years ago. We decided to open it and put into containers. It has a very strong flavour - like dark toffee.

So if anyone would like some 30 year old honey - we have 20 containers full of the stuff :) which we are more than happy to give away.

Have a Happy, Hoppy, Healthy, Easter.

Our Little Easter Bunny

Enjoy Easter and all it has to offer - Lots of chocolate, days off work, time with family and for some - reflecting on the Savior's sacrifice for us all.

I will be adding more as the weekend progresses - so check back for more after monday.

Since we don't really let our children believe in the Easter Bunny (and santa) I feel obliged to put alot more effort into the holidays. (We don't ban either the bunny or santa, but we just don't mention that they are the ones that bring presents - we want the credit!! They still talk about them etc. ) We have been doing easter activities for 2 weeks now, so I can subdue my guilt in not letting them be like 90% of the general population - I promise all my easter sidebar stuff will be gone by next week!! If you are sick of it all, sorry- I have almost had enough too -

Sometimes I think I should just go with all the other parents - The Easter Bunny drops the eggs off on Easter Sunday - ALOT easier!!

Hot Cross Buns made by us on Good Friday - YUM!

Eating our Fish and Chips Good Friday dinner at Raby Bay

Chocolate "Nests" and "Eggs" that we delivered to some friends. Trying to teach the kids that since the Saviour gave his life for us at this time, we need to do some service for others.

A "real" Easter Treat - baby chickens at Granparents house!

The Pinata in all its glory!

The Easter Egg Hunt is ON!

Thankful Thursday

The weeks go around fast don't they. I won't make this a definate weekly inclusion, but I could think of a few more things to add.

Today is Harmony Day at the girls school. Harmony day is to celebrate diversity and other cultures. You wear Orange. I think there are 20+ nationalities at East Brisbane State School. {Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 March each year and is about bringing people together to celebrate Australia's community harmony, participation and cultural diversity} So I am grateful for the many wonderful opportunities this presents for my girls. We took our four Kimono's (well they are actually Yukata's - summer kimono) for children to try on. Kalani got to wear hers to the parade - sorry forgot to take my camera. Going to this school and being with all the different people has taught us so much - our friends are from Burma, Japan, Korea, Australia, Sri Lanka, Venezuala etc - not to mention all the yummy food we get to taste.

Yesterday I went to the temple with my husband - that hasn't happened in like forever - we both usually go separately - he with the YSA me with enrichment once a month. Thanks to carolyn who babysat 5 children all on her own - THANKS!!

Have a thankful day and a great Easter - the perfect time to be thankful.

Dreaming of a Holiday.....

Nothing interesting is happening at the moment - the kids havent even done anything funny in weeks now - I have run out of the supposed humour that is meant to be here (was it ever?) so today I will post a picture of Burleigh Heads beach that I took on Australia Day.....

It would be nice to go swimming... now that it is getting cooler... will have to wait for Spring.

3X Everything

3 x the love

3 x the mischief

3x the work

3x the girly stuff (poor daddy)

All girl children families happen 12.5 % of the time.

So count us lucky!

Why I am NOT having 7 kids!

We had some awesome friends stay on the weekend. We got to babysit their 4 kids, so with mine that made 7 kids, which scarily with their age gaps, I could have had that many children in 9 years.... OH MY!!

As awesome as it was, I know now it is impossible to get that many kids into bed - given they were excited to be with their friends, it was like 10 pm before the last one finally fell... Oh... and then they got up before 6am so they could all play together...

this was breakfast.... very organised of me!! As much as I wanted to just throw some dry cereal at them Ken and I actually got up and fed them.

I haven't posted all weekend as I was recovering from this and from the awesome conference weekend we had with Elder Bednar! My blessings for babysitting for someone else is that I sent my girls to the grandparents while I went to conference to see Elder Bednar - it was awesome to hear one of the 12 apostles speak without little ones drowning it out with their whinging.

A busy weekend

Haven't worn it in a year - Throw it out!!

So now Ken has all this time on his hands - no hanging out at the church 5 days a week, and work was a little slow this week, he decided to clean out his closet. Then watching him, I started to feel guilty so started on mine aswell.

Well he soon regretted it, as what he thought would be a 20 min job turned into like 4 hours. For some reason when you pull out cupboards it always makes more mess than was there in the first place.

We soon had a throw away pile, give away, maybe, washing, and keep piles. Cleaned up all the dust and took the piles away and suddenly we had more room in our squashed cupboards. Ken got rid of a few things he was "holding"onto, so was very proud of his effort - "haven't worn it in a year (some things more like 5-10 years) then it needs to go.

By the way - anyone need coat hangers?

Thankful Thursday

So I got this idea from another blog (what's new - do I even have orgininal thought anymore?) While I am thankful for a million things, I am trying to dig deeper, so don't have to mention to obvious life, children, husband etc. Just some randoms from this week.

Opening our door this morning we found these treats. The card read something for mum, something for dad, something for the kids. I love getting random treats (99% chance that it is someone from church) and it reminds me that I should do the same more often.


Our Hammock - While it is true that I rarely sit in this thing ie - I am too busy, if I do I suddenly have 3 other little people on top of me sharing it, if they aren't in it - they are pushing me too fast I feel sea sick, I has been raining for like 3 months - which has no finally stopped - so I would get too wet, and lastly in summer it can be too hot out there, waiting for the nice cool weather that has been happening lately. So this week I have been out there atleast twice having a nice little swing. And took some photos to document it!


My kids washing the dishes!! We are slowly teaching them to help us clean up. At the moment they nearly all enjoy doing the dishes. It is even a little annoying and I so want to just do it myself - but what would that teach them? So I have to put up with the wet floor, wet clothes, wet bodies and hope that we are teaching them a good work ethic.


My favourite piece of furniture - not because it is beautiful - but practical. Since we live in a very small house with no office (due to 6 people living in the 3 rooms) This is a saving grace. It is packed full with kids stuff, papers, games, tools, craft stuff, kens work stuff etc etc. Only problem is that it gets so full I still need to go through it time to time to throw stuff out - Oh well thems the breaks.

Hope you all have a thankful Thursday, I know I am!

This and That

Just some random slightly funnies from our family.

On the weekend it was getting late, the kids grumpy, and us driving along so we stopped at a Hungry Jacks for some dinner. Gabrielle enjoys it all too much that she fills her pants - so I take her and Anika to the bathroom. So it was all pretty grose and this is me talking to Gabrielle while her legs up in the air

"Nice, Nice Gabrielle" (in my best Kath and Kim voice "NOICE")
"Thanks"

To which Anika on the toilet next to us pipes up
"Nothing is nice about POO mum"

No I suppose there is not!

After being inspired by someone elses blog about what would you do without the internet, I wanted to say that I obviously use it too much as my young daughters mentioned once after they asked a question I couldn't answer...

"Why don't you just Google it mum?"

I never knew that I have ever said the word often enough for them to know it, though we do google subjects they ask about.

They often play a few of the games we have on the computer, but they dont use the internet. The other day Kalani is like
"How do you spell sorts?" this got my interest, so I walk over to her.

She has Google up and is typing "All sorts of Games" into the search engine. She was bored of her computer games and wanted to find some more. So I modified the search to "childrens online games" and found some for her.

Hmm so extra "policing" might have to start soon... for who knows what they will find on the internet!

It's Coming Back... YAY!

The dishwasher is being returned today - actually they are giving us a new one!! I honestly didn't think that the Landlord would shell out for one (now we know the rent will definately go up by $50 next lease :( to pay for the baby )

However it wasn't all sadness - here is what we filled our time in with while it was gone. Kids can always see the positive in things. Here is Gabrielle with a friend from church. Enjoy it while is lasts - the hole will be filled very soon.

Why this made me cry.

During the week Ken bought home his pile of books from his church office. They were dumped on the table forlornly for a few days when I snapped this photo -

So why would a pile of books make me sad?

Yesterday Ken was released as the Bishop of the River Terrace YSA ward. It was a hard time for us. We knew the 3 years were up, but secretly hoping we could keep going for atleast another year. We love the Young Adults and they have become a part of us. Not being there anymore with them would be heartbreaking. They just love their bishop so much and are so loyal.

I had to give a small talk to say goodbye. I had cried during the week and thought I would be fine. I was even smiling and chatting before church to many of them. 1:05pm came and I was awash in tears. I couldn't stop it was almost embarrassing. I will post the talk below, I made sure I wrote it down as incase I was sobbing and wouldnt make any sense. I tried to read slowly and stopped a few times and in the dead silence I accidently did a snortle/sob that went right into the microphone !!!!!!! How embarrassing!!!!

With all this crying going on - you would think that it was I that have served in the YSA ward. But it is you that have serve me.

I have a testimony, one that has grown over the last 3 years of being with you all.

It is that testimony and the willingness of my husband to serve you all that brings me here.

I was meant to be giving a talk to you all on Easter Sunday. I was grateful for the opportunity to tell you about the saviour and what he means to me and to all of us at this special time. I will have to use this opportunity now to tell you

I am grateful for my saviour, I know he lives. I know Joseph smith was a true prophet and that President Thomas S Monson is our current prophet who loves and cares for us all. I love the Book of Mormon and that it helps me to be a better person. I am so happy to be sealed to my family in the temple and to know that we will be together forever.

I want to thank you all for you love and service. You are all so wonderful that you have made so easy for our family to be here with you. Gabrielle is a YSA baby and I am thankful for all those that bought meals, cleaned my house, fixed the garden. Thankyou for your willingness to babysit, play with my children and love them. They will miss you a lot. They have been very spoilt.

Thank you for the example you all are. You are all serving so well in many different capacities that I am able to learn from you all. You have taught me more than I ever had done for you. I will always remember this time in our lives being here with the Brisbane YSA. Thank you

Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

The room was so full, I saw some of the Relief Society sisters with wet eyes, it made me so glad that I wasn't the only one crying. Some said they were embarrassed that they were crying over their bishop. There were lots of hugs after, so we knew that people do love us, as we them. We were invited over for dinner, and then late in the evening a group came to our house to visit us. They paid us many compliments - the best being "that you weren't just our bishop - you were our friend". We stayed up late chatting, possiblely the last time for such a thing.

Our hearts are full. We rejoice in the glorious gospel. We know that most probably we will never have the experience again to be a singles ward bishop. It was 3 of the best years we have ever had, and we look forward to serving in other callings, and being able to do something different.

We will always look back on this time with amazment and love -

The YSA are wonderful

A family photo taken on Kens last day as Bishop

Why we love our Blogs

Ken called out to me after reading this cartoon online. He said this is perfect for you. I had to laugh... So is blogging like reading out your life with a loudspeaker? I thought of a few cartoons you could draw - ladies sitting around talking to eachother - since we don't do that anymore we just read eachothers blogs - as most of us live far distances around the globe. Or sitting around on the telephone for hours chatting - no one can afford that! - So we can be glad that we have our blogs!

Barefoot Beauties Only Need Apply -

“I am as tough as a pig in winter!” My 4 year old daughters defiant reply to my pleading of her wearing clothes. I looked at her dumbfounded. “Where did you learn that?” I asked. “From you” it seemed almost accusing. She was still wearing summer clothes in winter and I wanted her to wear more and a pair of shoes when we went to a restaurant that night.

From those of you who know Kipper we had been reading the book earlier in the week. All the other animals had clothes on, but not the pig. She had asked why and I said he must be tough. Oh how our words come back to haunt us!

This was just another excuse in the pile I have already heard.

She wont wear shoes because they are too…. Tight, ichy, scratchy sweaty, rub, cause blisters, small, big and the list goes on. I think at one time she actually went a month or more without wearing shoes… I had just given up.
She has the same excuses for most clothes, especially shirts. We can have no frills, bows poke your back, zips hurt, patches or embroidered pictures are itchy on the inside, particular fabrics at scratchy and it cant be too tight or she cant breathe – goodbye to collars and turtle necks in winter. Pants are too tight, too hot, jeans are a difinate NO NO as the zip sticks in you stomach. So all year around she wears basic cotton t shirts and skirts. Not much imagination in that wardrobe.

When you have a child who wont conform to the ‘norm’ even in the mild area of ‘clothes wearing’ it can be embarrassing for the parent. The comments on walking her older sister to school with no shoes on in the inner city area which we live – oh my! NO shoes in the rain! Oh dear. Watch out for broken glass - it is so dangerous you know! No shoes during (some of) winter – What type of parent are you? Basically one that has given up after a year of fighting every where we have to go.

There are handme down shoes from siblings, cousins, friends that are lovingly worn or admired for a day or two. There was special shoe shopping with mummy with promises of I will wear these – only to be thrown to the side a couple of weeks later. Ballet shoes, sandals, joggers, thongs, crocs, the list goes on and the pile of shoes in her room grows.

The discarded thrown aside shoe pile is almost as big as the clothes I don’t wear pile.

The thing I find most amusing is that all this ‘shoe syndrome’ comes from the child in the family who most adored shoes as a toddler. She tottered around in her aunties 5 inch heels with no trouble. Stomped around in daddies heavy shoes, Shoes were always being moved around by her and she was always trying on other children’s shoes often upsetting them. Maybe she got it all out of her system then and now has no need or desire to wear shoes again.

The only headway or should that be footway that we have made is that she moderately enjoyed the crocs and has worn them the most out the 50 pairs of shoes she has. There was also some success when a new teacher at the Day care said she HAD to wear shoes. She wont listen to her mother for over a year but the second a new teacher tells her she has to … She listens! That’s enough to make a parent cry. But it was a moderate success in my pitiful Shoe dilemma. So I am happy to announce that my daughter now wears shoes 2 days a week.

Next up… getting her to wear more clothes!

* I wrote this article a year ago, but thought I would post it here. She is now wearing shoes probably atleast half the time now she is in Prep. Getting there - SLOWLY!

I told you I was sick..

Sick babies are so sad :(

Gabrielle got her chickenpox immunisation yesterday and last night and today she is vomiting. So I am not sure if it is the needle, or if she caught one of the tummy bugs going around.

Sick toddlers are so difficult because they want to play and run around inbetween being sick.... of course the problem with this is that Gabrielle has now managed to be sick in 3 rooms of the house, and in the shoe box, I am currently cleaning 20 pairs of shoes and putting them out in the sun to dry. Why can't they just stay still and lie on the mattress I have put in the lounge room.

And the other problem is that they are hungry because their stomach is now empty. Gabs has had breakfast, morning tea and her favourite of all favourites Peanut Butter. How can Mummy deny a sick child?? All above mentioned food has come back up for me to clean up (not nice) but she fell to sleep while eating the Peanut Butter - heres hoping I don't have a brown mess to clean up in an hour - fingers crossed.

No one likes being sick... especially the Mum's who have to do all the work.

I'm a Dummy Addict - The Mother or the Child?

Why just have one dummy when you could have 2 in your mouth! She acutally even tried 3, but it wouldn't stay in.

So it is just me, or do you allow your 3rd (or more if you have em) to hold onto that dummy way too long. I think it is just all the noise around me, that if she likes her dummy, I am gonna stick it in her mouth, so one less noise in the house...

well that worked when she was little, but now she can cry, talk, beg etc all while the dummy is in her mouth. She is becomming very talented with that little ball of silicone. The reason we have so many was that she was constantly losing them (pulling them out of her mouth and abandoning them if she saw something more interesting to stick in there.) But now she's got them all.

Well they can stay for a little while longer... I needed them to FINALLY stop feeding her last week! YAY for me! She still gets a little upset sometimes, but she is doing so well - and I feel FREE!! This body is a no go zone... whoopppeeeee!!

Might have to start the old trick of cutting a small hole in the dummy?