Friday, July 30, 2010

Pillows...

or a lounge?

Something that made me smile!!

Sleepover


Bonnie goes to her first sleep over tonight. It's the first time she has been away from BOTH of us at a friend's house.

I know she'll have great time, but I feel the tears come when I think about how fast she is growing up...

Also reminded of how precious she is & how fragile life is after reading a Blog by Britt Merrick whose daughter was just diagnosed with cancer - AGAIN. His thoughts are amazing...& his faith in a good God...challening & great for me to stumble across today.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Goody Goody Yum Yum


...so many happy memories watching the Goodies before tea as a child. I think my night consisted of The Goodies & of course Dr Who. Just found out that ABC2 is screening an old Goodies episode next week. D & I are looking forward to seeing if it's as crazy as we remember it to be - seeing an episode through adult eyes will be pretty exciting I hope...

Parent/Teacher night last night. How lovely to chat to the kids teachers & hear how they've been going. I didn't have any concerns, just wanted to say hello & touch base. They had contrasting interviewing styles. One had a list of things she wants to talk through, the other had a more relaxed discussion/conversation style - both happy with my kidlets. Hooray for teachers who go out on a freezing cold night & sit for hours & hours having prepared photos & information to help them to talk to the parents.

I'm off to Pilates with Eric...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Homeschooling

These friends were interviewed about homeschooling their kids. They are some of our dearest friends & I think they did a fantastic job speaking about their days & their love of learning. There are some crazy ideas about homeschooling out there (ie: nutty parents homeschool, kids don't socialise etc) so I'm so glad that they made it sound as normal as possible. These guys inspire me & I learn so much from watching the way they live their lives...way to go!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

3 years...















then & now...


three years since D was diagnosed with accute lymphoblastic leukaemia & underwent a bone marrow transplant...

hooray for three years!
How wonderful to be further down the road...

Glad those dark days are further behind us now...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Scarborough Hotel for a late lunch...


This isn't them, but the closest pic to them - my lovely prawns with a salad...YUMMO. All of us all snuggled up in a pub down the coast with the rain blowing against the windows & all toasty warm inside...a view of the ocean from the windows. Awesome.

Mr Sleepy has come home & crashed fast asleep into bed.

I am making 2 minutes noodles for the kids for tea. It can't compare to lunch. Best meal I've had in ages...

It looks like this outside on a good day...

Sunday, July 4, 2010

A change is as good as a holiday?

Thought I'd try a new colour scheme on the Blog. I have a thing for 'reds' at the moment.

Well, we are on holidays but I don't know if it really feels like it yet. I feel like I've been frantically catching up on laundry & yesterday there were nearly 5 baskets worth of folding on our bed...

This holiday out west feels like 100 years ago now. All these great "Utes in the Paddock" lined up alongside the road at Burrawang West Station (NSW).

D got over his nasty cold heading into these hols &  then after 2 days of busy appointments with Drs, a hand specialist, a lung specialist, a dentist and his final lots of immunisations post transplant, that dreadful cough was back bigger & better than ever! Eric's got his back now too. Today he said "Mum, I think I have the phlegm". I think so too...I am hoping I don't get THE PHLEGM!

So we're all off to a weary start. However, there are still things to be thankful for: there is food in the house. (Mummy however is too exhausted to cook up too much of a storm at the moment.) We have laybuyed some toys from the Big W sale for Christmas. We have started making some posters for the new music room at school. D saved the day & bought home some KFC for tea last night. The left overs have kept us going throughout today too ;-) Today we were going to head into the city & Manly on the ferry & see the Art Gallery...but with half of us unwell we have put it off YET AGAIN...

The kids & I went to church this morning. It feels like home. That's the best way to describe Gymea Anglican. I can ease into a comfy seat & feel like I don't have to put on a smile. The people know me & we are all on that journey to know God better. To meet up in spite of what has happened during the week & try to encourage each other & get some spiritual meat into our hearts for the week ahead...The place looks very spiffy with a working bee there last weekend. Some really dreadful old plants have been removed. Some play equipment for the kids has gone up. Everything is fresh! Having a great new minister with a fresh pair of eyes has really helped & the energy & wisdom he brings to the place is so wonderful!!

I went to an antinatal get together last weekend - FABULOUS to all catch up. One of Bon's birth class mums lives in QLD now, & another...well, I think she has lost touch & distanced herself from everyone? Not sure how all that happened...but here we nearly all are, 9 years on. Who would have thought that we would learn so much in these years. Back then we were just anxious to get through the birth, then comes the whole "reality" of living with a growing baby, no instruction book & all kinds of things to learn...which of course is continuing into Primary school now! It was so great to get together for a BBQ with all the Dads' too. We all have at least one more child now. One of us has 4 now. All precious, all different, all amazing to see these small wee ones growing up...and of course it makes me miss the ones who aren't in my arms. I never would have met these great women if Max & Lucy were here, yet I always wonder what life would have been like with my twins. I remember seeing the joy & "innocence" in all those faces in those early classes & being hesitant to share the reason I was there so early I was due about 2 months later than them). Imagine saying "Oh, well I've actually been through labour already & my babies didn't live so this time I actually wanted to learn how to give birth!" Yet I was able to gently share with them all later on.

At the BBQ one dad said "I can't believe all these people on Facebook or on Blogs. What on earth do they have to say?" I think the same thing myself.

There was an article in the Sun Herald this morning about Blogging Mums! How it can help keep us sane...it's certainly nice to be able to vent "out there". It's encouraging to read others ideas about "life" too. I just read some thoughts over at The Well Grounded Life about self care. She shared her skeleton goals for each day. Like:
1. Take daily vitamins
2. Drink 8-10 glasses of water etc...
Feeling so 'Lupus affected' in this worn out body lately I wonder what my top skeleton goals would be each day. I'll to think about that & get back to you...

Also reading a book where the author suggests that Mum should not in fact come last, but should take care of herself first so she can then take care of everyone else reads easily enough, but I KNOW that I find this hard to do, especially as I feel like there is so much to do living here. Yet I suddenly thought, I have health needs also! I have put myself last for so long that physically I can't do what I could do ten years ago...after a day or so of teaching I feel ill. I couldn't manage full time again, & that bothers me. Not that I want to, but the fact that I physically can't do it...D thinks I will again one day. I feel like yelling "after all you've been through, don't you get the fact that life is hard for me sometimes? It's not a matter of going to the gym or eating a perfect diet. Unless God heals this, it's something I am living with, there is no transplant for me. I have lived with this quality of life now since 1990 & it's HARD WORK." But that's on a feel-sorry-for-myself day. I am so grateful for all I have. Hey, I was told I might not ever have children so I am so grateful for my cheeky monkeys, but they don't have the most energetic mum on the block...

Anyway, there are some thoughts for Sunday night.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. I need to go & wrap up in a thick blanket!!