How do you know summer is here?????

Well lets see I seem to be washing about 4 towels EVERY day due to the kids being in the pool as much as possible......

I really didn't want the pool when we were looking for a house, I don't swim and the whole looking after it and the extra expense to me isn't worth the hassle....but my darling husband thought it would be great and since he works in the industry I wouldn't have to worry about it ....don't tell him but it was the best thing we did....the kids love it (well apart from Matthew)

Darian took Joel for his first swim today and even he loved it....

After a while it got a bit cold for him so dad had fun with the girls...

 

and Joel and I sat back and watched

Christmas Photo Time

We bought a new camera about 18 months ago to take with us to South Africa and it takes beautiful photos out side but I haven't figured out what setting to put it on for inside...so I put up with average inside photos....
It is that time of year to take photos of the kids at Christmas....so one at a time they sat for me....

A very serious Talia

Eloise.....

Megan

Matthew

and Joel

I did try and get one of all of them together and after 30 or so shots this was the best one....I have also used it for my new updated header....

Joel is 7 Months old

Joel at 7 months

Tucker Time

Matthew's Physio recommended a "Bumbo" seat for Joel to sit in as he isnt ready to sit yet, so I went onto eBay and got one cheap. Joel now sits safely up on the bench to eat dinner...

I blame it on Face Book....

I have been slack and not updated here for a while, I blame Face Book. So anyway Joel is now 6 and half months old and we have settled into our new house. The all the kids have their own room and personal space.

I Have Been Tagged

Thanks to Jen who has tagged me...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car), Campbell Nubira

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie), Coffee Chocolate

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name), E Tay

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal), Green Cat

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born), Jane Derby

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 3 letters of your first), TayEli

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink), The Blue Coffee

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers), Frank Eric

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy), Joop Banana

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ), Bernadette Stanley

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city/town that starts with the same letter), Lee Laverton

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower). Spring Gerbera

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Mango Sneakie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree), Muffin Liquid Amber

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”), The Scrapbooking Warm Tour

Ok its my turn to tag Jenni, and Riss

Great news for Matthew....

I cant remember if I blogged this or not but a few months back Matthew was assessed to apply for a place at the Language Development centre Kindy program. He had to go through a major speech assessment, lots of reports and paperwork.
I had enrolled him in the local Kindy just in case he didn't get into the LDC and the paper work arrived for that last week, with the days we was to attend and a book list, orientation days ect and then the LARGE letter came today from the LDC....I was too scared to open it.....but I did and the great news is that he has been accepted, so next year he will be going Wed and Thurs....The school is 8.5km from our house so I will have to drive him. When he is reassessed and if he goes for Pre Primary he will then be taking the bus to school...
This is the BEST news for him as the idea of the LDC is get them up to mainstream level asap......

Mini Family Reunion

Today we met up with my sisters in the Park. Jenni and Rebecca came over from Vic for a funeral and before going home tonight we met up for a get together. Very emotional but the kids had fun...

Aunty Jenni and Joel

A very grown up Ashley...

My great niece Paige (yes I shudder at the great too)...she is such a sweetie...

All the cousins....

I will have to get the other photos, the batteries in my camera died so this was all I got :(

Joel is 6 months old...

Where has the last six months gone????

Took some photos this morning of Daddy and Joel

Isn't he just the CUTEST!!!!!

A trip to Holland.....

 

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
* * *
©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of the author.

 

I read this and though about it for a while and even though Matthew doesn't  have a diagnosis he still has a disability and I enjoy tiptoeing through the tulips every day....though sometimes we get mud on our clogs.

We had our first visitors

 

We arrived home on Sunday and the kids wanted to get straight in the pool only to find that they had been beat to it....

This is what we found

Mummy duck had bought her 11 ducklings to our pool for a swim. They were too little to get out themselves so Darian and I set up a gang plank for the little ones to get up....they did and an hour or 2 later they were on their way...don't know where as we don't live near any water????

Sunday Family Fun Day

Its not often we get to take all 5 kids out, it involves lots of planning and taking 2 cars...and then the fights of who gets to go with who and sits where.....sometimes so not worth the effort.

Today we took the kids to Megan's school for their annual arts and craft festival. The kids make art work and the parents can purchase the art to help fundraise for the school. The catch is that you have to go on the festival day to purchase, this means while you are there you get to spend more money entertaining the kids....someone is very clever...

So we took the kids and boy were they excited. They were given 10 tokens each and got told....spend them how you like.

I took Matthew into the petting zoo for 3 tokens. He was even brave enough to pat a few, he especially liked the goat

Eloise chose a pony ride (what a shock) for 4 tokens

Megan went on the jumping castle for 3 tokens...couldn't get a photo of her inside so took one of her and dad instead...

Talia being miss scrooge really wanted to go on the Velcro wall but it cost 5 tokens...she didn't want to spend that much as she wanted to buy other things...she did know what though. I convinced her to live a little and here are the pics...she had a hoot..

We then went to the show bags and kids bought themselves a show  bag for 5 tokens each...

Elosie and Matthew spent the last of their tokens on getting their faces painted.

Elosie ended being a puppy or panda...still not sure what its meant to be???

and Matthew got a spider web

The kids came home exhausted but happy.

Another Chapter Completed

I love moving house, its like a fresh start. New house, new life. I have moved 37 times in 34 years. This has been the hardest so far....5 kids and 2 adults even the removalist said we had a lot of furniture.  We did all the boxes and light stuff and we got the professionals to do all the heavy lifting...it still took them 5 hours to do the lot. The best money we spent.

We have basically finished moving, all that is left is the fish tank and all the "stuff" that is lying around. The stuff that doesn't get packed in a box, just gets shoved aside when the removalists come. The stuff that takes forever to pack in the car and move....its the mess.

Once that is all gone, hopefully Monday as Darian has the day off we can get to and clean. Though when we moved in here the house was filthy, I mean disgusting.....ewwww. How people can leave a house dirty is beyond me. If anything I over clean because I am scared that I wont get my bond back.

So on Friday the carpets get cleaned and the windows get washed in the old house (this was in out lease agreement) I was moaning about it at first, but now I am glad as I don't have to do it.  Then Monday 27th the keys get handed in and that chapter of our life ends and a new one begins....

Oh and for the record, I don't want to have to move for a VERY long time....

We went to the park today

Matthew was in daycare today so we are going to go back tomorrow with a picnic...

Here are some photos from today

Spring has sprung

This weekend we have had beautiful weather! Spring is here, the days are warm and the nights are cool to sleep.

We bought the kids a water slide and they have spent the last 2 days getting soapy and slightly sunburned.....

Matthew wasn't that keen on the whole idea, you can tell he has 3 older sisters LOL.....pretty in pink

 

Eloise being so light didn't have to have much of a run up

Megan loved to slide on her knees

And Talia just loved to pull funny faces....

Needless to say they slept well.....

Joel is 5 months old.....where has the time gone

My baby is not a new born anymore. I took him to the child Health Nurse for his 4 month check up last week and he is 7kg and 66cm long.

Daddy and Joel.....

On the move again....

Yes its that time of my life again...we are moving.

Here is our new pool......

Our lease is up here so we looked around for something better in the same price range.

The girls will be moving school next term, but it is to a better school and they are pretty happy that it is only 400m from our house....

ohh and we have ducted aircon.... and a HUGE shed so all the clutter that drives me mad in this house can go out there....YAY

so we will be moving around the 16th Oct.....

now the fun of packing

Joel 19 weeks or 4 and half months

OK OK I have been really slack in my updates, but when you have a household FULL of chicken pox, kids home from school and a grumpy mum things get put on the back burner for a while.

So this morning I took a photo of Joel and had him weighed at the local chemist. He weighs 6.8kg and is 64cm long. I need to take him to the Child Health Nurse and get his immunizations done but that has to wait until he is all better.

You can still see where he had chicken pox on his face...

Over the next few days I will TRY and back date a few posts about what's been happening around here :)