PIECES OF CHRISTMAS EVE

We spent the morning of Christmas Eve over at my parent's home.   We wouldn't be seeing them on Christmas day so we opened presents and spent time chatting and laughing.

 

That night for dinner we had our own little Christmas Eve tradition with a lovely meal, an opening of 1 present and of course our silly photos.

 

 

So that was our Christmas Eve, the day after was pretty good too.

IT'S BEEN A GOOD WEEK

Lachie got into another cricket squad to play in Adelaide, Country Cup, this is the one he played in late last year.  So that means 2 weeks in Adelaide coming up shortly.

I changed gyms, Jetts just wasn't providing me with what I needed to be motivated so I'm now at a local gym, Squashbrook. For just a couple $$$ more a week I now get group fitness, a pool, sauna and spa as well as everything cardio and weights and my favourite, boxing.   As an ex fitness instructor I have really missed group fitness, I know it's not for everyone but it keeps me motivated and really enjoying a variety of exercise.

 

I started on Monday and this is what I've done so far:

Monday: Combat
Tuesday: Balance
Wednesday: Cardio
Thursday: Sh'bam
Friday: Pump

Oh it's good to be back.

In other news, guess who I'm going to see in July 2013, yay!!!!! After going to her last tour there is no way I'm missing out.

ENJOYING.......

:: school holidays
:: being diet coke free
:: learning more and experimenting about clean eating
:: being back at the gym
:: reaping rewards of our vege patch
:: smiling about Lachie being selected for SAPSASA cricket in    Adelaide next month
:: making yoghurt with our new maker

 

What are you enjoying at the moment?

PROUD

My children have given me plenty to be proud of and these last 2 weeks have been no exception.

Sophie had her tap and ballet exams, she was amazing. Her tap results came back and she was highly commended, we won't see the ballet results for a while yet.

 

Lachie finished his under 12 footy season by playing a couple of curtain raisers. He was picked to play in the combined Mt Gambier team and was also named captain of that team. He played another match right after with the West Gambier team, they won with a nail-biting finish.

 

 

On Sunday Lachie was picked to play in the grand final curtain raiser, once again did an awesome job.

Now on to Dan. Congratulations to the under 16 West Gambier Roos!!!! I am so proud of all of the boys, what an achievement, two premierships in 3 years. I am bursting with pride more so of how Dan conducted himself over the weekend, I won't go into details but his attitude certainly taught me a couple of things.

 

 

 

GREEN CLEANING

On Saturday I visited our local organic shop, Ecologie Organics specifically to buy a couple of alternatives for cleaning.

I bought another bag of soap nuts for the washing machine as I've misplaced my last bag. I also intend on purchasing more to use for liquid soap and pet shampoo. These little beauties are amazing, you can make lots of different products with them and I look forward to trying them out.

I also purchased a vegetable scrubber made from renewable bamboo and natural & recycled bristles. This brush works a treat on Jerusalem artichokes.

Last but not least, a scrub pad for the dishes that is biodegradable and compostable and made from natural coconut fibres. I intend to buy another for the bathroom to use with my bi-carb and vinegar as we have hard water where I live and it's sometimes quite difficult to remove.

So that was my little shopping spree, I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

This boy's U16 football team easily won their preliminary final and play the semi final next sunday. Go Roos!!!!!!

OH MY..........

Hasn't time flown? I've been pretty busy crafting (see One Crafty Habitat) and not a lot of homemaking to report.

I had a lovely cook up the other day:
bread, honey cookies, quiche, banana muffins and cordial.

Then I came down with a mild dose of gastro. Feeling better now though.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a visit from Sandra, a member from Down To Earth and a really lovely person that is full of valuable information. She brought me a sourdough starter and I have been feeding it every day ready for me to be well enough to attempt my first sourdough loaf. I am really looking forward to the challenge of sourdough and have been reading up on lots of useful information about it.

The kids are doing well. Dan has been working all week at his new job as we are on school holidays now. He really hasn't had a chance to do much else. He is also going really well in under 16's footy.
                                   

Lachie doesn't stop LOL. He is still playing under 12A and under 14 footy and getting in the best players quite a bit. He is playing all over the ground but when he has the chance of playing up forward, he's kicking goals and loving it.

Sophie has been invited to do her ballet and tap exams again this year, her first exam is August 16. I watched her classes last week and I can't believe how confident and amazing she looks while dancing.

I'm off to bed as I have huge day at the boys footy again tomorrow.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. 

WELCOME LITTLE HUGO

Our Burmese, Dante, went missing around 3 weeks ago, we are pretty sure someone took him :(

The kids were really upset so I did what any mummy would do and went and found another kitten to cuddle.


Hugo is around 3 months old, he was dumped and ended up out at the Animal Welfare League. We adopted him last Thursday, the kids love him to bits and what's not to love, he is so smoochy!


Want to know how we came up with the name Hugo? Well the kids all had the option of thinking up 2 names each, they all went into a hat and I drew out Hugo.

Sophie's names: Mittens and Jingles
Lachie's names: Hugo and Merlin
Dan's name: Pat (as in pat the cat LOL)

So we now have a very cute and cuddly kitten to look after but we still are hoping for Dante to come home, stranger things have happened.

JUNE LONG WEEKEND

On Friday we packed up Gertie Mae and left town for Pt Fairy.

Before we left Dan needed another appointment with the doctor for his 2 inner ear infections, hopefully they will clear up soon. Dan didn't get to come with us on Friday, Darren's parents brought him over Saturday afternoon after he finished work.

Back to Pt Fairy, it was so nice to get away, funny how travelling 1 1/2 hours feels like a world away. The weather was pretty good for winter and we enjoyed every moment of our mini break.



On Saturday morning Sophie and I went to Warrnambool to visit my lovely cousin Janelle and her family, she's having her 3rd baby next month so I will be back for cuddles.



Of course we picked the weekend to visit when they were moving into their beautiful new home, it truely is gorgeous and you should see Janelle's attic craft room (to die for).



We stopped at the local market.



Swoon.



Darren took the kids fishing.







I crocheted.



We walked.







Collected shells.



Laughed a lot.



And before we knew it, it was over.

WHAT A WEEK!!!

On Monday we were due to drive off on our holiday to visit family & friends in NSW and then go on to the Gold Coast. We booked our accomodation and theme park tickets last year and obviously, as we couldn't predict the future, had no idea that we wouldn't be able to get there due to flooding. We have lost quite a bit of money due to non refundable tickets etc, but we will try and go again in the next couple of years.

Last week was particularly stressful as we tried to find alternate routes and ways to get there but in the end nothing made sense due to having to travel too far, delays and detours or costing too much money (flying). So we cancelled the trip. The kids were pretty upset but realised that we had done everything we could to go on this holiday.

Lachie captained his team to the grand final for under 12's cricket on Wednesday night. It will be held tomorrow and Sunday against the other West under 12 side, either way West wins.

Today was my last day at work, I'm really excited about becoming a full time homemaker and look forward to the challenges I will be facing. First of all, proving that I can save more money being at home than at outside work.

Over the last 2 weeks I have been slowly going through any emails from shops and unsubscribing to them. Online shopping is a real weakness for me and I've decided that if the advertising isn't in my face I won't be tempted to buy. So far it seems to be working, I'm not browsing sales and haven't gone looking for anything to buy.

So that was my week, how was yours?

SUNDAY, THE DAY OF REST

Hardly, we were up early for Clean Up Australia day armed with gloves and bags. Sophie's class from school is learning about community and the kids are getting involved with different activities within the community. Next week they go to Meals On Wheels.
::Sophie with her friend Emily::

I've spent the afternoon baking.
::Bread::

::Muesli Slice::

::Banana and Raspberry Loaf::

Oh, and I now have a new laptop called Betty. Wilma gave up the ghost finally and I'm now finding out how good it is to have speed and Windows 7. I had XP before this and what a difference!

DAD'S 70th BIRTHDAY

It was my Dad's birthday last Friday and the 5 kids, all daughters and Mum gave him a bit of a party. You see, my Dad was given 15 years to live 20 years ago, so we are all so blessed to have him with us and to be able to celebrate his 70th birthday.

Mum and Dad with all of the Grandkids (Damian unfortunately couldn't come from Melbourne).

Mum and Dad with all of us girls.

What a lovely day we had and Dad was all smiles. I'm so glad we could do this for him.

I love you Dad, happy birthday.

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

15 years ago this baby boy came into our lives and changed them forever.

Happy birthday Dan, we couldn't be prouder of you.