Hats in the wind...anything could happen

It was an interesting mix of events this Saturday past.  It began at the polling booths down at the school, selling cakes while the early risers voted.  My two big boys were dressed in their school uniforms and politely asked those who had voted, whilst exiting the new school hall, if they would like to buy a raffle ticket in our school Fathers day raffle.  Who can resist a handsome face with a polite demeanor? A little competition was on to see who could sell the most raffle tickets. The boys wished they could stay all day, although a little shy at first, a certain bold confidence came over them as they used their good looks and gentle voices to melt voters hearts.  Over an hour and a half later the boys had to relinquish their tickets to give others an opportunity to sell.  The final tally of tickets sold, and it was a close call, Ethan 20 : Sam 21. 

After our first deed was completed that morning our next task was to get Donald to his Grand Final game.  His team, the 35/9 Tigers, won their game last Saturday which put them in the Grand Final versing the Sharks who had been undefeated all season.  

While Donald and his team warmed up their bodies and psyched up their brains for the game, my three boys entertained themselves with a few games.  It was a very brisk and windy day out on the field, very brisk.  To keep warm, the boys ran around crazy, the wind does that to them, wrestled a while and threw their hats to the wind.

Just as good as kite flying, throwing their hats to the wind provided endless rollicking fun.  Whose hat can fly the highest or land the furthest away?  Whose hat can I steal and throw into the wind?

Turtle chairs was another favourite.  The wind kept blowing the chairs over, so the boys went with the wind and created turtle chairs.

Then of course there was Donald's game that we watched intently. 

We cheered the team on, we laughed, we cried...

We put our hands to our heads in frustration at missed goal opportunities...

We ducked as the ball and players came thundering by...

We watched the clouds go by and found a kangaroo/camel cloud....

....and nearly missed out on Donald's run towards the goal with the ball which in turn helped the second goal being scored for our side.

And then it was all over.

They had finished triumphant!!

Final score Tigers 2 : Sharks 1.  They were Grand Final Winners, defeating the undefeated Sharks (that is until yesterday they were undefeated).

  

Medals were presented on the day, there were a lot of happy boys...and girls.

We went out to dinner with the team to celebrate their victory....What a day!!

Guess who wore his medal to bed?

And still no Prime Minister decided :+/

The End

It's baking time again

It's Australia's big election day tomorrow, with the possibility of a new Prime Minister tomorrow night.  The boys school is trying to raise some money with a cake stall while people come and vote in their new school hall.  I'll be down there bright and early selling cakes.   So it's baking time again for me today.

A quiet day at home, a friend for Toby to play with and baking smells wafting through the house.  I've even reinvented an old family recipe Caramel White Chocolate Blondies, pop over to my cooking blog  "What's for dinner Mum?"  for the recipe.  You will also find my old favourite Jam Drop Cookies there too!

Lots of taste testing going on here today!!

We also have a Grand Final for soccer to go to tomorrow afternoon.  Little did I know last Saturday was not the last day for soccer.  Donald's team won their game last Saturday which put them in the Grand Final.  Wooohooo!!  So we'll be cheering him on at 1 pm.

Treating myself

It's not often that I buy jewelry for myself, I would buy a jewelry gift for someone else, but not necessarily for myself.  I was inspired by a blog I had visited and came across something quite unique that I had never seen before.  They were hand carved trees made from old silver spoons.  Click here for pics and just scroll down the page a bit.  They really were amazing, I just loved them but I haven't been able to find anything more on them.  It got my mind thinking about possibilities for jewelry that I might one day like to create myself (laugh, laugh).  So in my search for more information I was looking around on Etsy the other day and just a general search for silver tree jewelry.  There were lots of different possibilities until something caught my eye.

I love the Tim Burton style swirly tree.  I'm a big fan of Tim Burton style swirly things.  I have two silver candelabra's bought years ago inspired by "The nightmare before Christmas".  Aside from that I really fell in love with this pendant.  I talked myself out of buying it, but couldn't get it out of my mind.  It called to me.  So I bought it.  It's fun getting treats in the mail.

You can find Unique Dichroic Glass Creations here.  They are made in Western Australia in a little old historic wooden hut studio by a lady who loves playing with glass.

Spring is in the air

I am in love.  In love with some photo's I took today on my way out to work.  The blossoms are popping everywhere at the moment and I remembered my camera, so I pulled over to the side of the road and started snapping.  The flowers were so magical and smelt luscious, I wanted to sit under the tree with the bees humming, the sun warming my cold body and the petals falling gently to the green grass below.   It would have been a perfect morning, to just sit and ponder, unfortunately I had work to do.   

I just want to cover my walls with these beautiful blossom photo's.  It's so hard to choose which ones to post.  So sorry if it's a bit of a pink blossom overload.

Which one is your favourite?

Fun with Grandma

I've been meaning to post these photo's for a while now, I've just been a little side tracked by a few things.  We had some fun with my Mum while she stayed with us for a few weeks, the boys love it when she visits (so do we all, things just seem to run smoother when she's here).  She's really good at filling in the gaps in our family life, so here's a little of what we got up to while she was here.

We played lots of card games.....

Donkey especially!

Grandma and Toby consorting together, they are quite the pair.

My Mum bought an extra pair of toenail clippers as she thought we were getting a little overgrown!!

Except she used them on the garden instead!

Last Day...

...of early rising on a Saturday morning...

...of trying to wake three four sleepy heads...

...of trying to find 4 clean pairs of matching soccer socks, boots, shorts and shirts...

...of finding water bottles and warm coats...

...of coordinating 4 games between two adults with two cars and three children...

...of remembering the oranges and cheering on my boys and losing my voice...

The last day of winter soccer!!

PS.  Anyone seen a soccer sock.....I seem to have misplaced one??

A few things

I had fun with Ethan yesterday and this morning creating a collage for this weeks homework.  It is one of my favoured subjects.  The early settlement days of our local area.  I had taken pictures of old photo's of the area that we live in a little while ago and we used those in the collage.  Dirt roads, lots of bush, horse and cart days, "Oh how I wish I was there" days.  We collected some sticks, dirt, leaves and glued a little bit of history.  

Last night there was a quiet knock at the door and I found the lovely Laura with her arms full of goodies for me.  You see I've been wallowing a bit lately, with a sinus and throat infection (again) that is hard to shake off and my impending migraine within the next few days.  Laura has been checking in on me every few days to see how I'm faring.  What a beautiful woman she is, forever serving others and being a wonderful ray of sunshine.  Here is the little bit of sunshine she brought me last night.

So as I sip my honey and lemon tea and smell my beautiful roses I think of you Laura, whom I love, and I appreciate the big and little things and notes and the love that you share with me.  Someday I hope to be a good friend to you and be able to return some of your kindness.

They do smell beautiful!!

Latest project

I finally finished crocheting a scarf for Sam last night, which matches his hat that I made a few months ago.  Scarves are one of those easy crochet projects that you can do anytime and are very satisfying.  However my babette blanket has been shelved for a little bit while I get through my list of requests for hats and scarves from the family. 

Blessings

I'm counting my little blessings today, I am thankful for...

Walking my boys to school

The warm sun and blue sky

 

The colours in the neigbourhood

Lavender blossoming in the garden

A delicious chicken soup brought by a good friend

Soft white tissues

My soft warm scarf and crocheted hat

 

A cosy new futon to sleep on

A soothing camomile and spearmint tea

Heaters to take off the chilly edge

My littlest one to share my day with

....once I get started it's hard to stop......those little blessings are the ones that keep you going.  It's amazing what a little walk in the garden can do for the body and the spirit.  Now I think it's time for some crochet.

Mother Capacity

The words of Lisa Rigby in "Creating a Childhood", touched me today...."If you look back, you can see that what was hard work for you then, is easy for you now.  You even do it without thinking".    I often look back to the time of being a one child family.  I remember what used to be such hard work as a new mother is now just another every day thing we do.  We  have the capacity to stretch ourselves beyond what we thought we could and stretch our love beyond what we thought we could.

Today things are not going as planned.  It's not a crazy busy day, in fact everything has slowed down.  My one bit of sanity, my little selfish delight (aside from chocolate) is my weekly yoga class.  I won't be making it today.  I also had an appointment with my Naturopath today (trying to sort out my migraine problems) I won't make that today either.

I had a little man in my bed last night, the reason he was in my bed is that it was more comfortable for him to fit in my bed than me fit in his, Donald was moved to the spare bed.  Toby came home from pre-school with a headache yesterday, which developed into a brief low grade temperature which then later in the evening turned into dizziness and vomiting.  What used to be a major event when we only had one child now seems just another thing to do in my week.  I have ice cream buckets strategically placed around the house, under each child's bed, towels laid over pillows, just in case, you see I want to prevent having to wash bed sheets.  Lying in bed waking at every snuffle, cough or grunt thinking that Toby is going to vomit makes for a tiring evening.

It is difficult to know sometimes if an illness is coming on or a pre existing condition that Toby has is manifesting itself.  I speak of Toby's dizzy spells that he has experienced over the past couple of years.  Initially the ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist thought it was crystals in the ear canal, that was two years ago.  After several more frequent occurrences of dizziness, we visited a Neurologist who feels that Toby has Vestibular Migraines.  Migraines!!  I always thought that because I had given birth to boys and not girls that there might be a slight chance of not passing on my inherited nemesis.  Sadly not so.  We are still to see a pediatric neurologist to investigate further, but in the mean time Toby still has dizzy spells, his eyes flicker and his temperature increases and nausea creeps in.

I am tired but I know that I am doing the right things by being home for my little man.  Just being there is a comfort to him.  He knows that he can come and sit on my lap and tell me how his head is spinning and I will comfort him and listen to him.   Just knowing how brave and practical Toby is with not a word of complaint I feel blessed for his presence and joy in my life.   I am grateful that we have the capacity as mothers to bear our children's burdens and stretch and grow beyond what we thought we could.