Gun laws - enough is enough!

I am reposting this instagram post from MamaMia Australia today as I would like to discuss it a little. Last week there was another school shooting in the US. On the 24th of May 2022, 19 teachers and 2 teachers lost their lives. There have been 27 school shootings so far this year alone in the US. What I want to know, is when will the madness end? Is your second amendment so important? The right to bear arms. I am certain that in 1791 when the amendment was made, none of these guns were capable of slaughtering an entire room of people in seconds. So why can the US as a whole not grasp this concept that as long as guns are readily available without consequence, this will continue to happen, time and time again.

In 1996 the last mass shooting (and the first of mass by actual definition in modern times - since the 1920's (stats can be found here)) in Australia took place. That's 26 years ago. Our prime minister acted immediately. He made sure it wasn't going to happen again. He got to work, amended our laws and ensured that something like that was not going to shape the future of our country. It was never going to happen again. It is all but impossible here, because he made sure of it. People said he couldn't do it, there was mass outrage, people were furious... but it was done and in place within days.

Perhaps the United States of America are too far gone, the same could not be done. The sheer amount of guns in their country could not be recalled. BUT why has someone not made a change to make the future better. Until someone speaks up, until someone is brave enough to do something different, this will continue to happen. I only pray that day comes soon. I am grateful time and time again, to call Australia home and live in such safety. 

For a little background on what we do here, check out this clip on youtube. If you're American, it's probably banned because it has too many facts that your country doesn't like, but if you can get into it, it's a great watch.

As a final comment - before you all assume, I am not anti guns in any way. I grew up in the country. I know the point of having them and what they are meant for. What they aren't meant for is murdering mass amounts of people at once. Something needs to be done.

Election time in Australia

This Saturday, all Australian citizens have the opportunity to vote in our federal election. I love that in our country, voting is compulsory. No one can complain about who got in and say it was rigged or unfair as we all have to decide for ourselves who we want to get in.

I am at the point where I have to wonder if there is even a good option, but as we all learned in high school by reading and watching Looking for Alibrandi, in this country we vote not to get the best party in cause there's no such thing, but we vote to keep the worst party out. So that's what I did, when I lodged my postal vote (organised as I thought we might be moving by now) I voted for what was important to me. To me. 

I have to admit though, this particular election has really done my head in. I am absolutely gobsmacked at the absolute slander going on between the parties. I am so sick of hearing their ads everywhere I go telling me why their opposition is terrible, terrible things they supposedly did and why I shouldn't vote for them. I am well and truly over it. I legitimately only want to vote for anyone who I haven't seen slanderous items from. I'm pretty sure that only leaves me with the Legalise Marijuana party though and... yeah nah.

What I really want to see is what they are doing to make the world a better place. I don't care about your opposition, I want to hear about you! Promote what you love, instead of bashing what you hate! That's the way to my heart! I want to vote for the party with the best manners.

I also perish to think how many millions of dollars are wasted on flyers and posted letters to homes. I  received 7 just today, 4 via paid post and the others shoved in my mailbox. Who pays for that? I have already seen all of this info on the tv, the internet, on the radio, on signs... Stop wasting money!! For goodness sake.

In summary, I hate election time and cannot wait for this to be over. 

australia is burning

australia is on fire and it is terrifying. since june 2019 there have been fires burning in our country without a break. there are dozens of huge bushfires burning in the eastern states and millions of hectares of bushland and farmland have been burned. homes have been destroyed, people have died and millions of animals have died and lost their homes. these numbers are just unbelievable and are growing by the day as there just seems to be no way to stop them. they are so big and spread out that even with all the efforts they keep burning.

then, last week the smoke made it to new zealand 2000kms away, turning their skies yellow and the rest of the world finally started to realise the size of what we are dealing with! it is just unfathomable that it is so huge, but they are still going. 

an australian comedian celeste barber made a fundraising page via facebook on january 3rd hoping to raise $30000 towards relief efforts , but by earlier this evening it was almost at $30 million dollars, from donors worldwide. people everywhere are trying to help.

we have been praying that there will be an end to this and will continue to do, as they continue to burn, as this is so scary - there just seems to be no end in sight!

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(update - total burned was 18.6 million hectares, 2779 homes destroyed and 34 lives lost - with an estimated 500 million animals killed and the smoke ended up reaching south america! andddd the fundraiser wrapped with $51.3 million dollars!)

possum magic: alexanders first birthday

on saturday we celebrated our little alexanders first birthday with a little party for our family and some friends. it was the best afternoon and everything was so so cute.

when i was pregnant with alex, i saw the cutest idea for a kids birthday party with a possum magic bush theme. i loved it instantly, having grown up in the bush and most of all because my dad has called me possum my whole life! he bought me a copy of the book when i was very small for a birthday gift and i have read it over and over and just love it. the beautiful illustrations, the story - all of it. so it was decided then and there that that would be the theme. thankfully doug was happy with it too.

one of my beautiful friends has access to a colour copier at work so she copied page after page from the book for me, which mum and i sewed into bunting and hung all over the loungeroom. it was the absolute perfect touch and i am super grateful. made it look a million dollars.

we also had a tablecloth of mums with a gumnut print on it and the cutest serviettes ever with kookaburras and native australian flowers on them

and wooden plates. so good. perfect for the bush theme. (thank you kmart!)

the cake was so good... a giant lamington! (simply unfilled sponges bought frozen at our local woolworths, made up a few hours beforehand with jam and cream)

and gingerbeer (can't get more aussie than that!) and water for the drinks...

the best bit of it all was doing the food. if you haven't read the book, it is about a possum whose grandmother makes her invisible to keep her safe from snakes in the bush. one day she decides she'd like to be seen again, only for them to realise that she needs to eat human food for it to happen.

they go around australia eating different things until the find the right ones... but i made all the food mentioned in the book!

anzac biscuits in adelaide

mournay and minties in melbourne. for the mournay, i made my regular tuna mournay mix and then baked spoonfuls in little puff pastry shells. it was so yum! even my kids that don't like tuna mournay declared it was delicious. winning!

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steak and salad in sydney. i combined the two and made this salad here and it was yummm! mum said to me, "jade, you really don't have to make alllll of the things." then asked me for the recipe. you're welcome mum.

pumpkin scones in brisbane (thanks mum! she makes the best pumpkin scones)

vegemite (and cheese) sandwiches in darwin. 

pavlova in perth

and lamington (cake!) in hobart.

i was straight up obsessed with all of it. it was absolutely perfect! 

he was adorable, smiled at everyone and had a great time being adored. he is such a sweet boy and we are so blessed to have him. 

i am just the luckiest mum. he even lets me smooch him without complaining. 

our happy little family! ❤

last but not least, i had my friend jen make little fondant stamped and painted cookies for everyone to take home. green and gold to be aussie as, and she even packaged them with little gold edible stars. talk about above and beyond.

best. party. ever!

happy birthday little alex. we love you like mad. 

doug's an aussie!

it's been a long time coming (2 years, 3 months and 1 week to be precise), but my husband fiiiiinally got his australian citizenship today! i am offically married to an australian! weeehoooo. i must admit, other than the hugely long wait once all the paperwork had been submitted, we really didn't have any problems getting it done... so we were super lucky. done and dusted!

anddddd he even looks happy about it! 

congratulations my love, now let's go throw another shrimp on the barbie, said no australian ever. haha.

kings park in the holidays

we are so so lucky to live where we do. surrounded by amazing weather all year round, awesome things to do (and so many of them are free!), beautiful things to see and gorgeous parklands. after our morning at the subiaco library, we took the kids over to kings park for a picnic, a play and a bit of a stroll.

we headed out over the path towards the treetop walk, because in all these years we have never done it... and now i seriously regret not going to look at it sooner, it is a-ma-zing. seriously, look at these views. kings park is situated above perth city, looking down from west perth and has views for dayssss.

like this one, of my favourite building in perth, the old swan brewery. i seriously wanted to have our wedding reception here, but it was wayyyy out of our price range.

everyone looking super excited about todays adventure haha

more views of perth city from the path down to the treetop walk

so, here is what we were walking around on: a walkway built to be amongst the tops of the trees and then a suspended glass and steel arched bridge that reaches the highest point. it's all completely pram accessible, so it was easy to get through.

some of the beautiful bush on display as we walked about

a rare picture of doug and i 

and all of us in the water garden rotunda at the base of the treetop walk. joseph looks like he has had enough, while alex was overexcited.

we had the best family day we have had in forever, nothing to worry about - just time with all of us together, having fun.

perth, we love you!

a day with the cousins at caversham wildlife park

aaron and his family visiting from queensland called for lots of family time and today we all met up at caversham wildlife park (inside whiteman park, just a 10 minute drive from our house). our little monkeys had a great time together and spent the day running, yelling and giggling at full speed. i love to see them together and wish time and time again that they lived closer so we could do this all the time.

first things first, silly photos by the dozen are a must!

the kids loooooved the farm show and sat in awe (you'd truly think that it was the first time mine had seen it and that they hadn't seen it multiple times and one of them just a few weeks back haha) as the dogs rounded up sheep, the sheep was shorn, the lambs were fed and the whip was cracked about. love it... it's so much fun for them to watch! 

meanwhile, doug missed the show for the second time as baby alex had a nap outside in his arms. it seems to be his favourite place to nap.

maddie went and hung out with the rabbits and the guinea pigs. she is convinced we neeeeed one or the other and asks me on a regular basis if we can get one. i tell you what, it will not be a rabbit. i am still scarred from the angry white one we had when i was in primary school. they might be cute, but they get annnngry.

this little babe enjoyed his day as his siblings and cousins clucked over him as they ran past the pram. he is just so loved and with that cute little face it's easy to see why.

maddie and grandad stopping for a picture together. we are so lucky to have this awesome man in our lives... he was the best dad and is now an amazing grandad too!

katja looks completely horrified in this pic, because she is not a fan of snakes. not at all... and jonas decided along with aaron that they needed to hold one and she needed to get in on the action. i don't think felix is really convinced either judging by how far away he is standing.

how cute is this baby! oh we love him. our other kids ran off with my parents and we had a lovely time pretending for 5 minutes that we only had one to worry about.

we stopped halfway for lunch in the picnic area and had a cake for jonas who celebrated his 5th birthday last week. you can see how chuffed he is with his cake. he is the funniest!

maddie loved spending time with the kids, she dotes on felix (and has since he was a tiny baby) and insisted on picking him up and cuddling him "like a koala!" they were so adorable!

we went into the farmyard area this time, which i hadn't actually seen in previous visits and madeline fell in love with this little lamb. i can't blame her, he was very cute! i'm so glad to have these lovely parks local so the kids can experience all the farm things that i took for granted in my childhood.

before we left for the day we managed to get some fun photos of us adults, thanks to madeline who is a little too familiar with using my camera. i love this one of all of us crazies together. i'm so lucky to have the family i do.

and one of nanna and grandad and their walking grandchildren. so cute! i love them all to bits! ♥