mother’s day pamper morning

i have a love/hate relationship with mother's day pamper mornings at the school. this time around was no exception. monday morning my sweet boy skipped into class with me and then...

at his instruction, i rubbed some hand cream into my own hands, seven times, painted my own nails (i was smart and brought along my own clear polish this year... sneaky!)

i had my hair brush for approximately twelve seconds...

and then helped joseph thread coloured pasta onto a piece of string that amazingly i got to keep.

i guess you'd call that a success? mum life strikes again. but no matter what, i love his little face. so so much.

mother’s day 2018

i got some lovely gifts for mother's day this year, including getting to make and eat my own breakfast in peace, because no one else woke up until almost 8am!



doug surprised me with this lovely ring and also got me a denim jacket i'd been eyeing off (i know, i know, it's new? how dare i? well, i looked unsuccessfully for weeks prior to suggesting it to him... i just could not find one in the opshop and gave up in the end. which means, of course i'll probably find one next week.) from "the kids." i love it! maddie insisted on buying me a gift when we were out shopping one day and got me the mug, which i approved so she could use my money haha. 

and this little kindy monkey gave me a painting, a decorated dinner plate and a bookmark that he had made all by himself at school! So cute!

and so proud of himself, even cuter!

i love being a mum to these tiny people we made and wouldn't give it up for anything, it's the greatest job in the world.

but... mum still needs her space and i'm not going to lie... this is me most days by bedtime.

happy mother's day to all my mum friends out there!

school ready

it's school time in just 8 days (but who's counting, oh me for sure! my kids are squabbling and it is time...) and i am ready to go! mum came over for the day and whipped up a library bag for joseph, cars of course. 

finished an art smock for madeline...

and then made a new library bag for madeline (she's over the frozen one that poor mum made and then hand embroidered her name into last year. sigh)

i spent the day labelling pencils and books and packing everything ready to go for next week and i am pleased to report that we are done and dusted.

now to work out how i'll cope with my baby at school next year. thank goodness it's only five days a fortnight. i don't know what i'd do with myself otherwise! i'll let you know how we go! 

instagram top nine

it's a new year and i keep seeing these instagram top nine photos appearing in my feed, so i thought i would jump on the bandwagon and see what mine had in it. i honestly cracked up laughing when it came back with these 9 pictures that make me look like an absolute molly mormon. 

left to right, top to bottom:

the salt lake city temple during my visit to utah in february

our little family at the pinker wedding

an evening session at the perth temple

provo city centre temple also during my visit to utah

dallas texas temple with the demkes

rocking my mary poppins outfit at the madeley ward trunk or treat

another evening at the perth temple

madeline's moana party "heart of te fiti" cookies

the salt lake city lds conference centre

it was definitely a great year, with some excellent memories - and being that most of them involved church this is a perfect nine for me. 

let's hope 2018 is just as good. ♥

my little pony: the movie

we checked out my little pony: the movie this afternoon with some friends. the movie was okay, the kids were not... i was about ready to resign as a mum. joseph is not doing so well being restricted in his sling (which has been upgraded to something he can't move about in and it's driving him crazy) and hence he's driving me crazy! he waltzed about the cinema here and there and decided at one point he didn't even want to watch the movie... while madeline wouldn't stay in one seat - and let's just say i didn't see a lot of the movie. it seemed nice, lots of bright colours, cute songs and... well, i guess we will be watching it on dvd on day so i can see what actually happened. 

oh being a mum is hard. i am hoping one day it pays off and as they grow up i'll feel like my hard work paid off. but, here's a picture of the girls looking all sweet and innocent (while joseph flat out refused to be in it...) to make it look like we had a good time. 

a broken arm

let's play a little game of "guess which one of my children broke their arm today."

if you guessed joseph, there is no prize, you would of course be correct. doug and i left the kids at his parents house this morning while we attended a wedding (yes, another one!) and came home to joseph crying and lying very still on the lunge, unable to lift his left arm. he and madeline had been playing on the trampoline and at some stage she pushed him and off he went, backwards, landing on his arm. he kept complaining of pain, and wouldn't wiggle his fingers, so after a few minutes i decided a trip to the local emergency department might be in order.

after a reasonable (but not unbearable) wait, we finally saw the nurse, had x-rays... and sure enough, mum intuition was right and it was indeed broken. because of where it is broken, it is difficult to cast (and probably not worth doing) so he is now in a spongy sling with his arm held at a 90 degree angle until it is healed.

sigh. boys will be boys. thank goodness it wasn't anything worse! fingers crossed it doesn't take too long to heal!

10kg down

so... this gluten free and dairy free thing seems to be working for me... i finally cracked the 10kg mark today! hooray! when i can actually see the numbers on the scales dropping and i am feeling better for it, it makes it so much easier to hang in there and stick to it.

just for the record:

start date: 26/07 start weight 93kg

current date: 18/10 current weight 83kg

my first goal was simply to lose 10kg

next goal, make it to 80kg

third goal, down to 75kg

i know it's doable... and i'll get there. i might even introduce exercise at some point... at this stage it's been completely diet.

hooray for reaching goals! 

a day for mothers ❤️

sometimes being a mum is super hard. this past week has been a bit that way... joseph had school sores a few weeks ago (how we have no idea, as madeline's school had sent home a few notes warning about them and they are highly contagious, yet she never got them!) and although he had antibiotics and his face cleared up, after wiping his face and cleaning him up and trying to get him sore free, his face has become red, dry and raw. he doesn't want to be touched, he is cranky and just not himself. last night he woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep... then he spent most of today being pretty just, disagreeable. so mother's day was not as fun as it could have been.

but i am so, so blessed. i have two (generally) healthy kids, i have a family that loves me... an amazing mother in law and mother of my own and countless blessings, every single day!

this is pretty much the truest thing i have ever read... i know i would be completely and utterly lost without my mum. she is such an amazing woman and i owe everything i am to her. if i am lucky enough to become half the woman she is, i will certainly be doing well. she truly is the most talented, beautiful and kind person i know.

mothers day just wouldn't be right without some photos of the kids... so here you are... please excuse poor joseph's face! :( i love you my babies. thank you so much for making me a mother! ♥

mother's day pamper morning

today i was pampered by my little madeline, during a mother's day pamper morning at her kindergarten. she is so blessed to have two beautiful, understanding women as her teachers who go out of their way to ensure the children (and mums!) feel special and loved.

we arrived to a sign on the gate as we enetered, wishing us all a happy mother's day

and a tea/coffee and muffin station (this mummy thought ahead and brought along a hot chocolate sachet haha) where maddie made me a drink

inside the classroom there were stations set up for our little ones to pamper us... madeline gave me a hand soak and massage

she painted my nails... (thank goodness for nail polish remover) we made a cute necklace for me to keep together (filing away the idea for future reference, patterned paper straws cut into pieces to make beads) and she gave me a three second shoulder massage. looks like her attention span is as long as mine hahah. (there was a hair styling and foot spa station too) it was just the cutest thing and i felt so loved!

and as we left, we each got some handmade bath bombs. this anti bath mama may just have to try them out because they look really cute. all of our childrens artwork was displayed by the door, thank goodness she said something nice about me! 

this mum gig can be pretty tough. but it's days like this that make it all worth while.

i love you miss maddie. thanks for making me a mummy! ♥

what time is it...?

i honestly wonder how long it will be before i stop caring what time it is... i constantly feel like i need to be somewhere, like i'm late for work, like i need to be doing something... it's making me a little crazy!!

i am well aware that i am doing the most important job in the world, that looking after baby madeline is my job now - but i am still waiting for it to sink in...