sister kendall

dominique and i have a joint pinterest board - called sister kendall, which is mostly inspiration for mission clothing. the description for the board says, "i refuse to look like an idiot..." and she is doing well to ensure she doesn't. seeing as her papers will be going in soon... today she had a trial run of packing, ensuring that everything she packed could be worn with multiple other items... so it was a fashion show in my bedroom.

she has certainly done well though... with the cheapest sister missionary wardrobe the world has ever seen... between random things she has, hand me downs, things from my closet (mostly also from the opshop and hand me downs) and opshop finds

from top left...

1. cardigan a hand me down from a past sister missionary to me, dress from the local op-shop

2. dress and cardi from the op-shop

3. cheap $3 cardigan from supre, op-shop dress (worn as a shirt) and restyled skirt (bit of running in on the sewing machine, really not bad for a first attempt)

4. dress from 3, cardi from 2

5. dress from 1, worn as a skirt, shirt $10 from valleygirl, hand me down scarf from a friend of mine

6. cardi from 1, shirt from 5, $10 maxi skirt from dotti at harbourtown

i can't wait to see what else she comes up with... but there'll be 18 months worth of opportunities! 

sister kendall here she comes!

big girl room...

we picked this up today! well, not this exact mattress - but a custom made version of the sealy posture premier "kirra"  for miss madeline's big girl bed, that she'll be going into sometime really soon! 

madeline will be having the bed i had when i was a child, that is an odd size (we found out recently that it's king single width, but double length...) so we had to have a new mattress made just to fit, as the one i had is about to give up the ghost. my mums brother used to work for the sealy factory in belmont and spoke to someone to have one organised, i paid for it over the phone and it was ready four days later. four. days. i could not believe how quickly they were done! doug and a friend of ours collected it and it is perfectly made, sized to our measurement and was such a reasonable price! i expected it to cost so much more, but it was great. i am thrilled.

i can not recommend them enough - if you need a new mattress, get a sealy!

being an eight cow woman

tonight at our relief society additional meeting, our presidency had based our activity around the movie johnny lingo. it was such an awesome night and we were privileged to be able to listen to sisters with experience speak on the topics listed above. grazy talk was one of my favourites - explaining the need of conversation between you and your husband, not about work and not about the kids. about you and him and your future together. mad cow was also good, a reminder to take time out from the daily pressures of life in general and to get some "me" time to not go crazy. another thing i certainly needed to hear. 

the final sister that spoke "udderly fantabulous" was incredible, she had so much life experience and suggestions on how to stay grounded, stand for something strong and to make a difference in your own life and the lives of others. it was a great night!

***

spoiler alert...

i have had a life long obsession with the lds short film johnny lingo, produced all the way back in 1969. as a youth, i grew up in a very small branch, 100kms north east of perth, western australia, in a town called northam. it was a frequent occurence that our youth sunday school class would be without a teacher, due to lack of numbers in the branch to fill every position and my dear older brother isaac took it upon himself to ensure that we had something to do, and were quiet enough to ensure no one noticed.

following sacrament meeting each week he would race to the library and grab the small tv (a dual setup with a vcr attached) and usher the lot of us into our classroom where week after week after week, we would watch the movie johnny lingo. until we all knew it by heart. there was on average 6 of us - give or take, but being that a few of us remain close friends, when we see each other these days, one of us only has to mention "mahana you ugly", or utter any other line from the many available and the lot of us can keep each other entertained, in stitches for hours.

johnny lingo tells the story of a young woman believing herself to be worthless and unattractive because she is told only as much. she lives with her father in the polynesian islands and spends her days working and such, until the day that johnny lingo arrives to meet with her father and bargain for her hand in marriage. the bargaining takes place in front of the village and the family are given cows as a reward for their daughter. 

the women of the village are seen boasting to each other prior, of the price their husbands paid for them - but when the bargaining begins, mahana is nowhere to be found. she assumes that johnny will not want her, or not want to pay much for her, as she is worth nothing in her own sight.

johnny, however shocks the pants off the entire village by offering her father eight cows for her hand, an amount that is completely ludicrous and unheard of. he then returns to pay the price and mahana and he are married.

due to his huge offer for mahanas hand and constant show of her worth in the future, she begins to see herself in a different light and blossoms to become a true beauty. it is well worth the watch and you can watch it here.

5 months old!

i cannot even begin to tell you how delicious this baby is. joseph is five months old today and what a heartbreaker he is. i mean seriously, look at those huge bright blue eyes and dimples. i cannot get enough of them. he sleeps all night without a drama, smiles non stop and just loves to be loved. 

when he is upset, he is already making a mummmmmmm mummmmmm noise, which i love! especially seeing as madeline's first word was dad. (my turn!) he loves to laugh and when you give him big kisses he giggles away and makes his big throaty gurgly noises at you.

we started him on solids this month and he's currently having a teaspoon of rice cereal mixed with cooled boiled water. some days he seems to like it, others not so much. we'll see how that goes. being that he's a bit of a tank, i am sure he will learn to love his food... he may be the spitting image of me, but he definitely has the polynesian genes when it comes to size and food (judging on his milk intake!)

joseph is now wearing the same size clothes madeline was wearing when she turned one. i know that for sure, as friends gave her an all blacks onesie as a birthday gift and joseph is now rocking it like no ones business. i am dreading how tall this kid is going to be (and yes, how much he is going to eat as a teenager). 

we love him so much and are so glad he is here in our little family! ♥

ratatouille

i did it! I finally made ratatouille! after all these years of eating my mums, i had to make it myself, cause she's not here to do it for me. :(

ratatouille jade style

2 brown onions

1 heaped tsp crushed garlic

tin diced tomatoes

1 medium gold sweet potato

4 medium sized potatoes 

3 capsicums (i used red, green & yellow)

1 zucchini

vegetable oil

1 tablespoon rosemary paste

preheat oven to 200 deg celcius, cut potatoes, sweet potato, capsicum and zucchini into 1cm thick slices, pour in some vegetable oil and roll in oil and rosemary. bake for about an hour until vegetables are soft and capsicum starts to blacken on edges. turn vegetables after half an hour. 

in a frypan, cook sliced onions and garlic until softened and then add tinned tomatoes and roasted vegetables.

serve over brown rice. 

mum always made this when i was younger, much to my brothers disgust... they would always tease mum and look for the meat. haha. i am sure it would taste amazing with chicken strips or beef stirred through... but as i always learnt from my mum, recipes are whatever you want to make them... imagination is the key, and this dish was certainly no exception. it's often had eggplant in it in our house and other vegetables that happened to be in the fridge. but yummm. i will definitely be making it again! :)

hymn hit parade

today in sacrament meeting a gentlemen in our ward gave an amazing talk, speaking of his his love for the hymns of our church and how they had affected his own life and the lives of his family. he came from a home with a father who wasn't overly religious, yet found peace and strength through the beauty of music and hymns.

he spoke of his family rising early on a sunday morning to listen to the wireless (a radio! not the internet for those who came in late - or were born late...) to listen to two radio shows for children (the equivalent of saturday or agro's cartoon connection for any australian's of a similar age to me) follow by the hit parade of all the current top songs.

he then told of his top 4 hymns on his hit parade. such a good way to put it and keep everyone listening... which instantly got me to thinking what the top songs on my hymn hit parade would be.

1. i am a child of god (hymn 301)

i have loved this song since i was a young child... having learnt it at an early age in primary, then singing it each night with my eldest brother as a bedtime ritual, then even singing it at my own baptism. it is a beautiful song, speaking of the purpose of life in such a simple way that even small children can understand and love. madeline has also learnt it and could sing the entire song when she was just two, and insists on singing it with us over and over. it makes me so happy when my primary children ask to sing it with me.

2. lord i would follow thee (hymn 220)

this is such a beautiful hymn. such a beautiful and simple message of how to follow our lord and love our fellow man. the tune brings me such peace and i love to sing the words and feel the sweet spirit held within. 

3. come thou fount

published in previous versions of the lds hymnbook, but not included in the current, this old and beautiful hymn contains such sweet and perfect lyrics. i love the melody contained in this hymn and felt such emotion hearing it sung by the ward choir, which i led, last year - which contained an acapella piece in the middle leading into a verse. it is amazing what a hymn can become when those singing and listening are filled with the spirit.

4. because i have been given much (hymn 219)

the lyrics of this hymn always remind me of the words my dear grandfather joseph would speak when praying a blessing on our food. he would always pray "that others would be given the necessities that we ourselves enjoy." i know that from sharing our blessings, we are able to find greater joy in them. this hymn is my father in laws favourite and over the years i have also thought of him and his kindness to me. a girlfriend from church said to me years ago that she would feed the missionaries from our church on a regular basis as she had been told "if you feed others, you will never be hungry." i try to remember that also... not many weeks passed in my child and even young adult years that my mum would not be giving some food to a friend or someone in need. she has forever been a shining example to me of love, of giving and of service. just as the lyrics of this hymn say: "because i have been given much, i too must give."

there are so many beautiful hymns in our church (and other religions too i know...) but i honestly believe there is no other way to be closer to the lord, other than prayer, than through music. my grandmother was blessed with a gift of song and a love for music, which was passed on to me. there is nothing i love more than the music of the gospel and to share it with others has been and still is one of my greatest joys.

madeline is three

this crazy little girl turned three today and i have no idea where the time went. it seems like only yesterday i was holding that little dot (top right) in my arms, wondering how on earth my life was about to change. luckily we never know what the future holds, as i am sure no one would sign up for it... haha. but miss madeline beth has brought immeasurable joy to our lives.

madeline loves birthdays and i am sure she has enjoyed dragging this one out. she loves to sing happy birthday over and over, anytime of the year, to anyone who will listen and has relished in having it sung to her. she waited excitedly for daddy to come home from work so she could open her gifts and quickly got to work when she got the go ahead.

her favourite by far was the frozen barbie dolls that doug and i brought for her. she had a look of pure joy, along with a huge gasp when she opened them. ohhhhh frozen! mum dad! look! it's elsa and anna! winner. we also gave her some slippers, a peppa pillow, little library and figurines (cannot go wrong with this child and peppa pig)... a ribbon stick (amazingly good choice, as just this past week, she's watched a hi-5 dvd with a ribbon stick and loved it so much that she kept talking about it.) an elsa dress up costume, her own torch (yes dad, we are starting her young) and a few other little things. she was so thrilled with every little thing. what a lovely sight.

she quickly donned the costume and her crown, and a pair of silver shoes (clearly the closest we had to ice in her wardrobe) from her party saturday and went for a queenly walk around the backyard, dodging the mum-arazzi. so cute. looooook mum, i'm el-sa! yes, you are indeed.

some maddie trivia for you on her birthday seems appropriate:

favourite food: peanut butter sandwiches, polony, rice bubbles and strawberries

favourite song: i am a child of god

favourite movie: frozen and tangled

favourite tv show: peppa pig (and possibly hi-5 now too)

favourite colour: pink

favourite game: tumbling monkeys (a birthday gift)

favourite clothing: her pink tutu skirt

favourite toy: duplo blocks and her little people disney princesses

favourite animal: lion

favourite thing to do: playdough, picnics and pretend running races in the house

she is so fiercely independent and loves to do everything on her own "i do it!! i do it!!" but also loves to cuddle with us and be loved. and we love to love her.

our little princess madeline. she's everything we ever dreamed she would be, and we love her to pieces.