backstreets back alright!!!

all my teenage dreams came true tonight when i scored a last minute ticket to the backstreet boys concert at perth arena. my friend dom had bought two and was going to take her mum. when they were here last week i said jokingly to her mum, "if you feel sick let me know, i'll go" and next thing i knew i was being informed that i was going! what an awesome surprise that was!

the concert was pretty epic i must say... the boys came out dressed to the nines in blue slim fit suits and white shirts to do their first set... and oh did they dance. those 90s boy band choreographed dance moves were out in full force and the crowd loved every single minute of it.

as you can see we were pretty excited!

during one of the songs, they asked the crowd to put on their phone lights and holy moly was it bright in there.

i have to say also, i was so impressed. back in the day when i was a teenager (in fact their first song was released the year i turned 12) they just sang and busted out the occasional dance move, but now they all sing better and play instruments and write their own music! it was a really good show!

but... as it was to be expected, nick carter is still by far the hottest - and thousands of girls in the arena made sure he knew about it... so he was putting on a good show for them. including an impromtu dance solo during one of the last songs. i could not stop laughing. most of the night, in fact.

so after 20 years, they are still going strong... and backstreet's back alright!!

we are clean!

finally after a week, we have test results! there is no whooping cough here... thank goodness. we can leave the house again and be normal human beings haha.

first item on the agenda was leaving the house of course, so we all walked up to the local shops to post a package to sister kendall. all we really got out of  her on sunday was how cold she is, so we sent her a big jacket (which is now thirdhand sister missionary), a scarf, some more shoes, some treats, a painting from madeline... and some other bits and bobs. hopefully she will have it soon. it's not bad though, going airmail from perth, they have said it's only between 3-10 working days. not bad at all.

now to wash all the linen in the house seeing as he is finally feeling better. a mothers work is never done.

mothers day 2015

another mothers day has come and gone... and i have to admit, it was not the best... joseph hasn't been well for a few weeks, although as it was originally just a very runny nose, we hadn't taken him to the doctor. on tuesday morning he woke up and coughed and coughed and coughed, so i bundled him off to the doctor, only to have them test him for whooping cough! personally i don't think that's what it is, he isn't terribly ill, even now... but as there has been a few cases in perth recently, they had to check for it. i am feeling pretty blessed that he has been immunised, so if by some crazy chance he has contracted it, it would be an extremely mild case and not potentially dangerous! anyway... because of that, we are on house arrest. :( he can't go anywhere until the results are back - which won't be until tuesday, blergggg. he seems okay and is on antibiotics, so fingers crossed.

so, no church for us today, although doug went (he had a speaking assignment...) which meant i missed out on hearing him speak and hearing my primary children sing, they had practiced and practiced for weeks to sing "i often go walking" to their mums. devastated. 

there was good parts of my day though... i got a gorgeous white cardigan and some lollies from the kidlets...

 i got to facetime with my mum in France, where she is living it up with dad and my brothers family... i am so grateful for her and every little thing she has done for me over the years. some people are insulted when they are told they are turning into their mother... i however take it as a compliment, there is no one i would rather be. she is loving, generous, compassionate, christlike and so so so talented. she is an amazing cook, can sew anything, makes beautiful creations out of old junk and is one heck of a snappy dresser.

mama you are the queen of my heart!

the highlight of my day though, was talking to doug's beautiful sister, serving in the new zealand hamilton mission. she has been been out just 17 days and in the field just 5 days, but as it was mothers day she was entitled to a call home. it was so nice to hear from her and actually get to see her face! i already miss her so much and it was the best to see her!

all in all though, my mothers day was okay... because i got to share it with these two adorable monkeys that i get to call me "mum". how grateful i am to be their mum and for every single day i have already had to spend with them and every one i'm yet to have. even the hard ones when someone is in tears most of the day (and yes, that someone is sometimes me!) i love my babies - and i am so glad to be 

a mum

a maternity shoot for jen

today i had the absolute pleasure of taking maternity shots for my best friend jen. she is 37 weeks + 4 days pregnant and nearly ready to pop! i am so excited to meet her little man and am so thrilled that she trusted me enough to do the shots for her. it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and i think they turned out great!

just in case they don't have a name picked yet... haha

jen is always gorgeous, but she has honestly never looked more beautiful than she does right now...

and mat that hates having his photo taken was very behaved... it was a maternity shoot miracle!

  

♥

i love you guys and i am so excited...

see you soon little one!

a long week

it's going to be a long week. 

we are house bound and can't go anywhere (which i will explain later) - and i am certainly learning patience at the hands of my children. 

patience and deep breaths. there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

sunday love

there is totally sunshine in my soul today

and every sunday in fact. 

sunday is family day and i adore spending it with doug and these two babes. we always (as i am sure you've noticed by now) take a snap of them sunday afternoon straight after church, to share on social media, seeing as one set of their beautiful grandparents live in the eastern states of australia and my brother and his family live in london. 

todays photo though, just blew me away... their sweet faces, and the way they look at each other, is just amazing. so much love. they are already the best of friends and follow each other around the house and play together... i just hope it continues!

now excuse me while i go and have this photo enlarged and framed. love it! 

when daddy's away...

we had some bad news last week... doug's best friend is married to a twin, and her twin sister passed away after a long and difficult battle with cancer. she and doug had been quite close and when he was asked to come to the funeral, we knew it was a good idea. so off he went. i got to have my first real experience of solo parenting, with two kids on my own for 6 days... without even the option of running to my parents house for time out - as they are overseas as well!

amazingly enough, it was pretty smooth sailing... madeline was pretty great - and joseph was okay for most of the week, with the exception of when his gums were hurting... he has another tooth pushing through his gum, that is so big that i want to cry just looking at it. it was even bleeding at one stage :(

he did look around a lot as if to ask where daddy had gotten too - and then proceeded to drag his hats around... and even try a couple on. he is too adorable!

even church wasn't too bad - as madeline attached herself to uncle richard the minute we arrived, then perched in his lap and refused to leave it. sorry rich! but thank you, made my life easier!

we even made a visit to ikea and madeline had her first experience in the creche (aka smaland side note... how funny and fitting is that name?!) and amazingly loved it! she is normally clingy and a little funny when it comes to going to people she doesn't know well, but she had a great time.

so there you have it. i made it out alive, almost a few on my own with 2 kids... doug will be home in a few hours and... i win!

:) x ♥