primary presentation 2017

once a year, the primary children (4-12 years old) take over the main meeting at church and speak about what they have learned during the year and sing the songs they have been taught. this years one was held yesterday. it is the cutest thing and as much as i am sure anyone who doesn't have children or grandchildren in it wants to bang their head against the wall, i genuinely gained an appreciation for it the year i was the primary music leader in dianella ward. after teaching the kids the songs all year, i was keen as mustard to watch them perform! then my madeline was old enough... and now i'm hooked i guess. next year joseph will be in there too. fun times!

maddie did great, got up there and busted out her one line "we are blessed when we follow the prophets counsel" without batting an eyelid. thank goodness! a wonderful improvement in comparison to years gone by. ♥

grandma kendall and madeline had a great time taking this picture, oli turned up to church with the exact same dress (in an adult version) as maddie. oh did we laugh! i totally posted it online with the caption "when grandma tries to steal your thunder and turns up to church on primary presentation day in the same outfit as you."

these kids are amazing. sometimes these two yell at each other. sometimes they hit and throw things and take things just to annoy the other one. but sometimes they love each other madly. and today was one of those days. while madeline sat out the front during the primary presentation, joseph kept turning to me and saying i want to go and sit with madddddddie! then she would look in our direction, grin and give a discreet wave and his little (good) arm would pop up into the air, waving madly at her to say hello. i am so glad they are friends... some of the time.

i don't know how impressed this kid was about being buttoned into a shirt and vest with a sling on, but we succeeded and made it through the day.

plus in todays news... it is off! after a visit to princess margaret hospital a week after his arm as broken, it was decided that the sling they gave him wasn't enough to keep the arm immobile enough to heal, so the dr gave him one that was ziptied to hang in the optimal position. he hated it and constantly asked for it off. there was no play equipment, trampolines or water for the last 4 weeks and i know he is thrilled it's off. we were having to stand him in the bath and wash him with a wet flannel, then tip his head as far forward as we could in the laundry sink to wash his hair. :( thank goodness that's over. he's being a little funny about anyone looking at it and still wants to keep it inside his shirt and bent, but i am sure he'll be right as rain in a few days. the best news from the dr was, that no matter what he does now, it will heal perfectly, as the arm naturally falls to where it should be and in 1, 3, 10 years time, if for any reason he needs to have an x-ray, you would never even know it had been broken. yay! let's hope the years to come with this kid are accident free!

family ties

cousins are the first friends we have has children... may i introduce you to mine? my cousin renee. we are 9 months apart in age ♥

twice or so a year, we get together with our cousins (and kids) from mums side of the family and meet up in kings park for a play and a picnic. it is hilarious seeing the next generation hanging out... and it's lovely to be able to spend that time with my cousins. we were so close as kids and it's nice to have time set aside for family

poor joseph couldn't get into it as much as he would have liked, with his arm still hitched up in a sling, but he still enjoyed himself. two more days until his hospital appointment, fingers crossed it comes off!

doug and his girl having a cuddle

the next generation of "marshall" kids - minus a lot haha

joseph and madeline (mine and dougs), taelor and isaac (jaydon and jenna's) and koby (renee and chris's)

and these two girls. i love watching them hang out. they are so keen to be friends... maybe we'll have to do it more often, bunbury isn't that far away after all!

christmas gifts from winter woodworking

further to my last post, i swear i am going to be organised this christmas. so much so, that i ordered my brothers christmas gists last week too! they are getting personalised wooden christmas decorations, made by our friend who owns a home business called winter woodworking. he is so clever and i have to admit, nearly every time he posts something new on his page, i feel like i need to buy whatever it is haha. thankfully none of the boys read my blog, so here is a sneak preview of their decorations. so happy with how they turned out. mr winter, you are amazing! 

an organised mum

a couple of weeks ago, i was browsing facebook and came across these adorable candy cane sleeves from giggles party design. 30 sleeves, four different designs, personalised with your childs name, posted... all for $15. where do i sign? i had madeline choose some candy canes the next time we were in kmart (is it a surprise to anyone that she chose rainbow ones? really?) they arrived last week and they are now sitting in a bag in the cupboard ready to go. they worked out to be 60c a piece which i am more than happy with. i am hoping this is the year i am super organised and ready for christmas well in advance so i can actually enjoy the season. here's hoping!

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 day with the girls

friday was a girls (and joseph) day out and about. we hit up a few opshops and found some excellent pieces. i was pretty happy right there... but the afternoon was even better as i had my first visit to lily and the angel in alfred cove. it's a quirky little cafe full of vintage treasures, excellent treats (vegan, gf...) cups of whatever you like and a rack of preloved clothes. what could be better? i found myself a gorgeous dress which mum insisted on paying for, turns out it was so she could take it home. hmmmmm i had better get a turn!

my orange cake and soy hot choc. yummo!

the front of the store is houses a florist as well, so there are lots of lovely flowers surrounding you as you eat and drink and enjoy a chat with the owner who is just gorgeous. i'll definitely be stopping in again next time i'm on my way to fremantle... put it on your list!

pp girls mini disco

these five girls are the funniest. a few days ago i watched them bop around singing at the top of their lungs in our theatre room whilst listening to the mini disco playlist i'd thrown together at midnight the day before. 

long story short, one of them was sick when the school disco was on. the other four went and i snapped a pic of them looking chuffed to be there and hanging out together and posted it on my instagram. her mum saw it, she saw it... and she was devastated that she missed the party.

i couldn't let that happen, so an idea was born to make the pp girls mini disco! it was pretty easy... a few sets of fancy lights strung up about the place, some boppy music streaming onto the screen via apple tv, snacks and a few kids! they had the best time - and us mums had a pretty good time chilling out in the kitchen too. maybe something we will have to revisit... we have such a good bunch of kids here - and some pretty excellent mum friends. ♥