a long day with mel and the kids

there are some friends who are no effort whatsoever. who when you're with, the conversation just flows and no matter what you're doing, you will have fun. who you don't have to worry about offending with your terrible (and often inappropriate in my case) jokes and whose kids your own kids adore.

this friend to me, is my friend mel. she's amazing and so are her kids and today we accidentally hung out for 10 hours. oops. at least it was a cheap date. we started at our local bunnings for the second day in the row, for another free event, watching al kazam the magic man. he is seriously the funniest. we have been to a birthday party before that he was at and i think the adults laughed as hard as the kids did, so as soon as i saw he was performing i was booking them in asap. 

we then hit up hungry jacks for lunch for their cheap as stunner meals (5 items for $5.95) before heading off to our favourite place...

the opshop mega barn in canning vale. it's the giant opshop in a huge warehouse, where none of the clothing is sorted, but instead thrown into huge clothing bins for you to pick through. to be honest, it's pretty gross (i am a huge germaphobe but love opshopping, go figure?!) but we love all the great stuff we find.

the most amazing thing i found, was actually a sketch book in one of the boxes of books, which i thought i would grab for maddie, as she never stops drawing. but when i opened it, i found this incredible picture that someone had drawn of the mega barn! i felt bad buying it and depriving them of being able to display it so i took it to the girls at the counter who were absolutely thrilled with it. the seemed to think it had been drawn by one of the girls who was working there and assured me they would definitely have it up and framed next time i came in. so cool.

alex had had enough by the end and fell asleep wrapped up close to me. i love that he's still small enough to wrap up and cuddle.

here's my finds from the day, all this for $21 - just 75 cents a piece. bargain!

the kids still weren't done playing when all of that was over, so mel called her husband who turned up for dinner and the party continued well into the night with giggling and rioting all through the house.

thank goodness for good friends and school holidays, two of the most wonderful things in life ♥

funning at bunnings

there is nothing, i repeat nothing, better than free local events to entertain kids during the school holidays... and our local bunnings has come up with the goods. after booking our kids in online, i met a bunch of the other mums from church there so we could gasbag while our kids participated in some easter fun.

but first, some silly photos.

the staff had organised some easter crafts and colouring followed by minute to win it games in their kids area. such a pity i can't upload videos to my blog, this one was a challenge to place an oreo on your forehead and get it into your mouth using only your facial muscles. what the heck.

just so you know, he did not manage to do it, but the oreo ended up in his mouth regardless.

these two nuggets had the time of their life trying to do it

failing miserably

and then laughing about it afterwards.

the easter bunny also arrived to hand out eggs and pose for photos. how i hope that if the easter bunny is indeed real that it is a magical rabbit (that actually looks like a rabbit) that hops around with a basket, rather than a horrifying looking adult in a bunny costume. yikes. the kids didn't seem to mind though.

mads and my little bub. so cute. 

today was a great day ♥

general conference april 2019

i love general conference. i love to hear the words of the modern day prophets, telling us things we can do to improve our lives and grow closer to the lord. although i never quite manage to get to watch it all uninterrupted, i managed to sneak one of the sessions in, playing on the laptop while editing some photos, before we watched the sunday morning session as a family. i absolutely loved this quote from sister craven from her talk careful vs. casual. it was an excellent talk and it hit me hard in a good way, a great reminder to do the right thing. to always do the right thing.

i actually had a wonderful experience this time around too, elder uchtdorf spoke during the saturday morning session in his talk: missionary work: sharing what is in your heart. he spoke of the importance of being the one to bring up the gospel, to speak up and not wait for a chance. because not long after listening to that talk, the chance arose for me. 

madeline has made a few new friends since the beginning of the school year, which always happens as classes are shuffled and kids are put with new people. one girl she has become very good friends with and has had regular play dates. this girls mother messaged me during the holidays, to ask me to keep a date free for a birthday party, which was - of course, a sunday. most of our friends know we are religious, that we attend church regularly and that when we decline invitations to sunday parties that it's not because we don't want to attend, but because of our church meetings. but this was a new friend, i don't know the mother well and i didn't want to decline and risk it possibly affecting the girls friendship. i'm not saying the mum would be like that and don't think for a minute she would be, but the unfortunate reality is, some people are. so... i thought about it long and hard, how could i respond kindly, but give a good reason for her not being able to make it? elder uchtdorfs talk came clearly into my mind and i found myself typing back that sundays weren't a good day for us as we are very involved in our church community, which takes up our day and that madeline just wouldn't be able to make it. i don't know what i expected to happen, i am a little bit paranoid at the best of times... i guess i just figured that she wouldn't be going. what i didn't expect was a quick response from the mum asking if saturday would work better for us? you could not wipe the smile off my face - and madeline was thrilled to pieces! to speak up even though i was unsure of what it would lead to, had lead to something amazing! i had managed to mention the church to someone and have the best response possible. hooray! that talk was clearly something i needed to hear and i know it will help me to be a lot more brave in the future.

i also loved this talk from president nelson in the sunday morning session: come follow me. how blessed we are to have this amazing man leading our church in these days. he truly is inspired and i know this talk will be something that so many people will need to hear. it is all about how we can become closer to the lord, even if we have strayed from the "covenant path" or even doubt his existence. i hope there are people who hear his words and begin to return to the safety of the gospel.

i mean seriously, he just says all the right things. just when i thought i couldn't love him any more, he came out with this quote in the priesthood session. what a legend.

i can't wait to get into the rest of the sessions, general conference is truly a huge blessing in our lives.

bayswater dance festival

today our gorgeous girl has her very first dance competition in the bayswater dance festival. after being asked to join the girls 8 year lyrical class at the beginning of the year, she's had just 10 lessons and now has a competition under her belt! 

the girls placed third in their category, out of just three entries, but i was assured by one of the other mums that the judges take the competition seriously and won't actually award a place in these cases if they don't think they are deserved, so sometimes just a first place or a first and second are given. so that was comforting... but of course the girls didn't mind.

the girls danced beautifully and their routine was just lovely. i was so proud watching my little girl up there on stage! they really do an amazing job and just dance so well. it's like they don't even have to think and it all just comes naturally. plus, they barely even looked nervous. i would have been packing myself, plus please remember this is coming from someone with absolutely zero co-ordination, so i'm even more impressed.

maddie girl, you are a little superstar. the world is out there for the taking, so keep on chasing your dreams and dance dance dance! we love you little one. ♥

baby alexander: six months

how is it even possible that this adorable child has been ours 

for half a year now?!

during the last month he has been:

-reaching for anything he can see around his bumbo

-suffering (well he hasn't suffered, we've been the ones suffering haha) 
massive sleep regression, he's been waking up over and over 
and wanting to feed all night 
-pulling on his bottom jaw and crying as though his teeth are coming, 

near the end of the month they started to look as though they could 
come any time and he was hating it... whining non stop

-rolling from front to back and back to front
-loving being able to pull hair when people are cuddling you 
(the worst... i completely understand why people have a baby 
and then cut their hair eep.)

-he loooooves bright lights and screens (a regular little moth)

-he has been starting to bite me when feeding. not fun.
-and he's getting close to sitting up!

this kid is so loved it's not funny, by his parents, his siblings, 
grandparents, cousins and pretty much everyone we know. he's just so 
easy to love with his big blue eyes and gorgeous smile.

baby alex, you are the cutest! ♥

easter rocky road

i seriously could not be a teacher. i take my hat off to any one that possesses that kind of patience. 20 or more children 6 and a half hours a day? no thanks. i am fairly certain if they made home schooling mandatory, i would be jailed for my kids not being taught. thank goodness for teachers. so, because of my lack of desire to be a teacher, i like to make sure that my childrens teachers know that they are appreciated. so, i made some "easter rocky road" to give to the four of them (maddie has one, joseph has three, two who teach half the week each and an education assistant.) they seemed really pleased with it (let's be honest, if anyone brought me chocolate i'd be thrilled too!) so hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.

***********************

easter rocky road

ingredients:

bag coles milk chocolate melts

bag coles marshmallows (cut into 4)

pack coles "choccy fingers" (cut into 3)

2 crunchie bars (roughly cut)

3/4 cup unsalted peanuts

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

bag cadbury "mini eggs"

method:

melt choc melts in the microwave on medium, for 30-60 intervals until all melted and smooth

mix with all other ingredients except mini eggs

pour into a baking paper lined slice pan

pop mini eggs on top and refrigerate

when set, cut into pieces

***********************

we cut it into large pieces and bagged it with a cardboard tag and string for the teachers. yum!

isabel is 2: a moana birthday party

this adorable little girl had her second birthday party yesterday, a moana birthday party thrown by her very clever mum, my best friend jennifer.

everything looked very island-ish and thanks to our good friends at woolworths, we had an almost life size moana cut out for behind the food table. thank you recent disney tile promotion!

fun fact: you cannot buy brown balloons from party stores. it's just not a colour they make. so, you have to make them yourself, by popping a black balloon inside a burgundy one and blowing them up together. ta-dah!

heart of te fiti cookies ♥

and a hand made tropical number two. she's a clever girl our jen.

but, her specialty is the amazing cakes she churns out! this one was no exception. although she used a edible paper wrap for the bottom layer, the top was completely hand painted! jen, you are amazing!

the birthday girl with her gift from me, a singing heart of te fiti necklace ♥

jen & mat enjoying the party, mat must have been enjoying himself, that shirt says it all!

isabel with her mummy and daddy

and having a laugh with her dad.

happy birthday miss isabel. what a pleasure it was to share your day with you! 

♥