my son

I wish I could write a beautiful poem but words have long left me and I'm truly no good at that sort of thing. This post has been started many a time but I could never bring myself to finish it as it was way too emotional for me. If it was bad then then today it is a million times worse. Our oldest is leaving in just four days, he is extremely excited to start a new stage in his life (attending uni) and while I did know it would be a hard time I never thought it would be this hard.

I gonna miss him BIG time :(

Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons ~ Donald Miller

then and now

We took this photo way back in 2006, just after we had woken up and the reason why our hair is a little messy...well mine anyway.



We decided to recreate the photo in 2011, but us girls mucked it up a little. In our defense it was extremely hard to get ourselves in exact position.



I love looking back at these old photos, seeing how much the kids have changed and grown so big and at the same time wishing that they'd had stayed little forever. We have to do this again in another five years, that is, if we still all fit in the bed :)

january so far

[+] the school holidays are finally over, I can't believe how quickly they flew by. I am now back to silence...too much silence after six weeks of craziness, it is hard to adjust
[+] lots has been going on around here, pretty awful things too. I purchased a camera from gumtree and it turned out to be a scam and I had my money stolen :( I feel like such a fool
[+] my aunts always buy things for us and the above photos are their latest purchase...a solar powered kissing couple & cute frog hair bands
[+] I have been applying for a few internships but not luck so far
[+] my youngest boy started high school this year *gulp* I felt excited and weepy all at once, where did the time go?

to the birthday boy

this is the birthday boy's birthday cake...he is crazy about rocky road so he got a rocky road cake. Happy birthday to my 15 year old! (the one with his finger in his mouth)

mini baking project

I have decided to do some serious baking around here, for too long has my oven been neglected and forgotten. Too long have I put recipes into my favourites always promising myself I would get around to it eventually. And so, I made a 12 days of christmas baking project of all the recipes that I have been dying to try but have been far too busy to attempt. The only problem is that it won't be twelve days as that amount of baking will seriously do damage around here so I have to restrict it to every second or third day otherwise we are going to have a few santa's in this house. I have a few items I want to try out that include rustic apple tart, baklava, strawberry cream cheese bread, tiramisu and chocolate and salted butter caramel macarons. I still have a few spots that I haven't yet decided what to make but I am sure that if I scour my recipe books I can find a few more.  If you have any suggestions, please send them through :)  The first on my list was the above red velvet cake, it was gobbled up so quickly I never got a chance to take a proper photo.

On another note, son number three has returned from a week long camp with his school and how I have missed him.  It is just me & him tonight so we are having a pizza/movie night and the pizzas smell heavenly.  He did however bring back not so very good news, I loaned him my canon ixus camera and it is no longer working, apparently he took it to the beach without the cover, fingers crossed we can somehow fix it.

Oh! and my two older boys received awards on Friday, just for attendance but still very proud of them.





I haven't been too well lately and I am sorry I haven't been around much or commenting much, I have had a terribly awful time with anxiety related issues. It seems to be getting worse every day and I definitely feel I have a hormone imbalance. I will be starting a cream that supposedly helps and fingers crossed it does a bit of good as this anxiety is a bit overwhelming.

Have a lovely weekend dear friends ;)

op shop finds

Just a few photos of my latest op shop finds...although I must admit I was looking for some swimmers for number three son as he has a camp coming up very soon. The past two days have been spent in about 9 different op shops with awful luck and the most horrible weather too! (it has been absolutely freezing in Sydney and the rain just never stopped) the clothes I found were either too big, too small or too expensive. But luckily and in the smallest shop too I found a pair for him, you would not believe how much of a nagger he can be so to have that crossed of my list (and his list) was a huge relief. These little 'extras' above are just my bonus for such tremendous and hard work ;)

• The above thermos was something I actually found Wednesday but had to leave it behind as I didn't have any cash on me, a usual occurrence for me with my tribe. I am starting to think they can smell it as soon as they walk in the door! anyway, I left it behind and it felt terrible. I felt heartbroken that someone else would own it but I went back today remembering where I had left it and for a brief moment held my breath and it was there...waiting for me :)
  
• The pretty plate was 50 cents and intended for holding cakes. It is now happily holding a banana bread but I doubt the cake will stay there long
• More golden books...but still looking for 'Ukulele and her new doll' one of my favourites when I was a young girl
• These gorgeous vintage dress patterns were $2 but I only had $1 on me and I told the sales assistant I only have a dollar and was going to say...wait while I go get some but before I could he said that will do just as long as it gets used, that is the most important thing :)
• A vintage pillowcase with a gorgeous floral pattern
• I finally bought the peppermint magazine, I thought I would miss out before the new one came along
• AND I won a double pass for filling out a uni survey, although the movie doesn't look that wonderful to me the fact that I will be going out on a date with Andres will make it worth it
  

my 4 kangaroos

the absolute joys of my life!
and yet often the reason why I am a little (or a lot, depending on who you ask) cuckoo
they are growing way too fast for me :(

my long weekend

I have been awake since very early today. My love & two of my boys went camping this morning, the sun was shining and I really wished I was tagging along too.  I am to spend this weekend here in my house without being able to go anywhere as my love took my car.  His work van has three seats but only two seat belts so I can't take my other two anywhere and the blue car has no registration. We really need to get registration soon and sell it once and for all!  So at around 12 I decided to go for a bike ride with my daughter and I took my camera and its bag plus another camera in a tote bag. It was the worst bike ride ever! I barely made it. My bottom was so sore and it got me thinking either my bottom is getting to accustomed to luxury seats or that bike seat was extra hard and the tote bag was swinging all over the place, I really didn't think that through too well.  We stayed for the briefest moment at the park, it was far too windy and cool, so utterly disappointing! I got back home (barely) and made lunch for us and now just sitting around noticing how painfully quiet it is without my other two boys, it is funny how much difference it is with three people missing.

So here is hoping that the weather gets a little cooler and it maybe starts to rain a little...and they will be forced to come back home.  I am truly very terrible.

Time for a hot chocolate I think....I'm freezing! and a little reading in bed, it is the perfect weather for it.

finally...baking

I wish I could bake more cakes around here but I always manage to get into trouble when I do, so when my kids cousins came over for a movie night I seized the opportunity to bake one that I have been dying to try for a while. Brown butter cake :)

Movies with completos? (Chilean hot dogs) they were happy....oh, and so was I!

if you knew

sorry for my long absence from this blog *sigh* life has certainly kept me quite busy all week and while I am glad it is Friday who knows what life will offer me next week. These are the highlights of my week:

[+] had a free haircut and keratin treatment in my hair. My first treatment wasn't done properly and I emailed the owner and they offered to do it again for me and insisted that the girl that did it was very thorough
[+] finally had my pap smear (after avoiding it as much as I could)...ouch! sorry to any males reading this but the crap we women have to go through isn't fair
[+] Ruby had a reinfestation of nits and I have spent hours trying to get rid of them. I have washed her hair so many times and each and every time I re-checked more would come out. I think she had a family of 100 if not more :/
[+] so much washing to do and changing sheets, towels, clothes due to the nit situation - I finally got it all done only to have a whole heap again today :/ will it ever end? I guess having a family of 4 doesn't help
[+] I've have had the most annoying cough all week and even penicillin has not helped...I can't stop coughing but have not lost my voice. A little explanation: ever since I was little I have wanted to lose my voice (I know...crazy right? my sister and I would scream for what seemed like hours into our pillows or until mum came and told us off to no avail). Still at this age I have never lost my voice :(
[+] I went to the op shop and found these beauties, the books were only 25 cents!
[+] OH and I got my results for my Autumn semester....a credit and two distinctions :D it certainly put a smile on my face





Happy weekend friends :)

the joys of motherhood

I finally finished my present for my little sister! although I must say my arms will never be the same again. I'm not too sure I like it though, I just hope she does.



I got the cutest pastel blue tea set at the op shop the other day that I just had to show. The cups are so tiny but I couldn't resist them. Aren't they the cutest?



I bought the new frankie! but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. After dinner I usually watch masterchef & then the special documentary on SBS 'go back to where you came from' (has anyone else seen it?).   THEN Ruby comes into my room (before her bedtime) and gives me a note from school. It seems there is an outbreak of nits. I checked both Alec & Ruby and they were full of them. So I shall be spending my day tomorrow getting rid of them and washing all their clothes. How exciting! the funny thing with nits is whenever someone mentions them my head starts to itch. I think I am going to need a dose of the special shampoo too. Ah the joys of motherhood!

birthday boy

I can't believe he is 16! where did the time go?

he's15

It is my oldest son year 10 formal today. I quickly took this photo of him 5 minutes before leaving and boy do I regret taking the photo in the backyard :(

I still can't believe he is 15 years old, I still imagine him little with one of my bras around his neck..hehe shhh don't tell him I told you ;)

much muchness

I'm a little behind in letter writing, there are not that many but I feel awful not keeping up to date with things but I've been so extremely busy lately with not much...if that makes sense. For instance today I finally went to the optometrist. I've been postponing it for the longest time but I finally dragged myself down and got an eye check and picked out new glasses. I then went to the boys high school to pay for my oldest school fees & year 10 formal, went to the bank to deposit money for the fortnightly mortgage payment. I got home and tried to finish my last uni assignment but had to reformat the boys laptop as they install whatever they see online and it ends up with millions of viruses. My days are full of these 'nothing muchness'. But I am happy that next week this assignment will get handed in and I can relax for 3 whole months. I do have plans though for my little break, boring ones but plans nonetheless



I doubt many will get done, but fingers crossed a few get crossed off.

frozen hands

A short visit to the park...it was so windy and I came back with frozen hands, but nothing that a hot chocolate cannot fix :)

friday

A few shots of my day today...pretty flowers and my gorgeous boy. Have a lovely weekend :)

my week...so far

[+] I am so tired, I've just now stopped to have a little break before getting back into more reading for a 'group assignment' due on Thursday.  Group is in inverted commas because it is all me...again!



[+] You can't tell from the photo but I am very sick girl, I have a very irritating dry cough and my head hurts at the end of the day from all the coughing :(

[+] Josh had an interview at McDonald's yesterday...my fingers and toes are crossed he gets it

[+] I've been searching everywhere for bainbridge board for next weeks illustrative exercise, and I finally found it 5 minutes from my uni *rolls eyes*

[+] I applied for work experience from an ad I found at uni, and Friday I have to go to pick up the pictures and meet them all...but it is all the way in Katoomba! Not sure how it will go but I am giving it a go.

[+] I am planning on making something really cute with these sheets. Can you guess what?

presents

Our cat Pepe up a tree...he is such a poser.



One of my mother's day presents. It was from my daughter who complained that she didn't like the flower she made. I told her I love it and hung it on my little board. I guess she gets that from me and she has made me realise I have got to stop being so critical of myself as she is always looking and listening.

Three weeks left of uni! I don't know how I am going to get through it. My mother is going to have a mastectomy and I hope it is not during this time.