Sunset Phenomenom

 

Truly Majestic!!

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Creative... Sisters

This has the potential to be embarassing. My two girls share a bedroom. Miss Kaitlyn (4) on the top and Miss Sophie (2) on the bottom.  Its a lovely room, two pinks walls and two lime green walls.  White curtain with big green and pink spots. White drawers with lime green handles.  It has the POTENTIAL to be a very very nice room.  There is one problem, my two girls are very messy creative wee things!  This is what I mean.

This can happen after a day, no, an afternoon of play.  They play 'Grown Ups' (I am the Mum and you can be the baby), they dress up, they change their clothes, shoes. Hop in and out of bed. Push dolls around in the pram and make up the dolls bed. Make piles of books and then read every single one of them!  They even get out the clothes that are put away that are too big and too small for them and try them on!  Hence the room gets very very messy!!   So every few days I get sick of standing over and through the mess, tripping over dolls cots and slipping on books. So I spend some time with or without my two daughters, tidying up the room. Having spent considerable amount of time over the years tidying the boys room, (fortunately they do this themselves most of the time now) I have notice that there are things that are unique to wee girls rooms.  In my boys rooms I can find sticks (for swords, bow and arrows), containers containing worms, earwigs, slaters and/or spiders, leaves, rocks and bits of wood hammered together to resemble....well I am not entirely sure.  So different are the things I find while tidying the girls room.

  Here are some of the things I found that makes girls...well girls.

Collections of odds and ends uniquely to little girls include mirrors, anything that is remotely sparkly, special cards and 'precious' jewellery!

An extensive art collection (this is just one wall). 

The painting of a flower on the right Jayden (then 6) bought at a youth group auction. He stuck up his hand and shouted out $47!  Needless to say he won it and bought it courteous of Mum and Dad.  It was the highest price paid for anything that night, everything else went for $5 to $10.

My little pony is having a bad hair day.

For me, this is the epitome of a little girls childhood!

A 'baby' in bed!

Kaitlyns most favourite shoes, her 'golden' jandels!

Sisterly love at its best! 

 Sharing a moments rest on the front porch!

Yes the mess gets me down and can make me a little grumpy. But I remind myself is that while they are doing all this playing, they are doing it together.

Big sister. Little sister.

Best of friends.

Helping.

Smiling and Loving

Simple.

“Sister. She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.” ― Barbara Alpert

Enjoy, With GUSTO!

Sitting across the table from Kaitlyn today, I sat there watching her. I just had to get up and grab my camera!  The way she was devouring her orange made me jealous!  When was the last time I  greedily devoured something, with no qualms about whether or not I was being messy and having manners!  I can't remember.  She was enjoying it so much she did not care about the juice dribbling down her chin and through her fingers. Everytime she bit into it, the juice would squirt out in all directions and she would let out a muffled giggle, her eyes telling it all.

Not caring what anyone thought, how she looked or thinking about the mess she was creating.

Pure enjoyment!

 

I am reminded just by watching her, how I (we) sometimes need to let go and not care what anyone else thinks or worry about how we may look or the mess we may create! 

Just Enjoy!

Just enjoy whatever you are doing in any given moment even if it is something as simple as eating an orange. Let the juice squirt and dribbling I say!

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it - Richard Bach

Care for some tea?

When you are with your children, just taking a little time to make something ordinary a wee bit special is oh so important, difficult at times yes, but none the less important. Just make a little effort and the pay off is priceless! Its also about being present and fully engaged in the moment, not wanting to hurry up and finish so you can get back to the washing or the computer.   I know I know that not everything can be special or will end up being a cherished memory but the scary thing is that you will never know what your children will hold as memories. That truly scares the pants off me!

How many of you have done something with your children in the past day, week, month or year (although I really hope its not a year) that has been on their terms, done what they want, how they want and when they wanted. Not in a minute, but right then. With no other agenda but to spend time with them.  Its those moments that they will truly know and feel how much you love them.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to be invited for 'tea' with these two beautiful ladies!

I just love the glasses, the pink and the sparkles!

 

Aren't they just gorgeous?

Tea time...

She pours the 'tea' oh so carefully...

 while I look after the babys!

A piece of ginger and a squashed Brussel Sprout? is on the menu today. Yummy!

Kaitlyn just loves to have flowers especially pink ones!

and the cat just watches, probably grateful for some rest, relaxation and 'me' time.

Raising babies is such hard work.

After 'tea' its time for a refreshing dip...

I have learnt that good times, family times and memory-making times don't have to cost anything or they don't have to involve going anywhere. Its about the little things. The 'tea times', the story times and 'you-can-make-a-mess-and-I'll-just-let-you-be' times.

I have no idea what she was doing but she played for ages!  And that makes me smile!

God blesses us with moments everyday that WE can cherish, reflect on, know that and really feel that he truly truly loves us.

Like...

Amazing Sunsets

and

Abundant Crops

So lets do the same for the ones that we love the most!

In the happiest of our childhood memories, our parents were happy, too. ~Robert Brault

Fresh and Free!!

When ones income is cut by more than half one has to think outside the square, make some cuts and adjustments in the budget and pray lots!  I thought that I budgeted before but now whoa...its all on now!
Food is where a BIG portion of our income goes in our family...so I had to make some major adjustments to our weekly shop.    I think you will find in most peoples shopping there are things that if you are truly truly honest with yourself, you really don't actually need.   

Something thats comes to mind is 'Baking Paper'.  Yes I know its only $3 or $4 BUT its $3 or $4 that I don't need to spend.  So its back to the Grandma way of making tins and trays non-stick.  Grease the tray or tin with a little bit of butter and then shake flour all over it. Then bang the excess flour off over the sink!  Wa-lah! You have home made "baking paper"!

Its all those little things. Every little bit counts.

One of the things that I am most grateful for is our garden and chickens and all the fresh food that it provides us.  God is amazing.

Here is what we have been getting...

Courgettes, Zucchini or if left long enough Marrow!

Cucumber (pretend you can't see the weeds)

Crunchy Carrots

Cherry Tomatoes

BIG BEAUTIFUL and RED Tomatoes!

and our feathered friends...

Have been giving us these!

Put them all together and you have a very very YUMMY Quiche!  There is nothing like going out into the garden and picking your own food, its like getting free food!  God is so AWESOME!  I am just wishing that we had a house cow because the amount of milk that we go through in our house is huge. We should have shares in the Dairy Company I tell you! I am however, looking forward to getting some of the honey out of our bee hive. We had a wee taste the other day and it was G O O D!

What have you got growing in your garden?

"But if each man could have his own house, a large garden to cultivate and healthy surroundings - then, I thought, there will be for them a better opportunity of a happy family life." - George Cadbury

Sunshine Fun

Sometimes you just have to get out and do something.  Sometimes its the best thing, even though you may just want to stay put, hide, do nothing but wallow......Doesn't it look good!

So we did do something...it was time for some Sun Fun courteous of Budds 1.

A day out on the water (or in the water)

and what a beautiful day it was too!  The sun was shining, the boat on the water, the kids decked out in togs and life jackets, and picnic baskets, chilly bins and the BBQ set up.

For some breakfast was the first thing on the agenda.

Uncle Cody enjoying pancakes at the lake!

and for some time to just sit and be!

There is nothing like watching your kids have fun, laughing and enjoying themselves.  I so dearly love that my children enjoy being with their cousins and are totally comfortable with their

 Aunty and Uncles.

Cousins Libby and Josh and their neighbour

Wee Sophie (2) just loved being out on the boat. She must of found it soothing because she feel asleep a couple of times.  She even had a go at biscuiting with her Dad (didn't catch it in a photo-darn it) and she LOVED it.  I thought she was very brave!

 

Look at these two...

The Budd Brothers

No competition between them ......yeah right!

Mike

Jamie

 

My husbands littlest sister Sarah, has Down Syndrome and is also Autistic.  So when she gets excited about something, there is no stopping her.  She loved being on the boat (its beached in this photo) and she LOVED wearing a life jacket. Infact I think she might get one for her birthday!

 

Just as much fun was to be had on the shore as on the water.

Mocha and Gucci enjoyed time out on the water too!

There is nothing like spending time with family and friends, and its even better when its in the sun.

Its all about relaxing, building memories, relationships and having fun.

Its days like these that you remember forever.

"Our family is a circle of strength and love, with every birth and every union, the circle will grow, every joy shared adds more love, every crisis faced together, makes the circle stronger."

- Author Unknown