Ever-changing views

Every morning I get up and open the lounge/dining room curtains, and every morning God blesses me with a new view.

Foggy Sunrise

  Its the same canvas but he paints it with different brushes, uses different colours and enhances it with different shades.

Beautiful Day Sunrise

  

 Every morning, God gives us a gift of a new day, a new beginning.

A storm is coming

  Even if the previous day was sucky, today is brand spanking new. 

Peeking!

 What an AWESOME God!!

Spaghetti and Meatball!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of our family favourites!

Who can not say that Spaghetti and Meatballs is actually fun to eat?  It is so much more fun when you have kids that use the spaghetti as a moustache or even snot coming out of their nose.  Come on I am sure you have been at least tempted to do that.

Every single person, I am sure, just loves to see how fast they can suck up the tomato sauce covered pasta.  It is a good sign when you suck it up and all the sauce gets flicked around your face.  

Pure Joy!

If you have never done this, then you are truly missing out.

Word to the wise. Spaghetti and Meatballs or anything else that actually requires you to twirl it around your fork in order for you to eat with decorum, is not something I would eat when you
 1. have posh guests
 2. you are trying to impress someone.   You will fail!

Dellisimo!!!!!

On a chilly winter morning

Its really cold here!  And I mean really cold.  Its been snowing for crying out loud!  We never get snow.  I have wished we got snow and now we have.  It could of been a decent amount though, I couldn't even take any photos of it and when all of a sudden you scream out "YOU GUYS ITS SNOWING!" and they all come running from four corners of the house, you kind of want them to be amazed and excited, not disappointed that they can't make snow men.  Its kind of let down seeing that they have never seen snow before.  Oh well a trip to the snow is on the agenda sometime soon anyway.

So some of us stayed inside where its warm and did sensible winter day activities!

While others of us did summer day stuff!

  Actually the boys randomly jumped in our pool the other day (and its not even clean) and then they put their togs on and squirted each other with the hose.  Clearly they didn't get the memo to say its the MIDDLE of winter!  Crazy children. They have their fathers genes most definately!  Why else would they run around outside with no shoes on til their feet turn purple?


So I am wrapped up here in my Grandma-blanket (literally my Grandma did crochet it) with the fire blazing and I am still chilly.

I am so looking forward to spring cos I know that summer is just round the corner!  

With spring comes spring cleaning though but this year I am armed and ready!  Actually I have a confession to make. I BOUGHT something off the infomercials!!!  Ok Ok I know, its so the stereotype of housewives that they sit in their dressing gowns all day and watch Infomercial and Soap Operas.  Anyway I bought a Portable Steam Shark Mop,  so I can steam all the blasted FLY POO off my walls and boy does it work a treat! And considering the amount of poo I have on my walls and the huge number of walls I have then its well worth it.  Don't tell anyone but Jamie has been steam cleaning walls too!  Its loads of fun!  The only down-side there is, is that I don't really have an excuse anymore for not having a clean house.  Hmmmm

Somedays are just like that! (sigh)

I have lost my ability to function today.    I have all these things that need my attention but I can't seem to get round to doing any of them.   The washing is piling up, the washing to be folded up is piling up, the dishes are piling up (and we have a dishwasher!), and the dirt on my floors is definately piling up!  My ability to shave my legs on a regular basis has diminished and I feel in the dire need of a sleep! (maybe a day of two would do the trick)  I haven't baked in like ages, the tins are empty and the kids are resorting to crackers.

Would put a Chinese Laundry to shame!

But STILL..... like most Mothers out there I soldier on and on and on..............!

However I did manage to accomplish a reasonably good day doing 'school'.  I found out some very interesting things about honey bees that weren't G-rated. (I don't know what the author was thinking when he wrote the book)  so I didn't share my discovery with the boys. Anyway they were entertaining themselves all afternoon by the fact that all insects have big BOTTOMS!  (Small things amuse small boys)

One tired wee princess!

My girls played an elaborate game of princesses and tea parties (sigh) and one just plain tuckered herself out!

Casey has gone into the free range egg business and has sold his first dozen (to Mum and Dad mind you) but none the less his first $4 hs gone into the jar.  Very exciting.  Now for some more customers.  And free range they are too. 

One in the chook house
Two in the shed
One in the shed nextdoor
and one in the middle of the DRIVEWAY.........................clearly she didn't make it in time!

So YES I suppose good things happened today. They children learnt and played and had fun and  made money. I know they didn't starve either as they got dinner in the end


So perhaps today was a good day!!

What we need is some.......CHOCOLATE!

Getting back into the swing of school after the holidays is always a mission for anyone, and for us its the same story.  It is always nice not having to do anything or go anywhere.  So its a new maths book for Casey, new spelling words for everyone and a shot of enthusiasum for everyone!

Apparently all home-schooling families feel like this after a break in schooling, so I am telling myself that we are normal:)

The first three days have been a hard slog at getting them to be enthused about school work and to accomplish more than a page of maths and a story that consists of more than four lines and the words "I went".

A trip to the library was in order  and I LOVE THE LIBRARY!    I love books. I love the stories they tell, the secrets they hold and the emotions they stir up.  I love making friends with the characters, so much so that I miss them when I have finished the book and wonder what they could be doing. (Am I sounding a little nuts)  I LOVE the smell of books and the sound of pages being turned.  AHHH bliss.  I really want to pass this insane passion onto my kids but its been hard to get them any further than 'Wheres Wally' type books.  But I think we are getting there!  Yah

Also to inspire them to greatest I decided that a 'carrot' was in order in the form of CHOCOLATE slice.


Actually I fully succeeded in making a perfectly healthy slice (from the Healthy Food Guide) into something fully unhealthy and full of all the things bad for you!  How do you do that you ask?

Replace low fat salt reduced spread with BUTTER, raisins with choc chips and smother it with melted dark chocolate!

Very YUMMY unfortunately I didn't get to lick the bowl the kids got in first HOW RUDE!

I think that the french have it all sussed by the way.  They don't waste their time on crappy crap food. They save their time and their money to be able to eat something really delicious and insanely hideously bad for you like pastries filled with whipped cream, Chocolate encased in flakey buttery crossaints and they put cream in their coffee  (in some parts they put butter in their coffee!)  Yet they still remain beautiful!  

Inspiration I tell you!!