For My Posterity.....

It's that time of year again - my birthday! This year, however, it seems to be over shadowed by Christmas parties. At 7am we have our ward Christmas party at our favourite lake - Michael gets out of making me breakfast - and that afternoon is our early family Christmas party - and again Michael gets out of making me dinner and cake.....all I had actually wanted him to do for me. How convenient!

It doesn't really bother me though - I get to spend time with my family and I still don't have to cook. Although I am bringing a chocolate cherry trifle to the festivities - my latest dabbling in dessert-ery.

I have one gift request for my birthday however - I had been wanting it for awhile, but I still had to put the pressure on. I would love my blog turned into a book!! Not that I am a super fabulous writer or anything (soooo far from it!), it is because I want a record of myself and my life accessible to my children and my children's children (etc).

History and heritage has always been important to me, I have often wished that I had known how my great grandparents negotiated life, what they thought about, what their strengths and weaknesses were. Did I have any inherited traits - did anyone else obsess over love dancing too???

So Michael - with a tiny bit of help from me on the editing side - is putting year 1 (2010) together for me. (We are using au.blurb.com) I wrote a lot that year! Even just skimming through it, there is so much that I had forgotten about. Poignant spiritual experiences, life learning experiences and just a plain record of my journey.

I am so glad I started writing.

Worth The Wait!.....

I have been wanting a herb garden forever....so a little while ago I got really definite about it and my awesome supportive husband went and bought me some coloured tubs, potting mix and seeds to get me started.

Admittedly the soil filled tubs sat outside for a few weeks before I actually did anything!

However, in my defense, I was doing research!....I wanted to get it right - and plus, I was super freaked out that they were not going to grow....that I would over water them, or not water them enough, or that I would plant the seeds too close together....bla bla bla.....slightly over dramatic, I know, but this was my first time growing anything and I would have been totally devastated.

So anyway....I decided to stop sitting around and just plant them already - the worse thing that could happen was that I would have to try again....right? The seeds were planted, I marked my calendar, and watered them nearly every day and night. (My awesome son took over watering duty this past week, he loves the responsibility!) By day 7 I was a little concerned - nothing was happening.....I reminded myself to be patient and I kept on....

AND around day 12....

They started growing!!

The first sight of green was soooo exciting!! :) I showed my kids, I showed my husband - I was super stoked!! Within a week every plant had started growing....it was working!!! I was/AM growing a herb garden!! Yay!!

I am feeling very awesome right about now! Thinking about planing some flowers next....:)

A Most Splendiferous Day.....

The day dawned and I was up early as usual - but craaaazy excited. Despite the excitement I felt pretty chilled out. The most stressful thing was worrying that the music would transport ok to the DJ, so we had some favourite songs, and routine music.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Michael didn't call me....I had a few butterflies about that...hoping he wasn't going to bail on me!...When I finally called he was like "I though we weren't having any contact today"...."noooo, we weren't seeing each other, but I totally wanted you to call me and tell me how much you love me, and how excited you were!! Sheesh...." ;)

Let just say getting ready for a wedding is all the more exciting when you have three children to get ready and to keep clean! :) Evette rocked up just after 11am with a friend from gym who was going to do our make up.....I was having fake eyelashes for the first time in my life! Don't really know why I haven't attempted it before, considering how lacking I am in the eyelash department!

I did my own hair, painted my nails, and the kids were all sorted without much drama....They looked gorgeous...

 Ash loved his suit, and Amelie felt like a princess....

Jack was MIA - outside pushing his wagon!

I didn't scrub up too bad either....*wink*

I totally felt like a princess!

I had planned to get to the venue early - but my brother was running late with the music and Michael wasn't there yet...so I chilled in the car with Evette down the road - all giggly and excited....chatting and reminiscing....I also couldn't help posting a quick facebook update ;)

We were fashionably late...it was awesome....Chris (my bro) took some pictures before we went up the stairs (we were getting married on the deck of my Aunty's house) - and as we walked out Jack kept yelling out "We are going to throw flowers at you!".....haha....soooo cute! Needless to say, Amelie got a case of shyness, and couldn't throw any rose petals, instead, buried her head in my dress.

 Somebody (me!) may have left the ring in the car....oops...Evette ducked out and returned just in time for my vows ;) 

 I have big knuckles....hehe

Its official.....yay!!!

We mingled, we took photos.....we missed the nibblies....so hungry! Michael's sister-in-law used to be my Young Women President, so it was kinda cool that we had known some of his family for years.....

We then went with my brother to the Botanical Gardens just down the road and took some (hoping :) awesome photos...it was fun - and then cruised down to the reception. 

Food! Friends, and dancing....it was an awesome night. The kids were running wild with each other, thank goodness for the playground out the back and big dance floor. It was nice to see the children having a great time as well. We have a sleepover planned for Amelie on our return!

Our bridal waltz was hilarious, I nearly fell over onto Michael - my shoes were definitely not made for dancing!! Although I did practice, I didn't account for the sore feet! It was still wonderful, we danced to "Put You Head On My Shoulder" by Michael Buble.

The Cake

Thank you Sam! It looked amazing and tasted just as good!!

Our routine kinda bombed - in my opinion anyway :) I don't know what it was...whether we were hopped up on adrenalin and nerves or if it actually was.....slower than normal!! We stopped it once, both noticing the tempo was a lot slower....and then just had a go anyway....It put us off - Michael forgot a bit, we messed up a little, and finished slightly late! Ugh....although it took me a full hour to stop shaking and my heart to mellow out, and the fact that I was mortified that we did so bad - especially since we were nailing it in our practice time....it was all good.  

 We got to dance together, and that's all that mattered.

...I did feel stunning in my dress, but it felt so good to swap my dress and heels for pants and dance shoes and shake it out! :) We danced a whole lot, got exhausted - and we closed shop about 9.30pm - I couldn't believe how early it was. Most people seemed to have a good time - but really, who cares, we had a ball! :) :) 

Here's the plan - I want a pot lucky/family dance party in that same hall for every anniversary - and I told Michael so. What do you think....? I think it's an awesome idea!! ;)

PS The following is in response to This Girl Loves To Talk's related post.....Aww Bobbie, I admit I had a little teary reading your post....I so would have loved you to come to celebrate our wedding with us, I was honestly slightly bummed out that you couldn't make it. You are one of the people that I wish I was able to spend more time with, for our children to get to know each other, to live closer....Thank goodness for Blogger and Facebook ;) I am so glad that we did reconnect, just to clear it up -  I do count you as friend. :) (We don't leave for our honeymoon until Friday... ;)

This Is The Place.....

So after 3 days of of housing hunting with the three kids in rainy weather....I think we may just have found the perfect home for us!!

The main criteria we had were 3 bedrooms, a convertible internal access double garage (for Michael's daughter to have a pad, or family to visit) or an extra room, a yard for the kid to play in (and me to fantasise about having a vegetable garden) - and hopefully, tiles, wood or some other suitable flooring for Michael and I to practice dancing on.

The first day was really discouraging - all the houses were in tiny streets, with hardly any street parking, the houses were on top of each other, and the kids were driving me nuts! I only got to look in a few houses, with most of the day spent doing drive-bys, checking out the internet, and on the phone to  different real estate agents planning the next couple of days of house viewings.

I noticed something interesting as the day progressed....its not just the house, or the street that has the potential to sway my opinion - its the agent! If they are abrupt and don't seem to care about what we want or the quality/state of the house we are looking to rent - its a major turn off....but if they are super friendly, nice to my children, notice the things that I notice, listen to my needs - I will rent anything off them!

Day two turned out to be full of house viewings, and very rainy - but despite that I was in good spirits. I think it had a lot do with how prepared I was (kinda getting in the rhythm of it all), and I reckon a lot do with the amount of prayers we were sending up to help us in our quest (kids included - I love seeing their faith grow!). The third house we saw that day seemed to me to be a turning point....Michael had convinced me to have a look at complex houses, they are nicer/newer for the price compared to the houses we had been viewing. I hate complexes, but since the streets we had been finding houses on were so narrow anyway and complexes these days sometimes have small yards, I conceded. It was a four bedroom house, at the top of our price range, not ideal but still affordable. It was VERY nice, but had cream carpet everywhere - mind you, it was decent hard wearing carpet....nice house no big deal...

THEN.....the guys says "I wasn't going to show you number 5 because the owners were putting it on the market, but they called me this morning to tell me they wanted to rent it out - the yard is better, it has no deck and is $10 cheaper."

We walked inside and I swooned just a little - the guy apologised for the paint scheme and the few (minuscule) gaps in the floor boards....apologise for what!?....it was amazing! The owners had been living in the house and although it was very similar to the other house - they had pulled up the carpet and put in floor boards everywhere, and every room was a different bright colour! Yellow, pastel green, peachy red, blue with transfers on the walls for the boys. The kitchen was to die for, the rooms were huge, there was loads of cupboard space, we could dance, we could have Michael's family over, his daughter could live with us - it was perfect *sigh*....

Almost...

The yard was just a strip of grass all around the house, there wasn't a lot of parking space, nowhere for a garden.....'but there is a pool just across the road!' said the children. They were just as distracted as I was. Although it was in our price range we really needed to be saving as much money as we could so it really wasn't as perfect as it appeared....Oh, but it was so beautiful!

We filled out a bunch of applications together that night, and I sold Michael on how amazing the house was. Even when we read the complex's strict rules on noise and cleanliness it still seem great....I stewed on it all night, I didn't want to get the house and feel like we were living in a gilded prison....but I can't emphasise how tempting the appearance of it was.

Anyway...I called Michael at work the next morning and told him I wasn't going to lodge the application for the amazing house, it just didn't feel right. I would rather get a much cheaper house save our butts off so that 5-10 years down the line we can buy our own gorgeous house, and we can be free!.... For the kids to run wild if they choose, for me to be as clean or messy as I want and for me to play music as loud as legally permitted! :)

After that decision, the first house I looked at in the morning was possibly as perfect as we could get! It was $60 cheaper was on the main road (so no poky street), had a big fenced backyard (with an old hills hoist close line...yay!! I was so sick of looking at tiny ones attached to the house!), a verandah, a huged tiled room under the house with a toilet (perfect! for Michael's daughter to live with us, or as a chill/dance room, or anything!), three bedrooms, separate toilet, laundry downstairs in the double garage, bath/shower, a/c in the louge room, good size master bedroom and security screens.....One bedroom doesn't have a cupboard, no fans in the bedrooms, little kitchen, no built in pantry, living/dining area aren't very big....but I don't care!


So much potential to work with, I am queen of making do....admittedly thanks to my ex-husband! :) It has everything we need, and we can save money as well!!! And the real estate lady was really friendly....and when I dropped the application in to them, their business is run from a house, with only a couple of people and they were so nice to my kids....fingers crossed everything runs as smoothly as it has so far, and we continue to be blessed for our efforts and righteous desires.

I applied for two other houses as well that we would be happy to live in also. We will hopefully be moving in just over a week!!!

If we get this one.....house warming party!!!! :) :)

Birthday Day......

I had a fabulous, crazy, action packed day!! It.Was.Awesome!!

I got my iPod speakers from mum and dad, and a camera from Michael....and a slow cooker recipe book from the kids - everything I wanted, so I was a super happy camper. Luckily my birthday fell on a daycare day and the kids still had a school so I got to have a free day! Michael took the day off for me, and it was whatever I want day - which consisted of a few hours at Movieworld (he had just bought me a VIP pass), and them a movie.....

Oh yes....I ate soooo much popcorn....hahaha :)

We also got the chace to look at a house we were interested in.....but then, straight back home, pick the kids up from daycare, make dinner - all the fun night stuff....kids in bed, and then off to dancing! I had some great dances!....We went to Three Monkeys after and had iced chocs and sticky date pudding, they put a sparkler on it for me and Michael sang me Happy Birthday....loved it!!

I was exhausted the next day though, had the chance to go knee boarding again with Jack, and I was too tired, only had the energy to go out once, and fell asleep on the tube while Jack went out with the boys!

The next Saturday was party time, and I finally got to wear my dress....last minute prepping as usual, decorations etc, parties kind of freak me out! I am a very grudging host....would much prefer to host someone else's night! My hair was a bit blegh....and I had to wear glasses because for some reason my contacts were irritating my eyes, which sucked a little but its all good. It was sooo good to catch up with some people that I hadn't seen in a while, and so fun to dress up. I would like to have a regular open invite "girls night in" - heels and dresses is mandatory! :)

Anyway so that was my awesome birthday....I am now 30 *sigh* I am a little old......mind you I am almost the fittest I have been in my whole life (last year was better) - so that is pretty cool....There is something about getting older - you feel more comfortable with yourself, your personal style is more developed, and you just feel more sexy....maybe that just lasts for early thirties, maybe when I am 35 I will start freaking out about "oldness". Mind you I still feel 19....but isn't that what they all say??

Post Wild West (hence the awesome hair!) and  Pre-Scooby Doo ride.....my favourite!

Dancing, dancing, dancing....oh yeah! :)

About to cook up a storm

cute party favours I found for my girls

PS. Michael - you are right and I completely forgot about that - Prep Christmas party! Went straight from picking the kids up from daycare back to the school. :)

A Timely Ressurection....."Gourmet" Checker Plate....

This necklace has been sitting in my jewelery box with a broken connection for over a year - it was one J (ex husband) had made for me while we were married and one of my favourites. It sat unattended for so long because I didn't know what to do to fix it - he was good at making things and I wasn't...or so I believed. Having an artist as a husband does wonders for an already fragile self esteem....

Anyway....a couple of days ago I decided that instead of restringing it exactly the same way I was quite capable using the same beads and  doing my own design....this was a big deal for me ok! :) ....It took three goes and a little frustration....now I know why I don't do this sort of thing - I hate fiddly things and my patience is extremely short!! Haha....But it was a success and I am very proud of myself.....So yay for me!

I really don't know what happened to the last couple of weeks....I totally rocked Christmas, had all the presents in advance and wasn't stressed out at all....But then got into super chill out holiday mode with the kids and kind of forgot about school...oops....

So from last week I have been trying to hook up uniforms, shoes and school supplies (lucky I ordered them in advance).....and it has sucked - everything was sold out and I was wigging out because this year I have two children at school and year 2 just seems like a way bigger deal than year 1....I have been wanting to kick my ex husband's a$$ for not having a clue, and not really caring to know what it takes to raise three children....random phone calls just don't cut it!....

In essence I have spent the last couple of days extremely emotional with a major Australia Day meltdown...oh yeah....gotta love those. :| But thanks to an awesome friend for letting me delay their day and having a cry to them, and to my Dad for being such a dude and helping me contact school books etc after dinner, and to my  very cool brother for playing with the kids in the pool (I really don't think he realises how much influence he has in their lives!)

So my kids don't have new school bags for school yet, only some of Ash's books are contacted because the only contact I could find in my travels was one (extremely small) roll  of this checker plate stuff - which turned out to be very funky and I shudder to think how much I paid for it cause I didn't even check. Now it looks like I am all about "gourmet" contact - but really if I could have found any thing else I would have got it!

But the kids know I love them and I reckon we will all survive the first day of school......But my eyes are seriously sore from the whole lot of crying I did today! :P