Stake Primary Auxiliary Training Meeting

On Thursday night I attended the Stake Primary Auxiliary Training Meeting. It was a really lovely meeting and I'm so glad I attended. It was nice to see who else is currently serving in Primary from other wards and take the opportunity to spend some time thinking about the primary children and how we can better serve and teach them. Hobart Ward was asked to sing 'If the Saviour Stood Beside Me' It is such a beautiful song and has so much meaning that I have put the words on the side of my blog page. Take a look if you have some time. My favourite quote from the night was about how we need to teach the children and each other I guess. 

"To help others want to learn, our teaching must be interesting.

To help them understand, our teaching must be clear.

To help them retain and ponder what they learn, our teaching must be memorable."

I really want to teach with this in mind, not only my primary children, but my own children. I want their childhood to be interesting, to be clear, and to be memorable. As mothers we have such and important role to make sure this happens. 

Who Loves the Camera?

I started taking some photos of Lani yesterday and after the 2nd one she kept saying 'take one like this, and like this...' she was loving it - the little poser!

3 tops, tights, shorts and a pair of socks!

Those that know us well won't be surprised at Leilani's outfit, but those that might not - I will fill you in! Lani likes to dress herself - her favourite thing is to wear shorts over tights. I guess I sort of started this off when one day she was determined to wear shorts - but it was cold, so I told her if she wanted to wear shorts she had to at least wear tights underneath. Well now she tries to wear that everyday! This morning when I got up she was already dressed - and had chosen a very nice outfit! I just had to take a photo cause it was a real winner - especially the socks - which are actually Emilys! Luckily we were staying home for the day! If I want her to wear something, I have to lay it out on the floor like 'a little girl' she calls it, and then I can usually get her to wear it, but if she has already started dressing there is no stopping this little chick - she wears what she wants!!! 

While we were having our picnic lunch on  the floor today, Elle and I were chatting away when  we looked up to find Miss Leilani sitting up like a real lady! It was quite funny, so again I dashed for the camera!! (She is actually sitting on a 'Feet Seat' which is on top of a box of nappies!!) 

It was nice having Aunty Elle come and Play today! Well for us anyway, don't know how Aunty Elle felt!! 

I got a package today!

So how good is Marnie!! At about 11am this morning my beautiful package arrived! Thanks again Marnie! I love it - and it sounds like mum has offered to help me make a quilt using some of the fabric!!!! Leilani loves the Kimmidoll, I'm having a hard time keeping it on the shelf!

Oh.... and just a little bit of advise for you all good people out there... DON'T go reading Health and Fitness magazines while at the gym, you end up coming up with stupid ideas like a 28day chocolate fast!! Why would you do that to yourself!!!???? I'm not happy!

Check out the little feet - they were just waiting to grab at all the stuff! (not the feet, but the hands attached to the same body!!!)

Every Morning

Pretty much every morning without fail, Leilani and Emily sit out in the lounge room in front of the TV on their Pooh Bear couch eating Nutragrain and watching TV. This usually happens around 7am while I am still having a little sleep-in. They are so good and they love each other so much! A while back we were lucky enough to be able to purchase a DVD recorder. Having not had a VCR for a very long time I had forgotten how great it was to record TV shows. I love it, and the DVD recorder makes it soooooo easy. We have lots of Play Schools recorded as that is their favourite show. I am a bit of a fan myself! Especially when I get to sleep in while they watch! Leilani learns alot from Play School so I don't mind her watching it and I know Emily is already learning things from it too. Speaking of TV... when are they going to put some good shows on??? There is pretty much nothing at all on TV at the moment that I like to watch. Except for Grey's and Brothers and Sisters. It sucks!

I WON I WON!

How exciting! Today I got a message from Marnie telling me I WON her give away! She is so kind and I am so excited to get my first and very own Kimmidoll!! Thanks Marnie! Check out her blog if you haven't already - she is so creative! Pity I have to hold off until the 11th June to eat the chocolate cause Michael and I are on a 28 day no chocolate thing! (except for a Smartie I had the other day) What a great way to end it though! I love Lindt! Maybe I can make my dolls clothes out of the material??

It's Official - I LOVE my Explorer Socks!

So for over four years now Mick has been telling me to buy some explorer socks for winter! Every time I say 'It's cold' He says "go and put my Explorer Socks on, you should go and buy some they will keep you so warm!" Sometimes I would go and put them on, and I did feel warm but mostly I would just act cool and say 'Nah, I'll be alright' thinking, 'They really don't keep you that much warmer, I don't know why you keep going on about them!!!' Anyway, for Mothers Day this year Mick got me some Explorer Socks! You could imagine the excitement on my face when I first saw them!! I thought I would probably wear them every now and then - just to make him feel good - but... I have to confess... I LOVE THEM! They are the best things ever and I have been wearing them every night!!!! If you get cold in the evening, and you don't have any - don't go buy a new heater - get some Explorer Socks! They seriously keep you so warm! Thanks Mickey. xx

MAKE-A-DOLL

I have had this Make-a-doll kit for a very long time. Mum gave Elle and I one each when we were about... mmm... I'm not really sure maybe 12 or something? We had started a bit of the sewing but stopped because, well that's what happens!! So today I thought it was time to do something about this poor little unfinished doll! There is still lots to do, but today I managed to turn this:

Into this:

All by myself! I'm quite excited, and can't wait to get it finished! Hopefully Elle will get in and do hers now too. She didn't come with any clothes patterns though so if you have any or know where I can get some from I would love to hear about it! 

Cute, Adorable, Sweet, Happy

This is Emily in her Finland Hat that Aunty Elle gave her! She seems to like wearing hats at the moment - especially this one! Usually I put them on and she is flicking them straight off again but lately she has been finding them in her drawers and trying to put them on herself! She seemed very proud to be wearing this hat and she wore it over to show Grandma, Grandad and Aunty Elle - who all thought she looked very cute! 

Eating Out

So I found Leilani and Emily eating out the other day! They had everything all set up and were enjoying a lovely lunch until Grandma phoned for a chat! While Leilani filled Grandma in on the days happenings Emily entertained herself in the usual way - standing on the chair! (often it's the table) She knows she is not allowed to do it and therefore always has a cheeky grin! It's so fun watching them play together.

The Cleaning Lady

 Leilani decided to help me with some cleaning this morning, she loves to help - like most young kids I guess, I'm thinking this will probably end once she actually becomes helpful! But anyway, a bit of window cleaning is better then none right!? So I got out her 'special' cleaning bottle and she did all the windows for me - well the ones she could reach anyway! It kept her entertained for ages so I got the kitchen floor and cupboards washed! If you have a little one that likes to help you out while cleaning but you don't like giving them real chemicals to use, here is my tip: Keep an empty cleaning spray bottle and fill it up with water but add some blue food colouring - this makes it look like real spray! I used to try just filling it up with water but she would always know and want to use my spray bottle. Now she never complains and loves watching the water run down the window and catching it with a cloth! If you leave just a small amount of Windex in the bottom before adding the water your windows do get a bit of a clean and don't come out streaky! 

Me and My Girls

Every day seems to have it's ups and downs - especially being at home with kids. One minute everyone is playing happily and then the next someone is grizzling about something! One minute you're feeling excited about something new one of them has said or done and the next you're wondering how to overcome a certain  bad behaviour or naughty act! I never knew Motherhood would be so rewarding but at the same time so challenging! But I don't think I would want it any other way - you take away the reward and you're only left with the challenge - no thanks. But at the same time if you take away the challenge you're only left with the reward, which doesn't seem much of a reward if there was never a challenge to get it! Just Me and My Girls - what a way to spend the day!

Emily May

There is so much to be said about our sweet little Emily... she is so adorable and we love her so much. I keep finding bits of paper laying around with words that she can say and  things that she is doing on it - I mean to put them in her baby book but I always seem to get distracted so I thought I had better do a post before it's too late! From about 13 months she has been quite vocal - much earlier than Leilani was. Her first words were 'No' and 'Oh' and very soon after came 'Ta, morree, shozz (shoes), up, bye bye, book, gone and ball. She understood 'Put it up, where's your dummy? (would go and look for it) go and get... (things like books, cup, ball etc)'. She is 15 months now and she understands a lot more things, these are some of the things I can think of: She goes and puts her rubbish in the bin, brushes her hair and her teeth and even says brush and eye. She nods for yes and shakes for no and will dance and run when you tell her to. She loves to play hide and seek and shouts out BOO whenever she can. She squats down for 'Jack in the Box' and rows with her arms for 'Row Row Your Boat'. She folds her arms for prayers and won't eat her breakfast until prayer is said. She gets out the cordial from the pantry and brings it over to me if she wants a drink. Oh and one of her favourite words is 'Dora' and when ever she sees Dora she aways says 'Dora Dora Dora!' She also has a great love for books already and I will quite often find her sitting at the book shelf surrounded by books she has 'read'! She adores Leilani and loves following her around - which most of the time Lani enjoys. She makes a funny pig noise and neighs like a horse - she even does the clicking trotting sound with her mouth! She gives big long cuddles and kisses and is a really good sleeper most of the time. I had better stop - I'm sure I could go on forever! These are just some of the things our baby girl can do and I don't want to forget them. She is growing up so much it's hard to believe. xx

It's Always Fun When Jaclyn Comes Around!

On Saturday we were very lucky to be visited by Jaclyn, Ange, Will and Meea! They came bearing gifts so it was even more special - thanks guys! Although most of Meea's clothes are for Emily, Lani always seems to find something and this time it was a pair of P.J's! "Are these for me mum?" she begs. They are a little small but she loves them and always feels special wearing Meea's and Gracie's clothes! No more for a while though guys - I'm still not sure where to put this lot - although I don't think Meea has any clothes left anyway!! We are so lucky to have such great cousins.

This is a picture of Lani wearing her 'new' Pj's and you may think it's not a very good photo but this is how Leilani wanted to stand!! She says "Take one of me like this mummy" I'm like "Don't do that Lani just put your head up normal" "No, I want one with my head to the side!" I ask "Who taught you to do that?" she answers "I just came up with it myself". Oh okay then... 'CLICK'. (what a weird child!!)

Leilani & Max

Max came over to play for a few hours last week so to keep everyone entertained we did some cooking! Leilani and Max had a wonderful time! We couldn't do any baking because my oven is broken so we made Chocolate Truffles and set some Jelly! While waiting for things to set they gave the bikes a good work out and did some glueing! I think they both had a very fun day and enjoyed each others company.

Final Words

So I just wanted to say a few final words about our Melbourne Shopping Trip, to all those that were a part of it - thank you! I'm glad that each one of you were there - I had such a wonderful time with you all and I'm already saving for the next one! Now to those cousins that couldn't make it - start saving because next year we are not going without you! (Okay, we probably will! but we want YOU there too!!) And to all the baby sitters a huge thank you to you. Obviously we couldn't have done it without you and I think I speak for all of us when I say that our little time away was greatly appreciated and was really good for us - I think it's fair to say we deserved a bit of 'free time' don't you think? I would be more than happy to talk to anyone who may think other wise - just let me know!!!! Thank you to our very friendly Melbourne Taxi drivers - you did get us around safely and that's the main thing - maybe just smile a little more next time though! Thank you to Jet Star for telling us about how we could have booked a 'light saver' fare back home and saved ourselves 40 bucks by added baggage over the Internet - great tip for next time! A big thank you to our trip coordinators - Jaclyn and Angela - thanks for inviting us along girls and thanks for doing all the booking - especially to Ange for getting it wrong which turned out to be right!!! A thank you should also go to Quest on Bourke - although I would rather come over and teach your front office staff a thing or two - but anyway... 

And last but not least a mega thank you to our sponsors - Michael, Matthew, Stan, Dean and well you Ange! We're so grateful for all that you do for us, and the cash was fantastic!! Keep up the good work! xx

Well girls - it's over! 

Oh... and just remember - what happened on that trip... stays on that trip!

The Elephant and The Wheelbarrow

I'm sad to say... but the Melbourne Trip is over.... Okay, so I know that it was really over weeks ago but because I hadn't yet blogged the last little bit I was still hanging on to it like it happened yesterday! But I thought I had better stop being slack and post a few pictures about the end of the trip! I also thought I should move on with my life and stop wishing I was still on  that trip!!

So after all the show and tell we were hungry! So we headed off to 'The Elephant and The Wheelbarrow" mainly because I thought that it would make a really good blog post heading!!! Just kidding -  we went here because it was close and some of our group members had previously had good meals here. It was a nice dinner, I mean we didn't have to cook it and more importantly clean up after it - so it's got to be good right!!? The only thing that was wrong with it - and I mean it was only a teeny weeny little thing and it was that the SALMON WAS RAW AND COLD in the middle! It was quite gross to look at actually and I'm still not sure that we weren't part of a game show or something - please help me out if you are a chef - but as far as I know it's pretty easy to see when salmon is raw - I know what you're thinking - lots of people eat raw salmon - but this was NOT a raw salmon dish - the outside was cooked to perfection and then if you looked with you eyes you could see the middle was totally raw - didn't have to cut into it or anything - it was just sitting there staring at us saying - yes touch me - I'm as cold as ice!  So luckily for me - I ordered a big eye fillet! As you can see here:

And it was pretty good, made me sad though cause I knew Leilani would  loved to have played with the little flag! I was told to get over it and took a bite - it tasted pretty good! But my thoughts go out to the salmon orderers!! Here they are now:

As you can see this was taken before the meals arrived but luckily for them anyway they were also sharing a Nachos which I hear was very tasty so it all worked out in the end!!! 

We stayed up and had a chat before heading to bed - where some of us slept better then others. 

And this is us packed up and ready for home the following morning! Oh the memory of waking up and only having to worry about yourself!! Man it was GOOD!

After a bit more shopping in Melbourne City we sat in the hotel reception and waited while our beloved Angela ordered us a Maxi Taxi!! (not our co-trip coordinator Angela but our extra friendly receptionist Angela!) To kill some time we got a few shots of our bags - just to prove that we had in fact been shopping!

And a few shots of us in the mirror!!! - aren't we cleaver!! We want to see a mirror shot of you mums on your next sisters trip ladies!!   What a mighty good looking bunch we are, might I add! 

To Melbourne and Back... Part 3

We arrive back at the hotel about 6.00pm, we are all exhausted from all the shopping, hungry and tired however we decide we had better all call home before we do anything else - tell our husbands how much we love them and miss them - need to stay in the good books so they don't kill us when we tell them how much we have spent!! Everyone is so excited to share their days bargains with each other that as soon as everyone is off the phone the 'Show and Tell' begins! 

Some of our shopping bags!

Lisa starts the ball rolling and pulls out a new perfume to show us...

Oh hang on... there's not 1 but 3!!! But it's okay they were a total bargain!

A few tops to show us...

A pair of jeans...and wait what's this... a FREE T.shirt.

 I can't wait to see you in this Lisa! You better put it on and take a photo and post it on your blog or I'm going to be very disappointed!

What's she going to pull out of this bag??? I can't remember to be honest there was that much stuff between us all... but she looks excited!

A new bag - we all HAD to buy a new bag... or 3 or 4! There's also a couple of pairs of shoes there if you can see them too!

Well, that's all the photos I took of Lisa but I couldn't take too many or we would be here all night! Lisa looks pretty happy with all her purchases - she did a great job! 

(oh, notice another bag on her lap!!)

Next up for show and tell is ME!

To Melbourne and Back... Part 3...continued

This is my new bag - I was very excited that everyone liked it because I ummmed and aaahhhed a few times over it... and I totally did a great job talking the price down!

My last but best buy for the day was this coat - its great I love it!

I found this little 'hair dresser set' for Leilani in Toys R us, she thinks it's great and it was half price!

A pair of jeans for Leilani because I had to take her last pair back because they were too big and she has none, but doesn't really like wearing them anyway so this could have been a waste of money... turns out she loves them and thinks the special red spotty belt is very cool!

And that's me done! I am pretty happy with myself too as you can see... oh and don't worry that wasn't everything I purchased just everything I had photos of! Sorry!

mmm... I think Angela went next!

Oh and here is the photo Lisa told us we had to take when we got home of all our stuff!!