Having.

I have had a frustrating week. With my housework. With my kids. And a few other things.
 I am slowly getting into the Christmas spirit, bought some lights the other day, just need to find time to put them up. And so we go on knowing we have it good, being frustrated, sometimes totally flustered and feel like we are out of our depth, but then you hear some news and you realise how lucky you are to HAVE.

We have a house to live in.
We have furniture to sit on and sleep in.
We have food to eat.
We have transportation and pets and friends and a lot of 'creature comforts'.
We have healthy, mostly happy children.
I have a caring Husband.
I have an emotional heart.

And as much as our emotions (rational or not), can be a nuisance sometimes, it serves to help us know ourselves better.

I was often told before I had children, I would make a great Mum. At the time I thought they were right because I love children. And having had 2 of my own, has brought so much joy to our lives.  My career in childcare taught me how to 'play' with children from birth to their first year of school. But, as much as I love my children, I feel I am at a loss now my son is in school. We talk and play, but I have not had much to do with school aged children attitudes and thinking. And boy have we had to deal with a developing attitude!

I still know I am a great Mum, but when you have your cranky days, and there is no time out for Mum, it is a little hard to recover from. Thankfully, my DH has granted me a shopping trip to our next big town 2 hours away (Little Miss 4 will be in tow, but that is dealable), and my only destination is spotlight. Hhhmmm, wondering what I come home with tomorrow, puts a smile on my face!

Finishing off......

So, we went back downstairs to finish off our outdoor area, sweep sand into the cracks and finish off the edging, and ended up with a sandpit?

Seriously! We laid a few extra pavers under the dog kennel and I thought the following area was perfect for a sandpit! It gets shade from about midday so wont be too hot, is close enough but far enough away and we had plenty of sand left over too, so why not?!

Master 5 helping Daddy.

Kids cleaning while we enjoy a cold one!

Kids filling up 'their' sandpit.

Enjoying their hard work!

And that ends our weekend (asides from dinner tonight, happy to say we are off to a local hotspot hence I don't have to cook!).
I must say we came out of it a little worse for wear, sore backs, a dislocated finger, lots of cuts and bruises, but I really enjoyed doing all that we did even though I don't have any aspiration to do it again!

Always busy!

Wow!

A long weekend off for my Hubby and we decide to stay home! No camping (mabey a drive to check out a nearby camping spot!), but no camping this weekend.

There is much to do though. We decided to stay home to get some work done here, and that we did. A while ago we purchased some outdoor pavers for our entertainment area outside, and they have been 'sitting' around ever since. Last week we 'acquired' some lengths of wood we needed to help begin the outdoor area, and today we done it.

We amazed ourselves and actually paved the whole area in one day (a 6x4 space). It did take a while to get the ground right (don't want water pooling in silly places), but once that was done it was pretty easy going (lol).

Well, easy is a bit of an exaggeration! DH went to get the sand at 715am, and we packed up at 630 this evening!

Oh well, the results are great and I can't wait until are in a position to get the outdoor setting I have been eyeing off for a few years!

Before and after.

A long day, we worked hard (thanks to Kels mate who came to help, it was really appreciated, both our backs were killing!). It is not completely finished, but totally useable and will potter around a little more tomorrow.

Working hard.

Another weekend camping trip! Just a quick one to see some friends, and that is what it is all about. Having fun, enjoying your time and sharing new experiences with our children.

It was a little rainy and I am pleased to say the water stayed out! I am so amazed at how well our kids sleep in the camper too, they are usually fast asleep within 5 minutes. And not scared of the dark! Mostly.

The camper is now cleaned and ready to go again. Next weekend we are heading off, again (makes me smile we have these opportunities :-)

 I have been busy preparing my garden (finally). I needed to make it do proof to save my seedling from being eaten. I am hoping this new solution will keep out the chickens also.

The garden at the front is the kids and that is Master 5's huge sunflower after the bees had de-pollenated it! The next one is my now 'dog proof' garden, the third is where the chooks currently reside, the 4th currently has my strawberries which will go into the new garden soon, and the last one is where the chooks are due to move to.

I think my biggest accomplishment is the green grass! As long as it gets one good soak a week it seems to be surviving.

As it is getting hot around here, we have been splashing around the pool a bit, which helps to give the grass a good soaking too!

My other hard working feature has been to clean out our old stuff we no longer use. Kids toys, camp stuff we had which we got double of when we purchased our camper trailer, baby stuff (high chair, porta cot), and things generally taking up too much space and not being used. It has been very energising making space in and around our house, I highly recommend it!

Double ouch (and a little bit of embarrassment)!

We just got back from the park. It was a lovely afternoon to go and I rode my pushbike with the kids. Sitting on the grass watching the kids play, I snacked on some carrott sticks and blueberries.

Whilst there, I got a lovely call from my Mum.

Sitting, eating and chatting, while the kids play in the sand.

Suddenly I felt a pinch. Ouch!

I stood up and (luckily there was hardly a soul around) I put my hands down my pants and pulled out an ant.

Then, it happened again. So I go searching once again down the back of my pants at the park.

Nothing embarrassing about getting ants out your pants when you are in public!

I now have two swollen bites on my bum (did I mention I had to ride my push bike home too, lucky it is just a fanny seat!).

So, instead of holding the ice brick on my bum, I have put it in my back pant pocket and am sitting down, what a relief!

Sorry Bec, definately no pictures of this one!

Funny :-)

Little Miss 4 has been developing her counting skills of late, and successfully counts past 10. That is where it goes downhill and numbers get mixed and muddled in a rather cute way! Thinking about her counting today, reminded me of a funny counting incident the other day.

Lately, when our children have been getting into trouble (they surely are NOT angels!), instead of getting a smack on the bum, DH has been making them do push-ups. Not as easy as it seems (although Master 5 does love his exercise), it was Little Miss 4's turn for her punishment. I was in the kitchen and heard her Dad say '10'.

After a moment of whinging she got down and started counting.

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

"Four"

"Ten", and got up. She is only four and already knows how to shortcut things! Boy it made me giggle, lucky I was in the other room!

Last minute....

We had decided to go to a local river to camp over the weekend just gone. The day we were due to go, I was informed that there was an event happening down there and it would not be advisable to go at this point in time. The river is just over an hour from our house.

I was in town preparing for the weekends adventures, when DH called. I told him what I knew, and by the time I got home, he had decided it would be great to go see his sister for the weekend instead. So, with an hour until school pick up, we frantically finished packing the camper and car, picked up Master 5 from school, and set off on our 6+ hour camping journey!

As long as the drive to and from seemed to be, it was a fantastic weekend with both my sister in laws and their families. All the kids had a blast, and I am glad my children have these opportunities to get to know their cousins.
We spent the morning at the local town pool, which was not a bad temperature, but still cold if you ask me! As my Sister in Law is a qualified swim instructor, she took the kids in the pool for a little lesson!
At lunch, we went down to the local creek for a bite to eat and a chance to wet a line (go fishing), then back to town for the kids to play together in the park. A bbq dinner followed by quiet a few drinks rounded out the day just nicely!

The following morning it was time for us to leave (just a quick trip down). It was a great weekend catching up, albeit a rainy/cloudy weekend, but we seemed to have made the most out of it.

I must say (and I am sure you are all used to it by now), I did not even get any pictures on my phone, because I left it back in the house when we went out! Oh well, there will be plenty more adventures to share with you in the future!