Lili is FOUR

Yesterday we celebrated Lili's forth birthday. When I asked her to think about what she might like as a gift she told me not to worry about it because she had everything she needed. Bless her heart. However we did get her a few little things. We don't do lots of gifts anyway, instead we spend money on doing something fun and creating memories together instead.

Lili wanted to go to the hot springs again for her birthday but we had just been a couple of months ago and it was going to be quite warm so we chose to go to the Enchanted Garden and Maze. It was a 90 min drive out of the city. The kids really enjoyed themselves but I think we would have all enjoyed it more if we had all had a proper sleep the night before. Everyone was super tired. The kids loved going down the tube slides the best.

After we had been at the park we drove down to the beach. Lili and Ammon were asleep so I stayed in the car with them while Aarahi and Auron went down for the first swim of Summer. It was a beautiful 25 degrees. In a few month or so that kind of weather will be cause for putting a jacket on but for now its hot enough for swimming! Lili and Ammon woke up after an hour or so and joined in the swimming. The water was beautiful and crystal clear but freeeezing. Kids don't care about cold water though.

We ended the day with fish and chips and a walk along the pier. A lady then rang Aarahi to tell him they had picked up one of our bags we had left in the carpark. It had EVERYTHING in it. My phone, ipad, wallet, camera and passport. My phone only had like 3% battery left on it so they luckily were able to get Aarahi's number and call. What a blessing that was. There are still good people out there! We got home just before 9pm a full 13 hours after we left.

Primary Presentation and Trunk or Treat 2016

Last Sunday the kids had their primary presentation at church. If you aren't sure what that is, it is where the kids all get a chance to say a little part up the front and sing some songs. Lili and Auron both did well saying their parts but someone stood on Lili's foot during the first song and that was her finished. She went and sat down in the front row with Marcelle. Auron got to sing "I love to see the temple" in a little group...when I say sing I mean mouth the majority of the words haha. It's the experience that counts though. It is terrifying enough for an adult to get up and speak or sing in front of a few 100 people. Personally I am glad it is all over. It is so so so much work. One day I would love to be able to just sit and watch. I think that in my whole life the only time I was able to just sit and watch was when I was in youth. Aside from that I have either been in Primary myself or served in Primary.

Yesterday we went to an Art Muesum where the kids had an art class, then they were able to create their own piece of art work. The lady who runs the class is amazing with the kids. First she has them sit down in the reception area and talks about what kind of art we will look at today then takes them upstairs and sits them down in front of several different art works. She explains about the art and asks them questions and lets the kids ask questions. It is really neat to hear some of the questions and answers the kids give. Then we head over to the art studio to create something similar to the artists we have looked at. Aarahi really likes this part. Yesterday they had to create something that would help people or the earth and he made an "understand-inator" He pretended he was helping Ammon but really.....

Today was Trunk or Treat night at church. Lili and Auron have been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. Thankfully they already had costumes they wanted to wear. Aarahi and I made Ammon a Dobby costume this morning. He wasn't so keen on the idea but he was easily convinced once he saw everyone else dressed up. It was such a lovely night, with so many families and youth putting in a lot of effort to make it special for the kids. Ammon was definitely flavour of the night. The kids scored big on lollies and junk, which Daddy will be so pleased about. They have eaten a fair amount of it already, so much so that I am considering if they really need dinner.

We drove out to our new house today and they are making good progress, it was nice to see work actually being done on it. This summer is forecast to be super cold which is such a blessing for us as we only have one air con unit in the house we are in now.

Auron has been coming out with some interesting vocabulary lately. Last night he told me that the pizza we were eating was "the most delectable pizza he has ever had" It has been fun having him come to us and ask us what certain words mean and then to have him using them. He has such an amazing imagination I can't wait until he can write fluently, I am sure he will write some amazing stories.

Primary Presentation 2015 and 2016

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

So it's been 4 months or so since I have written anything. I have continued to put it off over and over again because truth be told sometimes life is pretty miserable and I didn't want to have all the rubbish that has gone on recorded in our family year book this year. Today after church however one of our friends asked me why I hadn't blogged for so long and I said "nothing much to write about". His response, though he probably thought nothing of it, left me thinking all afternoon. He said its a journal, a history. He was right so along with the good I should also share the bad.

This past year, the last 8 months in particular it feels like our little family has been barely treading water. Every time we manage to take a breath we have something else thrown at us. We have been screwed over by family more times than I can even count this year. Over and over and over again. By people you would have willing run to the end of the world for. Things like this have made me question my own self worth and found me battling depression for several months. It has sent me back to a place I haven't seen in over 10 years and a place I don't ever want to be.

I have missed my Nana more than anyone could understand. There is not a day that goes by that I don't yearn to talk to her and hear her voice. I have struggled with it more this year that I did when she first passed away. I think it was because I knew to her, I was her special little girl and that I was irreplaceable and I was a part of her everything. Grand-Graeme has moved into a rest home a month or so ago and when I rang him on moving day it was closing the door on a book. I hung up the phone knowing that I had rung Nana's number for the last time. I cried for a good hour after.

So while I have struggled to be able to be strong enough to hold everyone else up I myself have come crumbling down. My family has suffered from my neglect of them. I am so blessed to have such a patient and loving husband who is forever forgiving and kind.

Hopefully we are coming out of the fog that we are in and we will have some time to breathe soon. While this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the past few months it does feel better to get it out.

BUT it's not been all bad. The concrete for our house is being poured this week. We have 90% of our accommodation booked and paid, for our month long adventure next year along with our flights and we are currently well under holiday budget! Our car is going to live to see another day...or year after a really good trip to the car doctor. It seems after 5 years they may have actually fixed the problem. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father has been strengthen and if there was ever a silver lining to a cloud then that has been it. Time and time again I have been shown how aware of me he is.

My favourite 4. In all the grubby, horiness

Bit's and Bobs

So after 2 months or so of not having a washing machine we finally bought  a new one. I am glad I waited. I got the $1000 one for only $600. How is that for a good deal! I knew if I waited long enough I would get the deal I wanted. On the first few days I think I probably washed every towel blanket and item of clothing in the house. Then I realised I would now have to fold the mountain of clean washing it produced on my couch and the novelty wore off quickly. I do love the smell and feel of freshly washed towels though.

Auron has rediscovered Toy Story on Netflix. He was just about to watch the third one, the conversation went like this:

Me: Auron turn that off I don't want to watch that.
Auron: Why? (looking confused)
Me: I can't handle that much emotion these days, it makes me cry too much.
Auron: (shaking his head) Are you serious? You need to sort out your issues!
Me: Whatever, you still can't watch it.

It is true though, kids movies these days leave me tortured for months after. I have a big list of movies the kids can only watch with Daddy. I had to read the plot summery for Finding Dory before I decided if we could watch it. I probably need to take Auron's advice and sort out my issues.

Yesterday we went to the Cinderella Opera. It was a bit of a let down. I had high hopes. However afterwards we were walking back to the train and Lili was holding my phone. All of the sudden she yells out "Mummy look Pikachu!" She had spotted a picture of Pikachu on a newspaper. She almost got bowled over by a crowd of people thinking she had found one in the Pokemon Go game. It was pretty comical to see.

Last night Lili put her half eaten pizza on a plate and filled a cup of water and asked me to write a note for Daddy "To Daddy, This is for you if you are hungry or have a sore brain. Love Lili-Mei" It was so sweet. She is so lucky to have the best Daddy in the world.

Catching Up

Ugh I got behind again. I don't even know what I last posted about so forgive me if I repeat myself. Things have been busy busy busy here. Truth be told a lot of rubbish going on that has put me off posting because sometimes it is just hard to find the positive amongst so much trash.

We have good house news the titles for the land were sent into the titles office last week and will be issued within 10 days, so sometime this week. Following that we have 10 days to settle (pay the balance of the deposit) then they will start building. Our builders are all ready to go so hopefully it wont take too long for them to get on to it. If we are in by Christmas i will be happy. Really just before those 45 degree days come back! It is like 2 degrees outside now...it's hard to imagine it being so hot only a few months ago. It's actually a good time to build weather wise as the summer months people wont work in the heat, the cold is much easier to deal with.

The kids all had dentist appointments. No holes. The dentist praised me for obviously providing them with a good oral hygiene routine and well balance diet. I accepted the compliment and told Aarahi once we left. We both had a good laugh about it. We are pretty sure it is just good genetics.

Aarahi has been enjoying afternoon shift. He starts at 230pm and finishes around 11-12. I put him in charge of family scriptures which he has been enjoying. He is far more creative than I am. They kids really love all his cool games and creations. He does miss our Friday night movies and pizza though.

Last Friday we celebrated the end of term with our cousins. We went out for burgers and milkshakes. The milkshakes were to die for. (you would hope so at $9 each) We got banana, cookies and cream and toasted marshmallows. Aarahi missed out so we went back on Saturday and got 3 new flavours, lime, lamington and peanut butter brownie. The peanut butter one I thought was horrible but then again I think the only place peanut butter belongs is on toast. The other thought it was the best one of the lot. We still have about 20 flavours left to go....

We have started going on a few bush walks with the kids. Firstly because it is winter and they spend less time out side and they need that fresh air to stop us all going crazy. Secondly my ulterior motive is to train them up for our holiday next year. We have a lot of walking to do and I don't want whining kids complaining that they have sore legs. I figure if I prepare them now it will make for a much more pleasant holiday. Ill tell you how well my theory holds up later. On Saturday we did a 90 min walk not far from our house. We saw lots of kangaroos, the kids weren't that impressed they see them all the time.

We signed up for private health insurance last week. We now incredibly well protected from any kind of disaster! Health insurance, home and contents insurance, income protection insurance, mortgage insurance, life insurance, car insurance and I am sure pet insurance will come into play in the next few years too. The reason we actually got the health insurance is so we can have our next baby privately. There's a 12 month waiting period. So you have to have it at least 3 months before getting pregnant. Otherwise we would have waited until Aarahi turned 31 and had to pay the extra tax for not having it. Not planning another baby just yet, but I like to be prepared!

I am looking forward to our tax return this month. The first 6 months of the year is always expensive for us....paying all the aforementioned insurances! as well as car rego.... almost $1000, and we usually go on holiday in march too.

Well that's us!

Blessings and Snapchat

We've taken two weeks break from school work. Both Auron and I needed it as we were starting to get a bit burnt out. We were back at it this morning in full force and Auron didn't miss a beat. He is reading better than before and is well on his way to ticking off his first 50 sight words. When he has marked them all off we are going to go to the museum as a treat.

We got our final approval for our mortgage the other week. Yet again it showed me that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. We were able to secure a better deal which saves us $40 a week in payments making our mortgage only $30 more than rent on this run down 2 bedroom place in a questionable neighbourhood. It also means we can easily pay more each week with out putting ourselves out. We also only have a couple of $1000 left to pay at settlement for the deposit. I had completely miscalculated so this was a very very happy surprise! Had our land titled last year when it was supposed to we would have paid more and we things would have been tight as we spent a significant amount on airfares and funeral expenses last year when Nana passed away.

To celebrate our mortgage success I booked our cruise to Mexico. I think we (I) have caught the cruising bug. But a cruise seemed like a perfect way to ease ourselves into our USA adventure next year. This kids will be very excited as they ask every day if we can go back on the boat.

Aarahi is switching shifts from morning to afternoon. The opportunity came up as not many people want to work in the afternoon which is understandable if you have kids in school. So he said sure I will change but I want a promotion. If you don't ask you don't get?? So he will do some training for a few weeks then be boss man number 2. It will be a bit of adjustment for our family but it will mean more time together for our family which is the most important factor.

Blessings have abounded in the past few weeks and for that I am forever grateful.Our Heavenly Father always provides, often in ways we wouldn't have thought were possible. I have no doubt these blessings are results of many heartfelt, pleading prayers we have offered up to our Father in Heaven.

Auron love the group called Gentri. They group of 3 guys who sing some pretty nice songs and wear suits and bow ties when they perform. So for the past few days he has been dressing in a suit and bow tie even when we went out to IKEA. He was adorable. Hopefully they are performing somewhere close to us next year when were are in the States.

Auron and I went out to do some shopping and while I was in the changing room he was looking at my pretty messed up stomach and asked "Mummy, what happened to your tummy? it's got funny lines on it" I told him that, that's what happened when he was in my tummy and made me fat. His reply "oh, well I'm sorry about that"

Ammon and his cousins were playing around with snapchat last night at family dinner. It was all fun and games until Ammon saw himself with the dog face or whatever it is. He is traumatised. Poor kid. I  am glad we captured it though. It will be one for the memory box. He wont even touch my phone anymore.

There and back in less than 48 hours

Last week that wretched cancer struck again and took with it one great man. Foua was my seminary teach for 4 years back when I was a teenager. Every morning we would file into Mele and Foua's home or the Primary rooms at the chapel. I probably couldn't tell you too much of the specifics of what I actually learnt in those 4 years but I barely missed a day and passed off all 100 scripture masteries front and back word perfect every time. There was something about that classroom that was different. Mele and Foua poured so much love and dedication into us that you could not help but think you were just a little bit special. Despite what was going on at home or school you knew without a doubt that they loved you and loved you fiercely. There were times when Mele would let loose when she thought we were being disrespectful or just needed a talking to. Foua would come a long behind her and be the calm in the storm. He was good like that. Mele taught Monday-Thursday and Foua did Friday scripture mastery. Those were the best days. It was also a treat when Mele was sick.... I know everyone who had the privileged of being taught by them will be forever effected by the love that was shown them. 

So with that said when I learnt of Foua's passing last week I ummed and ahhed about whether to go. I had always planned on going but was kind of hoping it would be after tax time as last minute tickets aren't the cheapest of things to buy. Nevertheless my sweet husband could see that I really wanted to go and that it was upsetting me not to be there. I guess Heavenly Father knew too because on Firday afternoon our final mortgage approval went through which freed up our bank accounts. Aarahi told me to go and not worry about the kids he would figure it out. So at 9pm Saturday night I booked tickets and left for the airport 30mins later! First stop Auckland. I had a 5 hour layover here, arriving at 5am. Shane, Teri, Teuila and Khyber came and had breakfast with me for a few hours before I left again. At 10am I left for Wellington arriving at 11am. Mei is studying at Vic Uni and came and had lunch and hung out for 3 hours. Mei is my first baby and I find it hard to accept that she is at Uni. I left Wellington on the bus at 330 and finally arrived into Palmy at 6pm. After a quick hello to everyone at home I headed out to pick Anita up....I went to the wrong house, super embarrassing. Anyway we made it over to the Brown's where Foua was laying. It was somewhat surreal and sent me right back to 7 years ago when Alby died. It was both comforting and upsetting at the same time. We found Mele and gave her a hug. She gives nice squishy hugs. 

I made it to bed at midnight and got up at 7am to the rest of my siblings had arrived from Auckland and were now spread out on the lounge room floor. I made a quick dash to Grand-graemes and tried to fix his heat-pump but no luck. On the way home I saw a teddy bear laying out in the gutter in the pouring rain. I watch too much Doc McStuffins so I couldn't just leave it there. Turned around and picked it up, took it home washed it and chucked it in the dryer. Lili loves it. 

The funeral was lovely. It was like one big reunion. There were people I haven't seen since I was a child. YOu could see the huge influence this great man had had on so many. Seminary students travelled from near and far to be there. People who have probably never been back to church in many many years sat there and sung Families can be Together Forever with more meaning than ever before. 

I made it back to Wellington in time for my 4pm flight to Sydney and then on to Melbourne eventually making it home at 11pm Monday night, not even 48 hours after I left. It was one crazy weekend that I am so glad I embarked on for many reasons. I am so thankful that I was blessed enough to be loved by this wonderful man. 

Visiting the Mail Centre

Oh dear getting behind again... I wont bother trying to cover the week I missed, my memory isn't good enough for that.

I think the highlight of the week was going to visit the Australia Post Mail Centre. Aarahi took the day off work to spend with us too which was lovely. The kids really enjoyed learning all about mail and what the postman/lady does. I have so much more respect for our dear posties now! Who knew it was such and involved job?! The best part of the tour was when the kids got to sit on the motorbike and beep the horn.

Once the tour was finished we ran a few errands then picked up some lunch. We were going to go to a park or something but we just ended up sitting in the car. It was the perfect sunny sleeping temperature. Aarahi and I both fell asleep. I mentioned to Aarahi how when I was younger Teri used to take us out to get something for lunch (burger fuel of rich days, bakery on poor days) and then we would go sit in the car somewhere to eat. I always wondered why we spent like an hour just sitting there...I totally get it now. Probably my favourite part of the weekend. Oh and that when I bought my kebab they had put hot chips in it??? weird but surprisingly good.

Following the best nap of my life we drove down the road a bit further to gymnastics then home for pizza and movie night like every Friday. Aarahi made me delicious chicken cranberry and brie pizza.

On Thursday after homeschool group I dropped Lili and Auron off with Sarah's partner Tarms and Sarah, Sotarah and I went to have milkshakes and fondue at Max Brenner. Then we did our groceries together, because we are cool like that. Later that night I took Ethan out to have icecream, talk and watch the planes come in. I think we must have come at the wrong time because we barely saw any planes.

Auron and Lili got their first pet yesterday! A pair of Australian Hopping Mice. We have had a "pet" mouse in our house for a couple of weeks that Auron has grown rather attached to. We thought it was probably a better idea to get a proper disease free kind for him to keep. So he used his birthday money from Nana to purchase his mouse and set up his cage. the best thing about these mice are that they are "stinkiness free" Auron has called his Chewy (Chewbacca). Lili is still deciding.

Our mortgage went in for reassessment this week. I continue to be amazed at the knowledge Heavenly Father is watching over us. Our broker was able to secure a much better deal for us and which will allow us to pay of the mortgage in its entirety in a MUCH smaller period of time. We are just waiting for 100% approval which should come through later this week and settlement is on track for the last week of June. We went out on Friday and they are almost finished and some of the temporary fencing is coming down so hopefully we can share some good progress photos soon.

When Heavenly Father Knows What you Need

This week has been long, and mentally and emotionally draining. We are hoping for a much better week this week.

MONDAY:  I think Mondays must be really really boring around here because I never remember what we have done.

TUESDAY: We went to home school group. Today a lady came in from RACV (transport people) and did a presentation and work shop with the kids about road safety. Auron absolutely loved it and Lili also enjoyed it but was feeling a bit sooky so stayed by me for the majority of it. Ammon was super tired but refused to go to sleep so I just fed him and fed him to keep him happy. He ate all the watermelon (a whole quarter). The kids also brought a toy from home to share for show and tell.
After home school group Ammon and Lili promptly fell asleep in the car so Auron and I went for a drive out into the country a bit then drove out to see our land. We were lucky enough to actually see them working on our block. It is looking really good out there now. We drove in from the freeway this time and Auron was excited that there was a Hungry Jacks only 2 mins from our house. He was like "Hey hey, when did that get there!?"
After driving around for 90 mins we went to Sarah's house and walked to pick Izayah up from school. Then I took all the kids to the pet shop to buy Auron a cage and stuff for his mouse he is getting. Long story short, we have a mouse in the house that he thinks is his pet and leaves for out for. I told him that's probably not a good idea and how about we buy one from the pet shop instead.
I needed a bit of sanity time so we went to McDonald's for an ice cream and play.

WEDNESDAY: School work and other everyday stuff.

THURSDAY: More of the same

FRIDAY:  Today we went into the city to participate in a Aboriginal Bush Tucker Walk. It was pouring with rain that was probably the first sign that I should have stayed home. None the less we go and it starts out great. We all take part in a traditional smoking ceremony and then walk around the botanic gardens and looked/smelt/tasted all sorts of different plants and learned about what they were traditionally used for. We went back to sit down and had some lemon myrtle tea...and that's where it went sour. The guide was the biggest jerk I have ever met. He obviously had a huge hang up about European people. Granted the white man wasn't kind to his people (huge understatement) but he was very very accusatory to us as individuals and spent about 30 mins telling us what we feel and what we believe. It was so horrible one of the other families we went with left in tears. We also just walked away.
Auron ended up so saturated and wet it was like he had jumped in a lake. Not entirely my fault but I should have kept a better eye on him. We missed our train so had to take the tram. The majority of trams in the city are not pram friendly ( I really really should have just given up by now) The tram go stuck in traffic and missed the connecting bus and as a result missed gymnastics. So we just gave up, got off the tram and walked to a train station. Auron sloshing in his shoes beside me, and Lili sobbing about missing her gymnastics class she had been waiting for all week.
We got off at our station and there was Aarahi waiting for us. I have never been more happy to see him. To make up for such a miserable day we went and bought some treats, went home for hot showers, pulled all the mattresses and blankets into the lounge and watched movies until we fell asleep.

SATURDAY:  Aarahi and Lili went on a special Daddy Daughter date. A few weeks ago Lili was throwing the biggest tantrum we have ever seen and pushed Daddy's patience a little too far and he rose his voice at her. This is something that has never happened, Aarahi is the epitome of cool and collected and it scared the heck out of Lili and completely broke the trust between them. No matter how many times Aarahi tried to say sorry to her or fix it nothing was working and it was breaking his heart. So for the last 3 weeks or so he has been finding times to do things with just the two of them. He helps her at gymnastics, puts her to bed and yesterday they went out for the day to do what ever she wanted to do. She was very specific, Movies, Subway and Chocolate Milkshake at a Cafe. One 3 second outburst has taken weeks and weeks of continuous prayer and effort to heal. It really makes you think. While they were at the movies the rest of us had pizza at the park with cousins. I went back with Sotarah to drop the boys off back to Sarah and we spent the next 2 hours on the bed talking about life. It is so great to have them around. I think we would probably be lost without each other at the moment.

SUNDAY: Church was quite nice today. I only had 3 kids in my class and they were all well behaved. Aarahi told me that my temple recommend was expired. (he says that's why I have been having such a hard few months, there's probably some truth in that) So I sorted that out and good to go for another 2 years. I didn't have my old one so they had to print out my record. On it has is has they name of your parents and the date you were sealed. Growing up it was all I wanted. To belong to someone forever. Those who know our family personally know it was a long LONG road to get to where we could be sealed together. We still have Teina missing, he has to wait until he is 18. But to see the name of a mother and father and the date we were sealed just gave me so much peace today. It was what I needed at the right time. Heavenly Father always knows.
We had family dinner at our house tonight because Sarah was still sick. It was make your own Pizza. The big people stood around the bench eating wedges waiting for the pizza to cook and talked about things that have been going on in an open and honest way and were able to let out some of the emotions that we have been holding in. We had family time and later that night Aarahi gave Sotarah a blessing as she faces some hard times ahead. I am so thankful for family and knowing that we aren't in it alone, and for a loving Heavenly Father who always knows what and who we need.

It's been a good end to a horrible week.

ANZAC Remebrance

Summer is still hanging around, just when you think it might be cooling down we get hit with another 30 degree day. 30 isn't bad but it's nearly May!
MONDAY:  I have no recollection of anything that happened on this day. It must have been pretty mundane.

TUESDAY: Home school group. We met up at a park and had a professional photographer come to take "class photos" Hopefully we get them this week, I am really excited to see how they turned out. We didn't stay long as Ammon was tired and a little sick. We went to Subway for lunch because we had no food in the house that was quick to make, and I was feeling lazy. We also visited the supermarket to stock up on some fruit,bread and milk. This was followed by a quick trip to the library where Lili and Auron enjoyed the story time that happened to be running. Lili insisted on getting a chapter book written in Thai...because she can read Thai apparently. We are learning about volcanoes this coming week so we found plenty of books to use. We quickly rushed over to pick Daddy up from work. He was late so we just sat in the car for 30mins complaining about how hot it was and how we should have stopped to get a slurpee on the way.

WEDNESDAY: Lili now joins Ammon in being a little sicko. She lost her voice and went around all day saying "my sounds are gone! listen everyone my sounds are gone!"She thought it was hilarious and was quite upset when her voice went back to normal. After Aarahi got home I escaped to go over to Sarah's house and put a load of washing on and then we escaped to do groceries kid free. It's the little things that matter like this. For the past month I have been budgeting our grocery budget like crazy. It has been between $65-$85 each week with no extra supermarket runs during the week. This week I splurged a little and it was $130 but our fridge and freezer and still bursting at capacity and I am shoving fruit and veges at the kids every moment I get before they go rotten.

THURSDAY: Three sickos now. My life consists of snot and spluttering coughing kids. It is so gross.

FRIDAY: We get up at 330am to take Aarahi to work. We come home and go back to sleep. The kids woke up before me and Auron gives everyone Icy Poles for breakfast. Ammon is sitting in his bed covered in a orange sticky mess. It's only 7am. I am not even sure if Auron went back to sleep. We went to watch Bronte play netball, her team lost by 3 points. It is now 1:45pm and we still haven't had lunch in our rush to get out the door so we stop and Mc Donalds on our way to get Aarahi from work. After quickly picking Daddy up we rush over to gymnastics. Aarahi got to be Lili's helper today and I sneakily watched Auron. So cute. We took our kids home then I rushed back to pick my friend Zainab up and take her and her kids home too. On my way back from dropping her off I stopped in and picked up Izayah to come for an impromptu sleepover.

SATURDAY:  Since Monday is ANZAC day Aarahi and I thought it was important that we try to explain to the kids why we have a special day. We took the train into the city to visit the Shrine of Remembrance. Now we have lived in Melbourne for 5 1/2 years and knew this place existed but actually had now idea what it really was. My impression was that it was just a big building/monument to represent all the wars that Australia has fought in. I was SO wrong. It turns out it is an amazing building with a huge underground museum type thing. The kids were in love. It looks like a big castle underground made of stone. We met up with a tour guide and he took us all on a special tour and explained some of the really neat things they have and had some funny stories for the kids. We participated and ceremony of remembrance, I was quite surprised that the kids understood the importance of being quiet. The final part of the tour was going to lay poppies. There is a special area where the wall are a big world map made up of little holes in Morse code that read "we will remember them"or "lest we forget"....one of those. It was really really fantastic.

The Eternal Flame...kids love fire

Bronte takes this being the big cousin thing seriously, we are so lucky to have her especially these kiddos

The Shrine of Remembrance

Bronte Auron and Izayah

I love this monument. 

This is Melbourne. The white and net thing to the left is the Art's centre. That's where we go see all our performances, Thre street down the middle is St Kilda Road. The yellow building with the green roof is Flinders Street Station its the city centre station. When we say we are going to the city...this is where we are. I also have no idea who what person on the building is. 

Our family with our tour guide Alan. The tour lasted about an hour and the kids were engaged the whole time.