Planning and Cleaning and Planning Some More

LAst week was the week I said no more to the junk! Our house is very quickly becoming too small for us. There is so much inside such a small house that it feels like I am surrounded my "stuff" So I started with the dining room and pulled out EVERYTHING and threw away probably 80% of what was on drawers and on shelves and in boxes. I went through the kids school boxes and tossed pretty much everything except a few special pieces of work. After the dining room looked nice and empty I moved into the lounge and repeated the process. Lili was no help, she's a hoarder and wants to keep every tiny scrap. Auron on the other hand I put to work sorting out dvd's and books. 5 hours later it was like a new house. My goal is to get the whole house emptied out before the end of the year. I am not exactly sure where I am going to put all the rubbish though...

It was definitely a sorting out week last week. I managed to finish planning the whole school year out. Next year is the first year Auron is actually supposed to be in school. Since he has tested out of both of the first level of Math and Language Arts curriculum that we have I am just waiting on the new materials to arrive in time (hopefully) for January when we start again. We have a 6 week on 2 week off routine going from end of January to start of December and only working from Monday - Thursday with Friday reserved for going places/catching up/service projects etc

Along with the planning theme of the week I priced out our trip to the USA which is in a little over a year. We are going with my parents and younger siblings. Planning is always the key! We don't use credit to pay for our holidays so I need to have every dollar planned down to the cent and start looking for deals at least a year out and then have everything except spending money paid for in full before stepping foot on that plane. It adds a little more pressure when you are spending your parents money too. My mum offered to take the kids back to Melbourne for us so we could go to Mexico for a week too. I laugh a slightly evil laugh as I imagine her taking three little kids on the plane. It's not for the faint hearted I tell you. I am well practised at flying with kids but for someone with no experience....and taking my little sister Claire also (she's a bit nuts) I think my Mum may need another holiday.

Aarahi's picked his funeral songs this week. It's depressing, he bought them on iTunes and wants to listen to them all the time and then make me listen to them. I don't know why he would want me to be contemplating his funeral but should anyone want to know he wants Goodnight My Angel by The Men of the Tabernacle Choir and some other song they sing that sounds like Lord of the Rings. I think its called Homeward Bound or something like that.

On Friday night Aarahi and I went to stay at a hotel in the city for the night.It was an early birthday present for Aarahi since December is just crazy busy. When I booked it I thought it was a great idea to have a kid free night away. However the closer it got the more apprehensive I got. The night before I ended up bringing Lili in to sleep with us, just because I was feeling a little sooky about leaving my babies. They were fine and didn't even care that we left them. I was okay too once I finally was able to walk out the door and leave Ammon with my cousin.

We had dinner at the night markets. Then went to the hotel and ordered room service for dessert. It was SUPER flash (read ridiculously small and insanely expensive)

We must not forget the biggest news of the week! Ammon is a walking boy! And yes this new found skill has been used to torture Lili immensely.

I have no new photos this week so enjoy one of a baby Auron

Lili is THREE

I'm getting behind again! I have spent a lot of time writing up the kids individual blogs that the last thing I really feel like doing at the moment is writing more. I am trying to finish their blogs so I can make them into books when the year ends and I have a LOT to catch up on....like 20 posts each that I have started but not finished.

Last week we celebrated Lili's 3rd birthday! I know everyone says it but I can't believe how fast they grow up. The night before her birthday I had a little cry to Aarahi that she was growing up too fast, and that soon she would be 30. He laughed and me and told me "Darling, we aren't even 30 yet" But I am sure if you asked our Mum's they would say just the same.

Lili has been our hardest child, pushed us to our limits. Literally from the day she was born she was the WORST sleeper! I looked at Aarahi a month or so ago and said "I can't believe we made it through that" BUT even though she has been our hardest she has brought us the most incredible about of joy. There is something about her that can just make you melt. She is so full of love, forgiveness. Oh boy I am so thankful for her ability to forgive. Sometimes I have not been the most patient with her but she never holds it against me. I am forever apologising to her for not being understanding or taking the time to giver her what she needs. Lili confident, she knows what she wants and there is not persuading her otherwise. She loves to learn and has the most incredible imagination. I love that I get to spend all day listening to her little stories and games she has going on with her toys. She love Auron, they are each others best friends. If we go out anywhere without Auron she always wants to make sure we have something to take home for him. Ammon on the other hand....she wants us to take him back. I don't blame her. It seems Ammon's mission in life is to bug the heck out of her from the moment he gets up until the moment he goes to sleep. He bites her feet, pulls her hair, steals her toys, generally mauls her. She spends a good deal of time in the middle of the kitchen table playing because that's the only place he can't reach her. No kidding though, he love loves loves to annoy her, probably because he gets the best reaction from her high pitch screaming "Ammon's getting me AGAAAAAIN" Lili love primary and to sing, and memorise scriptures. She is determined to keep up to Auron and loves to correct people if they get their verse wrong.

For her birthday we went out for dinner with friends. She also came with me earlier in the day to pick out decorations for her cake. For the last few months shes wanted a minion cake but changed her mind last minute for a Peppa Pig cake. We had a little party with her cousins on the Friday and ate cake and swam in the pool.

Oh goodness let me tell you about the swim in the pool. So after an hour or so everyone decided to get out. It was nearing 5pm and getting cold. I get Lili out first and take her togs off. She makes a mad dash for this bucket next to the pool. She then proceeds to squat down and pee into the bucket! We were all just staring gob smacked. Ohhhhh but that's not the best part! She gets up and puts her twel around her, then Izayah comes running around the corner and jumps into the pee filled bucket. Then Hale pee'd on the side of the pool. I don't know what was up with Lili because since then she has pee'd in and empty bath and pooped in the shower with both her and Auron in it. Why you may ask? Because I like too was what she said.....

Today Lili and I went Peppa Pig live on stage and the theatre. She was in heaven! After we left she cried because it was over and while we walked back to the train she told me thank you so much Mummy I love being with you and going to do special things. I love that kids so much!

Auron and Aarahi and Ammon went to a  Lego exhibition too. They had a lot of fun.

Before I end today I really must say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped us to raise our beautiful little girl. A special mention to a few, Mum, Nana, Aunty Mel, Sotarah, The Kayrooz Family, Marcelle, Sarah, and Nanny Kaye. Thank you for you love and devotion that you give to our little princess. We are so thankful for all you do along with the rest of our lovely extended family and friends.

Birthday Girl. Note that her top matches her cake...complete coincidence 

Cutes baby Elephant

Dressed up for the All Blacks Win. Ammon had an All Blacks top on too, but it was hard enough getting a photo with two kids looking at a camera...this was take 300000000000

The cake that drove me crazy because Lili and Auron insisted they help. She cried when I told her we ate it all, sobbed her little heart to sleep about her cake being all gone and whyt did we eat it??? 

Waiting for the show to start

Lili loved her first theatre experience. We will be definitely be going again for sure 

The kids have loved the Dolls house that Bishops family kindly donated. Complete with dolls "Great! Finally some boy dolls"' is what Auron said.

We picked up a box of delicious cupcakes from a little shop in one of  Melbourne's  famous lane ways to take home for Daddy and Auron. 

Auron LOVED halloween. Here he is with his Girlfriend Renee. Too bad she is secretly taken. We just wont tell Auron that.  

Best part of the Lego exhibit Auron said, and the huge HULK. 

See Look how fast she grows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 30 in no time. 

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

I have been delving into more of my family history this past week and cam eup with a few little surprises. One of my great great great....uncles helped to build the Manti temple. He was also choir director for 25 years... have no idea what choir but unfortunately his obvious musical ability did not make it this far down the generations. Hopefully we will be able to go visit the Manti temple when we are over there in 2017. 

We got the title transfer for our land in the mail today. I doubt it will title at the end of December like it is supposed to (was really meant to be August) but whatever. It will happen when it happens. It will just sit there increasing in value, while we keep saving like crazy people. We don't have to pay the remaining of our deposit until it titles so the more money we have the better. Luckily for us it is already worth more than we owe which is nice. Two of Aarahi work mates are building on the same street as us which will be convenient for carpooling at 4am...Hopefully they will be able to keep each other awake. I am so looking forward to living out in the country a bit. The drive out to where we are building is beautiful especially in spring time. Lovely tree lined roads and kangaroos and animals in the paddocks. The area is set for a huge amount of development so no doubt in 10 years time it will look a whole lot different. 

Our TV broke last week. I was a sad time. Especially for Aarahi who wanted to watch the All Blacks game. It was even sadder for me when it cost twice as much as first thought to fix it. I run a tight ship with out finances and things like this really really annoy me. If it's not one thing it's another right? Aarahi has a ridiculous amount of leave and RDO's so he got one of those paid out so as to not disrupt the fine balance I have going on.

I lost Ammon this week. I thought he was in the bedroom where the kids were playing. They came out and I asked where Ammon was. "I dunno?" I looked everywhere couldn't find him. Finally looked outside in the back yard and there he was laying down in a big puddle splashing away in the rain. I'm not sure how he got out there, probably followed Auron or Lili out there. He was not happy when I bought him back inside. 

Aarahi and I bought some Book of Mormon Study Guides that we are LOVING. It has been the favourite part of my day for the past week. Our scripture study has been sporadic at best since having kids. Let's be honest once you get the kids into bed all you really want to do is sit in silence and peace without someone yelling your name every 20secs. Yet this past week we have quickly got the kids into bed as fast as we can so we can do our scriptures together. They would be great for teenagers and adults alike. If you are intersted you can find them at https://www.theredheadedhostess.com/

In a couple of weeks we are celebrating Aarahi's birthday a bit early because December is already crazy enough. We are going away for the night CHILDFREE. I am still not sure how I feel about it. I am kind of excited but apprehensive. I think it will be weird, but we have lots of nice things planned and Aarahi is super exited about it. 

Well it's 5pm and Aarahi just got home from work. It's been a long day. His work is moving accross the road to a new facility and he got the "honour" of being the moving crew haha. 

Quick take a photo of me

Lili wanted to feed Ammon a Chocolate Yoghurt (a very rare treat in this house) I told her not to let him have the spoon, next minute she's telling me proudly that she taught him to use a spoon. He ended up covered head to toe in yoghurt. 

Introducing our new baby, Baby Stuart. Lili has been a great little Mummy to her minion, this is where I found him when I went to bed. 

Auron made this really cool car. It's hard to tell from the photo but it was pretty fantastic with lots of different parts that did different things 

The Week at Our House

It's been a quiet week for our little family. I we haven't really gotten out much. I think we were all in need of some down time. Aarahi was sick a couple of days and had one day off work. It was lovely having him home. The big kids and I went and did groceries together and picked out a Halloween costume for Ammon. He's going to be Buzz Lightyear. Super cute. They love coming to the shops because we usually get a special treat when we are finished. We try to take each of them out by themselves at least once a fortnight. Lili came with me earlier in the week to pick something up from Coles. While we were there she asked me if we could get a bubble machine. Knowing how much she loooooves bubbles we had a look and found one for $5. $5 well spent.

On the weekend we went and bought some seeds to plant. Auron has been all about growing plants and gardening lately....must be in the blood or something??? Aarahi however can't stand anything to do with gardening, too many years spent in the kumara patch as a child I suspect. Lili wanted to plant strawberry seeds but we compromised on buying actual plants instead, hoping we might have more luck. Unfortunately they are still not growing fast enough for her liking. Here's hoping we get more that $21 worth of strawberries out of them, because that's how much the plants were.

Ammon is such a mischief. He is in to EVERYTHING! and more importantly (for him anyway) he has figured out how to get Lili and Auron to do pretty much whatever he wants. In the mornings the kids are early birds usually waking up just before 6am. As for me, I don''t personally want to get up at that time. Auron usually comes in and gets my phone and iPad for him and Lili, and Lili then goes and gets some toys for Ammon to play with. Then they all go back to bed for another 30mins. It's lovely.

Lili had a rough day at church, everyone was touching her hair... Just so you know, she really really hates people touching her hair. I know its cute and all and it's really hard to resist pulling those little curls but please don't. It hurts her and makes her hate her hair which is really sad. Then after church she got her finger jammed in the chapel doors.

We had a singing practice for our Primary Presentation next month at the end Auron sung a solo of popcorn popping. It was super cute! He has got the sweetest little spirit. I love his little child like faith. He is working hard to memorise the Articles of Faith and our weekly family scripture. So far he has 5 versus memorised. We are really enjoying all the new questions he has. The other day he asked me where babies come from. I told him they come from Mummies tummies when they have husbands. Later I heard him tell Lili that when she gets a husband she's going to get fat.

Aarahi gave a wonderful talk today on the Resurrection of Christ. He always gives wonderful talks, Ilove hearing him speak. Unfortunately my children weren't the most well behaved today and I struggled to hear the whole talk.

Onwards and Upwards!

I think it must have been awhile since I have written. There are 3 unfinished post sitting in my account!

We have been enjoying the beautiful Summer like weather here this weekend. It has been at 30+ degrees the past two days and will continue for another few days before dropping back down to more seasonally appropriate weather.

Apparently on Friday it was a public holiday to celebrate Grand Final weekend for the AFL...not we could actually care less about it. I am not even sure who was playing. But it was a perfect excuse for us to take advantage of the sun and head down to the beach in the city. It in no beach like we are used to but it was good enough for the kids. They had the best time, I don't think Auron and Izayah got out of the water for 3 hours or so.

On Saturday Aarahi went to play in the Greenvale Ward Table Tennis Tournament. It's all very serious business. I think it's the 2nd or 3rd year it's been going now. He came home a winner! He won the doubles with one of the other guys.

Lili is pretty much 100% now. She had been having 4-5 hour naps in the day for half the week but hasn't had to have a nap at all the past few days. It is so nice to have her back! Although it was hard to have her sick, I really enjoyed all the time I got to spend with her. She really is one of the funniest kids you can meet.

Auron has taken an interest in Chess this past week so Aarahi has been teaching him slowly. Each morning after breakfast he gets out the board and practices setting it up and learning the names of the pieces. When Aarahi gets home they have a couple of games and learn a new rule.

Ammon has been sleeping through the night...THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!! That is unheard of in this house like, what am I going to do with all this sleep I am getting at night?? I've been waking up at 5am which is not cool, hopefully my body clock will reset. But really, is this what it's like for all those people with kids that are good sleepers?? First time in 5 years I've not had someone yelling my name or crying at obscene times of the night. Aarahi and I have so much energy it's like we should go run a marathon or something. There's something to be said about sleep deprivation that's for sure.

The kids and the birthday girl...

Family Photo

Winners!

Lili earned her Happy Meal, learning all her letters

MMM white top + watermelon = bad idea

3 Little rascals ready to swim

Tuckered out after the party

September Started with a Bang!

Note: I wrote this on Sunday it's now Thursday. We had a pretty rough few days. On Monday Lili becoming increasingly more lethargic. For the past 4 days she had slept the majority of the day, but she was happy enough and was eating and drinking fine whenever she woke up. On Monday she was really hard to wake up and she wasn't drinking or eating much so I thought enough was enough and took her to the hospital.
They managed to get her to eat an icy pole and did some tests. They had the the paediatric docs come look at her. They were still baffled as to what was really wrong with her. She had no other indications of illness other than being tired. They were happy for her to go home and go to the GP the next day for her results. We were to bring her straight back if she got worse or we couldn't get her to drink.
Tuesday night we ended up taking her back as she had nothing to drink in over 24 hours and waking her up was terribly hard. "Thankfully" she had developed a cough and slightly red throat. This led the doctors to be more happy with their predictions of a virus instead of something quite serious. The admitted her overnight to pump her full of fluid. The next morning she was so much happier. Yesterday she only had a 1 hour nap as opposed to sleeping 20 hours a day as she had been doing since last Thursday.
It was a pretty worrying time and we have never been so thankful for a cough and a sore red throat! We appreciated all the love and messages and checking in.

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We hope all those lovely Daddy's and Poppa's out there had a fabulous day yesterday! Our week has been plagued by sickness but I'll get to that later.

Monday: Home school group. We left home about 10am and it was lovely and sunny so I told Auron to leave his jacket at home and he would be warm enough with what he was wearing. 30mins later it was freezing cold , the poor kids was miserable. He warmed up once we got to the park and could run around. I let Auron pick what we were having for lunch since and he chose a place called Schnitz. He declared it was his favourite place ever. I informed him not to get to attached as the price tag wasn't as appealing as the delicious food.

Tuesday: Today was a beautiful day so we went for a walk to Aunty Mel's to have lunch. It was actually really warm today, think tee-shirt and shorts weather. When Auron put on his jacket again he just looked at me and said "remember yesterday mummy?" Who was I to argue with that? He ditched the jacket a few 100m down the road.

Wednesday: I have absolutely no recollection of what happened on this day. This seems to be happening more and more often these days.

Thursday: This is where our week took a turn for the worst. I should have seen it coming! When the kids got up they were lounging around on the couch looking sorry for themselves. I told them they needed to change their attitudes or go back to bed. They both headed back to bed at 930am and didn't emerge again for another few hours. Auron perked right up but Lili on the other hand just had some lunch then went back to bed. For the next 3 days Lili didn't get off the couch. She is such a good sick kid, barely hear a peep out of her.

Friday: Aarahi had the day off work! We had big plans to go out and spend time together as a family for Fathers day but Lili was sick and Ammon was now sick too. Ammon was not a good sick kid!!!! The whinging and the whining was doing my head in. I was thankful Aarahi was there to share in the torment but felt bad he was missing out on his special day. On a plus note I got all the washing done. Aarahi did take Auron out to the city for a treat. They got ice creams, special hot chocolates and went to play in the arcade (something only Daddy would do)

Saturday: Oh dear now I'm down with whatever the kids have. I spent the majority of the day in bed whilst my dear husband looked after the kids. Unfortunately when you are a parent there are no sick days and you still need to get up and do some cleaning and help out with the kids. Lili was still couch bound so Aarahi was going to take her to the doctor but she started to perk up so he just took her for a ride in the car and let her pick a treat at the supermarket. Grapes and strawberries....no surprises there!

Sunday: Aarahi was speaking in Stake Conference today. I really wanted to go hear his talk, but was still sick and definitely didn't want to take all the kids! So at 8am I dropped Auron and Lili at my cousins house. Unfortunately conference didn't start until 1pm not at 10am like I thought. Poor Sarah lucked out there. She messaged me a little while later to say all the kids were asleep. Aarahi did a great talk on "Not Just a Casual Follower of Christ" After conference we went back to Sarah's for dinner and learnt that Auron was now struck down with the sickness and hadn't moved off the couch all day either.

Auron filled up his Alphabet Dinosaur and got his treat of a Happy Meal. He has worked so hard over the past couple of weeks to learn all his letters this was such a well deserved treat. 

My Husband is a Zombie Catcher

It was a much quieter week than the last, mostly because the weather was terrible and I slowly began to drown in laundry.

Monday: Much of the same. School in the morning then we went over to the cousins for Family Home Evening and dinner.
Tuesday: We went to the launch of the 100 Book Before School program. It was pretty average, and I would rather have not gone. The kids did score a book pack each though so I guess that made it somewhat worth it. I rewarded them for having to sit through speeches with Subway for lunch.
Wednesday: We caught up on some neglected school work and Lili, Auron and I did a bunch of baking for the week
Thursday: It was pouring with rain so the most logical thing to do is get the train to the visit the cousins and go shopping. Yep we are crazy like that. It was a terrible idea. The kids were all grumpy and by the end of the day Lili was really really pushing her luck with me. We had a few tantrums on the ground in Target. It's our first in a long long time, I was pretty exhausted from a long night with Ammon and probably didn't handle it as well as usual.
Friday: I realised Lili needed some time out just her and mummy. I know this is always the problem when she starts having melt downs. So we had some time out to read books, do cooking, play in the sandpit without anyone else. A few hours of one on one time and she becomes a different child. It's good for me too. It helps me to remember that she is still just a little girl with big emotions that sometimes just needs her mummy to be a little more patient and understanding with her.
Saturday: My cousin Cindy was down in Melbourne from Queensland for a girls weekend with some of her friends. Sarah and I were lucky enough to catch up with her in the city for a few hours. We went to a little cafe in one of the lane ways and got so ripped off it was painful. We should have just ordered drinks but instead Sarah and I ordered a quiche and an apple crumble. We paid good money and got piddles in return and to top it off it tasted gross. If that's what the rich people eat, I think I'd like to stay poor. Aarahi the brave brave man looked after all 5 kids by himself for the afternoon. These kids are hard work for both Sarah and I together, so you can imagine the task Aarahi had before him!!! He did fantastic and everyone was happy on our return.
Sunday:  My lesson for class was "I am Thankful for Food" naturally bringing cupcakes to decorate after our lesson was the best idea. I was only planning on having 3 or 4 kids but ended up with 7. They actually did really well and the mess was fairly minimal. The even got the whole point of the lesson. However later in the day during sharing time some other kid grabbed a cupcake off the table at ran out the door with it dropping it along with all its delicious coconut topping all over the floor. sigh... The kids made some Fathers Day ties at church. They had questions on the for the kids to answer about their dads. The first question was "What does your Dad do for work?" Lili's answer "He goes and catches the Zombies" Gosh I love that kid!!!!!!