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.

This Weeks Round Up

Finally the end of the week! We have been out and about almost every day this week.

MONDAY: This was a fairly boring day. We did school work in the morning. Auron did his reading test and scored 17/20 and got to move up a level. He then did a Maths quiz for counting backwards and got 90%. We ended our school work with some writing practice and art. Sotarah came over for lunch and brought chocolate milk which is always a hit around here. When Daddy came home from work they all went outside to play soccer for a good 2 hours while I cleaned the house, including scrubbing all the floors. Mums always get the fun jobs.

TUESDAY:  We went into the city with our home school group to watch a performance of the 52 Story Treehouse. The kids really enjoyed it, especially Auron. Ammon sat through it pretty well for the most part. There were a group of 10 year old girls seated in front of us who thought he was cute and kept him entertained making faces at him. All three kids fell asleep on the train, so that was lots of fun trying to wake them up to get off. The carpark was so full at the station that we had to park a good 10 min walk away....lots of fun with half asleep kids.

WEDNESDAY: A quiet day at home. The kids made science experiments. These consisted of mixing up all sorts of ingredients and then putting the container in the freezer to see what would happen. This days ingredients included toothpaste, fabric softener, washing powder, and soap (can you tell which room they found all their ingredients?) They do this on a daily basis almost.

THURSDAY: Back into the city again. This time we went to the Botanic Gardens to an event the had on. The kids were able to make little boats to float down a stream there and then we made cubby houses (Auron calls them Tubby houses, it reminded me of Teletubbies and then reminded me of Zion when she was little and watched Teletubbies). After we finished the activities we walked slowly back to the train stopping to see the Shrine of Remembrance and talk about Anzac Day. I'm not sure how it came up but we got to talking about the Priesthood and how Daddy has "special powers" I don't know how else you describe it to a 5 and 3 year old. But they well super impressed that Daddy could have the same powers as Jesus. I loved that little talk.

FRIDAY: Today the kids started gymnastics classes. Auron has been asking for a few months now if he could go to somewhere like school where parents drop you off then pick you up later. I love that he wants that kind of independence so we have been thinking of something he could do that would satisfy he desire. Gymnastics it was. Auron went over to the big kids room with another class and I stayed with Lili and Aarahi looked after Ammon and watched us. Auron was so excited when he came back. Later that night I dropped all the kids with Sarah and Aarahi and I went out to dinner with some friends. We got home at 1am. I am not a young person any more, I am still recovering.

SATURDAY: We went and did laundry at the laundry mat because our washing machine broke last week and I can't touch any money in our savings to buy a new one and I don't have a spare $800 laying around in our everyday account. So it is the laundry mat until this stupid mortgage is out of the way. Hopefully the next couple of weeks.

SUNDAY: I serve in Primary, it is hard work.

Te Arai and Emily's Wedding

So just to back track a little bit. A week before we left on holiday Ammon and I made a quick dash back to New Zealand for Te Arai and Emily's wedding. And by quick I mean quick. Aarahi dropped us off at the Airport at 4am Friday on his way to work and we got home Sunday night. I wish we could have all come but A) we aren't that rich and B) I'm really not that crazy to want to take all the kids on trip that short with so much travelling involved.

Travelling with one kid is ridiculously easy, once you have been used to travelling with 2 or more by yourself. We sat and had breakfast at the airport and I managed to catch up on some good movies on the plane. Wonderful.

Once we arrived into Auckland the airport had lost my pram and it took them a good hour to find it. That was kind of annoying but I secretly hoped that they had lost it and they would buy me a replacement. The same pram got damaged on our flight from LA to Melbourne and I got a replacement then so I thought I might have a chance.

We got back to my sisters house and relaxed until my parents arrived from Palmy and then enjoyed a bbq dinner for Kevin's birthday.

The next morning we set out for the next leg of the trip driving up to Kerikeri. I've never been much further north than the Waiwera hot pools so it was pretty neat to see some more of the country. The trip took about 4 hours. We dumped our bags at the motel and got changed before driving another hour or so to the wedding venue....in the middle of nowhere. By now it was pouring with rain.

Can I just say that the last 5 weddings I have been to it has rained, including my own. What's with that? I hope it's good luck.

It was so nice to see everyone again! You really don't realise how much you miss people until you see them again. I wish it could have been so much longer. Everyone is growing up. My little Mei has gone off to uni in a different city! This is the kid who would follow me around like a little puppy and slept in my bed until she was almost 11 and too big to fit...and then she slept on the floor in my room. When did she grow up!

I digress. The wind knocked down the arch thing they had made to get married under. The boys tried to fix it before giving up and throwing to the side. Te Arai bawled his eyes out during his vows...fairly predictable. The food was good. The company wonderful and it was a beautiful night finished off with fireworks. I am really blessed to be a part of such a wonderful mixed up family that no one understands.

After a few teary goodbyes, we drove back to the motel and promptly fell into bed at about 1am. Up again at 8am to head back to Auckland. We stopped along the way and Orewa (I think that's where it was anyway) For fish n chips. BEST FISH I HAVE EVER HAD. Fish n chip in Australia are gross. Ammon had a paddle in the water. We spent a couple of hours at Ellies again before heading back to the airport at 4pm. It was so busy at the airport that the line for immigration was right out the doors and into the departure hall. It took close to 2 hours to get through, we only waited 5 mins before boarding though.

I got on the plane with no spare nappies because I couldnt justify spending more money on a pack of nappies when I had some at home. I figured I changed Ammon just before we boarded, the flight is only 4 hours and he had already pooped for the day so I should be right. Of course he thought it was a good time to poo mid flight. So what do you do? Empty the contents of the nappy into the toilet and try wash the nappy out as best you can. Put a paper hand-towel down as a liner in the nappy and put it back on. Then to disguise any smell that may be left liberally apply hand soap to the outside of the nappy before putting pants back on. He was fine we all survived.

We arrived home eventually at midnight, It was worth every minute.

I forgot my camera and my phone was flat so my photos are somewhat lacking.

Kevin may be almost 30 (well 26) but he is still a sooky golden boy who can get his mother to massage his feet. 

Ellie me and Mum 

Wedding cake made by Teri. She's made all our wedding cakes so pretty much an expert.

Alex and Arpege, it rained at their wedding too

Ammon's taken to flying just as good as his siblings

Breakfast with my cousins

Ammon and Nanny Teri

Nanny Mary and Ammon 

I told Pop not to let him get wet....