Christmas - New Year Lull...

It's that funny time of year where nothing is really happening, but so much is... Shops are closed that usually would be open and then there are others that are open that really suprise you... That week inbetween Christmas and New Year where things jsut seem to drift by in the waning excitement from Christmas onto the excitement and buildin tension in the wait for the next year to begin...

This is the lull, the little sparks of tension that I'm talking about.... Christmas excitement is widning down, but you know just around the corner is the new excitement of 2011 starting...

And 2011 is going to be a HUGE one for us!!! So many new things to experience, learn and so many more areas in which to grow and find ourselves :) This is the year we will find out feet and start making inroads into our lives in South Australia. This is a year of great positivity and energy... This is OUR YEAR!!!!!

Yes I'm excited for it to start.. I'm really excited to see this year pass and a new one start. I know in reality it's simply a date.. it's nothing major... but I'm allowing it to signify the change from our journey starting and ending to our growth and settling beginning :)

It's also the year (God willing) that we will finish our family :) Welcoming a new little one into our hearts and home :) We've already started looking at names and working out logistics etc... Our car will be enough for now, we have more than enough room in the house for another family let alone 1 more bubba LOL And we are getting onto our feet financially and emotionally to feel strong enough to have no fear about what a new one will bring in relation to any stresses on finances and emotions. We're ready for this to happen... we're strong enough for this little one to enter our lives and we're excited that they will be joining us in August :)
As I said, we've been looking into names... Our girls name we're set on - it was what Dommy was to be called - I might change the spelling back to the more original gaelic spelling - I think... I research all our childrens names to try and find the most authentic and original spellings and definitions... but I'm thinking I might swap a little on the spelling for our girls name - I think... I guess we'll see closer to the day and if we get to use a girls name!!!! Our boys name we kinda decided and settled on today... With so many boys and males on both sides of the family we're fast running out of options that will fit in with our boys names!! But we've found one and I love it!!! Now to see if I still love it in approximately 222 days time!!! LOL

Anyways, with this lull so many things have been going on and around in my head... So many thoughts and things to look forward to and excitement to try and reign in... I really feel positive about the changes and lessons we've learned in 2010 and can't wait for 2011 to roll around so we start a new year in our new home and can continue to put these lessons to good use and continue to move foward :)

Bring on 2011 - I can't wait!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

I trust everyone had a spectacular Christmas Season - whether you celebrate Christmas or not it truly is a magical time of year :) We had a different one this year being that it is our first year away from family back in Tasmania. We didn't have any traveling or commitments other than a chat on skype so we had a rather relaxing day - even all my stress about getting the Christmas lunch feast together and edible at the same time was for nothing as it all simply worked :)

It looks like we've started a new family tradition for Christmas Eve... We drove the full 5 minutes from our house to a local cherry farm and picked our own cherries to top our pavlova with. It was a great afternoon - all be it hot (the in town weather thermometer said it was 34*C!!!)

and before we knew it it was time to swap our family presents on Christmas Eve - we do this so the children aren't too overwhelmed by the big day when Santa comes and spoils them (if they've been good enough) Everyone went to bed happy and excited for our big Christmas day...

And Christmas morning arrives, children all up and out of bed oohhing and ahhing all before 5am **yawn** I remember the excitement of Christmas morning as a child myself and I love that they are sharing that little bit of magical anticipation themselves :)

and as I mentioned earlier, after a chat on skype to family it was time to eat!!! And well, I kinda prepared too much LOL But then isn't that the Christmas way?? Chicken, ham and turkey with veggies, finished off with pavlova chocolate log cake and icecream - where's the pudding?? Well even now it's still in the fridge LOL We forgot about it!!! ROFL

So I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to 2011 as much as I am. It's going to be a great year - I just know it!!! 2010 was our year for change and 2011 is the year for us to start afresh and make a new beginning and start moving forward :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011!!!!

Seasons Greetings!!!

I'm being politically correct LOL Sad eh that some people can be offended by the phrase Merry Christmas - but oh well ;)

This year has so far been one hell of a ride and as much as it's been painful at times I can look back and see how far we've come and how much we've grown, learned and accomplished :) It's really been the year of the Journey this 2010 - and it's going to be a little sad to see the end of it... With Christmas merely days away it's a time for us to look back and contemplate where we have come and where we are - It's a time to be making happy memories and remembering those that have came into (and in some sad cases left) our lives.

This year has brought many joys, some sadness and a lot of unexpected growing pains but I'm so glad it's been a year that we have experienced. It really has been a time of growth and re-assessing where and who we are - and it's a starting point for us.

The end of the year has also brought us immense joy as we celebrate the fact that we will be completing our family come August of 2011 - yes we're expecting a new bundle of joy!!! He/She is doing really well with a lot of monitoring to ensure that all is progressing well. I had another scan yesterday which confirmed we have a gorgeously beautiful heartbeat at around 150bpm and a little splodge around 7 weeks and 3 days in gestation. This has been unexpected news for some as no one knew we hadn't quite finished our family yet - but here we are, and we're overjoyed that after experiencing 2 late losses in the past 12 months that it looks like this little one is hanging on and determined to join us :)

So with great joy and happiness from our house to yours :) we really do wish you all the very best of this joyous season - many laughs, hugs and in some cases happy tears :)

Make the most of this beautiful time of year... be merry, be happy and above all be safe!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

From my happy (and growing) family
xxx Treens, Nathan, Aleksandir, Kahli, William, Domenik and *splodge* xxx

Tomorrow.....

tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow.... I love that song from Annie, and today I'm pretty much in a state where everything is hinging on tomorrow... Tomorrow our car is booked into vehicular hospital for repairs, tomorrow is my last payday before Christmas, tomorrow I have some more tests so I get a clearer picture on what is going on with me of late... so TOMORROW is a big day for me....

I'm praying everything will have a positive outcome - we will be back up and running with our car (the poor neglected things that hasn't been serviced etc since we moved over here **gasp**) I will get the final Christmas shopping completed and we will have happy children come Saturday and that all will be well with me and I have some definite answers!!!

So bring on tomorrow :)

It's only a day away......

Slap Cheek is in da house!!!

Of all the times to get sick the car chooses this week as does Dommy!!! The car is booked into hospital next Wed - until then we're going to be taking advantage of the gorgeous South Australian weather and walking a lot (hmmm it better stay gorgeous!!! LOL) as for Dommy - he has slap cheek :(

I thought he had an allergic reaction to some of the grasses that had shot up in the warm wet weather we've had of late, but it didn't go away... He developed a lacy kind of rash on his thighs and upper arms - it's looks like a mottled sunburn that blanches when pressed... Anyhoos, yesterday he came up with bright red cheeks - they've been red for a while, but I put it down to teething or not being well with the gastro we've all had... He's also had some funky stuff happening in his nappies so I knew he was not 100%... but after Dr googling and calling nurse on call (or whatever it's called here) it appears we definitely have a case of slap cheek... And with the car out of action and he no longer being contagious it's probably not worth the walk into town and the $60 to get it confirmed by a dr either - so wait it out as best we can and take lots of piccies to embarrass him with at a later day mwahahaha ahh evil aren't I LOL

Update re School Situation....

Well.... I didn't go to the school Monday morning. instead I rang the education department and asked their opinion on what to do from here. They agree with my gut feeling (that had been brewing all weekend) that going to the school would achieve nothing other than to get my blood pressure up - they hadn't taken duty of care with a long standing incident with Kahli so why would they with this situation when my children were not returning to the school??

So where do we go from here? I'm putting EVERYTHING in writing - from what Kahli has gone through to the fact the school refused to assist with getting my kids referred to the education provided psychologist (which I found out last week should have been done!!! grrr) and then to what Aleks endured on the last day of school.

The person I spoke to was disgusted themselves. There is nothing that can explain why my kids have been treated this way, and one can only assume that the school isn't used to parents wanting to be involved or standing up for their children! Regardless, my eldest two children have both been let down by the school, teachers, school counselor and principal who were meant to be there to keep them safe, not just physically but also emotionally as well. They have FAILED in their duty of care. And to top it off - the teacher that allowed the teasing and bullying of Kahli to continue was slated to be William's teacher next year!!!

So I have been writing drafts of the letter, I'm trying to keep emotions out of it and be factual as possible... it's not going to be a short letter, I will put in there about how Kahli's behaviour at times hasn't been the most exemplary - however this is still no excuse for what has been happening to her.

I doubt we'll hear anything more from the school. I will finish the letter of complaint asking for details of the outcome, but wont be holding my breath LOL. I'm so relieved that we took a stand though and have moved our kids to a new school.. It's a smaller school, they wont get lost in the system and hopefully will be more comfortable in a school that has zero tolerance to bullies and has a caring attitude towards their children - and a school that will let Aleks work at the level he needs to, not simply float along being accelerated through the classes to help boost their numbers, not because he is at the adequate level to move onto those classes!!! It's looking good for 2011, but I'm not wearing rose coloured glasses, it's going to be a tough start for the kids moving to another new school... but things are definitely looking better :)

Soz...

Sorry according to the song is the hardest word, but it's one I seem to be saying lately!!!

Mostly due to lack of action. I've been sick - sick enough to turn up to the doctors and now be at the beck and call of radiologists and pathology vampires... Oh it's nothing serious - it will all work out in the end, but for the moment I'm a human pincushion and have a diary full of appointments from last week and well into the new year!!!

Once everything is confirmed and we're well on the way to getting things sorted and settled I should be ok to share a little of what is happening, but at the moment I've been struggling but am starting to get back on top of my life ;) This week I intend on catching up with things, next week will be starting to move forward again and the week after will be celebrating Christmas and making beautiful memories (well we try to do that every day but Christmas is something that little bit more magical!!!!)

So I'm sorry again for lack of action, communication, scrapping, creativity etc etc etc... I promise I WILL be back creating, sharing and posting soon ;) I'm a work in progress and at the moment a lot of work behind the scene is going on to get things back running at full steam again :)

Disgusted

I feel sick to the core, absolutely disgusted and stomach churning ill for Aleksandir. Today was his last day at the school the children have been attending. I'm sure the world knows the issues we've had there with Kahli... Well Aleks also has been complaining frequently about bullying, teasing and the likes - I've witnessed it from kids from the school that also attend bowling but they know now I wont settle for it so it's stopped there. We know Aleks is different and can be very sensitive to social things and can't at times differentiate between good natures larking and nasty teasing so I've relied on the teachers etc to monitor this as they know his special quirks.

Anyways today being his last day at school and at that school in particular he came home with his shirt signed by kids whom were meant to be his friends.

Sounds normal right?

WRONG!!!

Seriously, I feel sooo awful for my boy... The words and names the wrote on the shirt are soul destroying!! He has walked around school all day with this shirt on - not being aware what his so called friends and class mates had written on his back... not knowing they were snickering behind his back and OMG I feel so destroyed for him!!!

To think that his teachers would have been aware what was on his shirt - it's pretty plain to see... that they didn't have the forethought to care enough to get him a shirt from the lost property and change it out - or to even call me... They let him wander around school with comments like "f@ggot" "kick me" "you suck" "f** you" "you have no balls f@g" These are just a few of the things other 11 and 12 year old so called friends have written on Aleksandirs shirt!!! Oh and there's more.. that's some of the ones off the top of my head - I feel like going into the principal of the school and show her just how much her teachers are looking after my childrens psychological welfare!!!

There are no words to describe how I feel at the moment.. I'm crossed between a fit of rage and indignation and falling into a heap of tears knowing that I allowed my children to enter this so called safe institution to be treated like this - there is no excuse for this - I DO hold the school responsible!!! They allowed him to wear these names, these words and this branding all day!!! Absolutely shameful MacDonald Park Primary School in Mount Gambier - totally and utterly shamefull!!!!

Yes a written complaint will be forwarded to the education department - enough is enough... I've reached my total limit!!!!!


PS: I've been offline a while due to gastro bug hitting us bad - never rains but it pours ;) LOL

P - Day :)

P as in PUDDING!!!!

Yesterday we completed making our Christmas puddings - the mix smelt yummy, as did the house whilst they were cooking away :) Only thing is that even after 6 hours happily bubbling away they still weren't cooked.. so today I pop them in the oven for a bit on low and that seems to be a bit more successful... Hmmmm I wonder if the heat and humidity whilst making them had something to do with that!?!?!?

Anyhoos... we have 3 puddings and 1 Christmas cake - all from the one mix!!! It made HEAPS!!!

so my...

December Daily - Dec 5

Pudding Day!!!! All 4 kids joined in to help complete the puddings we started the night before. The smell from the marinated fruit was divine - Christmas in a sniff!!!

We had 3 pudding bowls so the older 3 buttered one up each - Dommy helped breaking the eggs up to add to the mix and Kahli and William measured out the remaining dry ingredients (William wore them should I say!!!)

"Look mum, all buttered up!!!"

"yum yum"

They all had a ceremonious stirring of the Christmas pudding. i think I read ot somewhere that this is a traditional thing to do to for good luck into the following year or over Christmas... I'm not sure which one but will look it up ;)

Aleks the king of stirring!!!

Dommy loves being a "big boy" :)

Kahli had to fight Dommy to keep the bowl - he didn't want to give it up!!!

William finding it harder than he thought...
Now is there more flour in the bowl or on his face!?!?!?!?

And with the stirring done we filled the pudding bowls...




And covered them with baking paper and foil ready to boil....

Yuuuuumo!!!!

December Daily

December Daily - Dec 4

It was a HOT HOT day today!!! the thermometer apparently reached 36*C!!! We spent the morning doing a bit of scrafty Christmas wrapping and shopping with Vicki and then in the afternoon preparing our fruit for our Christmas Pudding!!!

We are using Grand-nans original recipe, but we had to convert all the measurements because it is in imperial (pound and ounces) not metric (kilos and grams).

Collecting (and sampling) the ingredients

After carefully measuring it all out, all the fruit came together in a bowl to be marinated in marmelade, orange and lemon juice and a full bottle of St Agnes Brandy - well the full bottle was only 150ml worth but full bottle sounded good :)

Hmmm Luckily this was BEFORE the brandy was added - naughty Aleks!!!!

Then once all mixed it was covered and left to marinate overnight :)


It's starting to smell a lot like Christmas already!!!! :)

A Scare....

Last night I had no sleep - well I didn't get to put my head to pillow properly until 5am! We had 2 boys down with what I believe to be a touch of heatstroke. Dommy was the worst - I really thought it was going to be a trip to hospital.

Just as I was heading to bed and locking up the house, all the usual end of day still I hear him start to cry. I asked Nathan to go re-dummy him thinking that he'd just lost his dummy and was stirring but it didn't work... Nathan brought him into our bedroom and I could tell instantly he wasn't well :( As much as he was crying he was limp. His eyes were rolling in the back of his head and he just didn't move apart from to cry... he was soooo hot, yet not sweating....

I didn't think it was that hot a night but he had spent an energetic day out shopping with me, playing with the kids in the shed and out in the sun... I heard someone say we hit 36*C yesterday - and I've no doubt about that.. it was a stinking hot day and very humid... a draining kind of day...

I was trying to comfort Dommy when he stopped making any noise, I thought the worst (strange how mums do that) and tried to get a response from him... I noticed that he seemed to be choking, he had vomited and hadn't cleared his airways so once we turned him over and cleared his airways he started to cry again although still limp and lethargic :( He still vomited a little bit more and I made him take a drink of water... I poured water over him, head back etc etc... It drenched our bed but I didn't care... He was soooo hot - the inside of his little palms were burning my fingers where he was holding on!!!

It took about 5 minutes of cooling with water and forcing him to take sips of water before he started to come around... Whether he was half asleep or not I can't be sure but he really gave me a good scare!!! when we decided he was alert enough to move him he refused to go to Nathan - he was a mummy's boy LOL so Nathan had to change the sheets hehehe

Once we re-settled, Dommy in with us so I could monitor him I heard William a the other end of the house start complaining.... he was feeling unwell, headaches and a cramped foot. I settled him but 5 minutes later (just as I was starting to doze off) I heard him running up the hallway... He was sick too... but he made the toilet in time - this time around!! William was up and down all night with headaches and vomiting :( We had a couple of accidents along the ways - just more washing to add to the pile LOL but he was much more responsive than Dommy and pro-active in re-hydrating (thank goodness!!!)

So today I sit at home, trying to keep the house cool - putting off finishing out Christmas Puddings until later in the afternoon and keeping an eye on my little boys... I've never seen them so sick like this before - and Dommy really had me worrying!!!! When I stop and think about what happened it seemed that their bodies simply didn't cool themselves down. Aleks and Kahli and we were ok, but the little ones (yes William is little - there's nothing to him!!!) bodies just didn't seem to kick in and cool themselves down when the temp reduced. We're going to have to start a routine of cool showers/baths in the evening to kick this process off - we are after all only just in the beginning of summer, it's going to get much hotter than this in the days, weeks, months ahead!!!

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, Dommy is his normal self today (along with some purple smudges under his eyes) he's super energetic and happy playing hide and see in an old packing box....



William hasn't pulled up so well, he's got headaches and listless today.... We're pumping him full of fluid and keeping an eye on him again...

Elf!!!!

This movie has become the kids tradition to watch every Christmas. They love it - and last night was no exception... Even though they're seen it time after time they still fall into fits of giggles over the character Wil Ferrel plays. I love the innocence of this movie - it really captures the Christmas spirit for me.. I know elves are not what Christmas is really about - but this movie helps inject a little bit of magic into something that has become so overcommercialised...

So onto my daily....


December Daily - Dec 3

Today the children watched their Christmas Movie - Elf. It was the first year that Dommy has really been into watching TV, and he was enthralled as much as his older siblings were.

All four rugrats watching 'Elf"

Kahli has taken it upon herself to be the official Christmas Countdown-er. She has been changing the days til Christmas on the santa chalkboard every morning :)

How many sleeps????

Thunderstruck!!!!

Well after a LOT of sunshine today it ended with a bang - literally!! The HUGEST thunderstorm we've ever seen!!! We apparently had 21mls of rain fall in 30 mins at one stage!!! And add to that our carport flooded as did the street outside - it turned into a mini river - had a current and all!!! I can certainly see how these flash floodings etc happen from time to time!! It's something that we have NEVER EVER experienced back in Tassie - we think it's flooded if there's a sheen of warer over the road - well not suite, but nothing to this extent ;)

Aleks wanted to go out and have a run in the rain - it was deafening under the verandah - he mustn't have heard me tell him not to go out in it....

but he found out he didn't like standing in the rain - he said it hurt!! It took all of 10 seconds for him to be drenched!!!

The street outside as the flooding began to build up - I was too chicken to be out there for long, the thunder was right on top of us at this stage - the street became fully flooded within a few minutes - you can just see that there is a flowing current even when it was this small!!!

December Daily - Dec 2

What did we do Christmasy?? Well we Santa Snowed our windows :) Kahli and William cleaned them down and the children all picked a window pane each to decorate with 3 different stencils. Domenik hasn't got a window - his job has been to see how high he can reach and try and destroy the older kids decorations - he's on a self imposed seek and destroy mission ROFL

William
Tree, Snowflake and "Merry Christmas"

Kahli
Santa, Wreath and Angel

Aleks

Holly, Christmas Star and Reindeer with sleigh

Whilst this was being organised the kids snuggled up whilst the thunder and lightening and heavy rain was happening and also watched Home Alone - they love this movie... I still don't understand how the parents can leave and not notice a child as annoying as Macaulay Culkin was missing LOL but I guess it's what the script writers said hey ;)

Hope everyone else is having a great introduction to summer (albeit wet) and starting to feel come Christmas Spirit!!!

December Daily

I wasn't sure if to put this here or in my scrappy blog... So will type here as blog entries and tabs in my craft blog... Hmmm yeah I think that's how it'sll work ;)

Anyways I'm going to attempt to do a December daily album for my kids to look back on and see how our new family traditions are being and were built. I'm going to be very technical here (NOT!) and say that it's from another website that this idea comes from and is lead by, but I've failed miserably with being prepared so will be working kinda backwards - as in journalling and putting memories in here to alter scrap into my album (which should already have been made grrr to me being sooo orgamanised of late - NOT hahaha

Sooooo

December 1...

We did the traditional setting up of the Christmas tree. Domenik has started his own tradition of demolishing said Christmas tree LOL He thinks the shiny baubles are 'ball' 'ball' LOL So he pulls them off and bowls them down the hallway as if he were 10 pin bowling LOL. As much as it's naughty and we chastise him it is very funny to hear him yell "ball" at the top of his lungs and then hear the rattle of a plastic bauble roll down on the tiles or floorboards.

This year we have had to change to all plastic/less breakable decorations due to the possibility of Dom turning them all into balls - coupled with tile floors ;) Maybe in a few years I can get my pretty glass ornaments out again... all in due time ;)

Now for some piccies!!!!

Domenik

William

Kahli

Aleks