Mulga Ridge

2011-05-02T14:40:00.001+10:00

This morning our house experienced a change in the shift of power. The earth seemed to tremble and the foundations of the house shook as Isaac, the third child who is usually delegated to the role of second-best-play-mate-you-have-to-play-what-we-decide realised he was the only one who still had Easter Eggs. His self-control in not scoffing his chocolate as fast as his brothers enabled him to experience, for one of the few times in his 5-year-life, the feeling of power. The feeling of having his brothers bow down to him.
I realised what it must have felt like for Joseph when his eleven brothers bowed down before him in Egypt, which Joseph had seen in a dream years earlier. Joseph went on to tell his brothers of his dream which led to him being sold to travelling slave traders. Years later Joseph finds himself in charge of the stores of grain during a famine in Egypt, second-in-charge to the Pharoah no less. His brothers arrive in Egypt seeking grain and bow down to the Egyptian in charge, not realising they are bowing down to their long-lost brother.
Hopefully Isaac’s brothers won’t see a need to sell him into slavery. I think his usefulness in enabling them to play games that require a second or third person, or him being the ‘go-ask-mum’ guy will keep him in good standing for many years to come. Although I don’t think his Easter Eggs will last as long. As soon as his older brothers realised the power had shifted, they tried to do everything they could to revert things back to normal. Despite Isaac being told he doesn’t have to reward their lack of self-control by sharing his last egg with them he has always had a kind heart. The balance of power will revert very shortly as Isaac is currently in the process of sharing his last egg with his brothers. His willingness to please others probably means he’d make a good politician. Yep, I can see him as second-in-charge to the Prime Minister.

Who?

2010-09-29T22:01:00.003+10:00

First update in months - a couple of recent pics incase you've forgotten what the boys look like:

Caleb and 'Jo-Jo' whom we found and took to a wildlife carer, much to Jacob's disgust.

Typical winter backyard campfire.

Caleb turned 2.

The boys and Dad made a bird feeder pulley thing. Too bad the birds won't go near it.

I'll be back soon.

The runner-up prize

2010-03-16T12:05:00.004+11:00

Yesterday we attended the final Little Athletics evening for the season, which was followed by the presentations. Our two little athletics were ecstatic (almost as ecstatic as mum and dad) to each take home an award:

Jeremy was awarded second place in his Under 6 boys group. Notice his ecstatic expression. He gets that from his father. He has been really enjoying Little A's and trying hard every week, so it was great to see his efforts rewarded. Isaac, who has been in the Tiny Tots group, received a medal. When he prayed that night before going to bed he prayed "and thank you for my steel...". After some head-scratching and puzzling it out, we realised that he had thought we were saying 'metal' and as his entire life has been one big house-building experience, in his four year old head he had received some steel!

Jacob hasn't been doing Little Athletics this season, but by the end of the night he had a different sort of trophy. First please note the following 'before' photo. He has recently lost his top two front teeth, the badge of honour for an almost-seven-year-old. This was taken about two days prior to the 'incident'.

This next photo was taken the morning after the Little A's presentation:

Jacob's 'trophy' was five stitches to the back of his head, after falling over and cutting his head. We have no idea how this happened and all he can tell us is he hit it on the concrete when he fell over. We couldn't tell exactly what he'd done because of the blood-matted hair, but after putting him in the shower to wash it off a bit it became apparent that a trip to the hospital would indeed be necessary. He was very brave and only cried during the administration of the anasthetic, at which i would have been screaming alot louder then he was. He was more concerned at how silly he thought he looked with his head all bandaged up, and if he'd still be able to show dad his latest recorder tunes. Needless to say this morning he proved he was fine by getting straight back into teasing his brothers.

Well that's the latest from our corner of the world. Tune in next week for the second episode in our Stitches mini-series, "The Removal".

Have a nice day!

Photos

2010-02-17T15:35:00.002+11:00

Why is it...

so hard

to get four pairs of eyes

looking in roughly the same direction

at once???

Aaaahhh, there they are!

Must be a boy thing

2010-02-02T17:28:00.005+11:00

The boys have never been ones for dress ups. At two, if you even showed Jacob some kind of mask, cloak or other dress up, he'd run screaming in the opposite direction, and his brothers seemed to be going the same way. Until now. Our trip to the Wall Memorial on New Years Day changed all that. Must be something about the big ships, aeroplanes, helicopters and canons. Whatever it was, they couldn't get enough of the dress ups...

Lest we forget.

2010 Update

2010-01-14T16:24:00.003+11:00

Welcome to 2010. Ten years since the millenium, and so much has happened since then.

Ten years ago I:

was not married
had no children
lived in Canberra
was 21 years old *sigh*
had a reasonable social life
had no idea what a babycino was
spent hours on the phone most nights talking to my husband-to-be (those who held Telstra shares back then would have loved us)
had been a Christian for 4 years
was attending an independent Bible believing church and helping out in some areas
worked in a Government Department (I lived in Canberra remember!)

Now, Ten Years Later I:

have been married for 9 years 11 months
have four children
live in a small town
live in our newly built own home
am 31 years old *gulp*
my social life consists of letting the kids stay up late and playing lego
know that babycino's allow you to have 15 minutes piece and quiet to talk with a friend (especially when they come with marshmallows on the side)
still boost Telstra's profits as my closest friends have come and gone and live a long long way away
have been a Christian 14 years
attend a Baptist Church being very involved
work as a wife and mother being paid with sloppy kisses and little arm hugs.

Would I change a thing???

Nope.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2009-12-22T22:43:00.002+11:00

I've been meaning to do a post about our nativity set and I figured I'd better do it before Christmas, as opposed to doing it after Christmas when I'm packing it away, which would be normal for me.

I'd been looking for a good Nativity Set for numerous years. I would see one that I quite liked, but it just didn't seem to be what I wanted and I hesitated to spend good money on something that only comes out once a year, unless it was something extra special.

About three years ago (I think) I came across a set all of a sudden (I wasn't actually looking for one at the time) and knew that this was the one. So I arranged to purchase one then and there, and it took quite a few months for it to arrive, but it was well worth the wait.

The background story is that the nativity set was made by Christian Women in Poland, who sew the figures to support their families. Each piece was hand-sewn by a different woman. The nativity sets are a ministry of the Elim Christian Centre in Poland.

Please realise that my poor photography skills won't really do the set justice, it's a thousand times better in real life. Also please ignore the fire place in the background, I was too lazy to crop the photos down (and lack of time).

Here is the first photo of the complete set...

The figures are filled with rice (or sand) and this is done by the recipient (to make postage much cheaper). Even with my pathetic sewing skills I was able to put in some rice and sew the tiny hole together. The rice (or sand) means that each figure can be slightly posed, to lean forward or backward, however you like. This comes in handy when using them to illustrate the Christmas Story, as the shephards can lean back to look up at the angel or lean forward to worship Jesus. Here is a closer photo of Joseph, Mary, the manger and the sheep. Notice the cute donkey in the background. (I realise that the Bible does not actually say there were animals present, but a nativity set wouldn't be complete without them).

My favourite are the Wise Men and the Camels. To avoid confusion I'm considering placing the Wise Men and Camels in a seperate room of the house, or at least at the other end of the room, so they can be travelling to see the Saviour, rather then appearing to be present at His birth. Here is a photo of the Wise Men with the Camels...

The boys adore moving them around and playing with them. They are fairly child friendly, although Caleb is banned from touching them unless someone is with him!!

The final photo is of one of the shepherds (there are two). I forgot to take photos of the angel, which is placed on top of the fire place. But that will give you something to look forward to seeing next year!

Matthew 1:21

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

I'm an artist with an unusual canvas

2009-12-16T14:26:00.002+11:00

It's not just me who is a sucker for punishment is it? Is there anyone else out there that always volunteers for things that seem really great at the time, then the day arrives and you wonder how you got yourself into this??!!

Well I volunteered to do the free face painting at the Carols by Candlelight last weekend.

Yes I know.

But I've done it before, a few years ago helping out a friend who was the sucker that volunteered that time, so I was fairly organised and knew what was involved. Or so I thought.

See, the last few times we did it for an hour or so, overlapping slightly with the carols while finishing off a few kids, then leisurely sat back and enjoyed the carols. Not this year. We face-painted for 2 and a half hours straight.

Fortunately for me I roped in two other suckers, so there were three of us, painting kid after kid after kid. People were packing up after the carols, and we were still there painting faces (or arms, or cheeks or hands). I was using my flashing-santa-heads headband for light in the end. Is this green? Or blue? Oh who cares, it's too dark for the kid to tell and he's going to go home and wash it off in ten minutes before going to bed anyway.

Here's a photo of me painting a red-back spider. I thought this one turned out pretty cool, in a comical, cutesy kind of way. Don't look at my hair, I haven't decided if I'm allowing my hair to go darker as it keeps trying to, or if I'm going back to blonde.

Overall, it went really well. We got all the kids done, and they all seemed happy enough. Probably the happiness was helped along with the free Freddo's we were handing out.

(A big THANK YOU to the two other suckers I roped into doing it with me - are we on for next year???!!)

The boys got into the act aswell, which is really strange because up to now they've been scared of face painting and wouldn't go near anyone who had their face painted. They've suddenly matured in that area, as these photo's will show you...

Isaac had the Christmas theme happening...

Jacob's was pretty cool, although it's wearing off in these pictures. It was about 11pm when we got home...

Just in case you can't tell, it's a dinosaur that opens it's mouth when Jacob opens his. Cool hey!

Jeremy had a half-mask spiderman face, but he was in the shower already when these photo's were taken.

Recent Events

2009-11-18T13:48:00.003+11:00

Happy Birthday Isaac!!!!

He was SO excited to be turning four, the boys had been counting down dark sleeps from about 20 dark sleeps to go. On the morning of his birthday he said "Mummy, am I four NOW? .... Good, because I feel four."

We had a nice relaxing day, then had the requested Pizza (homemade) for dinner, followed by 'clock' cake, which of course pointed to Four O'Clock. Caleb might need some instructions in cake etiquette....

It's amazing how they just know how to do that!!??

On a different topic, we've been spending every Monday afternoon down at the oval, with Jeremy and Isaac doing Little A's this season. (Why must it be held over Summer, why why???). They are both loving Little Athletics and are so enthusiastic....

I realise the above photo of the high jump is blurry, but that's what happens when daddy is trying to take a photo and Caleb is trying to get the camera at the same time.

I just love this photo of Isaac, ready to run... We had a discussion previously about being ready to race, instead of looking up at the clouds, fiddling with your shoes, etc. The next discussion will be on focussing on the finishing line instead of looking around at all the other runners or slowing down to wave to mummy. :)

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Return of the Dirt Magnet.

2009-10-28T15:13:00.008+11:00

We've had some great rain here over the last few days, but its meant the boys, especially Caleb, have been cooped up inside the house a little more then usual. Today was the day they had to be released, as the boy-energy inside the house was reaching unsafe levels.

Preparing for the worst, they were all packed up into old clothes and boots. This time it took Caleb five minutes to reach the point of no return. He's slipping.

Oh look mama, i've got some dirt on my hand.

Amazingly, he didn't cry at all when he fell flat on his face in a puddle. He just had a bit of a taste of the water dripping into his mouth, then resumed the business of exploring the world around him.

I could hear my washing machine groaning inside the house.

Do you think I'll need to give him a bath? Or can I just get away with a change of clothes, a quick swipe of a washer, and then the carpet will take care of the rest when he's wrestling his brothers?

Contrary to what you may have thought from the last couple of posts, there are 3 other boys living in our house. Isaac got in on the act too, but he's not as close to the ground as he used to be. He won't need a bath. Yet.

Jacob always stays clean no matter what he plays in. Here he is amongst the oats which we really carefully grew around the compost pile. This was after he played in the mud. He's the total opposite to Caleb. He's a dirt resistor.

Jeremy's the smart one. He stayed in the house.

I don't know how much longer my washing machine can take it.

2009-10-16T13:45:00.002+11:00

After putting the boys outside to play this morning I went back inside to get their hats. I was gone for no more then, say, 3 minutes when I returned to find this:

In case you didn't get it the first time, here he is again a few minutes later:

There must be some kind of record I can claim - it took Caleb no more then 3 minutes to cover himself from head to toe in dirt. What is it with boys and dirt? Growing up with three sisters, I can't remember a time any of us got this dirty. Even my tomboy sister, who loved getting dirty, chewing bones and wanted to be a daddy when she grew up (but that's another story) didn't get this dirty. Of course it may also have to do with the fact that we grew up in England, where the grass was a wee bit greener then it is out here. We also didn't have a pile of dirt sitting in the back yard just asking to be climbed up and slid on (which, incase you're wondering, is the topsoil for our future lawn).

A few minutes later he was off and running amongst the burrs, attracting more dust with each step:

Surely there must be a limit to the amount of dust the clothes can hold. Maybe I should give the washing machine a break and try the Dyson.

Ahh, my little Dirt Magnet. What is it they say? A little dirt never hurt. I wouldn't have you any other way. :)

ps: it's not a black eye, just more dirt.

2009-10-07T14:21:00.001+11:00

Slowly getting back to a new normal

2009-10-07T13:34:00.004+11:00

We're on the tail end of being in moving mode - it's been about a month, but we've been chaotically busy with more then just moving. More on those happenings in future posts, but for now here are some pot shots of our new normal...

Caleb had the first shower in the new house:

The ~~lounge~~ Lego room:

Making cookies on the kitchen counter:

The walk-in pantry and it's most frequent visitor:

First brekky after moving in:

Getting ready for the first dark sleep in the new house:

Guess what?

2009-08-21T15:33:00.005+10:00

We're moving.

:)

Birthdays

2009-08-07T10:27:00.003+10:00

The boys chose and decorated a cake for my birthday. PVT assembled the actual cake, but the boys did all the decorating by themselves, including all the icing. PVT is the cake decorator in our house, as evidenced here and here, so it seems they're following in his footsteps! If only I can figure out how to get them really excited about cooking dinner, they can do that each night too!

Update and Sewing

2009-07-22T16:18:00.003+10:00

We've been away for a couple of weeks, here's the report and some other tidbits:

we went on a fantastic Lake Dinner Cruise for my dad's 60th
we took the boys up the 'rocket' tower in Canberra (Telstra Tower). Isaac was a bit worried it was going to take off.
we bought a Dyson vaacuum cleaner (I've been coveting one for a while so this is exciting news)
four out of six of us got sick. It could have been the swine flu?!?!
we scraped and then painted the ceiling of a bedroom, whilst sick
the boys spent hours collecting snails
we were able to meet up with 2 friends who live far far away, seeing both for a very brief period of time (but definately worth it!)
Isaac has learnt to write his name
Caleb is learning to run and is becoming book-obsessed
Jem is probably going to end up in the Guiness Book of Records for building then breaking up then building the same Lego Kit over and over again
Jacob has begun adding numbers in the down-the-page format, which takes me back to my childhood.
PVT is building the steps up to the verandah at our new house

The boys made some cards for my dad for his 60th birthday, using basic sewing. They turned out pretty cool:

Jacob's:

Jeremy's:

Isaac's:

Birthday Season has begun

2009-06-30T13:41:00.003+10:00

Every family has a 'birthday season' part of the year, and for us it has well and truly begun, starting with Jem turning 5:

The boys get to request the cake they want from their third birthday onwards and for unknown reasons Jeremy wanted the shoe cake. It's possible he chose the cake according to the number of lollies shown on the picture in the book. But PVT did a brilliant job, yet again. This is possibly one of his best cakes yet:

Birthdays are alot of fun when you're five. :)

Here's a picture of the carpet, to prove things are progressing in the house:

The new wrestle mat has arrived.

2009-06-23T11:26:00.002+10:00

When the carpet guy came and laid all the underlay, it sure didn't take long for it to become a wrestling mat...

Stay tuned for pictures of The New Carpet.

Nothing. Absolutely Nothing.

2009-06-14T20:26:00.003+10:00

I've got absolutely nothing to say. The only reason I'm posting is that it's been two weeks since I last posted, which is getting a bit on the slack side. But really, this is a post about Nothing, since I have Nothing to post about. (name that tv show).

That's not to say we are doing nothing. We are too busy to be doing nothing, although doing nothing looks pretty good somedays - you know the days when you want to just curl up in bed and do nothing. I've had some of them lately. But four kids plus homeschooling plus housebuilding equals no time to do nothing.

I could discuss the weather. We've had a fair amount of decent rain lately, but that would be pretty lame discussing the weather on my blog. Especially seeing as when it comes to rain in these here parts, our annual average rainfall amounts to not much more then nothing anyways.

Nothing much has happened on our house. Nothing much worth posting about anyway. The fireplace is being put in by PVT as I type. The carpet is hopefully arriving tomorrow. I've been having visions of the wrong carpet being put in, so the plan is to rush out tomorrow to check it's the one we ordered. We had trouble deciding which carpet to choose, but then we pretty much had trouble choosing stuff every step of the way. Like the kitchen benchtops, the tiles, the paint etc. We're pretty good at procrastinating. The carpet colour we eventually chose is called 'bran'. A nice healthy choice.

There is really only one thing to post about that isn't nothing, and I still get heart palpatations thinking of it. After three years of house building, and three years where we have been very blessed with no major accidents, we had a major/minor accident last weekend involving the youngest member of our family. Without going into too many details, Caleb managed to drink a tin of turps, which had a paint brush in it being cleaned of enamel paint. So he managed to drink some turps mixed with enamel paint. Fortunately he hasn't yet mastered drinking from a cup so he spilt most of it down his front. Also fortunately was the fact that our paramedic friend arrived for dinner two minutes later. To cut a long story short, he's totally fine. He spent a fair bit of time that evening hiccuping and burping, and has a bad case of what looks like sunburn on his tummy where it got onto his skin, which is now peeling. He was over the whole experince the next morning, whereas I'm still recovering from the shock. So I guess that's not really nothing, but thankfully it turned out to be nothing.

This is where I post a cute picture of Caleb to prove he's okay after his experience (which turned out to be nothing) but I haven't got the camera here at the moment, so you'll have to wait till next time. Until then you can just look at nothing.

From zero to one

2009-05-26T14:43:00.006+10:00

Happy Birthday Caleb!

One year has passed since little wingnut came into the world. A birthday is always an exciting thing in our house and the boys have been counting down to Caleb's first birthday for quite a while, with the big day finally arriving yesterday.

I'm not sure which brother was the most excited, but they all ensured Caleb had a great time. He quickly got the hang of taking the paper off the presents, insisting on tearing one tiny piece at a time, which he would then pass to his big brother...

He took the job of opening his presents very seriously, giving it a great effort...

We made him a number 1 cake. Do you think he liked it?...

Some things about Caleb at the age of 1:

he is walking more then crawling (toddling being the correct word for it)
he is determined to be a part of what his brothers are doing
he loves to read books and turns pages with his cute little fingers
he still looks like a wingnut, but of course a very cute one
he loves his bath and will play for ages in the water
he loves being outside
he's not afraid to face up to his brothers and tell them off
he can climb on all the furniture
he loves his dummy, and mummy cuddles
he is very determined and persistant

There isn't a cuter one-year-old out there. :)

Good or Bad

2009-05-20T15:56:00.005+10:00

If you come to our place this week you'd better watch out.

You might get caught in the trap:

And if you do, we'll know you're a 'baddie', coz it's a 'baddie' trap. The chairs will fall on you and the 'bomb's' (flower pots and bricks) will go off. The broom will prevent you from escaping, if the flower pot's didn't finish you off.

Dad got caught. ;)

Time flies when you're having fun. And when you're not.

2009-05-20T15:37:00.003+10:00

It's only taken 3 years to get to this point.

It's still not finished yet, but the house has taken a huge leap forward towards being Finished. Right now as I type there is an expert sanding and polishing our wooden floorboards, making them fit to live on. It's one part of the building process that we knew we be fools to attempt ourselves. Unless of course it would be trendy to have grooves and dips in the floorboards, then we could have attempted it. In that case we could have gotten the boys on the job.

In approximately 3 days time the floors will be available for light traffic (read - No Boys). It's amazing how exciting it is to reach this stage. When PVT gets home from work each day we rush out to the house to see what's been done that day. I think it's even more exciting when it's something that we haven't had to do ourselves. Cay-Cay seems to approve of the current change to the floorboards:

The big task of moving has begun, with boxes of books starting to be packed up in readiness. The boys saw me loading up boxes and requested a box of their own each to pack their treasures in (in case they get left behind or 'accidently' end up in the Vinnies pile). We headed to the supermarket and picked up said boxes, with the requirement that the boys had to carry their own boxes home. That wasn't a problem for the boys as they quickly found the easiest way was to carry them on their head. Over their heads may be a better description. But the boxes made it home and were filled almost immediately with an assortment of stuff that is important to a 3 year old boy. I haven't informed them yet that they will be in charge of packing ALL their toys into boxes. I think a few more trips to the supermarket will be in order.

Up, up and away

2009-05-12T14:55:00.009+10:00

It's happening:

Yep, he's upright.

With 5 other people to keep up with and to encourage him, it's not surprising that CRT is our youngest walker, taking his first steps at 11 months. His brothers were all 13 months. At 11 months he is certainly shaping up to be the most ~~mule headed, stubborn~~ persistant and determined of the four.

Whilst being a tiny bit sad at how fast his babyhood is slipping away, it's always exciting to have them learning new skills, and learning to walk does bring a certain pleasant freedom from things such as having to carry a bag, wallet, keys, drinks, jumpers, nappies AND a baby to the car.

I'm going to take bragging rights here (it's my blog, so I'm allowed) to point out the unusual way in which he's learnt to walk. All our other rascals learnt to stand by pulling themselves up against a chair or other obstacle, then let it go to balance. Once they had the balance down pat they'd attempt a step or two. Not so Caleb. He learnt to stand by going straight upright from a sitting position. When at a recent wedding he got up over and over and over again, determined to stand straight, and finally doing so. Pretty much as soon as he was upright he began to take a step and throw himself forward. He is extremely persistent and very determined. Surely that makes him a potential genius too, right?!!

He's currently taking up to 5 or so steps without falling, so we're taking bets as to whether he'll be totally upright by his first birthday in 2 weeks time. If his brothers have anything to do with it, he will be. :)

Mixed Feelings

2009-05-04T15:12:00.003+10:00

Today I am:

Happy that J & J are both zooming along in their reading
Delighted that CRT is starting to take steps
Enjoying watching Jake, Jem and Icac put together some Lego designs to enter into the Cobar Show
Excited to be able to take the boys to the Cobar Show this week
Sad that our Guinea Pig died last Thursday (RIP Buzz)
Concerned about the lack of sympathy from our children when we discovered Buzz had died. They were more interested in examining his ‘cute little teeth’ and ‘cute little legs’ then having a funeral for him
Annoyed that the cold going through our family has moved to CRT and is still with me
Enthusiastic about our upcoming school term
Grateful for good friends I can talk to on the phone
Ecstatic that my house is clean
Thrilled that we’ve almost finished painting the kilometres of architraves at our new house
Thankful for family, friends, good health and life in general.

(photo taken by Jacob)

Family Friday

2009-05-01T11:30:00.002+10:00

I don't think I've ever put a family photo on here before, so here's a recent one from our trip away...

That's all for today!

Is a holiday with 4 kids really a holiday?

2009-04-29T10:31:00.005+10:00

Now that we are well and truly back from our holiday (a week ago), the bags are all unpacked, the 8 (seriously. 8.) loads of washing arising out of the holiday are a thing of the past, the house is in some semblence of order and the ~~parents~~ children seem to have caught up on their sleep, it is time to update The Blog.

So we set off for Ballarat, the actual purpose being for a wedding and then a bit of a holiday, seeing as we have never been to that area before. We were told by the groom it would take only about 8 hours or so, but of course with kids it took us 10 and a half to arrive in Ballarat. After planning to leave Cobar by about 8am, we actually left at the extremely early hour of 10:30am, and those of you who know us will understand. On the way we stopped briefly at Hillston where we managed to get a rare picture of our four rascals all looking the same way:

If you are wondering what on earth they are sitting on, it's the neck of a wooden dinosaur. I know you are all dying to take your kids to see the dilapidated wooden dinosaur in the hidden away park at Hillston, so next time you're passing through that way email me for directions.

We then crossed the Hay plains, in which there is nothing to see other then the occasional powerline (and the really cool exact straight line of pylons that seem to disappear over the edge of the earth). It is an area of NSW that we actually love and would have happily settled somewhere there, if God hadn't had other ideas for us in the closed-in scrub of Cobar. There is just something about the open space, the blue sky and yellow dried grass (which is very sparse), and the, the, well, the nothingness. See what I mean:

That photo was actually taken when we stopped all of a sudden because our second born son had something black all over his face and coming out of his mouth, which turned out to be the black ink from the pen he had been sucking on. At almost 5 he still puts everything in his mouth.

So we arrived at Ballarat ab0ut 9pm that night, just before the caravan park office closed. Phew. We enjoyed a lovely wedding the next day:

and then Saturday headed to Sovereign Hill , which we would highly recommend, despite the fairly steep entry fee. We had planned our day to fit in most of the various activites, so did heaps of things such as: take a Cobb&Co Coach Ride, see a pantomime (oh no we didn't, oh yes we did), pan for gold, do an underground gold mine tour, see various displays such as a musket firing, tin plate making and a gold bar pour, and heaps of other things that there are to do and see. The boys of course had a ball, although Jacob was determined to find gold and was most disappointed when he didn't. We were told by the locals that they do actually top up the creek with gold flecks occasionally, so it is possible to find gold. But we didn't. Probably has something to do with patience, or lack thereof.

Here's some pics of the boys panning for gold, and then seeing gold in the underground tour:

We also took the boys to some of the playing parks in Ballarat, and they put the NSW parks to shame. Both the parks we went to were a kind of wooden fort, full of cool things for little boys to run on, in, under, over and through. I loved this one with some wooden soldiers, and an Isaac:

On our last day in that area, we took the train in to Melbourne. The boys loved the train so much they are saying it was the best part of the trip. If I'd realised that we could have saved our money from Sovereign Hill and just ridden the train back and forth all day. I've never been to Melbourne before, and PVT ages ago, so it was interesting to go and walk around, take a tram ride and see another city ~~that was just like all the other cities we've been to~~ in all it's glory.

Here's the proof that we went:

For those of you who are educated, you'll know that is Flinder's St Station (bit of trivia: this is one of the stations on the Australian version of Monopoly, my favourite game), and a Melbourne tram (the free one). The photo was taken outside St Paul's Anglican Cathedral.

On the trip home we went via the Garden of St Erth (if you are a keen gardener you'll know what that is) and then headed back across the Hay plains arriving home about 11pm. Tired is not the word. But yes, a holiday with four kids is still a holiday. When can we go again??!!

Calebab

2009-04-14T15:25:00.008+10:00

Caleb is getting bigger.

Who me?

I know that will come as a surprise to all of you.

We thought about the putting-a-brick-on-his-head trick to stop him growing and we thought about not feeding him, but then we realised that as he grows he's actually getting cuter. Each week he seems to add some new trick to his repertoire. Last week he learnt to say 'please' in sign language. This week if you tell him to say 'mum' he says 'dad dad dad dad dad dad ' and laughs very cheekily. If we sing 'clap, clap, clap your hands, clap your hands together' he laughs and claps. So we figured we'd let him grow a bit more. Who are we to interfere with the development of cuteness?

He is, of course, the cleverest and cutest 10 month old in the world.

There comes a time when the baby cuteness starts to fade and an obnoxious, yet still adventurous, boy begins to emerge. When that time comes you get things like this happening:

or this:

But while it lasts we'll just dwell on this...

Ramblings

2009-04-06T14:48:00.006+10:00

Time goes on. We've been super busy lately, preparing the house for the floor-board polisher to come. Unfortunately we had to put him off for a bit longer, so current moving date is early to mid May. Hopefully we'll be in before CRT's first birthday (yep, the year has gone that quick).

I realise I've been remiss in putting up a proper photo of PVT's latest cake creation. JP's birthday cake this year was a robot. I thought he'd be hard going to surpass the last birthday's rocket cake, but he did pretty well....

Talking about JP, he now has two loose front teeth. When we mentioned in passing over a year ago that teeth fall out, he was in denial. Who can blame him really, it seems like he's only just gotten all his teeth and now they're going to fall out??!! He was a bit concerned about the two loose ones once he discovered them, but since hearing that they are worth money he cheered up considerably. They are taking their time in actually coming out. Our helpful suggestions of things like tying a string around the teeth and the other end to a door handle, then slamming the door, have not been accepted. He keeps eating apples in the hope that it will help them to dislodge, and in the meantime we get regular updates as to how much more they can move or swivel this way and that. There is something funny about the fact that JP will be growing teeth at the same time as his baby brother. Maybe they can share a teething ring.

The other highlight of my extroadinarily exciting week has been a long-awaited for happening that I knew would one day occur since I gave birth to the first of four boys. Everyone knows that it is common for little boys to put sticks and stones and the like into their pockets, and for the said sticks and stones to come out in the wash. Well this week it happened to me for the first time. Upon placing a load of washing into the machine, strange noises started to come from the direction of the laundry. When taking out the clean washing a while later I also collected a handful of rocks from inside the machine. They were, of course, ICAC's 'gold rocks', which he had been busily mining on the weekend. He was most happy to get them back, and very pleased that mummy had cleaned them for him.

Don't blink, you'll miss it

2009-03-25T15:46:00.006+11:00

When I was one I was just begun,

When I was two I was nearly new,

When I was three I was hardly me,

When I was four I was not much more,

When I was five I was just alive,

But now I'm six I'm as clever as clever,

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

(A A Milne)

How did this happen?

From this...

to this...

I must have blinked.

2009-03-10T14:55:00.006+11:00

Our new puppies are being loved to death.

I mean, look at this:

That's a pretty serious puppy hug. Can you get more 'loved' than that?

Look Stamper, LOOK at the camera!

JP has always been a bit bossy. I'm pretty sure it comes with being the oldest. They're supposed to be bossy.

I can't help but notice the similarities between the first photo and this one:

I wonder if ICAC realises his brother has two legs, not four? It's amazing Caleb has made it to 9 months. :)

2009-03-03T20:05:00.005+11:00

We have to make our own fun out here in the sticks.

Fun here often takes the form of dinner moulded to be something. Usually it's a volcano, or a racing car. They're the beginners models.

To make these 'dinner models', it's handy to have some good ol' bangers and mash, which here in Australia is known more simply as sausages, or snags, and mashed potato. You can make anything out of sausages and mashed potato. Sometimes a few peas help. Oh, and a good imagination.

Look! I made a snail! The cheese is grass. Just pretend it's green.

The mashed potato is orange because it has other vegetables mashed in. It also helps to make the snail look a lot more authentic.

Apparently you can't eat snails with your fork.

The boys eat better when they have an object to eat, rather then just boring old food. I'll totally keep using the same Jedi mind trick for as long as it works. Even then, i'll probably keep using it because it also gives PVT a smile, and besides, I have to use something as my creative outlet.

We have to make our own fun out here in the sticks.

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

2009-02-27T10:31:00.005+11:00

What makes a boy do 'boy things'?

I'm currently reading a book about boys (James Dobson, Bringing Up Boys) and although I'm only in the second chapter it's already made me think about, well, boys.

In particular, it made me think about all the boy things that my boys do, or have done. Of course I'm a very generous person so let me share the things that my boys do or seem to think that make them *boys*:

every moveable object is a projectile

chooks 'enjoy' going down the slide

playdough is edible

dirty is a better state to be in then clean

playing with cars always ends up as 'demolition derby'

playing with dirt is good, lying in dirt while playing is better

'clothes' should be an option rather then a necessity

every stick is a gun, or a club
every item above knee height is a platform to leap from
Daddy knows everything, especially more then Mummy

Daddy is Superman

Quiet? what's that?

Sleep? what?

any physical boundary, such as a fence, is a climbing frame

anyone lying on the floor wants to wrestle

any body of water is fair game, including puddles, dog bowls and guinea pig water droppers

skin is better then paper for drawing

brothers make soft landings

What are little boys made of?

2009-02-25T21:10:00.012+11:00

I'm so glad I have boys.

Thanks to my boys, I now know the life cycle of a snail.

Of course, I realise now that my life was never complete without this information. Did you know that snails are neither male nor female? Each snail possesses both male and female reproductive organs, but they still need to find another snail to mate with, to exchange bodily fluids.

Try explaining that to a 3 year old.

Jeremy:

I've decided however that collecting snails is a very worthwhile activity. Not only do my boys learn about snails, but they are happily occupied for hours on end. Pull up a patch of ground, especially in Sydney after it's been raining, hand them a bucket, and leave them to it.

Your mother-in-law may however return at regular intervals to see your oldest boy allowing the snails to crawl up his arm. Your MIL may also have to allow your oldest boy to ring up daddy to cry over the phone about his brother stepping on his snail, and to ask if the shell will grow back.

I think whoever coined the rhyme that little boys are made of slugs and snails and puppy dog tails knew what they were talking about.

Isaac

2009-02-10T21:56:00.004+11:00

As the mother of four small boys I often get comments when I'm out and about with them. These range from the 'you're crazy' type to the 'wow, i had four boys too' type. The comment that pops up the most however is '~~what good little angels'~~ "how do you do it?". By 'it' I assume people mean how do I look after 4 small boys and stay sane. Well, let me share my secret here - i'm really not sane at all. Totally insane infact. Just ask my husband (who's currently standing behind me nodding). Just ask my 4 small boys.

Okay, really, I'm going to share a few of my tips here of how I look after 4 small boys and keep my sanity. There's nothing super about any of these tips, it's just what works for us, and no doubt these will change and evolve in the future anyway. Here we go:

Tip #1 I stay home. DH and I agreed from day one that when we had kids, i'd stay home to look after them. For me this means I can just enjoy being with my kids. I see everything they do, love to watch them grow, and so this of course means that most of their bad habits are learnt from me. It also helps to have the best DH in the whole world who is a great father and supportive husband.

Tip #2 I keep a sense of humour. I love the saying 'don't sweat the petty things'. Spilt ~~poo~~ milk? It's easily fixed, or teach them to wipe it up. They're fighting? Make them sit holding hands for 5 minutes. Be creative in dealing with issues. These things happen, teach yourself to not stress about the little things.

Tip #3 I don't under-estimate the ability of my kids. Kids LOVE to help around the house when they are young, so let them, and teach them. A 2 year old can help mummy dust, match socks together, help load the washing machine, set the table etc. It doesn't have to be perfect!

Tip #4 If you have to go somewhere, getting them out of the house is the first step. Mothers with a few small children will totally understand this one. If you have to go out, the time it takes to put on 4 pairs of shoes, clean 4 faces, ensure 4 small bodies are adequately dressed, get your nappy bag/water bottles/snacks/car keys/wallet, etc, together and get them all INTO the car (before #3 wets his pants) makes you wonder if you really need to go out. I learnt after boy#3 that if I just get them out the door into the back yard 5 or 10 minutes before we have to leave, it makes the actual leaving much easier, and means I can spend that 5 or 10 minutes getting myself organised. BUT don't forget to give them strict instructions to NOT go into the sandpit or near any water!!

Tip #5 Keep it simple. I'm not into complicated. In fact, i'm into simple. VERY simple. Forget designer sneakers or boots with tie up laces. Forget overalls that they can't undo themselves. Think gum boots, think thongs (as in shoes), think velcro. Snaps are better then buttons. Elastic waist shorts with no buttons or snaps are better. A 2 year old can learn quite quickly to put on gum boots. But it doesn't match his outfit I hear you say? He's 2. I don't think he cares.

Tip #6 To save on dressing time, I usually lay my kids' clothes out for them to put on. I often make 'undie' men. Stay with me on this one - lay out their pants, then shirt above the pants like a person, then put their undies as the 'head'. The leg holes look like eyes if you lay them flat. Trust me, it makes a dull job interesting. The boys dress themselves from the pile of clothes, or from the undie men, and then come to me for any help they need (#3 can't quite pull his shirt over his head). #3 may have also attended church a few times with his shorts backwards, but hey, I don't think God cares. *Warning* Undie men may frighten very small boys, and then you'll have to show them that it's not real, it's just their undies pretending to be a head.

Tip#7 If you keep their hair pretty short you can just about get away without brushing it until they are old enough to do it themselves. (Did I just admit to that?!) It also makes washing hair a very easy job.

Tip #8 Learn to read the signs. If you send the kids outside to play before they start jumping on the furniture and running up and down the hallway, your house will stay cleaner and you will stay saner.

Tip #9 Spend time playing with them. What's more important - a clean kitchen or content kids? Well I guess it depends on who's coming over! But seriously, if you spend time doing things with your kids, they'll play much better by themselves which will allow you time to clean that kitchen. Besides, it's fun. What would you rather be doing, building a Lego Air Traffic Control Tower or washing dishes??

Tip #10 Don't underestimate the power of the playpen. Playpen means sanity. Playpen means baby is safe while you shower/clean or play lego. Playpen means that baby/toddler learns to play by themselves, instead of always being entertained by older siblings. Playpen breeds concentration and focusing skills. All my kids love/ed the playpen. It didn't stifle their creativity. Repeat after me "the playpen is my friend". When they outgrow the playpen, move to 'room time'. Individual play, time to themselves, is important for kids. They'll play a lot better with their siblings if they have time to play by themselves.

Tip #11 Rest time is a good time. Don't feel guilty about feeling happy when you put all your small boys to bed and you have some 'me' time. I love putting my baby to bed, but I also love it when he wakes up - and he's so happy when he's well rested. All my boys have a rest time - older kids can read quietly on their beds. Rest time is good.

Tip #12 Finally, my last tip for tonight (I need my rest time too) is probably the most important. To stay sane whilst looking after my four boys, I love their dad. Work on your marriage relationship. Honour, respect and love your husband like the Bible calls us to, and it's much more likely that he'll love you and support you as you need him to. The benefits are endless for this one, for every member of the family.

That's it for tonight. No doubt I'll think of more, better tips later. But for now, it's good night from me, and good night from them...

(yep, that's A. BREAD. ROLL. they're having for lunch. Hey, they're wholemeal. And they had an apple afterwards. Repeat after me: Keep It Simple.)

Updates

2009-02-04T14:32:00.004+11:00

We have 'officially' begun homeschooling. Although we've been teaching JP and JA for a while, JP is now officially registered as he turns 6 this year. I'll update with various snippets as we go, but so far so good.

Things are slowly getting back to normal, with PVT back at work now. We are hoping to move in about a month or so, but knowing us it'll be two months!!

We've been having a few late afternoon/evening thunderstorms lately, although it hasn't made a dint in the temperature which just keeps rising. We're thankful for air conditioning :). I took a couple of photo's of one of the storms the other week, the cloud formations were amazing. The photo's weren't too bad, here's a couple...

And some updates of the boys:

Busy, busy, busy.

2009-01-30T16:06:00.004+11:00

No time to post lately, we've been far too busy building for anything else! Life should get back to normal next week when PVT is back at work, but for now here's what's been going on...

We love Uncle Steve

2009-01-09T14:14:00.003+11:00

Jacob and Jeremy spent an extra week in Canberra after the rest of us came home.

The grandparents suggested it a while ago, to give us some extra time to build the house (I think they are keener then we are for us to move in!). The idea took a little getting used to for me - the boys are after all only 5 and 4, and they still need their mummy. Hopefully when they are 25 and 24 they'll still need their mummy. Paul was keen on the idea from the start - not that he wouldn't miss them, but as he has the ability to think removed from his emotions, he saw straight away how good it would be for them, and for him to be able to work on the house without being distracted every 10 minutes to help them make mud bricks, or bang in some nails, or build them a car out of scrap wood (now you can understand why the house is taking so long to build!!).

So anyway, the boys stayed an extra week and we came home. We didn't really get that much extra done on the house, but we did manage to have some nice quality time with Isaac, who was totally lost without his brothers. He'd wander around the house a bit, get the lego out, build a few things, put the lego away, *sigh*. He was happy when they came home.

And the boys had a great time in Canberra. They were taken here, there and everywhere by their grandparents and aunts, got to play with their mummy's and aunty's old lego, and played on Uncle Steve's Wii. They LOVE Uncle Steve. But then he's so much fun...

Who wouldn't love Uncle Steve??!!

Who stole 2008???

2009-01-01T20:33:00.005+11:00

I have to apologise for not sending out Christmas Cards this year. I usually do enjoy sending out a yearly update of our family, but 2008 just seemed to slip away. Paul's theory is that the older you get, the faster the years seem to go because they are a smaller proportion of your life. So when you are one, it's a long time between birthdays because one year is 100% of your life, right?? Stay with me here. But when you are, say, 30, then 1 year is 3% of your life, if I did my maths correctly, so it goes really fast. Are you with me? It sounds good anyway.

2008 at a glance:

Caleb arrived 25th May, our fourth boy. Praise God for another healthy happy baby boy.
The house progressed a fair bit, with the internal WALLS going up, woo hoo!!, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
A nice family wedding in April with Paul's sister getting married, where we got to catch up with some family and friends.
A nice 'calmer' year of the Youth Group and Awana Kids Club including a great trip to Lake Burrendong in November.
Jacob began Little Atheletics in October. After a few initial hiccups he really enjoyed the last session before Christmas - restarts February.

2009 at a glance (so far):

hopefully we'll move into our house within a month or two (February is the current estimate, yes - February 2009!)
Jacob and Jeremy are currently doing swimming lessons
Jacob will officially start home schooling
Jeremy will also start home schooling, unofficially, as he is keener then Jacob!

We had a really nice Christmas and a quiet New Year - J&J stayed in Canberra an extra 5 days by themselves. The Grandparents are now recovering, and I's is delighted to have them home.

And finally, just in case you were wondering, yes Caleb at seven months is still so cute...

2008-12-08T14:48:00.004+11:00

Our local pool has been revamped. As we live so close to the pool, the boys have been watching the progress eagerly - they are of course experts at building already so have watched with interest.

A few months back the new pool 'toys' arrived. We could see them pretty easily from the road so each time we drove past the boys would scream "TOYS!!!". They would then immediately turn their attention to the other side of the road where a motel is being built and would scream "MOTEL!!!". They have been watching the progress of the motel and trying to work out how come the motel will be well and truly finished before we move into our house, even though we started to build 2 years before the motel began. Thank goodness the pool is finished otherwise we'd be having to drive a different route to our block to save our ears. Is there such a thing as industrial deafness for mothers??

So now the 'toys' are ready to go, the boys are pretty happy to be able to go for a swim and have checked out the pool twice already. They are booked in for swimming lessons in January so there should be just enough time to have a few sessions at the pool before lessons start. They've done a pretty good job on the revamp, check out the new little kids pool and the cool 'toys' in the background...

Someone else is pretty happy that they have brought back the diving board...

He's like a kid at Christmas...

The boys like to take a break when they get too cold and watch daddy on the diving board...

Can't blame them, I like to watch him too ;)

But somebody else wasn't too impressed that he didn't get to taste the water that day...

"it's too cold for you" doesn't mean much to a 6 month old.

2008-12-05T13:58:00.002+11:00

I'm too tired to write anything today so here's just some photos (let me hear you say aaahhhh)...

2008-12-01T14:02:00.005+11:00

It happened. I knew it would eventually, I just didn't know when, or which child it would be. But Isaac took out the grand prize last night when he stuck a piece of lego up his nose. I'll repeat that in case you didn't quite get it the first time. Isaac stuck a piece of lego up his nose.

I realise it happens to every child or family at some time or another. Personally, I never felt the urge to see if some inanimate object would fit up my nostril. But my sister Tory stuck some foam up there which my mum had to pull out with tweezers - obviously a very delicate operation (especially with 3 sisters laughing hysterically in the background). It wasn't so bad in her case as the foam kind of softened the impact the tweezers could have made. And my oldest sister had to be taken to the doctor for a bead to be removed from her ear. Not that I remember that but it's one of the family stories that get brought up every now and again.

As far I as know, Paul never stuck anything up his nose, but he made up for it by eating things. Legend has it that he swallowed a coin or some such similar small item and when taken to the doctor for an x-ray the doctor was more concerned about all the other nuts and bolts they discovered already inside his stomach. And he reckons Jeremy gets his dirt-eating habits from my side of the family.

Anyway, so last night Isaac, for some reason only understood by other 3 year olds, decided to see if a piece of lego would fit up his nostril. Oh yes, it did fit. Then he tried to get it out all by himself, only suceeding to push it further up.

Our first knowledge of the incident was "mummy, please get it out". As Paul and I were busily building rockets and space shuttle's out of lego at the time, it took a few moments for us to realise what he meant. There was lego up his nose. After an initial consultation it was determined that although we could see the lego, we couldn't reach it and tweezers were way to risky for such a delicate part of the anatomy. We tried to get him to blow his nose, but hey, he's only 3 and hasn't got a great handle on that yet.

After a phone call to a paramedic friend for advice (because you never know, there may be a trick to removing lego from a 3 year old's nose that we hadn't come across before) we realised a visit to the hospital would be in order, most likely along with having to hold down a screaming child or even knocking him out in order to remove the lego. With little hope we held one side of his nose and advised him one last time to "blow big like a rocket taking off" and fortunately out flew the piece of lego. Jacob's comment was "wow Isaac that came out fast like a bullet".

He's fine now.

PS: I realise this is not a cute photo of my child. It was taken a few days after his hair cut, out bush on a day he got no sleep, filthy dirty from playing in the dust, and yes, his nose is running. I figure this photo will help illustrate the above story, and not every photo is cute, nice and "aaahhh". This is reality. This is a photo of a child that would stick lego up his nose.

2008-11-27T14:37:00.004+11:00

I sit here with the baby behind me playing on the floor, exercising his vocal chords with his nether-regions exposed to the air. (He loves that). Caleb turned six months old this week, and so I decided I’d do a ‘snapshot in time’ thing of what he’s like, so you can see he’s just as cute as we keep telling you.

1. Wingnut. That’s his nickname, because his ears stick out just a little. When he grows a bit more hair we’ll probably have to rethink the name.

2. Cay. That’s what the boys call him. Jacob and Jeremy call Isaac, “I”. So now we have an I, two J’s, and a K.

3. He’s a stickybeak. He has to be in on all the action, and forget feeding him with other things going on in the room, because it ain’t gonna happen.

4. He stares at things, particularly Paul. Then he breaks out into a huge grin when Paul looks at him.

5. He grabs at things. When he manages to grab it hard enough to grasp it, he of course brings it straight to his mouth for a drool session.

6. If he can’t grab something, he bangs on it. Thumps it with his hand.

7. He’s just starting to get noisy. He was a very quiet baby until recently. We referred to him as a mime a few times, because he’d open his mouth wide to laugh but no sound would come out. Maybe we just couldn’t hear him over the three other muppets. But he’s discovering his voice and how much fun it is to add it to the commotion already happening around him.

8. He loves his dummy. He grabs it himself and shoves it in his mouth. He’s so clever. :D

9. He loves the jolly jumper, and he still loves his bouncer which he bounces himself by kicking his legs.

10. He’s just started solids and screws his face up each time the food gets into his mouth.

11. He can be a real cranky bear when he wants to be. And he still has the newborn 'woe is me' cry - complete with poochy lip just to make sure he gets his point across.

12. He can roll over a few different ways, but mostly from his back to his tummy. He doesn't bother to roll any other way because his brothers will do it all for him.

Happy half birthday Cay Cay!!

2008-11-25T14:36:00.004+11:00

Hey Deda*, you can sit back and relax now. We don't need you to come out and help us build the house anymore, Jeremy's got it covered...

*Deda = what the boys call Paul's dad, who is providing the expertise to build the house!

Ponderings

2008-11-19T20:36:00.003+11:00

Do you remember this...?

If you somehow managed to miss it, check it here.

Well, now there are three boys doing this. *sigh*

Not all at once, fortunately. But I'm sure it won't take them too long to work out there are four sticky-outy-prongy things on our washing line.

And Jacob has worked out he can crash land onto the trampoline.

*sigh*

Birthdays and Babies

2008-11-17T12:07:00.004+11:00

We've had a birthday in the house. The eagerly awaited 3rd birthday of Isaac finally arrived after having to wait a whole year. I'm sure once he's over 21 he'll be trying to figure out how to make them come slower, not quicker! Anyway, we now again have a 5, 4, and 3 year old, and of course a 0 year old. Speaking of whom, how cute is he??!!:

Anyway, back to the birthday. Daddy really outdid himself with the cake. Isaac had chosen his 3rd birthday cake as a 'rocket' cake (chosen since the day after his 2nd birthday), and despite some last minute manipulating by his oldest brother to convince him that a dump truck cake would be better he stuck fast to the rocket idea. Daddy worked hard to defy gravity with this one and the result was pretty cool. Fortunately the 3 year old thought so too. :)

Here's the birthday boy opening one of his presents...

Jacob now knows that his birthday is next (after Christmas of course) and has already worked out his birthday cakes up until he's about 18. He just has to work out how many 'dark' sleeps till his birthday!!

I'll leave you with one more photo. Did I mention how cute he is?... :P

2008-11-13T14:11:00.004+11:00

A few belated photos from the wedding we attended back in October (was that really a month ago???)...

The Bride and Groom:
A close up (aahhhh):

The Bride and Bridesmaid:

The entertainment at the reception:

And the boys finally understanding what we mean by "ocean" (I think this was Isaac's first time to the beach!!)...

2008-10-21T12:47:00.003+11:00

I have a good excuse for not posting recently - we've been away. I haven't just been totally slack and ignored my blog (as would normally be the case). I ended up being away for just over 2 weeks in total, and even though with modern technology I could have posted on my blog from absolutely anywhere, obviously I didn't.

I'll post about the trip in parts, as there were many aspects to it. On the way down we stayed in Dubbo for one night with the wonderful Clarke family and then continued to Sydney the next day. That day was one that will forever be etched into Jacobs memory as the day one of his lifelong dreams came true: we did a couple of laps of a V8 Supercar Race Track. Those of you who know my children will understand that there was no way we could pass through Bathurst without taking time to do a couple of runs on the Mt Panorama race track. This was the week before the Big Race was on. Jacob and Jeremy were of course beside themselves that they were on an actual V8 Supercar track and Jacob kept asking me, totally seriously, if he could drive. Isaac, unfortunately for him, slept through the whole thing. I didn't wake him up because as is usually the case he fell asleep 10 minutes prior to arriving in Bathurst.

As we were driving away Jacob repeatedly stated that he was going to be a V8 Supercar driver when he grew up, and he was certain that Daddy would want to be one too.

We couldn't of course leave without getting a photo or two...

2008-09-18T08:55:00.007+10:00

So, Louth...

For the fourth year in a row I set off north-west to Louth for a weekend of Scrapping, this time with a special guest.. Caleb! As I'm still feeding him he wasn't an optional extra, just a requirement!

We stayed at Trilby, which is fantastic and highly recommended for an outback getaway. If I could figure out how to link the words to show you I would - oh, hang on, it's not that hard after all so I have done it!! (I'm cleverer then I think sometimes!). Gabie does a fantastic job at organising and I take along my little shop so there are some goodies available.

Once again it was a memorable weekend. Always an adventure, we had every type of weather possible other then snow, and all types of bugs dropped in for a visit. Thursday it was warm but quite nice, Friday was very hot and Caleb who has been wrapped warmly since his birth in May suddenly found himself in a short-sleeve-no-legs all-in-one as it was so hot. Saturday we had a dust storm, followed by a massive but fairly short-lived thunderstorm with rain, and hail, in the evening. The first year we went to Louth we had to drive back home through thick yucky mud on the dirt roads, so I was getting a bit anxious about the drive home on Sunday, by myself (Caleb isn't much good if you get bogged), with no phone as Paul's doesn't work from Louth to Cobar, even though Telstra swear Next G is better then the CDMA system, it's NOT TRUE, Paul's phone worked there before they changed. I digress.

Where was I, oh yes the weather (I must have a pretty lame life if I'm talking about the weather on my blog). Anyway, come Sunday morning at 6:30am we awoke to overcast and more rain seemed to be coming in so all us Cobar girls just left. You've would never have seen anyone pack up as quick as we did! And despite all that the rain didn't last long and there wasn't a drop on the Cobar road, it was just the first section of the trip. Typical!

Despite all the fun weather stuff we did have a great weekend including a cool 'pink' themed dinner on Saturday night and a 'pamper' session. There was heaps of scrapping done despite the interesting conditions and I reckon Jillian gets 'die-hard scrapper of the year' award. Besides having a baby and running the shop I managed to get a few layouts done, see some of them below. And yes, Caleb was very well behaved for a 3.5 month old but I think he found scrapping very tiring as he conked out when we got home and slept for ages.

Next year will be the fifth annual Louth Scrapbooking Retreat. The dates will be Thursday 10th September to Sunday 13th, 2009. If you want a memorable experience come along for the weekend - you've never truly lived until you've been to the Louth Retreat and experienced the flies, the bugs, the heat, and been able to write your name in the dust coating your layout. Keep watching this space for further information.

2008-09-16T21:04:00.007+10:00

We went up to Aunty Rachel's house last weekend so that Jacob could show off his new skill on Uncle Rob's bike track...

As I was admiring his balance and coordination (he's got more then his mother!) I got a bit distracted taking photo's of this...

How cute are they??!!!

2008-09-15T21:13:00.004+10:00

I'm catching up on posting here. I've just had another memorable Scrapping weekend in Louth but will get to posting about that later. Look what we found two weeks ago...

Can't see it properly? Have a bit of a closer look...

The boys had a great time examining him/her (how do you tell??!!). They decided to call him Uncle Andrew - don't ask, I have no idea why although they did suggest that name for Caleb when he was born). They made a little house for him next to a puddle which he seemed quite happy in, though he did try to escape a couple of times (I'd be a bit worried with three little boys staring at me, wouldn't you??!!). He ended up disappearing into the bush at some stage when the boys weren't looking - they can actually crawl pretty fast. The boys followed his 'tracks' for a while but couldn't find him. We aren't too worried about him though as we have found a turtle on our place before and the neighbours have a ground tank that he'll probably make his way to. The boys were a bit disappointed in losing their 'pet' but I'm sure he's better off wherever he is!

2008-08-24T14:22:00.003+10:00

Please don't feed the animals...

relax, he's not really locked in there! We moved the chooks and the boys chose to have their morning tea in the old cage...

And taken recently...

That's it for now.

2008-08-13T13:34:00.004+10:00

I was just checking a friend's blog and was noticing that it had been a WHOLE MONTH since she last posted (tut tut). Then I thought I'd better check how long it had been since I had posted (only about two weeks ago, surely!) and it was almost a WHOLE MONTH!! (tut, tut, tut). Where do the days go??

Well, some of my days this past week have been spent painting. We went to Dubbo and bought all the paint for our house and thus purchased ourselves a lot of work. Paul has decided that since he has built the house so far, it's up to me to 'decorate' it - with the paint. Seeing as he is colour blind it was also up to me to choose the colours. After doing numerous sample pots I have chosen Dulux's Angora Blue in a half tone for the bedrooms - a nice pale blue. When I called Paul in to check out the sample I had done he told me that to him it looked pink. Hmmm, maybe I should paint the bedrooms for our four BOYS in pink!! Or maybe I'm the one that is colour blind and the paint really IS pink!! I'd better go ask Jacob what he sees, but that probably wouldn't help much as when we were in the paint shop looking for colours he told me he wanted his room painted "army" meaning of course, camoflage. It'll probably take a couple of months to paint the rooms, seeing as when you paint in conjunction with looking after four boys and feeding one of them every 3 hours, you start and stop alot. Is there anyone out there with some basic painting skills who would like a working holiday to Cobar?? Food and board supplied!

My parents were up this week for two nights. The boys loved seeing them and made some drawings to give them as they walked in the door. Their pictures are so cute at the moment - apart from the ones that Jeremy decides to 'bomb' by scribbling them out. (At least with Jacob's he draws the actual plane with the missiles coming off it so you can still see the plane at the end!). It was also nice to have my parents come as they saw Caleb when he was just born and can see how much he has grown. Talking of which...

Caleb is 11 weeks in that photo. Time does fly.

Finally, here are the 3 boys watching the Olympics out bush (notice the army clothes)...

Have a great week (or month!).

2008-07-17T11:31:00.003+10:00

Yay! We have walls going up in our new house!! Everyone has been telling us what a difference the walls will make, and it's true. The rooms look bigger then what we imagined and it looks more like a 'house' now. If only we could move in tomorrow! We'll start painting soon. Here is a photo of the boys watching the plasterers:

and Caleb watching the plasterers:

Paul is having a "casual" week at work, seeing that he has to go to the block regularly to see the action, so I'm having a "casual" week at home. Not much cleaning is being done other then the basics :) - a lot of time is being spent on Dulux's "My Colour" visual interactive website to get an idea of paint colours. The boys are fascinated by the walls and have quickly decided that it is more fun to be able to hide in all the new rooms that have appeared then to be able to walk through the walls! I don't know if I'm allowed to put on photo's of the plasterers in action so here a boring photo of some of the new walls...

Jacob's new trick

2008-07-03T13:52:00.005+10:00

Yesterday as I went outside I spied a few items of clothing on the ground, somehow having pulled themselves off the washing line. Hmmm. I had a few words with the boys about it and left it at that.

This morning I look outside the kitchen door to check what the boys were up to and I discovered how my washing had found it's way onto the ground (note that today he was being very careful to make sure the washing stayed on the line!).....

I'm not sure how long my washing line can put up with this kind of abuse. ;)

2008-06-17T14:42:00.002+10:00

Some new photos of Caleb, 3 weeks old already...

2008-06-10T15:09:00.003+10:00

All is quiet in the Theakston household most mornings as Paul takes the 3 older boys out to the block to work on the house, leaving mum and bub to sleep in peace. Caleb is settling in pretty well, though he has already caught a cold (we think off Isaac - already!) and so is battling a snuffly nose. It's a tough world when you are 2 weeks old and struggling to suck milk and breathe at the same time :( we had some bad nights but it seems to be getting better slowly.

The boys are constantly asking where Caleb is (usual reply: in bed asleep). They are constantly in his face when he is awake - they are literally smothering him with love. I wonder if they'll feel the same way when he is crawling around and getting into their things!

We had a nice short but sweet visit from Aunty Ninny and Mr. Jake on the long weekend. The boys loved having them and were most disappointed to wake up and find they had gone (they had to leave early in the morning). Isaac pointed at the mattress Aunty Ninny had slept on and asked "where him gone?".

We are getting some rain here - I think most places are at the moment - and the boys are enjoying the wet weather and have a new dimension of play with the leaves that have blown down on the back patio - I can feel an autumn scrap layout coming :) The plumber (whom we've been waiting about 6 weeks for) is meant to be out working on the house today, so we should start seeing some progress again! Jacob is keen to move into the house and so has been very diligent in helping Paul with doing jobs at the house, such as digging trenches. There's nothing like a session of digging with dad to help little boys build character!!

Introducing Caleb...

2008-06-03T19:57:00.003+10:00

It's about time we got some photo's up of the newest member of our family. Caleb is already 9 days old and just adorable (of course!). He arrived on Sunday 25th May in Dubbo, 2 days early, weighing 8 pounds 10 (3.9kg). His brothers adore him - they are constantly asking where he is and if they can hold him. Being one of four girls myself, it's amazing how the tables have turned and we now have four boys!! We love it!

2008-05-02T13:37:00.003+10:00

A quieter couple of weeks (thankfully!). There's been plenty to do though what with washing baby clothes and preparing for the new arrival (less then 4 weeks to go!).

The Cobar Show was 2 weekends ago and a lot of fun. The boys enjoyed everything, especially the dodgems, fireworks and chooks. Paul went on the dodgems EIGHT times, partly because he loves them and partly because you are not allowed on them at 35 weeks pregnant, so Paul had to take each of the boys (more then once of course!). Isaac surprisingly wanted to go on the ponies and he loved it enough that Jacob was brave enough to go on one after he watched Isaac. Jacob is now walking around saying he wants a dog "this big" and a horse "this big" (he motions biggish dog and small horse). A couple of the photos are below, which aren't great but you get the idea...

It seems lately as though the boys are competing to see who can be the most helpful. They are now helping with numerous household chores which mum is loving and which will be very useful when the new baby arrives. The following photo is the most recent job they have learnt to help with (we have to work on the folding though)...

2008-04-12T15:06:00.003+10:00

The house is quiet again - literally. Paul has taken the 3 boys out to the bush this morning, so the house is very quiet - especially after all the visitors have left and Rachel has moved out. Paul and the boys should be back by now so I reckon they've discovered V8 Supercars is on and are watching it on the old tv we have out on the block. :D

We had a great time with the family when they were here for the wedding. Paul's brother and his family stayed a bit longer and it has been so nice seeing all the kids play together, without too many squabbles! Actually, for having 6 kids under 7 in the house I thought is went pretty smoothly!

Some of the photo's taken...

Grandparents with most of the grandchildren!

Siblings & partners

Isaac and Michael - cousins

Isaac

Cousins - Joshua, Nicole, Michael, Jacob, Jeremy, Isaac.

2008-04-09T14:50:00.005+10:00

As promised - photos of the event of the year in Cobar. :) More to come later...

Quick Update

2008-04-02T14:41:00.002+11:00

The event of the year is approaching fast with only 2 days to go to Rachel and Rob's wedding (Paul's sister) which is being held on Saturday 5th April 2008. Everything seems to be under control and we will be inundated with family and friends arriving to attend the big occasion - none of them are staying at our home until AFTER the wedding however as there is just no room until Rachel moves out!

There are no new developments in the area of house building. We are awaiting a plumber. It's been about a month now so if anyone out there is a licensed plumber and would like a job in Cobar, let us know!

The boys are oblivious to the goings on of the approaching wedding, but I'm sure once everyone starts arriving and dropping by they'll realise something big is happening. I'll post some photos after the event.

2008-03-21T18:08:00.003+11:00

Yes, Jacob is now 5. He had a great day, loving each and every one of the presents that he opened. Dad and Mum had heaps of fun playing with the new lego too. :D Jeremy and Isaac enjoyed it just as much - they helped open some presents and also helped to eat the edible ones! The cake was a big hit, made by Paul. Photos are below as promised...

2008-03-15T14:46:00.004+11:00

Have you met Buzz?

We've had Buzz almost a year now and amazingly he seems to be thriving. The boys love playing with him but it doesn't happen all that often as they haven't gotten the hang of picking him up by themselves yet. We are also wary of them opening the cage by themselves as our 5 chooks seem to take an unhealthy interest in him. Jacob is great at feeding and looking after him though. We need to get him a friend, and would love to make him a 'proper' cage. Jacob wanted to call him Lightening McQueen when we got him, but Buzz is what stuck.

Jacob turns 5 in a few days. The boys have been looking through birthday cake books for the past week and have lined up all the cakes they want for all their birthdays - the list will probably last up until they are about 30!! After much consideration Jacob has requested a Race-Track cake and has picked out which matchbox cars he wants to put on it and where they'll go. We have secretly gone out and bought a V8 Supercar Matchbox Car to put on it - he has been fascinated by these for a while and will be so excited to get one. He was also asked what he wants to have for dinner on his birthday and has requested Tacos. I'll post pictures after the event!

2008-02-25T12:59:00.000+11:00

Life goes on, it's February already and March is less then a week away. On Saturday we had a Scrap Day, which was a nice day spent chatting and getting some scrapping done. I haven't scanned the layouts yet but they'll come later. Paul's been flat out busy between work/house building/kids club/youth group and preparing a sermon.

The boys have been car obsessed worse then normal. Yes, they've ALWAYS been car obsesssed, but lately it seems every play situation turns into something to do with cars. For example, if we get the lego out they build garages and petrol stations for their cars. If we have the blocks they build cities for the cars to drive through. Army men and aeroplanes mean the cars get bombed. Teddy bears ride in cars, books are the ones ABOUT cars, and if they go outside to play they drive the cars around the table or make roads in the dirt. We've borrowed an old tv for the boys to watch when we are out house building - if we go for the full day it keeps them occupied for quite a while and we get heaps more done. On the Scrap Day Paul had them out house building all day and lo and behold the V8 Supercars were on. When Sarah came home from Scrapping the cars were lined up in perfect V8 Supercar Race start formation. In the afternoon they played outside being V8 Supercars and 'driving' round and round the paths in the back yard, occasionally 'crashing' on the lawn! The other day Jacob asked "when I am big like Daddy will I still be able to play with my cars?". We pointed out that Daddy still has and occasionally plays with the boys with some of his cars from when he was little, and Jacob seemed satisfied.

We're back into Kids Club and Youth Group, and we held a successful Slip n Slide night for the first Youth Group. Jacob and Jeremy have definately grown more confident since the last Slip n Slide we had. Back then they watched the big kids and only went on before and after by themselves. This time they lined up and took their turn along with the big kids. Photo of them below:

2008-01-31T18:18:00.000+11:00

I never was much good at keeping a diary.

The Christmas/School holidays seem to have gone on forever (a good thing). Cobar schools go back next week, so we are still on a break from all the usual activities such as kids club, youth group etc.

Paul has had January off to work on the house with some good progress being made. We've also had some great rain lately which creates a whole new dimension of play for the boys, who are attracted to the water like magnets! I've also been scrapping a bit, see the results below...

Paul, Jacob and Isaac.

Jacob and Jeremy at the Newey.

One of my recent layouts...

2008-01-08T13:37:00.001+11:00

I know I've been slack in not updating over the busy Christmas period (but hey, all my cards were out on time!).

We had a relaxing Christmas and so far a hectic New Year. Guess what they got for Christmas (among other things) ...

Isaac is winning.

They've barely taken these off since they got them (ignore sooky la la in the back ground!).

We three kings. Or three Wise boys??

2007-12-10T22:01:00.000+11:00

Christmas has descended upon the Theakston household - today we put up our Christmas tree and decorations. We went out to our block yesterday to select a suitable tree and got sidetracked collecting tadpoles. Alas no photos were taken of Paul and Sarah wading through the thick mud scooping up the unsuspecting creatures. The boys are delighted with their new 'pets' which are currently settled in the farthest corner of the yard - lets see how long they last before they are taken back to where they came from! And lets see how delighted the boys actually are when and if they do make it to the frog stage!! I'll keep you posted.

We also had attempt number one at the Christmas photo shoot today. Attempt number two will take place in the near future. Today, despite being bribed with smarties, Isaac was not playing. You can tell from Jacob's smile that HE was keen for the smarties!

2007-11-23T15:18:00.000+11:00

Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink! Yep, it's been raining in Cobar - lots! The boys have enjoyed splashing in the puddles and playing in the shallow ground tank on our block. We're loving the rain and hope it continues a bit more. 'Not a drop to drink' because Paul has been working flat out (around his normal job) to get the rain water tanks connected to our house. Another full day's work and they'll be operational (hopefully!).

Isaac turned 2 a couple of weeks ago, it seems like he's grown up over night. He speaks pretty well for his age and is parroting everything we say. His favourite words are 'Nope' 'Yeah' and 'Rachoo' (aunty Rachel) in that order. He doesn't address his brothers seperately but refers to them as one entity: 'baa' (brothers). He is very independant and walks all over his second oldest brother (Jeremy) although he's finding it a bit harder to put one over Jacob so they are becoming partners in crime!

The pictures below are Jeremy and then Jacob out on our block, then Isaac on his birthday. :)

2007-10-31T13:07:00.001+11:00

The weekend was spent in Canberra for Tory's 21st (sarah's sister). Not much to add to that but here are some of the photos...

2007-10-18T14:26:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since I've posted - I'm trying not to get too far behind but time flies. It's all still happening out at the house - Paul's dad is still here but is going home on the weekend. A sneak preview of what they've been up to, with proper photos to come after the weekend...

The boys and I have been going out there on and off to both help and hinder. I'm informed that when we leave Paul and his dad find that tools have mysteriously disappeared, glue containers have been emptied out, and numerous nails have been hammered into pieces of wood. Not to mention the drawing of 'daddy' we found on the floor in one of the bedrooms (carpet will cover it fortunately). Paul and Deda do seem to enjoy the ice-creams we often take out to them however...

Finally, we thought it would stop with Jacob but it appears to run in the family. Isaac has now also become obsessed with lining up his toy cars - and yes, they also must all face the same way...

2007-09-28T13:27:00.001+10:00

We've progressed from washing up to cake making. Isaac that is. He helped make a pretty good mud cake the other day and did a great job at cleaning up the bowl afterwards too!

Paul's dad is now out helping to build the house, so we should see a lot of movement in that area over the next four weeks. Although the other day the digging was put on hold whilst Paul helped clear out a cubby for the boys to play around. Seeing as it's snake season you can't be too careful. Their 'house' was a lot quicker to set up then ours!

2007-09-19T14:39:00.000+10:00

The boys have been doing 'jobs' around the house for a long time, but mostly in the form of non-destructive activities such as dusting, clearing the table, etc. Yesterday morning they wanted to do jobs, but 'washing up' jobs. They've been eyeing the bubbly water for a while now and itching to get their hands into it. So I gave them a chair each, set them going, then left the room! They did a pretty good job for a 3 and 4 year old - no breakages and I only had to redo one saucepan!

Isaac has always slept on top of his blankets rather then under - most nights we play a game of putting the blanket over him then coming back an hour later to find him on top of it, so we add another one which he ends up on top off. Usually in the morning he is on top of a mountain of blankets. Yesterday for his day sleep I went to check on him and found him sleeping like this...

And finally, as promised here is one of the layouts I did at Louth. Will upload some more later!

The Outback Scrapping Experience

2007-09-17T15:48:00.000+10:00

Just got home yesterday from the Louth Scrapbooking Retreat, held at Trilby Station. I spent four days with a group of ladies and almost the only thing we have in common is scrapping. It was a fantastic weekend. The fewer numbers meant we got to know each other better and we had heaps of time to scrap. I completed 10 layouts and 3 OTP's - i haven't taken pics yet but will post them here when i do.

We had minimal sleep and ate far too much thanks to Liz's (owner of Trilby) wonderful cooking. The weather was typical drought weather - hot, dry and dusty, but we had cooler nights.

Like last year we scrapped in the woolshed and so had to blow the dust off our layouts regularly and keep our rulers handy for swiping at the moths at night time. We had a couple of incidents with spiders and goats, but it's all part of the Outback Scrapping Experience and I can't wait for next year!

2007-09-06T14:05:00.000+10:00

Summer is definately on the way. The days in Cobar are beautifully warm and the boys are spending more and more time outside again. Their latest fad is playing with the cardboard boxes we get our groceries delivered in. I knew that the boxes could be a great source of entertainment but I underestimated how entertaining they could be! They slide in them, sit in them, push each other around, make towers, put sand in them, pretend they are boats, cars, trains etc etc. Maybe I'll chuck out all the toys and just keep up a steady supply of cardboard boxes that we can throw out once they fall apart - that would solve the storage problems!

When it came to drawing on Deda's Fathers Day Card Jacob wasn't cooperating. He didn't want to draw anything and so when kindly asked to just draw something he did - "Mummy I drew a dead flower".

Only one week to the Louth Scrapping Retreat. Paul is so looking forward to having the boys all to himself for four days!!! Hopefully I'll get HEAPS of layouts completed. Here's one I did a few weeks ago...

2007-08-20T14:36:00.000+10:00

Another nice quiet weekend, with Paul's birthday on the Friday. For Jacob's birthday he had requested a bulldozer cake and Jeremy had ordered a train cake, so I asked them "What cake should we make for Daddy?". I was expecting them to answer a truck or a grader but after thinking very hard for a few moments Jacob replied "a Bible cake"!! You can't get much easier then that, so a caramel mud cake was made into a 'Bible cake' and greatly enjoyed.

We've finally had time to get back to working on the house. Paul's been getting up early and going out painting to get the north and eastern side finished before the hot weather arrives. We had the boys out helping dig holes last weekend but the rate they were going it'll take a while to get the house finished. Better get Isaac onto the job too! I'll put a house photo here when I take an updated one.

2007-08-16T21:47:00.000+10:00

Last Sunday I saw Jeremy fishing around in the bottom of the pram (which was in the back yard after coming home from church) and emerge triumphant with a tupperware container. He took it off to play with, as little boys do.

He came up to me a short time later and while offering the tupperware container asked me "Do you want to pat my baby snake?"

A bit taken back but very curious now I asked if it would bite me, to which he replied "No, it's asleep". Very cautiously I prised the lid off the tupperware (at least whatever was in there would still be fresh) and to my delight discovered a length of cord - an old drawstring from the waist of boys shorts!!

Don't you just love the imaginative play of a 3 year old! He carried around the tupperware container for quite a while, checking on his baby snake occasionally. Later that afternoon he accidently left it on the Church Bus - we better get it back before it bites someone!!

Hmm, that reminds me - I'd better check to see if I got my tupperware back?!

Tea anyone?

2007-08-10T11:10:00.000+10:00

A beautiful warm day outside - perfect for a tea party. We went outside with a picnic rug and the boys had great fun pouring cups of 'tea' (apple juice) and eating the snacks off their little plates. It's a beautiful day, warm but a bit windy, making me think thoughts of spring cleaning.

The other day the boys were playing with some wooden blocks and Jacob made a little square and said "this is your vegie garden mummy". He held up small blocks and put them inside the garden: "this is your brocolli, this is your cucumber, and this is your garlic bread."

A photo of our tea party:

2007-08-06T14:13:00.000+10:00

A quiet weekend but it was greatly enjoyed as it was our first quiet weekend in a long time! Saturday night was a pizza making fest - see photos below - and they didn't taste too bad either. We have also recently made the cardboard box cars that I've been promising we'd make since they saw Jesse's Wiggles car in Mt Isa. Jacob thinks they are so cool. The photo below is of them sitting in them while watching a Play School DVD.

The aim this week is to get some decent scrapping done, and clean the house, look after the boys, prepare for Sunday School which starts this week, etc etc. If I do anything worthwhile I'll post it here!

The Big Trip

2007-08-04T13:11:00.000+10:00

We are still being asked about the big trip away so I'd better share some of it.

Our destination was Mt Isa, via Corner Country. We thought we'd get to Mt Isa within about 4 or 5 days but it ended up taking 7 days as there was so much to see on the way. Towns and places of interest that we passed through on the way up were Tibooburra, Cameron Corner, Moomba, Innamincka, Birdsville, Bedourie and Boulia. No, we didn't get to see the Min Min lights.

It was beautiful country, and very remote, apart from the convoys of 4WD's we regularly passed. We had to stop at every waterhole and creek along the way so the boys could throw rocks into them but fortunately the reason it's remote is that there aren't many waterholes and creeks about.

By the way, does anyone know the correct spelling of Innamincka? Some of the signs read "Innaminka" but others said "Innamincka". Would love to know which is correct.

We camped some nights off the beaten track (and alot of it WAS beaten) and we regularly listened to the words of one of John Williamson's songs "Camping under the leapard wood when the sun goes down and the fire is good because I've managed to find myself some Brigalow". It's good to be Australian :)

Birdsville was fascinating so we stayed two nights. We would highly recommend the Working Museum and the 40km trip out to Big Red at the edge of the Simpson Desert. We would NOT recommend the westerly road between Arrabury and The Birdsville Development Road. It took most of the day to drive 160km. We did see some cool stuff along the way though. We also loved following in the tracks of some explorers - namely Burke & Wills and Charles Sturt. If the boys were older it would have been a great home-schooling trip.

We got to Mt Isa after 7 days and spent a wonderful week hanging out with friends. We relaxed a lot, drank too much coffee, played some good games, and scrapped too little. Our boys learnt to play dress up with Jesse, and Jesse learnt to call his dad "Uncle Lalo" off our kids.

We headed home after a week and came back down to NSW through Cloncurry, Winton, Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Charleville, Cunnamulla, Bourke. More camping on the way home with an unscheduled stay at Blackall due to tyre trouble.

Photos are below. :)

New Blog

2007-08-04T13:05:00.000+10:00

We've also decided to jump onto the Blog bandwagon. (You all knew it would come eventually).

The usual 2 rules apply:
- We will aim to update weekly but will probably end up doing about 2 posts a year
- We will aim to put regular photos on but will probably forget

Oh yeah - Mulga Ridge is the name of our 100 acre block of land.

Happy reading :)