Blessing Basket

Today we had a Primary activity at church to collect food for our ward's 'blessing basket'. The 'blessing basket' used to be called the 'Bishop's Hamper', but Bishop P. didn't like that name as it wasn't actually a hamper for him, so he asked the Primary kids to come up with a new name for it.

One Sunday we all brainstormed and the kids came up with some great ideas for a new name, some of which were very amusing. Suggestions included 'helping hamper', 'needy hamper', and 'food for the poor hamper'. We then talked about how you would feel if you were getting the hamper because you were needing some help, and decided that some names sounded better than others. Lisa asked the kids how they would feel if they were the ones given the hamper and Charlotte who is only 4 then said she would feel 'blessed'. From that we came up with 'blessing basket' which Bishop thought was a great name.

Usually ward members are just asked to bring food along to church to donate to the blessing basket, but we thought it would be fun as a Primary to go around to each members home and collect the food this year. We let the members know on Sunday what time we would be around.

After everyone arrived we split into four different cars and each car had a different area of the ward to collect from.

The older boys all said they were coming with me, and piled into the van. We collected in the St. Leonards area.


They had a great time jumping in and out of the van at each house and getting the food.


By the time we got back to the chapel we had a huge box full of food that was overflowing. The boys were eying off different items of food that we were given and were very tempted to sample it on the way back.

The other groups also got heaps of food and they all had a great time.

When we put it all in Bishop's office we had a HUGE box overflowing with food, gifts and even gift vouchers. The kids were really excited to see how much we collected.

A new milkshake maker!

Last week I got a phone call from the boys' school principal. He told me not to panic and said everything was okay, and that he was ringing with some good news. A few months ago their school took part in an Aurora energy program. Jalen came home with a little 'show bag' and in it was a home safety checklist. They were told if they filled it out with their parents, and brought it back to school they could win a prize. I kept putting it off, but Jay bugged me to help him fill it out. We just had to answer questions like if there any damaged power points in the home, was there any electrical appliances near sinks etc.

The principal said that Jay's was the lucky name drawn out from those who returned their forms and had won a milkshake maker! I had to keep it quiet all week as he wanted to present it to Jay in assembly today.

Harri and I turned up for assembly and Jay saw us and asked us why we were there. I told him we had just come to watch the assembly and he was happy with that. Paul got up to present it right at the end and Jay's face was classic! He was soooooo happy and excited and jumped straight up.



His friends were ooohing and aaahing over it afterwards.


When I picked him up from school he was so excited and said that when he heard someone was going to win it he crossed his fingers and said 'let it be me' and then when he heard his name he said he couldn't believe it and didn't know what to do! He cracks me up. He has come home from school and the first thing he wanted to do was make a milkshake. So now we are the proud owners of two milkshake makers, although I don't think Jay will want to use the old one anymore.

Bruised and battered!

Check out the huge bruise I got from having blood taken yesterday! The guy that did it told me I would have a big bruise and kept apologising to me, but I didn't realise it was going to be this big! It is really swollen too.

Little Nyah

Today Harri and I went to visit Kristen and little Nyah who is now 3 days old. She is really tiny, and very cute. Kristen looks amazing - very refreshed. Not at all like she has just had a baby! She is lucky as she has her own room, so it would be a lot easier to get some rest when Nyah is co-operating.

Harri thought Nyah was really cute and kept on touching her little fingers.

He was very excited to have a little hold of her. He will love having a little baby in the house.

Chadd, Sam and Chelsea popped in while we were there and the girls clucked over her :) Its incredible to think that they are actually Nyah's cousins, as I imagine them more as being her Aunties.

Before we went up to see Kristen, I had my booking in appointment at the hospital and also an appointment with an obstetrician. It is funny as I don't really feel pregnant yet (although it is starting to become very obvious now) as the morning sickness has been so much better this time. Today I actually felt strange being there doing baby stuff, as I saw all these women with huge tummy's and I didn't feel like I should have been there!

It was exciting though as Harri and I got to hear the babies heartbeat - so we know it is definitely there. The last couple of days I have felt a couple of little 'flutters' and I asked the Dr if it would be possible to feel it this early (15 weeks) and she said that it was very likely I was feeling the baby move - especially as it is my 4th. Now we have to hang out till just after Christmas to have our scan.

Christmas mad house

Tonight was our monthly family tea at Mum and Dad's house. We decided that tonight's theme for tea would be 'Aussie night' so we had a good old fashioned Aussie BBQ with the works. Unfortunately Jared was away as he has been in Melbourne working all week.

We thought it would be a nice time to all put up the tree at Mum and Dad's together. Talk about a mad house! Harri and Jay were running around so excited and crazy and the girls were into everything. By the end of the night I was ready to come home and have a rest! Lucky for us Mum didn't pull out the old Muppets Christmas record, but put on Josh Groban's Christmas CD instead. Mum bought a new tree at Kmart when we did, so the boys were excited to help her get it out of the box.

That was about the extend of how much they helped! Dad finally helped to give us a little bit of peace and quiet by taking them outside to get the sheep in. The boys thought it was great fun. Unfortunately I was too busy snapping photos of the girls, to go out and take photos. They are so cute together and kept putting their heads together to give each other 'kisses' and kept saying 'awwww' as we all were.



It took ages to decorate the tree as we started while Dad cooked the meat, and then finished after we ate tea.

Two pregnant sisters decorating together! Nicki is 35 weeks and I am 15 weeks.

Kels and Maddi were a great help - although I'm not sure whether they put more decorations on the tree or took more off.


I always seem to end up being the decorator of the stairs.

Noah was having a cranky night (a bit like his Dad ;), so he had lots of cuddles with everyone.

Aaron spent the night setting up Mum and Dad's broadband on their computer, so everyone is very excited as they now have fast internet. Of course we had to give Mum another lesson on how to use the computer. Hopefully now she is going to be able to work out how to get it on herself and how to check out people's blogs without Dad's help :)

The boys were very excited to go for a spin in Uncle Alex's new car. I think Alex was excited to have some boys around to share it with! Aaron isn't really a car person, so Jay and Harri were the next best thing.

The boys came in at the end of the decorating. Looks like they are taking all the credit for it though!

It is funny as lately when we have been out somewhere with Noah, he gets really cranky. As soon as we put him in the car and he knows he is going home he gets a huge grin and cheeky look on his face! He just loves to be at home. Pretty amazing for someone who is missing most of their brain and who would 'never respond to us'.

Two weddings and a baby

It was a big day today! There were two weddings of people that we know and also our friends Jim and Kristen had their baby girl - Nyah Loriel. Kristen was very lucky as she arrived on her due date! Today Mel and Peter got married in Adelaide so we didn't get to that, but Aaron and I had a lovely time today at Bec and Una's wedding.

We asked Mum to come into babysit the boys, and it was nice to be able to go and see Bec and Una get married and to be able to relax and enjoy it :) Aaron was the official videographer. Bec had asked if we could video so they could send it over to Una's family in Tonga who weren't able to come.

It was a beautiful day. While we were waiting for them to arrive we were saying that the weather was feeling as hot as Tonga (probably not, but for Tasmania it felt very warm sitting in the sun).


Bec arrived fashionably late, especially considering she didn't have far to go:) She looked beautiful in a light blue dress.

Bishop Prebble did a great job with the ceremony. Bec and Una were very relaxed and happy- as Bec always is!










After the ceremony Bec and Una changed into some traditional Tongan clothes.

There was soooo much yummy food, thanks to Cathy, Merilyn and their troops. While we were eating Bishop Prebble got a text message and photo on his phone from Mel and Peter's wedding. It was exciting to see it as they had also just gotten married.


Bec and Una's wedding was very relaxed and casual. Just the way I'm sure Bec and Una wanted it.