We LOVE Fab Fridays

What's not to love!?  Hawthorn legends signing Noah's wheelchair...

Standing next to your idols (or at least a banner of them!)...

Getting your face painted...

Choosing 'pink' because it's your favourite colour...

and number 15 because it's Mum's favourite player! :)

Trying to keep warm, by having a sausage in bread...

Freaking out when you see the mascot from Launceston Aquatic...

watching some of the best players in the AFL as they train...

 Getting excited for the big game tomorrow against the Eagles...

Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon ... first game at Aurora Stadium for the season!  Go Hawks!

My New Love

Two years ago I went to a demo for this amazing machine - it really is the most incredible kitchen appliance in the world. I knew it was very pricey before I went to the demo, and went along very sceptical about the whole thing.  As soon as I saw it in action though I LOVED it and came home raving to Aaron about how amazing it was, and even though it cost a lot of money, how fantastic it would be to have one.

It pretty much does everything you want a kitchen appliance to do - chops, beats, mixes, whips, grinds, kneads, minces, grates, juices, blends, heats, stirs, steams and weighs food. Can you believe that this little machine does all of that!?  You really can't believe it unless you go to a demo yourself and see it in action with your own eyes (and mouth as you get to try lots of yummy food straight after it's made!).

Last week my Auntie Deidre came and did a demo at our house.  It was fun to have some friends around to watch lots of yummy things made, and to try it all.

I was so excited for Aaron to see it as I had raved about it to him and I knew he would love it once he saw how it worked.  He was sold as soon as the sorbet was made in less than two minutes.

The most exciting thing was being able to put Noah's herbal bowel med through it so that we can now give it to him through his feeding tube, without it getting clogged.

We have been very blessed by having some very generous people help us out to get one.  Thank you to everyone and anyone who has contributed to it. Without the help of others it would've been very hard to buy it on our own.   We are so excited to have it to use at home, and know it's going to make our life a lot easier as preparing and making meals is now going to take no time at all.

We've only had it for two days but have already been cooking up a storm in it. I've been excited to find so many sites on the internet that have lots of yummy recipes to try.  I'm just hoping that I can control myself and not put on a ton of weight from all the yummy things we will be trying!

Photo Shoot

During the week my friend Kylie asked me if I could take pics of their family for them ASAP. We did it on Saturday morning, very quickly as we only had half an hour, before one of the kids had to go to work.   Kylie's husband Corey is our bishop from church and the family is so lovely.

I'm always nervous when I take photos for people, and espeically for friends. I don't know if I'll ever stop feeling nervous, but I just hope I can give them something that they are happy with. Considering we only had half an hour, I'm happy with how they turned out.

 I love these ones of Kylie and Corey together.

Although I love taking photos of younger kids, it is so much easier taking photos of families with older kids.  Although they usually hate getting their photo taken, at least they do what you tell them without them running off at a million miles an hour. I know if it was a younger family we couldn't have got it done in half an hour.

Thanks for a fun morning guys! It was fun to do another photo shoot and to get some more practice before I do a very scary but exciting photo shoot early next year.

Time

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how having a child with a disability really affects the whole family.  I've been trying really hard since then to spend more time with our boys one on one.  I realise how much time Noah takes up and has taken up especially when he was younger, which meant that Jalen especially had to quickly adapt.  It's not necessarily a bad thing as I think our boys are better for having Noah as their brother, but I'm still aware of how much time with us they miss out on.  

We are very blessed as the boys hardly ever complain about it.  Sometimes they will ask 'if Noah is well can we .....?' when they want to do something on the weekend, or during the school holidays as they know we won't be able to do it if Noah isn't up to it. 

I remember when I was little Mum and Dad decided to do the same thing - to spend more time with us kids one on one. As I am the eldest in the family I was the lucky one who got to go on a special 'date' with Mum and Dad first.  Do you remember that Mum? We went to watch the movie 'Ghandi' and I remember how excited I was to be going out on my own with Mum and Dad, while my brothers and Nicki were at home with a babysitter. 

A couple of weeks ago I decided to do the same with Jalen, while Aaron and Harri stayed home and watched Friday night footy together.  He was so excited and we had lots of fun going to the movies together to see 'Rango'.  Jay can talk your ear off ... and he did the whole night!  It was fun sitting there sharing popcorn, while he laughed his whole way through the movie.   That night I went to check on the boys as we always do before we go to sleep, and this is what I found.

Even though he's growing up way too fast, he is always going to be my little boy.

Last night Aaron and Jay were having a lovely cuddle on the couch together while they were watching TV.  I hope Jay is happy to cuddle with us for a while longer, as I don't want him to grow up too fast, and want to spend a lot more time with him before he thinks he is too cool to hang with his crazy parents :) 

Hanging at Uni

Yesterday Kobe and I headed up to the Uni to hang out with Makayla and Fiona while they had a break in between classes.  We hadn't seen either of them for ages, and was really looking forward to catching up.   While we were waiting for Fiona, Kobe showed Makayla his skills at using the iPhone 4 :)

We went and had some lunch and then had a bit of fun taking pics together.  Makayla is doing a Photography course at TAFE this year, and is always needing more models to take photos of.  Kobe is always the perfect model, pulling out poses whenever you ask him to.

We found this great little place to take photos at the Maritime College.  Fiona made me stand and do some modeling which just felt so awkward and embarrassing.  I would never want to be a model that's for sure!

Makayla took this pic of me. I was supposed to be 'wistfully' looking out of the window, but I had no clue how to do that!

When I went to take some photos of Fiona she says 'the photographer is never photographed!' to which I had to remind her that she just took some pics of me, and I AM the photographer, especially when it's my camera :)

 

I love this pic that Makayla took of Kobe and me. 

Thanks for the fun afternoon girls. We'll have to do it again very soon!

"Me won!"

The boys love to play musical cushions, especially when it's played to the Hawthorn theme song! Last night they were begging us to play it as we haven't played for ages and this was the result... Kobe crying every time he lost, and us letting him win in the end just so we could shut him up! :)

Friday Night Footy

What our house will look like on Friday night for the next 28 weeks!