Lamb Time

I love this time of the year.  Not only are the blossoms out, but there are lambs running around Mum and Dad's paddocks which is always fun for the kids to see.  On Saturday the three boys and I made a spur of the moment decision to drive out to Mum and Dad's to see the lambs as we knew Jared and Becky would also be out there.    Nicki and Alex and the kids also joined us, so we made an afternoon of it, and had a BBQ tea.

I always love going out to Mum and Dad's.  It's always so relaxing and the kids have such a great time playing together. 

Maddie and Kelsea told me that the boys weren't allowed on the swings with them as it was their 'fairy castle' or something girly like that :)

Jay did what all boys love to do and rode the four wheeler all afternoon.  Grandma and Linc even hopped on for a couple of laps around the house.

I love this photo of Jay and Linc looking at each other.

Dad fired up the barbie, and Jay spent the rest of the afternoon watching the fire burn, and starting a few little fires himself! It's amazing how boys and fires just seem to go together.

Jared took all the kids for a ride in the trailer, into the paddock to see the lambs.  The kids thought it was the best thing ever going for a ride in the trailer. It reminded me of when we were kids and would jump on the back of Pop's landrover and go down the river for a swim.

We jumped out to see if we could catch a lamb for the kids to pat.

These two crazy girls lost their pants just before we went for a ride, and thought they were hilarious prancing around in their undies and gumboots in the paddock.

At first the kids just ran around crazy chasing the sheep and cows. 

I could see there was no way that they were going to catch a lamb.   It's unbelievable how fast they are!  I decided to join in on the chase and ran around the paddock like a crazy woman, trying to get them into a corner and then diving at them.  Jared joined in with me, and thank goodness he did as he finally caught one (and went down on the ground in the meantime!).

I love Linc's face here - so fascinated by the lamb.

Harri is usually really scared of animals, thanks to a big dog who scared him a few years ago, but he recently had a lamb visit his class at school, so he was so excited to pat it.

We all went back to the house for tea very muddy, after running around a very wet paddock.

No ride on a trailer is complete without a bit of squeeling!

Jared has a metal detector and had lots of fun showing the kids how it works.

Harri was so excited to have a turn of digging up the yard to try to find some metal.  There used to be a very old run down house on the spot where Mum and Dad's house now is, so there would be a lot of old metal underground.

Mum came out of the house after tea and discovered what Jared and Harri was doing to her beautiful lawn!  This was her reaction!

Before we left Jarom and Jess came for a visit.  It was lovely to see them and their beautiful girls, especially Shelby who I hadn't met yet.

We had a great afternoon.  We are looking forward to a lot more BBQs at Mum and Dad's as the weather warms up.

Boss for the Day!

Since it is Father's Day today, Harri told Aaron this morning 'you are the boss today Dad!'.  I asked him why and he said 'because it is Father's Day! Dad gets to be the boss today, but every other day you are the boss Mum!'. It cracked me up, and Aaron was pretty excited that he gets to be the boss just for one day! ;)

I pulled out the camera before Jay came into bed with us this morning, and my little model Kobe decided he didn't want to have his photo taken!

As part of his present we gave him some chocolates, and of course the boys decided that was breakfast!

The boys had made him some lovely cards.  The card that Harri made at school was hilarious.   The part that says 'snores' is definitely true!


Inside it talked about him coaching his school footy team in their grand final, and how he hoped that Kings Meadows won and Queechy loses.


A couple of months ago Alison found an awesome Darth Vadar card on Etsy that we thought Aaron would love.  He did love it and was cracking up when he saw the front.

During the week Hawthorn put out a new geurnsey which Aaron fell in love with the minute he saw it.  I surprised him with it this morning as he didn't think it would come until next week, and he put it on straight away and thought he'd get away with wearing it to church!  He did take it off before we left.

We took a quick photo before church as Noah was awake, and knew it wouldn't last long. He didn't look good though as he often wakes up looking really puffy.  I still love the photo with all of my five boys in it though.

For tea Aaron picked his favourite - t-bone steak, wedges and salad, and cheesecake for dessert.  We got some cows killed a while back and still have a freezer full of beautiful beef. The t-bones are ginormous!

While I'm cleaning up the kitchen after tea, I hear the usual carry on in the lounge room and caught them all having the nightly wrestle.  I can pretty much guarantee that it's going to end up with one or two of them in tears by the end of it, and tonight was no exception.

For Harri's birthday, Mum and Dad gave him a cool game called 'Charades for Kids'.  You pull a card out and it tells you what you have to act out.  We often play charades, but it was fun actually having a word given to us.  This was Aaron acting out 'homework' (think this is him just getting home from school).

It was lots of fun and Aaron won, but we will say that's because we let him because he was the boss for the day! ;) Noah looks much better tonight with his puffiness settling down and him being a lot more awake and alert.  Just wish his hay fever and cold would settle down so he didn't need so much suctioning at the moment.

We had a lovely Father's Day and got to spend the day with my Dad yesterday which was lovely too.  We were talking a lot about my Pop and all the things we remember about him.  I'm lucky to have so many great Dad's in my life.   I know that my boys couldn't have wished for a better Dad than Aaron.  He does with them what they want the most - spends time with them, and they love him so much for it.  We love you honey - Happy Father's Day!   Don't forget I'm the boss again tomorrow though! ;)

7 years of laughs

On Thursday it was Harri's 7th birthday. I'm sure he had been counting down the days for about one and a half months before it was his birthday. He was so excited and was hoping to get a scooter (so he didn't have to bug Jay to borrow his anymore) and had a few other requests like a DS game, lego, Hawks stuff and books - all the things he loves.   He did ask for 'The Block' DVD set, but we told him we weren't even sure they make them, and even if they did they aren't out yet.

He woke up early to open up presents before school, and was very happy that he got most things he wanted as well as a couple of surprises.

He was excited to test out the scooter in the kitchen before school.

Harri absolutely loves school, but said to me in the morning 'I wish I didn't have to go to school today because it's my birthday'.  I asked him what he wanted to do if he stayed home with me, and he said he wanted to ride his scooter. I told him he had to go to school, but asked him if he wanted me to pick him up after lunch at school and come with me to watch Aaron's school footy team play in their grand final.

He of course jumped at the chance, so we went to watch them play and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine all afternoon.

He took his scooter along and had fun riding up and down the path at Queechy High.

After school Grandma and Grandpa came to visit (and I didn't even get a photo!) and we sang 'happy birthday' before we headed off for tea.   He cracked us up as we asked him during the week what kind of cake he wanted this year, and was assuming it would be something to do with Hawthorn, but instead he said 'a Block cake!!'.  When he becomes obsessed with something, that is all he thinks about, so a Block cake it was!

Whenever it's someone's birthday in our family they get to choose what we have for tea, so of course he chose McDonalds. 

It's hard to believe that he is already 7.  After having Noah it was a big decision to have another baby.  We always knew that we wanted around four kids, but weren't sure how we would cope with  more because Noah takes up so much of our time and energy.  Thank goodness we listened to those feelings that we had, because we couldn't imagine life without Harri or Kobe now. 

After Noah was born all we could focus on was him and his condition, and although we loved him it was hard to see how life could be 'normal' or even fun again. Harri definitely brought the fun back into our lives and we've had seven years of laughs with him.  He makes us smile every single day with the things he does and says.   The other day I said to him 'you are high maintenance Harri' and he looks at me and says 'what does that mean!!?'. I told him it means that he is 'hard work', but we wouldn't want it any other way.

We love you Hazza!!

Run For A Wish

About six weeks ago we found out about a very exciting fun run/walk happening in Launceston in October.  It is called 'Run for a Wish' and it's to raise funds for the Make a Wish foundation.  We were so excited to know that it was for such a great cause, and registered for the run as a family as soon as registrations opened.

We feel that we could never do enough to pay back Make a Wish for granting Noah such a special wish in 2006 so when we were asked if we could go in a photo for The Examiner (our local newspaper) we didn't hesitate to say yes.   Supposedly we were the first family to register for the run, and of course Noah was granted a wish, so they felt that our family was perfect for the story.

We actually had a photo taken a couple of weeks ago, but after a lack of communication it never made it into the paper.  The original photo was just us with 'Flossie' the Make a Wish Fairy and the sponsor who was handing over a $10,000 cheque.   Kobe was very unsure about Flossie and kept hiding his head from her, every time she would try to get him to shake hands with her.

Yesterday we did another photo shoot with another photographer from The Examiner.  A reporter also came along and interviewed a couple of the organisers and us about how we felt about the run, and why we wanted to participate in it, and why others should participate in it.   This morning the article was in the newspaper. 

He got us to run towards the camera a few times and Kobe was absolutely loving it.  Harri kept taking off like a rocket, thinking that we were actually having a race, and we would have to do the photo all over again as he would get too far in front of us. It was lots of fun, and story turned out well.

It's on Saturday the 22nd October which we are really happy about, as most fun runs are on a Sunday.  It's open to all ages and abilities so there are no excuses not to join in.  You don't need to be a runner to join in - people can walk and even push a pram if you need to.   It's 'only' 6.5 km and the course is flat as it runs from Aurora Stadium to Heritage Forest and back again, so it should be an 'easy' run or walk (says me who is panicking as I need to be so much fitter before I attempt to run it at all!).

Simone did a beautiful post last week about it, and we can't wait for her and lots of others to join in with us.  For more information you should 'like' their Facebook page and go to the Run for a Wish website where you can register for the run, and get information about the course and prizes.  Everyone above 5 years old who participates get a medal, and there are also spot prizes.   Early bird registration finishes next week on the 6th of September.  After that the entry fee goes up by $10.  There are also options to register as a family or a team.

What are you waiting for!!!? :)