Christmas 2011

I feel very spoiled this Christmas! Our whole family was very blessed indeed. A very lovely reminder of God's lavish love for us, particularly in Jesus - praise be to God for his indescribable gift!

Our first Christmas celebration was spent up in Buderim the Tuesday before Christmas with Jon's maternal rellies. It turned into a much later night than planned due to having a jolly good time :) Abigail particularly enjoyed all the excitement, but by 9pm she was asking for bed (thank you Bruce and Karen for the use of your bed for the girls!). Good company and good food (again, thank you B & K!).

We spent Christmas itself up in Bundaberg with my Grandma - a real treat given that it has been years since I last had Christmas with her. We were thoroughly spoilt with presents and food, and in being able to do very little in general! Thank you Grandma!

While in Bundaberg we found a great park nearby with a neat play area and a mini 'zoo' that was open. The kids loved looking at all the animals (birds, emus, ostrich, chickens, geese, goats, sheep.....); and playing - particularly the slides and swings. On Boxing Day Jon and I did some water-blasting (to help work off that Christmas food! Kidding!).

We got home yesterday (and immediately went swimming - our air con decided not to work for the long journey home, for some reason it's not sharing with us!). It was a great Christmas. A big thank you to all our family and friends who gave us such wonderful gifts - love them and love you! :)

Happy Christmas!

Wedding anniversary

It was 3 years ago today that we walked (bounced?) back down that aisle (to the Shrek version of "Then I Saw Her Face") as husband and wife! And it's 10 years on Christmas Eve since we first met and fast became best friends. Much to celebrate!

A new tradition I am starting on our anniversary is to do 12 Days of Christmas for Jonathan (13th-24th December). So starting today, each day up to Christmas I have a little something planned to give or do for Jonathan. I have decided that each year, Day One is going to be a poem I write for him, so this morning he got his poem (I would say I also got him an iced coffee for his lunch with our anniversary date on it, but buying such on clearance because today is it's best before date doesn't sound too romantic!). I have really enjoyed planning the rest of the 11 days and getting the different gifts wrapped and made. It has been hard not sharing my plans with him!

And we finally got our wedding portrait framed and hung (rather, I finally found a frame that was the right dimensions on clearance at Harvey Norman and popped the photo in it; it's not the colour we wanted but it does the job!).

For anyone else interested in the 12 Days of Christmas for your husband idea, I got it from this blog post:

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2011/12/on-the-first-day-of-christmas-my-true-love-gave-to-me.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PassionateHomemaking+%28Passionate+Homemaking%29

It can be as inexpensive as you want it to be; I think it's a great way to deliberately love and honour our husbands. Jonathan has been looking forward to it as much as me!

Sarah's Birthday

A year has passed since Sarah's birth! I still remember the labour and birth well - a positive experience (even if it was intense and painful!); an unexpected home birth! To think it's been a year already!

I have delighted in my chubby happy chappy so much; I wasn't able to do that fully with Abigail as the first 4 months with her were spent struggling to overcome various breastfeeding troubles and then pregnancy sickness, so it has been a joy to be able to do so with Sarah. I love my little cutie!

Sarah means princess, or noble lady. Our prayer is that she would be a noble woman of God; a princess - a  child of the King.

The Cake

 

(Gluten/dairy/refined sugar free cheesecake topped with mango - yum!)

Christmas is Coming!

"Christmas is coming!" says Abigail each day! And it is coming indeed. We put our Christmas tree up at the end of November and have started playing Christmas hymns through the days. I have posted off presents and cards to all our family overseas and out of state (which is nearly all of you!). And now I'm turning my thoughts to making Christmas goodies (Jonathan has requested White Christmas and Chocolate Balls; I'm still picking my gluten and dairy free treats to make).

Christmas feels exciting this year. Now that the girls (Abigail particularly) are able to engage in the celebrations somewhat, the meaning of the season is coming alive again; being able to teach them about the coming of Jesus and the love of God represented in Christmas is exciting! The message feels fresh again. I love the little children's books I've picked up to read to them - simple and colourful, yet so full! I look forward to seeing what Christmas traditions we establish as Abigail and Sarah become older.

And of course, Christmas is about families coming together. This is a little tricky when they're mostly overseas, so it was really exciting to find a bunch of family videos from my family on a flash drive that was sent to us recently. The girls love watching their NZ Grandad and Grandma, and their NZ aunties and uncles talking to them. I enjoy watching them too - so thankful for the technology that helps close the distance. I have made a photo board with all our family on it. Abigail loves to look at it and name everyone (given that she has 9 uncles, that's pretty impressive!).

As for the girls, Abigail currently loves drawing. She spends a lot of time sitting at the desk or table scribbling away - she comes downstairs first thing and draws and asks to draw as I tuck her into bed at night :)

 
Sarah is currently loving her ability to walk - she walks up and down the house all the time. Gone is the spider crawl of hers that I did so love! Crawling is out, walking and climbing is in. Sarah is also into the book stage now; it's very cute watching her snuggle in with a book.

 Jonathan has been working a few gigs the past couple of weekends so we look forward to having time together this weekend. We will be celebrating Sarah's first birthday and our 3rd anniversary - Sizzlers here we come!

I went to a mum's pamper morning on the weekend. It was nice to be able to sit and talk without having to keep an eye on the girls (Jonathan took them Christmas shopping). I got my nails painted (and blinged!) and had a shoulder massage. Never got the coveted facial, but I did get a surprise letter from my husband which made me laugh and feel very special and loved. And he even brought a mango smoothie with extra mango with him when he picked me up - yum! I had forgotten to pack some gluten free food for the morning, oops; had been too focused on making sure I had enough snacks packed for the girls, so the smoothie was much appreciated!

May the joy and delights of the coming season be yours!

Family Update

It has been a hot start to summer! So the past few weeks have seen lots of water play and swimming. And ice blocks :)

The girls are often outside playing in the water (I put some water in the baby bath and a bucket for them). Clothes eventually all make their way off and little nude bottoms are running round the place :) Sarah is mostly nappy-less at home now as I'm trying to toilet train her. So far I haven't had much success. She'll sit on the loo, she knows the sign for toilet, but she won't use it - no sooner have I taken her off and let her loose than a puddle or a mess hits the floor! :P But she'll get the idea eventually. In the meantime, my floor is all the cleaner for it from the frequent mopping! (Oh, Sarah is walking much more now the last couple of days - not long before she's running around after Abigail!)

We swim most days now when Jon gets home from work. Abigail and Sarah love it! Abigail refused to hop in for ages but now that the water has warmed up she jumps right in and can swim around on her own. Sarah has very little patience for the swimming ring - she prefers to jump right in too! She wriggles and splashes as much as she can - makes it very difficult to keep a hold on her! But if let go she does swim for the surface, so the beginnings of swimming lessons are underway :) Another great thing about the pool is we bump into other families from our complex there - it's nice to get to meet the people who live around us.

Another happening I think worth mentioning, is most evenings before swimming, Jonathan has undertaken an 'exercise regime'. Jon hates exercise (I cannot relate to that - I {mostly} love it). But he has decided, of his own accord, that he needs to do some given the nature of his work (office). So he does burpees. He started on the 14th with 14 burpees and now adds one a day - the aim being to work up to 100. He has chosen burpees because they are a full body exercise - legs, core, arms. Abigail loves to count him doing them (she once counted to 16 on her own!). I think he's awesome. Check out the video of him on my Facebook to see how to do a burpee (I can't get it to upload to my blog).

As for me, I have been doing a lot of craft this week. I have an awesome idea for Christmas presents that I'm working on, and I'm also working on a cross stitch. This is what the latter looked like a couple of weeks ago:

As for my laundry detergent, I am really happy with it. Might try adding an essential oil to my next batch (eucalyptus or lavender - both are disinfectants and I like the smell). A friend pointed out to me that soap scum can build up and block the pipes, and even if you use normal washing powder, doing an empty hot short wash in your machine with a cup of white vinegar every month or so will help to clear out any scum and keep your machine running cleanly.

To end, this is for my dad - I love you lots and we are praying that your knee heals quickly and there are no after-surgery complications! So proud to have you as my dad - you do so much for your family! xx

Camping in Caloundra

We spent our weekend camping; a first for Jon and the girls, and us as a family. The weekend ended too soon! Needless to say, we enjoyed our time!

We stayed at a holiday park right near Dicky Beach and were assigned a wonderfully shady spot, close to the amenities but private enough at the same time. Considering a lot of the spots were in the full sun, we felt very blessed indeed. Especially when we had to set up the tent at two in the afternoon!

Thankfully I had packed a fry pan and various utensils, as we discovered the kitchen facilities much more basic than we expected! Fortunately, Jon's grandma lives nearby and we were able to borrow a couple of plates and store our cold food in her fridge.

While we stayed right next to the beach, we only went to it once. It was just too hot to be on the beach! And Abigail was somewhat scared of the ocean (Sarah, however, went straight on in!). There was, however, a great playground nicely shaded by trees that the girls enjoyed.

It was lovely to be able to see Jon's Grandma each day too, and share meals with her. Before we headed home again, she took us out for a lovely meal at the RSL.

(Excuse the quality - this one was snapped on Jon's phone)

We look forward to many more camping adventures in the future!

Natural Cleaners - Homemade Laundry Detergent

I make a lot of things at home instead of buying them for a few reasons:

1. Saves money
2. Is healthier for us (for my part, I have food intolerances and chemical intolerances)
3. Is environmentally friendly

Point three is probably the least important of the three (to me), but being environmentally friendly generally means it's also safer and healthier for us too! There are so many dangerous chemicals in our homes today - in baby products (!!!), in our self-care products, and in the cleaning products we use - that I have, over time, been switching to a lot of natural, homemade alternatives. In this post, I want to share with you the latest homemade alternative I have tried - laundry detergent!

Washing powder is expensive - I generally buy an environmentally friendly and sensitive skin washing powder - and the last box I bought has emptied much quicker than I expected (despite my using less than the manufacturer recommends for each wash {I figure they're more interested in their profits than my washing :) }). I had seen a 'recipe' for making your own laundry detergent and had bought the ingredients, and now I have finally made it. Here it is:

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Grate 1/3 of a block of pure soap

Measure out 1/3 cup of washing soda (sodium carbonate)

Put soap and soda in a bucket and add some hot water - stir well until dissolved

Top the bucket up with water, and stir some more

That's it! Use 2-3 cups per load (3 for a heavily soiled load). I tried it on a load of nappies and sheets and am very happy with the results (that is, they're clean - they smell clean and look clean).

Too easy. Very cheap. And it's environmentally friendly and safe to use. Yay!


Here's the link where I got this concoction from: http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/documents/2005125_natclean_eng.pdf

Check it out - there's lots of other alternatives there too. Let me know if you try any!