A Smattering of June

I realised today that the reason I haven't blogged much lately is because I use my phone to take photos - so they don't end up on my computer as frequently and hence, they aren't here on the blog!

Here's a smattering of our June...

 Such a boy, loving dirt . . .I caught him with a stick in his mouth just before taking this photo. Gross!!!

 I have acquired a sewing machine and this was my first effort (the skirt)

(the pose was her own creation)

 and my second attempt! I quite like my new table cloth, however I take it off when we eat to avoid the children's messes!

 Waiting for art class to begin

 We often go to a local zoo (yay for the season pass!) for a morning.

Here Will is looking at the sheep dog herding.

 And of course, kangaroo feeding.

I'd love to know what a 1.5 year old would be thinking in a moment like this . . .

 Daddy horsing around - unfortunately for him, this has become a 'must do' after bath time now, they LOVE being wrapped up and carried. I must confess I can see why though, doesn't this just look like fun?! I mean, when was the last time you were suspended in mid air in a bath towel?

 Emma: (clockwise) taking a photo of a bush turkey; in the back of daddy's truck; wearing daddy's jumper; posing with her new skirt.

We went to an art gallery that offered some special children's activities during school holidays - including cupcake decorating, yum.

 AND face painting. She was so precious, I couldn't believe how still she sat while her face was done.

 I'm not sure what we did on this morning, but whatever it was, it was exhausting! He fell asleep a good hour before his usual nap time.

A visit to the ER...before the age of 2 he now has a chipped tooth (that happened last year) and a scar on the back of his little hand (which thankfully will shrink as he grows). Here's hoping he makes it to 2 without any broken bones . . .

 Friends

As you can see, life has been chugging along. It's amazing how my days sometimes feel intolerably slow and yet the weeks and months go by so quickly. Too quickly as it happens. We've taken to telling Emma to stop growing, a request with which she refuses to comply! If I could have a day off each week I think I would choose to have the children stay at their current ages. This, being impossible however, I'm content to remind myself to enjoy the laughter of an Emma 'schnickle' (tickle) and Will's whiney "UP!" at the most inconvenient moments of those intolerably long days. He certainly won't be asking for that when he's taller than me (or too cool for me, whichever comes first I suppose) so I'm trying to enjoy it now while he's still my baby.

A Funny

I find this hilarious

(I haven't stopped blogging, I just haven't been blogging....)

18 month old William photos

We did a little 'photo shoot' of Emma when she was 18 months old and it was lovely fun. Our sweet 18 month old chatty, playful, giggly, cute girl. Who, incidentally, sat still for more than .0783 seconds. William . . .on the other hand . . .is a boy. And he is ALL boy. Definitely playful and cute, but I think 'chatty' could be replaced with 'grunty' and 'giggly' with 'screamy'.

We couldn't not do an 18 month old photo shoot after all we're not into favouritism but he certainly gave us a run for our money. Here they are:-

This is the most typical shot of the day, and is probably my favourite one.

 Getting some energy out

With handsome daddy

and caring big sister...

...who made sure we remembered she was there to have her photo taken as well.

my little charmer

loving his bikkie

~Our 18 month old gift from God~

Those EYES!

I am undoubtedly biased, but I think she is just beautiful.

The big 3-0 for the big guy.

May is a fun month in our household as both Lyle and I have birthdays.

This year was significant as it was Lyle's 30th (he's finally catching up to me, ha!)

I took him away to the sunshine coast, (1.5 hrs north of Brisbane) for a few nights without the children (HUGE shout out to my folks, thank you, thank you, thank you!)

We had a delightful time away, eating out, sleeping in (sleeping all the way through the night too, what a treat!) walking on the beach, looking at cows on the hill without having to say "kids look at the cows! wow...mooooo, can you say mooooo?", and best of all just reconnecting with each other. OH, and having starbucks.

One unfortunate occurrence was completely forgetting the camera! But here's some snaps I was able to get on my phone.

These flowers were scattered along some the hill sides as we drove through Montville and Maleny. They are weeds (of course) but nonetheless delighted us no end. It was a stunning surprise turning a corner on a  windy road to see a wall of yellow.

One of the lookouts we enjoyed

(that we would ordinarily ignore on account of having the children in the car)

When we were in New York, Lyle received a starbucks with "Sly" as his name, we figured being in a foreign country that can happen, but now I'm . . .Elise?

The B&B we stayed in was beautiful. It's only been open for 18 months as a B&B and from the guest book, they seem to be doing well. I loved it so much (the fireplace probably sealed the deal) that I want a sitting room in my house just like the one at the B&B!

These are some goodies from the tea tray (that was always refilled despite our best attempts to clean it all out)

 One corner of the lounge. It was so cosy!

The Beach! (taken from the "Loo with a view" at Mooloolaba)

Lyle, thank you for spending a few days with me for your 30th birthday. *smile*

I love you. xo

Mummy the hairdresser

From thisto this

And this

to this

So, I'm sure there's a part of every girl that always wanted to be a hairdresser. I just didn't expect my children to be the unsuspecting targets of my inner calling. I must say though, Emma's hair actually looks great! I think it's years of my observing my hairdresser cutting my hair that did the trick as Emma's hair is exactly like mine. I think (if this is even possible) that it's doubled her cuteness factor.

Williams hair is questionable, but he's much more wiggly than Emma and the only this distracting him at the time was a toothbrush. But a the very least he can see whilst walking. Rather a necessity for a 17 month old boy.

Dancing Queen

We have a new CD in our house. It's an album by Trip Lee called The Good Life and it. is. a. mazing! We're absolutely loving it and play it all the time. Both the kids start jiving as soon as we play music and we love sharing music with them that encourages our hearts towards God.

Happy Birthday Dad

Late last year looking towards dad's birthday I tried to come up with a list of "70 things we like about dad". I didn't get there. Not because it isn't possible, rather it's due to a lack of creativity on my part!

So, even though we didn't reach 70, we did get a few thoughts down.

I won't mention how old dad is but there are quite a few who say he doesn't look his age, or even say . . .70.

Here's the list:

1.     I like his skinny legs

2.     He gives me money

3.     I like his laugh

4.     I like that he’s handsome

5.     If you touch his eyebrows he’ll yell “You can kill someone by doing that”

6.     He counts in German (kind of...but not really)

7.     He mows my lawn

8.     He washes my car

9.     He provided me with a car for him to wash

10. He’s very generous

11. I like horsey rides from him

12. I like his optimism

13. I like that he’s a ballroom dancer

14. I like that he serves . . .everyone

15. I like that he is gentle

16. I like that he wears a suit and tie to church in 30oC+ heat

17. I like that he thinks Rowan Atkinson is the funniest man alive

18. I like that his love for his family is very evident

19. I like that he see’s me with rose coloured glasses

20. I like that he is kind

21. I like that loves reading Gods word

22. I like that God loved him first and saved him

We had dinner here on Friday night (the 13th was his birthday), here are some snaps from our 'do'.

Will found Grandpa's shoes

 Horsey rides

 Finn was helping Grandpa blow out the candle, but Grandpa beat him...competitive much?

 This is my brother, sis-in-law with Macca and our Grandma (or "Old Grandma" as Emma says)

What a difference a day makes (or a lot of days)

Today - April 17, 2012

 Today - April 17, 2010 two years ago

William's Toys

Watching Daddy mow the lawn

Bedtime Supplies

Teddy, blankie and a dummy. Life is good.

Art Class

Friday mornings find us at a local toy shop that offers art classes to toddlers.

This coat, with a zipper down the middle was styled ever so delicately by my darling girl. It was based on a literary masterpiece about two rabbit friends who were playing with and hiding in a red coat.

a funny sign

This is on a seat at the DC zoo...

My husband . . .

is wonderful. In case you haven't met him, he's really, truly a great guy. Last night at home group we were discussing sundays sermon which was mentioning the roles of husband and wives.
Submission is a hard thing for a wife to do. I must say I do get annoyed when a pastor apologises before preaching on it. It's God's word! Preach it unashamedly - besides if you do it right women won't have anything to be offended over...Aaaaanyway...the fact still remains, because we are fallen, sinful creatures, submission is a challenge. I noticed even this week, Lyle asked me something and I had a bad attitude about it. in actual fact I was merely being unsubmissive to his wisdom - simple proof this week that it is a hard thing to submit.

Back to homegroup. He responded to a question or two about the roles of husbands and wives and I was so encouraged by his humility and wisdom in his speech. I was joyful, because listening to him sharing with other believers I was privileged to think to myself "I get to be married to this guy!" I'm thankful to the Lord for blessing me with my husband. He's pretty wonderful.

A Good Day

I had a really (mostly) pleasant day with my little girl today. It was such a sweet blessing and a great encouragement. She's quite an emotional creature (can't imagine where she gets it from . . .errrr . . .like mother like daughter? ahem. yes. probably), but today she had some real 'wins'. She showed some excellent self control over her emotions (I was so shocked I was left almost speechless), she responded well to correction, mostly played well with William and at one point she even reminded me of the gospel at a point when I truly needed it. Now she didn't do all these things consistently all day, but nonetheless, it was a joyful day for me to witness the Lord's faithfulness and kindness to our family and to my daughter.

I do want to share her reminding me of the gospel.

At one point I was helping her and she was taking FOR-E-VER (she's a 3 year old girl . . .I shouldn't expect any more!), she obviously could see my impatient face and asked "Are you being kind?" to which I replied, "No, actually I'm being impatient. It's not good." She immediately responded with

"It is good. Jesus died on the cross to forgive your sin and God loves you. And God loves Emma and God loves William."

It was the most precious quote from her mouth in the three years of her life so far. I was super encouraged in that moment, firstly, I was encouraged to be reminded that my sin is forgiven in Christ, secondly that we actually have been teaching her truth (it's so easy to know your inadequacy in raising your children!), and thirdly that she is learning and understanding it in context!

I think I subliminally have high hopes for tomorrow, but if it all goes haywire and we end up a screaming tantrum over apple juice, I can at least remember today . . .and thank God that He is faithful and true. Despite my circumstances!

this photo was taken by the lovely Sarah of Ampersand photography in D.C. - http://ampersandphoto.com/

I love him