Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized on May 31, 2011

You might remember that a few posts ago I mentioned that it was our tenth wedding anniversary. Well I thought that Glenn’s surprise of a day out together and dinner at Lillianfels was the end of the celebrations but sneaky Glenn had other plans. He had booked a weekend for us at Caves House at Jenolan caves. This gorgeous rambling building is not only seeped in the the riches of Australian history but in our history too. Caves House was the first building we entered as a married couple. It is where we spent our honey moon.

The building is nestled in a valley accessible through a colossal rock archway torn through the mountain side. To get to this arch however you must first venture up the steep road of certain winding doom. It is, as all rugged mountain roads tend to be, a very scary drive into the place. This was made worse on our wedding night because of the pelting rain, roaring winds and thick cloud that covered the mountain all the way up. As Glenn drove and I picked innumerable bobby pins out of my expertly tangled hair I couldn’t help but imagine the following days headlines. "Newly Married Couple Plunge to Their Deaths, How Honeymoon Destinations Can Kill You"    

Well ten years on from our wedding we dropped the kids off at Mum and Dads and once more set our wheels in the direction of the mountain of terror. As we started our assent the rain once again started it’s decent and a thick fog rolled in. The fear that grows in your belly at the thought of driving the road in these conditions actually had a nice tinge of nostalgia this time. There was one major difference between the two trips, I got horribly sick and we had to turn around and come home and poor Glenn who had secretly organised such a special weekend away had to nurse his sick wife shivering under a blanket on the lounge.

Luckily the kind people at Caves House transferred our booking and three weeks later we made it there, alive. It worked out quite well all things considered if we had gone when the first booking was made it would have poured all weekend but on our altered schedule we had glorious weather.

This has to be one of my most favourite places in the whole world.

One of the communal lounge rooms. Don’t you just adore the red velvet squee It felt kind of like we were visiting Mr Knightlys house.

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When we got to our room there was a bottle of wine and a lovely note from two beautiful friends. I read it out loud a little to fast which caused a little giggle and every time we enjoyed something for the rest of the weekend we would turn to each other and say "Yes I’m so happy that we finally managed to get away from Steven and Sally too".

This was our room, if you look at the second photo we are the top middle green bay window.

I am so lucky, so in love and so thankful we have each other and also so glad we got away from Steven and Sally for the weekend. 

Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized on May 25, 2011

Ok I know, overload of photos so I’ll keep the words brief.

The Hawkesbury Show at Clarendon began in 1845. It is organised by the Hawkesbury District Agricultural Association and is a showcase of the districts finest in agriculture, art, craft and culinary excellence. In short it is a family day out bursting with country charm from its home made creamed honey to its tight singlet wearing muscle popping wood choppers. For our family it is the height of excitement in all things that go "Baaa".  

We couldn’t go past the NSW Fire Brigade display without stopping. Hanging around on fire engines new and old is just so much fun. After careful consideration we voted Sabrina the most sensible child and therefore worthy of the honour of driving the truck.

 

The Fire Fighters are always so nice they hand out free show bags full of information on why your house is a death trap and what to do if you are burning alive. This year they came with red plastic fire hats bonus whoot!

After collecting all our freebies including a strikingly fashionable hat for Daddy we went off in search of wild life, or to be more precise farm life.

Every year we have to have a photo with the Lamas (I know they are Alpacas but it sounds so much cooler to say ‘I want to be a Lama Farmer" it’s a bit of a family thing) I mentioned once when the kids were really young how cute I thought they were and Lani has taken it on as her job to hunt them out whenever we are around collective farm animals. When she was very small she used to call them Sheep Camels and I still haven’t quite gotten over how adorable that was. 

Sabi’s favourite animals were the goats she spent so long with them pointing and yelling "My see a Woof Woof" and tying to grab hold of their waggly tails. I am thankful that they were very patient goats.

Sabi has designed her own way of classifying animals it’s fairly simple all woolly ones are called Sheee Baaa’s and all smallish straight haired ones are Woof Woofs the large straight haired ones are all called Mooo’s this includes horses, oh and she is right and we are all wrong so there.

We sat for a while and watched the horses doing Junior Jivers (we go to a music and activity group every week called Junior Jivers at which we dance around a circle and do movement activities so whenever we saw animals paraded around to be judged or the horses dressage comp the kids called it junior Jivers for animals).

We then ran off to find lunch…

…or tried to, those Fire Fighter bags are very cumbersome for a little tot.

After lunch we tackled the very loud, crowded and appropriately named Fowl shed.

Eli has ASD (Autism spectrum disorder) So this was way to much of a sensory over load for him but I do need to mention how proud I was of his coping techniques during the day. If we look back to last year and for that matter all the years before we would have had to deal with screaming meltdowns in the chook shed including ear bashing, arm swinging, repetitive squawking and violent outburst towards others around him that or he would have just bolted. This year Glenn found a "Safe" place for him, a park bench just outside of the shed and told him if it got to much to go there. About a third of the way through the shed we noticed he was gone, I quietly panicked through the rest of the bird spotting. But when we exited the building there he was, on his safe bench playing his iPod he had managed to recognise his own feelings and remove himself with out drama. Words cannot describe how much Glenn and I were cheering inside.    

We stoped for a photo next to the cow milking display, no one wanted to stay and see it they all have before and apparently do not care for it again. I was very proud of Eli because he finds posed photos very hard to cope with but he did it because he knew Lani wanted one, if you look at his face you can see how uncomfortable he is notice his weird smile and the fact that he can’t look directly at the camera.

Then it was time to play with the baby animals. There’s a nice shot of Glenn’s sexy new hat.

Lani liked the rabbit. I tried very hard to get a photo of Lilly in there but failed the girl is just never still.

Sabi discovered the benefits of a very big sister, you can make them fetch animals for you.

And Eli was happy to find another safe place to play on his ipod, small confined places full of excitable children and panicked animals are just not his thing.

We had to see the wood chopping it’s mandatory. Before we had the kids Glenn and I would arrive early to get seats so that we would have a good view of the dramatic moment. You know how it goes were they spend half an hour counting men in only to have the massive muscular monster that started on swing twenty split his log in two hard thwacks. Now we just rock up whenever we see the wood chips flying and plonk ourselves down in the most convenient gap in front of whoever is chopping at the time. 

We are hoping to instil a love for the sport in the kids so that in the future we can linger longer but for now one round of whoevers chopping right now will have to do.

county bumpkin sitting on a pumpkin.

We spent a long time admiring the creative talents of all the entrants in the art and craft section especially the egg decoration display as you do. Doctor Who and The Daleggs won so we have a new found respect for egg decoration, notice how the kid chose to keep the gold Daleks and didn’t paint them as Dalek Wiggles, good choice kid.

This photo is for my friend Jo These are all the people who won prises for shining there rocks up.

Lilly isn’t upset she’s just overwhelmed by the thought of so much sugar.

We have been studying Vincent Van Gogh so the kids we very excited to see that other kids were as well.

Then the kids chose their ride and show bag and we headed home. All in all a good day and most do on the family outing calendar for next year.

Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized on May 24, 2011

It took me a while to think of a decent title for this post and now on reflection I think maybe I should have taken a while longer, oh well your stuck with it now.

Above photo is mothers day morning hence the bed hair. I love my kids. Glenn let them buy whatever they thought Mummy would like and I ended up with giant love heart shaped stud barbie like earrings and a sonic screwdriver, I couldn’t be more thrilled honestly I’m glad I don’t look like a pair of pink fluffy slippers to them yet.

next random photo is a theatre. We took the eldest three to see Joseph and The Amazing Technicoloured Dream Coat, now there’s another guy that’s not afraid of a long title. We had a great time I think we are going to try and make it to plays/musicals more often and funnily enough out of a whole audience of people we didn’t know we ended up sitting behind another kid from our home-schooling group so that was a nice surprise. 

We had friend’s around YAY!!! sorry I know that seemed excessive but we’ve been tying to catch up with people for two months now and literally everyone has been sick, I’m not kidding I think the whole of Sydney has been under the weather in some form or another.

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The gorgeous elf like baby who looked a little shocked in the photo with Lani but happy with her mother is my goddaughter (I am so into long sentences today) The faces this girl can pull, she just adorable. 

Tickles for Sabi….

…tickles for daddy…um…we won’t ask, they’re old friends they do that.

Again with the faces, I think this one means "Mummy who are these strange people and why are you letting them near me?"

The night ended with a civilised game of Go Princess as all good social gatherings should.

We went bananas at Go bananas

I learnt something there too. It’s not just the colours we feed kids that effect their behaviour, an overload of the ones they see can do that same thing. We had an absolute ball though hanging out with special friends and daring ourselves to do thrilling things. If ever you get the urge to hang out in a kaleidoscope for the afternoon Go Bananas is the place to go. 

It’s been raining quite a bit which has made going to the park so much more fun, for the kids that is, not for mummy, mummy isn’t having quite as much fun.

I thought I would end this totally disjointed and incoherent post with a picture of the the four kiddies imitating ornaments on their favourite ledge at Grandma and Grandas house. They are trying to convince Mum that she doesn’t need to block up their play space with big vases by promising to be a vase for her whenever they come around. 

Posted by Sarah in The House on May 15, 2011

Life has been a bit of a blur lately, mainly because my glasses are constantly covered in sawdust.

Glenn is working on the cleaver bolt thingies Dad came up with that will make the bed look so much cooler and give the kids more room to play. It involves climbing around in the cramped and dusty ceiling space but I’m told it’s worth it and I’ll let you judge when I post photo’s of the finished job.

 

Dad came around again to give us a hand with the last of the construction parts apparently I can be left to myself to tidy it up and do the finishing details…apparently.

There was a lot of fussing with bolts that were long when they should have been short and twisted when they should have stayed still but by the end progress had been made. The whole operation was carefully watched by the Tiny Overseer who later told me that they did a very good job.

Posted by Sarah in Family on April 28, 2011

Mum and Dad’s backyard is a wonderland of nooks and crannies of hidden corners and jungle like growth. Adventure beckons blossoming imaginations in the rubble of old building projects, the fractured remnants of structures long ago moved, altered or torn down.  Even in the ordinary plod along days the kids adore going there but Easter is something special. Oh the thrill to be had scanning the gardens for that moment of adrenalin when a sparkle of coloured foil reviles itself.

We don’t make it easy for them either, can you spot the egg?

Lani brightened up on Panodol and the thrill of the moment.

Grandma teaching Sabrina to fetch eggs for her and bring them back to her basket.

I always feel it’s slightly disturbing that they like to play with the bunnies, introducing them to each other, even naming them before they bite their heads off.

Posted by Sarah in Family on April 28, 2011

This is where we found Eli Easter morning I guess he was keen to start the lounge room egg hunt.

We have never encouraged our children to believe in the Easter bunny or Santa for that matter, I feel it’s lying and as a Christian I can’t justify it in my mind.  The bible clearly states that deceit is wrong and I can’t bare the thought of my children loosing confidence in my honesty. I want them to grow up knowing that their parents will always be approachable and that all questions no matter how big or small will be answered in truth.

That being said we still have an egg hunt every year, it’s a game just like a treasure hunt at a party and just like they know that the pirate who hide the treasure chest in the backyard was Mummy and Daddy they also know that the chocolate eggs were hidden by us as well. I have to say to anyone out there who feels a spark of conscience over misleading their children that the excitement of Easter egg hunts even when you know that there is no such thing as the Easter bunny is still extreme.  I sometimes think even more so because they don’t have to doubt and wonder about the oversized bunny business they just have to enjoy the thrill of finding chocolate and we will never have that moment where they learn the truth and feel robbed.

Except Sabi didn’t really get it this year she thought we were finding toys….

…till her brother helped her out then she never looked back.

Fuzzy morning hair and their chocolate stash.

I kind of stuffed up though, I left Glenn’s egg in the car so his Easter treat was a melted blob of chocolate goo.

After all the eggs were found we piled into the car to head off to church only Lani started to feel sick so we got out of the car and pilled back into the house and did the Church bit at home.

I printed off colouring in sheets and we made a salt and four based finger paint.

I read from the bible to them about Jesus’ burial, resurrection and ascension. Then we discussed what we had read and prayed together.

So apart from Lani vomiting it was a very sweet family Easter.

Glenn and I also looked at a few Easter clips on Utube the first one we watched in Church on Good Friday and the second is just cool. hope you all had a Vomit free Easter.

Posted by Sarah in Family on April 25, 2011

Thursday was our 10th Wedding anniversary. It’s funny really, we fell in love as penniless uni students and for a brief second entertained the idea of waiting, saving, establishing ourselves before tying the knot. You know, as society would put it “The sensible thing to do” then we said stuff it, I love you, you love me what more do we need lets just get married. So we pooled our resources bought a ring and pretty much started married life with zero in the bank account. At that time 10 years seemed to float so far away in the future that we would give each other promises. We’ll have a real reception for our 10th, we’ll postpone the proper honeymoon till our 10th, for our 10th we should get a real photographer to do proper photo shoot, I’ll buy you the big diamonds for our 10th…….and here it is, here we are at our 10th…..and…we didn’t do a thing on that list. You see what Sarah and Glenn of 10 years past didn’t understand was this, yes we would have higher paying jobs than nightshift at Big W and weekend helpdesk at Planet Netcom but we would use that money to bring four gorgeous little beings into the world. That we would save it not for a flash second honeymoon but to buy them a roof to keep above their heads. That we would spend our time and energy not on spoiling ourselves but on educating ourselves so that we would better understand our God’s plan for us, our children’s needs, quirks and insecurities and our own love for each other.

I had thought that it would be nice to try and gather our wedding party together again for a sort of reunion, maybe a fancy formal picnic, I’ve always loved the idea of a picnic in ball gowns. But Our 10^th also happened to be the day before Good Friday, I have never been very good at organising my time. Maybe we could do it later in the year I mean it is our 10^th year of being married for a whole year right?

By the time Thursday came I had totally convinced myself it was a hopeless case and just to let the day slide by but Glenn had sneaky little secret plans. He organised to have the day off and my wonderful parents took the children over night. So we had a rare day to ourselves. And what did we do with that precious day? Well we bought preservative free dried apricots, gluten free bread, dairy free cheese and a book on Asperger’s (that’s what normal people do on their anniversary isn’t it?) We spent they day at Leura and Katoomba two of our favourite places, wandering in and out of quaint little art, craft, book, antique shops like we used to do before pram accessibility dominated out browsing capabilities. It was just as it should have been, just us wandering and talking and sharing ideas, just being in each others company. It was beautiful.

We also (I’m smiling as I write this) had dinner at Lillianfels. We have stood many times like a child staring through a toy store window, wanting to go in. I firmly believe if Jane Austen had come upon this place in her travels she would have declared it most happily situated.

Lillianfels is more than a nice place to get a meal, it is an experience. As you wander through their manicured gardens towards the dining room you are transported back to a time of elegance and genteel manners. Inside was so delicately formal that after sir’s coat had been taken for him and madam had been helped into her chair I completely lost the ability to talk for a moment. However they were never cold or sterile I soon relaxed under the staff’s sincere desire that I should enjoy my dining experience and came to feel welcome as if I was visiting an incredibly wealthy relative.  I sometimes feel out of place in fancy restaurants but I could happily linger in their atmosphere all night . And the food could only be described as an artwork on a plate.

Oh and I have to show you the little gifts we got each other. 10th is supposed to be tin if you are into traditions but tin is tricky so we just stuck to metal. He got me pretty and I got him deadly.

Happy Anniversary my darling, you are now and will remain forever my best friend, my fellow traveller, the face I long to see and the smile that makes my heart skip a beat. You are my Love.

Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized on April 17, 2011

 

Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized on April 17, 2011

 

Our poor children have been sleeping in makeshift conditions for so long now Glenn decided he would take a solid week of work in the hope that by the end of it one of the rooms would be in a usable condition.

We all promptly feel ill and spent the first three days in bed.

So my lovely Dad came around at the end of the week to help us out.

During the lucid moments, when the hacking and coughing was tolerable and I was able to climb a ladder without toppling off in a dizzy spin, I patched, shaped and sanded the new wall that used to be the top of the wardrobe.  

You can see more clearly in this photo. We chopped the top off the built-in wardrobe and gyprocked in the little alcove it made. There was also a space above the hall cupboard that runs next to the built in so we put in an open ended storage box that Eli will be able to access from his loft bed. I like surprise hidey holes it adds a little adventure to a room.

After days off plastering and sanding the frame part came together really quickly.

In fact the only thing that held us up was Dad and I changing the design every time Glenn went to the shops for more supplies, I think he hates us now. Nerds don’t cope well with change. 

Poor Glenn, since marrying me he’s had to get used my crazy renovation plans and the manual labour involved in bringing them to life. Also he’s had to get used to Dad’s sense of humour. Dad would stand, holding the beams for Glenn patiently waiting till the head of the hammer made contact with the nail then scream out in fake pain just to get a reaction. It got him every time. I’m pretty sure at one point during the day Dad had Glenn convinced he’d drilled into his hand. I think it’s called male bonding, that or evil father in-law syndrome.

 

 

Wonky photo is to show the relationship between Eli’s loft bed and Lilly’s "Little on the floor is not as much fun as an Up bed" Bed. Must quickly think of way of making on the floor bed cool (for some reason this must be read in a robotic voice maybe my inner voice is bionic) 

Anyhoo this is were we are up too. So progress but poor Eli is still sleeping on the cot mattress in the hall way and Sabi is still bed sharing with us. Pretty sure she doesn’t mind her arrangements half as much as Eli does.

Posted by Sarah in Toys on April 10, 2011

Early Sunday morning police were called after a family member located the misshapen remains of Mr John Thatsallwhywouldyouthinkhehasanothername was located at the bottom of the refrigeration tower in his own place of residence.

After examination of the scene the police have ruled out any foul play. “Mr Thatsallwhywouldyouthinkhehasanothername had a reputation as a midnight snacker and we believe the victim lost his footing while attempting to scale the fridge and simply fell to his death.” said officer Plod

The local member of The Plastic Toys Protection board had this to say about the events of Saturday night “we can speculate from the victims attire, that was not at all suited to the cold autumn evenings, that the misuse of alcohol may have been a contributing factor to this sad happenstance. It is a sad truth that in resent years with the promotion of Natural Echo Toys members of the Plastic Society are turning to illicit substances to drown out their feelings of inadequacy and guilt over the demise of the whole planet.”

A private funeral service will be held for Mr Thatsallwhywouldyouthinkhehasanothername on Monday morning.