Ella's 3rd Birthday Celebrations

My lil' Ella Bellie turned 3 on Monday. We celebrated with a party on saturday so saying it was her real birthday on Monday was very confusing. She wondered all day where the presents and party food were!!! It just doesn't make sense to her 3 year old brain that although it was her birthday on Monday, we'd already done her party and she wouldn't be having it all over again 2 days later.

Here's a little rundown of how the day went.....

It started off with going to Marcus' 6th birthday at Inflatable World. A real fun way to start the day!

At Marcus' party there were bowls of potato chips on the table. After playing for about 10 minutes, Ella camped at them until they were finished, even getting the little crispy crumbs on her fingers until they were totally gone. I asked Naomi what flavour they were cause she loved them so much and there was a spare packet so Ella got a special present of BBQ Kettles (which went down great after church on Sunday!)

Then we came home and got things ready for her party. As usual time flew and before we knew it, we had family and friends arriving. Yay!

Also thanks to Naomi, Ella was very occupied when we got home the party and I was busy getting things ready. She sat at the table and counted, recounted, sorted, shared and ate everything in her goodie bag. This girl ain't no saver!

Initially she was overwhelmed. I found her cowering under the table whimpering as the crowds rolled in. When I crouched down beside her and asked what the problem was, she said 'I don't want people to come to my party!!!!'. What the?!?!?!?! She'd been waiting for this day for months!

Didn't take long for that to wear off and she was in the full swing of things. I'm glad she chirped up cause I'm sure it's been the birthday we've waited for more than any other in history. She's talked about it soooo much I can't even believe it.

We had lots of yummy dinner and dessert, and more importantly we had a brilliant time with lots of family and dear friends.

She got some cool pressies and has loved looking at them, wearing them and playing with them this week. Everything she got was so 'Ella' if you know what I  mean.

Dinner was shared under the cold cover on darkness on the deck and the kids did it picnic style in the lounge on the Jujitsu mats, glad they came in handy for something

The weather killed the evening, well not entirely, but it was a bummer that it was freezing and rainy. The kids didn't mind though and they happily settled on the couches to watch 'Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs'

I love you my Bobby, and since you're now 3, here's 3 reasons why. (Even though there's so many more than 3 reasons why I love you!)

1. Your whole face smiles when you're happy/cheeky, and you have half cresent moon eyes like your Dad and big bulging cheeks.

2. You love to play with dolls and look after babies. You care for them in such a sweet way and I love watching you take them to the beach, to weddings, to the doctor, give them their milk bottle and wrap them up for bed in your new little cot.

3. You have always been a wonderful night time sleeper. Even now when you get up for the toilet or because you're too hot, you always sort it out and go straight back to sleep.

This cake was a combined effort from Mum and Dad. I maintain he did most of the work and he says that I did cause I baked the cake. His was definitely the tricky part and he did it so well. Much like concrete finishing apparently. I've already booked his services for Seth's Independence Day Party and Faith's Circus Party

  

And this is the day after the night before. The girls had a nice colouring in session after church. This is how I find them a lot these days and I love it.....so girly to sit around and write notes and colour in, and I love to hear what they talk about while they're sitting there thinking no one is listening.

 I love you Ella Deseret. You're so super special to me and I'm so so so blessed to be yo Mamma!

Swanson Ward Mother's Day Dinner

What a wonderful evening we had to celebrate the women in our ward last saturday night. Daddy Joe had a stressful week getting ready for it (hoping that the Elder's quorum would pitch in, but not feeling very confident about it), but it all came together and we had a great time.

There was a good turn out, a yummy meal and lots of laughs with the karaoke and dancing.

President Heke had said he didn't want the stress of doing it again next year, but as it turns out, the men supported the activity with cooking, serving, cleaning just as he'd hoped and I think he'll do it all over again next year.

It made me wonder how we could do something nice for the men when Father's Day comes around in a few months. Watch this space.....

What a scrummy meal. This was taken after I'd already eaten all the potato bake.

I was serenaded by this handsome man in front of everyone

  

The children were all looked after in the primary room by Bishop and one of his counsellors, and they did a brilliant job. I didn't see Seth until about 10 minutes until the end and the girls stayed in the room most of the time. The room took a bit of a hammering, lucky Seth was there to 'vacuum' up the mess!

What the heck?

Some moments in the last little while that have made me think 'what the heck?!?!?!?!'

I went to a group discussion about Nandos. We had to categorize different 'eating out' places and explain why we grouped certain places together.....for example I put McDs, KFC, Burger King together as fast food joints that have a drive thru. Then I had Sushi, Kebabs. Chinese as International takeaways. One lady tried to hardout explain that Wendy's is a restaurant like Lonestar. She said it's really flash cause it's got carpet and a condiments bar (sauce and salt!!!!). The other 7 of us were trying to tell the moderator that it was just like McDs cause she was Australian and she'd never heard of Wendys. The lady kept insisting it was so different and it's really a top notch restaurant. What the heck!

The same lady pulled out another 'what the heck' moment for me at the end of the 90 minute discussion. The moderator told us to help ourselves to some of the food on our way out (little sandwiches, slices, quiche things). I bent down and got a piece of lemon slice and started walking away. The aforementioned lady goes 'cool, I hoped this would happen so I brought an empty lunch to fill up...yeeyah' Wow, no shame! What the heck!

Last Sunday I got breakfast in bed from Daddy Joe (bacon and eggs on toast with a hot tottie). - lucky me!
Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for church. While I was standing in the kitchen thinking about what to get out for dinner, I said to Faith 'oh, it's mother's day, I get to choose my favourite dinner for you guys to make for me'. To which she said 'Fettucine, yum!!!!!' I said to her 'hey, it's mother's day, I get to choose'. She scratched her chin and tilted her head thinking about how to make this work for her. Then came her reply 'Mum, let's pretend it's a kids mother's day and I get to choose my favourite dinner for you to make for me' What the heck! (side note: we had fettucine made by Daddy Joe and it was delicious)

A few weeks ago Ella started mumbling something that sounded like a swear word...whaka
Faith and I looked at eachother when she said it because we both thought it was bad language. I didn't really know so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. When I asked her where she'd heard that she said it was off her horsey movie (and there's definitely no swearing in that so I thought she was legitimately trying to say something else). Days went by and we kept hearing it, right at the times of frustration and annoyance when one could resort to swear words. And it turned into Whakatuia. Now it gets used several times a day and despite our best efforts we can't seem to stop it. My daughter has made up her own swear word. Now when I reprimand her she says her Dad says it when he does the haka!!!!!' What the heck!

Educational Games

 I find the teacher in me comes out every so often as a Mother. I like to wear my teacher/Mummy hat at the same time. Short of sitting down and teaching Maths, Reading and Writing, I do try to cash in on opportunities that come up in an authentic and natural way. That's always the way kids learn best and it's so much less stressful than sitting down and forcing learning upon someone. Here's some games/activities we do to 'feed our brains' cause sometimes they get hungry just like our tummies do (or so I tell the girls)

Faith unknowingly started an alphabet game last week. She was  in the back of the car on a kindy run and she started going 'b b b braces, that starts with b aye Mum'. And that's the game. We decide on a letter and take turns saying words that begin with that letter. She's getting quite good at it and I'm sure it will help her with reading/writing/spelling.
b b b ball
b b b bathroom
b b b balloon
b b b brown
b b b bed

One we do at the dinner table is count the things on our plate, like 3 carrots, 2 brocolli, 3 pieces of chicken and 2 potatoes. And if we're extra clever we add them altogether. That was such a hard concept to start with, and 'counting on' can be a hard thing for kids into junior primary, but Faith's got it now....yeeyah!

Memory Game - look at objects, cover them and then recall what was there. I love seeing their minds straining to recall what's been covered. I'm sure I can see the cogs ticking....

Numb3rs - How many legs on a chair? 4
                 What's Grandie's address? 18
                 How old's Mum? 29
                 How many sleeps until Church day? 2

Groups -goat, horse, cow, sheep are all alike because they're farm animals
              car, bike, bus, truck, scooter are all alike because they've got wheels
              milk, cheese, ham, eggs are all alike because we keep them in the fridge.
               jacket, socks, shorts, t-shirt, dress are all alike because they're things we wear

I love it when we find something new to do that's educational and fun. One of those things at the moment is colouring in
                

This was the best effort Ella's given to colouring in (on paper at least!)

Chewing Gum Party

For the longest time Ella has been talking about her party. She invites kids she's never met before, adults in the supermarket....pretty much every  man, and his dog!
And the speech bubble on her party invite is usually how the conversation goes.....

We're actually going to have a potluck dinner with family and friends from our old stake on that afternoon. To Ella this is aka 'Princess Party'. I wonder if afterwards she'll wonder why there was no princesses or pink stuff like she's been waiting for. I don't think so though cause there'll be so many people here that she'll have a blast. And that's what we want, cause my little Bobby deserves a special time on her birthday.

Finally she can say she's 3 for real! And of course she'll have to have a piece or 2 of Chewing Gum to commemorate the day:)

Blessings, Blessings and more blessings

Without going into boring detail, let me just say that I know that my Father in Heaven hears and answers my prayers. This has become so apparent to me over the past fortnight, so much so that it's almost beyond belief. That's why I'm writing this, so I can look back on it and always remember that when you draw near unto him and plead, ask, pour out your heart, he does actually listen and care and love.
By saying this I don't mean that whatever we ask for we get immediately and exactly how we want because that's not the case, but I just know that he listens and does what's best for us.

Here's just some of the ways that we've been blessed lately and they've all been answers to prayers/fasting.

-The girls are starting to make big improvements regarding their church behaviour.

-After only 2 days of putting my name in for relieving (with holidays in between), I'm already booked in for 6 days work

-Uncle Stanie and Richie are helping us get a website up for Rock FX, not only just helping us with who to talk to, but actually giving us ideas and working through the process alongside us. After our talk with them last week we looked at eachother and had a big hug because we both knew it was an answer to our prayers even beyond what we'd asked for! Big Fist pump moment :)

-Ella can go to Summerland Kindy probably in about August/September which is perfect timing for when Faith starts school and their hours will be almost identical so I'll only have to do one pick up/drop off per day....my dreams came true on that one!

-I got to go to the temple on Saturday with our ward after thinking all week that I wouldn't be able to
go. And our children were all cared for by Uncle Johnny and Aunty Tan. Awesome!!!!

That's just a small fraction of what's happened for us lately. Now I've got a new excitement for prayer and fasting....and that's not because I think I'll get what I want, but because I really feel like I'm developing a more close and personal relationship with my Father in Heaven and I'm excited to talk to him every day.

Just thought I'd write those thoughts down.

The perfect pic for how I feel

Sleepover with Paloogie

On Thursday night we had the pleasure of having McKay (aka Paloogie) come and stay the night. Boy did Faith and I enjoy it. I'm sure Seth did too but he couldn't find the words to say it. And Uncle Paradontax (Uncle Joe) was at work late and out early so he didn't even see Mac at all.

We did swapsies with Ella and Mac so it was easy on my end with Faith, Mac and Seth to look after. And Aunty Nae and Uncle Stanie said it was cool to have Pency and Ella. Win-win!

Here's what we got up to...

Dinner was Bacon, Corn and Parsley Quiche. As soon as Mac got to the table and looked in his bowl he walked straight to the fridge and got out the BBQ sauce (that came over from Grandie's house). Is that a habit from what he does at home or is that cause he needed to drown a yuck dinner in some kind of sauce?  I didn't know if I should be offended about that or not :)

 

 Pre-bed warm down was Chipmunks The Squeaquel with a biscuit and apple. They watched for a while and then turned to making paper places. Paloogie is hardout good at making planes. Faith was a real amateur. I kept saying I was going to take them to bed but because they were behaving so well, I didn't actually follow through with it until Mac came up and said 'Aunty Mel, you keep saying you'll take us to bed and you're not...can you take us now please?' Haha

Bed time went really smoothly and so did the morning wakeup. After a false alarm with Mac at 5:30, they managed to stay in their beds until 6:20 at which point I set them up in the lounge with their movie on and went back to bed myself until Seth woke up at 7:20. I was a little concerned about what I'd walk out to at 7:20, but it was all good. They'd watched the movie and played with their planes again. Sweet!!!!!

 

 I'm so excited to do this more. As the kids get older it will be better and better I'm sure. Now Faith's in the process of learning the Leone's phone number. I'm a bit hesitant to help her know it 100% on her own. But if she does, her and Mac can wander round the house having their funny convos I'm sure. I love hearing them 'chat' on the phone. And I love CUZZY TIME. (AND AUNTY/UNCLE/NEPHEW/NIECE TIME!)

Oh, and Paloogie and Paradontax were stuck in my head all day so everyone got called that. I guess that's a bit of Kel in me!