:: Fun-raising Mum ::

Who ever said that being a SAHM with a child at school could be boring! Since Dominic started school, I'm amazed at how many activities us Mums (and Dads!) can be involved in with the school.

My favourite thing by far is being a helper in Dominic's classroom! I'm already known by nearly all the preppies as 'Dominic's Mum' and I even have a couple of the kids, that love a cuddle when I'm in there on a Friday! I love sitting there in the back of the class (well technically the side, but that doesn't sound as nice!) drawing, cutting, laminating or sharpening pencils and listening to those gorgeous little 4-5 year old's, absorbing all this new knowledge! The curriculum thats at their school is the Letterland curriculum and I must say, I'm super duper impressed with it! So much so, I'm thinking of getting the DVD of it for the younger ones here at home, so they can play along on the computer with it! I would definatly recommend it to any homeschooling families out there that might be looking for a curriculum for their kids. I'm looking at doing it as a pre-prep class for the kids, before they go to school, as the twins still have this year and next year before they even start prep, and they are so thirsty for knowledge, that I think they would love this!

A little hint though, be sure to check out The Book Depository before you purchase it, as its so much cheaper on their site, and they offer FREE international postage! Whenever I order books, I go straight to their site!

The other great thing that the school has is the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. This was a big attraction for us in choosing a school for Dominic, he loves being outdoors and growing things.

When I realised just how much Dominic loved going to the garden each fortnight, I wanted to be apart of the program, so I'm now on the fundraising team! We have to find new and exciting ways to fundraise.

The idea that I came up with, I cant take all the credit for! A large part of it goes to my sister Bec, who while being on my laptop on Friday she had the Vegie Smugglers site open and I noticed on the website, had a fundraising icon. The best thing about Vegie Smugglers is that is a cookbook and blog about creating yummy and healthy meals for fussy children who dont like eating vegetables!

Well its like God was telling me that this was the fundraising idea for our school!! When I read through it more, I was more convinced that it is the right fundraising, and today I put it forward to the rest of the committee and also the Head of Primary and they all LOVED it!

So I'm now the offical organiser/fundraiser for the Kitchen Garden program! And we are taking orders for the Vegie Smugglers Cookbook. If anyone is interested in purchasing one, please email me! And its for such a good cause and some really yummy receipes in there as well! 

:: This Week I'm Grateful For::

Image from here

When I decided to have a blog again, I wanted it as an outlet for myself and with the crazyness of kids, its great to have somewhere to connect with other Mums/fellow bloggers. I'm happy to have found some really great blogs in the past few weeks since re-joining the blogging community.

Yesterday while doing some blog hopping, I came across this wonderful blog by MultipleMum, who is also a Mum of B/G twins, and she posted about what shes grateful for this week. I can certainly relate to her post about life and how can just seem to pass by in a rush!

So, while I'm sitting here with the 4 oldest kids, still awake and not napping, I wanted to take a minute to blog about what I'm grateful for. Now I could blog all day, about everything I'm grateful for, but I just want to touch on a few of them!

Firstly I'm most grateful for being a Mum, to have been able to carry and give birth to 5 beautiful children who bring out all the emotions in me on a daily basis. They are the light of my life, and I thank God for them every day.

I'm grateful for the wonderful teachers that Dominic has at school, and the wonderful nanny (and sister), I have at home who each and every day are helping to enrice my childrens lives through learning and play. I couldnt do it without them!

I'm grateful for my Mum who, when I ring her asking for my home number while I'm at a party, and realise I dont remember it, she laughs her head off at me and gives it to me anyway!! Love ya Mum xx!

And finally I'm grateful for my hubby who like the kids make me feel all the range of emotions possible everyday, and even though he sucks at housework, he's an excellent nappy changer, vege garden grower, hard working photographer and rubbish duties man, I love him dearly! My life certainly wouldnt be what it is today without him!

So on this Sunday, what are you grateful for? I would love to hear about it!

:: Weekly Wrap Up::

Ever have one of those weeks, where you are just glad its Friday and the weekend is only a sleep-in away?! Yep thats my week summed up in a sentence! Although really with 4 kids waking up anywhere between 5:30am and 6am EVERY morning, its not going to be much of a sleep in! Who am I kidding!! Its nice to dream though!

This week I went into Dominic's class twice on both Monday and today. I must say I cant take my hat off high enough for the wonderful teacher and teacher aide that Dominic has, both DH and I have noticed such an inprovement in Dominic's sentences, language and overall behaviour since starting school. I look forward to spending that time with him and his amazing classmates on Fridays. On Monday I spent the day drawing flowers, raindrops, suns and leaves for next term, and I must say I know now why I never became an artist! I'm definatly not the worlds best drawer, but I certainly got lots of beautiful comments from the kids in the class, so thats all that matters!! Today I spent laminating all my creations!

I also got to watch the kids do a Athletics program they run called Run around Australia in 30 Days, its a 300 metre track in the playground that the kids have to run and each time they do the lap they get a paddlepop stick, and they have to see how many laps they can do in 10 minutes. Nearly half of the kids are doing that 6-7 times! Thats nearly 2 klms they are running and some of those boys (including my Dominic!) dont stop running that whole time! To make me feel even more unfit, they do that 2-3 times a WEEK!

I think its time I get him into Little Athletics, and I might have my new running partner!!

In home life news, I wanted to share with the other mums a great new resource I found, a website called Goal For It, which I have implemented for the eldest 4 (D,N,M & A), Harry gets away with it for now!

Its a chore/reward chart which you have either do online on the site, or print out, like we have so that the kids can see at a glance what they have on their charts. The best thing is, for the ones who cant read yet, it has bright and funky graphics which show the littlies what the chore is. 

We have our chart in the pantry, so its easy to see at a glance, and for everyday that they do all their things on their chart, they get a sticker and if at the end of the week, they have done everything they get money (Dominic $1, Nic, Mak and Annabelle 20c) and they can save it up in their special little money boxes for a special occasion. Dominic is saving for a DS and the others, I think they just think its awesome they are getting money!

Here is an example of Dominic's chart, he loves it so much and even asks for me to tick off his chore as he does them! He's really taken to it, the others need a little help but are loving it as well!

The best bit, is they are all able to be fully customized!

Be sure to check them out and let me know what you think! 

I'm off to clean the kitchen, and try and get the kids in bed by 7pm! Dominic has his first school birthday party to go to tomorrow and he's so excited!

Have a great weekend everyone! Hope the rain stays away from you, whatever your plans!  

:: Weekend Catch-Up ::

Every Sunday, I'm going to blog about the week that was. Its a way for me to be able to journal things that have happened with us this week, in case there are some days that I'm not blogging. Obviously in a perfect world, I would have a spotless house, 5 impeccably tidy children who love cleaning up after themselves and dinner magically cooked for me every night, but that doesn't happen! And the past few days have been busy with the kids, housework, a slight accident with DH and business work that I haven't had a chance to come back and blog! 

I'm happy to say that I dont feel guilty sitting here on the computer blogging cause all the housework is already done, there are no floors to mop, or kitchen to clean and the kids are all being well behaved! Shock horror! 

Thursday was eventful to say the least, it started out great! One of Dominic's classmates Mum's came along with us to play group and I'm happy to say she loved it! We are going to try and make it a fortnightly thing that she comes along with us! The kids always have a ball there, and this week we made a little something special for Nanna! (Watch the mailbox this week Nanna!!) and then it was a beautiful sunny day so they got to play outside in the water crafts that were there as well! 

The afternoon is where the excitement of the day got better! I left a little earlier than normal to go and pick Dominic up from school, and didnt even get 100 metres before I realised I got a flat...tyre that is! So after a quick call to find out where DH was, he came picked me up, we left the car there and went to get Dominic from school. After getting home, DH went back up the street to fix the tyre and change it over, only he had a slight accident when the car came off the jack and he hit his head. No concussion thank God, but a gash to the head, some compressed vertebras and a headache.

Friday all the kids including Harry went to Becca's for the day while I went out with Stuart (photo) shooting as Stuart couldnt do it on his own, then it was off to the chiropractor to fix him back up again and then picked Dominic from school and headed down to get the others. For all you B/F mums out there, try not to go 9 hours without either expressing or feeding! It makes for a very sore back! Luckily Harry was great for Aunty B, happily took a bottle and had a big feed before bed that night! 

Yesterday we ventured out to the shops to do grocery shopping which I'm sure last week I said I would never do, but again I caved and took them all, at least DH came along and it wasn't as painful, it was still painful but not too bad!! I think shopping centres need to put all of their merchandise up on shelves at eye level so that my kids dont touch everything!! I'm sure in their little brains, they think that if its at their eye level, it means its ok for them to touch and play with! 

We had visitors for dinner, DH's parents and sister, and the kids loved it! They were so excited to show them their new rooms and playroom! 

For dinner I made some healthy homemade pizzas, I think its going to be our ritual Saturday night treat meal with the kids! Next week I'll post some pictures and the recipe! 

Today was raining so I was hoping to just go to the markets quickly on my own, but no all the kids wanted to come! So DH came again and while the kids all stayed in the car watching a movie, I went quickly and got fruit and veg! And the best thing... bananas are still only $2.00 a kilo!! yesterday at Woolworth's they were up to $9.99 a kilo! Thats just crazy, I cant believe people would even consider buying them for that price!

So we are all back home again, I'm researching prices for gum boots for the kids, they kids are all watching Deigo although they are getting restless, so I think its time for lunch and then bed!! 

Ciao for now!  Hope everyone has had a great weekend! 

:: Awesome Mum 101 ::

Steps to being an awesome Mum...

Step 1. -- Take son to Crazy Clarks on Sunday to get crafty goodness for his show and tell on Wednesday.

Step 2. -- Help son choose topic ( Favourite Holiday) for said Show and Tell. He chose Tasmania.

Step 3. -- Do nothing for the next few days till Tuesday night when you remember said project!

Step 4. -- Find photos relating to project, print, cut out and paste on cardboard. Till midnight mind you!

Step 5. -- Remember you forgot to print the descriptions of the photos, do so at 6am in the morning on Wednesday!

Step 6. -- Show Son awesome project you did for him, and watch him go "Cool Mum, thats awesome!"

Step 7. -- Finish project 10 minutes before Son and husband are ready to leave for school.

Step 8. -- Sit down and enjoy breakfast finally! -- PRICELESS!

Step 9. -- Thank God that the other 4 kids arnt anywhere near old enough to be going to school yet!!

Step 10. -- Blog about said project to inspire other Mums. See Below!!

:: Pay It Forward ::

Its not often that I'll blog twice in one day, but I'm sitting here reading some mummy blogs and watching Hawaii Five-O and I've just read an post by Melissa over at One Crafty Mumma about a beautiful young 11 year old girl called Emma who has just started chemotherapy for a growing tumor in her face/neck/head.

It really touched a chord with me and also like Melissa would like to do something special for Emma. Emma loves stickers and Melissa is asking if people would be willing to post Emma a card/postcard in and envelope with stickers to brighten up her days while she's in hospital. Its just something little for us, but will make a great deal to Emma. 

Here are Emma's details:

Miss Emma Love
PO Box 2849
Burleigh Waters, QLD, 4220
Australia

Emma's story is on Melissa's blog, please take the time to read Emma's story, I know it touched my heart.

Please feel free to share this story on twitter, facebook and your blog to get Emma's story out there. I pray that she recovers quickly and that the tumor goes away. I know God is watching over this beautiful little girl and has many plans for her.

:: Sunday Markets ::

Just ask my Nanna and she will tell you, I'm a girl who loves shopping as much as the next girl, which is why I love venturing out to the markets on a Sunday. I love being able to find a bargain!

I like to go on my own or with Harry as I can go down there, get all the fresh fruit and vegetables that I need and be back before the kids wake up, leaving DH to have a sleep in and me some "time out" from the kids.... not today though!

We decided we would ALL go...so as soon as the kids woke up, we changed them and headed down to the markets. The kids were so excited cause we promised them pancakes and milk for breakfast if they would be good! So we left home at 7am to get down there bright and early.

I got all the fruit and veges for 6 of us, for under $30! I mean bananas down there are only $1.50 per kg! No way will I pay $7 at woolworths again!

My sister Bec and her son met us down there and we had a look around until it started raining so we headed to the shopping centre to get the rest of our groceries.

My bargain of the week? 3 pairs of ballet flats for $5 each, down from $15 each. I love now as the hot weather is starting to cool down that I can wear enclosed shoes again, you really dont wanna see my feet, I dont have time to paint them so they arnt nice and pretty!

We finally got home at 3:30pm... yep it took us 8 AND A HALF HOURS to go to the markets and then grocery shopping!! By that time, the kids had hardly had a sleep, they were tired and we didnt even think we could drive to Church
:(

AND that is why I dont like taking all the kids, I'm pretty sure DH will be happy to stay at home with them next Sunday! At least then I'll be down and back before church!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

:: Saturday Musing ::

Saturdays are always eventful in our house, normally I venture out and do my grocery shopping, but as soon as the kids realise I'm heading out with Harry to go to the shops, there's a chorus of "I'm coming" and "Me too". I've had the kids come out still in their pj's trying to hop in the car!! Mummy says "No", Daddy grabs them, tears ensure and I'm left feeling horrible for leaving them crying at the front door!

I always plan to only take Harry and one other child, cause then I can put Haz in the trolley and get the shopping done pretty quickly, normally I'm back from shopping within 2 hours of leaving, although lately I have been taking 3-4 of them! Last week, I went with the girls, Nicholas and Harry... 4 kids, 1 trolley and a crazy Mummy! <--- Thats me!

It started out ok... I had one of the double trolleys, with Harry and Makayla in the baby seats, with Nicholas in the trolley and Makayla walking.... Now imagine this, we are walking down the aisles and Nicholas tries to climb out mid-push, we run into Makayla, she starts crying and Harry decides he doesnt want to sleep anymore! Three crying kids in the middle of Coles!

Now I could have high tailed it outta there with the kids in toe, or I could do what any mother would do in that situation... bribe them! And thats exactly what I did! I bribed them with chocolate milk, I hunted around in my bag (suitcase as my DH calls it!) and found a rusk for Harry and power walked with the kids and finished off my shopping!

I get home and once again say how I'm never going to take them again!!

Which is why, when I'm sitting here on Saturday morning, comtemplating to go out and do grocery shopping, I think of last week... and decide to have another coffee instead and maybe try shopping after the markets tomorrow!

So instead of shopping, we stayed around home, I cleaned and the kids messed it up after me! Good times!

:: Friday School Days ::

I decided to volunteer as a helper in at Dominic's classroom and today was the first day, so with the middle three having a sleepover at Aunty Bec's place, Harry and I went to school with Dominic!

After all the parents had left, the kids all sat there in front of their teacher Miss K and had a book read to them, while they were listening to the story, I sat there and sorted all the pencils and sharpened them all ready for next week! And ooh my gosh, sharpening nearly 200 thick, fat pencils is finger hurting! I mean I have two blisters on my right hand because of it! One on my thumb and one on the side of my hand!

So while I was sharpening pencils, Harry went off to sleep and all the kids were playing outside. Afterwards, while Harry was still sleeping, I went out into the playground with the kids and made sandcastle mountains with Dominic and his friends!

After all the kids came back in, we built a wood pieces dinosaur, as the kids are learning about dinosaurs this term.

Harry was certainly a big hit with the kids in at school, at the breaktime, the girls loved sitting with Harry and playing with him! It was like my own little mothers group at school!

I also went along to Dominic's assembly and chapel and its so cute to hear the kids singing and learning more about God. There is one song that Dominic just loves which we have started to teach the other kids at home. We have started to sing it just before bed, and then say "I Love You" and "God Bless" messages, its so beautiful to hear that from the kids as they are going to bed!

Exciting news as well, I did my first photo shoot today! Its been nearly a year since I've been shooting! Earlier in the week, I was personally requested by a client to do a shoot, they are a interior design company who we have done work for, she wanted me to do a shoot for her, cause she really wanted to focus on the design aspect of the apartment, it was the penthouse mind you and just gorgeous! I really loved going out and shooting again! 

After picking up the munchkins from Bec's place, it was home time for dinner, a little play with each other and bed! We have two angels kids for bed, Dominic and Makayla are just angels, they will say good night, get into bed and just go to sleep.... Nicholas and Annabelle on the other hand, are little terrors! They could get up half a dozen times before finally going to sleep! Annabelle was really good tonight cause Dominic crawled down on the floor next to her to go to sleep, Nicholas came out a few times and then wanted to climb into bed with me while I was feeding Harry to then finally going back to his bed! 

I've then sat down, laptop on lap, TV on and I'm sure I dont wanna move anywhere!! I've sorted photos and they are currently loading, so we are watching Undercover Boss and I'm ready to crash, so I'm going to bid you "Good Night and God Bless" xx  

Welcome to my blog!

So after a 4 year break from blogging, I've decided to start back up again! Please mind the dust, the blog is still a work in progress! With 5 young children its nice to be able to come online at the end of the night when they are finally all in bed and just dump all the stuff thats going on through my head somewhere! I've tried it with hubby but normally he's ready for bed and is sound asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow! Welcome to my blog!   

Let me start by introducing myself to the people who dont know me who happen to stumble across my blog! My name is Kirsty, I'm getting closer to 30 every day (currently a young 28!) married to my soul mate and other half Stuart, and together we have 5 gorgeous, darling (sometime terrors!) children. I love reading books when I have time, photography (although lately all my photos are taken from my iphone and not my D300!) and scrapping (again although lately I havent had a spare second to be able to but I miss it like crazy, its my stress relief!), I'm learning to grow stronger in my relationship with God and letting go of control and knowing he is there looking out for us and my little family.

Dominic is our eldest at 5 and started Prep this year at the local Christian school. He loves being the big brother and helping Mummy and Daddy around the house! He's my gorgeous blue eyed boy who has such a wonderful heart!

For nearly two years we were a little family of three and living in Victoria, it was while we were down there we decided that we wanted Dominic to have a sibling and within a few short months we found out we were expecting, not one but two siblings for Dominic! So we moved back from Victoria, moved in with my mum and her partner Wayne and we got ready to being a family of 5. Our twins were born early at 24wks and after a short stay in hospital over Christmas 2007 they started reaching their milestones and growing into beautiful little kids!

Our twins Nicholas and Makayla are now bright and bubbly three year olds!

Nicholas is our little cheeky monkey, he has such a twinkle in his eye! He loves playing outside and his Pooh Bear blanket is never too far away from him!

Makayla is our resident princess! She loves everything Pink, anything that goes in her hair, jewelry and handbags!

The twins has just turned three months old when I found out we were expecting again! I was going to be a mum of 4 and I was only 26! We had just purchased our photography business so we were flat out, looking after our little family, running our business and moving out and into our own little house.

In December 2008, only 4 days after Christmas, our gorgeous little brown eyed girl Annabelle came into the world!

Annabelle is now our bright eyed tomgirl, who loves getting down and dirty with her brothers and cousins! 

After Annabelle we were sure our family was complete, we bought our first home together, we were growing our business and then a week before Christmas (what is it with us and christmas babies!) I was feeling off, and after joking around with Stuart he said could I be pregnant? I was like No!, but I still had one pregnancy test left from Annabelle, so I throught "What the heck" so I took the test....and three minutes later, I found out that our family would have another family member in 9 months!

And now 16 months later, Harry is 7 months old and my brown eyed little man! He's such a combination of his brothers, the calming nature of Dominic and the cheeky side of Nicholas.

I guess none of these gorgeous babies wouldnt be here if it wasnt for my darling husband and I, so here we are, smiling away for the camera! Again using my iphone! I'm sure my D300 is thinking of leaving me, cause I dont use her enough!

Well welcome to our family, and my blog. These are the people I'll be blogging about and sharing our funny little stories about our life!

Be sure to drop by and say Hi! Let me know your blogs, so I can drop in and say Hi as well!

Now I've introduced you to my family, I'm tempted to tell you about my day today, but it was pretty boring!! I did have a quiet day with just Harry while Dominic was at school, as Nicholas, Makayla and Annabelle had a day at Aunty Becca's which then turned into a sleepover, so a quiet day turned into a quiet night!
Tomorrow I'm off to spend the day in Dominic's classroom with him and his classmates, so I'm really looking forward to see how he enjoys it!