Garden work and sports begin

Thursday 25th April: Hannah was pleased to be able to join St John Youth for the Anzac parade in Amberley this year. Looking so smart in her uniform.

Anastasia looking very cute with her red shiny shoes and her hair tied up.
Ruth in her Guide Uniform for Anzac today. And then enjoyed helping us with some gardening. She enjoyed using Dad's tools to form a wall around this bed (so we can get the grass growing up nicely to the side).




And then she loved using Dad's pick to dig out this area. 

It was finished up a couple of days later, but I thought I'd pop the photo in so you can see the end result. It looks really good.

Asher enjoying playing with Anakin and his cat tree (right inside the cat tree).

We have learnt about proprioception and seen how much Asher likes deep pressure on her arms. She also likes big hugs (and squeezes) at times. The lady who has been educating me on these things told me about weighted teddies for children. So I took a dog teddy we had, removed all his stuffing, and replaced it with wheat. She loves him. He is really heavy and gives her lovely pressure when she wants it.

Friday 26th: What stunning colours.



Hezekiah asked me to take a photo of his creation.

Saturday 27th: The children helped in the garden today. It's starting to look a lot more controlled - which Brendon and I both really thankful for.
Anastasia wanted Dad's pizza and was happy to just try get a bite off it. She is happy to try any food that someone else is eating.

Monday 29th: I must get a photo of this area before it's totally changed. I managed to get a free lean too / carport that Brendon got help fetching. So we have most of what we need to create a car port for Rachel on the side of the garage. So the first step is Brendon has to dig big holes for the new posts. And I want to remove all the beautiful bulbs from that bed (as the whole area will be stone).

Wednesday 1st May: Children photo.
And Asher enjoying using all 4 iPads in the house.

Saturday 4th May: Hannah's first day at netball.



She has a number of short games through the morning. I was pleased to be able to get to watch most of them.









And Hezekiah's first day at soccer. Thankfully they were both in Culverden.
So Brendon was with Hezekiah for his games but still had enough time to come over and watch Hannah play too.

Thankfully I was able to pop over and watch a bit of the soccer too. Brendon was asked to get on the field and coach them a bit - which he enjoyed. The team is mostly beginners but they had great fun.

Once sports was done and the children were home, Brendon and I managed to get away for a night for our 22nd anniversary. We are so thankful for the help with watching the other children (including Anastasia) so that we could have some time totally on our own.
We had a lovely dinner out (a real treat).

We stayed at the same bed and breakfast we had previously. They are such a beautiful Christian couple that we always enjoy the big of time fellowshipping with them too.

They had plans in the evening though, and so we got to enjoy special time alone in their amazing spa. It was so good to have the time to chat and just relax.

Ears, cuddles and friends

Monday 15th: Asher got given a pair of bunny ears. She was very pleased about putting them on. :-)

Tuesday 16th: Foosball fun.

Ruth popped this photo through to me. She loves getting Asher to give Anastasia a cuddle.

Wednesday 17th: We planned a trip to town today as we had booked in to get Asher's car seat and buggy adjusted. The children got to play while the guy worked on them. The car seat was quick to adjust (adding and extra piece to it) but the buggy proved much more complicated. So they had to send it away to get adjusted at the warehouse.

It's always fun to have a sliding partner. :-)

After Anastasia woke from her nap she joined in the fun too.

Thursday 18th: Fun with Dad.

These two enjoyed the popcorn that got made today.



Fun with friends.

Friday 19th: Sister cuddles.

Saturday 20th: Asher managed to get these 4 puzzles down. I don't normally allow her to do all of them (I normally limit her to 2). The reason is because 3 of them have the same cut. If I let her do two with the same cut, I normally sit with her and direct her with the pieces (pointing out to her what is on the picture of each piece).
Today I didn't worry about sitting with her and allowed her to build them on her own.
This was the result. We have told people before that she builds puzzles by shape. This was a perfect example of how she does that. She does not have any concern about the jumbled pictures she created. The pieces went into their proper shaped position - and that was all that matters to her.
It's quite interesting for me that she is not interested in sorting them by picture, as she loves sorting in so many other situations.
As it was overcast this afternoon, I took Asher and Anastasia out to the tramp

Unfortunately the sun then came out and Asher had a seizure not long after these photos were taken. It was less than a minute, but so disappointing for me that she can't enjoy this activity more.



Below: The girls had a fun time with Brooke making up funny games with the bikes.

Sunday 21st: In order for the rest of the family to actually get to watch something on the TV, we set up the portable DVD player for Asher. It was very cute to see Anastasia and her watching together.
Tuesday 23rd: Hezekiah loves getting cuddles too.











Ruth's colouring in competition entry. She does love doing these and puts such incredible effort into making them beautiful.

Ruth took this photo for me - Anastasia wanting to help Dad with fixing the cupboard.

Ambulance, sport, box and bump

Friday 5th: Asher enjoyed playing with these babies this morning when she got up. She doesn't play with dolls often, so it was very special to see.
Asher doing things her funny way. I walked in to see her up on the side board. We were given some books that I need to find space for on the bookshelf. While they sit there they have become an interest to her. It's so funny to see her sitting with a book, pretending to read. We have stopped the climbing, but she enjoyed the books for a few weeks. :-)

Monday 8th: Asher had a bad fall with a seizure today as it hit her while she was running on concrete.

Tuesday 9th: The school put so much effort into Asher's "student led conference" today. While the other children showed their parents what they have been doing, they had prepared a video for us to watch of some of the things Asher has been doing at school. She enjoyed watching it too.

Rachel was thrilled today to get a St John jacket to use until her full uniform arrives (it's been ordered). Now that she is 18 she is able to volunteer on the Ambulance.
This is something she has been looking forward to for so many years now. So a very special time.

Her 18th birthday photos will go on their own post.

Wed 10th: The beautiful sunrise this morning. Today marks the start of this year's Casa Fest - hosted by our school this year.

Brendon was able to help with reffing the soccer games. He does so love soccer - so this was really nice for him to do. If only we had gotten his name on sooner, he would have been able to ref the squash games too (that would have been nice).
I got these photos after picking the children up from school (we just drove past to have a quick look). I didn't manage to get any photos of Ruth's involvement. She was again part of our school's team - which is really special for her. She hopes to be in the team each year through high school.

We "billeted" two girls for the festival. Ruth was really pleased to be able to do this.
Boxes are always fun.

Managed to get both smiling in this photo.

And once I had left them alone, they both got iPads to play on. It was so cute watching them have this special time together. Asher does have a habit of watching what Anastasia is doing though, and often "helps" (even if it's not asked for).

Thursday 11th: Anakin giving Anastasia a bit of a cuddle while she had her milk this afternoon. He is such a special cat.

Asher's bruise is showing up a lot now. The photo doesn't even show how dark it was. It was a real bad knock (even bigger than what it first appeared with just the areas of broken skin).

Saturday 13th: Enjoying a walk with these two. They always like to stop and say hi to the animals.

Sunday 14th: Ruth letting Anastasia have some writing practice.

Then she decided to let her do some dishes.
Ruth is so good with creating games and activities.