Bugs and boxes

Ruth is such a good sister and
often rubs Hezekiah's sore gum.

Thursday: Brendon felt terrible today with not only the sore stomach but also a splitting headache and nausea whenever he moved around. So he slept most of the day except for a couple of hours in the afternoon when he could not sleep and so lay on the couch watching a movie with the girls.

These girls make me smile.

It was a very long day for me. I got quite a bit of sorting and packing done which was great but I was exhausted by the time 7:15pm came around. The girls got ready for bed and Ruth said "Mum - the long hand is not at the 6 yet so it's not bed time yet." My response: "Today has been a VERY long day for me. So guess what? It's bed time."

Hannah really enjoys playing the
Reading Eggs games on the laptop.

Friday: Brendon had today off for working last weekend and I am glad he did as he spent most of the day in bed again. He was feeling better though and was able to eat a little bit. I think it was very frustrating for him as he had hoped to get a lot of packing done today. It was a very hot day though and so I asked Josie if she would take the girls down for a swim.

Once Hezekiah had woken and fed I headed down with him. The girls had just finished their swim and so they sat eating the food I had brought and watched Hezekiah while I got 20 lengths done. It was wonderfully refreshing and great to get a 500m swim. I walked 1,5km this morning and the exercise does feel good.

I even got some sewing done today. The material and cushions have been sitting around for years. Nothing like knowing my sewing machine is going to be packed away for a while to get me motivated. I also changed this dress into a skirt for Rachel which she is thrilled about.

The girls also got to put on their Cinderella play for us today. They had lots of props for every scene (and even had the stage marked off with bikes). It was really well done. They have been practicing for over a week so were thrilled to finally get to show it to us. I like how Rachel has done the choreograph for this scheme. This is where Lucifer (the cat - notice the ears) comes in and dirties the floor that Cinderella has just cleaned. She then chases him out.
I wanted to show you a scene with Hannah in too. She was the step sister practicing her music when Cinderella comes in with the invitation. Ruth does the step-mother role really well. Sorry about the bad sound. You don't realize how loud the birds are until you take a video. :-)

Saturday: Thankfully Brendon was feeling much better today and so lots of packing got done. The girls room is getting packed up with boxes. The lady who will be moving in here started moving her things in today too. So she is filling up Rachel's room and the garage. This has honestly been the most stressful move we have had (far more stressful than our international move). Trying to make place for someone else but not having any place for us to start moving to has been hard. But at least we know we are doing all we can to help out.

Hezekiah sitting in the walking ring
for the first time. He enjoys being able
to watch everyone from this angle.

Other exciting news as that Ruth has her first loose tooth. I don't know how long they can take to actually come out - but it will be very funny if it comes out at the airport on the day we leave for our SA trip. Rachel had a tooth come out at the airport when we left SA.

Sunday: Packing and sorting and more packing today. Nothing like a move with a few weeks notice to get you sorting through things and throwing away or giving away loads of stuff. We had a really successful day and got half of the items on the "to do list" done.

And it finally happened - I planned the meals for the week so that we could start packing away pots and pans.

And to add to the business Rachel leaves for Jamboree on Saturday too. So she has been practicing packing her box. She did it on Saturday but it took over and hour to get everything packed. Today she got the box packed in 20 min (with an extra 8 minutes to check her day bag and tie up her box). She has decided that she will practice again on Tuesday and then of Thursday she will do the final pack and re-seal all the bags to get some extra air out of them all. It may sound like a simple thing but the box needs to be packed in just the right way to get all her sleeping gear and clothes (for a week) in. Her excitement is growing by the day.

Flower show and special spot

The girls have been so excited about going to the flower show today.

One of the reasons was to see how well they had each done in the colouring in competition. It's the first time Ruth will actually be "entered" as they only have winners from age 5. Well done Ruth for coming THIRD.

They were thrilled to get a ride in a donkey cart.

And Rachel managed to come FIRST in her age group. Well done Rachel.

This girls have found a new favourite playing spot - way down at the end of our drive. It's quite a walk for Hannah (700m) so they timed it on Saturday and Sunday morning so that they could get a lift home with Dad. They then also came up with this plan to play there after lunch on Sunday and have us just pick them up from there when we left for Bible study. This plan was fine. The only problem in the plan was that they had brought Patches all the way down with them too (you can see her to the left of Hannah). She normally walks with them for a while but turns back at some point. This time they picked her up when she got tired. When we got home we stopped and called for her but probably did not wait long enough. When we got to the house she was not there. Normally she jumps out in front of the garage as soon as we arrive - so I suspected she was still at the tree. My wonderful husband got back in the car and drove down to look for her. We were all very pleased when he arrived home with her.

Camera, quilt and clothes

My new camera arrived on Wednesday. I finally started looking at getting a replacement on the weekend as my current one is just very frustrating - long story. When I chatted to Brendon about which camera I thought might be nice to buy he had no hesitation. He said he has been waiting for me to decide what I wanted. So I have a better camera - a good 5 year warranty (so that I don't have this frustration again in 18 months) and it cost me LESS than my current camera.
The girls had a picnic lunch as they often do but Rachel came in asking that I come and take a photo of the "table" Ruth made for them. So a good opportunity to take my first photo with my new camera. :-)

It was nice to get the sewing finally finished on baby's quilt.

Now just to do all the finishing off on the edge and the other side. Brendon decided to have a look at the new camera and I ended up on the other side for a change.

On Thursday morning I heard Hannah and Ruth playing in the room when they woke up. I found Ruth had climbed into Hannah's bed and brought Patches with her. So much fun. :-)

On Friday morning I finished up the quilt. So nice to have that done.

Sarah had phoned on Wednesday to ask if Rachel would run Music and Movement for her on Friday as she had a wedding to go to. Rachel did a great job. She even made a chocolate cake for morning tea.

Rachel also had a go at the new camera and got this photo of Hannah and I. Another friend has lent me a bag of maternity clothes. It was so lovely to get to wear jeans for a change. There are so many lovely clothes that I am sure this will also help me in the waiting weeks ahead. I have all these lovely clothes I still want to get to wear.

We spotted this massive bee (if that's what it is) in the house one night - so it was a good time to test my new camera out a bit too.

Last week in August

Maureen came for my 24 week check last Monday morning. Hannah spent almost the whole time playing Preschool Jumpstart. At first I had thought it would be too hard for her but she is loving it. Ruth spent most of the time playing on her own outside. It was lovely and warm and so good for her to get some nice morning sun on her skin. So I had a lovely quiet visit with Maureen for a change. :-)

On Monday afternoon I took the girls to Guides. It's nice that Hayley is now old enough to join Rachel and Grace. The three of them get along really well together.

Today was an extra special day as they learnt about (and worked with) chocolate. For all the details check out Rachel's blog post. I think Rachel got to do the most amount of work with the chocolate as the other 6 girls seemed to get tired quite quickly (perhaps from being at school till 3pm). Rachel was also the only one not to over-eat.

She enjoyed the chocolate just as much as the others but has obviously learnt her lesson really well about sore tummy after over-indulging and so I was really proud of her for her self control.

This was her finished work. A chocolate bowl, truffles and chocolate leaves. And boy is it nice chocolate. I generally do not like dark chocolate at all but this imported Belgium chocolate is SOOOO good. The only problem is the price. Brendon said at least now they know what they can buy me for my birthday. Yes please. :-)

The plan was to be done by 8pm (we had fish and chips together for dinner) and so I had organized for the Spencer girls to sleep over at our place so that they did not have to be getting home at 9pm. Thankfully we finished a little earlier and so the girls had a little bit of time before bed. Thankfully they could just take a different school bus from the bottom of our drive. The girls were all so excited about their sleepover - on a school night too - even though they did not get to have all that much time together. Ruth stayed up until we were home and was up early as soon as the girls were up. So it was obviously a real highlight for her too.

The girls have been enjoying making "shows" for us to watch on the tramp.

Even though
"Dancing on Ice" is finished now - I think it has made a real impression on them all. :-)

I finally realized I had to wash my flannel material before I could start on the guilt and so I got that done this week. On planning however I realized that I had almost enough to make a quilt for the cot as well as a single bed. So I called the material shop and they sent an extra meter of the material out to me. I was amazed when it arrived the very next day!!! By Thursday I had already started quilting some of the blocks. It's quite exciting to see the teddy material finally being used after over 5 years in my sewing cabinet.

The weather this week has been lovely and warm. The girls have either worn short sleeve tops or summer dresses. I had to even find some summer maternity tops as it was just too hot. For three days I got "wow - that's a nice top". They have gotten to know my winter ones so well that it was obviously quite a shock to see me in something different.

We moved things around in the playroom on Thursday as they are using the two chest of draws as cooking benches. So at least all their kitchen things can now be over to one side of the room. The girls have been having SO much fun having tea parties and making meals for one another.

When Brendon did some shopping for me last week I had asked him to get buttermilk. He bought a 1 leter though as that was all they had. So with my rusk recipe only needing 500ml I decided to just make two batches. At least I know we will have stock that will last till after the baby is born.

With the first batch I tried something different - I added a cup of chopped nuts. I had bought 3kg of Brazil and hazelnuts and am always looking for ways of getting them into things. Brendon was happy with the taste and so with the 2nd batch I used my food processor to chop up the nuts really finely and I added 2 cups (one of each). So even though these are pretty healthy rusks to start with - they have gotten even healthier.

Unfortunately the week did not end on a healthy note though. Poor Hannah got sick in bed early on Sunday morning. After cleaning her, the bed and the floor we got her back to bed with the bucket next to her. We ended up having to clean up a bit twice more before Brendon left for work and she got sick a couple more times through the morning but thankfully had figured out how to make sure she stayed over the bucket. It made me realize how thankful I need to be for my girls health. It was so hard seeing Hannah just feel so terrible today. She managed to nibble on a couple of wine biscuits (like SA Marie biscuits) through the day but did not eat anything else (although so much was offered). Rachel had a sore stomach in the morning but thankfully did not get sick and was feeling well enough by late afternoon to have a decent meal (although a small helping).

Even though Hannah got sick this morning (only just a little with a cough) she was so much better and I was so thankful to hear her voice and see her playing. What a blessing to hear her ask for breakfast as soon as she woke up. Rachel was also almost back to 100% (just getting a sore stomach if she walked around too much). So no Guides this afternoon - just in case there are still some bugs around. Just a quite day at home for us all. I am very thankful no one else has gotten sick and that Hannah recovered so quickly.

Non-weekend weekend

Another chilly morning today but no frost and a beautiful clear sky. So I got the children to bundle up and head outside. I decided to make sure their toes were warm before they even went outside - so I warmed up their bean bags and they thought it was so much fun. Especially when I got my long one and put it over the top of all their feet.

At least jumping around on the tramp got them nice and warm too. Then they headed off to the tree house where they spent quite a bit of time. Hannah came back with no socks on though - no surprise there.

It even warmed up a bit after lunch that they ventured out without jackets on. Here they are at 2:30 going to meet Dad. They continued to play outside after this but decided the jackets were actually needed. I do love how Patches goes running off with them. She is such a sociable cat and loves being outside with the girls.

It is a bit of a non-weekend weekend for us as Brendon is working. It's normally Sat and Sun morning but he has been asked to help in the nucleus for a couple of months (with the pure bred sows) so there is a bit of extra work and so it goes a bit after lunch and today ended up being almost a full days work (he left at 7am). So we had a nice quiet afternoon and enjoyed our very typical "AFV, oven fish and chips, Junior Master Chef" evening. I always thinks it's so funny when the younger girls ever see Americas Funnies Videos they automatically think it's Saturday and we are having fish and chips for dinner. :-)

Photography fun

Lynn decided to have some photography fun with the girls this evening (which ended up including Brendon and I). Then once the children where in bed I had fun watching her create these masterpieces. Thanks so much Lynn. They are lovely.

Photos of the day

It's nice that Hannah is old enough to play
Snakes and Ladders with her sisters.

Having a cuddle.

Both smiling. :-)

Rachel cutting Dad's hair for the first time.

Rachel and Dad making Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner.

I love how you don't have to ask children to play with
education games. They just naturally have fun with them.

Surprise packages

Thankfully even thought the girls got to bed really late last night they were up early enough to talk to Nana on Skype for her birthday (thankfully it was still Sunday evening in SA). The girls cards had arrived in time for her birthday which was lovely but it was lovely timing that Nana's parcel to the girls arrived today (just after having wished her Happy Birthday). The girls each got lovely dresses and a little butterfly / fairy.

To be honest though - it was really funny to see Rachel's face when she first tried on her "dress". It was not a dress actually and these funny pants things were terribly uncomfortable for her. It must have felt like she was wearing an over sized nappy. So I cut it open and she is thrilled with her "dress".

While we were in town yesterday we stopped at a fruit and veg shop to stock up. It was great to get another big pineapple for my week's fruit salad as well as a few mangoes as they were much cheaper than normal. I was thrilled with the first one as it has been such a long time since I have enjoyed mangoes and it was so sweet and juicy.

Unfortunately the second one was a bit brown and less sweet (although the girls did not mind that and finished it up quickly). The third however was inedible. So perhaps it's worth just spending more money and buying a really good one. :-)

This afternoon we had the Brownie and Guide Registration for this year and so Brendon came along to run the BBQ for us. What a blessing to have him sort that all out while I got the registration side of things done. I am so thankful for our treasurer who - although she has only just taken over - was happy to take all the forms and money and do the rest of the work from here.

Kerry managed to get this box of goodies to Brendon while we were there and I was so surprised to see all the lovely baking she had done for us. Food has been a bit of an issue for me this week as I just don't feel tempted to eat. So her wonderful goodies got me nibbling and filled the rest of the families snack times with wonderful treats. Thank you so much Kerry. You are an amazing mother and a very dear friend.

Out and about

I got a call from the nurse this morning with the results from the blood test I had done yesterday. The hCG level that this little one has created is already up to 660. So it's all looking good.
I was on lift club duty today for Rachel's Art Club. Thankfully one of the other mothers offered to have my little two visit with her (her younger daughter is also 4). So I hung around at the school while Rachel was busy. It was nice to be able to get some bible reading done, get all my phone numbers transferred into my new diary, listen to a few chapters of an audio book and even get a nap in the car (with the seats that fold down so nicely). Ruth and Hannah had a great time but were also glad to get to have some time with Rachel on the tramp this evening. I am so very thankful I did not have to try to keep Hannah entertained while out the whole day.