Strike A Pose

Now I am aware that other peoples family photos are like looking at other peoples family holiday slides... no one REALLY wants to see them all but they do, you know to be polite. The same rule applies here, though I will only show you the ones I love, actually I love them all so the ones I REALLY love.

Back: The Man Child, Miss Independent, Big Miss, Little Miss
Front: Littlest Miss, Mr Cheeky and Miss Thinker

The Man Child was not really interested in the whole dress up version of a family pic, but as I told him, repetitively, that day. Family photos are not really about the family they are about the mum ( or whoever it is in the family who wants them done) so he was to sit there and smile! 

My Beloved and the Man Child do not seem to have gotten the bare foot memo, though because they are my 'boys' I have 'let it go'.

As is the norm for me I knew the pics where coming up but did very little to prepare and when there was four days till photo time I stared to organise the dress ups. I was also told that My Beloved was buying a car and basically my budget was $0. I admit I panicked, then went to a second hand store and bought an old wedding dress for fifty dollars after cutting and sewing it ended up dressing Big Miss and I made two other skirts for Little Miss and Miss Independent (though luckily the photographer had white dresses and the girls chose to ignore my handiwork and wear the dresses, not that I blame them mind!)

Big Miss and Littlest Miss

Though it probably is not obvious Big Miss's hair was an awful lot of work and I think she puts every girl in the world to shame, of course I am her mother.. I am expected to say that even when it IS true. ;p  Littlest Miss's 'Fasinator' was not however as difficult as it may look to have made. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We decided to get any 'formal' posing out of the way early so that we could get some more natural shots, well maybe not natural.... CANDID is the word. For example in this shot, I have just finished shovelling some cake into my mouth and look real close at Littlest Miss, she has cream all over her cheeks...

Big Miss was a fantastic help the whole morning of the photos, I realised that I did not have anything to wear ( my dress was not breast feeding friendly) I got a little 'emo' about that and Big Miss looked through my wardrobe and found a black dress for me.... I have a lot of dresses I never wear and it was one of them.

The girls all looked wonderful and the disicion to use just black white and pink was a great one it looks fantastic against the sand and the she oaks and gum trees.

The Man Child actually smiled for some pics too. Which was great considering he did ask half way through the shoot 'What happened to the good old days when they just took one photo of you and left you alone to play your Ipod?'

As punishment, he had to take a photo with his mother. Mwhahahahahahaha!

He did not have a problem having one taken with his father how ever! 

We had cake and bikkies on our 'Mad Hatters' table. The kids did very well NOT to eat it straight away... I did too, just quietly.

 Now don't fool your selves there will be more photos... just not on this post. :)

The 'New For Us' Car

I have written four posts and half way through all four I stopped. I just was not 'feeling' them. I am not feeling this one either truth be told. But you gotta actually DO a blog post occasionally, I imagine.


Today My Beloved (finally) bought the car he has been 'buying' the past two weeks. i am relieved because now I can brazenly spend what ever money we have left. If it were not for the fact his 4wd is getting far to 'long in the tooth' and the car will be given to the Man Child once he gets his P's i probably would have chucked a wobbly.


Why?


BECAUSE it is a SEDAN!!!!!!

This is not it but it is what it looks like, now how is that gonna fit 9 people in it?

I figure  seeing as we have five kids in school I may just 'zip' around in the thing when I go into town and don't actually have to buy anything for the family ,like groceries because quite honestly there would not be enough room for two kids myself and the groceries...

I drive one of these

Again this is not mine. Mine has pink hub caps, pink wipers, a bit of rust on the roof and eyelashes.... YES, eyelashes. Looooooooooong story. Think Mothers Day and 7 kids, well actually they were My Beloveds idea.

Night all! 

  xx

Oh if you want you can Like us on Facebook. ( Oh yeah I am getting really computer savvy ;)

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been a tad busy this last week. It seems that when things settle a bit, one of us gets bored with normality and decides too 'DO' something! Last week it was more tiling as My Beloved had a week of no work. It started off pretty well and continued that way. 


Our initial hiccup earlier in the week was not a sign of what was to come. We managed to work together well. I did let the team down a bit, I was tired and after moving what I term my/our office 'mini library' (onto our bed) I did not put it back for two days. YES! I know. I did however manage to do other less important 'jobs'. I also let the washing, pile ... just a bit you understand.


I also have family photographs coming up on Tuesday, I have a theme of 'Mad Hatters Tea Party/ Fancy Dress'. The photos will be at low tide on the 'mudflats' of a local bay and I have plans on dragging tables and chairs and decorating it 'Tea Party' style.  We will be wearing white/black or hot pink colours with Fasinators all of which I am making, have made or will make... with just two days to go.The boys will be wearing hats as I dont think any man can pull off a fasinator!

I have spent 70 dollars on a few bits and will probably spend 30 tomorrow on 'bits'. I brought a wedding dress from a local St Vinnies  and have made Big Miss, Little Miss, Miss Independent and will make Littlest miss' dress also. 


NOW, when I say made I mean 'pulled out a cinderella dressup for Miss Independent and added lace and fabric too it, so there was no real skill there!


Little Miss' dress is actually a ladies leotard I found at the same store for 3.50. I had to make a skirt from the lining of the wedding dress and the lace to make some 'sleeves'.


Big Miss is going to be wearing the altered dress (it was a 12, now an 8). With some hot pink ruffles around the edges.


Littlest Miss will be wearing a 'creation' that I have yet to create... The fasinators, well they will be easy! (famous last words!)


All the above was written Saturday night I was too damn tired to finish it and I have spent every waking moment since then 'making' the girls clothes. See above on the term 'making'.

Today was photo day and it was a restful morning, My Beloved and I slept in till 7.30 and the kids didn't go to school *slaps wrist*. By 8.30 however it dawned on me that the dress I was to wear, was not 'nursing mother friendly' so I did what I do best in these situations and panic. I grabbed the lining of what was Big Miss' dress (originally a wedding dress, NO not mine!) and started to make a skirt, It looked OK but I could not find a top to suit and I started to panic again! 


I was side tracked by the Man Child's complaints at having to be in the photo and for the first time EVER in his schooling life,suggesting he go to school.  It was around then that I said, for the first time during the day. 

' Family photos are about the mother! Not the kids. You wear what I want you to wear and you smile, got me?'


I spent three hours doing last minuet things and dropping the girls at  my  mothers place to do their hair. I realised early on that there was just NO way I was going to get it done myself. With half an hour to go before we were MEANT to leave for the 'location' (oooh sounds so professional doesn't it?) I realised that Big Miss's hair was going to take me too long to do and I still did not know what I was wearing. I think I actually started to hyperventilate! 


So I grabbed everything we needed, and decided a black dress in my cupboard would be my attire for the day, 'ran home to mummy' who did Big Miss's hair whilst I dressed every one. Littlest Miss's pink ruffles skirt was being un-co-operative and I tugged a little too hard at the elastic and it snapped dropping 2 metres of fuchsia netting to the ground. I threw the skirt in disgust and started to tell my self, out loud mind you ( crazy lady) to chill out, it is just a photo session, no-bodies lives actually hung in the balance.


With everyone dressed it was my turn to do my hair and we were only (at that point) 10 minutes late of our scheduled departure time. Mum SAVED the day! ( Love you mummy). 


Finally we set off in two cars, 20 minutes late. Whilst filling up his car with diesel My Beloved said


 'errrr that tyres flat, pull up by the air so I can fill it. Have you rung the photographer yet to tell her we are still 30 minutes away?'


'Um No, ooops.'


'Yeah well, you might want to think about doing that ey?'


So I did and eventually we got there 42 minutes late...  


The photographer from now on in known as Tracey did a fantastic job and I have only one pic to show you now, BUT it is a sign of the brilliance to come when I ramble on about the shoot its self in my next post with more awesome photos.


 Go here to check out her facebook page. And speaking of Facebook, go here to check My 7 Little Australians out too! ;)

Stay Out Of My Drawers!

This week HAD such potential, it really, really did. My Beloved had plans to tile some more of the floor 'knock up' and island bench in our kitchen to put the gas oven in a permanent home and, I suspect, so he can try the ladder as a pot and pan holder again ( we did it years ago) for the record... I prefer the wrought iron circle pot hanger.


He has a thing for being in the kitchen, so much so that he rearranged the cupboards last week. I am starting to feel as though the kitchen does not belong to me. Last night just after the kids went to bed, I decided pikelets sounded like a yummy snack. So off to the kitchen I went. I pulled out the eggs and milk from the fridge the sugar and the flour from the pantry and opened a drawer to get out a bowl big enough to 'do the job'. I stood there looking at a drawer full of plates, saucers and bowls... I was confused for a second then really annoyed. Use your indoor voice I reminded my self.


'Err babe.'


'Yeah love.'

'Where are all my bowls?'


'In the top drawer'


'yes, but i am talking about my mixing bowls that used to be in the top drawer'


'oh they are in the other drawer'


Now we have precisely 5 drawers in our kitchen and 18 cupboard doors not including the pantry I was in no mood to open them all. But he said drawer you might be thinking. That means nothing. My beloved is not known for giving clear instructions when it comes to drawers and cupboards they could be one or the other.


 Kind of similar to myself when I give instructions to him when he needs something that lives in the hall cupboard. 'In the box under the other thing' or 'Where that big blue thing is, it is on the other side.' are examples of common instructions he gets from me. When he says 'Where?' or 'I cant find it' I usually reply like this. 'Oh forget it, I will get it in a minuet!' Followed by my huffing and puffing because he couldn't 'read my mind', that and have a 'womans look'.


'Dont worry, I found it.' I said to him


A few minuets had passed I had mixed up the batter, lit the stove and greased the pan. I opened the second drawer of the night to find that my measuring 'everythings' and tupperware 'things' were no where to be seen in stead we had a very neat display of soup ladles, spatulars and large knives... Ok I thought. Inside voice.


'Ok babe, I need my measuring things.. where are THEY?'


'In that corner cupboard.'


'WHY ARE THEY in the corner cupboard? What kind of an idiot puts them in the corner cupboard? Why are you even moving my things? What is wrong with you?' ( all rhetorical questions) 'What sort of a moron moves the  kitchen around?( ditto) My pan is too hot! Oh FFS.'


I found the spoon and started making pikelets. My Beloved was quiet. He knew that to make any sudden moves to soon  would ensure that I would not be able to hold 'it in'. 


As it turns out he didn't need to move.. I couldn't hold it.


'Why would you put them there? I mean Honestly!'


Do you know what he said to me?


'Because the place that I had them was a stupid place to put them! 


This, coming from a man who once, thinking he was helping me whilst I was out shopping, moved the lounge room around how I had mentioned to him a day earlier,only literally blocked every exit of our then open plan lounge/dining/family room with couches, tables and other furniture. It was a MAZE!!! 


Of course that statement had me muttering as I finished all the batter and I put the picklets on the coffee table and sat down to eat. I like my pikelets au natural ( no nothing) My Beloved likes butter and jam.


'Don't spose you can get the..., Don't worry I will get it my self.' he said to me. Must have been the look in my eye.


'Hey Em,' My Beloved said shortly after entering the kitchen.


'Yes.'


'Where is the jam?'


'I put it in the cupboard, because to put it in the fridge or pantry would be a STUPID place to put it.' I said sarcastically.


 He found it, after having a womans look in the door of the fridge. The saddest thing of all is My beloved is home all week. No three day trips away taking tourists on 'safari' and I am not sure how much we will like each other by the end of the week... not if those 30 mins of last night are anything to go by! Oh that and the fact that I am off the 'do my drawers!' ;p

Shopping Spree... The Big Shop

I must to do a stock up food shop. I tried the last couple of weeks in vain to do it (excluding the camping days when I did not try at all!) We are getting down to bare basics. Oodles of pasta and SR & P flour, plenty of salt and pepper and yeast and eggs and dairy goods and sugar but not a lot else. Oh unless you consider 8 jars of passata and large cans of two fruits and pineapple and lots of tins of baked beans and kidney beans 'luxury' items... I do not.


IF I was even half the woman my mother is we would still be eating 'gourmet' (read cooked from scratch) meals, but, alas I am a little bit spoilt and kinda like my easy, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad for you 'plastic' food.  Laziness again ( I am pretty lazy at times-sigh. BUT having said that I do not see the point in making too much work for yourself either) I have not had a freezer for 6 months.


It was awful at first, I mean REALLY horrible, BUT now I find I do not rely on the frozen food and use local fresh veggies much more which aside from being better for you also helps the local people out. I find that is something I am a LITTLE more conscious of lately. A few farms have stopped producing what they always have done, since I was a child at least, because it is no longer viable. The produce is cheaper to import. It is sad really.


I will, of course, buy a freezer soon enough. I do miss being able to by my 16 loaves of bread and freeze them, freeing me from buying more than a loaf or two every fortnight unless My Beloved cooks a BBQ for dinner then we go through 2 loaves.  (Sausage sizzle or steak burgers) Unfortunately I am buying three loaves a day, as it is winter and with My Beloved home this week we have been having lots of toasted sandwiches and the Man Child seems to be eating them as if he has not eaten in months! 

I have written a 'master shopping list' which will include more of the items already in my pantry as well as other items like junket and bi carb,more yeast and spices ( I am running out) as well as the other stuff that make opening the pantry door worthwhile! So that even if  I don't go shopping for a month or two with those 'essentials' and the produce available locally I will be able to feed my hungry family well and by two months of no shopping they will most certainly be made from 'scratch' meals. 


I tried the theory of only buying what you need to save money and 'space' years ago. I must suffer from the siege mentality as I am happy with all bills paid, cars full of petrol and cupboards, fridges and freezers ( when we had a functioning one that is) over flowing with food. Anything else after that IS a luxury. I was not comfortable with 'just enough' in the cupboards and i wouldn't recommend that for a large family ( or any size) personally.


Monday morning bright and early I am off to overflow a trolley or two at Aldi and then on to my local independent grocery store to fill another trolley there ( Aldi just does not have everything you need... shame isn't it?) After that if I have any money left I am going to treat myself to a 12 pack of hot cinnamon doughnuts, some of which will make it home for My Beloved to par take of.


How do you shop? Day to Day? Weekly? Fortnightly? or Monthly?

On The Rocks, Please.

Home again. Isn't it always nice to get home! I seem to be in a bit of a habit of posting every couple of days so I felt I had to again today. Though I am tired and never really know what I am going to ramble on with until I sit down with the laptop on my lap and a hot cup of coffee inches from my face. So I do hope this, the previous and all future posts actually DO make sense. I don't bother editing too much due to laziness and also because... no pretty much laziness really! 


We were happy to get home from our camping trip. The two nights we went were the coldest two nights this year, so we did not enjoy the 'nights' but the days were awesome. So much so that when we told the kids we were going home tonight they ALL, even the Man Child, who by the way was very anti camping in the bush at the beginning of our trip, begged to stay another night. I did consider it but was not looking forward to being cold and My Beloved even considered it. Then he remembered that it was the decider of the State of Origin. 


For those who do not know what that is read on. If you do not care then skip this paragraph. It is a game of NRL football NOT Aussie Rules, ewwwwwww. Queensland and New South Wales, two of Australia's 8 states, ACTUALLY two of those are technically 'territories'. Ok I am wandering of topic a bit aren't I? But Queenslander's and New South Welshmen LOVE to hate each other, sporting wise, not in a civil war kind of way. Queensland has won every year for six years. We have three matches and so far we are at a tie, so tonight is the night we find out who wins. Blah blah blah you get it now.


So back on topic. My Beloved said to the kids whilst they were holding their breath waiting for a yes answer ( dad is good at giving those) " No way kiddies! State of Origin tonight!"


The car filled with awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww's and one 'damn it' to which I replied 'Oi!' 


We were on our way back from the rock pools we had visited yesterday and everybody had really enjoyed the day. So the idea was to stay the night and go back again the next day. Instead My Beloved promised everyone a trip to the beach tomorrow to visit with their Aunty,Uncle, Nan and cousins. That made up for the not staying the night.


On the whole the camping trip was fantastic, relaxing and it was great to spend time as a family with out the distractions of day to day life. Bring on the summer!

We started out warm and dry.

Everyone loved to explore the rock pools jumping from rock to rock with quite a few slips and slides as a result!

Mum again telling everyone to be careful

Mummy and her 'little man' 

Miss Thinker and Mr Cheeky!

Daddy, the Man Child, Miss Independent

Daddy and Littlest Miss

The rock pools were beautiful as always and as always, or more to the point, since my camera died, my photos do not do any thing I photograph, justice.

Day Trippers!

We spent the day either floating on canoes, walking up bush tracks or driving up mountains,where I took what I hoped would be fantastic photos. However I only have an Ipod my other camera is dead. But if I have learnt one thing it is I am buying a new one as soon as we are back home. Which will be tomorrow night! It is freezing and I hate being cold.


I told My Beloved that I was on to him and his camping spot. He was highly offended!


 'Excuse me.' he said. 'I will have you know that I picked this spot because the kids are going to want to go canoeing a lot and there is no way on earth you would let them go down to the creek by themselves! Which means I will be kicked out of the camp ground from sun up to sun down so that they can!'

He is right there. But then he added ' Besides, I want to look out over the water, it is nice and if I want to look out at bush, I can do that at home!'

After the kids canoed themselves and dad up the 'billabong' about a million times I took them on a bush walk which was were the big log bridge put Mr Cheeky in his place. The boy has no fear and was constantly ready to do something dangerous! The log bridge freaked him out and calmed him down for the rest of the day. After we had eaten lunch. My Beloved suggested that we go to the rock pools and have a look around. We did.

But first My Beloved decided to take us up a track we had never been up before. My van is not 4wd and the signs said 4wd only. When I mentioned this to him he said 'This thing gets up our driveway all the time this is far better than our drive way. Where is your sense of adventure?'


'Way down there.' I said pointing to the bottom of the steep mountain we were driving up. he took a photo to prove what a sook I am. I was tempted not to add it, for obvious reasons. But fair is fair!

 See what I mean by needing to buy a new camera?

The scenery was so beautiful. Once I stopped freaking out about exactly where it was we were going.

The girls were having a ball too!

Finally we made it back down the mountain to the rock pools. It was so cold. But beautiful. We decided we would visit it again tomorrow early in the day.

After about fifteen minuets we had to go it was too damn cold!

His 7 Little Australians.

My 7 Little Australians!

Bring It On!

It is cold. Really, really, REALLY cold. OK so there is no snow, we are not wearing gloves and there is not THAT much "smoke" in the air when we breathe but this is Queensland and it is cold!


My Beloved is not enjoying himself, he is not saying it but I KNOW he is thinking it. I suspect he parked and camped not even ten metres from a river on purpose. Why would a man chance the possibility of his children drowning you wonder? Two reasons, and they both begin with the assumption that I am predictable!


Assumption one: I will not take my eyes off Mr Cheeky or any of them ( even the bigger two) so the risk is automatically minimised. (That assumption is correct.)


Assumption Two: I will hate it so much that I will not want to come back. Automatically ensuring that all future camping will be at the beach.


Mwhahahahahahahaha. The fool! The silly, silly man. 


I am very good at poker. I kick his butt nearly every time!


 Why? My p-p-p-p-p-poker face. Oh oh ooh oh ooh! (sorry I couldn't resist!)


 I also love a challenge. If I didn't know him so well I would have behaved pretty much how he hopes, BUT because I know what he is up too he will never win. 


We are going to have THE best camping trip ever. Oh yes even if it does snow I will smile and have 'Oh such fun.' Of course the river does bother me but that is why Mr Cheeky is sleeping in his 'special PJs'.

And as someone pointed out to me earlier... No he is not tied to the tree, the blue 'life jacket' is what he has been wearing since we pulled up. He is wearing it still!


OOOOOOH let the games begin! ;)

Night all!