Sandra's giveaway!!

This beautiful lady:

is having a giveaway on HER BLOG!!

Sandra is one of the nicest people I know - she's even nicer in real life if that's possible. I was blessed enough to work with her many years ago (well 6 to be exact). She's having a lighting giveaway on HER BLOG, so go & check it out! You'd better be quick however because it's finishing on the 11th!

This photo was taken 9 years ago - look how young Dave looks on the left! Some people from our work did the BV100 - a 100 km kayaking "race". It was so much fun! We (being radiographers) dressed up in some scrubs as our teams costume! Ahh those were the good old days careless & child free, complete with inexperienced rowers & leaky, sinking kayaks! LOL!!

Glad over chocolate slice rescue!

Kimmie from over the moon with joy has started the Glad game after reading Pollyanna to her children (I always loved that book when I was younger)!

I enjoy joining in because I need to keep a proper perspective - it's just so easy to look at the not so nice things & forget about the nice things. So that's what the glad game is all about finding the nice things in the not-so-nice!

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On Wednesday I was on the telephone to my sister while hanging out the wet washing on the washing line out back ( I always try & do something while talking on the phone - I often do washing/cleaning/ baking - I've even done preserving before - you should try it next time you have a long phone call! )

Anyway when I walked inside I went into the kitchen only to find two sweet innocent boys...

Any guesses who they are...

Awww aren't they sweet there feeding Ellie's babies porridge!

Yes those two

With the hot oven open, a pot holder in one hand each & a spoon in the other hand each...

Eating the chocolate slice while it was baking straight out of the oven!!

You can imagine how frustrated I was (while my sister & then mother laughed their head off!)

So onto the glad game..

* Well obviously I am glad they had the good sense to use potholders & not get burnt;

* I am glad for a teachable moment (discipline) over an area I would never have thought of before (I mean who eats straight from the oven - straight from the fridge I've heard of - oh & disciplined over before ( these two add character lines to my face & grey hairs to my hairline!!LOL))

* I am glad they didn't eat all the chocolate slice & I could cover up the evidence with icing (OK I may have been having chocolate cravings!!!)

* I am glad for providing my sweet sister & darling mother with endless amounts of entertainment!! (Because what else are nephews/grandsons for if not providing entertainment!)

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If you would like to join in the glad game go & visit KIMMIE (who has such a beautiful heart for God)!

Yesterday & Mum-me's giveaway!

What are these little cuties up to?

Celebrating Melbourne Cup of course!!

Since reading a true story about a jockey who rode in the Melbourne cup, there has been many questions about it. You can only imagine the excitement here when I told them that yesterday was "Cup Day" - yes the race that stops a nation definitely stopped all here at Sunnyside. Of course I don't like the betting side of things - it's sad that something so innocent as a horse race has been turned into such a big money marketing business. However when you remove all that you have something that is uniquely Australian - a race of the most beautiful horses from around the world & the best jockeys we have to offer! It was so nice to see an Aussie win!

Eli was especially proud of the big white "aeroplane" on his hat (yeah - you do need to use your imagination)! Do you think he takes after his father or what with his aeroplane infatuation??!!??

In the evening we went outside to enjoy the beauty of the rainbow after the rain we had, but as we turned to the west we were greeted with this...It was so bright it reminded us of a bushfire, but it was just the sun going down behind Churchill Forest!

What a lovely glimpse of God's beauty!

Now let me point you over to Mum-me's blog - Our Aussie Half Dozen who is having a giveaway of a buysterrugs rug. I checked out their website & let me tell you there are some lovely ones (I sure have many places in this house I could use one! (pick me, pick me!!LOL)! It is only open to Aussie's though, so if you live in this beautiful country head on over & enter & while there enjoy her entertaining family & beautiful pictures - she has a lovely blog!!!

Dear Friends..

I often wonder how I should start a blog post - should I address it as a letter? Usually I just choose a topic & write on it - often it's whatever I have taken pictures of. But I often don't write how I feel or what's truly on my heart - sometimes I think I should write a heartfelt letter to each of you so you truly get to know me, but then the very nature of a blog is an online journal & it really is just a way of letting the world have random glimpses into your life, not inviting them to know all. Well my life actually hasn't been very exciting lately, my hubby is busy in the middle of study for his uni exams, Zai started cricket on Saturday & we have some of our friend's lambs on our place, so now we have 45 sheep in total (almost full blown farmers - LOL - just joking) - I have finally finished my kitchen/ dining curtains & even did a small pair for the shelf above the fridge that my husband uses as a place to put his & Zai's model aeroplanes they are working on.

I wish you could really see how much cheerier my kitchen is now with just this little bit of work - can't wait until we can get it painted - It will be a lovely soft minty green!


Zai, Ellie & I have been enjoying occasionally watching the Duggar family's TV show '18 kids & counting' on YouTube. The other day we watched one of them rollerskating - this let my two to make their own "roller skates" - uh huh that would be blocks (on wheels - they were part of a train) sticky taped to their feet. Needless to say there is now no sticky tape left, but they had lots of fun!

I had to giggle as I remember my sisters & I "skating" around the lounge room carpet on books when we were about this age!


While I was hanging out the washing on Saturday a little butterfly was flitting from flower to flower nearby - I couldn't resist grabbing my camera & enjoying God's beautiful creation - oh & if you're wondering why it's looking so lush - this is the only patch of green in the yard - it's where my washing machine water runs so gets very well watered!

I had better go & check how Ellie is going with writing out the alphabet from memory (I have been checking periodically as I typed). She's almost finished the reading program, so I am reviewing & reviewing with her hoping she'll pass the final test (they must get 100% - they can take it as many times as they need to -of course I want her ready to get it first time!). Hope you are all well & enjoying this beautiful summer (too hot to call spring) weather (of course if you aren't in the southern hemisphere I hope it's a beautiful autumn day for you!).
Have fun & keep smiling!

The Glad Game!

The beautiful Kimmie from Over the Moon with Joy thought it would be fun to play the Glad Game (as read about in Pollyanna) - to look for the good in something that is ...well.. not so good.

The scenario:
The other evening our main house water tank ran out of water. It was about 8 pm at night & the kids were in bed & I'd finally finished the cleaning up after tea (Dave was out on the tractor, so I'd had to do it all) & the last thing I wanted to do was hike up to the shearing shed & hook up the pump and open the water tank & then down to a paddock & get the hose extension that we had been using for filling animal watering troughs & then back to the house, connect it all up (we use 2 hoses from the tap at the back of the chook shed to the water tank inlet) & of course I had trouble with the fitting in the dark & finally back to the shearing shed, intersect Dave on one of his trips up to the hay shed (he was bringing in our hay bales ) so I could give him the spotlight I had been using. - certainly not your relaxing night. I'll admit to being a mite grouchy that my planned evening of blogging & just relaxing had gone awry.

But this is where the Glad game comes into play:

I am so glad (thankful) that we have extra water storage otherwise an empty water tank would be devastating. I am glad that I have the ability to connect it all otherwise we wouldn't have had any water for showers that night. I am also extra glad we have Snowy who accompanied me on my expedition as he would have alerted me to any snakes nearby.

If you would like to join in the Glad Game, go & visit Kimmie - it's a lot of fun!

Baby Picture Sunday!

I know it's been a very long time since I've joined in with Baby Picture Sunday. Mainly because I don't generally blog on Sunday being one of the days Dave is at home, however this weekend he is working & it's overcast & cloudy (not inviting to go outside). It also rained this morning which means I don't have to water my garden. Oh & dinner is in the oven (chicken nuggets & chips- bad aren't I, but hey it's Sunday night (will do a salad though)). Anyway for all these reasons I will join in this week, however it will just be the twins as I'm not going to go fishing around the photo box for pics of the older two which I then have to scan & process (lazy aren't I, but I only have so long to get this done).

The theme for this week is:

Bald is Beautiful!!

Although all 4 of my children were born with a full head of black hair, they all lost most of it & then grew back blond hair that is slowly starting to darken at different rates as they get older. Hmmm now I get to search for some pictures....

I actually did find a picture of Zai I had in the archives- what a cutie! (Yeah I'm biased - I know)!

Contrary to what it looks like I did dress my babies - very rarely did they go around without a shirt on - oh well it was in Qld - LOL!

This is how I used to take Eli & Jud around the back yard while I was gardening! How cute they were (please just don't ask me who is who as I have no idea - what a bad mother - generally I dressed Eli in blue - hmmm - actually looking close it does look like a birthmark on the arm of the blue baby (must be Jud)- what do you think?)

What wonderful memories those days are!

Making hay ...while the sun sets.

Homemade Lasagne + an evening walk for the whole family

=

a perfect evening!

We had to do a few small farm jobs on the way - like water the cows!

(Note how dry it is- this is summer coming - I'm still amazed at how different summer & winter look here.)

Ellie decided she would try Zai's big bike......& rode it perfectly - guess I know what her Christmas present will be!!

Here is our 'little' puppy Snowy - hmmm not so small anymore -but he sure is gentle. He's smart & obedient - in fact he is exactly what we wanted. Kinda wondering how big he's gonna be when he's fully grown though!

Finally we reached our destination -

the newly baled hay paddock!

And what do you do with hay if it doesn't involve wrestling??

Sadly my sweet little daughter was the instigator (I guess that's what you do when you have 3 brothers).

Posing for some photos in the waning light

Do you think I could get any serious ones - this is the best I could, but then when you consider that both twins had lasagne all over their faces it's probably best there are no close ups!

Hmmm..she certainly was wild - must get that from her father's side - LOL

Even taking daddy out of the mix didn't help with the photo session!
Oh well a fun evening for all!!

One of our barley paddocks was taken over by rye grass so we had it cut for hay - unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the cutting or baling process - wish I had as it's very interesting!! We now have enough feed for all the animals for a few years - we are so thankful as in summer there isn't much feed on the ground.