December 16 2009

Ok, so I have been asking for the year to just be finished and now it has. The school year that is. This has been a year of up hill battles. Both the boys were suspended from school for fighting so that wasn't good. Harrison had a teacher change that went better than expected so that was good. He has gone through more testing to see if we can get a name for what he has and that is still up in the air. He made a few friends and came home very sad today because a couple of them are off to high school next year.
I really hope Jonny gets a better teacher than this past year. She was OK when she was there but that wasn't often. All the times we had problems with him were when we had a relief teacher. Lets hope it works out better.
They don't know who they have for next year and I really tried to push to find out, so lets hope. I don't really know the teachers so it is hard to know which ones are good. They also get shuffled around so the ones that are there now may not be the ones there next year.
Well I am hoping that everyone has a happy and merry Christmas and I shall see you all in the new year.

Love,
Helene

Thomas's 4th birthday!

Well my little boy turned 4 yesterday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He is such a happy little thing and loves life. This year he has learned how to spell quite a few words and can count to 100 with a little help. He loves to ride his bike and play in his sand box and cubby house. He is devoted to his daddy and tells him that he is his best friend. He has enjoyed his year in preschool and made a few friends. His greatest desire right now is a whistle. It is the only thing he has asked Santa for so we will see. Well I hope 2010 is just as much fun for him.

Little Bay

Smokey Bay Light House

Camping 2009

These are some photos from our camping trip in November. We all had such a great time. We stayed at the Big 4 in South West Rocks. The boys loved it because there were lots of other kids to play with. They had a jumping pillow and the swimmingpool. We had some locals come around at night for dinner. They just ate the grass. We had bbqs every night and the kids played in the games room any chance they got. We are all looking forward to planning our next camping adventure. David wants to go back to the same place but I really want to go somewhere new. I will win because I always do. I will put some more photos up of our trip.

These are some old photos from Wollongong from the beginning of November. The boys had such a great time in the little creek. It was a really great day out.

The Holidays do really fly by

Well we are nearly half way through the second week of the holidays and they seem to just be flying by. I think of the things that I need to get done and the things I want to get done and I never seem to finish it all. I have nothing to read right now so any suggestions will be welcome.

It is really great that they have started to air some new shows again. I am looking forward to some of the old ones being returned. I am loving the new Fast Forward and Stargate Universe on Scifi.

I took the boys to the bike track yesterday and besides the gale force winds it was a great day. They love going and riding. Donna joined us with her three and all the boys had a great time. I unfortunately did not register the heat in the sun and am terribly sun burnt around my neck and face. Lucky for me the boys did not suffer my fate. It is very painful and I had a terrible sleep last night.

Lots of things to look forward to in November so see you all soon.

Love,
Helene

11 October 2009

Well it is Bathurst weekend. David loves this weekend. He sits in front of the TV and shushes everyone because when watching cars go around everything must be silent. Crazy but lots of beer and junk is also consumed. Well it is only one day, so he keeps telling me.

We also had a death in our family. It turns out if you don't feed birds regularly they die. Crazy that. We are not sure if that was why they died but it is probably what it is. The other one is eating feaverishly now so i think that is what it was. Well we learn from our mistakes. I have been asking David for 3 days to check the water and food and he says he'll get to it. I can't totally blame him I could have checked on them too but I don't usually feed them so I take only a little blame.

Well I think that is all for this Sunday. Hope everyone else is enjoying the race as much as I will be.

Helene

Canberra

Today we went to Canberra to see the flowers in floriade but of course it was raining. We took a trip to the War Memorial and it was great fun. We didn't look through the whole building but we did see the planes and spent some time in the Discovery Area. That was good fun. I didn't even know it was there. I've been there a few times now and for some reason we never went downstairs. Well the boys loved the hands on activities.

We also took a drive out to Tidbinbilla and that was also good fun. The boys had a great time learning about space and looking at all the space dishes. The drive out there is a bit windy but ver pretty. If it was dry we would have stopped off at Cotter Dam. That is a really pretty picnic area.

Well I hope everyone had a nice long weekend.

Love,
Helene

Hello Again

Wow how time seems to get away from me. It has been ages since I have blogged. Hope everyone is well and getting ready for the school holidays as much as I am.

Well I am planning to have a cooking day at my house on the first Tuesday of the holidays. I thought the kids could come and some cooking. They will make Pizzas and cookies and a few other things that have yet to be discussed. Well i hope you can join in the fun. Let me know so I can count numbers. On the second Tuesday it will hopefully be a bike track day if anyone is interested in joining us.

Well we had planned to go to Canberra this weekend to see the flowers but have put it off for another week due to the terrible weather they were going to have. I can deal with most weather except for the wind. Rain is terrible at an angle.

Well I think that is all for now. So looking forward to seeing New Moon in Novampire. Then we are off camping for a few days up the coast.

Love,
Helene
xoxo

Some More Random Thoughts

The school holidays are almost over and I think for the first time I may be a little bit sad. We have not done a whole lot during the vacation but we have still had a pretty good time. The boys have enjoyed being home and having there separate times with Nanny and Poppy. Yesterday we spent a very long but very good day at the bike track. The weather has been absolutely perfect for lots of outdoor play.

I have been watching True Blood on my computer at night and I have to say it is one of the strangest shows I have ever seen. I am three episodes into season 2 and I have to say that it really freaked me out and I had such trouble sleeping last night. It is my drug right now I want to watch but I know that it is bad for me. What will I do. I need a fix bad. It is pathetic.

Target toy sale tomorrow and there about a half a dozen things that I would really like to get but I just don't want to go and stand on the lay-by line. I just don't know what to do. Well that is all for now. I hope everyone else is having a great time, too.

Love,
Helene

Wonderful News

Film producers aren't wasting any time rushing the third Twilight movie into cinemas. Production Weekly reveals that Summit Entertainment will shoot Eclipse from August 17 to October 31, 2009 — meaning it will wrap before New Moon, the second part in the series, is even released. Eclipse, due to open in theatres on June 30, 2010, continues the epic love triangle between unassuming teen Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), decades-old vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and spunky werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). As Bella's high-school graduation approaches, she must decide which of the boys is her one true love. New Moon is slated for release in November.

A Nice Weekend

Only one week left until the school holidays and that thing. This has been a really long term and I am very ready for it to finish. I do have to say that it was better than last term so that was a good thing.

My children and husband have spent the last week home with varying sicknesses. I was also sick and that was no good. So we spent the week resting and driving each other crazy.

On Saturday I thought I would rid the house of germs and do a massive clean. The house smelled fresh and it made me feel better to have it clean. That was a very productive day.

After I finished I was able to sit down and enjoy a new book that I had bought on Friday. It was called Lovely Bones. It was a story from a dead girls point of view as she watches her family grieve and try to move on from her death. It was a great read. Now Narelle can finish the forth book in the Twilight series so she can read it too.

On Sunday the weather was so nice we thought we would do something outside. We drove down to the Southern Highlands towards Bowral with the idea of going to Fitzroy Falls. We had been there before and it is such a beautiful spot to see. I love that area. The properties are so beautiful. It was very cold but we hiked the trail for a while and took some nice photos. If ever we had the money it is somewhere I would love to live. The trees change colors and it seems so peaceful. The boys were great and it was really a great day out.

It is Monday now and I don't have as much cleaning to do because I did so much on Saturday so I thought I would bake some nice banana bread and relax.

I hope everyone had a really nice weekend and am looking forward to catching up over the school holidays.

Love,
Helene

Just some thoughts

Well here we are with another term almost behind us. This is actually a good thing. In so many ways I used to dread school holidays. There was always the "what are we doing today" questions. Or the "what do we have to eat?" ones. Well I am actually looking forward to them being home. I hate the rushing about and getting here and there. It is a time to sit back and relax and to just enjoy them. Well I'll try. The boys split the weeks with home and Nanny's and they love it. Thomas still goes to preschool and so each of the boys have one on one time with us. It makes for some relaxing days. We will try to do at least one trip to the bike track and maybe a day out somewhere else. If anyone wants to joins us that will be great.

I really liked this photo of me and the boys. There are so few photos of me that I like and the boys are all smiles and it came out really nice. We took a very long drive down to Wombyan caves last weekend. We have been before and I just don't remember it taking so long. It just seemed to take forever but the boys were really great and except for the rain it had been an excellent day out. It is worth the drive if you have never been. The boys loved learning about the stalagmites and the stalactites. If it ever stops raining maybe we will get them out on there bikes again.

Well I hope everyone is well and looking forward to a little break from the monotony. Hopefully it will stop raining for the holidays.

Love,
Helene
xoxo

We had a really nice day yesterday. David and I went to see the movie Angels and Demons in the morning and then we went back to his Parents house for lunh with the whole family. It was a really nice day. The weather was good, the company was ok and the food was good. Hope you all had a really nice weekend too.

Love,
Helene

Mother's Day

Well I hope everyone had a really great Mother's Day. I did. We slept in until 7 am. Then it became to much for the children and they had to give me the presents they had purchased. I got a lovely and warm pair of slippers that Jess would approve of, a toasted sandwich maker that I put on Lay-by last week and David picked up and of course Twilight on DVD. Thomas wouldn't give me the gift he made for me at preschool because he told me it was for Thomas day not Mother's day. He wanted to celebrate him yesterday. That was fine. I will however need to find the gift he made me and hide it so that I still have it and we can remember Thomas's Day.

I watched Twilight yesterday already but whenever I watch it it makes me want to reread the books. Crazy. Well it was a really nice day. David's Mum and Dad came for breakfast which I cooked. It all worked out really great and the boys were super good for us. I got to lay about and watch movies. I watched my new DVD after they left and then in the later afternoon I watched Notting Hill on Foxtel. I love that movie. Really it has been such a great weekend. Everyone was calm and we had a really nice time. I wanted breakfast so the afternoon was ours. It worked out perfectly. We ordered in because David didn't think we would need to book anywhere but that was fine. I wasn't in the mood to go out.


Well I hope everyone else had a relaxing and great day also.

Love,
Helene
xoxox

Happy Easter

Well I hope everyone had a really nice Easter. We had a lovely day. We were had the family here to celebrate Harrisons birthday and Easter. We sat a ate all day. I did all different kinds of nibbles and at first I thought there wouldn't be enough food but as the 8th course came out I realized there was plenty. We had cold nibble and hot nibbles and finished off with cupcakes. It really was a great day.
I do wonder why people come for a visit if they are only going to sit a mope. It really did bring down the mood. If people don't feel like being chatty and have a good laugh they should just stay home. Really!
Well I hope the Easter bunny was good all around. I got my usual of a large bag of M&M's. Peanut of course. It makes me happy. Now I am trying to hide most of the chocolate so Thomas doesn't eat much more. I was thinking Fondue.
I think that is all for today.

Love,
Helene

Well March was truly a bad month. It just seemed that every week there was something else to worry about and in the end David's grandfather passed away and it was really sad but he was so unwell that is was also a good thing. Well here we are a new month. Hopefully April will start to look up. Jonathan did his reconciliation on Saturday and asked God to forgive him for pushing his mother over the edge. Well at least I hope that is what he asked for.

Yesterday we went out with the idea that we wanted a chiminea. I wanted one and David wanted one but the first stop we made was a pet store and as you can see we bought birds instead. They are very noisy but they do not require much in the way of food or care so it was the only animal I would allow. David wanted a dog but I just don't want one. Yes I am mean but my yard looks really nice right now and I want to put some more new plants in.

Well here's to a better month.

Cheers,
Helene

Bullying

Well yesterday I said the week was going OK well it stopped being OK Tuesday afternoon. I am so sick of the the boys bullying my son all the time and goading him and just being plain mean and then him reacting and being the one in trouble. One of the boys doing this I happen to have known some years ago and who has really nice parents the other I was told it would not be worth calling his parents because they really don't care. He is often in trouble and the parents aren't really bothered by what he does. I thought that was just great Now What? What do I do as a parent when the school just can't wait until he is not their problem anymore?

I know that the way Harrison reacts makes it all the more fun for these boys but I am not sure how I can get him to stop reacting. He is very highly strung and the boys just push his buttons so easily. What can I do? He has started seeing someone to help him work through this so maybe that will work. Now Jon has stopped liking school too. He says he has no friends and he wants to play with Harrison but the other boys won't leave Harrison alone long enough to let Jon play.

Now I am just rambling. I am so unhappy. I guess if they were just average normal children then they would have accepted all the changes that we have put them through better. Well I guess that will do for now.

I hope everyone is having a better week than me.

XOXOX
Helene

A New Recipe

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

500 g beef mince
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, divided
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 t. Steak seasoning
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup Cognac
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup beef stock
1 packet brown gravy mix


In a large bowl, combine beef, 1/4 cup mushroom soup, bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, egg onions, and steak seasoning. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or clean hands, and shape into four oval patties. ( I usually get more than four patties. I make them a little smaller)

Heat oil together with 1 Tablespoon butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown patties on both sides and transfer to a plate. (no need to cook through yet.)

Add remaining butter remove pan from heat and add cognac. Saute mushrooms for 7-8 minutes. Add beef stock and whisk in gravy mix until smooth. Stir in remaining mushroom soup.

Return patties to skillet and spoon gravy over top. Cover pan and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.


(Now I don't add the cognac or the mushrooms. In the third step I just add the beef stock and whisk in the gravy mix and mushroom soup. I gave you the proper recipe so if you like mushrooms you can do it the proper way. I hope you like it if you give it a try. I serve with mash and vegies.)

Well it is Tuesday and so far the week has been ok. Early days.

Love,
Helene

Planter Boxes

Well today started out pretty good. David took the boys to get their haircuts. I can tell you that it was past due. They were good and were able to get a treat. When they got home my in-laws were here delivering some plants and a lay-by that I need. Well it was still
a good day all through lunch. We wanted to get some planters for the gardenias that I bought the other day. We liked the way they looked up against the fence. Well we could find nothing that we liked at Bunnings so we went to the local pots and plants store. We found these lovely planter boxes. David and the man who owns the place were loading up the car, Jonathan was playing around the statues. Out he comes screaming that he was bit by a spider. Well I saw a wasp on his shirt and when I tried to knock it off it stung me too. There was a huge wasps nest under one of the statues that Jon disturbed. We got some ice for him to put on his sting put a planter and some dirt in the car and went home. We carried all the stuff out the back set up the first planter (which weighs about 50kgs) and David went back to get the other one. We carried the planter out the back and while setting it up I dropped it on my big toe. I think I had less pain giving birth. I don't think it is broken but the nail will be coming off soon. It was very quick to turn purple and is still throbbing. Well that was Saturday and we have two more planters to get. Not looking forward to that day.

Well hope the rest of the weekend is less painful.

Cheers,
Helene

March Madness!

So with March already here I am thinking that maybe I should start my Christmas shopping. Before I know it it will be July and then December. I am finding the time is flying by and I seem to miss so much on the way through.

I knew it was almost time to renew my licence in March but really I thought I had another week. So Monday I thought I would have a look to see how much time I had left, well I found that I had no time left at all. It expired last week. Not a good thing. So lucky for me I was able to drop Thomas off at a friends and duck up to the RTA and fix it up. I am usually so good at remembering things but oh well all fixed up now.

Well today we start the middle child in Reconciliation classes. I am worried about the day that he has to go and confess his sins. We could be there a while. He may have to ask for a lot of forgiveness for the last 5 years of life. He was good for the first couple but them the devil found him a willing participant in naughtiness and it has been downhill since then. I am looking froward to see if he gets anything out of the experience.

Thomas is loving preschool now so he spends most of the day there. We are in a good schedule and he enjoys the time we spend at home but I think he likes being at school better. He has different toys there and more people the play with. I am boring because I have other things to do during the day like blogging and playing on Facebook.

Harrison is struggling through school and all that they have to do. He is not enjoying it as much as I would like but puts on a brave face every day to try to make it through. I hope he can settle in so that he makes the best of his time. I am hoping that he makes a few friends to keep him out of trouble.

Love ya all.
Helene

Just kidding about the Christmas shopping. I think I will just stick with shopping for me for a few more months.

February 14th

Awww it's Valentines day how nice. I have been really bad and had been giving David a terrible time about never being a romantic. Not getting organised early and making sure he didn't have to go out the day before. I was actually prepared 2 days early. I was so proud of myself. Well Friday came and I thought it was the last day available so i said we could maybe go and get one of my lay-bys out and then go to dinner. As we passed the news agent I asked if he need to go in and he said yes that was a good idea. So i took the boys off to dinner. He showed up a few minutes later.

Saturday morning came and he very proudly handed me my card and a little Pandora bag. What a good boy. He got me the silver heart. I am very happy. I really shouldn't be so mean but I do love presents and I hate when he forgets.

Friday was a great day. Got to go to see a movie with some friends. Although Narelle had already seen the movie she was very happy to see it again. I enjoyed it immensely but anything can be fun with great company. Thanks girls.

Now Dan if you could read really fast I really want to get to the end so I can have my life back.

Kisses and hugs,
Helene

Well I just wanted to share with you my friends new arrival. She was born on the 1st of February. I hope I get to see her before she starts high school.

Jacqueline Elizabeth
7lb 15 oz
20 1/2 inches (50 cm)

Tough day at the office

This was Thomas after his fist day at school. He was wiped out. He says he had a great day but at about 5:30 he was out cold. I popped him into bed but he woke up and wanted some milk. We couldn't find his bottle so I had to run to the chemist and get a new one and he stayed awake until I go back and then slept through the night. I am going to love my Thursdays and Fridays.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig...

We have finally made it back to our house. Oh we are all so happy. The boys were over the moon to be back. Well maybe not Harrison because now he has to do so many more things for himself. Oh well he'll get used to it.

OK so if you ever felt the need to move I think you should all use Crown. Use them just for the entertainment value. They packed our stuff last January and because we were a glutton for punishment we had them do it again from NZ. Boy they make you laugh.

They had brought all the 157 items off the truck and because I have no where to put anything I wanted to do the actual unpacking myself. So I asked them to open the boxes and unwrap the beds and such and move a few things from here to there and then they left.

Well I started to unpack thinks and OH the things I found. There was garage things in with kitchen things and the best was the sugar bowl that was still full of sugar. I picked up the package that it was wrapped in and I could hear the sugar so unwrapping slowly I found a half full bowl of sugar. I am not sure what these people were thinking that day. They also packed a whole bottle of Metho. We weren't to bring any combustible material. We also had a laugh when two new lamp shades were found in a box. These were from the house in NZ. They now look very nice in our living room.

I am more happy than anyone could know. We will be living out of boxes until our furniture is replaced but I am so happy to be home that I don't mind.

Thanks to all the girls for sticking by me this past year and I am looking forward to a great year of relaxing and lots of shopping.

Love,
Helene
xoxox

Oh What a Night!

We had a bit of a girls night out over the weekend and the best part was it was the whole night and we didn't even have to come home until Sunday lunch time. We celebrated Desiree's, Donna's ,Danielle's and Narelle's birthday. OK so there was no cake and no Donna or Rell but the thought was there.

Drove into the city and eventually found the hotel we were staying at after passing it a couple of times. Parked the car and went up to our rooms. What a nice view. Over looking Darling Harbour. After a quick switch of rooms we decided we didn't have enough alcohol or snack food for the evening. We went back down to the lobby to inquire where the closest bottle shop was. Well lucky us it was just around the corner. Also around the corner was a convenience store. What a great score. We could go straight back up to start our drinking. Well we ducked into the convenience store first. Hotel snacks can be very expensive so we thought we could save some money. Alas this was not to be. I chose a bag of cheese and onion chips, a pump water (large but not humongous) and a packet of gum. I popped my purchases on the counter and was promptly told that would be $10.80. My mouth flew open with the only response I could muster "WOW." Nat was next. Smaller bottle of water than I got and a the large bar of Cadbury Chocolate. $7 she was told. We asked if it was gold plated. Not to the man behind the counter of course he only had one good eye as it was we didn't want to make him grumpy. We left to check out the liqueur store. When we got back Dan had spent $12 on a tub of ice cream and some water. I am not sure how much Des ended up spending.
Well the liqueur store was not much better. They didn't have what we were looking for but the lady behind the counter told us there was another shop just up the road. So off we go. The next shop was no better and they had less to offer. We sighted a few pubs but no alcohol to be found. We did find another convenience store and he was nice enough to tell us if we walked up another 2 blocks we would find a Coles with a Liqueurland inside. Yeah! So off we went. After much discussion a purchase was made and back down the hill we went to the hotel.

Well we had a great time sitting out on the balcony have our very expensive snacks and drinking. Finally we were up and getting ready for dinner. We had a great dinner at a restaurant in Cockle Bay. The only problem was the people smoking at the next table. The cocktails were great and the company even better. Off for a few hours of dancing and people watching we were back to the hotel about 2. We sat and had a few more drinks to unwind and by three we were all exhausted. We had trouble sleeping and unfortunately had to be up again by 8:30 to be out by 10.

It really was a great night out. There were a few people that were very missed but hopefully next time they will come too.

Thanks girls for a great night.

Helene
xoxo