Doh!

I was planning to write a different post and then I thought "Hang on, I did that a year ago"  which made me realize that I have been blogging for over a year.  I then had a look at some stats.  I have 98 followers,  I have written 88 posts (89 if you include this one), and have had 24,577 views!!  I have to say that is nuts.  It made me question a bit why I do this and who I'm doing it for.  Originally it was a chance to have a bit more of a natter than you can fit into a status update on Facebook, a way to keep Mother up to date when we don't get a chance to skype in busy weeks and when a good friend wrote this...

"Ah, I loved reading this, it was like you were right next to me talking.
You make your day sound both chaotic and magical. At least you didn't include a trip to A&E!
Looking forward to reading your future entries, will almost be like popping round for a cuppa. Almost. 
B-A xxx"

... I was thrilled to pieces. 

However, I have occasionally felt a bit like being back at school where you have the cool kids and I'm hanging around on the periphery, not quite cool enough, but then I remembered that I was very happy that way at school.  I'm fortunate that as I get older I care less and less what other people think about what I do, wear, think and am more confident in my own skin, beliefs and values.  I don't need anyone else's validation to be happy.  If no-one but my Mum read this that would be fine, this is not a popularity contest (although bizarrely it sometimes feels that way) and if people want to spend time reading my ramblings, then I am firstly surprised, but also humbled and pleased that people find it entertaining enough to bother!  

I sincerely hope that any lovely readers can read between the lines and know that life is never perfect, my house is a bomb site most of the time, my neighbours are probably sick of the sound of me yelling, I'm sick of the kids fighting and so on!  I confess to missing mums back in Scotland who I used to be able to chat to and realize that my children weren't freaks but were in fact normal!  I don't know many of the older boys' friends' mums so don't have that support here and sometimes venting a bit helps. 

So thank you so much to any of you who read my nonsense and comment either here or on Facebook.  I do love a chat but don't always have the time to reply or comment.  There is a reason that "Chaos" is in the title...

I'll just leave you with couple of pics from the two Swim carnivals from last week, thankfully mostly good weather and fun was had, I even got to enjoy the first one without a Small Boy causing chaos and was accompanied by Husband who has never managed to get to one before.  




Day 1

Day 2

Where to begin! Catch up and another Award!!

Well, I have been popping in to read some blogs every now and then but haven't had the time to actually sit and write a blog post for ages.  Christmas has been, gone and is now a distant memory, we're well into the New Year and the school holidays are slipping away just too quickly.  We've squeezed in a fair bit and now just have the joyous buying of school shoes and kit still left.

Those of my facebook friends are probably up to date but for those of you who aren't I'll share a few of our highlights.

When we first arrived in Australia 3 years ago, 3 days before Christmas, we found ourselves at Bar Beach on Christmas Eve, eating fish and chips that were out of this world and wondering what on earth we were doing here!   We loved it so much that we have made it into a little tradition.  This year we even managed to get a family photo taken by a lovely girl who was also waiting patiently in the very long queue - we were glad we had phoned ahead to order.

We even managed to get a photo of John and me - honestly can't think when we last had a photo without children hanging off us!

Christmas Day was lovely.  The kids are allowed to open their stockings as and when they wake up (pretty early this year but thankfully they know not to disturb us!) then one present before church.  This year's theme seems to have been Lego (again) with lots of books, some pj's and other things thrown in.  We opted for sea food and then cold ham, salamis, bread, cheese and olives etc for our feast.  We had heaps left over and had friends for lunch on Boxing Day to help us finish it off!

More Gingerbread Houses!

We've had the usual tennis camps, walks, days at the beach and pool, and even managed 4 days away in our tent.

She's got a great serve!

Kind brother helping Meg with her new Ripstik walking from Warner's Bay to Spear's Point

Sydney on New Year's Day 

Football at One Mile Beach (also Meg dived through her first waves and loved it so much we had to bribe her out of the water!)

Sausage sizzle dinners at the pool

We bought it a couple of years ago but hadn't used it before.  In fact we haven't tented before (other than the boys in the garden) so were delighted that our friends, who are seasoned campers, came with us.  The tent is so huge that they had one 'wing' while John, Meg, Robert and I had the other and the 3 boys had their own 3-person tent.

Room with a view

The Locals

We had a great time, apart from one night of quite scary winds, the weather was perfect for us ex-pats.  The kids had a screen ban, including ipods, so got their amusement from playing pool, table tennis, football, swimming, flying kites, catching Soldier Crabs, face-painting (Jonathan is quite the expert), making paper, climbing trees, drawing, reading, writing stories, glass-painting, learning to play the guitar, hunting for snakes (we saw a python!) and eating!

Early morning Parkour!

Pool at high tide

er... brotherly love...?

At home I insist on a quiet half an hour after lunch to read which we tried fairly successfully, it also morphed into "Rachel's Craft Hour" so the afternoons were lovely when it was too warm for racing around.  Next time we'll go for longer - such a great time.  The boys taught us some fun games to play in the evenings when the wee ones had gone to bed and Chris serenaded us with his guitar.

Our Camp Photo!

Despite some ribbing I started another Granny square blanket when we were camping, again, I'm using a self-changing yarn in blues and greens which I wasn't sure about but bought in the sale.  It looks better than I was expecting and the boys are already fighting over it!

I've also been trying to be a bit creative when I get the time!  I made a few sets of coasters with my lovely new machine along with mending endless pairs of shorts and jeans.  I've been trawling pinterest for ideas for things to make with scraps of fabric that I've carried around with me for 20+ years and have been really inspired by some very clever people.

Also this scarf which I can't wait to wear!  It's from the Isar pattern, that I can't remember how I got to, which was easy to do and more of the colour change yarn!

So now we're back to thinking about routines, Husband is back working, although he's on sabbatical until July-ish which means he'll be working here (never good...)  and I'm looking to start applying for jobs since nothing positive is happening with regards to Teaching.  Jonathan will start High School and Meg will start at the local Public School with Joseph.  She has mentioned a couple of times that she's scared but she'll be going with the rest of her class from the Infant's School and will  make new friends very quickly I'm certain.

So 2012 looks set to be a big year for us all.  I'll be 40 in March and I'm so delighted that my Ma and Pa will be coming to help us celebrate!

And before I forget, I was really touched to be nominated for the Leibster Blog Award by Sonia from Sonia and Fred.  Apparently it is an award that is to be given to Bloggers with less than 200 followers, "Leibster" meaning 'Dearest', 'Beloved' or 'Favourite'.  Thank you Sonia!

Now to spread the bloggy love -
1. Kristen at Cozy Things
2. Lynne at Pieceful
3. Kylie at Blue Teacups
4. Emily at Unravelled
5. Karen at Gooseberry Jam (although I just noticed she has 201 followers!)

These are blogs I look at regularly and am inspired by in one way or another, please go and have a look for yourselves.

See you soon!

Gingerbread.

For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere I should explain that not only is this time of year crazy here because of Christmas, but also because it is the end of the school/university year.  This, obviously, results in that overwhelming feeling of "Too Much!!".  This year I have 2 leaving their current schools and preparing for the next stage, which involves Leavers Assemblies, and Formals alongside the usual Presentation Days and Fetes.  I keep checking my calendar to confirm that I haven't forgotten anything (or anyone...) yet.  We also have Jonathan going off on a 3-day camp for the last 3 days of school which I need to remember to pay for.  Oh, and I need to remember to buy Christmas presents!

Anyway, we have been busy!  On Saturday our surrogate grandparents invited Meg to a Gingerbread House Decorating morning at their church which was great fun.  Some of the older ladies were in seriously competitive mode with very professional looking houses, while Meg's looks rather more 'age-appropriate', shall we say.

Jonathan then remembered the Ninjabread men and decided that he wanted to make a load of them to sell at the Yr 6 Leaver's Fete.

He also asked Joseph to whip up a batch of his fantastic gingerbread muffins (from Susan Reimer's Muffin book) that he is now becoming very proficient at.

We had a busy evening last night and the house smelt delicious.


I managed to find a little Gingerbread House kit so I have promised them that in the first week of the holidays they can make, and decorate, a house each.

I managed to whip up a couple of these little mug cosies for Christmas presents and posted a pic on facebook, a Lovely Lady then 'shared' my pic which was seen by some of her friends, which resulted in some orders!

And now I'm off for a cup of tea and one of Joseph's muffins to gear myself up - yum!