We are still here!

so its be a little crazy around here lately! Our big girl turned 4 this weekend just gone and it was lots of fun letting her be a princess for the day.




It was so hot we gave up on all other party activities and set up a slide and a paddling pool at the beach park where we had the party and let the kids go...


Cheeky thingwas already asking what she could do for her next birthday on the way home. In fact nearly everything that comes out of her mouth reminds me that she really isnt my baby anymore.


She is growing to be beutifully mannered, though temperamental at times, clever and good hearted (most of the time). She is definately got the maternal touch and babies her sister like she is her second mama.

looking forward to seeing what this year teaches us about who she is and what she will do.

Happy Birthday Baby

My little girl is 2 today. She is not a baby anymore. She lay back while i was holding her in church on Sunday and said "baby" in a begging kind of tone. You know if they are old enough to ask to be the baby they really arent anymore!
Miss J has been the eternal infant, I am sure she looks almost exactly as she did at like 5 months old, just bigger.

*i promise to add photos to the post when i am home on my own computer.
She talked later than her sister(although more now), is chubby like a baby still, still likes to be rocked and held like a baby and is a crumbling mess if i forget her "mook" (milk). She also is still in nappies unlike her sister at this age...
do a dare tell you i tried taking her nappys off the last few days- results, about 40 litres of urine on my floor, and one other accident, and...wait for it.... absolutely nothing in the toilet. So i am off to the shop to buy the kid nappies for her birthday. No, not really.

I guess all this baby behaviour has been good for quashing my cluckiness until recently...although now we are looking at a slightly unconventional way to grow our family in the near future...but more on that later.


We had a little party for J at the park where she climbed too high on the equipment, ran around with her friends and ate 5 cupcakes (4 were mini ones, ok). The weather was just warm enough and it was a great time.

Happy Birthday Baby J. Cant believe I dont have ANY babies in my house anymore!

DONT READ THIS-seriously just an emotional rant

Lately i have been reading alot of police/police wife blogs, you know just coz, and i am on overnight shifts with some time to kill... and just recently i was thinking about this program we usually do called red frogs- sort of a chaplaincy program for all the school levers who go on massive road trips and have weeklong parties, the call it leavers or schoolies here(for American readers). So D wont be able to do that with me this year coz not only will he have work commitments, it would be a conflict of interest... got me thinking.
For at least a while know we seemed to be headed down the pastoring path and i just imageined i would be a pastor/pastors wife you know with a church and stuff eventually. i dont know how that fits with this new path he has choosen. Since ministry is very much what i have lived for for years, a different future is somewhat daunting.
The more i read cop blogs the more i realise we are in for a very different reality to what i thought and for the first time i feel like i will be laying down some of my dreams for his. But i know God is in control and when we decided he would apply, this is the path we felt he should take.
I now face the prospect of country time, leaving my youth, our church and all the ministry roles I exist in. I face the very real possiblity that his shifts will conflict with youth commitments and church commitments even if we can stay in the city. In ministry I am the organiser and facilitator but he is the pastor. He is the shepherd, where I sometimes lack in the relational side of ministry, and i dont know where the ministry would be if i were in it alone.

His shifts on top of my shift work is beginning to take a bit of a toll on us, and we are struggling to find someone to look after the kids during our shift overlaps. I cant begin to see how our family will look like what i imagined even 1 year ago

So now i will stand in faith, and hold onto the the prophesies and dreams God has given me, knowing He was fuly aware i would be married to cop and His words will not return to Him void.

Forgive me if i get a little emo on everyone, life is just a bit raw at the minute and i dont really mind sharing because i feel quite on edge, so atleast if people who know me read this they might understand why.

On a different subject but part of i guess what is making me really raw is this month. I dread the beginning of August. August brings with it the count down to 1 year passes, until my birthday. click on Joes Legacy to understand. i really dont want to actually write any of that out. This sucks actually. I dont want to have a birthday but i cant figure out a way to avoid it. i dont want a birthday gift or card. Actually all birthdays are difficult because of the memories and thoughts but i havnt figured out a way to avoid those either.
so if you knw me, dont wonder why my phone is off on my birthday and im not home and i delete happy birthday messages off facebook.

dude i should not blog at 4 in the morning while emo and after 1(apparently too many) red bulls...sorry if you had to read that

Pictorial Not Me Monday

I did not do lots of slightly crazy things this week, but most recently I did not make my child pretend to dance like a ballerina in her book so i could get rediculously cute pictures of her in her new dancing costume... nope...


not me...
I did not randomly teach myself to make balloon animals for my own amusement at her birthday party...



and I did not put off baking until it was necessary for me to make cupcakes at midnight... but if i did they would have turned out like this
I did not have a nervous breakdown in the car on the way to the park we were having the party at because fishpond sized rain drops started falling on my windscreen even though the sky looked like this 5 minutes later...


AND i didnt forget half the food and make my most obliging husband go back home to get it...




Or have another nervous breakdown because one particularly selfish family had unneccesarily spread their belongings under the only two gazebos at the park. Nope not me, i would not be upset over silly little thigs like that!




And one for the birthday girl... HI I AM GRACE AND I AM 3, and I did not start out super grumpy at my party,

monopolise peoples attention then cheer up and then announce to the rest of the world my sister was the stroppy one...

Well she was, but not me.

And I did not run out of space on my doodlebear that nan got for my birthday, and when really wanting to stencil a flower on i did not resort to putting it on it's bottom, and Im sure my Mama would have been far to mature to take this photo...
This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

big girl birthday

Yesterday i was 2...

i painted 2 year old pictures


and sat for 2 year old photos...


TODAY i am 3...
i get a bike


and a helmet




and i get to be a ballerina (more) pics on that tomorrow!
I get visitors too like my Nan and Pop...

and lots of phone calls aswell!
I like being 3!


Happy big girl birthday miss grace, you are so grown up, i am hardly shocked you are 3, maybe a little shocked that you are only 3! Your baby strong will has developed into a strength of character and your one track focus has developed into a perseverence and patience so unusual for your age. Your kind words and sweet little manners make my day.
Love you lots,
mummy

p.s i would have posted a cute little baby pic here but i havnt been able to get them onto my new computer yet!

One Last Day...

Today i savour my last few moments raising a 2 year old and a one year old. Tomorrow i will have a 3 year old and a one year old. The girls are sleeping now as we had a walk and bought some treats, and this afternoon i plan to take some pics of my soon to be big girl. It is so much fun now that she knows what is going on, but she may be a little overly focused on her present this year. the birthday conversation usually goes like this

ANYONE- So Grace it is your birthday soon?
Grace- I am getting a bike and a helmet
ANYONE- So how old are you going to be Grace?
Grace- A pink bike!

at the shops
Grace- what are you getting Daddy?
Daddy- A newspaper
Grace- Can i look in the pages to find my bike?
(newspapers and catalogues are on equal terms in the mind of a nearly 3 year old i guess but how she knows to look for bikes in there i will never know!)

bit of a one track mind, lucky for her she is getting a bike!

She is getting ballet lessons from Granny, and she knows all about that too. she say big girls who are 3 get to be ballerinas. Cant wait to post pics of her getting her little oufit on Saturday.

On another front, i may have a new job opportunity on the horizon, but i will post more on that if anything comes of it.

Ups and Downs

Daddy is at home with us today. The work situation is not lookin good. Praise God he is starting with the police in July but i think it may be a rocky road until then... throws a bit of a spanner in the works of our routine too but thats cool, coz the girls love thier Daddy time. The room time went really well with both girls today, grace went from crying the whole half hour nearly to really enjoying her time to herself today setting up a little doll shop and clothes without being raided by the toddler tornado she calls her sister.
Jaeda was a little unimpressed at first but enjoyed her blocks and stacking cups while G painted in peace. Surprisingly they got along so much better when they played together after.
Tomorrow i will try catch so pics of them and work out how to post them.

We all went for dinner last night for my Cousins 20th. It was a good night and all you can eat went down sooo well with the kids! She was born the same year as my brother and i wonder how long her events will be crowded with the thoughts of Joe would be .... too. For my parents the look on their face is less of a realisation of that, more like every time is something else being stolen from them. Last night they were reminded that they will grieve the loss of a son's 20th celebration, as well as the loss of a son this year. Still it was good to see family and eat rediculous amounts of soft serve ice cream covered in chocolate chips.

Carly, so how far away do you think we can get in September. A million miles away sounds good to me... maybe further.