Lightening Online

Farmboy and I had a lovely 3 nights away this week - sans kids. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my kids. But I do enjoy some one on one time with my husband. It’s taken me a while to appreciate this time. When the kids were younger it almost seemed counter productive to go away without them. I’d feel sick the whole time we were away. Not real conducive to relaxing and enjoying some time with my husband. It has gotten easier to leave them as they get older. I guess because they’re much more independent. And I can see the benefits for them in having some time away from mum and dad. Plus, of course, they get spoilt by Granny, so they enjoy it!

On Tuesday we took the Ferry across the gulf. It’s a lovely way to travel but is usually too expensive for us. They had a half price offer so we took the opportunity to go over on the Ferry. It doesn’t save us any time but you do arrive a little less tired at the other end (especially the driver).

We drove into town, booked into our accommodation and took a swim before heading out for a nice evening meal together.

Wednesday we headed off to the Caravan and Camping Show and drooled over all the nice things we *could* buy. Once upon a time camping and carravanning were the cheap way to holiday. Of course, marketters can sniff a market out a mile away and these days it’s saturated with “must haves”. The good news is that there are some handy inventions that have been created as a result so it’s not all “bad”.

We worked hard to be wise in our purchase decisions (no easy feat I can tell you!). Farmboy was able to get some better towing mirrors for 1/4 of the price he’d seen them for last year. He’s really happy with them.

I watched a number of Dreampot demonstrations and got lots of new ideas and information for what I can try in there. The first I saw was a scone making demonstration. YUM! They were AWESOME! I’m going to give those a try (I’ve never been very good at making scones). Of course, the best part about watching the Dreampot demo’s was that I’ve already bought one so I wasn’t going to get talked into parting with more money.

We decided to purchase a camping clothesline. I was resisting temptation as most caravan parks have clotheslines you can use. We’re trying to be careful not to take too much gear with us. However, this one folds up into a handy carry bag, weighs less than 3kg and at $45, I can see us getting our money’s worth rather easily.

It’ll mean we can leave washing in the annexe while we’re out all day without concerns of garments being stolen or blowing off the line. Plus, I like the idea of having a little more privacy when it comes to my undergarments. We can also use it for hanging wet bathers on. And I thought it might come in handy during winter at home. I don’t have any undercover clothes line for drying washing on a wet day. I could set this up in the pergola or even inside.

We got to speak to some great Tourism people and got some “local knowledge” on a few places we’re planning to visit so that was heaps of fun as well.

Wednesday night (after another swim) we drove into the hills to visit Lleyton at his school camp. When we got back to our accommodation, we walked up the street to a Dairy Bell (ice cream parlour) and each ordered a Sundae. They were so HUGE we could have shared one!!! It felt very decadent to be out after dark eating ice cream. Such a lovely balmy evening too.

Thursday was shopping day. Koorong kindly had a sale on (which rarely happens when we’re actually near one!) so we had breakfast and a browse there before heading out of town to a larger plaza. We met up with Farmboys sister and our niece for lunch.

Thursday night we spent at my parents place (which happens to be near the Ferry terminal) before heading home on the Ferry early Friday morning (with a truck that Farmboy bought from a farmer over there).

We fitted quite a bit into our time away but the pace was never rushed and we really enjoyed our time together.

Despite all of that, none of it comes close to this smiley moment (actually, it was a bit of a teary moment, but good tears):

I picked the kids up from school on Friday as Lleyton was just getting back from camp. I gave Lleyton $10 spending money for camp (he also took a little of his own money) and he spent $8 of it on gifts for his younger brother and sister. He has such a generous heart - it’s enough to make a mother weep (oh yeah, it did).

So many things to smile about this week. My heart is full and overflowing. Unfortunately, so are my sinuses as I’m struggling with a cold! I think we’ll all be taking things easy today.

Happy Smiley Saturday everyone! I hope you can find something to smile about today. If you write your own Smiley Saturday post, feel free to link to it in the Mr Linky below.

It’s funny how kids can go from making you smile to tearing your hair out to making you smile again isn’t it? One wonders whether the ability to make you smile is a survival mechanism some days.

Here are a few smiley moments my children gave me this week:

Singstar Princess made me this beautiful flower (on Valentine’s Day as it turned out).

Inside the card says “To Mum I Love You You are the greatest mum in the world” Love ………

I tend to get down on myself and my abilities as a mother so this was very special and some much needed encouragement right now.

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On Wednesday night we had some friends over and Trailer Boy and his mate decided to do some “work” on the cubby roof:

Trailer Boy was busy measuring and marking with a builders pencil (he has a builders set complete with actual tools) while his mate was hammering in nails. They looked to be very industrious.

It’s interesting how your parenting style changes over time. We were discussing with our friends how if it had been our first borns attempting that we would have been in a great hurry to get them down from the roof of the cubby. Instead we just warned them to be careful and not to walk around up there. Of course, “babies” in the family are just a whole different kettle of fish to “firstborns” aren’t they. And these 2 have very different personalities to their older brothers (these particular friends had boy-girl-boy just like we did).

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On Friday, our local school held their yearly Swimming Carnival. Lleyton isn’t the most confident swimmer. He has been working hard at it but it’s not something that comes easily to him. We’ve never forced him to participate in the Swimming Carnival. In fact, when he reached the age of participation (year4), I had assumed he wouldn’t be interested in participating.

Every year he surprises us with his team spirit and determination to be as involved as he can. I have been so proud and encouraged by his courage when it comes to getting involved.

Here he is in the Chariot Race (the only photo I managed to get on the day). A younger student has to ride on a senior student while they swim.

He’s participated in this event before and really had the technique down pat this time. He floated on the top of the water so that his weight was negligable on the swimmer. His team won this event. His particular senior won the championship trophy for his age group (as did both his younger sisters - a very talented family when it comes to swimming).

This is one of those times when I really appreciate the fact that our children attend an Area School (R-12) as it’s great to see the leadership and interaction between the senior and junior students.

I also completed my first task as Vice President of our Parents & Friends Association. At the last minute, the President couldn’t make it to present the trophy’s and awards so I was asked to fill in. It was a rather rushed affair as we were running late. I’m hoping I matched up the right awards with the right students.

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I REALLY love my children but this week hasn’t been one of my easiest as a parent so it’s great to reflect back on the good times - and realise there have been plenty of good times as well as struggles. It’s easy to focus on the negative at times isn’t it?

I hope you can all find a reason to smile this weekend. If you’ve not participated in Smiley Saturday before, I encourage you to read the Smiley Saturday page for more information. Please only add your link to the Mr Linky below if you’re participating in Smiley Saturday.

Happy Smiley Saturday everyone!

Yes, today IS Valentine’s Day so what better topic for my Smiley Saturday post?

I know Valentine’s Day is one of those “overcommercialised” holidays that some people prefer to ignore.

BUT…

The sentiment is kind of nice isn’t it?

A day to celebrate love.

With all the horror that Australia has seen this past week, I think there is so much good that can also come out of this tragedy:

• The realisation of how fortunate we are to have our loved ones when so many are grieving the loss of theirs.
• The importance of telling our loved ones how we feel - for none of us are guaranteed a “tomorrow”.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be commercial.

One of the best Valentine’s I was ever given was a single rose from a home garden. Given to me by a guy when we were in year 12. Carried to school in an empty milk carton ( a clean one). All day, I was asked why I had milk in my locker. LOL.

What made it so special?

I think it seemed rather heartfelt and simple. In general, I’m not overly comfortable with people spending money on me (which is a pity really!!!) so it was meaningful without me ending up uncomfortable. And it was unexpected. And I LOVE flowers. So much beauty and promise - they always make me smile (although some also make me sneeze).

Sadly, the story didn’t end up with a happy ending. Most of my Valentine’s stories don’t have happy endings.

That doesn’t stop it from remaining a very precious memory though. I’ll always be thankful for the thoughtfulness of that guy.

Farmboy and I rarely celebrate Valentine’s Day. Our wedding anniversary is at the end of March so we tend to wait until then to celebrate. Not that we haven’t gone out for dinner some years and once he gave me my eternity ring (with 5 love hearts) for Valentine’s Day rather than waiting until our wedding anniversary (a great element of surprise that time!).

This year we’re having a couple of nights away in between Valentine’s Day and our wedding anniversary. When you’ve got kids it can be more about taking opportunities when they present themselves than worrying about a certain date.

Today I’m planning on making a Pink Cake in the shape of a love heart. Something the whole family can share and a way of showing them I love them.

Sometimes it’s the simple gestures that mean the most.

How are you planning on showing your love today?

Happy Smiley Saturday.  I hope you and your loved ones can find a reason to smile today and a way to say “I Love You”.

I was recently browsing the FAIL blog so I thought I’d post a few of my favourites here for Smiley Saturday:

Bwaahaahaaa….I’m such a “clearance junkie” I’d probably still buy it!!! (okay, I wouldn’t really).

Please tell me they are NOT children in the back of that truck!!!

Why I’ll never drive over a bridge if a ship is coming through!

Words fail me with this one - I keep laughing too hard.

For more laughs, check out Fail Blog.

Hope you’re having a Smiley Saturday!

Feel free to join in by publishing your own Smiley Saturday post, linking back here and adding a link to your post into the Mr Linky below.

This one has been doing the rounds of inboxes but I couldn’t resist putting it here as a Smiley Saturday post.

He finally did it:

Hopefully as you read this, I’m finding somewhere cool in Adelaide where we can escape the heat.

Happy Smiley Saturday everyone! I hope you have plenty to smile about this week.

Farmboy and I had the day to ourselves yesterday which was exactly what the doctor ordered. We had a couple of appointments to go to, so we left the kids for a day with his mother and headed off.

The first appointment was with the dentist - a strange topic for a Smiley Saturday post if ever there was one. I’m terribly dental phobic although our current dentist is wonderful and is really helping with that. I usually use a product with a relaxant and mild pain relief in it but they’d run out of the inhalers so I decided to “brave it”. I was really quite proud of myself for managing to get through the visit without it (shows I’m making good progress). I was also really pleased that the only filling I needed was one that had been identified a while back (so we knew I needed it done). No KNEW holes have appeared in the past couple of years - YAH!!!!

After Farmboy also had his dental visit, we headed off for an afternoon of shopping (a great reward for going to the dentist if you ask me!). We also took the opportunity to visit the local RAA (our automobile association) and grab some FREE maps for our “big trip”. They also gave me a brochure with all the tourist attraction tickets you can purchase through them before you go (for a discount). VERY exciting!!! We’ve already made yet another change to our planned route - who knows which way we’ll end up going by the time the trip gets here!

On the way home we stopped at a favourite spot of ours for a meal. Looking out over the azure blue waters, I was almost scratching my head about our penchant to visit Queensland when we have such beauty almost in our backyard!!!!

Of course, there IS more to our trip than simply the beautiful beaches in Queensland, but it’s also nice to appreciate what we do have not too far from where we live.

To top it all off, their special for the night was Rump Steak with a drink for $12.90!!! Including a full salad and vegie bar! I bet Queensland prices won’t be anything to close to that!

All in all, it was a lovely day, even if the main purpose for the trip was the dentist appointments. Farmboy and I really needed some one on one time together. These holidays have been rather full-on (albeit in a fun way!).

I hope you can all find something that makes you smile on this Smiley Saturday. If you’d like to join us, simply publish your own Smiley Saturday post with a link back here and then come and link to your post in the Mr Linky box below.

Happy Smiley Saturday everyone!

Yes, Smiley Saturday is now BACK from it’s brief 2-week holiday and ready to see lots of smiles and laughter throughout 2009!!!!

My Smiley Saturday post this week is all about yesterday. After a whole 3 and a half days home from the beach, we decided to take our kids out for the day yesterday. Actually, it was something we’d planned a while back. I needed to do a bit of back to school shopping and pick up some bits and pieces in preparation for our “big trip”. So, we planned to take a day away to a regional centre with a small amount of shopping and a fun school holiday activity.

The original plan was to take the kids to the movies. It’s not something we do very often (which isn’t surprising given how expensive it is) so we thought it would be a nice treat. At the last minute, we gave them a choice of a movie or the Leisure Centre and they ended up choosing the Leisure Centre.

I was really pleased with this choice as swimming is healthier for them and they don’t get a lot of opportunities to do it. Plus, they can do with the practice.

The Leisure Centre has a slide which is open each afternoon during the School Holidays - this is the major attraction for our children with wanting to go there.

When we’d finished at the Leisure Centre, we took a drive to visit Farmboy’s brother and his wife who’ve recently moved down there (they were farming up until December). We had a look at the luxurious home they’re renting (for an awesome price of course) with beautiful sea views. It’s so lovely.

Then off to Farmboy’s sister’s place to have tea with their family and exchange Christmas Gifts (their little boy was sick when we had our family get together so they didn’t make it). Christmas is now officially over for us.

All in all, it was a lovely family day (both immediate and extended) and we arrived home rather late last night (hence my slow start this morning).

I hope you all can find something to smile about on this Smiley Saturday.

Smiley Saturday is currently “On Vacation”. If you would like to post a Smiley Saturday post, please feel free to do so and link to your post in the comments section below.

I hope you’re all finding plenty of reasons to Smile in this New Year.

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is once again over for another year. It sneaks up on me every year and then runs off before I barely have a chance to appreciate it’s presence!!!!

We had a lovely few days away. The kids LOVED staying in the caravan over Christmas and I enjoyed the creature comforts it offered as well as having plenty of cupboard space and hidey holes for gifts and not having to try and squeeze everything into the back of the car for the trip home!

Christmas Day itself was reasonably relaxed. We had bacon and egg sandwiches (cooked on the bbq) for breakfast before heading off to church then home for presents (with lots of nibbles) before a casual lunch of cold meats and salads followed by cheesecake (yum!!!!).

The kids were stoked with their gifts. Singstar Princess was so excited about her pink digital camera that I don’t think she even gave the Nintendo DS she wanted a second thought.

This was one of those years where I seemed to get the balance about right. We’ve had years where I’ve gone overboard with too many presents (yes, there IS such a thing) and the kids don’t even discover all of their toys and I end up going crazy trying to find places to put them!

This year we seemed to have the right amount of “wow” factor without going overboard. So far the kids have played and played with what they got and seem really happy.

Every year their giving attitude makes me smile. With a pile of gifts under the tree for them, they’re always in more of a hurry to GIVE the small gifts they’ve bought (or made) for others than they are to unwrap their own things. It always warms my heart to see them get so much joy out of GIVING. They always make such good choices for the people they’re buying for too. They don’t just grab the first thing they see but like to really look and think about what the recipient might enjoy.

Boxing Day saw us head to a gathering with a couple of my brothers (one couldn’t make it). The kids enjoyed catching up with their cousins and there was another flurry of gifts to be given and opened. Other than being a little on the warm side, it was a nice afternoon. The location was on our way home from my parents place so we didn’t have to do any extra travelling which was good.

Today is recover from the trip and pack to head down to the beach for a bit of time with Farmboys family. We’ll be in and out a lot over the next couple of weeks (who knows when) so I’ve decided to take a break from Smiley Saturday for the next 2 weeks. You’re still welcome to do a Smiley Saturday post but I won’t have a linky for you to link to (it can’t be done in advance on my free membership).

I hope you all had a reason to smile on Christmas Day and that the final few days of 2008 are kind to you!!!

Happy Smiley Saturday and thank you for your participation and support in 2008. I look forward to many more Smiley Saturday’s together in 2009!

Farmboy, in an effort to cheer me up the other day, made a comment along the lines of “only 7 more sleeps to Christmas”.

You see, it’s common for me to get VERY excited as Christmas draws near. I’m a HUGE fan of Christmas.

I turned to him and said “shut up”.

He looked like I had slapped him in the face.

It was an unusual response for me and a bit of a wake up call that I had really lost my way in the true meaning and spirit of Christmas. Life has been too busy of late and that’s just not how I want to approach this very special time of year.

So, today I want to focus on some of the things about Christmas that make me smile.

Seeing our Santa up a Gum Tree every time we come home (and the toots from motorists when they drive past):

Our imperfectly decorated Christmas Tree which reminds me that Christmas doesn’t need to be perfect in order to make people smile (and in fact, perhaps it’s better if it isn’t):

The fun of buying and wrapping gifts for others and the hope that what you give them will make them smile:

Taking time out for family with a very simple Christmas fare:

Our Sunday School nativity, reminding us of the true reason for the season:

My little Fairy in our local Christmas pageant (where the kids also got a small gift from Santa and the town put on a free movie):

There are plenty of reasons to smile in this Christmas Season. I invite you to join me in reflecting on what has made you smile in the lead up to Christmas. It really makes a difference to take a moment from the hustle and bustle and appreciate all the wonderful things this season represents.

If you’re new to Smiley Saturday, please read my Smiley Saturday page before adding your link to the Mr Linky below. Anyone is welcome to join at anytime but please link directly to your Smiley Saturday post and not to your blogs homepage.

You might also enjoy browsing some of the Christmas Crazy posts linked at Magnetoboldtoo. I’m sure there’ll be quite a few smiles and laughs amongst those.

Happy Smiley Saturday! I hope you’re all able to find your smiles amongst the busy-ness and craziness of this festive season.