So Proud of my Boy

 As I said yesterday, My Mr15 made me very proud last week.  For his Hospitality lesson two weeks ago, they had to bake a sponge cake.  This was quite the achievement in itself as Mr15 definitely isn't into cooking.  About the only thing he makes are 2 minute noodles and toast!!  You may wonder why on earth he is doing Hospitality for one of his subjects this year???  Well he chose it as a last resort in case he didn't get in to his first couple of choices, lol well look at what he ended up with!!  I am very proud to say though that he is doing quite well so far.  I was so blown away by this cake he did, I think for a first time effort it is brilliant.  He baked the sponge all by himself.  The teacher froze them and then last week they did the decorating and this is what he surprised us with when he came home that afternoon!!!
Isn't it pretty??  The cream didn't photograph very well but he actually did piping around the top edge which looked great and the sides were all nice and smooth.  The patchy bits on the photo were where the top of the container accidentally touched when he lifted the lid off it.  He made the chocolate decorations and cut the strawberry so it was spread out (I know there is a more technical term for this but it escapes me at the moment lol).  To say I was amazed at his efforts was an understatement!  The chocolate decorations were all standing up which you can't really see in the pic either and it just looked so beautiful.....it tasted pretty darn good too!!  Yes our diet was cast aside that night as we had to have a small piece of his cake.  The only thing I think it was missing was a little vanilla and caster sugar being added to the cream.  The teacher wouldn't allow them to add anything so it was a little too "creamy" tasting for my liking (I'm not a fan of plain cream except on apple pie lol), but overall it was really nice and he even managed to create a pretty light fluffy sponge!

Ok after talking about fattening things I really should do our diet update.
Day 29 results are:
Hubby lost 200 grams
I lost nothing, but gained nothing either.

This brings our total losses to 6.6kgs and 4.8 respectively.

Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award

My Mr16 has been striving to achieve the Duke of Edinburgh's award now for almost 3 full years.  He completed his Bronze award in year 9/10, his silver in year 10/11 and now is going for his gold award.

I have had mixed feelings about this award over the years.  It was always just another thing to have to do and fit in to his schedule which is already pretty full between his school work and his part time job.  I know this award is regarded highly when it comes to job seeking as it shows responsibility etc etc, but seriously,,,,,at times it can be a hard slog.  They have to do a certain amount of hours of "community service" type activity, learning a new skill, a physical activity and then also do a camp where they are the "team leader" and organise everything.  Last night though when he had his presentation night I was so proud of what he had achieved.  Apparently many kids start this award but not so many finish it.  As for achieving gold which is what he is going for at the moment, only about 20 kids make it to the end each year.  Last night was a school presentation night, we have the State Award presentation night at the end of October.  If he completes the Gold award it will be presented at Government House which will be a pretty special night for him, I saw his eyes light up when he found out that.

Mr16 has always struggled with school but he keeps on trying.  He has never been a straight A student but he has done well considering how hard he finds it all.  He is the sort of kid that just takes everything in his stride and always tries his best, what more could a mother ask for.

I love you mate and am so proud of the young man you are becoming!

Here is a photo of my boy having just received his Silver certificate.  The lady on the left is from the Department of Youth, she is one of the main co-ordinators of the Duke of Ed Award and the guy on the right is the Manager of Twelve25 where they have held all their weekly first aid classes etc.

And here is a picture of all the kids that received either their Bronze awards or their Silver Awards from the school this year.  Only Mr16 and one of the girls received their Silver Awards, all the rest are Bronze.  The lady on the far left is the School Principle and the guy second from the right is the teacher that goes above and beyond his job description to ensure that these kids can succeed  in the Award.  The kids that do the award are chosen by this teacher.  He chooses some who are causing trouble at school to give them something else to focus on and give their confidence a boost and then he chooses others for their keen sense of community and sense of responsibility, that just need to have more self confidence,,,,,my son fits into the latter group (thankfully lol).

They are all going on camp in two weeks time for 4 days out to Iron Knob.  They went there last year as well.  They all came back pretty grotty but they had a good time.  I only hope the weather is kind to them and doesn't get too hot.

Soccer Season is over again.......for a whole 3 weeks!!

My Mr14 plays soccer for a Federation Team....the Enfield City Falcons.  He has played with them for the past 2 seasons.  I have to admit that the Club doesn't thrill me in many of the things it does but he likes his team and his coach so I just grin and bear it.  He has played soccer since the age of 5 (well except for 1 year where he decided he would give AFL Football a go, but then he decided to return to soccer).  Over the last 10 years he has played for 4 different clubs, 5 if you count the football.  He loves the game and I am all for him continuing on, at this point I am just hoping the fees don't go up again for next year.  Last year the fees went up by $150 for the season,,,,,,to me that is a massive jump and I definitely won't be happy if they rise that much again this year.

They had presentation day yesterday, each of the kids getting their trophy for the year.

 

We were informed that try outs for next season commence on October 16!  There are 3 weeks of try outs so that requires us to be at the oval at 9.30am on Sunday mornings for 3 weeks......tryouts take approximately 2 hours each time.  Following tryouts there will be 3 beach sessions, being held - 1 in November, 1 in December and 1 in January before the season training officially starts in the first week of February.  Honestly it just feels like soccer season never ends.  We also got told that next year games for the Under 15s will start at 8.30am on Sunday morning, meaning we have to be at the oval at 7.45am!!!  I am already feeling a sense of dread for the games held down South where it takes us at least an hour to get there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next year I also have Mr11 and Mr9 considering starting up soccer.  Previously they haven't wanted to but this year they are both thinking they would like to play.  I will be putting them into a local club that is a little closer and much, much cheaper!  That will mean 6 training sessions during the week and 3 games each weekend as well as Mr11's Karate lessons on Wednesday night.

Mr14 is currently looking for a part time job so that will also be more running around as well as Mr16's part time job.  Mr16 doesn't play sport anymore choosing to concentrate on school and his part time job at KFC.

Mr11 and Mr9 are also both going to be doing swimming lessons over summer.

  I feel that Miss12 should be doing some sport but after us getting her into soccer about 3 years ago, her mum pulled her out saying it was too rough (yes I know, this is what we deal with on a constant basis), so the girl does nothing.  There is no point in us getting her involved in something when we aren't the ones that have to take he majority of the time.  I am not going to waste my time and effort (not to mention money) on getting her in to something only to have her pulled out again by her mum, whether it be for the excuse of "she might get hurt" or "we don't have time" (this comes from a family that only have one parent working and that is on a very part time basis mind you!)

I can see my slow cooker getting used ALOT over the soccer season next year lol.
The joys of sports for kids!!!!

The junior teams of the club....5 in total

School Zoo Trip

Yesterday my Mr9 had a school excursion to the Zoo.  I had volunteered to tag along as a parent helper.  The teachers had decided this time that since they had ample parent helpers (for a change) that they would split each of their 3 classes into groups of 4 children and allocate 1 parent/teacher per group.  My group contained my son and 3 other young boys.  Somehow though, my group joined with another group and I ended up spending 90% of my time dealing with 8 boys - boys that became very boisterous together (4 of them did anyway) and another parent, a dad who is way too laid back for his own good.  The dad is the father of one of my son's best friends.  He has his hands full at home but quite honestly he has no control over his kids and was very out of his depth yesterday as he just didn't control these kids.  It made for a very long day!  I seemed to spend most of my time trying to get a few of them to move along and get off the gardens, get off fences etc etc etc.  We didn't end up getting to see everything but I think the kids were happy nonetheless.  My son said he had a good day but wished that we had just been on our own with our group.
School excursions, lol you just gotta love them!  One of the other mums said my thoughts exactly, she said to me...."I always wonder why I put myself in these situations and keep telling myself never again,,,,,,but there is always a next time"  lol and that is so true.  I know that next time an excursion crops up, I will again volunteer, later to wonder what I was thinking!!!

Here are some pictures of our day, Mr9 took his camera too so this is a mix of his and mine.

Mr9 enjoying his juice

Don't you just love Pandas!!!

The group I had to keep contained lol,,,amazingly none of them ended up in a cage!!

As we were getting ready to leave we noticed Funi the panda high up in a tree

 

 

I adore Orangutans!!!

Mr9 loved the Meerkats

...and the giraffes

How the heck did he manage to get such a good picture of the panda on his little 2MP camera??? lol

I think I may have a future "nature photographer" on my hands lol

He took this one for me because I always say how the kids like to just bury their heads in the sand and pretend its not bed time lol He said I know its not sand but he still buried his head!!

This sea lion was just so cute

the Pygmy Hippo

and part of his class at the end of the day (the teacher wanted a group shot lol)  Mr9 wasn't happy that he couldn't fit everyone in,,,,,but I think the teacher is planning on printing a photo for everyone so I'm sure he will be happy when he sees it.

Personal Research Project.....What The ****??????

My eldest, my sweet and gentle Mr16 is in Year 11 this year.  He is doing well and while doing his Year 11 studies he is also studying Certificate 1 in Hospitality with the view possibly, potentially, maybe (this is his mindset right now lol) of becoming a Chef, or a Bar  Tender with the latter being his preference right now.

Now school has never been his strong point.  Studying for him is hard but he doesn't complain much and just does what he needs to do.  This year they have thrown something extra at the kids.  They have to do a Personal Research Project.  This was a new thing to be introduced to Australian schools just last year.  This project can be of their choosing, topic wise,,,,or so they said.  Supposedly it is meant to be about the career path they were choosing.  Well I don't think many of the kids have chosen any question relating to their career paths, namely because most of the kids don't really seem to know what they want to do, my son included.

My boy decided after much tossing and turning to do a project relating to Peak Oil and what will happen when Peak Oil arrives.  Well okay, we had a topic.  He told the teachers and they said he had to formulate that topic into a question.  We came up with "How will the Peak Oil crisis affect family's day to day lives?".  Now I thought this was pretty good but nope it was too broad.  After much deliberation and changing his question around the teachers decided that the ideal question would be "How will Peak Oil affect our local council area?".  He told me and I just about freaked, I mean really!  He needs to narrow it down to that much of a specific area????????  For crying out loud, they want him to go to the library and put a questionnaire there for people to fill out.  They want the kids to go out of their comfort zone for this project.  They want them to have to go into the community and get people's opinions and thoughts and beliefs.

Now I did Year 12 at school, and never did I have to do anything so ridiculous.  This project is aimed at expanding their abilities for their future.  I just don't see it.  There are kids doing their projects on Hitler, Music Groups,,,,,,,please tell me how they will be "advanced" by doing this??????

They want him to study how this will affect our local council and to find information relating to it.  Well I thought I would give the council a call and see if there was any information available at all or if there was someone within the council that he would be able to have a chat to........hmmm I got met with blankness and questions of "What is Peak Oil all about?".

He is disheartened to say the least.  He has no idea how to approach this project and what makes it worse is that the teachers don't really have a clue either.

I am considering changing things around for him and throwing in a bit of guess work and doing things solely online (which is a no no) but I believe we can fake it to make it look like they were real opinions from locals lol.  Sheesh I seriously have to put my thinking cap on, for how best to help him with this one.

Like the poor kids these days don't already have enough on their plates, this is just another thing to have to think about and stress about for them.  I believe for most of the kids, this is a project that will just be a total waste of time and get them no where.

Grrrr I am so frustrated with the whole education system right now.  This problem is just the tip of the iceberg in our house at the moment, I could go on for days!!!!

Royal Adelaide Show here again already!

Well it is that time of year again.  One that seems to come around so fast, but not fast enough for the kids of course lol.  Each year we go.  We take my 4 boys one year and the following year we take my step son and step daughter.  Their other parents take them on the other years.  This year was my boy's turn to go with their Dad.  He only ended up taking the youngest two as Mr14 went with his friends and Mr16 was planning on going with friends but sadly they all had to work at their various part time jobs and so decided it was just too hard to plan and now none of them are going (I actually feel a little sad for him, being the only one not to go and he had been really looking forward to going with his friends, but I guess that's life, think of the money he saved!).

We took Mr11 and Miss12 on Saturday.  A day when the forecast temperature was due to hit 27 degrees!  I don't recall ever in my life going to the Show on such a warm day.  Warm it was, sideshow alley with the crowds of people was very hot.  It was quite nice though to be able to sit at night to watch the fireworks and not be freezing to death though lol.  It was forecast to rain and it held off all day until about 7.30 when there was the first shower.  It wasn't overly heavy but it had quite a bit of wind with it, thankfully it only lasted about 5-10 minutes which was enough to see many people run for cover but we sat it out, not wanting to lose our place that we were sitting.  There was another shower about half an hour later bit it wasn't as long or heavy as the first so overall it was a lovely day.

Taking Mr11 to the show is always a challenge.  His Autism means that he has massive meltdowns if he doesn't have his music player with him.  We made sure to pack extra batteries as we were going to be at the show from about 10.30am right through to approximately 10pm (yes I know we are crazy lol, but I figure the amount you pay we are going to see everything it has to offer!!!  besides it is my tradition type thing, we have our set route through the showgrounds which has been well set out since I was a kid lol).

For Mr11 we take his wheelchair,,,,now this child can walk perfectly fine but for any lengthy walks it is just easier to contain him to a wheelchair as he hates to walk and will just drop to the ground and scream if pressured to keep walking.  He can make family outings absolute hell if he chooses to (and he chooses to, just about every time we leave the house), so to help ease the stress we have found a wheelchair to be the answer.  So often I hate putting him in the wheelchair as it find it looks like we are "faking it" when he is perfectly able to get up and down and walk over the the sideshows etc but for our sanity and harmony for the other kids, this is what we have to do.  At least in a wheelchair we don't have to have hold of him all the time as we need to if he is walking.  When walking, if we let go of him, he disappears so fast it is unbelievable and a place like the Show is just not the place to have him disappear on us.  So please if you ever see anyone that can get in and out of a wheelchair with ease and it appears that they are using it just for a sympathy vote or simply because they can't be bothered walking, always consider the fact that there may be an underlying reason why they are in that wheelchair.  Until you spend a few minutes in Mr11's company you wouldn't know he was any different than the other kids,,,,a few minutes in you realise that he cannot talk (other than grunts, garble or screaming) and he basically cannot care for himself at all, there is no self sufficiency happening with the boy unless it involves a dvd player, tv and music on a computer or MP3 player).

Here are some photos we took at the show....

This was one of the Clydesdale horses, isn't he beautiful, I have always loved these horses,,,I think his name was Jacob.  I fell in love with is eyes, they were so big and just gorgeous.

Miss 12 will just love me for putting this picture on the blog lol, she is the cow :-)

Miss12 with her light up bunny ears.  She was so determined that she had to have a light up thing, she desperately wanted the darn ears.  She wore them for a whole 5 minutes,,,,I kid you not,,,,was I impressed, nope!  I had listened to her all day long going on about the darn things, I gave in and got them for her and 5 minutes was all it took for the novelty to wear off, she is darn lucky they only cost $3.50 I tell you!!!!

Mr11 wearing Miss12's Willy Wonka Hat (yes it was another must have that got worn by her for 5 whole minutes,,,lucky Mr11 liked it and it helped keep the rain off his head after we lost his hood off his jacket lol).

Overall we had a good day, way too much money got spent but I guess that is just  part of the Show and there isn't too much you can really do to avoid that part of it.  Although I love taking the kids, Hubby and I cannot wait until we can go just once by ourselves and really get to look at the things we want to look at without having children whining about wanting to go to the rides lol.  I got dragged on 3 rides with Miss12.  Hubby can't go on most of the rides because of his back injury he had last year, so I am the one that gets dragged on.  Miss12 is a bit of a daredevil and wanted me to go on a few with her, many of which I outright refused.  I ended up on 3 that was more than enough for me lol, and believe me I had to space those ones out!!  I went on the Breakdance, the Ferris Wheel and the hmmm, can't remember the name but years ago it was called the Matterhorn.  I don't do things that are high and fast due to my fear of heights (yes I know the Ferris Wheel is about as high as they come but for some stupid reason I can deal with that).  I just have a huge fear that those stupid little bolts that connect these rides together will break and we will be launched metres into the air, I cringe just thinking about it lol.

Unexpected diagnosis

I took my Mr11 to our regular doctor today and we got a most unexpected diagnosis from him.  I sent my son to school today as he only had cold like symptoms and hadn't been sick since last Thursday.  He looked a little flat but nothing more than when you have a cold so I decided he would be fine,,,,no runny nose, just a cough every so often. 

Well I received a phone call from the school about half an hour before the end of school asking me to pick him up as he said he felt sick again.  I went in there and as usual he was bright enough but just a bit pale and said he was feeling sick.  Since we were going to the doctor's in about an hour I just took him home for a little sit down.  Off we went to the doctor who proceeded to do the usual feel of  his stomach and listen to his chest.  He said he believed it was either pneumonia or some kind of bronchial infection. I just about fell over when he said possible pneumonia.  We had to go off for a chest xray and then to the chemist to get some antibiotics and a ventolin puffer.  We get the results tomorrow.

I have Mr9 home as well with a very similar sort of cold like symptoms so have made him an appointment for tomorrow,,,,just in case!

Keep your fingers crossed for my boy!!

One of those weeks.....

The worst bit about being a parent would have to be the worry that comes with the job. 

Last week my Mr11 went off to his friend's house for the weekend.  His friend lives about 40 minutes away and therefore they only really get to catch up in the school holidays.  But the other weekend was the other boy's birthday and so they had organised a 2 night sleepover up at their house.  The first weekend it was planned for we had to cancel as Mr11 was sick at school on the Friday.  I wasn't sure if it was the start of gastro or something so I thought it best to cancel......needless to say he was only sick the one time!

We re-organised it for the weekend just gone.  Mr11 went up there Friday after school and then I get a phone call from the other boy's mum on Saturday afternoon saying that Mr11 had been sick twice and wanted to come home.  We got him home and he was sick a couple more times and I thought "Okay, he has a bug".  On Sunday morning he was brighter and we decided we would all go to Mr14's soccer game.  He started to look a little pale but said he was hungry, silly me had meant to pack some dry crackers for him to nibble but I forgot....the only thing available was plain potato chips so he had a few of those.....silly move!  We made it back home before he was sick again.  The strange part was that he was really bright in between the times he was sick, it was odd.  Monday he stayed home from school and I fed him bland types of food and just small amounts, he was sick a couple of times but only tiny little bits, he was keeping down most of his intake and was drinking well.  Tuesday saw him only sick twice, both times really small amounts and his food intake was up on the previous day.  Wednesday he was okay and bright as a button so Thursday he headed off to school.  At about 1.15 I got a phone call from the school saying that he had been sick.  I headed in to pick him up an he waltzed out of the sick room bright as a button.   He said he had felt sick as he had walked in to school that morning but felt fine after a few minutes.  Lunchtime came around and he felt off and didn't have more than 2 bites of his lunch.  He went out to play with a friend and was sick on the oval. 

I have an appointment for him on Monday with our family doctor (of course he isn't working between now and then!).  Mr11 doesn't want to see anyone else, but I did pop in and talk to a doctor this morning who advised me that is most likely a virus and since he is keeping most of his food down he will be okay.  My main concern is he has now missed basically a week of school and will now miss Monday as well as his appointment is in the middle of the day.

When he was 5 he had a very similar thing.  He was sick on and off for 4 months.  It was just so random the doctors kept putting it down to a virus, but then I noticed that he was losing weight.  It was gradual and I didn't notice it for quite a while.  In total he ended up losing 6kgs.  When I realised just how much he had lost I took him into the Children's Hospital who admitted him and put him in isolation as they were convinced that he was contagious.......this was after me explaining that this had been on and off for 4 months and no one else at home, in a house with 6 other kids (at the time) was sick.  So we were confined to a little room while they did blood tests, urine tests, you name it he had it.  They then decided that it wasn't contagious and he could venture into the play area.  He stopped throwing up for a full 24 hour period and they allowed him home.....I still didn't have any answers.  We went back for a follow up appointment and they decided to put a tube thing (sorry I can't recall exactly what it was) up his nose and down into his stomach which would attach to a box on the outside that would record what his stomach was up to for 24 hours.  This showed up nothing unusual and they then passed it off as "just one of those freaky things" and nothing more got done.  He never had another bout like this for 6 years,,,,until now.

I will hold off going to any other doctor now until Monday unless he gets worse.  I will just keep and eye on him and monitor his intake.  On Monday though I will be demanding to find an answer, we cannot go through 4 months of this again!  One time can be put down to a freak thing but twice???  Looking at him now you wouldn't think there was anything wrong, he is laughing and drinking and eating just like normal.

Aaagghhhhhhhhhhh weeks like this I just hate being a parent and hate the worry that goes with it.  My brain is just running overtime thinking about everything he has eaten wondering if there is a trigger or something.  I just don't know!!!!!

On a lighter note, I decided to make up some more Christmas decorations for this year....this had been my plan for this week originally lol.....so far I have made just 1 and I couldn't put his Christmas ribbon on as I can't seem to find the red and green ribbons I know I have somewhere in this house lol.  Here he is....

The Tween Years - Issues with Lying

It is school holidays and this is the first week.  This week I have my step kids here as well as my 4 boys and the "floaters" that seem to come and go.  We have had sleepovers and generally just bummed around the house.  Pretty boring but pretty standard when Mr Autism is in the house and hubby has to work.  Due to the way Mr Autism is for me I cannot take him out which means we are housebound.  During this week the kids play way too much Xbox and watch way too much TV interspersed with bike riding and some baking etc.  But it is only for 5 days out of the holidays so I am okay with that.

Yesterday was a bad day, I had one of those moments where I was totally unsure of what to do and I exploded because Miss12 pushed my buttons in a major way. I don't like liars and I particularly don't like my own children blatantly lying.  Its not something I generally have to deal with, my kids have never been a problem in that area.  Miss12 on the other hand has been having issues at her mum's house in the same kind of way.  I had been happy that we hadn't had to deal with it here so far,,,,,,,,until yesterday.  I won't go in to all the boring details but it ended with her crying,,,,,alot,, and sneaking down to call her mum on her mobile phone.  I ranted and raved, not knowing that she was on her mobile phone to her mum so her mum heard all of my rant.  Not only did I catch her out lying to me, but then I also caught her as I found out, telling her mum that she was scared and she wanted her mum to pick her up because she was scared that I was going to tell her dad about what she did and he would hit her!!!  That is what pushed my buttons majorly.  How dare she accuse my Hubby of that!!!  Once she got off the phone, after I had spoken to her mum (speaking to her mum isn't something that I generally do! so that was interesting lol) I really let her have it and asked her if she knew what lies of that type could do.  She sat there crying and it broke my heart to see it but at the same time I was so incredibly angry at her.   I had told her mum that there was no hitting going on in the house and she said "don't worry I know I have been having issues with her lies too".

At the end of the day I told her dad the whole story and her mum called last night to talk to her to check she was okay and to talk to hubby.  She said she had told her that the lines of communication were now open and she would not be getting away with things like this any more.  Apparently at her mum's house she has been using the "I don't have to live here, I'm going to Dad's".  Now, we have never had a phone call (her mum would never allow that to happen,,,,but that is a whole other story lol) but I told hubby that he needs to say to her mum that that is precisely what should happen.  She wouldn't want to live here full time, she gets away with a lot more at her mum's.  Here, apparently, she has to do too much (her chores are to pick up her dirty clothes and to keep her part of the room tidy!).

After it starting out as such a small incident, it certainly blew up into massive proportions yesterday.  I was shocked at how easily she was could put it on and accuse Hubby of, well basically, abuse.  I find this incredibly disturbing and it makes me wonder how far this girl will go.  It is one thing saying things like this to another parent, but what if she says it to her friend's parents or a teacher at school.  These kids just don't realise how serious these lies can be.  It truly scares me.  I feel like I am watching a train wreck with this girl at the moment and as she is her mum's golden child her mum won't put her foot firmly down with her.  She needs discipline that she isn't getting from her mum.  At mum's house there aren't actually consequences for her behaviour.  Yesterday she lost her bike for the day and the promised trip to the shop for an icecream didn't happen, she didn't like that at all.  As hubby said yesterday, he thinks she is out of control at mum's house and mum is doing nothing about it.  All we can do at the moment is to sit back and see just how "open" these lines of communication are and keep close tabs on her while she is with us.

KIDS!!  I have never had a problem like this and was hoping to never have one but I guess with 6 kids it had to happen eventually right?

My Baby has turned 9!!!!! Swimming Pool cakes and a Gorgeous Boy

Where does the time honestly go????  This cute little bundle of joy....

is now this cheeky little monkey of a 9 year old, full of beans and always making us laugh....

 and here as he requested is his swimming pool cake.  I usually do the kid's cake requests each year and over the years I've had some great ones and some that I was a little horrified with the outcome lol but this one, this one was one of the better results I think....

He loved his cake and it tasted really really yummy too.  I'd hate to think of the calories in a slice lol but I have to say it was so worth it!!!

I basically made two cakes and joined them together with apricot jam and cream and then smothered the outside with what I believe may be the world's best icing which I will share with you tomorrow.  I dug out the centre and filled it with Blue Heaven flavoured jelly and then added the rest of the decorations.

Crumbed Sausages and Child Challenges

Following on from my last post where I shared my recipe for my famous (well in my home at least lol) chicken stirfry, the following night we had crumbed sausages.  My kids love crumbed sausages.  We find it a great meal to whip up when you are feeling a little brain dead in the "meal idea" area!!  As you can see, the kids can't resist having just a little more of the chicken stirfy that was left over either lol.  Normally we would just serve it with veggies and mash.

CRUMBED SAUSAGES

1kg sausage mince

Breadcrumbs

Garlic Powder

Bush Spices

Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, place sausage mince and sprinkle on garlic powder, bush spices and salt and pepper.  There are no real measurements, just go by sight and smell, adding more if necessary as you mix.

Using your hands, mix all thoroughly together.

Shape into small sausage shapes and roll in breadcrumbs, coating them well.

Deep fry until golden brown and then place into a 150 degree oven to keep warm and to continue cooking.

Serve with Mashed Potato and Vegetables.

You can use whatever herbs/spices you have on hand or like in your snags.  These are our favourites at the moment.

Other than cooking crumbed sausages life in our house hasn't been all that eventful.  It has been a tough couple of weeks emotionally for me with Mr10 deciding that going to school is not what he wants to do each morning.  I can get him there but getting him to go to his classroom is a massive struggle.  The last few days he has gone off to help Bob the handyman/gardener in the school to take his mind off the morning routine.  This seems to work, well it did until this morning when Bob's job he was doing with Rhiley finished a bit quicker than it should have and Rhiley came walking back to get his bag from the office and saw me.  That was it he refused to go to school.  I had to drag him into the office and leave him crying with Bob who said he could help him pack his gear up before heading to class.  I just don't understand my boy at all at the moment.  After school he is fine, says he had a good day etc etc.  He even gets up in the morning ok and goes to school ok it is just that separation time in the morning.  The school is suggesting that maybe I should get him in  to see a counsellor or something as they are just pulling different strategies out of thin air.  I tell you, my older two boys never had these problems and this is truly doing my head in.

Oh well, I guess life wasn't meant to be easy right???????

My boy is 10 and now has 3 new little friends

Monday saw one of my boys have his 10th birthday.  I can't believe it has been ten years since I welcomed this little guy into the world.  He has gone from this.....

to this.....

so darn fast!!!!

Here he is pictured with one of his new little friends,,,,Harry the Rat.  He had two rats a few years ago and when they ran over the Rainbow Bridge he didn't want to get any more.  Well a friend of his at school changed all that when he bought his pet rat Casper into school for sharing day.  So one of his presents was a nice new rat cage and three little munchkins to go in  it.  As well as Harry we also have Patches....

and Freddy.......

They are so awesomely cute!!!  Even I am in love with them.  Unfortunately it is a juggling act since we also have two cats that live inside too.  Lol the cats have to spend time in the bathroom while the 3 musketeers have their cuddle and play times.  But it is so worth the inconveniences to see the smile on the kids faces and listen to their giggles as the rats tickle the backs of their necks as they try and find a nice cosy spot.

This would have to be just another of the joys of motherhood I think.  I certainly wouldn't have bought rats as a pet for us, but now we have them, I can't really imagine life without them.

Thinking and Pondering Life instead of blogging....

That's what I have been doing lol.

I have been doing plenty of blog reading, just no writing. Life has just been plodding along and I seem to be racing around at a million miles an hour but not achieving much.......do you know what I mean???

Last week Mr8 had swimming with his school and so I volunteered to help with the walk to the pool and the change room chaos that junior primary school kids create when they have their swimming lessons.....needless to say lol, it was a very long week.

This weekend was our weekend with all the kids and we had planned to go and visit my mum in the nursing home on the Saturday as my stepkids were only with us for the Saturday due to Mother's Day on Sunday. So we thought, well cool, we will go and see my mum with all the kids, she would like that. But that wasn't to be, Mr9 with Autism came down with a vomiting bug on Friday night and we spent all day Saturday cleaning up behind him. He has this horrible habit of when he throws up (which naturally is never in the toilet) to then proceed to lie down right next to it and sadly, often in it.......it was a very challenging day!!! I was so happy to send him back home on Saturday night much to his mother's horror. But I was so mad, when she then pointed the finger at our house for passing the bug on to him when as we found out from my step daughter, they had had a gastro bug in their house that week!! None of my kids have been sick!!! I really don't know how or why she does things like that. The child got picked up at 5.30pm Friday night and was sick at 9pm, seriously, how fast does she think bugs travel??? I was angry because she didn't even mention that her partner had been sick with the same type of bug since Monday!! Does she seriously think that her daughter wouldn't tell us (although having said that I suspect that she had been told not to tell us!). Grrrrr........

Anyway yesterday, Mother's Day was lovely. I got spoilt and although we ran out of time to actually go out and enjoy the Autumn weather like I would have liked to do, it was a lovely day. Due to early morning soccer game (which my Hubby took my son to) I got to stay in bed till 10am reading my new book that my Hubby got me for Mothers Day,,,,,Multiple Bles8ings (the book by Kate Gosselin from Jon and Kate Plus 8). I have been wanting that book for ages and my darling Hubby managed to get me one from America. I am half way through it already and I love it.

Hubby got home from soccer and then made pancakes for brunch. Yummo, he tried out a new recipe which had berries and ricotta cheese in them and they were quite nice!!

We then went up to visit my mum but sadly she was asleep and she is very hard to wake up so I let her sleep and had to promise the boys we would come up again in a couple of weeks.

I went up to see my mum today and I have come away feeling very depressed. She has dementia and I can see her slipping away a little more each week. I really feel (and I don't really know if it is possible but I believe it is) that putting her into the nursing home last year is what has pushed the dementia further along. Early last year she was only just beginning to get forgetful etc but within weeks of putting her into the nursing home, she slipped into a world of imagination. Now it is very hard to hold a conversation with her. I prattle on about what the kids have been doing etc and she does remember us all, but her sense of reality is gone. I asked her if she had seen the plant that we got her for Mother's Day and she had no idea what I was talking about. She kept going on about flowers my brother had sent her that were sitting on the mantel piece (she doesn't have a mantel piece) and she didn't want me to take her to see the plant and card we got her. Every time I leave her I have to get her to stay put, she keeps saying "I'll just get my bag and I'll be ready", I tell her no she has to stay there, morning tea will be coming soon......its just so hard and so so sad. I really don't want to get old, really I don't. I sincerely hope when I am 80 that I will still have all my faculties about me. Mum is almost totally blind and diabetic which doesn't help matters any.

Well this has turned into a depressing post hasn't it lol.

My real reason for posting today was to let everyone know that I will be starting up a new blog. I have decided that this will be my blog about our day to day lives (aka my ranting and raving space lol) and I will start a new blog which will feature my recipes and any craftwork I do (am hoping to get alot of crafting done soon!!!). It may take a while to get going but I hope for it to turn into something that people can go to for ideas and inspiration.

Hubby has started a new job (within the same company) and it will occupy a lot more of his headspace and most likely time, so I need to find something for myself to do so I don't go mad lol. I decided it may well be time to start trying out some different crafts that I never had time for before.

I hope everyone had a lovely day for Mother's Day and got well and truly spoilt by their children!!

Busy times - School holidays are upon us again.....

I have been missing in action yet again. This time I have school holidays to blame lol.

Last week it was just my boys and I but this week sees the step kids with us and also extra friends sleeping over.

Sunday night and yesterday I had 8 kids here, today I have 6. Tomorrow I will have 7 and Thursday 7 then back to 6 on Friday and yayyyyyyy, 0 for Saturday and most of Sunday. Lol I am longing for that at the moment!!!! We have to go to my nephews wedding on Saturday so my ex is having my kids and Hubby's guys go back to their mum on Friday night.

Last week was my youngest baby's 8th birthday....where on earth has that time gone??? (Photos to follow.....

I long for little people. I am so proud of the people my kids are turning into but oh how I long for the little baby giggles and the trials and tribulations of having toddlers in the house. I actually miss Barney the purple Dinosaur and the Wiggles and Hi-5 lol. I do still get snippets of them as Mr9 with autism watches dvds over and over the only problem being he constantly rewinds so you never get to see a whole song or segment and he constantly changes the dvds.

Yesterday the kids were all occupied playing various games and I have been laid up with a bad cold so I felt like doing nothing so I spent most of the day at the computer going through all my recipes.

I have had a file sitting on the computer for the last 9 years which I have been adding recipes to when I find ones that sound yummy. I still have my mum's recipe collection to go through and scan the ones that I want from that, but finally I have sorted my recipes that are on here into Savoury and Sweet. From that I discovered I have 709 savoury recipes and 815 sweet recipes, all waiting to be tried out by me!!! I could write books with that amount of recipes lol.

My plan is to start at the top and slowly work my way through. I still haven't decided what to do with the double, triple etc ups that I have accrued along the way. I think I counted 8 different versions of Apricot Chicken and about 9 recipes for Anzac Biscuits lol. I'm not sure whether to try each of them or just find the most frugal one and stick with that, decisions decisions.

If they are successful recipes I will post them on my blog to share. I am pretty slack at taking photos of my creations and in the past I have tried recipes and forgotten to photograph the results so never bother to post them. From now on I will aim to improve. I don't think I will be doing the step by step pictures but I will definitely do the end results!!!

I think we have made some progress...YAY!!!!!

Ok it is now Day 3 of the new school year.

After Mr6 having an awful start I am pleased to say that he came out happy on Day 1.

Day 2, he went to school happy and came out happy (I just about did the happy dance on the way out from drop off lol!).

Day 3 he was really great going to school, until his "friend" who is just constantly in his face and is a great kid but knows Mr6's weaknesses and likes to tease from time to time (don't you hate it how some kids are like that, friends one minute and total horrors the next), annoyed him before the morning bell even went. He started to go into sook mode and my heart began to sank. Thankfully by the time he got upstairs he unpacked his back fine and went in ok, only to have a look at the board to see what they had on for the day. I looked too and saw the word "Assembly" and cringed (he just freezes at the thought of assembly and it is enough to push him to instant tears and onwards to make himself sick). He was looking through the rest of the day and I conveniently skimmed over that word. Then he said "what is the word starting with A", I said "oh look you have fitness this morning, that will be fun", trying to change the subject. Then his "friend" comes up and says in a laughing tone "oh look we have got assembly this morning",,,,Yep thanks for that mate! Instantly the tears started and it took me to drag him to the teacher and ask in front of him if they were singing etc up the front of the assembly, to which thankfully the answer was no. Straight away the tears stopped and he was happy, sheesh my child could just about win an Oscar with the way he can turn moods on and off I swear!!!!!!!

But overall, I think we are doing pretty good for the year so far lol. This is progress, many other parents wouldn't agree but for me this is pretty darn good!!!

As for my other little stress head, Mr9, he is going great. So far he loves his class and has been having "fantastic" to use his word, days. I hope this keeps up. After seeing a couple of the kids that have previously picked on him being put in his class I am a little apprehensive, but for now at least, it is all good!!!

Now if I can just concentrate on getting this house organised and neat things would be rosy lol!!!

First Day Back At School - We Welcome the 2010 School Year

Well here we are at the beginning of yet another school year. I so wish I could say that my morning went smoothly but alas no, I still had one very upset little boy this morning.

Mr15 went off to Year 10 without a problem.....until he sees the amount of homework he will get lol, but he was eager to find out what choice subjects he has ended up with.

Mr13 was fine for his first day of high school. He is pretty much a cool as a cucumber type of kid so he was unphased about it lol.

Mr9 went off to start Year 4. After a really horrible year with him last year I was surprised that he went off so easily this morning. He was eager to see who was in his class and what teacher he would get as they weren't told at the end of last year. Normally they get to go to their new classrooms and meet the kids that will be with them and their new teacher but the classrooms were getting revamped and they had no teacher allocated for his class so they all just got told which room they would be in. I was a bit upset to see two of the boys who he had had problems with last year were once again in his class after me asking for them not to be. I have let it go for the moment since he was eager to get into class but they will be hearing about it if there are any problems! There is only 1.5 classes of year 4 so I do understand that this limits the amount of separating they can do but still!

Mr7 was the hard one as usual. We had an awful time with him last night when he went to bed, but finally he went to sleep and got up this morning and got dressed without an issue. The issues began the second I said it was time to go. All of a sudden he is in tears saying he didn't want to be sick. He tends to work himself up to such a state that he makes himself ill. I calmed him down but he said nothing all the way to school and when we got to his classroom he was a mess. The only way I got out of there was when one of the SSOs came up and took him in for me.

I feel so stressed out thinking that this year may just hold more of the same from last year. I don't know what to do about it at this point. I am beginning to think I may have no choice but to either try a different school or else homeschool them. I will wait for a couple of weeks and see how things pan out but I think it has hit crunch time where I will have to make a decision. It can't be good for either of them getting so emotional all the time.

My ex was amazed on the weekend when he asked if I was looking forward to them going back to school and I said "NO". He said they must have been really well behaved all school holidays, I just looked and said "well yeah they were pretty good, but its not that, I just can't go through another year like last year", his answer was "well you just have to be tougher on them".....sheesh he took them to school 3 times for the whole entire year. His answer to anything to do with it is "be tougher" he said to the kids that if they refused to go to school maybe he would have to say they couldn't go to his house for the weekend.....great so punish them by making them stay with me,,,,who is getting punished here???? I don't mean that to sound like I wouldn't want to have them lol, I just think geez I go through hell all through the week and then you want to take away my weekend off by making them stay with me for that too. I politely looked at him and said "that won't be necessary!!!",,,,,,MEN!!!!!

A morning of twiddling thumbs.....the joy of 13 year old sleepovers

Well here I sit actually for a change wanting to get some housework done but not game to incase I wake up the sleeping "monsters" lol.

My just turned Mr13 had a birthday party sleepover last night with 4 of his best buddies. There were originally only 3 but then while playing XBox on Monday he met up with a friend he hasn't seen in a year due to said friend moving schools. So of course I was asked if we could just squeeze one more in......well why not lol, one more won't make a difference when we will have 7 boys in the house anyway!

Hubby and I did begin to wonder about our moving around of rooms that we did over the christmas break though. We moved into Mr13's room which was the largest room and the room where we used to regularly host sleepovers and be able to close them off to the back of the house where they had the big bedroom to sleep and the family room and a bathroom. We put the eldest and younger two boys down the front of the house and closed it off with the sliding door which blocks out majority of the noise and then we had the joy of only having a door closed between us and "the gang" lol. We didn't go to bed till about 12.30 ourselves and I had trouble getting to sleep because no matter how "quiet" 13 year olds try to be, they are never quiet lol. I dozed off then woke at 2.30,,,yep they are all still awake and playing XBox. Finally I dozed back off at 3.30 or so, only to wake again at 5am,,,,,yep you guessed it, all still going. Finally at 5.45 just as the sun was beginning to brighten the room, it went quiet. By this point I couldn't sleep and lay there until the alarm went off at 6.30 for hubby to get ready for work and for my eldest son to get ready to go to his part time job at KFC. Three of the boys were asleep with two still playing. Five minutes later one of those had dozed off and that left one boy standing lol. He said he had caught a couple of hours shut eye during the night thats why he was still up.

Now here I sit at 9.57am and there are four of them asleep and I am wanting to run the vacuum.....lol but I can't be that mean.

Hubby will be picking my eldest up from KFC for me at 11 then coming back here for the birthday cake which no one felt like last night so in my wisdom I said we would do the candles and singing for morning tea today.........in hindsight maybe that wasn't such a clever idea???? Oh well at 11 these boys will be getting woken up so that we can sing and I can take some photos of the gang together. Three of them will be catching up at high school but this year sees the other two going off to different schools some distance away, so I want to get some photos of them together for potentially the last time before they all make new friendships etc.

Aaah well looks like we will be having birthday cake for breakfast at this rate lol........

Its amazing how your views change as you get older.....

Sitting here today, I am looking at the calendar and it has suddenly dawned on me that the kids only have 15 days of school holidays left. I can't believe it, it seems like only yesterday that a couple of the school mums and I were counting down the days till school holidays began with looks of horror on our faces lol.

Today I wish that I still had weeks ahead of me before the beginning of the school year. I am dreading the school routine kicking back in. Back to the early mornings and before school rush. Making lunches and recesses, and the hassle that becomes with 2 kids who hate sandwiches. Making sure everyone gets the fruit that they like lol. The after school mayhem when they are hot, tired and cranky and you are guaranteed to be yelling before you even complete the 5 minute drive home. The joy of having tearful children as they are sent to their rooms to calm down for 5 minutes for hitting their brother or saying words they shouldn't. The homework help that is required by the high school kids and the battle to get the younger kids to do theirs. The list goes on!

I am also dreading the younger two starting back at school because last year was anything but enjoyable, dropping off crying children and spending way too much time with the principle as we try to devise a way for kids to settle better.

AAAAGGHHHHHHHHH I don't want holidays to end!!!!!

I really do wonder if home schooling the younger two at least would be more beneficial to them. I don't know if the stress that goes with schooling for them is worth it......but then again they don't like to mix with kids so I know that if I was to do that, then I would have that battle to contend with anyway. Parenting some days is just so hard lol.

I remember just a year or so ago when school holidays just gave me the horrors. When I used to count down the days with joy while the kids would count down with horror. Now I join them.

Maybe I am just getting older. I look at things with so many regrets at times,,,regrets and guilt. Should I have done more with them when they were little, is that why they struggle with their learning. Should we have played more games, did more colouring etc etc. Should I have had a bigger age gap so that each child could have been given more one on one time with me.

I don't know the answers. I so wish I could have a "do over" of the last 16 years and just start from scratch. How I would have done things differently and not taken one second of their lives for granted. I would have let the small things slide, do they really matter. Does having a tidy house really matter?

Today I sit here in a house that is very lived in. It is by no means perfect, it is over cluttered, not to the point of being a total mess but just not up to the standard that alot of other mums I know would really approve of. We have too much stuff, something I hope to fix this year in a series of major decluttering and redecorating.

This year is the year for me to get fitter, lose weight and to get my house turned into a home. To make it a place we love to come home to, instead of a place where I constantly feel stressed and feel pressured to be cleaning up. I want to be able to relax and enjoy my family in this home not be rushing my times with them so I can get the coffee table wiped down or the floors swept. Right now all the cleaning feel like it takes forever because there is too much stuff. I want to be able to wipe a surface down without having to move things all the time.

This has turned into yet another ramble. I haven't posted in a while lol, so you have all my whinging to enjoy at the same time!!

Ok I am off to clean the kitchen benches and then there might be time to squeeze in a board game with at least one of the kids....(as you can probably guess they all like vastly different games as well lol)

Pssst,,,BTW do you like the new look? I signed up to the blog frog and of course it refused to fit into my old layout so I changed. Still not 100% its the one I want but it does make me feel kinda holiday like, or at least of where I dream of being sort of....you know the view, beautiful beach with no housework for miles around lol.

A Mum's Proud Moment

My 12 year old graduated from Year 7 last Tuesday and I couldn't be more proud of him. He isn't normally the type of kid that likes to get dressed up, but boy did he look gorgeous!!! He grudgingly wore a suit for our wedding 2 years ago and when it rolled around to his graduation, I asked if he would wear his suit again, just like his older brother did for his graduation 2 years ago. Of course he said "I won't fit it any more" but I said, well there is always the older two's suits. So he tried on the pants to humour me, saying that he wouldn't wear the jacket. I thought well that is ok, just he nice pants and a nice shirt. He tried on the pants, perfect fit! Tried on the shoes, perfect fit!. We found a shirt that he was happy with too and I thought well, he does look nice. Next thing, he said "this would look even better with a jacket though wouldn't it Mum?",,,,lol who was I to disagree with him!! He put the jacket on and then next thing out of his mouth was, "well if I wear a jacket you would normally wear a tie too right?". "Most of the time, yep"..."okay let me see Steve's ties. Lol you have never seen someone run so fast to grab those darn ties.

Roll forward to last Tuesday and he stuck to his thoughts and wore the jacket and tie, and he looked wonderful. He even let me spike his hair up!! All the girls said it really suited him like that so now he wants his hair spiked all the time lol.

Here is a pick of my young man......

Exhausting week

This week has and is absolute mayhem. It was always going to be chaotic but then a devastating event happened on the weekend. My auntie passed away. She has been battling cancer for many years, I think at least 7. It started with breast cancer and then finally moved into her brain this year. She was a wonderful lady and my mum's only sister. I haven 't seen her in quite a while and feel guilty for not going to see her more regularly but in a lot of ways I kind of prefer to remember her as she was the last time I did see her which was when she was still reasonably well and still had her bubbly personality. I got the task of telling my mum who recently moved into a nursing home. I stressed about it majorly but amazingly she took it quite well and said "I have been expecting it for quite a while", which is true but I really thought she would fall apart on me. The funeral is on Friday so we will have to keep a close eye on her!!

Other than that my kids have a really full on week at school.
Monday Mr12 had a choir performance at the Magic Millions race at the Morphettville Race Track so he had to be at school by 7.50am to go to that.
Tuesday Mr12, Mr9 and Mr7 had a play put on at school called Jungle Bungle.
Wednesday Mr9 is going on an excursion to the recycling centre and going to look at a landfill site (I have been conned into tagging along lol,,,,,wasn't the best excursion I have ever been on but it was okay I suppose!!)
Thursday I have to go in and do spelling testing for Mr9's class and Mr12 is performing in JRock Eisteddford Thursday night at the entertainment centre. We are all going to that which I am really excited about but of course it goes from 6.30pm through to 10.30pm and then by the time we pick Mr12 back up from school we won't get home till after 11pm.
Therefore Friday I had arranged for all the kids to have a day off as I know they will be exhausted,,,,,but Mr12 also has a SAPSASA Soccer Carnival on this Friday lol, so he doesn't get to sleep in and has to be at school by 8.15 and of course he volunteered me to help drive the kids to the carnival. This would have been great except now I have 3 other kids who all want to sleep in and a funeral to be at at 10am!!!
So the plan is for my Mr14 to stay home with Mr9 and Mr7 while I take a car load of kids to the soccer and then go to the funeral and then rush back to them and take them up to the soccer carnival in time to pick up a carload of kids yet again....(the joys of having a Tarago is you always seemed to get volunteered to be a chauffeur!!!!! (One good thing is that I have very responsible Mr14 and Mr9 and even Mr7 is pretty good and they know that they can go next door if there are any problems).
I am at Wednesday and am exhausted already lol. I actually can't wait for the weekend, although I have my stepkids as well and a birthday cake to bake and decorate for Mr14's friends birthday on Saturday.
I say "Roll on next week!!!" lol