This Week

This week I am thankful for.....

Living close enough to the ocean to break the heatwave with a cooling late afternoon swim.

A boy who is very confident in the ocean

The relaxed schedules we have right now to enjoy this family time

Afternoon tea baking treats

Seeing my boy embrace being a "graduate"

Birthday celebrations for our 17 year old

Seeing her beauty grow every day

Morning routines that are seeing us organised and ready early for school

Cousins who played super well with each other.

A break in the hot days for our celebrations to be held in the garden...the gentle breeze was perfect

The garden being a place that the birds love even when we are entertaining

A little valentine gesture

#1180 Woohoo...the girls gave their first offerings tonight...small but as precious as gold

Adding to my growing thankful list.


 

Heatwave

Four days of around 40 C may have been enough for me to put on my bathers and head to the beach with my guys early this evening.

A slightly cooler change expected tomorrow...finally

The house is open tonight in hopes that a cool fresh breeze might move through...still waiting.
 

Fulfillment and Generousity

Wow watched this today......highly recommend you do too.

What would our community and our own life look like if we were fulfilled and generous? 

This or That ?

Life requires us to be making choices and decisions every day.....

Some days there are more to make than other days...

Some are huge and life changing and some will not make that much of a difference in the big scheme of things

Some decisions need to be made a as family and some need to be made on our own

Some need lots of outward dialogue and some just need to be mulled over in our head space

Some we welcome with open arms and others we dread them coming


Some of the decisions being made in our house right now are...

What colour should the ball gown be?

What would be the best 17th birthday present to ask for?

Should a job that would require a big move be applied for

Which days are good for volunteering?

To head to the pool for that training swim or stay on the couch?

How long to hold off in the day before we succumb to the heat and put on the AC?

Whether to contact someone you haven't seen in a while and take a risk?

Which soccer club would be the right one for our soccer boy?

Where to spend our Sunday mornings?

To take the easy way out or not with dinner?

How much technology time is enough?

What would we do with our home if we moved?

Shall we plan for that Birthday BBQ and hope that it cools down before then?

Who's turn is it to accompany the learner driver?

How much to stress about what tomorrow will bring?

Should I really stay up and watch that reality TV?

Where is the best place to get a good spray tan to go with the ball gown once I choose it?

What is going to go into tomorrows lunch boxes?

What would I have to clear from the schedule tomorrow if I get an early morning work call?

Some of these we have answers for.....others we have no clue.

Not for a very long time have I felt we have so many things to consider.....but maybe that is a good thing...having choices....even if they are hard ones.

This Week

This week was  busy....

First week done of the school year.

Both kids seem off to a good start

Dance in the city resumed with the teen being totally independent this year. 

Coffee dates and morning tea with some of my lovely mums from playgroup that I already miss terribly.

Lunchbox  baked treats
 
Catchup cuppa teas with friends

Busy making the all important connections and getting all the necessary paperwork together for some new work this year.

Precious time spent with my sisters....we all now have child free days to share.

The best time spent volunteering for a worthwhile organisation

Friends over for hangout time

Youth group time back on

Fresh produce gifts grown by my youngest sister

Early morning triathalon race

#1167  A cool cool house to hibernate in from the heat

Adding to my Thankful list
 

Enterprising buisness

So we are nearly at the end of the first week of school for the year.

We have enjoyed the fresh routines and are trying a few different ones to last year....one of them is preparing lunch boxes the night before so that we have a better perspective on what goes in the lunchbox...instead of the rush to throw one together as they are running late.

Now my guys have always been lunch box takers.....we have not been big canteen patrons at all. They both have really been happy with taking thier lunches so who am I to complain?

This year both the Primary school and High school have made the decsion to close thier canteens. I think the number one reason is they are not finacially viable or maybe it was the lack of volunteers to run them.....either way they are closed.
Now this doesnt  affect us at all as we dont do canteen lunches...but Meg came home today with a story....

Some enterprising young men at the high school decided to take matters into their own hands and begin a little pop up lunch supply buisness. Apparently they used live social media to promote there whereabouts on the campus and they were swamped....
Sold out of many items. Even Meg said she thought it was cool and promised to buy a juice box tomorrow if they had them.

I am sure the "powers to be" will intervene but really, kids taking iniattive and moving in where there  is a market is pretty ingenius. They are obviously well priced as they had no problems selling their stock.

Maybe they will rethink the canteen concept and find a way to make it work for the many kids that do rely on it for sustenance. 

 

Clearing the Jungle

I took advantage of a few hours at home and some cooler weather this afternoon to tackle our Jungle garden.

After giving you a little tour of our special garden I was prompted to venture out and snap some pics of the hidden treasures that lie within.....many of the treasures are original to the garden and I never tire in finding them, sometimes hidden underneath the ever changing growth.
It really is a fun space to work in as our three neighboring fences are completely protected by trees which creates our own little world away from the outside....often the garden is filled with a myriad of birds, bees and sometimes butterflies.

It is a beautiful space but does require a lot of work...although we love the feel of the wildness of it all.....so some more cool weather and I will make some more of the paths clear and keeping bringing to life the nooks and hidden spaces in our "Fairy Garden"

First of the lasts

These two nutters set off today....both for the first of thier lasts

Last year of high school and last year of primary school

....and neither of them needed me today!

Oh well...they know where to find me if they do..

Hope your first days of school are smooth sailing and you get better photos of the occasion than I did!

That Wish....

Back in May 2002 we had a magical experience.

The Make a Wish Foundation granted our Taylor ( who was then 6 years old and had already been through 4 years of a hard journey) her wish.

It was a very long time in the deciding ( 2 years ). It had to be her idea and anything at all  that she wanted......it was a long time before we could get her to think beyond colouring pencils!

Travel wasn't really an option for Taylor and it would have been over in a whirlwind....we wanted something that she could share and have for a very long time.

When we finally did decide, we had chosen something that hadn't been done before and had to be discussed carefully. We had spent a lot of time at The Prince of Wales hospital in Sydney and they had a beautiful fairy garden in the centre of the hospital. It was a beautiful place to hang out with the girls and was the inspiration for our wish.

So once the team at The Make a Wish heard the idea they were very excited and ran with it.

Our very own Fairy Garden at home. 

So the team bought in a landscaping "A team" who just went to town on our whole yard!

We had to sign off on the design which I did with my eyes half closed so that it was a surprise for us all. 

It took three full days  and a big team of very buff landscapers who were seen some days to  be wearing fairy wings while they worked.

We moved out on day two and returned when it was done. 

On the late afternoon of the third day we came home and a party had been organised. All the girls in Taylor's class along with family were invited....Ronald McDonald made an appearance and bought dinner and our local Wendy's provided ice cream cake .The fairy shop provided beautiful dresses for both the girls.

It really was a very special time and gift for us as a family. Taylor spent weeks showing visitors around her new garden.

  

My most favourite photo...it was a total surprise reveal for her and she didn't hide her excitement...such a great response for The Make a Wish team to see.
 

The finished garden as it was in 2002.....
 

The weeping Mulberry then....

Our beautiful Fairy Garden as it is today........

The weeping Mulberry now.....
 

We were totally spoilt with the decision for the Foundation to gran this wish....Taylor enjoyed that garden for the next 2 1/2 years and we have continued to enjoy and share it with many friends over the last 11 years without her.

So again it is really special now to have the time and opportunity to give a little back in a very small way  to 
The Make a Wish Foundation.