he makes her laugh, he makes her cry!

(I had this post saved as a draft and i'm not sure why. This was a few weeks ago and I don't want to miss it)

I love how Macey and River play together sometimes. He will do something totally ridiculous and she will walk around in total Joy of it all laughing her head off and squealing, encouraging him to do it again.

I have had a really good day today. I have let things slide. Stayed in my pajamas all day. Painted with River and just appreciated the things I have, especially those two little munchkins. It's interesting that it takes some sick kids and a crazy night the night before to make this happen.

Today I told River a secret "You're really hansome"

He then turned straight to Macey and hugged her and said "Macey you're so cute."

So I told him another secret "You're a really good big brother"

Once again he turned straight to Macey and payed it forward again by saying "Oh I love you Macey. You're so pretty."

Wow. What an obvious awesome display of how children model our behavior.

I completely forgot about this and I can't believe I didn't post it a few weeks ago that just totally shows me how much I need to write every cute thing like that down!

Here are some pictures from this last weekend.

Don't you love his leg going across her like that. He was assisting us in making sure she doesn't leave the bench for the photo as she was trying to get off. haha. 

Oh sometimes he makes her laugh and sometimes he makes her scream! Either way i'm trying to find it all funny!

Something I will miss...

In case you haven't already noticed i'm totally playing catch up football on here right now. Going back now to a wonderful afternoon a few months back where most of my family congregated at my Grandparents hometown to say goodbye to their home and town of Redcliffe.

We went down to the lagoon there and just had a fun time swimming in the pool. River loved clinging onto our backs and jumping on Uncle Ammon & all us "adults" had a good time throwing the footy around to each other in the pool.

It got pretty windy. I love her big eyes in this picture

There is a great big play castle which River had a ball in playing his pretend games 

Jimmi loves being able to play ball at any opportunity. They had an awesome time

After our fun afternoon reality hit that we were about to go to this place for the last time...

Although Ma and Grandad have moved the memories from that home live on. My Sister Stacey diligently went around with misty eyes taking photos of every nook and cranny of the house to etch in her memory and i'm glad she did.

I have especially come to love and appreciate the feelings of peacefulness and calm that I have when visiting Ma and Grandad in their home and Jimmi I have both at times LONGED for a visit.

We always felt so special when visiting. Ma would bring us warm milo and biscuits while we cosied up in bed watching a movie or reading a book and she would always have the table set beautifully for every meal. My brother said once he came out for breakfast and she had already poured the milk on his weet-bix. I know he felt loved though knowing Ma was excited to have him stay too.

Here is Britt and Macey chilling out in the bed we would always sleep in when we came over to stay. Glad my kids got to cosy up in it for a bit.  

As I have grown I have come to recognise and truely appreciate Ma's classic taste and ability to make a home so beautiful on a small budget and also give great homage to all the family heirlooms and significantly special pieces they have.

Note in the background of this picture below the stained glass window my Aunty made. She also made another for the front door. She is extremely artistic and talented.

And here we are with our final farewell. Note Jimmi in these next pictures. Oh dear is all I can say. I hope Ma & Opa realise how much we have loved visiting them here and how much we will miss it.





But don't worry I know that the quote in the next picture totally rings true. I also know they have been excited to move in with my gorgeous Aunty & her awesome family and will also now be just around the corner from my parents and my other gorgeous Aunty. BONUS. This has never happened before in the history of my family. I think it is all very exciting for them to be all living close together. And will also make our visiting everyone easier when we come down :)

Aww love them so much! 

April

I love April because there are two awesome events to look forward too. First comes Easter (usually) and then Jimmi's Birthday.

To kick off Easter Weekend we had my darling newlywed sister and brother in law Paul and Brittany come and stay which was awesome. River was in his element having Jimmi home and they became real little buddies cause they got to stick together 5 days in a row! River even said to me this week that he wants me to go to work and Daddy to stay home with him. I don't blame the kid I'm surely getting pretty boring to him by now haha.

Sooo Friday morning the boys went fishing

then we all went to the beach for lunch & met up with Beth & Jonny

Then Jimmi & River went & had a camp out at the Atkinsons' Awesomely enough Seth & Stephanie were able to come down with their adorable little family so we could Celebrate with them too.

The next day our little family & Uncle Josh climbed Mt. Coolum which was definately worth the challenge with the kiddies cause I know it meant something to River once he'd accomplished it. Then we went and had a BBQ brekky with everyone else which was all cooked for us when we got there :)

We then headed back to the Grandparents for a yummy easter lunch followed by an egg hunt! The kids had a lot of fun playing together and having a game of cricket with their Dads and Auntys & Uncles.

We then had a big fire at night. When I say big yes I am talking about that Jimmi and Seth "Let's throw petrol on it!" kind. Oh dear. I am glad they sent River and Eliana over the the paddock to face the other way while they did it. Haha. It was a pretty loud bang though so I don't know how they explained that.

It was so nice to sit around the fire together and especially for River and Eliana to hang out together. I wish they lived closer. I feel sorry for River like he's really missing out not having cousins around or brothers and sisters to actually play with yet. He does keep getting in trouble for hurting Macey because he wants to play with her but when the squeezing gets to the point where it makes her cry. Enough is enough I say.

River was so cute on sunday he told me he wants to have lots and lots of brothers and sisters. Yeah well tell that to my tail bone haha. It's screaming at me right now and I think i've only been sitting here an hour lol.

Playing together

I'm starting to notice something. Siblings' are very cute. I love seeing River's and Macey's eyes light up when they see each other. I especially love Macey's giggle when River comes up "Oh hey Mace" or when he's doing something silly or naughty. I find myself saying "Macey, don't encourage him!" haha. 

 I thought Macey just loved being in her jolly jumper. Until the next time I tried putting her in it & River wasn't around. Definately not as fun then. He gets under her and spins her around and pretends to wrestle her. She Loves it!

It is nice to have toys out that they both enjoy playing with and more specifically CAN both play with. It's nice and peaceful when they play happily side by side :) It's cute how River makes little comments here and there to Macey about what he's doing and what she's doing. Good to know he's very aware of her and her progress :)


Macey is growing teeth still. She is constantly scratching those cute little pixie ears and screaming. Boy can she scream. Aside from the loud screaming and squeeling at oft times of frustration Macey is pretty smiley and just generally happy. She is a real go getter. And I mean the literally jumping out of my arms to play with River and trying to actually stand up and look at what's in that big bucket kind of go getter! Yes she really is crazy (in the best possible way) She is ALWAYS on the move fully crawling everywhere. If she sees a crumb that sparks her interest across the other side of the room she makes a straight b line for it. She is just full of life and fun. We just all absolutely adore her. Speaking of adoring Macey my sister Stacey has been texting me all week counting down the days till we come and visit this weekend haha. We are excited to and can I just say how nice it is to have someone that excited to see us. Although when I say 'us' I know it's mostly for the kiddies :)  Ok now make note of how you feel when you look at the gorgeous baby girl in these pictures...

Awwww especially this one. It's my favourite!

If you felt anything like the description below you are a kindred spirit...


Since having Maceydor I have learnt that my mother and my sisters all do a really funny thing when we see something that is ADORABLE.


First off our hearts start pumping and then our teeth clentch followed by a partially audible squeal because we're keeping our mouth shut to not alarm too much. It's pretty funny. But what's even funnier is I think Macey actually knows what it means. It means "You are just sooooo cute and I love you sooooo much there aren't words. Only squeals" haha

This was Macey's very first swim in a pool. Let's just say she loved it. Swimming lessons here she comes. The girl was born for it. Oh just thought of a line from the Little Mermaid


"Somebody's gotta nail that girls fins to the floor" ~ Sebastian


hehe. Can you see where i'm going with this? lol.


Moving now onto River's news. He has started 'Joy School' a rotating kindy with two other gorgeous little friends Kylee and Riley. (pics to come of their adventures) And I am very pleased to be sharing the teaching with their very awesome mother's Chelsey and Melanie. Joy school is twice a week on tuesday and thursday  and this week Mel is the teacher so it is at her home. River is loving it and so am I. The lessons are awesome and so are the songs. I find myself singing them all the time. It is just so awesome to see how much River is learning. This week we have started the module of obedience and they learnt to put their hand up in Joy School if they want to say something or ask a question during the lesson. So tonight we were having family council and River kept putting up his hand. So cute. We explained he didn't really need to do that at home, that that was something for Joy School but we appreciated his manners all the same. haha. 


We have decided that River is going to be a great many things. Here are some of the things he's told me he wants to do when he's bigger and be when he's grown up. Wants to be an electrician (like his Dad :) Bronco (not the horse but on the rugby league team. I'm not going to push for this one. Don't really like the idea of seeing bruises all over my boy) a romantic (talks constantly about how he's going to marry one of his friends. And then sometimes says he's going to choose between so and so and so and so. I guess he might have his pick of the bunch he is a rather sweet kid after all and has been practicing his smolder for us) a surfer, skateboarder, tennis player, mathematician, guitar player, sword fighter and that's about all I can think of right now. As far as career goes Jimmi and I are thinking he'd make an excellent lawyer. His negotiating skills are impecable! 

So here we are holding up our tools, practising the trades. River helped Daddy start building a garden bed and also helped plant and water the seeds. He gets sooo excited about how they are growing I love it.

In January River climbed Mt Coolum with Daddy, Uncle Josh and Auntie Hannah. He had an awesome time and Jimmi said he loved taking River up there and wants to do it again :)

Something else cute River has been doing lately is trying to sing ‘Do re-mi’ from the sound of music. It’s quite a classic.

Macey I can tell already responds really well to music and I love seeing her little face light up when I start singing

River is very into playing games with the whole family any chance he gets. It's usually an re-enactment of a movie (this week Lady and the Tramp 2) or duck duck goose. That gets hard to play with just him, me and Macey. haha. The neighbourhood boys are also a great source of playtime for Riv. They are all older than him though and sometimes their play gets out of hand for River so i've really had to monitor everything and set boundaries and River has responded really well to this. I love how when I call him and say it's time to come home he drops his stick (or whatever he's playing with... usually a stick) says "See ya!" to the boys and comes  running home. That really makes me smile :) 

climbing the pecan tree in between our house and our neighbors. He loves that he can actually do that now. He asked me to help him get down the other day but I said if he can get himself up and play with the big boys he can get himself down slowly back the way he came. And he did few.  


You know what else makes me smile when he eats ALL his dinner and asks for more. This happens when he hasn't had any afternoon tea. I need to remember to keep him busy during this time on other days so he doesn't realise he's hungry until he actually comes to the table. I loved how tonight he said "Oh Mum this is really really good."


I think "Words of affirmation" must be my love language because I love it when they tell me how much they love my cooking :) I think Jimmi's appreciative-ness has rubbed off on River. Jimmi's favourite says at the dinner table have always been things like "mm hmmm" "delicious" "this is so good." Tonight it was "oh I LOVE food!" Yep food is definately one of his love languages. I think that comes under "Acts of Service". Jimmi loves taking photos of food as well. I remember his mother saying that when he was a young boy he was a bottomless pit. I don't think too much has changed. Although since taking this cleanse that we're both doing we have both not needed as much food (i've always been a big eater as well). 


Jimmi played volleyball in high school and has pretty much been looking for an indoor team since he left but the nearest one is over 30 mins away. So he is fulfilling that need with a coaching position at his old high school. He had his first lesson today and he said it was great. There are 19 boys on the team and two of them are his cousin's children. I'm pretty sure Jimmi will make an awesome coach. I think he is a really good role model and also a good teacher because he's patient and explains things in as many different ways as he can until someone gets something. And not to mention he is a bit of a freak of nature and can lay the smack down on a ball like i've never seen. Honestly i'm not even kidding Jimmi could have been AWESOME at any sport (well mostly any sport) Like football. He could have got a scholarship at any american college cause boy can he throw those American footballs like nothing else. And baseball. Have you ever been in the outfield when Jimmi gets up to bat. I'm telling you people it's scary. And he's got a pretty good tennis arm and i'd say some impressive basketball skills. So what i'm trying to say is... He's got a lot of natural talent to be good at sport and i've got no doubt in my mind if he really really really practiced at one of those sports he would totally have excelled. I'm talking big time. I don't claim to be an expert at sports but I know what i'm talking about here ok :) I'm wondering if River will have any of the same natural abilities? He picks up a baseball bat and holds the ball in the other hand, holds it up, drops it and makes a decent hit. I think that's not bad :) 
Jimmi got himself a tennis racket for christmas with some vouchers and he the Australian Open got him pretty excited as well. So he's been playing almost any spare chance he could. Particularly when he was on holidays over Christmas break.


Well it's getting late but I know there's plenty more to update with! all in good time :)
Happy Playing

River's first dress up party

Dressing up as one of the three bears (along with Mummy and Daddy) at Aunty Britt's 18th.