happenings

 Here are some highlights from my week.

I am involved with a women's ministry team at church and we had a training afternoon on Saturday.

I made some cupcakes for the afternoon tea.

I of course used some of my "redeemed" cake stands to show them off.

I made gluten free red velvet fairy cakes, 

topped them with vanilla cream cheese icing and strawberry butterflies

and some Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

I also made some spinach and cheese rolls.

All my offerings were gluten free, but I didn't openly advertise that because I find some people think only people who are gluten free can eat them and I wanted to show that people wouldn't be able to tell the difference- they must have thought them OK because they were gobbled up and lots of compliments were given.

Monday the children were involved in our Annual Home Educators Sports Carnival

Here is B2 in the long jump shot in sports mode on my camera.

 VCH has been working on my shed, here is a night shot.

 Here is how it looks in the daylight. 

The side wall is framed up and ready for the window (you can see it there on the left) 

I was excited to find 4 doors the same which will be along the front at our local second hand building place.

Hopefully next week I will manage more than one post- have a great weekend!

when life gets in the way of blogging

 

 Hey long time no write!

I can't believe that I have not posted on this blog for over a month!

But hey sometimes life gets in the way of blogging.

It's not that I have had nothing to say, I have had lots of ideas for blog posts, but I just haven't seemed to be able to muster the time or energy to actually sit down here and write.

Raging hormones as I enter a new phase in life haven't helped either- peri-menopause is no fun, but as I get used to my body changes I need to push myself to get back into the blogging that I love.

 I promised myself today is the day.

I have stacks of photos to upload onto the computer from my camera that I haven't even been bothered to do, but when I sat down at the computer this morning I couldn't find the cord so I am waiting for B2 to get up and find where he put it so I can at least show you some photos.

He is up and found it- so now this post will include some photos!

We have just entered our busiest soccer season ever!

I am sure this will be a once off,

  this year we have all six children playing soccer and three of them refereeing.

B1 after not playing for a couple of years and just refereeing decided to play soccer this year.

B2 is currently playing under 16's (which is Friday nights) but also plays in either Reserve Grade or 2nd grade on Saturday afternoons, and last week he also sat on the bench for 1st grade!

This of course means two nights of training each week- so four days each week usually involve soccer for him.

All the other children are also playing in their normal age divisions.

B1, B2 and now B3 are all soccer referees, so that means Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Saturday afternoons mean donning uniforms with whistles or flags in hand to referee games around their playing commitments. 

Thankfully, B1 has his license (he is now on his green P's) and is able to take himself and others to various fields which can be very helpful when we have more that two fields to go to on a Saturday morning or when either VCH or myself are unable to take them.

In May we have celebrated Mother's Day, our Mother's Day lunch included VCH's mother and husband, VCH's Grandmother (Great Nana will be 102 in July!) and his sister and her family.

 

We have had numerous birthdays including VCH's and B4's 11th birthday.

I have been in my back garden, weeding, pruning and planting the lovely roses I got for Mother's Day.

I have also been collecting furniture and things for a big Market Day on the 29th June- I need to get stuck into some painting and such!!!

 

I have several recipe's to share including Liquorice Ice Cream, some makeovers and a very special afternoon tea.

I promise it will not be a month before you hear from me again!

I will be back later in the week with more updates from five brothers one sister!

makeover of a different kind

Normally I blog about makeovers of the furniture or decorating kind.

But this makeover is of the kid kind.

This is B3 on his birthday on Tuesday.

Notice the messy "rock star" hair.

This is what he looks like now.

You may ask why he has gone from a rock star look to a skin head look?

Army regulations!

B3 has decided to join the army cadets and when he fronted up last Wednesday night to try it out, 

the first thing he was told was that if he wanted to join he had to have a haircut number 4 or shorter, 

they go under army regulations.

So he tried it out and came home and said it was OK, but boring at times.

Then he thought about it some more and on Thursday night he asked me to cut his hair.

I couldn't find the number 4 blade so he got a number 3.

 It was a big step.

He has had longer hair for a number of years, it was part of his look, part of him.

I knew there would come a day when he would need to have shorter hair- thinking a job here!

Didn't think it would be for this reason.

He is also taking a leap of faith that this cadet thing is going to work out, 

he might go for a few more weeks and decide it is not for him.

But as I said to him- hair will always grow back - eventually!

But I am secretly hoping he will love it as I think it will do him the world of good!

movie review - the sapphires

I recently received a double pass to see a pre release screening of the movie The Sapphires.

 

I got an email from Everyday Rewards saying they were giving away passes to people in my area for a special screening of the movie at our local theatre.

 I clicked on the link and they sent me my tickets in the mail.

VCH of course wasn't really interested so I took a girlfriend with me.

The movie is about four aboriginal girls who tour Vietnam entertaining the troops in 1968.

The movie is based on a true story, however in the real life version only 2 of the group of 4 could actually make it to Vietnam.

It was great to see an Australian movie.

The story was great and my friend and I really enjoyed it.

It wasn't political, but did touch a little on "The Stolen Generation"and how aboriginals were treated in the 60's in Australia but it was all in the context of the movie and not done to make a statement.

There was some mild swearing and an implied sex scene but they were fully clothed in the scene and we are left to imagine what might have taken place after- so nothing untoward.

My friend said she would happily take her 12 year old daughter.

The singing and costumes were great- 60's classics!

It stars Jessica Mauboy and Debra Mailman.

So in the words of Molly Meldrum- "Do yourself a favour!"

My apologies to my international readers, because some of what I just said and some of the people mentioned will mean nothing to you but my Australian readers will understand perfectly, but if you do happen to see it available where you live go and watch it for a little taste of Australiana in the 1960's.

five brothers one sister on facebook

five brothers one sister has its own facebook page

If you are a facebook fan and want to keep up with what is happening at five brothers one sister pop on over and like me or you can find the widget on my side bar

This is a really short post maybe I should add a picture or three:

These were some fun shots VCH took when we went to Brisbane to see the Mummy exhibition recently.

They were all taken at Southbank.

wing man

WARNING: if injuries and stitches make you squeamish don't read any further.

Some days there is just way too much male testosterone in our house!

Two boys having a "discussion" that involved some pushing and shoving and both of them landed on top of a bed, where a clock with a glass face happened to be sitting and the boy on the bottom's elbow went through the glass.

 

 A trip to the doctors surgery and three stitches later, 

 said child is now sitting out of most activities and will miss soccer for this week and possibly next.

Big brother is very busy doing his brother's jobs as well as his own!

Child now has the nicknames, wing-man or chicken wing as he walks around with a bent arm.

this week...

...VCH reluctantly headed back to work after a month long holiday and 

we officially started our home school year.

The little ones have been learning their sounds and this week we did ch, sh and th

We discovered that lots of food starts with "ch".

So we thought we would have a "ch" meal.

 

We had Chicken and Chips for tea (chips is what we call fries in Australia)

The chips were made with sweet potato and served with a salad with cheese.

 Then for dessert we had chocolate cheesecake- this yummy version is grain-free and refined sugar free and was very very yummy- I promise to share the recipe soon!

 B3 officially started high school and as part of his science he had to do an experiment that involved a maze and a blindfold. 

The maze was made with anything he could find around the house and yard.

 The little ones had lots of fun being his guinea pigs.

photo courtesy of The Girl

 My two younger boys can be rather difficult to keep motivated- they would much rather be outside playing!

In a moment of inspiration I came up with the Golden Hat Award.

The three younger ones get points for doing their jobs and being ready for work on time, for completing all their tasks, for working hard and participating, for being kind and for speaking nicely etc.

At the end of the school day the child with the most points gets awarded the golden hat and they get to wear it the next day during school time.

It is working like a charm, they are all motivated and competition is fierce!

photo courtesy of B5

We have been waiting to get this car for 8 months but finally after some persistence, we were able to pick up this car.

It is a little manual  Hyundai Excel.

It will be for B1 and eventually B2 and down, to learn to drive in and to drive when they first get their licence.

I have been busy decluttering this week and have cleaned up and reorganised the little kids bookshelf/storage unit for their schoolwork, the craft cupboard, my supplies cupboard and half of the bookshelf- even unearthing a library book that we thought we had returned!

Back next week with some great recipes and menu ideas and to share what we are doing this year.

just a quick update

Just a quick little weekend post.

Firstly our babies have flown the nest. 

One was up and away the very afternoon that I posted, by the next day the other 2 had gone as well, and now we literally have an empty nest. 

I am keeping an eye out to see if I can get a photo of one of them. 

B4 tried to take one of the first baby way up in the gum tree but it's a bit blurry.

We have been working on something very exciting this weekend, something that I have been waiting VERY patiently for (well not really - I am never patient!) but never the less it is now a very exciting WIP that I hope to have finished before Christmas.

If you want a little hint- go here for my inspiration board.

I'll be sharing more about it this week.

And finally the other exciting news I had was when I went to my dashboard.

I now have 100 followers.

How exciting!

While I know lots of people are in the thousands and others seem to get to 100 a few weeks after starting a blog, it is exciting for me to finally have 100 people who like reading my blog, not that I blog for that reason, I blog just for me and a record of our family life, but it is nice to know that some people out there in blogland like what I write.

Some fun projects to share soon.. so stay tuned my precious 100.

curly locks

For some reason my daughter was not cursed blessed with my curly hair.

I saw a thing on pinterest the other day that showed how to make curly hair by twisting it upon itself and then putting a band on it.

Now essentially I knew this, though I had never had a need to try is being already cursed oops blessed with curly hair, but seeing as The Girl's hair is essentially straight I thought it might be fun to give it a go.

This is her hair before I unwrapped it.

By this stage she had had several swims in the pool and slept on it overnight.

This is the after at the back, it was much curlier underneath, I think I unwound it wrong or something here.

The front bits were really curly and as some of them are a bit shorter than the rest of her hair (due to a haircut by a brother some time back), they stuck out everywhere so I popped them back in a band.

Here is the front.

I actually think it looked better in real life.

I didn't use any product in it and I think it was a little frizzy in places, but I might try it again for a special occasion.

Of course this only lasted until she had a swim and now it is back to straight!

fabric traders

Simone and Jodie over at Beach Vintage have recently opened an online fabric store, called Fabric Traders.

It has a great range of fun fabrics and postage is free in Australia if you spend over $50.

I recently placed an order and it arrived here very quickly.

I got some great fabrics as well as some very nice trims.

The girls are having a giveaway at the moment and to win I must tell you about my favourite fabric.

 

This cute fabric called Flower Power Hot Pink was on my list to put on my order but didn't make the final cut, budget restraints and all that.

I wish I had bought it after all, I can see some really cute cushions made out of this in my new sewing room (I ordered the windows and door to enclose the veranda today, they said they should be here next week). 

I just love that retro vintage feel that is has.

So why not pop over to fabric traders and see their great range?