Motherhood...

I've been thinking a lot about motherhood lately.  What my role entails, the pieces in this family that are uniquely mine, the things that I need to do because no one else is going to do them for me . . . .

I am a homemaker . . . our home is supposed to be a sanctuary from the world.  It's my job to create an environment where everyone can feel comfortable, safe, loved.

I am available . . . Unfortunately I am not a stay at home mum so only I have limited time, but in a way I think that this makes me a better mother.  Though I feel that this year it is my responsibility to keep myself and my kids from becoming over-scheduled, which from a working mother's point of view can be quite hard to fit everything in on limited time.

I am a listener . . . my favorite is when I hear, "mum, can I ask you a question?"  My job is to keep the lines of communication open, sometimes I do say that I tend to try and do too many things at once. My target this year is to REALLY listen,  to listen when they need me and to let them know. They know that they can talk to me about anything but I need to show this at ALL times.

I am a motivator . . . the pusher, and yes, the nagger.  Sometimes (a lot of times) my job includes making them do things they don't want to do.  Because I can see the bigger picture.  Additionally, I have to be motivated myself.  Apathy, complacency, and laziness just aren't going to work.  If I don't do it, then who will?

I am a teacher . . .

I am an enforcer . . .

I am a giver of love . . .

I am a hugger and kisser . . .

I am a mother . . .

I want to be a good wife and mother. Its a very simple goal and one that I've yet to meet despite it being so simple! I am sure a lot of other people are in the same boat, especially in this day and age. But I feel as if I let my family down.

So how do I become a good wife and mother I ask myself. The answer is very simple really. It is understanding the needs of my hubby and children and fulfilling them. It is all about knowing and understanding my husband and kids really well. It is knowing the way to their hearts. But knowing is not enough. The next step is doing or fulfilling their hearts desire.

For my hubby, the way to his heart is to become more dependable, more organised and to do many more things together with him more frequently. It is also to just deal with what I have to do as a mother and a wife without complaining. Getting him to open up and remembering to talk and communicate is another issue. But it is half my fault too!  Yes, love really does go round. When you give love, you receive love.

For my kids, the way to their hearts is to listen to them and to play with them. Thats even simpler but again I have trouble fulfilling this simple thing. I have all sorts of excuses from me time to lack of time. I don't fulfil it and as a result I get kids who at times shout at me when I ask them to do something or to help me out. My son still needs guidance as to how to play and interact with out people as he can have a bad, short temper. I know that the way to my kids hearts is to listen and to play with them. And when I do this, they don't act up. They become very nice, loving kids who listen to me.

So now that I've written down the simple things I need to do to become a better wife and mother, like any other goal, I must break them up into smaller more manageable tasks so that I meet those goals.

Mother's Day

I've made mistakes being a Mum, sometimes more than I'd like to admit. But I will always be there for you, to hear you, to cheer for you, to laugh or cry with you, to protect you with my life and sometimes tell you things you don't want to hear. I will love you for eternity. No one will ever love you more than I do, because I am your Mum. 
Love you always Tamika & Logan.
Mother's Day was a fairly quiet day. We went out for breakfast with mum and one of my sister's. It was a fresh morning but lovely to have the sun blazing on my back as I ate my eggs and bacon breakfast.
I love watching the kids faces as they give me their gifts that they specifically bought at the school Mother's Day stall. Logan's were bangles and Tamika nail polish.
Tamika and Matt made a lovely homemade gnocchi with tomato sauce and Tamika made dessert - coconut macrons into a ice cream sandwich.


Hopefully all you mum's out there had a lovely Mother's Day!

Easter

It didn't really feel like Easter this year, except of course for all of the Easter eggs at the shops. To much had been going on around our house during the two weeks leading up to it.

I just love watching the kids run through the house in search for Easter eggs. As a kid the best thing I remember about Easter is the hunts and then of course  tipping the eggs out on the floor and counting them. Sure enough that is what both of mine two did after they finished hunting.

The Easter Bunny left such a mess on our floor this year... Logan reinvented this on the front footpath during the morning.  For luch we went to the Lynne and Terry's house to see Nan Nan.

We celebrated Easter a day late with my family and had a lovely roast dinner and more egg hunting.

Happy Easter for another year!

Coleambally - saying farewell!

On April 18th Uncle John passed away being sick for a few with cancer. We spent many childhood Easter at Uncle John and Merna's house in Coleambally. We loved spending this time with them and seeing farming sights that many children would never get to see.

Uncle John was farewell in a community funeral which saw many businesses close, a 2km funeral procession and 450 people attend the funeral and burial. Uncle John did a lot for this farming community including put them on the map for growing rice.

 Since retiring from farming (his son Ian took over), he had began a vintage group in Coleambally and put all his time into fixing up the old farming machines and cars that he had sitting on his property for years.

 This is his beloved Rio truck carried his coffin to the burial grounds and many other vintage cars (that the guys spent the morning washing) followed behind.

 The family men and friends that meant a lot to John carrying his coffin into the burial grounds. This was my first ever burial and it was hard to watch my brother do this to a men that he felt was his second father.

He would have loved his funeral, except for the part at the end where he would have been given the bill for grog at his wake at the club. He would have been crying!

A visit to Orange..

Spent a weekend at Orange with Mitch and Belinda. I love the colour of the trees at this time of the year. The streets are filled with yellow, orange and red. Awesome sight!

On the first night we were all packed in like sardines as some of our other friends were there as well, so that made 15 of us packed into a smallish 3 bedroom house.

The first night it was such miserable weather. We actually drove up in this weather and with Tamika's friend in the car we had to stop at the bottom of the mountains as she gets car sick. After we got around the bends we made a stop and drove around the Bathurts race track. It was hilarious.. Logan wanted Matt to drive as fast as the race car drivers and just couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed.

With the miserable weather and five kids to have to deal with the ladies packed upand went for a girly night out.. Basalt at Millthorpe. We had the best seats in the house, right beside the open fire... AHH!

The next day we took a drive to find the Blayney wind farms... we didn't really have to look that hard once we got on the right road to see them. It is a shame that we can't get any closer, I would love to be able to hear them working as the wind rushes through the blades.

Tamika, Logan and Alisha loved the freedom of being able to roam free around Mitch and Belinda's house. 

We had intended on staying a bit longer but had to leave a day earlier as a man that I know as Uncle John passed away. One thing we had promised the kids to do when we went to Orange was go raspberry picking at Huntley Berry Farm.

Unfortunately we had just missed the raspberry picking season but we did the next best thing STRAWBERRY picking. As you can imagine Tamika wasn't very impressed with this information but then we made her try one as she was picking them, she soon changed her mind.

Logan's Seven

April saw my little man turn seven years old.

His birthday also feel on the last day of school for term 1. He had a very busy day at school with the Easter Hat parade and the ANZAC day ceremony. He took his Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie as his birthday cake with white chocolate sprinkled on the top. May I say that this slice is d'lish and you wouldn't even think it was gluten free. It is so good that he wanted some left over to take home to Nanny Lynne but this didn't happen and it make him very sad.

As usual our families were very generous with their gifts. Lego was a big hit this year for Logan. We have boxes of new things for him to build, he has learnt to look at the pictures and follow the instructions. It is helping to develop greater patience.

Tamika was 7 years old when she was given a digital camera so we also gave Logan a beginners camera.

We went out for dinner with most of our extended family and had a passionfruit cheesecake for his birthday cake. It was a great night for everyone.

Port Stephen's

At the end of March we headed away for a couple of nights.
We stayed at the Oaks Pacific Blue, Port Stephen's. There was absolutely nothing to complain about. The room was a generous size with our own kitchen facilities, an outdoor entertaining areas and the resorts pool went the entire way around, each lower level room had an entry into the pool.

Taking the time to enjoy the sunshine we picniced down by the bay, we bush walked up to see the old Navy shelters, walked around Nelson Bay, visited the beach, swam and mucked around in the pool  and just generally enjoyed the outdoors and family time together.

While swimming at the beach we discovered that we had a very friendly little creature who was swimming in amongst our feet. Who would have thought we would swim with a penguin in Port Stephens.

Logan's First Soccer Game

Logan played his first ever game of soccer on the weekend in the pouring rain. He trained in sunshine but by the start to the actual game it was heavy rain that set in for entire 40 minutes.

This is my favourite photo.

 We were so proud of him. He even kicked a goal and surprised himself.  They don't count goals at a young age to encourage good sportsmanship.

Apple Picking

Finding the best spot to start our picking. Pears were first then many different apples. 

We spent the morning picking fruit with Mitch and Belinda at Pinecrest Orchard at Bilpin.

Tamika picked the pears for Logan, as he is the only one that eats them. Poor Tamika, while everyone else were taste testing the apples as we were going through the orchard she couldn't eat them because of her braces. She was dying to try one when we got home.

 Matt was extremely proud of his big find....

 Mitch and Belinda enjoying the fruit, the environment and the company they were keeping.

 Can't get this kind of fresh fruit in the shops. Other than the skin feeling a bit dirty they were so tasty.

 Mitch a bit shy of this Adam and Eve moment.

 Logan awfully proud of his package.

 Jonathan Apples by the rows. Very juicy and and delicious.

Stopped at the Fruit Bowl Orchard on the way back down the mountain for a toilet stop. Tamika found that at this one you can adopt a fruit tree... that is now what she wants to do.