Tom's Place.

Tom has started a blog. You can find it here.

I am going to get him writing on it as a part of his home school curriculum next term.

I am sure he would love anyone that is interested to follow him and it would probably encourage him to post a bit more on it.

Thanks
Therese.

Winter sewing.

Winter is really upon us now and I need to get some winter things sewn for the boys especially. They seem to have all grown suddenly and all their jumpers and jeans are too short on their arms and legs.

This week is the last week of school and then we have two weeks holidays. I thought if I can get all the patterns and fabric cut out this week, it would be a good job for me to do over the holidays.

These are the patterns I have to do.


For Tom and Christopher. These are Kwik Sew pattern 2543. I have done these jeans several times and the pattern is an old favourite.


For Amelia and Brigette possibly. Brigette is starting to prefer shop bought clothes to mums home made. This is kwik sew pattern 3135. I haven't sewn it before but it has a couple of good reviews.


For Brigette, Tom, Amelia and Christopher. I have this pattern in all sizes. Another very easy kwik sew pattern. Numb er 2536.



For Brigette and Amelia. A very simple poncho pattern. This is kwik sew 3458. I think in my sewing patterns now, kwik sew would be my biggest lot. I really like the paper they are on and their instructions are easy to understand.

For Joseph. This is kwik sew 3089.

winter pyjamas for the boys. Kwik sew 3042


This kwik sew pattern is the pattern I used for all the boys summer shirts. It was a very simple pattern. I was looking for a similar one with long sleeves to make them both some winter shirts but haven't found one. I have decided to use this pattern and have a go at lengthening the sleeve and putting a cuff on it. I am hoping this will turn out because I have a great fabric for their winter shirts.


My final winter pattern is a pinafore for Amelia. This is kwik sew 3190.

I know I won't get them all done by the end of the holidays but I am hoping they will all have at least one outfit sewn each.

7 quick Takes.

--1--

Joseph

Joseph is rolling over all the time now and playing more with toys. Everything goes in his mouth as soon as he has a hold of it. He is starting to dislike being in the sling at times. He still really loves being there but there are times when he just doesn't want that. He still wants to be held by me but not in the sling at those times. Here is a video of Amelia holding Joseph in the sling. She keeps on telling me that she is Josephs official baby sitter and thinks I should pay her $1.00 a week for the hard work she does.

--2--

Christopher.

Yesterday Christopher had his 6 teeth pulled out. Steve took him to Whyalla for the surgery and I stayed home with Tom, Amelia and Joseph. It was a long day for Christopher but he doesn't seem to be affected at all from this.

--3--
No Internet.

This week is the third week of no internet between 8am and 4pm. I miss reading a lot of blogs but I have been able to catch up most weekends with everything that is happening.

Home school is going really well because of this and I am keeping up with all the house work.

I really noticed it today when we had all our Saturday jobs done by lunch time.

--4--

Photos by Christopher.

Christopher picked up my camera on Sunday and started taking photos of everyone.

Here is the photo he took of me and Joseph



He wanted to take a photo of himself and this is the result.



I said to him, maybe he would be able to get a good one of himself by taking a photo of himself in a mirror. He headed up to our bathroom and this is what he got:

This is so cute.

--5--

Bed Times!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the things Steve and I are finding hard with having young children and teenagers in the house.

Because we have teenage children coming and going and making noise, the younger children seem to find it hard to settle down to sleep.

I remember when Daniel, Sam, Madeline and Brigette were all under 10, our house was quiet by 8.00 and all the children were asleep.

That just seems to be a thing of the past for us. Do you have any advise for getting the younger children to sleep when the older ones are sitting around still and sometimes watching TV?

--6--

New Laptop.

Steve bought a new laptop while we were in Adelaide. We now have three computers in our house.

The laptop Steve bought is a Toshiba. So far we all love it.

I had to laugh at Erin's quick take about their computers and naming them. I wonder what names my children would come up with for our computers.

--7--

Skype.

The new laptop has a camera so I have joined Skype.

Skype allows free online video calls. I haven't used it on the laptop yet but had a chat with a friend the other day from my computer.

I would love to connect up with some other bloggers some time.

My skype account is Therese8972 so if you have a skype account, please add me.

Pop over to Jen's for some other quick takes.

Wordless Wednesday!!!!!! Brigette's confirmation

Brigette with Sian. (Godparents daughter)

Brigette with her God parents, Malcolm and Bernadette.

Brigette with our Bishop, Bishop O'Kelly.

Trailer for The Chronicles of Nania, Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

My friend Leticia has the trailer for the next in the Nania serices. Go and check it out here.

Josephs first jump on the trampoline.

This was videoed this afternoon. Daniel and Abbey wanted to take Joseph on the trampoline. Since this is his first time, I had to get a video of it. Christopher always has to be a part of the action so he gets right in it too.

Joseph Says........

Go Aussie Go.

Best Card Trick Ever

Best Card Trick Ever

Quick post today. Joseph needs a new jacket and hat to keep him warm so I will be spending the day sewing. This card trick is pretty clever and entertaining. See if you can do the hand trick too.


This is the pattern I am using for Joseph's hat and jacket. Will post pictures when they are finished.

Our Trip to Adelaide.

While we were in Adelaide we were able to catch up with family and friends. On Saturday night we went to my friend Lynda's house. She had a great meal for us and we really enjoyed spending the night with her and her children. I must say a special hi to Toby who wanted to know if I was going to talk about our visit with them on my blog. So here you go Toby, you get a special mention.

Here is a video of Amelia at Lynda's house. Amelia really loved Mary's Barbie Camper van. In this video she is showing how to set it up.



On Sunday we decided to go to Mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral. After mass we saw some friends that we haven't seen since leaving Adelaide in 2000. Bob and Toni were there with their youngest daughter Catherine. We had coffee with them and then went to their place on Monday night for tea. They served a great meal and we had a wonderful time with them too.

Tuesday, Steve had his meeting so I took the children shopping for winter clothes. We left Adelaide early Wednesday morning. I thought that Joseph would sleep for most of the trip but he was a bit upset for some of the trip. I sat in the back seat with him for a while which Christopher thought was pretty funny since I hardly ever get in the back. This video was about 15 minutes before he fell asleep when we had just another 100 km to go or so.




This weekend, Brigette will be confirmed by our Bishop, Bishop O'Kelly. She has taken
St. Gemma Galgani as her patron saint.

Therese.

Back from Adelaide.

Yesterday we arrived home from Adelaide. Steve had a meeting to go to in Adelaide on Tuesday and since it was a long weekend, we decided to go down and catch up with friends and family.

We had a great weekend catching up with family and friends. I have photos and video's to upload but not enough time to do it right now. Will hopefully get them up tonight.

A day off.

Today all the public schools had a student free day for the staff to have training. Since everyone was home, Tom and Amelia had the day off too.

I played around with the new design tab on blogger and had a change for my blog. Please let me know if this new layout takes too long to load. I really don't want a slow loading blog.

Here is a video of Christopher and Joseph that I took this evening. It isn't as clear as I hoped. The lighting needs to be a bit brighter but you can see just how much Joseph puts up with from his 5 year old brother.

Small Successes.

Small successes for the week:

1) I have stuck with my commitment to staying off the internet between 8am and 4 pm.

2) I have gone through my room and cleaned out all the junk that seems to have overtaken since Joseph was born.

3) I have been through our socks box and paired all the pairs and got rid of all the mismatch socks.

Visit Faith and Family for other small successes.

4 months old today.

Today Joseph turns 4 months old. It has been a crazy 4 months but great. I wouldn't swap this new blessing in our lives for anything.

Since Joseph has been a part of our family, I have felt a bit overwhelmed at times. There is so much I want to do in a day and having a baby in the house makes some of these expectations impractical.

I have thought a lot about this and why I have such high expectations. I also have been thinking about how quickly my children seem to have grown up and know that now is the time to really embrace the wonder and joy of bringing up another child. It won't be long and Joseph will be more independent and not needing me as much as he does now.

Because of these things, I have decided to cut my Internet time right back. Most days we are busy with school and house work between 8am and 4 pm. I have decided that I really need to be off the Internet between these hours and helping the children more and doing my jobs that keep the house running smoothly.

I will still be updating my blog but it will be much less and I probably won't have enough time to visit as many blogs as I did before Joseph was born. I will miss many blogs and catching up with everyone but I really must do what is best for my family.

A great night.

Tonight Amelia received her First Communion. It was a wonderful night for her and us.

Here are some photos:

With Fr. Paul, our parish priest.

With Steve and I and her God parents, Cathy and Shawn.

Small Successes.

My small successes for this week are:

1. Amelia's dress is finished. I just have to hand sew the lining to the zip seem.

2, We have kept up with school work in spite of me being busy preparing for visitors and getting Amelia's dress done for the weekend.

3. Tonight we had our parish priests over for tea. It was great to entertain them.

Go to Faith and Family for other small successes.