Our holidays.

The first week of holidays is just about over. We have been to Adelaide this week. Brigette spent two nights with her Godparents. Steve did some family research and the other children and I did lots of shopping.

Today we came home and my new camera was here waiting for me.

I bought a Fuji Finepix. It is water proof and shock proof so I am hoping this one will not get damaged by my children.

Steve has been working on the cupboards for the family room/home school room and I have some photos finally of them.

Here is the bookcase all built, stained and varnished.

These are the cupboards that will go along the wall. We will be staining them and varnishing them too.

The white bucket you see in this one is just the right size. We bought two of them from Ikea while we were in Adelaide . We will be buying one for each pigeon hole next time we are in Adelaide.

I cannot wait till they are all finished.

Why God matters. A book review.

I really enjoyed reading Why God Matters. It was light and easy reading. In between, each chapter, there are quotes from the bible, catechism of the Catholic church and life lessons. From reading the life lessons, I found myself thinking about my own life and what I could learn from Deacon Steve's and Karina's experience.

When I was asked to read Why God Matters, I read the review and it said that the book was about Deacon Steve and Karina going from a casual belief in God to a deeper devotion to him. I suppose I thought from this that the story was going to have what I have thought of as the Damascus experience. (bolts of lightening and God's voice booming in Paul's ears). While the story does have some moments when God really was shining and showing his presence to Karina and Deacon Steve, it doesn't have the sudden 2x4 moment where their lives are turned around completely. Instead, it has a lot of little stories that show both Deacon Steve and Karina recognising God in the little everyday events of their lives. From the simple receiving of flowers on a birthday to the big recognition of Guardian Angels protecting us. It is an inspirational story showing God working the extraordinary in the ordinary everyday living.

I am going to buy myself a copy of this book. For any Australian's wanting it, it is available from Fishpond. This book isn't just a good story. I am sure it would be equally as good as a aid in prayer and in growing closer to God.

Well done Karina and Deacon Steve. Thanks for sending me your manuscript.

Therese.

Oh my!!!!!!!!!

You know you have a baby in the house when............

........... you make all these plans for your day and only get half of them done.

........... you remember that you were going to do that later today but it still isn't done three days later.

.......... you start writing blog posts in your head while you are feeding your baby but cannot remember any of them when you finally get two free hands to write it.

......... Your hubby says have you done xyz yet and you have completely forgotten it.

I am sure there are many other things I could say about having a baby in the house but really it doesn't matter too much. We are enjoying him a lot and I know in the blink of an eye it will be over. I will have all the time in the world to post blog posts, read other blogs and do many of the other things I don't have time for now.

Tonight has been a rare night. I have feed the baby and he has got into his cot and is sleeping. Most nights, he wants to be held and cuddled and it is usually pretty late before I get him in his bed. So I have a small moment to write up a post and read some other posts. I am thankful for this moment to write.

PS: Now I remember that I told my blogging friend that I would see if someone could help her with getting her posts published in google readers. I went to her blog this morning since I haven't received any notifications and found that her blog is being updated but not going through to any readers. Can anyone help my friend Epsilon from All the little Epsilons?

Last week of school.

This week is week 10 of term three. We will have two weeks holidays and then our final term for the year starting in October.

I have a lot to get done. Next term, Christopher will be doing full time home school. He has been at kindy for 5 terms now. Usually, children here go for 4 terms but the staff at his kindy offered me an extra term to help with his speech delay. It has been good for him to have this extra term. His speech has improved a lot.

I have started to organise our new timetable. I am hoping that not going out for kindy pick up's in the middle of the day will make the days a bit easier and we will get more home schooling done.

Steve is going to build some cupboards and a bookshelf in the family room/home school room during the holidays so I will also be organising all our home school resources and other things that will be stored in there.

My camera that was dropped a couple of weeks ago is not working at all now. I had Steve video our children at their kids club service and it is all fuzzy. It will probably be okay for photos only but at the moment, we cannot even get that to work. Maybe I will try charging the battery and see if that makes a difference.

Grand Torino.

We watched this movie tonight. It was very different to what I thought it would be but the message at the end was very powerful. If you get the chance, watch it.

Therese.

another game.

Steve has made a memory game. He has uploaded it here.

The game has pairs of saints that have to be matched. It is a pretty simple and basic game.

Let us know if you download the game and what you think of it.

Thanks
Therese.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday!!!

Joseph playing with a toy train. Tom videoed this and didn't turn it off when he put the camera down so the last half doesn't have anything worth watching. I know there is probably some way of posting only half of the video but since my computer savy hubby doesn't know how to do it, I have to post the whole thing.

Nothing like Australia.

Come and visit me sometime.

Why women don't like sending men to the shops.

I saw this video at Christie's blog. It made me laugh so much that Joseph looked up from feeding to see what I found so funny. I know it is longer than the usual youtube video but really worth it. Just watch it for a laugh.

7 months today.

I was going to take a photo but one of my children dropped my camera so I have uploaded some of my favourite pictures of him.

It has been a busy 7 months but I have loved every minute of having this young boy in our lives.

Joseph.

In our new family room.

Mario Catechism computer game.

Steve has made a catechism game.

Here is what he wrote about it:

A multiple choice question and answer game where you have to click on
a series of question and answers based on the Catechism of the
Catholic Church.

Defeat enemies by answering the questions correctly before they catch
up with you.

Based on Nintendo's Mario game. It features 5 different worlds and 15
levels. Designed for ages 8 years and up.

An exciting and fun way to learn the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This game is free and can be copied and distributed to who ever wants it.

Simply click on the link to download the game:

Mario Catechism
Added: 05 September 2010
By: dad2seven

If you go and download the game, let me know in the comment box. Steve is hoping to design many other games too.

Our weekend.

The girls and I had a great day in Whyalla yesterday. First we went to Westlands and bought some summer outfits from Target and Jay Jay's. Amelia wanted to take Joseph on the merry go round so I took their photo. Then it was on to Spotlight for our fabric. After spotlight we went and meet Daniel at Hungry Jacks for lunch and then it was back to Port Augusta.

Everyone got some new outfits and I bought some fabric to sew some summer clothes.

This is the fabric Amelia chose for her dress

This is the fabric I chose for the boys shirts:

Tom will have the black and Christopher the red.

The boys had a fun quiet day at home playing video games and watching videos.

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Fathers day.

Today is Fathers day in Australia. This is our first Fathers day without my dad.

Happy Fathers day to my father in law, Peter and to Steve. You are both great fathers and example for our children.

Girls day.

Today I am taking the girls to Whyalla for a girls day. We will hit the shops and buy some new clothes for summer and get some fabric to make some too. Pictures to come later.

Therese.

Nasi Goreng.

This recipe brings back such fond memories for me. I remember my mother making it on a regular basis when I was a teenager. I haven't ever made it for my children but was reminded of it this past week so looked up the recipe.

This is the recipe I am using. It can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 400g (2 cups) long-grain white rice
• 1 tbs vegetable or peanut oil
• 2 (about 275g) chicken thigh fillets, excess fat trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
• 1 175g pkt shortcut bacon (Primo brand), thinly sliced crossways
• 5 eschalots (French shallots), thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, trimmed, finely diced
• 200g small cooked peeled prawns
• 40g (3/4 cup) loosely packed finely shredded Chinese cabbage
• 80g bean sprouts
• 2 tbs bought fried shallots (Maesri brand)
• 2 tbs kecap manis
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 4 eggs

Method

1. Cook rice in a large saucepan of salted boiling water following packet absorption instructions until tender. Drain. Spread over 2 baking trays, in a thin layer, and set aside for 2 hours to cool completely.

2. Heat a large wok over medium heat. Add half the oil and heat until just smoking. Add half the chicken and stir-fry, for 3 minutes or until brown and just cooked through. Transfer to a bowl and repeat with remaining chicken. Add the bacon to the wok and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until brown and crisp. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add remaining oil to wok and heat until just smoking. Add the eschalots and garlic, and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until eschalots are soft. Add the carrot and celery, and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until carrot is tender. Add the prawns and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until heated through.

4. Return cooked chicken and bacon to the wok with cabbage, and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until cabbage wilts. Add cooled rice, bean sprouts, half the fried shallots, the kecap manis and soy sauce. Stir-fry for 2 minutes or until heated through. Transfer to a large bowl. Cover with foil to keep warm.

5. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Crack 2 eggs into the pan and cook, uncovered, for 2 minutes or until the white sets and the yolk is almost set (for a soft yolk) or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining eggs.

6. Spoon nasi goreng into shallow serving bowls. Top each with a fried egg and sprinkle over remaining fried shallots. Serve immediately.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday!!! Kindy sports day.

Today was sports day at the Kindergarten that Christopher goes too. We all went up and spent the afternoon there.

Here are some photos of Christopher in action.

Starting on the lap-a-thon

Getting his card stamped.

Jumping in the long jump.

He was the winner for the lap-a-thon so got an award at the end of sports day.