Smart Martha Monday.

My list from last week is all complete. (Well, nearly).

1) We need a new improved diet. I always notice when we are eating lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and less processed food that the boys sugars are much much easier to manage. I want to do a new menu plan that has more vegetable based main meals. Just about everyone likes eggplant parmigiana. I want to get a few more meals like this that we can eat regularly. If you have any suggestions please post them in the comments. 

Done. I have made up a couple of new menu plans that incorporate a lot more vegetables into our diet. I am noticing the difference especially with Christopher's bsl. 


2) Declutter something. Since starting the boys room over the weekend, I have the buy. I think I need to declutter our bedroom. Especially our walk in robe. 

I didn't do our bedroom or walk in robe but I did get all the paper work up to date and that is a kind of de cluttering. This week I will hopefully do our walk in robe.

3) Take Christopher and Joseph to mass each day. 

Done.

4) 1 Holy hour. 


Done.

5) Paper work. I really need to go through all our paper work and get it up to date. There are some things that I need to fill in and post off that have been sitting there for a long time. 


Done.

My list this week:

1) De clutter our walk in robe. 

2) 1 holy hour. 

3) Take Joseph for his fitting for some splints. He needs to have a splint to help relax his muscles. One of the problems caused by the stroke is Joseph constantly keeps his leg muscles tense. He needs to be fitted with a AFO to help his muscle relax. Tomorrow morning I will take him and have him fitted. Not sure when we will have the splints. 

4) Keep up with washing. 

5) clean out one kitchen cupboard/draw. 

Therese from Musings of a Mom also joins in Smart Martha Monday. Pop over to her blog and see what she is up to this week. 

Weekend Wrap-up

We had a great weekend here.
We did all the usual things on Saturday, mass and adoration in the morning, food shopping in the afternoon and the vigil mass in the evening.
Today I made Joseph's tricycle. He seems a bit stressed when he is on it on his own but likes it when someone pushes him on it and helps him to peddle.
We went and got a new swing set from some friends this afternoon and Steve set it up as soon as we got home. I tried a new lentil chilli for tea and we all really liked it.

I hope you all had a great weekend too.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Joseph's first tattoo.

We got some freddo Frogs with some tattoos in the pack. Tom put one on Joseph. Here is a photo of it.

Tasty Tuesday: Our favourite noodle recipe.

This is a dish we have started to have quite regularly here. It is really yummy.

I have adapted this recipe to make it a bit more to our families taste. 

Ingredients: (to serve 8).

350 pack fantastic egg noodles.

50 grams mushrooms. 

250 grams diced lamb or pork. 

4 tbspns soy sauce

4 tbspns rice wine vinegar

4 tbspns curry powder

2 tbspns brown sugar.

1 tin coconut milk

1.5 cups chicken stock

200 grams bacon. 

2 tbspns oil.

minced garlic to taste

2 tbspns minced ginger

chillies 

1 brown onion. 

350 grams mixed corn and peas

fresh coriander leaves. 

Method:

Boil water in kettle and pour over noodles till completely covered. Leave to soak while preparing the rest of the meal. Cut up mushrooms and cover with boiled water. Leave aside. 

Mix soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, curry powder, brown sugar, coconut milk and stock. Leave aside.

cook diced lamb in oil till brown. Remove from pan and put in onion, ginger, garlic, chillies. 

Add bacon to onion mixture, once onions are soft and fragrant. Continue cooking till bacon is done. Drain noodles and mushrooms and add to onion/bacon mixture. Add meat, peas and corn and pour sauce over. Bring to the boil and simmer till the sauce has been absorbed.  Serve.

Smart Martha Monday.

Today I took Christopher and Joseph over to the church for some prayer time in front of the blessed sacrament and Christopher found a novena prayer to St. Martha.

I was struck by the fact that I have been doing these posts for a long long time and haven't once thought about asking St. Martha to intercede for me. I am going to make an effort to remember to ask her for her prayers each time I post a new Smart Martha Monday post.

So from last week:

1) Go to pray at the church for one hour on my own.


I did this on Thursday. I am going to make Thursdays between 4-5 my time for prayer at the church every week. It fits in well with all the other after school activities. 


2) cut out my new dress.


Not done. I decided it was more important to go through the boys room so put my sewing aside. 


3) Get onto skype and talk with some friends


I had a chat with Cathy on Wednesday night. It was great. Hoping to get on more this week. 


4) Go to bed each night by 10.30.


Didn't do. I had a couple of later nights since I needed to check boys sugar levels and Joseph needed eye drops 4 times a day for conjunctivitis. I usually gave him his eye drops at midnight. 


5) Go out with Steve for coffee date.


Didn't go out but had some take away with just Joseph on Friday so I did spend some time alone with him. 


This week I want to do the following:


1) We need a new improved diet. I always notice when we are eating lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and less processed food that the boys sugars are much much easier to manage. I want to do a new menu plan that has more vegetable based main meals. Just about everyone likes eggplant parmigiana. I want to get a few more meals like this that we can eat regularly. If you have any suggestions please post them in the comments. 


2) Declutter something. Since starting the boys room over the weekend, I have the buy. I think I need to declutter our bedroom. Especially our walk in robe. 


3) Take Christopher and Joseph to mass each day. 


4) 1 Holy hour. 


5) Paper work. I really need to go through all our paper work and get it up to date. There are some things that I need to fill in and post off that have been sitting there for a long time. 


Pop over the Therese from Musings of a Mom who also joins in Smart Martha Monday. 

Weekend Wrap up.

We had a great weekend here.

On Friday night Steve and I went to mass and then got take away for tea since there was only Joseph and us at home. 

It was nice to come back and enjoy the peace and quiet in the house. That night, we watched Surrogates.

Saturday morning we were up early for mass and adoration. Every other weekend, Steve goes and empty's the St. Vinnie's Bins and takes the clothes back to the shop. While he went and did this, I started cleaning out the boys room. 

I have decided we need to have another de clutter in the house and started at the beginning. The boys room, is the very fist room from the left of the house and also the smallest bedroom. Having three boys in there has been a challenge. I decided it was time to go through everything and get back to basics. After spending quite a few hours in the boys room this weekend, we have 3 bags of clothes for St. Vinnie's and 1 extra bag of rubbish. 

I am going to keep on going through the rest of the house whenever I have a few spare minutes. 

Last night I spent a fair bit of time catching up with some blogs that I haven't read for a long time. I also started playing a new game on facebook called collapse. A fun game and maybe just a bit too addictive. I will have to watch how much time I play it. 

I hope you all had a great weekend. 

Stylish blogger award.

Thanks so much to Vicky from Creating with Wisdom and Esther from A Catholic mom in Hawaii for passing on the Stylish blogger Award to me. I love both your blogs and feel very privileged to have this award passed on from you.

Editing to add, Lisa from Are We There Yet, also gave me this award. Thanks so  much Lisa. Your blog is another must read that I hate to miss. 

For this award, I need to tell you seven things about myself. 

I have been blogging for so long, it will be hard to come up with 7 things I haven't already said about myself. 

-1-

I believe God gave Steve and I 8 children because it was the only way I would learn the virtue of patience. 

-2-

I like to play sudoku. I try to do at least one a day to keep my mind active. 

-3-

I am not a very good housekeeper. 

-4-

Just about every morning I have eggs on toast for breakfast. 

-5-

I like to listen to The Priests when I am doing house work. 

-6-

Next January, Steve and I have been married 21 years. I love being married. 

-7-

I decided yesterday that we are not going to buy soft drink on a regular basis any more. I really love drinking soft drink but it is so bad for me and the children. They drink a lot because I do too. We are going to have it for special events only from now on. 

I want to pass this award onto the following bloggers.

Nikki from The Roman Road. 

Ebeth from A Catholic mom climbing the pillars.

Jamie from Lord, Make Me a Saint.  

Jeanne from A Peaceful Day.

Christie from Garden of Holiness.  

A little Fun.

This is doing the rounds of facebook with my friends and I thought I would show it here.

I got Lazy, happy, patient and elegant.

What did you get?

Nearly Wordless Wednesday.

Here is Joseph on the way to Whyalla last week. He was starting to get cranky so I gave him the phone with some Abba music on and he was settled for the rest of the trip.

Smart Martha Monday.

Here are the things I had on my list last week:

1) Family day in Whyalla. 

We went to Whyalla on Thursday and had a great time. 

2) Post something on here each day since we are on school holidays. 

Done except for Saturday when I really couldn't  think of much to write. 

3) Sort out boys linen.

Done. I went through all the linen for our younger three boys. Sam is old enough to take care of his own on this. I went through and decided what was worth keeping, what we needed to get rid of and what extras we needed. Now Tom, Christopher and Joseph all have two complete bed linen sets. 

4) Prepare for our party this weekend. 

Done.

This week my goals are:

1) Go to pray at the church for one hour on my own.

2) cut out my new dress.

3) Get onto skype and talk with some friends.

4) Go to bed each night by 10.30.

5) Go out with Steve for coffee date.

Therese from The Musings of a Mom also joins in Smart Martha Monday. 

Weekend Wrap up.

 Another big weekend here in our household.


Steve and I started the day yesterday driving to Whyalla to help Daniel pack up his gear to move. Steve dropped me off at Spotlight and I did some shopping then walked back to Daniel's place I actually took a wrong turn and ended up taking 1 hour to walk what should have taken me 15 minutes. The exercise must have been needed.

At Spotlight I bought some fabric and patterns for me. I am going to make myself a couple of summer tunic tops and a dress for church. Here is a picture of the fabric and patterns.

In the afternoon, I did a lot of preparation for our party today. We went to mass last night.

Today we got up early and did more party prep. The party started at 1.00. We had a great time with our family and friends.

Tonight I was finally able to get onto skype and speak with my sister in Singapore. It was great to catch up with her. Steve has fixed the microphone and camera on our laptop so hopefully we will be able to use skype a lot with many of you.

I hope you all had a good weekend too.
Therese.

Quick 7.

Thanks so much to Jen from Conversion Diary for hosting 7 quick takes each Friday.

-1-

Our car hunt continues. We have driven a Hyundai Getz, a Mitsubishi Colt and a Mazda 2. Steve and I both like the Mazda 2 the most. 

There isn't that many of them for sale second hand and the ones that do come up seem overpriced to us.

We are not in any hurry to buy a new one so we will keep our eyes open for a second hand one and save a bit more. Maybe at the end of the year we will have enough that we can buy a new one. 

-2-

Today Steve turns 45. He and I went out for a coffee tonight to celebrate. Joseph got to come along since he had a three hour sleep this afternoon. 

-3-

School starts again on Monday. 4th term only has 9 weeks.  Christopher and I will be doing a lot of one on one work this term. 

-4-

For his therapy, Joseph's physio said a tricycle would be good to help strengthen his legs. I have been looking around for a good one that is not plastic. Yesterday I came across one on Ebay that was the right price and bought it. It will be a Christmas present for him probably since he has a scooter that we can use until then. 

-5-

On Sunday Steve and I are having a joint birthday party. It would have been good to have it in the middle of the holidays but Tom was on diabetes camp so we couldn't. I am still looking forward to having our family and friends over. 

-6-

Tomorrow Steve and I are driving over to Whyalla to help Daniel pack up. He will be working his last day with One Steel on Tuesday and moving to Adelaide. 

He has applied to study teaching in Adelaide and will be working at Hungry Jacks while studying. 

-7-

Why we are in Whyalla, I will be visiting Spotlight and spending some of my birthday  money. I am going to get some linen fabric for a summer dress and a couple of patterns. 

Scooby Doo Live

Today we took Tom, Amelia, Christopher and Joseph over to Whyalla to see Scooby Doo Live. What a great show. Everyone sang along and Joseph enjoyed clapping every time they asked us too.

Wordless Wednesday: Joseph loves our bed.

He pulled everything off and jumped in.

Hoodwinked too.

Our family movie for tonight. It is great so far.

Smart Martha Monday.

On my list last week, I had:

Pray for one hour in front of the blessed sacrament. 

I did a half hour at the Cathedral yesterday since we got to mass 30 minutes early. 

Sort out our paper work:

All done. I have even put in all the paper work for our tax to be completed. 

Sort out boys linen. 

Not done. I actually forgot that it was on my list. 

This week I want to do the following:

1) Family day in Whyalla. 

2) Post something on here each day since we are on school holidays. 

3) Sort out boys linen.

4) Prepare for our party this weekend. 

Therese from The Musings of a Mom is also joining in Smart Martha Monday. 

Quick 7.

-1-
Today Tom left for diabetes camp. He is going to be away till Sunday afternoon. I hope he has a great time.

-2-
Steve and I are car hunting. We have a little carolla that is starting to cost us a lot to maintain. We have decided to sell it and get a newer car. At this stage we are looking into getting a Hyundai Getz.

-3-
The first week of school holidays have just flown. We had Steve's parents down on the first weekend and I spent a fair bit of time researching new cars since they left
.
-4-
The weather has been very overcast and dreary lately. Steve and I were hoping to get a bit of exercise in but only walked last weekend. I really hope next week is warmer and we can get some walks in.

-5-
The photo up above is my cute photo for the week. Joseph's cousin put him in this box and pushed him around. Joseph really loved it.

-6-
Next Thursday we are taking Tom, Amelia, Christopher and Joseph to see Scooby Doo live. They are all very excited about it.

-7-
Friday is Steve's 45th birthday. On Sunday we ate having a double party to celebrate both our birthdays.


Don't forget to visit Jen ay conversion diary for other people's quick 7.

Wordless Wednesday: Watching Prince Caspian

Tasty Tuesday: My new pie maker.

Today my pie maker arrived so we had cheese and Bacon pies for tea.
Ingredients:
Shortcrust pastry
Puff pastry.
1 extra large onion diced
1 kg beef mince
300 grams Bacon diced.
1 cup gravy
Cheese.
Fry onion, beef and Bacon till cooked. Add gravy and stir till gravy thickens.
Prepare pastry to go in pie maker. Put shortcrust pastry in bottom of pie maker. Put filling in pastry and top with cheese. Put puff pastry on top of pie. Bake in pie maker for 6 minutes. Take pies out and enjoy.

Smart Martha Monday. (On Tuesday).

I was going to do a post last night but time just got away from me.

My list from last week is all done.

I cleaned out the storeroom, went to Adoration and did Leanne's meme.

On my list this week:

1) Pray for one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

2) Catch up on all our paper work.

3) Sort out boys linen.

Therese from The Musings of a mum is also joining in Smart Martha Monday.

Weekend Wrap up.

We have had a great start to the holidays here. On Saturday it was my 45th birthday. When my mother was pregnant with me, I was due on the 5th of October. She wanted to call me Therese Angela after St. Therese and the guardian angels. Back then, the feast for St. Therese was on the 3rd of October and the feast of the guardian angels, the 2nd of October. Since then, St. Therese's feast day has been moved to the 1st so now my patron saints feast is on my birthday. 

For my birthday I am getting a new pie maker and bread maker. Daniel asked me during the week what I wanted and I said a pie maker. They come in two and four. The two was cheaper but I asked him to give some money towards the 4 and I  ordered it. I am hoping it will come early this week. It will be great if it come tomorrow. 

I also ordered the bread maker from eBay. This is from Steve and our younger 4 children. When Steve was studying, we made our bread every day. After many years of use, the belt broke and we decided that we had had enough of bread making for a while so never replaced the belt. I don't think we will be making our bread everyday but I will make hot cross buns, yeast buns and pizza dough with it. 

Since it was my birthday, Daniel cooked tea for the family last night. He cooked Apricot chicken and it was delicious. We haven't had Apricot chicken for a long time. I think it will be one to put back onto our regular meals. 

I have a couple of video's to share from our weekend. 

here is Joseph, our star basket ball chapion. 

Here he is this morning in his new overalls. These were given to us by friends last year and I put them away until they fitted him. I had forgotten them until I cleaned out the storeroom this week and found them. Today it was a bit cooler here so I put them on him and took this video. 

In a couple of weeks, Steve and I will be having a joint 45th birthday party. We went out this afternoon and delivered invitations to friends that live locally. 

This week we will be on holidays. I have lots of sewing planned. 

I hope you all have a good week. 

Therese.