Madeline.

This is my eldest daughter Madeline. It is about 15 months since she moved from Port Augusta to Adelaide. In that time, she has really grown and matured and we have seen some really positive changes in her attitude and work ethic.

In 18 short days, she will fly to Thailand with International Volunteer HQ. She is going there for 3 months to teach English to young children.

When she told us at the beginning of the year that she wanted to do this, I really doubted she would be able to save the money and afford all the expenses living away from home. I have been pleasantly surprised that she has managed to do this. It has taken sacrifices and hard work but she has got there.

We will stay in touch via Skype while she is away and hopefully she will send some postcards to us. Mostly, I hope she keeps up blogging and records all her adventures. You can check out her blog here

2 more leaving the nest.

Today Sam and Madeline have gone to Adelaide to look at houses to rent. They are hoping to get a house with Daniel so the three of them will be living together. The plan is to move down there in 3 weeks.

Sam is planing to work at Hungry Jacks still and Madeline is too. She is also going to be studying  fashion design part time at TAFE.  Sam says he wants to do some study but he isn't sure what he wants to do yet.

Over the years our family has changed so many times. Each time has brought challenges and blessings. Our last big change was Daniel moving out and Joseph being born. Joseph was born a week before Daniel moved to Whyalla. I missed Daniel when he first moved but I am very proud of the great young man he has become. I am sure I will miss Sam and Madeline too but I am confident they are going to grow and mature in the same way Daniel has.

Life will be a little bit quieter around here. I think we will  notice Sam and Madeline absence more so than when Daniel moved since there is two of them going. Looking forward to the change and having things a bit quieter though.

Thankful Thursday

Today I give thanks for Madeline and the blessing she has been to our family for the last 17 years. Happy birthday Madeline. We love you.

Happy Birthday Madeline.

16 today.


Birthday girl.

Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday Madeline.

Some photos from our week so far.

The first plums from our plum tree. We planted this tree back in August 2007.

Christopher's new shorts. I cut out 3 pairs on Saturday and so far I have sewn 2. This was the first pair I made.

Christopher playing his memory game today.

Today, Joseph managed to get the pumpkin out of the fridge. Someone must have left the door slightly ajar. This was the mess he made. Before I had the camera, he was crawling around in it and slipping everywhere. He thought it was so much fun. I did try to get a video of him slipping in it but because he saw the camera, he was just crawling after me instead.

Here he is after his bath. I decided to bath him straight after playing in the pumpkin.

It is great to be back.

I have read a lot from my google reader this morning. It is great to catch up with everyone again.

Besides Joseph's baptism, and Amelia's first reconciliation, a lot of other things have happened in our lives. I will try and recap as much as I can remember for you all now.

Madeline turned 15 on the 29th of March. She wanted to go to Hungry Jacks for tea so I had a night off cooking and we all enjoyed some junk food.

On the 31st of March, it was 9 years since Tom was diagnosed with diabetes. I try to be as positive as I can about it and give thanks for the insulin we have and that we can keep such a close eye on his blood sugar level with the glucometer. Each year around the time of Tom's diagnosis, we give a donation to the Faustman lab.

Joseph turned 8 weeks on Easter Sunday. He has settled into our family very nicely. The other children all love him a lot.He does tend to become unsettled in the late afternoon with reflux but is usually very settled and happy in the mornings. In the afternoon when he becomes unsettled we generally put him in his sling and he stays much happier.

I did spend much less time on the internet during lent but I also spent a lot more time watching TV. Steve and I are both enjoying watching the Biggest Looser each night and NCIS has become my favourite programe on TV. I am really looking forward to season two of Master Chef which will start when The Biggest Looser finishes. Don't worry though, I will still make time to read other blogs and update this one.

Daniel has settled into life away from home. We see him just about every weekend. I was a bit sad to see him go but glad he has such a good job and is so close to home.

The next two weeks everyone is on holidays and I am looking forward to sleeping in and taking it easy. I want to get planning for home school done too. This past term went really smoothly because I planned just about every subject for the whole term.

Haircuts!!!!!!!!!!!

Madeline wanted a hair cut. I said, wait until our next pay day. She said well can I cut it myself. I said yes thinking that she would get someone to help her. She didn't and this is the result.


Overall, she didn't do too bad. The back actually looks pretty good but her fringe is way to short. She wet her hair and didn't realize that it would be shorter when it was dry. It will take a while to grow back.

Then last night, Tom got some bubble gum stuck in his fringe. Instead of coming and telling me, he decided he should cut his hair and this is the result:


Again, not too bad but way to short. Maybe we will give him a number 3. It is just so cold at night here that I am hesitant to cut his hair.

Graduation.

Tonight Madeline had her graduation from primary school.

Next year she will be starting at our local high school.

here are some photos from tonight.

Madeline with her class.

Madeline and her Teacher Mr. Osborne.

Madeline with her friends.

Wordless Weekday.

Our younger 5 children at the circus this year.

A note to myself.

Always always measure any child that you are sewing for the day before you cut out. Not a month before because they grow.

This weekend has been rather hectic in our house. I cut out Madeline's dress and jacket on Thursday night and started sewing Friday night. I got the jacket finished by lunchtime on Saturday. I started on the dress after lunch and had 90% of the dress done before I got Madeline to try it on. It didn't fit. This was at 10pm Saturday night. I couldn't do a mad rush to the shop and get her a new dress so after having a bit of a panic attack, I told her she would have to have a skirt and jacket since I could make a skirt pretty quickly. I made a skirt for her but then looked in my wardrobe and found the dress that I made for myself for my sisters wedding last year. I thought it would probably fit her. It did and she wanted to wear it. The dress looks better on her than it did on me so I have told her, it's hers.

We had the Mass at 10.30. Our parish priest confirmed 23 young people. It went really well. After Mass we went to the parish hall for a celebration cake and coffee. Then Madeline's sponsor came to our house for lunch. It was a lovely afternoon.

When Steve puts the video up on the computer I will upload it so that you can all see.

Steve, Madeline and Anne with Pope Benedict.

This Sunday.

Madeline is going to be confirmed. She is taking Maria Goretti as her patron saint and a good friend of ours that is a Mercy Sister is going to be her sponsor. I have cut out a jacket and dress for her to wear and should finish sewing it of by Saturday. I think I have a tradition of finishing of First Communion Dresses the day before so think I should continue this with the Confirmation Dress.

Since we don't have a Bishop in our diocese at the moment, Fr. Paul (our Parish Priest) is confirming the children. Please pray for all the children that are preparing to receive the Sacrament this weekend.

Therese

A hectic day.

Yesterday Madeline, Brigette, Tom and Amelia were in a concert. They all belong to the Musical Theatre and yesterday was their mid year concert. We had a hectic morning getting all the housework done but it was worth it. Steve and I took Christopher along to see the show.

Tom, Amelia and Brigette all did a dance. Steve video taped them and as soon as I have worked out how to put them up here I will.

Madeline did a mono log from the Secret Garden. She was very nervous and it was very hard to hear her. I was still proud of her getting up and having a go.

They had a second show in the evening and I went to see the end of it. I saw Madeline and she did much better. I was right up the back and was able to hear her. She also didn't look as nervous. It was great to see her up there on her own doing it.

Little Miss Splendid.

A while back I made a blog for my daughter Madeline. I didn't realize at the time you had to be 13 or older to have a blog. When I found out, I let her keep the blog but made it private.

Back in March, Madeline turned 13. She decided she wanted a new blog so started LIttle Miss Splendid

A night of culture.

Tonight I took Madeline, Brigette, Tom and Amelia to see Symphony under the Stars with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. What a wonderful night it was. In Port Augusta this year we have the Port Augusta Re Imagine's festival. It is a year of events, performances and workshops.

I did hear the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra play when Steve and I went to the Festival theatre (nearly 14 years ago) to see Jesus Christ Super Star. I haven't ever been to a concert with just the orchestra like this.

The last number they did was Tchaikovsky’s immortal 1812 overture, with fireworks in the background. I have never experienced anything like this. It was a wonderful night and will be one that I can imagine myself telling our Grandchildren about.

Happy Birthday Madeline.

Today my eldest daughter Madeline turns 13.

Happy Birthday Madeline. We are really glad God blessed us with you and that you are a part of our family. We hope you have a great day and year.

Mum and Dad.

Last night at the pool.

At 8pm last night it was still 30 degrees celsius. (86 fahrenheit) so we took the children to the pool. Here they all are enjoying the water.

Our week in review.

It has been a busy week with the trip to Adelaide midweek. We have had a lot of sucess with changing Tom's pump to the sillhouette inserter and yesterday we changed the insertion site into his bottom. He is going the full three days now with one set and we are getting a pretty good idea of what base rate he needs. Sugars are staying more consistent and I am noticing that he works well when his sugars are like that.

On Sunday Madeline was in her Musical Theatre play. She was a Island girl and mermaid. I wasn't able to get to the play because I needed to cook and get organised for the trip to Adelaide. Steve took Tom, Amelia and Christopher.

Monday we got our paper work for our taxation. We are getting a big refund this year. The cheque should arrive in about two weeks.

Tuesday I headed of to Adelaide with Tom and Christopher.

Sam started working this week. He has a job at Hungry Jacks. Last Thursday was his first day on the job. Daniel has been working there for three years now and enjoys it. He said that Sam went well.

We had family night at Madeline's school on Thursday too. They started with a bbq and then each class did a dance. Madeline's class danced to Crazy Frog. It is one of my favourite songs.

Because of the late night Thursday night only Daniel and Sam went to school on Friday. I must admit I am ready for the holidays now and don't feel too motivated to get them ready. The children have two weeks of school left and then they have 6 weeks off over Christmas. Next year Tom and Amelia will do homeschool, Madeline will go to our local public school and Daniel, Sam and Brigette will be at Caritas.

Yersterday was Daniels last day of school. He won the leadership award for year 10's and was presented with a certificate and cheque for $100.00 at the closing asembly. We are very proud of him and all that he has achieved this year.

This weekend is going to be busy. Steve is weeding the garden and doing lots of little jobs out the front.

I am hoping to get snacks for the week made and start the girls curtains.

It is the first week of advent and I thought I would change my blog colour to purple for the 4 weeks.

Have a great weekend.
Therese

Adversity and hatred.

In my post about socialization a poster has bought up one of the main concerns I have.

The post:

Well, we homeschool and are currently wrestling with this question also. First, I think "socialization" is best done in the family, but as our kids age I am increasingly recognizing another aspect of socialization. Before becoming an adult, we have to learn how to deal with adversity and with different opinions, even hatred towards us and our religion. Now that our oldest has a pretty solid foundation, I am wondering if the next step would be to send him to institutional high school so that he can develop practical skills in dealing with this type of adversity/diversity while he still has daily contact with his parents.We have made no decisions yet, but a big part of me wonders if this would be preferable to having his first major dose of "the world" when he is an adult living far away at college or now. He would have a better foundation if we waited, but less contact with his support system.

Since it is quite a few days since I did the post I decided to bring this comment here and see what others think.

As stated yesterday Madeline has changed school's. The main reason we changed schools was because she was so unhappy and her self esteem was getting a huge beating from exclusion and bullying. The reason we changed schools is because she wasn't learning any skills from it, she was just becoming an unhappy person. In my opinion she was starting to hate the person she was and wanted to be someone different. I am pretty sure that her unhappiness stemmed from this and nothing else.

Now Madeline is only 12. Maybe things would have been very different if she had come up against the adversity when she was older. Maybe if she had been homeschooled up until now she wouldn't have been so affected by it.

In truth do we ever learn to cope with diversity or hatred? What are your thoughts on this?

Madeline starts at a new school today.

Over the last three years Madeline has had a lot of problems at school. There has been some bullying and some excluding that has just made her unhappy.

This year has been the hardest so far and some of the girls have been really nasty. I have thought about homeschooling her again but it really isn't an option with Tom getting his new pump, me relearning how to manage his diabetes and homeschooling him once he gets it. After speaking with her about it we asked her if she wanted to try another school for the last few months this year.

She did want to so she has started at our local public school around the corner today. If you could all keep her in your prayers and pray for Steve and I too. Over the next 7 weeks we need to make some decisions about our other children's education next year.

Thanks
Therese