23 years ago today.

Exchanging rings 23 years ago. 

. 

Amelia did a reading. 

Renewing our vows. 

Today Steve and I celebrated 23 years of marriage. It has been quite a ride but I am thankful for everything we have been through together and there is no other person I would rather have by my side to travel through with. 

Our parish priests came over this afternoon and we had a small ceremony. Amelia read from 1st letter to the Corinthians, we renewed our marriage vows and Fr. Paul blessed our ring with Holy water. 

I look back on that first picture and just remember how blessed I felt. I really was glad Steve had chosen me to be his wife and that he and I would spend the rest of our lives together. 

We have had some difficulties but never have I regretted my decision to accept Steve's proposal. With every storm we have travelled through, we have become closer and more committed to each other. 

I am so thankful that we have had the church to guide us and tell us what is right and wrong. I honestly don't believe our marriage would be half of what it is today without the teachings and God's grace from all the sacraments.

What we are doing this year.

Next week, school will be starting in South Australia. I thought I would go through everyone and let you know what we are doing.

Daniel, Sam and Madeline are all still living in Adelaide. Daniel has about 18 months to go with his teaching degree and Sam and Madeline are both working for Hungry Jacks still. Madeline has left fashion design and is thinking of studying creative writing. She was going to apply last year, but because she would have had to pay a late fee, I suggested she wait and she did. Maybe she will be able to do a mid year entry. Sam is also doing a management course. He is hoping to get some management position at some stage.

In Port Augusta, Steve is back at work as a permanent relief teacher. This year he is at a different base school though. His base school is the school he goes to when they don't need a reliever in any of the schools.

Brigette is starting year 11. She is hoping to do law when she finishes school so has some pretty challenging subjects. I am sure she will meet the challenge with the same success she has in the past.

Tom is going into year 9, Amelia into year 7 and Christopher into year 3. I expect they will all want to do Musical Theatre again this year and the boys will probably do Cubs and Scouts again.

Joseph will start full time Kindy this year and have 9 sessions a fortnight. He will go every Wednesday and Thursday for a full day and have a half day on every other Friday.

In term 4 last year, Joseph has one full day of Kindy a week. It was the first time, I had no children at home for 21 years. The day went really fast but I really appreciated having some time to myself. This year, I will go to the canteen on Wednesdays and have a day to myself on Thursday. I will miss having him around but time to myself is so rare these days, I really do appreciate it more and more.

Baking on Mondays.

Yesterday, I made banana muffins, chocolate muffins and fruit buns. Here is the Banana muffin recipe.

Sewing.

We have a couple of very hot weeks so since we need to stay indoors, I have been doing a lot of sewing.  These dresses
I have made for me. I don't think i have done so much sewing for me before.


I also made a couple of stretch knit tops but it doesnt look like I have taken any photos of them yet.


Next week will be the last week of the school holidays so I really should try and get some shorts sewn for them all to wear to kindy and school.

These

Photos of the lounge room

I posted these on my Facebook page a while ago but realised I had neglected to post them here so here they are.

I'm going to make some curtains that match our new style over the next few weeks.

St Catherine of Siena and a word for the year.

Faithfulness. 

After time in prayer and thinking about what I want to do this year, I have chosen St. Catherine of Siena as my saint for the year and faithfulness as my word. 

I have chosen faithfulness because I want to be more faithful to God, my vocation as a mother and wife and all the things that God is calling me to. 

It is my hope this year also to be a bit more faithful to blogging and following the bloggers that follow me. I do post a bit more at Facebook so that has limited my posting here but I want to do both this year. 

A year with 3 type one diabetics.

From this:

To This. 

Today is the Anniversary of Amelia's diagnosis. We will give a donation to Dr. Faustman and celebrate in some way. 

It has had it's challenges but I am glad that mostly our three diabetic children are relatively healthy. 

A Year in Review. Part two.

July. 

Madeline and Sam moved to Adelaide in July. It was a big adjustment for us all. I suddenly realised just how much I did for them because we weren't nearly as busy as when they were home. Daniel also went to World Youth Day in Brazil. He was away when Sam and Madeline moved into the house.

Daniel enjoyed WYD but got an infection in his foot on the way home. It was very painful for him and became very swollen while he was on the plane. Fortunately when he got back to Adelaide,  he was able to get antibiotics and recover from it. 

August. 

In August, I took Amelia to Adelaide to start pump therapy. Being the third child to go onto an insulin pump meant that I knew pretty much everything there is to know about it. It took us a few days to get her insulin doses right but over all we have been really happy with it. It was good to have them all on the same treatment. While Amelia was on daily injections, I found I forgot often to remind her to have lantus. It was just as well she was so reliable and often did it without reminding. 

September. 

September was Steve's last month of work for the year. He had 4th term of with long service leave. 

I started doing costumes for the girls in Christopher's musical theatre group and Steve started working on what he would do for renovations while he was home. He painted the back verandah and then started working on the wooden floor boards in our lounge. 

October. 

At the end of the October Holidays, Amelia went on Diabetes camp. Steve and I took the opportunity to get away on our own while she was there and left the boys and Brigette with Daniel in Adelaide. 

When we got back, Steve worked on the lounge just about every waking hour and I spent a lot of time sewing the costumes for Musical Theatre. 

November. 

November flew by and I was in a great hurry to get all the musical theatre costumes done. I think it was in November that I realised just how big a job I had agreed to and thought I had taken on something that was too big. I just decided to keep at it though and sewed in every spare minute I had. the first week of December was the week before the concert. I finished the costumes just one hour before the first concert on the Saturday night,. 

December. 

Once Musical Theatre was over, we started to prepare for our family holiday. Our older children were going to the Youth Festival in Melbourne and we decided to go along and take the younger children to see around Victoria and Melbourne. 

We visited Halls Gap, Bendigo, Melbourne, Geelong, Warrnambool and Millicent. 

It was a great holiday but we were all glad to get home. 

On Christmas day, my mother turned 80. 

We went back to Adelaide for Christmas and to celebrate my mother's birthday.Because we had been away for two weeks just before this, we only stayed in Adelaide for the two nights and came back. 

I hope 2014 will be just as good as this year has. 

Therese.

You can read part one here.  

A year in review part one.

January. 

On the first of January, Daniel turned 21. He was in Vietnam so we didn't get to celebrate with him till he was back in March. We had a family party at my mothers place just after he got back. 

 Just 3 days after Daniel's birthday, Amelia was diagnosed with type one diabetes. We had three children in the house with it now. Having two children diagnosed before Amelia meant that I knew exactly how to look after her but still, it was a big struggle to look after three children with this disease. 

Tom turned 13 on the 14th of January. He got his first mobile phone and a remote control helicopter. He started high school a couple of weeks after his birthday and has matured quite a bit over the year

Christopher went of to school for the first time this year at the end of January. I thought he was ready for it after being home schooled for reception and year 1. He adjusted really well and proved to be a very organised student over the year. I did check his diabetes bag and school bag each day but it was rare for him to leave something out. 

February. 

Joseph celebrated his 3 birthday in February. He has grown up so much. 

Here he is with his new basketball ring. He has had many enjoyable hours playing with it. 

10 days later Christopher turned 8. All our children seem to be growing too fast. We have so many birthdays to celebrate each year and sometimes I find myself wondering where all the years go. 

February was the start of lent too and and the resignation of Pope Benedict. I was greatly saddened at his resignation but trusted that he was being guided by the Holy Spirit. 

March. 

At the beginning of March, we picked up our new Dualis. We got it just in time to take the children to Adelaide for a check up with their Endocrinologist. The Dualis has served us well over the year and has been my favourite car to drive. 

On the 13th of March, Pope Francis was presented to the church. We had a new pope. It took only two days for the Cardinals to elect him. I think this shows their unity and faithfulness to God. 

Madeline celebrated her 18th birthday on the 29th of March. (Good Friday). Just before her 18th, she decided to leave school and work full time at Hungry Jacks. She applied to study fashion design at Adelaide TAFE and started saving money for her move to Adelaide. 

April. 

In April, Madeline and Brigette had the holiday of a lifetime. They flew the Singapore and spent 8 days with my sister and her family. It was a great experience for them both. 

Steve and I also had a weekend away. Because we knew Sam and Madeline would be moving out in July, we thought it would be our last chance to get away and leave our younger children with the older ones in charge. We went to Claire Country Club and had a great time alone. 

May. 

Amelia and Brigette turned 12 and 16 in May.  Amelia had a party with friends at Hungry Jacks and Brigette went out to the movies with a group of her friends. 

Brigette went for her Learners permit and passed. She has been driving our Carolla around and will go for her P's in May 2014 I think. 

June. 

June was the last month that Sam and Madeline were to live with us. They applied to rent a place with Daniel, close to Flinders Uni. It was another milestone in our lives but I was glad they were leaving and pursuing their dreams. 

Friday funnies.

A ringer from a huge cattle station in outback Australia appeared

before St Peter at the Pearly Gates.

"Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" St. Peter asked.

"Well, I can think of one thing," the ringer offered. "Once, on a trip to
the backblocks of Broken Hill out in New South Wales, I came

across a gang of bikies, who were threatening a young sheila.

I told them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So, I

approached the largest, most heavily tattooed bikie and smacked

him in his face, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and

threw it on the ground.

I yelled, "Now, back off!! Or I'll kick the crap out of the lot of ya's!"

St. Peter was impressed, "When did this happen?"

"Just a coupla minutes ago..."

Have you liked my facebook page?

I am posting photos of the renovations of the lounge room every day there. It is easy to upload them from my android tablet so do it regularly.

You can go here to like Aussie Coffee Shop on Facebook. If you don't have a facebook account, you should still be able to see the photos.

Here is the latest photo with the lounges and television cabinet moved back in.

Dust everywhere.

Well the renovations continue. Today Steve has been getting the walls ready for painting. We have dust everywhere. I tried to get away from it by going into our room, only to be greeted by this:

It is all over our floor and Steve's bedside table. Now I am glad I have the left side of the bed. 

Here is the lounge room looking down from the dining room table end:

You can see how dusty the television cabinet is too. If you can't, here is a close up of it. 

I guess the walls will be really flat and perfect at the end. One day I will have less dust in my house but for now, I am glad that I  have a hubby that is interested in doing the house up. 

Tomorrow we will have a day off renovations until the evening. We need to empty the lounge room out for the sanding of the floorboards. It will be interesting keeping the children off them while we are sanding/staining and varnishing. 

Therese. 

Renovations.

We have had a lot going on here since the last post.

On Thursday, we travelled to Adelaide. We had a few things on and tied them all into the one visit. Joseph saw the Ophthalmologist and Amelia went to diabetes camp. While Amelia was on diabetes camp, Steve and I went to Hahndorf to stay. Daniel, Sam, Madeline and Brigette looked after the boys for us so that we could have sometime on our own. 

Hahndorf was wonderful. Steve and I stayed at Amble Wren Cottage for 2 nights.  It was good to spend sometime together without the children and relax away from the busy life we have. 

Since coming back, Steve has been working hard on renovating the lounge/dining room. Here are some photos from the work he has done. 

Here is Steve finishing off the replacement of the wood that was running the wrong way.

All this took 2.5 days to do. Next we need to sand the wood down, stain the wood and then varnish. The sander is coming on Monday so for now Steve is working on the computer table. 

He made this bracket to hold the computer table up. 

I was pretty impressed that he made this himself. Once it is painted and varnished, I am sure it would look really professional. 

I will post progress photos as we do them. It is much easier for me to upload to facebook so if you want to see photos each day, you can go and like my facebook page here. 

I am still alive.

Well after 2 months of no posts, I am back. I have been thinking about giving up blogging and having less time on social  networks. It is a big commitment and sometimes it just seems too hard to keep up reading other people's blogs and post on my own. I do like having a journal of kinds to look back on though and really value many of the friends I have made through blogging. I keep up with many of these people on facebook but I am not keeping the memories that my children create as much there as I do here. 

So I am back. Here are some of the things that we are up to.

This week is the second week of holidays. We  have two weeks inbetween each term in Australia. School year starts in January and we have 4 terms that are around 10 weeks long each. Next term is the last one for the year. Then we will have a 6 week break. Steve  has next term off with long service leave. With school holidays and long service leave all together, he is going to be home for 17 weeks. I am sure it will fly but I am going to enjoy it while it lasts. The plan is to do many renovations during the holidays. So far he has painted the back of the house and started on the living/dining room.

Here are some photos of the back verandah been painted. Down one end of it, the previous owners started to paint it in pink, white and purple. It wasn't the colour scheme we wanted at all. 

We did the front of the house back in 2007. Here is the post with photos. It has only taken us another 6 years to get the rest done. 

The lounge/dining room was one of the first rooms we did. It was a place that we pulled out a wall to make two rooms into one. Here is the picture:

When we pulled the wall out we found one of the floor boards was running the wrong way. We had to rethink our idea of polishing the floorboards. 

We got floating floorboards but both Steve and I haven't really liked them. Because we are redoing the room, we decided to fix up the floorboards. Steve looked at YouTube and found a way to fix them and run the floorboards the rights way. 

Photos will come when Steve has pulled up the floorboards and run them all the right way. 

As well as the floor, we are going to repaint the walls and make new curtains. We are living in a dust bowl at the moment with all the rubbing and sanding on the walls but I am sure it will all be worth it in the end. 

Weekend Wrap up.

It was Wharfest weekend in Port Augusta this weekend. On Saturday the show rides, show bags and variety stalls all set up along our local Foreshore. Steve and I took Tom, Amelia, Christopher and Joseph down there just before lunchtime. 

We walked along the wharf down to the show rides first (the children's main attraction). Joseph was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and the loud noises coming from all the rides but still decided to go on the teacup merry go round. Tom, Amelia and Christopher all went together on the Hurricane. \

Tom and Amelia also went on the Kamikaze. 

Christopher and Joseph went in the fun house. (sorry, I cannot find a video of this one). 

Today was the 130th Anniversary since the laying of the foundation stone for our original parish church. Our Bishop, Bishop O'Kelly came to say mass and we had a lunch after. 

We also had the blessing of our new St. Joseph statue. Our Joseph was one of the people to unveil the statue. It was a great celebration and we all had a lot of fun. 

Daniel is back safely from WYD, He really enjoyed his time away. We also welcomed back our Parish Priest this weekend from WYD. 

It is two weeks since Madeline and Sam left for Adelaide. We notice they are gone but we are enjoying not being so busy and having quieter days. 

Therese. 

Thankful Thursday.

It is the second week of the holidays here and I am thankful for so many things.

First, I am thankful for new quilts and covers to keep Christopher and Joseph warm this winter.

I am thankful for our quieter house and that my older three children are all living together.

I am thankful that Daniel has the opportunity to go to World Youth Day again.

I am thankful my new laundry. (pictures coming)

I am thankful that Steve and I still get out alone at least once a week. Today we had lunch together at Cafe Primo.

I am thankful for the strong wind that dried all our washing today.

I am thankful for bloglovin and been able to follow my favourite blogs.

What are you thankful for?

Therese.

Quick 7 holiday edition.

-1-

Term two finished today. The children have two weeks of school and I am so glad they are here. No more rushing about in the morning getting them all organised. 

-2-

Daniel, Sam and Madeline have found a house in Adelaide. Everything is falling into place. Madeline had an interview at Hungry Jacks in Darlington and the manager said he would look into getting Madeline transferred. She works at Port Augusta at the moment. We haven't heard anything since the interview so we are hoping she will have some news soon. 

-3-

Renovations continue through the holidays. Steve is finishing of the laundry. We started plans for our laundry so long ago that I cannot remember how long I  have been waiting for it. Over the Christmas break Steve connected water, tiled and painted walls and floors and put in the bench and trough. Today he finally put taps on. It should be finished by the end of the holidays. I think all he has to do now is the door. 

-4-

For my work on renovations, Tom's bedroom and the lounge room both need new curtains. I guess I will be sewing a bit. I am also hoping to get a matching quilt made for Tom's bed. 

-5- 

When Sam moves out, we are going to empty Tom's room completely and paint the walls. That is why I am going to make curtains and quilts. 

-6-

Christopher was going to move into Tom's room when Sam moved out and we were going to have Joseph on his own. We have changed our minds though and Christopher and Joseph will continue to share. Maybe the three of them will share in a few years time but for now we will leave Tom on his own. 

-7-

In other news, we have another new car. We had been considering selling our Carolla for a while. It is 16 years old and starting to need more and more repairs. then when we bought the Dualis we decided to stick with the Carolla and keep it. 

Since that time though, more things have gone wrong with the Carolla and we don't think it is that safe to drive to Adelaide if we need to. 

So we bought a new Mazda 2. Originally we were looking for second hand but then we discovered that Cruise Control was only in 2012 and 2013 models. It was a feature I really wanted and decided if we couldn't get a second hand one at a significant saving, we would get a new one.  We got this one last week. It is a Mazda 2 in Aquatic Blue. 

Don't forget to visit Jen and Conversion Diary for other people's 7 quick takes. 

Bloglovin

Google reader will no longer be available on July 1st. You can follow my blog on bloglovin though. Will add a link in the sidebar.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My spouse.

Back in 2009 I did this meme. It was fun to look through and see what has changed and what is the same.

I have copied and pasted the questions and answers that I gave back in 2009 and I will add in any that are different now in blue. 

This is kind of like the 25 things - except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you and your spouse or SO not just you. Come on, play along - inquiring minds want to know! ;-)

♥ What are your middle names
Angela and Osmond.

♥ How long have you been together?
22 years. 
26 years (22 married) 

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
A couple of weeks.

♥ Who asked who out
Steve offered me a lift to a party we were both going to. 

♥ How old are each of you?
both 43.
Both 45.

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
Probably mine but we don't see a lot of either siblings. 
I think now we see more of Steve's sister. 

♥ Do you have any children together?
Yes. 8. 

♥ What about pets?
Dog, Cat, love birds, chickens, turtle, 
Dog, cat, chickens, gold fish, 

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Our first year in Milicent

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No

♥ Are you from the same home town?
Yes. 

♥ Who is the smartest?
Steve. 

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
Me. 

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Hungry Jacks. 
Cafe Primo

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Me

♥ Who does the cooking?
Mostly me. 

♥ Who is more social?
Me. 

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Steve. 

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Me. 

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Neither. 
Neither still but Steve hogs the blankets. 

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Steve. 

♥Where was your first date?
Walk at Morialta falls. 

♥ Who has the bigger family?
Me

♥ Do you get flowers often?
No. 

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
doing the bare minimum. 
Now we have been trying to have a couple of nights away on our own and leave older children in charge of younger ones but since two children are moving out, we probably won't be able to do it as much. 

♥ Who is more jealous?
Neither. 

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Probably about a year. 

♥ Who eats more?
Steve.

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
Brigette and I. 
Now Amelia and I. 

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Steve. 

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Steve.

Would love other to do this and post it on their blogs. Let me know if you are doing it and I will add a link. 

Therese

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.