Poor Job and some toy stuffing!

Hahahaha...

Sorry, its a funny one...I'm going to get in lots of trouble for this post, but I think its worth it!

I love Sunday afternoons. After church (most of the time when everyone is home) we hang around, chatting and playing games. Usually during the game time somewhere, Job nods off on the couch. Yesterday we wrestled for quite a while (Job and I came a draw at two all) and then played duck, duck, goose. Job claimed he was dizzy from duck, duck, goose and went and lay down on his usual spot. Sisi had just recently pulled the stuffing out of a toy snake and left it all over the floor.

                                                         The kids and I couldn't resist......

Hahaha, poor Job. It's always got on my nerves the way that he can sleep at the drop of a hat. Throughout our 11 years of married life, he always dozes off. If he's not working and we go to bed together, he always falls asleep first. Often he comes home from work late at night, wakes me up, has a chat and then two seconds later zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - while I'm left lying there unable to go back to sleep because some rude husband just woke me up! Well, I found something to help myself feel better. I was showing JJ what I do to him when he falls asleep on me. If you can't sleep at night while your spouse does, and you want to amuse yourself, I highly recommend it.

                                                                JJ had a few turns too..

                                           I know we shouldn't do it, but its just too funny not to.

                              He even got a cute little kiss (notice the fluff collection on the couch)

        
                                    Sleeping on the couch at our house is not the greatest idea :)

                                           

A 5 year old example - and hanging out with my kids

What?! How can September nearly be over and I haven't even blogged August yet?!!

...breath...

ok, I'm forgetting about all that. Tonight during movie night, Lani (who was cuddled up on my right hand side) turned to me and said - "Mum, sometimes I kind of cry because I love you so much."

Lani is such a little sweetheart, she is also a fiesty little thing if you get on the wrong side of her!! But when it comes to her feelings, she is so open, honest and sincere. We love her kind and gentle heart.
We have a really big day tomorrow, lots going on including this house going up for Auction. I considered skipping out on movie time just this once to start cleaning up. I am so glad I sat on the couch, in between my two girls, sharing icecream with chocolate topping and maltesers. I could have missed some of the most tender words I have ever heard. Lani is so good for me, she teaches me everyday how to show love.

...and speaking of love...don't you just LOVE sitting around in the loungeroom on a Thursday night taking photos???!   You know you do.

The kids and I are so good at bumming around. Often when Job is not around, schedule goes out the window and we just hang. They get to bed a little late, often music, readers and homework get skipped, but we have fun. Their favourite nights are the ones where I tell made up stories. A couple of months ago I started a story that they ended up naming "Quest to Lollypop land" The story lasted a couple of weeks, each leg of the journey took around half an hour. We're in the middle of the next part of the quest, JJ had called it "The Quest to the magic fountain." I make up the story on the spot, so the kids and I never know what is going to happen next, often they help tell the story too. There's always suspense and danger - sometimes Lani and Sisi get worried during the story. They are so cute! These nights are always a bit late because the story goes for a long time. So last night when we were meant to be doing music lessons, we were playing around with the camera and telling stories!

                                      I started off on the couch taking some shots witht the girls..

                                                                  Then JJ jumped in

   
Poor Ben, look at his red eyes. He saw us taking photos and felt left out so he cried - funny Ben, we love u!

It got a bit crowded on the couch so we tried the floor. Benny tried pushing the button but we couldn't quite get it all together... (I am so pasty and white next to my kids!)

                                                 Don't ask me what JJ and Sisi are doing??!

                  ...then we tried lying on our tummies....    nope, didn't work either! hahaha         

Then I remembered that Lisa had told me how to set up the automatic timer, here's the kids watching me while I set up the camera..

On jumps mum...hooray! Not too bad :)

                            We'll have to catch up on music and homework another day!

My music, for the very first time

I've been looking forward to doing this blog for the last three weeks. It was that long ago that I went to Melbourne and recorded my music. Last December I wrote my first musical fireside, it was a Christmas one and we put it on here in Launceston. I thought it went really well, East and West ward members did such a great job, many of them singing in a musical fireside for the very first time. I always wanted to get a proper recording of the songs so when the tax man gave us back some money, it was time!

The whole weekend was such a thrill, I don't know where to start :)

I met up with my five fabulous singers at different times on the friday to rehearse their parts. It was so nice spending time with Leanne and Beau who hung around for the whole day. Leanne took some video footage while we were practicing. I love these small snippets because they show nothing in particular, no music or rehearsing, but they make me laugh and remind me of the time we spent together.

This is Laura with Leanne - practicing for the Mary and Elizabeth song 'because of you'. lol at Leanne, haha

have a listen to how beautiful they sound together at the studio:

I should probably give a brief explanation of what the music is about, in case there is anyone reading this who didn't see the fireside or been swept up in my ramblings about it. The whole production is seen through the eyes of a 5 year old girl (who was played by my cute niece Chelsea) She can't sleep on Christmas Eve because she is too excited. She calls out ocassionally for her mum and begs her to retell the story of the shepherds, angels and wise men etc... Her mum sings her special lullaby to settle her to sleep. She is visited throughout the night by characters from many years ago who sit by her bed and tell her what happened the night that Jesus was born. She is visited by people like Joseph, The shepherds, Angels, Elizabeth and even a donkey. They all sing to her while she listens and participates. Finally she follows the Wise Men and finds the baby Jesus. She gives him her special music box which plays her lullaby. I titled the fireside 'A Christmas Dream' indicating that it is up to the individual to decide whether or not Chelsea is actually dreaming.

For the sake of recording the songs, we didn't include any dialogue etc. Just the music!

After a late Friday night rehearsing, we headed over to the other side of the city early the next morning to Steve's house to record. Leanne and I left her house at the insane hour of 5.15am. We were too excited to feel tired. We arrived, quickly took a couple of shots (of course!) and then got stuck into some songs.

This is Steve (the engineer) and his sweet set up.

                                                               Leanne warming up!

While we waited for the others to come, we recorded her singing the lullaby and the donkey song. The donkey song a new song I wrote, we didn't sing it in the fireside. Before I left for Melbourne, I thought the collection needed another song. I really like this one and I LOVE Leanne's voice, she has such a beautiful tone. Here's a little bit of 'The Miracle' aka 'donkey song'.

Unfortunately since we were busy with everything that goes into recording, we didn't get proper videos of the singing. We had such a limited amount of time to record 9 songs that we didn't have time to take footage for the blog. Leanne did manage to get this video of Beau singing 'I am the King.' (The wicked King Herod song) This one was a hit with the kids. Job and I remember hearing them walking the hallways in the chapel the day after the fireside singing "I am the King, the King, the King, the King, the King!"

                                           This is what it sounded like the day before...hahaha!

Who can forget Kirk when he played King Herod. He did such a great job. Sorry for the dodgey video...it a recording of a recording...

It was so nice to see Laura again. I hadn't seen her since we were 14? ish... I was so thrilled when she agreed to sing and she even brought another singer to the group - Brad. They know eachother from musical theatre and he is a member of our church too - small world! They sounded fantastic together, they were the pitch perfect pair :) I don't have any photos of the two of them :( - The best I can come up with is a shot of brad blinking, hahaha, sorry guys. This is the two of them singing their duet as Mary and Joseph..

                                            

The other singer was my dear friend Moli. He is such a sweatheart and has the most beautiful voice.

He sung 'Faithful Ones' which is the song the Angel sings to the shepherds. He also sung as a shepherd and a wise men (as did Brad and Beau)

Here's a snippet of Moli's song..

I love the way this next song came out. This was the first one I wrote. The three guys sounded so good together. And they didn't even whinge (too much) about having to sing in the lower register. For three tenors who love to sing high, they were often out of their comfort zones. I think they sound awesome...

Its a shame we didn't have more time to add layers of vocals to make it sound like there are more men singing. When we did the fireside there were 17... (including my two little shepherds :)

Here's the three of them singing the wise man song. This clip isn't what we recorded, it just them warming up, but its nice to be able to have the video so you can see them singing..

And who can foget our own lovable wise men..three of my favourite people (especially the hot polynesian one ;)

The entire experience was so much fun. Recording in a proper studio was amazing. I was buzzing for days afterward. The feeling of actaully doing what I know I am meant to be doing with the gifts God has given me was such a rewarding feeling and it completely outweighed the love I have of taking photos. I still love my photos, but I know even more so now, that music is my biggest joy. I have already started on the next one!

I'm looking forward to recording again, I hope I can round up my five talented friends again.

Here's a few more pics of the day..

A very expensive microphone - I can't remember if Steve said it was $4000 or $6000 dollars

                  I love this guy, he is so talented. Someone needs to hurry up and discover him.

   I'm so glad Leanne had my camera, she is one of the most artsie, creative people I know and she got some
   really good shots. She also made some really cool videos....

                            The only shot I have of you Laura :(  - Your hair matches the mic! :)

haha, this was the guys creating the sound effect of the 'boom boom' in the wise men song.

               Bad photo (taken by me) but this was the chill out zone where they'd wait between tracks.

                                                                     Beautiful Leanne

                                                                      All of us :)

I am so grateful for the experience and can't wait to do it again!!!

Power Rangers!

Our kids watch Power Rangers everyday. Even Sisi is starting to ask for Power Rangers now over Barbie. I blame the power rangers for all the play fighting that happens in this house. Its funny to watch them when Sisi gets involved - the boys are really good with her, they let her win :)

                                                   Benny blew on her and she fell down!

       
                                                              A powerful blow by Sisi....

                                                              .....and they're down!!

                 Just in case you were wondering what she had on her bum - its a tag, she dresses herself :)

Lani's date

A couple of blogs ago I mentioned we had begun dates with our kids again. We're lucky at the moment that we usually have time daily to spend with each of our kids. Job has finished school so he spends a lot of time teaching and playing with them, and I'm mum, so I'm always hanging around :) We are still loving the dates though, as they are extra special time!

Yesterday it was Lani's turn to have a date with her dear old dad ;) She really wanted to go on a picnic with Job but when they planned on leaving, it started to rain.

So they had an indoor picnic instead. Lani set out their special picnic food on her bed and waited for Job. She started on her smarties while she waited....

Special picnic food - Lani's favourites (Ham, strawberries, yoghurt and tiny teddies) The peanut slab belongs to the big peanut of the house..... (no, not me!!)

                                 Eating their chocolates first?!? - I'm sure that's not the way its done ;)

It was so cute to listen to them chatting away while they had their lunch together. Part of their conversation was about Lani possibly starting Gymnastics next year. She is already a little monkey who climbs and hangs off evrything, we think she'd be a great little gymnast. She is really excited to give it a go. It would be good for her confidence too. She also wants to play the violin, so we have been talking about her having lessons. Unfortunately since I can't play it, we'd have to find a teacher and pay for lessons. We'll also have to get a violin! Very exciting.....but very expensive. So we'll see, its all in the plans. Job spent the last part of the date showing Lani some clips on youtube of both gymnastics routines...and violin solos. They had such a nice time together. I was touched again by just how much our kids love that special time together with us.

                      Yesterday was Jobs priviledge to have special time with a special little girl....

                                .....and that special little girl treasured her time with her dad.

Sleeping buddies

I have mentioned in a past blog that my kids are restless during the night - Some of the symptoms of their food intollerances manifest themselves strongly at night unfortunately. Although they are not so great at staying asleep - they are wonderful at FALLING asleep. They'll fall asleep anywhere...
I always remember when Benny was only 2-3, he would fall asleep at my feet on the cold wooden rec hall floor, on a Sunday during relief society. If he was tired, he'd just lay on the floor....anywhere!
Sisi is the same, if she's really tired when we're shopping, she'll just fall asleep in the trolley. She fell asleep in nursery a few weeks ago at the table while eating her lunch - wish I had a photo of that one :) I even remember having to grab her when I saw her swaying on her feet one day, she nearly fell asleep standing up.
Here's a couple of shots of her recently:

      She fell asleep watching barbie songs at the computer (She's still in her pjs in the middle of the day, lol)

                                                        In the middle of the hallway

I've just spent half an hour looking for the cutest photo but can't find it. It was some of our kids and the rogers, sitting on the couch together and Sisi is fast asleep...

        Last night, I went into Lani's room to tuck the kids in before I went to bed and this is what I found:

These two have always loved sleeping together - its one of the reasons they share a room. JJ will tolerate sleeping with someone else, but Lani and Benny seek eachother out. I tell them to sleep in their own bed, especially for Bennys sake who's ezcema will flare up easily from being too warm while sleeping beside another body. But we usually find them like this. Sometimes we move Lani back her to her bed on the floor, othertimes we just leave them. They have slept together so often over the years that it's hard to separate them now..

Ths funniest photo I have of these two is from a couple of years ago:

        I have better versions of this photo somewhere, where you can see Lani's face, but I can't find them.
See what I mean? My kids can fall asleep anywhere.....sometimes in the funniest locations and positions - how uncomfortable would this be??!
I cannot fall asleep anywhere or anytime but Job on the other hand.......

....hahahahaha, there are so many photos.......but I might loose MY sleeping buddy if I put them up!

We love conference!

I've said it before, so here I go again - Conference weekends rock!!

The Rogers and us really enjoy making a special weekend of the church meetings we attend in Devonport on the Conference weekends every six months. This time we thought it would be nice to do something different from the traditional cheese, rasberry, chocolate factories and cherry shed. We took the kids to see the Mole Creek caves instead. It was extra special this time too because mum was here for a visit.

We arrived with a few minutes to spare to have a snack and let the kids stretch their legs.

          I never get sick of watching the our kids playing with their cousins. They are all so close.....

Close enough to fight, and then love eachother again 2 minutes later.

This photo reminds me of....

...this photo

I found Benny getting up to no good and decided it was time to head to the cave!

We walked through a beautiful forest to get to the cave. On the way, Joe jr got bitten by a monster bull ant 

:( Kym took him down to the stream to relieve his stinging hand in the cold water.

                                            
                                                  Kym is a star and Joe carries the cripple

                           
                              Mum looks after Parchie (affectionately known by the family as 'poo')

                                     Sisi waits outside the toilets while we have a quick stop...

                                               
                                              ....before gathering at the meeting point.

The caves were so much fun. We had a really good tour guide. He was funny....and very informative. The kids were so excited - especailly to see all the glow worms. We weren't allowed any cameras where the glow worms were. They looked much like stars in the night sky.

                                                  
                                                    Charlotte brought her own camera too.

                              Some parts were a bit of squeeze (not for me of course....*a-hem*)

  
  A really old and well protected stalagmite (did I get that right??) the tour guide quizzed us on stalagmites and stalactites and their spelling.

                                   It WAS well protected until Parchie stuck his hand in there!

Eeek! Two Tongans!

And that is where my battery ran out. Did I bring the spare one I spent the night before charging?? Of course not, that's way to sensible. Luckily I left it in the car, so I could use the camera again once we were out of the cave. We finished our awesome tour and were greeted by rain so we sat in this cosy little shelter (behind mum and I) and had lunch.

Once lunch was over, it was time to get Joe and Job to their Priesthood meeting! They were only 5 minutes late :) - That may be a new record.

Kym and I have this first shift with the kids. It was nice to have extra pair of 'nana' hands to help out. Because of the rain, we went in search of a play centre as opposed to the normal park and beach. While we were trying to find one and getting very lost, it stopped raining.....and we ended up at-

The beach! The kids LOVE going to the beach at Devonport, it has become tradition. They spend most of the time hunting for crabs.

Chelsea spent the entire time in this position - looking for crabs and starfish.

Sisi was grumpy when we first arrived as she'd just woken up from a nap in the car.

                           This picture makes me realise that Charlotte is getting older way too fast!

Sisi was most comfortable watching Parchie try and pick up the crabs

                                             A little encouragement from Aunty.....

                                                        ...and she's still not convinced.

Drawing in the sand - much less scary than holding crabs!

JJ was strong enough to hold up the lighthouse!!

Hahaha, what a mean mum!!! - She was trying to stop Parchie from running up the steps (and onto the road)

When this happened, Kym and I looked at eachother and said "Here we go again!" We had told them not to go into the water as we hadn't brought towles, blankets, clothes or anything! Same thing happens every year. We laughed wondering if we would ever learn our lesson and remember to bring spare clothes and towels. The kids ended up wearing their dads jumpers....  crazy kids, it was actually cold too!!

Sisi found that when her pants got wet she had a problem..

                                                                     Solution!!!

Kym's impersonation of a crab

         Me telling Lani not to throw sand (and taking a photo at the same time) - does anyone do that?!?

You may be wondering where our extra pair of hands was??! Mum was sitting in the car while we at the beach. She wasn't quite silly enough to sit in the cold....at the beach :) For us, its tradition. The kids love it and they don't even feel the cold....until they get out!
We get them rugged up and ready for the boys who take the next couple of hours while Kym and I (and mum this time) go to the adult session of conference. The boys gave them dinner (fish and chips) and watched a dvd. I think we got home around 10pm??  - And then got up early to do the trip again in the morning. An extra hour earlier this time as we had to get to the chapel for an early choir practice. Choir was great!! I was so proud of the East/West members who sung.
Mum left to go home (back to Melbourne) after dinner. I think she may have needed another break by the looks of it :) - We love you mum and nana!!!!!