A brand new, sparkly year!

2013 is gone.

Another year has passed.

It flew by so quickly.

I am beginning to realise, that from now on, most years will more then likely fly by very quickly.

I don't have any 'babies' left. I have 4 children. No more toddlers either, I am not needed as much anymore. They are growing up. They are more independent. They are smarter, quicker, and are growing more and more curious about the world everyday.

2013 was a mixture of emotions for me. I have grown a lot over the year.

I am grateful to myself that I managed to pick up on the unhappiness of my children at school, and managed to fix that for them. They have thrived since they realised 'mummy won't tolerate that'. They come to me if they have issues, because they know I will do all I can do fix them. They have also realised, that not every problem can be solved by mum, but sometimes they have to do some self-adjustment. I am glad they have learnt that skill.

I am realising that I am stronger then I ever thought I was. After Hubby had a very bad bout of Depression, and we have come out the other side of it. I am still up, I am still going. WE are still going.

The last photo of my mum with my children

I am very slowly coming to terms with my mothers passing. This will be something I feel I will be working on for many years to come. Sometimes, when it is quiet, or when something isn't going the way I want it to, I will shed a tear for the conversations that I can't have, with the person who was my best friend, my confidant, my advisor, and my counselor. I can't have that all consuming hug, that only a mother can give, that makes you feel like everything is going to be OK. But, I know in my heart, she is with me, and hugging me from wherever she is. This will take time, but I know it will happen. I know she would be proud of me, hubby and the children. I know she is watching them, and protecting them. This helps me to keep moving forward.

I am saddened by the news that we have been asked to leave our home. But I am able to see the light at the other side. A fresh new start. A fresh new home. For our beautiful family.

I was also saddened by the news of my Grandfathers passing. But, unlike my mothers death, I knew this one was coming. I think back to the beautiful things my 'Pop' used to do for me when i stayed at their place as a child. My favourite memory, is when it was Winter, he would lay out mine and my cousins PJ's in front of the fireplace to warm up for when we got out of the bath. He used to do this to his own PJ's too! He was such a 'cute' pop! Everyone called him Pop too. He took pride in his title. Even my cousins Football team had a team hat made for him, on the back, it said 'POP'. He was loved by all.

But most of all, I am feeling ready. Ready to face 2014. Ready for any new challenges. Ready to take ownership of who I am. Stand up for what I believe. Stand behind my children and let them go forward on their own, knowing I am only one step behind them at all times for support. Ready to embrace the future, and whatever it brings. I am determined to try harder at all that I do. Health and fitness, finances, child raising, being a wife, and being exactly who I am.

Get ready 2014.

I am here. 

I am alive. 

I am ready for you. 

2014 is a time for ....

 More Smiles!!

More Experiences!!

More FUN!!

 More night time cuddles!!

More Self acceptance.

Happy New Year 'SFK' readers xx

A new beginning .... again!

So, as you know, we rent our house. One day we will buy or build our own. We have plans to anyay! But in the mean time, we are stuck paying off someone elses mortgage.

About a month ago, we received a letter from the real estate agents.

"Notice to Leave"

"Reason - Without grounds"

Without grounds?!!!!??

I rang the real estate agents, because as far as we knew, everything was fine. Rent paid, house clean and looked after, lawns and garden at the top of their game.

She said she doesn't know why, it is the owners request, and she is just the messenger.....
(I think it is because I asked them to fix the dishwasher as the handle broke, and when we open it, it almost cuts our hand! They never have fixed anything around here.)

So, again, it looks like we are moving. Right on the holidays too.

We have until the end of January. Fantastic! *insert eye roll*

So, on top of Christmas, Mr 6's birthday (December 31st he will be 7!!) and getting back to school in the new year, we have to save for bond, rent and moving costs. Not to mention the actual process of moving, which sucks.

I was very upset when we received this letter. We love it here. The house suits our needs, the children are safe and have friends in every house in the street. The neighbours are beautiful and we feel like family on the street. Everyone was sad when I broke the news.

Sadly we can't afford to continue living in this estate either. Houses are far too expensive, this was the cheapest rental around. I am so NOT paying around $800PW for a house that isn't even mine!!

So, the hunt is on again for another house. This time however, we aren't looking for something 'nice' that we can stay in for a long time. This time is a little more exciting. We are looking for something as cheap as possible, so we can save up more for a deposit on a house. For us. To build!!

We have had enough of the rental game. Had enough of living to fit the owners and real estate agents standards. If I want to paint a wall, I want to paint a wall. So, buying/building our own home is the only way to achieve that.

So the journey begins. Finally something for us. Something we can be in charge of. Something the kids can muck around in without us going off at them like crazy for making a mark on the wall! Somewhere, where we can LIVE!

It's over, and I want to cry!!

{{WARNING: Do NOT read this around young children!!}}

So, Holly is 9 1/2. I had a feeling this would be her last Christmas where the magic of Santa would be a reality for her.

Where she would walk into the shops and tell Santa what she would like on Christmas morning to be waiting for her under the tree. 

Where I could bribe her with good behaviour otherwise Santa will put her on the naughty list.

Where I had to answer tricky questions about Santas house and elves. (Which were getting REALLY tricky!)

Nope......

The secret has been outted to her. 

For the last 10 days (approx), she has been coming home upset. She said that all the kids in class keep yelling out "Santa's not real, it's your mum and dad!!" 

*sigh*

She already knew, she just needed the confirmation from us. 

I tried talking to the teacher, asking her what I should do. She said all but 2 children in the class, already knew the secret. She tried to reinforce the 'If you don't believe, you don't receive' saying. But, at this age, they saw through the vagueness. 

So, last night, hubby and I sat down and told her the truth.

It sucked.

It was HARD!

She cried. Not a 'you've been lying to me' cry. But a 'you just killed my Christmas spirit' cry.

It tore me in two. But deep down, she already knew. She said she knew, but just didn't want to believe it.

I thought, this year will be rotten for her, by the way she was acting, it was like we had gone and slaughtered The Jolly Man ourselves. However, a few hours, and an Ice Cream, later, she came good. She grabbed a catalogue and started circling toys and things that she thinks Santa should bring her and the boys. 

Now I have my very own, living, breathing elf! 

I am sad that the secret couldn't hold out for just one more Christmas, but, I know I can trust her to keep it a secret around the boys, and I know I now have one less child who will be asking me impossible questions. 

It is moments like this that I realise my children are growing up. I know she is only the first of my kids to find this information out, but it wont be long before they all become suss. So I am going to make sure I enjoy this time with them even more. 

Cleaning Catch up - Number 1

Ok, so like I said, I am going to start posting about how I clean my house, when what and why etc.

This first post is very simple.

Start small!

My house was a sty yesterday. Im not kidding, a full on pig sty.  Picture a bomb going off, then times it by 1000.

So, first thing is first. Attempting to get your mojo back so you can actually begin to be bothered, and find a reason why we should bother cleaning in the first place. As parents know, kids are little tornados. Sometimes it feels like we spend all day cleaning, only to have it look like it did before the mass clean, at 6pm that night. Frustrating right? Right!

So, start small. I started on the least messy room, but one of the most used. The lounge room. There was bits of rubbish on the floor from doing some craft and drawing while they were waiting for me to make dinner. The floor needed a good vacuum, and some general tidying of the bits and pieces around the room. I knew this would take all of maybe 5 minutes. So I started there. After I had finished, I could see the result, and it kick started my mojo for doing it.

Because it looks good!

Then I made my way to the kitchen. I am lucky enough to have my dad staying with us at the moment, and he likes to help out, so he does the dishes for me while I am taking the kids to school. So I came back, put them away, and wiped over the benches, oven, dishwasher and fridge.

After seeing how clean and tidy these rooms were. It got me spurred on enough to keep going.

The way I see it is, get the lived in areas done first, as you don't want to be trying to relax at night when the kids are in bed, with toys under you and things circling your mind. We all do it.

Don't worry about the kids rooms, as they are often the most untidy, and there is a door there for a reason. You close it, and voila, it's out of sight until you are happy with other things, and you feel ready to tackle it.

In saying that, I make sure my kids get up every morning about 15 minutes earlier then we have to, they make their beds, and take out any dirty clothes they have laying around, and do a general tidy. If I make sure they do this every morning, then they generally don't get too badly messy. I have been slack of late however, and they are a bit untidy. But little by little, they are cleaning them up themselves, without me having to nag them, without it taking up their time, and with a little praise, they feel the sense of achievement, and pride of their belongings, and their 'living space'.

Today, I am tackling the tiled floors, toilets, and bathrooms. If I make sure I just get these things done today, I will be happy.

Remember to keep it small. You don't have to do everything in one day.

However, in saying that, I add these 'extra chores' to my daily routine. My biggest tip, is once you have gotten a room nice, tidy and clean, keep it that way. By spending a few minutes each day on little things, they don't turn into big things.

Well, those toilets aren't going to clean themselves, so I am off. Happy cleaning.

Getting my Mum-mojo back

So, recently, I have lost my 'mum-mojo'. I have kind of given up a bit on my house, and being all I can be. I don't know why. Call it frustration from the monotony of it all.

I'm doing it....!!

'Look Mum, I'm doing it!!" That is what most mums hear when their child achieves something awesome, like first time on a bike without training wheels, or swimming in the pool. It's something a child says when they are proud of themselves for all their hard work. Who can blame them! It is exciting reaching milestones. 

But, this post isn't about any of my children doing anything....

This is about me.

 I'm doing it!

The last 6 weeks have been incredibly busy for me. But I added some 'me time' into the mix, which upped the amount of busy-ness I had, but it was worth it for my own benefits. 

For years I have been really pissed off with myself about my weight. Like, REALLY angry. Yet, I would still shovel bad food into my mouth, and put off exercise until I felt like it. I don't know why I did this. Im sure there is some sort of psychological explanation for it, like I perhaps didn't feel worthy or what not. But, this wasn't the case.

I was just lazy. Plain old lazy.

One afternoon, around 6 weeks ago, I spent a few hours making a really lovely dinner for my family. I was so proud of myself for going to such lengths to try to incorporate everything they liked, and omit anything they didn't like. It isn't easy trying to please 7 people at once! Especially when 4 of them are children! The 7th, in case you were wondering, is my Dad who is staying with us at the moment. 

So, anyway, we all sat down to this beautiful meal I had made, and hubby and my Dad were so please with this 'glorious' meal. Then I looked at the kids.... 3 of them pushed it to the side, said they didn't like it, and asked for toast instead.........

I lost it.

I stood up, left my dinner on the table, went into my room, got into my Gym clothes, and told Hubby I'd be back later, and walked out. 

I was so angry that the kids didn't like the meal, that I know had everything they liked IN the meal. So, I went to the gym, turned the iPod up really loud, and jumped on the treadmill. 

That is how it started. I got addicted to the calm that the gym brought to me. Almost everyday I have been going back for my daily hit of calmness at the little gym down the road. If I can't make it to the gym, I jump on the exercise bike at home, and pedal it out for an hour. 

This morning, I reached my first weight loss mini goal.  I have officially lost 6.5kg! My pants are falling off me, and my tops are 'flowy' now, since my belly has decreased in size! Last week, I hit my first running milestone of 1 km straight. It doesn't sound like much. But I couldn't do it 6 weeks ago to save my life!

Things are coming along so well. I am slightly fitter, much healthier, and slimming down. Plus I am more calm, less tired, and a happier version of me. 

For the first time in my life ...... I'm doing it!!

And I am proud. 

School Station Revised - All Aboard!!

A while ago I did a post about my 'school station' , it was working well, but we needed that big shelf set for all the books we have. So, hubby grudgingly cleared some room in the Garage for me. This is what we have come up with. We had these little shelves floating around basically being unused. So, we tipped it on it's side.

 The bottom cubes are for homework and library bags. 

The top cubes are for school shoes, and school bags are placed on top. 

The red box on top is the library books that need to be returned to the library. (Note to self, return library books!).

The purple box on the right, is for school hats. Next to that is a basket with umbrellas in it for rainy days.

On the wall above, we have a barometer, so the kids can learn to read the temperature for the day, and know if they need jumpers or what not.

Then there is a big notice board. The pin board is where we display all their certificates and things they are proud of. They get rotated often. The white board has 3 columns, Holly, Jack and Xavier, and each column has room for each day of the week going downwards. So we can jot down music day, library day, Japanese day, sports, etc etc. Nothing gets missed that way. Finally, there is a separate notice board. That is my notice board for things I need to remember. At the moment, I have their school photo slips ready for them to take in at the end of the week on photo day.

So there you have it. This is working much better for us, by unloading everything before they come inside, there is less clutter around the house (in theory). Also, they take their shoes off before going inside, so they don't drag the dirt and sand inside. Im thinking about adding another little box for dirty socks too and they are often covered in dirt and grass. And another box with clean white socks to pop on before school. All in the one place equals easy access and nothing lost in the last minute dash out of the house..... well, once again, in theory.

How do you organise your kids school things? Do you have school station or access point?

:)