September 26th

Well, today got to a nice slow start. Louie had the day off so we had pancakes for breakfast. Made with buttermilk, of course :) Michael had a go at helping me make the mix and flipping pancakes for the first time. He did great! After all, it takes practice getting the whole flipping manoeuvre right.

 

Afterwards, we headed off to the library to veg out. We borrowed and brought back something like 30 items. It was windy and miserable in Melbourne today, so we needed some serious reading material to stay cosy and warm inside the house.

Serious reading material! This cake reminds me so much of Tanya, my sister in law and rainbow effect baking expert.

 

 

 

 

Sienna and Jacob played peek-a-boo while we were there. And then my advanced one year old killed it at chess (get it??)

 

I had the opportunity to serve someone in need tonight, and I had Nonna and Nonno to thank for, because they looked after the children while I was out. Our family is amazing.

I would like to take a few lines now to acknowledge some of my blessings. I know God loves and watches over us all. I would be ungrateful if I didn't express my gratitude for all His tender mercies.
- I am grateful  for my husband.  He is the man I chose to be my forever companion. We are good together. I am better for having him in my life. He is a choice father. How grateful I am for his love, support and for loving me even though I turned out faultier than the perfect bride he thought he was marrying.
- I am grateful to be a mother. Even though today I jokingly asked Louie if he could take a couple of them with him to work. They were driving me crazy! Though each of our children have come into our family on purpose (and not by surprise etc), I never thought i'd be the mother of four children. But here I am, and every day is an adventure. And we're in it together. Forever. That's the goal.
- I am grateful to know that 'families CAN be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan'.

Spring holidays

I love spring. And I love having the kids at home for the holidays. It gets a little demanding sometimes though, like when they start each day asking what amazing thing we are doing that day. It's hard for them to understand that not every day will be an extreme adventure, like yesterday's full day visit to the zoo.
Today we had no plans. We just took the day as it came. No looking at the clock. No endless car trips to and fro. Today the kids played with the next door neighbours on the trampoline with the hose on. They got absolutely soaked (except Joshy, who hates water play). They caught a monarch butterfly - and released it again ( I reminded them butterflies have only hours to live). A few minutes ago Papi took them to the park - at sunset. And I'll be waiting for them with ice cream. Maybe a dvd will follow. And me? Well, I even had time to hand sew a headband for Sienna. AND I got the sewing machine to work again. Sewing projects here we come! I love the holidays.

Birthday celebrations

Today we celebrated Sienna's 9th birthday. It was such a beautiful spring day. We visited the Werribee Open Range Zoo and met up with Nonno, Nonna, Josie and Bronwen and her amazing kids.
Sienna dressed up as a zookeeper for the day, and prepared some facts about some of the animals we were going to see. I promise that this girl could truly become a zookeeper one day. Exactly one year ago for her 8th birthday we came to this same place to celebrate her birthday. She just loves animals!
Here are some pics of the day. A special thank you to Nonna who brought a party in a bag! We are so lucky to have her. Especially my children, who bask in the kindness and love of this amazing woman.  It was a wonderful day, and a great reason to celebrate our little princess.

On the safari bus with Jacob

A party at the zoo!



Safari here we come!

at Hippo's section

Sienna was so happy today!

Zookeeper for the day :)

with wonderful Nonna and friends

the Davenport girls are delightful!

After a full day at the zoo, Sienna and Louie got ready to go on a Daddy Daughter Date. They had so much fun!!! They had dinner and watched a movie. Sienna was beaming when she returned home. She had been a little sad that Papi couldn't be at the zoo, but after their date she told me it had made up for his absence earlier in the day.

A few days ago, we also celebrated little Jacob's FIRST birthday. We had originally planned it on his actual birthday (31st of August) but we postponed the celebrations because Abuelo was very ill in hospital. So we waited for him to recover and then did the party. Abuelo means so much to us, and it just  would not have made sense to have the party without him. Now, I really tried to take as many photos as I could, but I still managed to miss out some very important people: the grandparents. But they were there! I promise they were.

Here are some pics from Jacob's first ever birthday party:

Joshy and Tanya. She's so pretty!

 

Party food galore!

Trying to blow the candle. Everyone tried to help Jacob.

Sienna and Michael helped me make the party favours. So cute.

Louie did such a great job with the decorations :)

Just before party started

panoramic view of party food :)
 

The Cake. Generously provided by Los Abuelos. Amazing!
 

Playing with Uncle Andrew

With little Layla

Little Jacob. My one year old. My little baby.
 

My Joshy Josh

 

Taken 20/08/13, Age 4.

I don't know why, but I like to add little cute names to my kids. Joshua is my Joshy Josh. I love him so much. Recently turned 4 years old, he is a bundle of energy. He's currently slightly obsessed with a game on the ipad and iphone. Actually, I've had to severely limit his access to this game. But he also loves other stuff: his siblings, jumping on the trampoline with me (a daily ritual after hanging out washing, weather permitting), reading books and going on imaginary treasure hunts (with cute maps that I sometimes draw for him). But the one thing I will remember my Joshy Josh most for is how he always wants to help. Especially if it's in the kitchen. He's adorable. Following are some pictures of Joshy helping out:


I love this picture. I remember this day at Bunnings. Joshy was so proud to be pushing his own trolley around. Summer 2012/2013, age 3. 

Of course, when we make cookies he gets lots of taste testing opportunities!

Age 3: It's always been fun to wash the dishes together :)
I love that I can spend my time with my little Joshy Josh. I'm going to miss him so much when he goes to kindergarten next year. I'll have to make more excuses to have fun working together. Maybe I can bake every day? 

Laughs

Today was a good day. The kids and I had a laugh over some silly video we made, starring Michael's quirky alien eye he made for the upcoming book week dress up day. We then read books, and read some more. I almost don't mind them going to bed late because of books. When Louie got home we spent time and shared and laughed again. A happy, funny and fulfilling day.

Joshy turns 4!

I'm going to ignore the fact I haven't updated this blog in like a year. The task of updating it is so difficult, i'll just have to do it little by little.
Here's a little of what's happened in the last few days.
 Joshy turned 4!! He had two celebration cakes: one at Nonna's and one in our home with Abuelos and Tio Teto. He was pretty happy to get new clothes and cool new games and toys. Yesterday we went to see Monsters University as an added treat. Had a great time.

Our apricot tree has started blossoming in the last week. It's such a wonderful sight. Shame it doesn't last that long. Jacob is such a cutie. In a matter of days, he'll be turning ONE!! He's starting to take small little steps. I think the record has been 6 consecutive steps. He's a little scared I think. So he crawls like a pro around the place. He's an expert climber too, which spells trouble! He's a little under the weather today.

Jacob

We were privileged to have our friends from Stephen Baker Photography (find them on facebook) come to our home to take some gorgeous pictures of little Jacob. Here are some of our favourite ones:

Thank you to Stephen and his lovely wife and assistant Amanda for their creative genius. 

Jacob is 6 and a half months now. He's eagerly learning how to crawl. Which means he's on the floor more now. I'm trying not to get too obsessed over cleaning the floors too much (last week I mopped like 4 times, which is excessive for me). After all, he needs to build up his immunity, right?
He is adorable. I love every minute with him and his cute little sounds (especially his "ta ta's"). I love him from the top of his soft fuzzy head to bottom of those cute little toes.  I love you Jacob, through and through.

Jacob, 6 months

(MARCH 2013)
Louie and I recently escaped for 2 days to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. Nonna was kind enough to look after Sienna, Michael and Josh while Louie and I (plus little Jacob) were away. We stayed at this romantic place in Olinda called Loft in the Mill. Just decadent. It was so nice to get away, we don't do it much these days. Ten years. WOW. Time is a funny thing. It doesn't feel like ten years, but it must be ten years because we have four children, from 8 down to under 1 to prove that we have been very busy raising children and caring for each other. I love you Louie, and each of those four little beings we've helped create, forever and ever.

I baked today with my assistant: Baker Joshy, who NEVER misses an opportunity to help me bake a cake, cupcakes, or in this case, mini m&m cookies. He's so confident cracking the eggs in the batter and holding the mixer. All by "himthelf!" I love you Josh.