Been quiet on this blog ...

Which normally means my home is messy and I've been busy doing other things!

Which is true! Especially now!

But - I love the way this blog gives me a record of our family life ... so I am going to try and keep i t a little more up to date ...

This morning is cleaning morning. Our whole family are giving our home a once over - getting the worst of the cleaning done to make it easier on me next week. As a shift worker we don't often have this opportunity - and it really does make a difference to be able to work as a team.

This afternoon's reward for hard work will be a family outing ... will update with photos later today!

Back from a few days away..

Most of it was wonderful.

She sure loved these smoothies. She made us go back!

The weather was wet - btu not wet enough to ruin any plans.

It was good to get away with my little family.

Now if only someone would come and do my washing!

Looks like I'll be redoing this load of laundry ...

But he sure is cute!

Love it! SO this is what weekends are for!

Please excuse the photo quality - I didn't want to carry my SLR so they are all off my camera on my phone!

visits to Brisbane, Southbank and the sciencecentre!





Bushwalking with my family at Queen Mary Fall's. The falls look AMAZING with actual rain occurring!! So much better than a waterfall in drought!






We did a lot of pottering around the home, a lot of playing, relaxing and just having fun. These are the best times! I love my little family!~

I HAVE A WEEKEND OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK - might not mean much to most of you ... but when you have worked every weekend in forever (unless you had the day off for your sister's wedding or hen's) you are REALLY REALLY excited about this!

I have analysis paralysis. Can't decide what to do. Well, part of me wants to jump in the car and go to the coast for the weekend, but I doubt that is practical when I just though of it Friday morning!

I just cannot wait to spend some time with my family and HAVE some adventures with them rather than just hearing about their adventures.

FUN!

A night out with daddy!

Sometimes I'm not so organised (ok a lot!)
Like booking a ballet concert for my girl to see on the same night as I am working a graveyard shift (so need to rest!)

Sometimes my disorganisation leads to something really special - like last night.

To let mummy sleep (or try to) Daddy took Miss E to her concert.

She was so excited. She got dressed in her prettiest dress ready to suprise daddy.
And she looked beautiful.



I love my man and I love my girl. And I *adore* the daddy he is to her!

I have such special memories of going to see musicals with my dad (when I was much older). I think every girl needs time alone with her daddy.

(and it's kinda nice to see them bonding over something other than footy!)

Things I love - Organised mums!

Expect to see a few posts featuring products from Organised mums!

They seem to have gotten right inside my head and designed a range of diaries, calendars and stationary that works the way I do! Makes my heart sing!

One big issue we have in our home is making sure everyone is in the right place, at the right time with the right stuff. I am a part time stay at home mum, part time shift worker. Miss E is a busy 5 year old with a demanding school schedule already ;), and several after school activities. And daddy is working pretty full on days at the moment ... and sometimes needs a hand remembering what we have to take on what day and where.

Enter this! The Magnetic Family Organiser from organised mums!




I love that it sticks right onto my fridge (it is basically one huge magnet) and I love that I can change it every week depending what we have on. Life here is never the same, I work different days and the shifts I work vary. It helps to be able to be flexible.

It does come with magnets for reminders and events. This is my only complaint. There just does not seem to be enough variety of magnets. I would have loved to at least seen some for dance, sport, library, interest item ... the basic things that most families have going on.




At the moment I have the 5 columns set up as "Mum, dad, school, afterschool and menu planning"




However - I think I am going to change this by heading them "mum, dad, miss e, menu and exercise". That way Paul and I can each mark out when we want to work out and try to fit it in so we both get time and can work around Miss E and each other.

The size of this calendar is great - and it seems to be really good quality. What I intend to do is use a 3m Command hook to stick on the fridge for each of us to hang our keys on. This forces us to check the calendar as we are going to leave. It also means we can check what is for dinner that night and make sure *someone* has remembered to defrost the meat!

I think this is going to be a really useful tool. The Australian distributor is McMillan press. I believe they are available now.

Some soul searching ... what really matters ...

Don't you love it when God leads you and your man to the same conclusion at the same time?

Especially when it happens before you have even breathed a word of the idea to each other?

I love it when God puts husbands and wives together on the same page.

Just before we headed to the muster, I mentioned to Paul that I thought it was time we put some limits on technology. We do use the computer a LOT (have you noticed?)

The funny thing is - he had been listening to a podcast and was thinking the same thing.

And although we don't watch a lot of TV (none during the day ... and not every night), we rarely watch the same shows so are often in different parts of the house.

Not to mention how invasive mobile phones can be when we ARE out having fun as a family.

We aren't going to ditch technology completely (hey - I love how this blog keeps me accountable and in touch!), but we are going to put real limits on things.

There are some changes to be made, and honestly - I can't wait to make them.

Monday is our start date. We want to go into this with a plan in mind. Even the planning is fun.

After all - when it comes down to things - this is what matters. Time with my God, Time with my husband and girl, with my family and friends.

More moments like this - doesn't it melt your heart?





More time to dance. Can't wait to see how this choice is blessed! Come and keep me accountable!

Muster On!

We love the Gympie Muster. Think 6 days ... 13 venues ... 79 acts of country, blues, rock, dancing, comedy ... and quite a bit more.

It is an amazing project put together by the Gympie Apex Club. This club of young volunteers (they get kicked out at 45!) put this on as their major (actually their ONLY) fundraiser of the year.

Every year the club takes one month off ... then preparations begin for the following muster.

Some of the biggest artists in Australia hit the muster every year, but it's not just the music ... it's the spirit of the muster that keeps us coming back.

Some people go a little overboard with the muster - some pretty impressive campsites eventuate ... like this (and this isn't even an impressive one ... but I couldn't believe they took the pool table!)



We however try to keep things simple. We are really only at our site for breakfast and to sleep ... so there is no point getting too elaborate ... we are quite comfortable tho thank you ;)







Anyway ... all this to say ... that I thought I'd do a few totally self indulgent posts on our few days away. I'll share a little wisdom of what works for us ... but mainly share some of the things we love.

The muster gives us time to reconnect as a family, and as a couple. We get away from it all, get to do something we love, and take time to talk and make plans.

And make plans we did. There will be a few changes in our home and a few new projects for the blog! Exciting times ahead!