There has been more changes. The company we home school through have been moving to get more funding from the government. They have to be attached to a school using the same system. This school is a 15 min drive away from us. I am still undecided as to how I feel about it all, hopefully it will be positive for everyone. Anyway yesterday one of the educators rings to say there is a woodwork course happening for senior students. It is every Monday, all day till the end of the year. It is good for us, that it is all happening at the school we can easily get to. At the end of the day I have to think of my children and prepare them for their future.  So whatever comes our way is a good thing. I guess.

There is a Truckies strike happening next week. They have it pretty bad, and something needs to happen. So our cupboards are fully stocked, the car is full and we will go with the flow. Sometimes big things need to happen to make life better for everyone.

We are having cold rainy days at moment. Today was the start of Targets big toy sale. DD11 and DS14 have saved for DSs. So in the pouring cold rain we went out this morning just to get these before they run out.  Boy, was I glad to get home again. I need to go back there sometime without children and look for Christmas ideas and maybe lay-by some things. I would rather not have to think of Christmas already, but it may make it easier in the end. And also DS5 turns 6 in a month. Blimey, what am I going to buy him?

Sometimes I come across a saying that is great, then I forget it. So I am going to start categorising some posts to help me remember and find my favourites. This saying I do remember, but is worth saving.

"Don't create the Man you despise"  

How often do we want our Hubbys to be who we want them to be, then maybe have a whinge about him to someone, or not lift him up when the children are around. I bet there are alot of Hubbys in families  that feel less important than the family dog. In order for us to have those wonderful loving, caring, responsible men, we need to see them through the eyes of Christ. Whether they are saved or not, God works through them. God has put Husbands in that place in the family, it is not up to us to shoot them  down. Especially when children are around. So lets love them, and be the wives our Heavenly Father wants us to be. It doesn't mean to be his slave, but a partner in Christ. To be of one flesh. To treat the other as you want to be treated. This saying might  not mean the same or it might take on a different meaning to what it does for me, but if it gives you something to think about for where you are at in your relationship then it hasn't gone to waste.

We went to church today. Haven't been for a few weeks. But it felt good to be there. I guess you know you are in the right place when you fell all warm and fuzzy. A friend there is starting a Mums' group and I think I will get involved. That is one thing about Homeschooling, we kind of miss out on mid week Mum things. They are going to go for a walk every Thursday morning alone the waterfront, how nice will that be. Then this Saturday we are going to the movies to see "Mamma Mia".  The woman who has organised is feeling a little overwhelmed by the response. So I think she is on to a good thing. Our 3 oldest are fine to stay home and do there schoolwork while I go out on Thursday mornings. DS5 can bring his bike and ride along with us. Our little man will be in the sling or pram. I  might not start till after convention, but we will see. This is our busiest time of the year and the time we work towards for most of the time.

Convention  registration is due in today, I have sent it off with Hubby in the hope he will get out there before 4.00pm today. If he doesn't it is an extra $44.00 per person late fee. Which is crazy. I should have done it all last Tuesday when I was there, but I was thinking that I could do it tomorrow while at music day. But that would be a day late. Oh the stress. I finished all the paper work last night, so fingers crossed I didn't make any mistakes. Mostly what my kids are entering is Academics, Sport and Music. No art or craft this year. They usually enter photography, but we decided against it. This could be our last year of convention, it is getting rather expensive and they expect you to be there for the whole time, including the night rallys. We might try and make it to one, but we have to eat etc as well. And poor Hubby would be home all alone. I find it is times like these my rebelious streak comes out,  and I do what  I want.  If you think beyond the stress, it is a wonderful time and about the childrens experiences, not mine. The children have alot of friendships and connections because of convention.

There is suppose to be a truck drivers strike starting in a week. So we might need to stockpile a bit this week.  Probably milk powder, flour for bread, etc. I don't want to go overboard, but not get caught out either. There is plenty of canned foods in the cupboard. If it goes ahead the next few weeks may be interesting and a great learning experience.

Things definately have a different feel about them here now. The house feels different and today Hubby and I went and saw the builder. I cannot believe that it is finally going to happen. It all has to go through council,  which will take about 3 weeks and then WOW, it can start. I almost need to pinch myself. The 3 weeks that the plans are at council will give us the time to sort out the refinancing. I love when visions come to fruition. This has been our vision for over 16yrs. Patience has  been our friend indeed. The only piece of furniture I think we will need is the pool table and hopefully a dining table. One of those big timber eight seatersEverything else is what we already have, but will be spaced out more, so the house wont look cluttered. More cupboards, for our things, yahoo. We should be able to have a proper school area as well if we want one. Not sure about that yet. I kind of like the relaxed atmosphere we have going here at the moment. Our car will get parked in a garage, so people will not know if we are home or not.  At the moment it is parked under a carport in the front yard. This will become DS15s spot for his car one day. Hubby will have his bar, even though we hardly touch a drop, but it will be more of a social area to sit and talk when friends are over. I think we will put DS5 and our little man in the same bedroom. This will give us a spare room for an office/ironing/junk room.  Anyway, I still feel like I am dreaming of all this. I will still have to see it all happen to believe it. But just a little more patience is required.

Well we survived yesterday. We wouldn't like to have to many like that would we. The house is erily(sp?) quiet, doors are left open and mats on the floor. Bread can be left on the bench and we don't have to worry about the pantry being raided.  No dog barking at the cats in the front yard. It is going to take awhile to get used to it all.

Today we had our activities day. The numbers were down alot for some reason. But there were still plenty of Mums to talk to. The guy who teaches PE always wants the Mums to go in and help him out, apparently he needs quite a few. But I have my baby and I am not afraid to use him.  It does put a dampener on things when all you want to do is chat and reconnect, which is really important as HS Mums. Maybe one day when our children are a little older we can take off to Mc Cafe for awhile and not be interrupted.

Because we are refinancing and getting rid of Amex I thought I better cash in the reward points. We always use these to go to a theme park. This time we are going to go to Sea World. Probably not till the weather is warmer though.

Looks like DD11 is giving up the violin. She just doesn't want to do it anymore. But she will see out convention and have lessons till that is finished. She realises that to be in this house she has to play something and she quite likes the thought of piano. She does sing beautifully as well, so maybe she could work on that.  We have some new toys. A juggling ball that DS15 has taken too and set himself the task of learning with the help of YouTube.

 And a pair of  devil sticks(don't like that name). That everyone seems to be able to work with some amount of skill.

Today was a day like no other. Hubby had an RDO and we new this was the day something had to be done. Poor old Zorro has been suffering badly with arthritus and not handling the cold. Mind you today was a warmer day and he was walking around much better. But at nearly 17 yrs old how bad do you let them get? He had dementia, was deaf and pretty much blind as well. We have had him longer than we have had children, what an end of an era. Then with deciding with Hobo as well, this was the day. Last night I had a bad headache all night and all today as well. I don't handle worry very well at all, I even needed a bucket this morning. But when the time came to make the phone call, I was as strong as an Ox. I rang another vet first, to get a price on a home visit, but they couldn't come out till Wednesday. So I rang our normal vet. The price was $216.00 for both of them. My Dad had given us money at Christmas time to help with this expense when the time was right. I paid for it over the phone, so we didn't have to worry about  later. So it was all sorted and they would get here at 4.00pm. Hubby got to spend the day with his dog. They sat together, Hubby bathed him, blow dried him and took some photos. And they sat together some more. We all went and sat out the back together from around 3.00pm. We decided to do Hobo the cat first. He had not shown his face all day, he was sleeping under our bed. Just after 4.00pm a big black (expensive) 4WD pulled up. I have come to know them quite well, from having a diabetic cat. The vet and the vet nurse came in, shaved a bit of Hobos leg fur. I felt as though I needed to tell them I was not coping with Hobo peeing where he shouldn't, eating our bread, having a fit etc and looking after our baby. The vet said it sounded like his levels were all over the place. We went outside on to the BBQ table and as the vet gave him the shot he fell asleep. Very peacefully. Then it was poor old Zorros turn, and this was the worst one out of the two. 17years is a long time. There was a bit of trouble getting the needle in, and Zorro doesn't like to be touched anymore, it hurts to much. The vet gave him his needle and he layed down and fell asleep. It was very quick for both of them, about 5/10seconds. And so, so peaceful. The vet and vet nurse left and we all cried for over an hour. Hubby dug Hobos' hole first, wrapped him in a towel and layed him down. After that he went and layed Zorro in the ground. Hubby put them in places where we can plant a nice flowering tree each. Something to remember them by. As one last act of respect, with put them on opposite sides of the back yard. They never did get on and would fight if were to close to each other. So it seemed fitting.  I am sure waves of sadness will come over us for a while, but we have wonderful memories and plenty of photos. They will always be in our hearts.

Had a lovely get together with the SS people today. It is really funny how people introduce themselves(me included) with their screen names ,then have to say owe and my name is Kym. It seems easier to remember screen names. It was very relaxing and most  enjoyable, until it rained,  and we had to leave early. We got soaked getting back to the car. Another hour would have been nice. They are such a nice bunch of  mixed people, all with one thing in common. There were some I had met before and  some new  faces.I will look forward to our next get together.

Looks like we are going to have our dog put to sleep. He is nearly seventeen and is in a bad way, with old age. Winter is a horrible time for old pets. Hubby wants the vet to come to our home, we couldn't get him in the car.  We have kind of decided with our cat as well. I am not really coping with a special needs cat. He is so beautiful, but my life is full of stress trying to deal with his things. We can't leave mats on the floor or leave bathroom doors open, because he will pee there. We cannot leave bread out because he will eat it. When he fits it is awful and fiancially it is a big burden. This might all happen tomorrow, so please pray for us. Sometimes life doesn't go the way we want and we need to deal with things the best way we can. I am sad, but know it's for the best. We have really tried with the cat and given our dog  a good life.

Today DS15 and DS14 went to a couple of workshops run by the council. They did circus skills yesterday, then today they went to a hip hop and breakdancing one, DD11 joined in on this one as well. After that they went to a fire twirling one, that they loved. All the fire twirling they know is from a DVD, so it was good to get some hands on teaching. They did learn some new moves and the guy was very good. Tomorrow we are going to have a day at home, I need to catch up on things. Our little man went for a check up and needles today as well. He is above average in weight, but lower in height, which is exactly as all our children have been. Shorties till they get to about 14 yrs. His weight was 7.05kgs. I bought him some new clothes yesterday, size O. K mart was having a sale, so got them pretty cheap. Tomorrow I need to take the time to look through the conventions things, which is on in 2 months. The kids need to work out if they want to do anything else. Registration is next week I think.

This afternoon the kids and I had to go to our neighbours to get their pine cones. We don't get any falling in our yard anymore. They are the perfect fire starters for our fire. So the neighbours had their yard cleaned up and we are happy. It has cooled down now and we are having a bit of a winter. It is nice to get to know the neighbors a little bit more. They are very lovely people.

Yesterday a very funny thing happened. I will try and set the seen. It was about 5.30pm, the kids had some friends over and were all  jamming in the lounge room with guitars. Now DD11 has a little cat, called 'Misty' who does not like to go to the toilet outside. She will be outside, but come in to go to the loo. We have 2 litter trays beside each other and next to them is a big 15lt bag of kitty litter. So she starts jumping up on the bag of kitty litter, sticks her head in the little hole at the top and has her two front paws inside the bag as well, in the little hole. All the back half of her is hanging out of this bag, off the ground , legs dangling in the air. From that spot she starts to p00p, head and front legs still inside the bag, legs dangleing in the air. Owe it was disgusting, but so so funny. We were all in fits of laughter. Usually DD cleans up after her cat, but because they had friends over, I did it. It is gross, I know, but  worth sharing. If only you could of been there.

It is such a perfect day for an afternoon nap, a little rainy outside and cool, but I can't sleep. I had a coffee this morning, so that has put an end to that. So blogging I will do. The 3 youngest and I went and checked out the free day for the medieval tournament today since it is only 5 minutes from home. We got there early, about the second car to arrive. Unfortunately DD11 and DS5 were not interested in participating in anything. There was a bit of rain about, although I doubt that put anyone off going. I tried to get DD11 into a dancing workshop and DS5 into a jesters workshop. No amount of bribery would work. So we ended up leaving. I did see you and the girls briefly Judith off in the distance. I hope you had fun.

After that we went and stocked up on chicken at Zarbelles. They sell all natural chicken. I spent just over $90.00 and I figure we will get somewhere near 11 to15 meals out of that. I would really like to start getting better meat for the family. Hormones and antibiotics worry me. The chickens are put to sleep there so are the freshest you can get. No travelling involved.

Our big cat Hobo had an hypoglycemic attack  today. When this happens, he looks drunk and twitches. I gave him a dose of maple syrup. Then once it kicks in , he gets a tin of food. This helps the sugar levels go back to normal. Now I will have to monitor his sugar levels and try and get his insulin right. It is good in a way, because his insulin will go further, thus not spending as much.

He is a very big cat. He can stand at the dinning room table, put his paws up and rest his head on it, in a standing position. Dad found him(used to be their cat) while out walking with his walking group out the back of Wamuran. A little kitten following them along the road. I think Dad did the local wildlife a favour that day.

Our garden is loving the bit of rain we are getting. I have moved the strawberries, so they get sun all day.

I will just need to be careful when(& if) they fruit. It is very near to where the lorikeets feed and they might see them as lunch. I will find some liquid food for them just incase the dynamic lifter isn't enough. One plant has died so far and another one is close to it.I did buy 4 x 500gms of them at our local fruit shop for $10.00 today, so we are not doing without. They also had little pineapples for 9 cents each. I bought 8. Bargain. We decided we are going to put in a grape vine. Just need to find the right spot, then put some star pickets in and wire for it to group along. I am trying to plant most of what we already buy. That way you know it will get eaten.

I have friends on facebook. They are the lovely people from Simple Savings. We have a wonderful community of people all with the same goal, getting better with money. I am even thinking of going to a get together on Sunday with some of them. I have done it once before, but this time it is all the staff and owners of the site. It sounds rather exciting, and should be a great get together. It does feel a bit weird getting together with people from a computer forum, that is just part of life now I guess.  I look at facebook and think where do I go, what do I do? So I need to spend some time in there working it all out. It seems to be a rabbit warren of places. I am going by my alias, so I feel a little safer and really don't want to venture away from SS people for the time being. Chicken I know. I know if I start branching out into my real world, there is a chance someone I don't want to add might try.(Long Story, but for the best)

Is getting bigger and bigger. I will get him weighed when he goes for a check-up at the doctors this week. He is still in the 00 size clothes he has been in since he was born, but they are getting very stretched. I worried when he was first born about him growing out of his clothes to quick and not getting much use out of them, but they have done well. I even had baby clothes envy the other day when we were out and about . He was in his bonds wondersuite and another baby was dressed up. I couldn't help but think how nice he would look in something a bit different like this other baby. He does have other outfits, so I can't complain. He is a bottom lip sucker as well, just like DD11 and DS5 who both sucked and sometimes still do their bottom lips. Our little man spends his days either  feeding, napping or laughing his head off. There always seems to be someone around to get him into fits of laughter.  My special moments of the day are after he has had a feed and is asleep, I snuggle him into the nap of my neck and listen to his breathing and his little sighs. I could stay like that forever if I could, it is so beautiful. His baths have to happen in the big bath now. He is kicking too much for his baby bath and water was going all over the floor. He can lay in the big bath and kick and splash to his hearts content. The only trouble is the water gets too cold too quick. He doesn't seem to sleep well during the day for some reason. Never getting anymore than 20mins to 30mins at a time. I am not sure why this happens, it is a bit frustrating when you want to get things done. At night he sleeps like a log, thank goodness. Here is a picture of him laughing his head off, not sure why the picture doesn't come out clear.

He is just so scrummy.

As you can see by the photos below, DD11 enjoyed her circus training. The photos are of her on the cloud swing.   We all really enjoyed the trips into Brisbane everyday, it was such a change from the norm. We bumped into another HS family we know today, who were spending the day at New Farm park. Even Hubby called in today, as he happened to be doing a job in the area. It was funny, we were sitting inside looking out for him, and we saw the top of his work ute driving around looking for a empty car park. Which was not an easy  task.  There are childrens programes going on all around the Powerhouse. Every so often you would look up and see the top of his ute still driving around. He ended up parking probably 1 km away. We are very glad he could make it. He did say he would park in the loading bay, that work utes can do, but weren't sure where it was.

The next couple of days are quiet, as quiet as they could be anyway. Although you never know what could happen, things do change. I need to get some groceries tomorrow, not much, as we went to Communicare on the way home today. So thats about all the driving that needs to be done. Oh, and housework, Yay :-(  We are having a kerbside pickup in a couple of weeks, so I told Hubby not to make any plans for next Saturday. We are going to have a cleanup and put things on the footpath kind of day. I already have a list of things(in my mind) that could go. I wonder how much Hubby will let me get rid of.

Had a walk around the backyard today. Things a starting to sprout in the vegie patch. I saw this story about frozen vegies on TV the other night, saying they are worried where they are coming from.(overseas) And what they use for fertilizer (it comes from humans). So I am a little very put off by this, so intend on growing our own from now on. The poor strawberries look sad. I don't think they are getting enough sun. I might even move them on the weekend. It would be a shame if they all die,(2 have) without getting at least one strawberry. 

We did get lost yesterday. Ah dear, never mind, we were only 10 mins late. We got there on a wing and a pray, honestly. Other than that we are enjoying our trips into the city. We have been listening to the CDs we bought on Monday while doing this driving.DDers CD 'Skillet', DS15s CD 'Wolf Nelson' and DS14s mixed CD. There is always something to explore in the city. I even had DS5 booked into a drama class today. DD11 is loving the circus things, but of course it isn't hard enough for her so she says. They are doing their show tomorrow, can't wait. I really think DD will have to give up gymnastics and take up circus training. This is where her heart is. So maybe after next term. The nearest school is about 45 minutes away, but considering DDers next gymnastics level is 2 nights a week(4hrs per week), doing the circus once a week would be better. The things we do for our children. It looks like we will probably go to the Woodford Folk Festival this year, because just about everything the children are interested in will be there. We wont camp there, it is close enough to drive there for the day. Anyway, I am pretty tired, so not much else to say.

Bye

Yesterday we had a lovely drive up to the Sunshine Coast to pick up the older boys from camp. They had a fantastic time. The weather is just perfect at the moment. And, then being so close to Mooloolaba, we had to call in at Koorong. I have been a pretty good  Simple Saver lately, we have some money to spend. I said to the kids that they could choose a CD each. As we walked into the shop, Surprise Surprise, they were having a 15% off everything sale. I bought DS5 a couple of Vegie Tale DVD's, and myself a Third Day CD and a new Bible. Oh, and a couple of music books, which is why I wanted to go there is the first place.

I am a little stressed about the drive into Brisbane this morning, for DD 11s circus training. It  is to a part I haven't driven to before. Hubby has  fixed the map for me to follow, but I have to drop the older boys off somewhere before I hit the city, so they wont be able to read it for me. I am sure we will be fine, and well worth it when we get there. Our little man was very kind and slept through the night last night, so I have had a great nights sleep. So we are off to a good start.