23rd - 29th May 2011
On Monday night we have Pipi and her husband Joe and son Logan over for dinner and family home evening, I had cooked a AU Lamb roast, definitely not as nice as NZ lamb roast but still a nice dinner nonetheless.
Grant took family home evening and did the lesson on being ‘grateful we have ears to hear’. Some of the things we did in family home evening where:
- we all took turns at picking an animal out of the bag and making the sound so everyone could guess what animal it was.
- we talked about all the noises we can hear with our ears, birds singing, people talking, cars driving, diggers digging and wind in the trees etc.
- Then Grant showed pictures of other people we can listen to; our parents, ours teachers, the prophets in the scriptures and our living prophet and most importantly Jesus Christ.
It was a great little lesson and the kids really liked it.
Then for the game we played the Polkadot body Bop Bingo for Healthy Food which all three of our kids just love. Pipi and Joe were very impressed with the game resource and started asking question about it, which after we finished the family home evening lead us to the whole Polkadot discussion. We talked all about the podules and how they are very educational and everything they do and sing about is something new to learn (which our kids totally love, they have the best resources) and of course their concerts, music and DVDs are totally amazing too.
Grant and I found ourselves so excited about sharing all about the Polkadots, we even put on a DVD for them to see. It seemed like we were Polkadot sales reps or had shares in the company or something. It was quite funny, but yip we are totally BIG polkadot fans in our House, and that was so obvious to Pipi and Joe that its not just the kids that love them. http://www.polkadots.co.nz/
Our week had been pretty much getting into routine with everything, Alysha has settled in really well into Pre-primary and had made some lovely friends there, she has even been on a playdate which meant the world to her and has a birthday party for two little girls next week. She really enjoys going there and it fulfills her ‘social butterfly’ needs. We have also started home schooling again after school to keep up with her phonics, handwriting, story writing, maths and spelling. I thought she might get a little tired as we do a good hour every day after school, but she seems to manage everything really well, she loves learning and I think she misses that part of school, so as for now that’s working for us.
Alysha’s pre-primary put on a family hot dog day this week, so the kids and I went along to join in the fun. Alysha just loved having us at pre-primary with her, getting us to meet all her friends, it was also a nice way to meet lots of other Mum too.
Alysha also has her 1st two wiggle teeth down the bottom, she is very excited about it and hopes they fall out soon so she can get some gold coins from the tooth fairy so she tells us. (the tooth fairy seems to be paying out a lot more these days, I’m sure I only got 20c.)
We venture out to a new music group this week, Gretchen had invited us to come along to her wigglywoo music group she goes to with Katelyn. So Hyrum, Gracie and I went along this week to check it out. Well I have never seen so many mums and kids.There were well over 100 mums with there kids there, Hyrum and Gracie just clung on to me for dear life.
On Monday night we have Pipi and her husband Joe and son Logan over for dinner and family home evening, I had cooked a AU Lamb roast, definitely not as nice as NZ lamb roast but still a nice dinner nonetheless.
Grant took family home evening and did the lesson on being ‘grateful we have ears to hear’. Some of the things we did in family home evening where:
- we all took turns at picking an animal out of the bag and making the sound so everyone could guess what animal it was.
- we talked about all the noises we can hear with our ears, birds singing, people talking, cars driving, diggers digging and wind in the trees etc.
- Then Grant showed pictures of other people we can listen to; our parents, ours teachers, the prophets in the scriptures and our living prophet and most importantly Jesus Christ.
It was a great little lesson and the kids really liked it.
Then for the game we played the Polkadot body Bop Bingo for Healthy Food which all three of our kids just love. Pipi and Joe were very impressed with the game resource and started asking question about it, which after we finished the family home evening lead us to the whole Polkadot discussion. We talked all about the podules and how they are very educational and everything they do and sing about is something new to learn (which our kids totally love, they have the best resources) and of course their concerts, music and DVDs are totally amazing too.
Grant and I found ourselves so excited about sharing all about the Polkadots, we even put on a DVD for them to see. It seemed like we were Polkadot sales reps or had shares in the company or something. It was quite funny, but yip we are totally BIG polkadot fans in our House, and that was so obvious to Pipi and Joe that its not just the kids that love them. http://www.polkadots.co.nz/
Our week had been pretty much getting into routine with everything, Alysha has settled in really well into Pre-primary and had made some lovely friends there, she has even been on a playdate which meant the world to her and has a birthday party for two little girls next week. She really enjoys going there and it fulfills her ‘social butterfly’ needs. We have also started home schooling again after school to keep up with her phonics, handwriting, story writing, maths and spelling. I thought she might get a little tired as we do a good hour every day after school, but she seems to manage everything really well, she loves learning and I think she misses that part of school, so as for now that’s working for us.
Alysha also has her 1st two wiggle teeth down the bottom, she is very excited about it and hopes they fall out soon so she can get some gold coins from the tooth fairy so she tells us. (the tooth fairy seems to be paying out a lot more these days, I’m sure I only got 20c.)
It was really funny watching how it all works, they run it exactly the same as the Mum & Bubs singing time we went to back home, apart from they charge $5 for a family and provide a morning tea, and once a term all the money they collect that day gets donated to a different Charity which I thought was nice. I talked to the lady that runs it, and she said it was started by a person from NZ who came over for 9 months and when she left they took it over. There is also a lovely park with a playground outside where we went to play. The lady did say they have another session that was a bit smaller we may try, but we will see how the kids go.
Our little baby girl turned two this week, so we spend a lot of time doing and making things for Gracie to feel special on her day. I thought it was a good idea for the kids to make and decorate the cake for her birthday on Tue, well it was a lot of fun and I decided to let them just go for it. They were in sugar heaven, it was really interesting watching the differences between Hyrum (3 ½) and Alysha (5 ½) , Hyrum put big spoonfuls of icing all over the cake and followed by all the big M&M making a big snake, then he decided that wasn't enough M&M’s so he covered the whole top half of the cake, Alysha on the other hand used a knife to spread the icing to all the corners of the cake and of course corrected what Hyrum had iced. She made flowers and patterns with her lollies. It was nice seeing their eyes light up icing the cake. I even caught Gracie licking the bowl when they had finished.
We had a nice family dinner for Gracie with her favorite, chicken nuggets, cucumber and carrot sticks, beetroot and cherry tomatoes, followed by the birthday cake Hyrum and Alysha had so proudly make for their sister.
Gracie opened presents, we each gave her a little something, dolls stroller, little toy koala bear, tiny doll, with baby bottles. Gracie also opened her cards and gifts send from NZ, she was very excited about it all. (dress, buzzy bee dress up, doll carrier, hair ties)
For the party food we had hot dogs, fruit kebabs, carrots & cumber sticks, crackers chips and dips and jelly cookies and Birthday cake. Gretchen gave Gracie a bag filled but everything you need for a baby (bibs, nappies, potty, cups, bowls, bottle, spoons etc). And Aunty Clare gave her a big soft cuddly Dolly which we named Jemima. It was a really fun Dolly party, Gracie was in Dolly heaven. She just loves her doll and goes everywhere with it, so this was just perfect for her. Grant and I had made her a dolly cake, which Gracie loved. She sung herself the happy birthday song, then when it was time to cut the cake up. she cried out “no cut, no cut my dolly cake.” very cute.
We had such a nice time at the park the weather was so nice, blue blue skies with temps about 25 degrees, having a picnic party in a park at the end of May is something we would never be able to do back home. The blessings of living in Perth.
When we got home that afternoon Alysha (who is also a big dolly girl) and Gracie played Dolls for the rest of the afternoon together, they just loved it. It’s so neat to watch them both role playing with each other.
Today (Sunday), Grant and I both had the assignment to speak in church as the second and third speakers. My talk was on the topic ‘The peace the Gospel brings to me’, and Grant’s simply ‘peace’. I was a very nervous as I felt that sharing personal experiences would make me vulnerable, but it all came together and seemed to flowed. A number of people came up to me and thanked me afterwards, and one said to me that my talk was exactly what she needed to hear today. Hearing that made it seem very worthwhile.
I do feel really blessed with the Peace the Gospel has brought into my life even in a world filled with so much craziness.. I am grateful to feel at peace.
Grant spoke really well, I always find him to be a great doctrinal speaker. A person not of our faith visiting the church today, spoke to Grant afterwards and asked him for a copy of his talk, saying it was the best talk on ‘inner peace’ that he had heard. It is nice to know that perhaps it may have touched this mans heart in some small way also.
To top it all off I was given some yummy NZ goodies from my friend Pipi at church today. She was very thoughtful and was wanting to help me not to feel homesick. What a lovely friend she is. It was a lovely Sunday.
Until next time.
Sweet moments
Gracie said her first prayer to bless her food unprompted by herself - they were the words of an angel very simply ‘Father, my food, bless it, Jesus Christ amen.
Funny moments
Hyrum comes to me and says ‘Mum, I am sick’, so I asked what was wrong with him. he replied ‘There’s a noise in my mouth’, so I then repeated back what he had said, and he said ‘Yes, the noise is coming from my throat’ - very cute.
I was putting Alysha to bed the other night and she started letting off wind (farting). I told her that she needed to go to the toilet. She walked out of the room and said in a cross voice ‘Mum, I don’t like it when you say that to me! - I wasn’t farting my bottom was only making those noises because it was yawning because its tired and wants to go to sleep.’ -too funny, i couldn't stop laughing.
When we got home that afternoon Alysha (who is also a big dolly girl) and Gracie played Dolls for the rest of the afternoon together, they just loved it. It’s so neat to watch them both role playing with each other.
Today (Sunday), Grant and I both had the assignment to speak in church as the second and third speakers. My talk was on the topic ‘The peace the Gospel brings to me’, and Grant’s simply ‘peace’. I was a very nervous as I felt that sharing personal experiences would make me vulnerable, but it all came together and seemed to flowed. A number of people came up to me and thanked me afterwards, and one said to me that my talk was exactly what she needed to hear today. Hearing that made it seem very worthwhile.
I do feel really blessed with the Peace the Gospel has brought into my life even in a world filled with so much craziness.. I am grateful to feel at peace.
Grant spoke really well, I always find him to be a great doctrinal speaker. A person not of our faith visiting the church today, spoke to Grant afterwards and asked him for a copy of his talk, saying it was the best talk on ‘inner peace’ that he had heard. It is nice to know that perhaps it may have touched this mans heart in some small way also.
To top it all off I was given some yummy NZ goodies from my friend Pipi at church today. She was very thoughtful and was wanting to help me not to feel homesick. What a lovely friend she is. It was a lovely Sunday.
Sweet moments
Gracie said her first prayer to bless her food unprompted by herself - they were the words of an angel very simply ‘Father, my food, bless it, Jesus Christ amen.
Hyrum comes to me and says ‘Mum, I am sick’, so I asked what was wrong with him. he replied ‘There’s a noise in my mouth’, so I then repeated back what he had said, and he said ‘Yes, the noise is coming from my throat’ - very cute.
I was putting Alysha to bed the other night and she started letting off wind (farting). I told her that she needed to go to the toilet. She walked out of the room and said in a cross voice ‘Mum, I don’t like it when you say that to me! - I wasn’t farting my bottom was only making those noises because it was yawning because its tired and wants to go to sleep.’ -too funny, i couldn't stop laughing.
