DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?

Well I have one little girl at my house that believes in them with all of her heart. She reads her fairy books all of the time and has collected more in the series as well. She tells me all of the time that she knows with all her heart that fairies are real.

A few days ago Kev and I were watching a gardening show on TV in which they were building a fairy garden for a little 2 year old girl with cancer. In it they told fairy facts. I was passing along these fairy facts to Madi the next day and she especially liked the fact that if you build a home for a fairy it will come and stay the night and leave some money behind - who wouldn't like that right? She talked Cooper into building a fairy land with her - convincing him that there are boy fairies as well. They went around the house collecting seashells, boxes, and other little bits to make the best fairy houses around.

What should appear inside the houses this morning? You guessed it a little silver! I am interested to see if the fairy land gets bigger and bigger now that some fairies have stopped by to stay the night.

Here are some fairy facts:

- when it rains while the sun is shining that is fairy magic

- build a house (letting your parents know of course) and a fairy will leave behind a treasure

- ever seen footprints in the dew of the grass, fairy magic of course

- fairies are responsible for the changes of the seasons (anyone who has seen TinkerBell knows that one)

- if you find a 4-leaf clover you are granted one wish and you also have the possibility of seeing a fairy

- fairies like to hide in the leaves in your garden

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Sunshine - even with cooler weather

A walk to the bush to test out the new gum boots

The park and swings. Playing "spider" with Madi

As I am typing this post my kids are in the other room pretending to have "school". Although I love school holidays I am not one of those moms who hates to send her kids back to school. They need it! I need it! A break is much needed but so it school - at least that is my opinion.

Tomorrow begins a new term - I wonder what memories it will bring with it?

PRESSIES AND PROJECTS

I need to do more projects I have decided - I forgot how much I like them. Today we finally got around to our Earth Day project (only a few days late...oops!). While at the Easter show we were given sunflower seeds for the kids to plant at home. We thought that would be the perfect thing to do on Earth Day. We added to that project a house plant for us to take care of. Today was the day. Madi painted the pot for our plant "Lovie" and we finally planted the sunflower seeds. As soon as they grow big we are going to find a place for them in the garden outside - I have to admit I have never been able to grow sunflowers before, but we will give it a try. I also have to admit that I have a green thumb when it comes to plants outside, but not the ones that are inside. Hopefully Lovie will survive us and live long and prosper.

Also this week there was a knock at the door and the post was here to deliver a package from the States. I have to say that I have the best little sister in the world. She is amazing and sends me stuff periodically to feed my American candy addiction and to supply me with movies. I love her and am so glad that she is thinking of us - although she spoils us too much!

Also in the package was the prize that I won on my SIL's blog. I was randomly chosen and she made little people for us. I love them Janae - thanks so much! The little girl with piggies had to have some reattachment surgery (nothing a glue gun can't fix) but other than that they came in perfect condition.

GIRLIE GIRL?

This precious girl cracks me up. She is turning into such a girl - although her toy of choice is still a hot wheels car. She walks around all of the time talking on her phone - she calls grandma all of the time and chats away. Not sure which grandma and I can't understand some of her chatter, but so darn cute! She carries around a purse and tries on all the shoes in the house. She is also in love with lotion. Every morning she comes into the bathroom and grabs the lotion bottle. After asking so nicely I put a little dab on her hand. She proceeds to rub it in and then lifts up her shirt to get her tummy - it is adorable. She has taken to carrying around the lotion bottle as of late - maybe I need to get her a small bottle of her own. She also got her toes painted for the first time a few weeks ago. She sat so still and didn't move a muscle until I told her it was okay - I was shocked by this. She was so proud of her nails and still shows them off at random moments. Although she is getting to the age of causing trouble I am still so happy to have her in my life. She brings joy to my life. I love her kisses, especially the Eskimo ones, and her tight squeezes. She tells me secrets and still loves to have her tummy rubbed at any possible moment. Having children has changed the way I look at the world - especially this third child who I waited for because I wasn't ready. I think that she came into my life when I needed her the most and I am so blessed for that.

HAPPY EARTH DAY! REMEMBER RECYCLE, REDUCE, AND REUSE

ROYAL EASTER SHOW

Saturday after Kev helped our friends the Graces move we headed out to the Royal Easter show. This is basically a big county fair and we figured that we had to visit at least once while we lived here. Here is a summary in pictures:

The whole thing started with a ride on the train - waiting to catch our second train.

We had to go see the animals of course - the kids want a dog so badly. One has been promised when we get settled back home. I am not sure that is soon enough for any of them.

Some people hate the smell of the farm animals (lets face it, it's not the most pleasant), but I actually like it because it brings back memories of my Grandpa Cooper's farm. I loved that place and it is full of many pleasant memories. Rylee was a crack up, she liked the animals as long as they didn't come straight for her. Because of that she seemed to pet the hind end more than anywhere else.

We promised the kids one ride. Lucky for us they picked the same one (after some persuading) - the big ferris wheel. This is how big the "peeps" were! Rylee and I stayed behind on the stable ground and had a snack.

We watched the racing and diving pigs - in was fun, but not worth the wait for 15 minutes if you ask me.
This cow cracked us all up!

After a fun filled day we went to pick out showbags. Our kids are going to think they get showbags when they go to the states - nope! It is basically a bag of goodies and toys. After at least 45 mintues of walking around and Cooper deciding which backpack had the most pockets - not sure why that matters. They both decided - surprised by their choices?! Not me!After deciding on showbags we had a little dinner and then went to find a spot for the motorcycle show and the fireworks. Cooper loved the cars racing around, but mostly he loved the motorcycles jumping and doing tricks. There were a few times my heart stopped for a beat thinking the rider wasn't going to make it - but they always did. The fireworks were cool. Madi was the one who wanted to stay and see them, which surprised us because she usually hates fireworks. She was scared this time as well because the fireworks were shot off right from the middle of the arena and were too loud for her. Rylee did fine and sat on my lap staring at all the lights with my hands on her ears to drowned out some of the sound.

Before we left Kev had to show us his manliness. He didn't win anything and Cooper kept saying that he thought daddy was strong and he should have won. We then had a discussion about how carnival games are rigged to get you to spend more money - got to learn that sometime right?

It was a very pleasant day. The kids did so good without complaining and walked a lot. We all enjoyed our family day out and now we can say we have experienced the Royal Easter Show! One more thing checked off the to-do list!

WHAT A MESS!

The other day Madi came running to find me yelling and laughing at the same time, "Mom! Come quick you have GOT to see what Rylee did!" Of course with a statement like that I had to go see. Let me sum up!

We have these plastic beads that the kids like to play with - you put them on shapes and then melt them together with an iron. I found a big container of them to replace ours from the States at IKEA. The kids had been playing with them that morning and left the lid off....

Rylee found them and dumped the entire jar out on the floor and kitchen table....We then spent the next 40 minutes picking them all up! Good thing it is school holidays so I had two extra helpers (Rylee wasn't much help as you can imagine)!! They are all now safely back in the container with the lid on plus a few strands of hair and a few tiny morsels of food I am sure.The story doesn't end there - it was a day of trouble with this little one. While picking them all up Rylee climbed onto the table and pushed over my vase with flowers in it. I proceeded to get soaked and have a very heavy vase hit me in the head and shoulder. My neck is still killing me three days later. Luckily the vase is still in one piece and I only lost a few heads off of the flowers.

I think we might be in trouble with this one.

SUNDAY BEST - new clothes!!!

Finally I got pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes. Since Sunday was the broadcast of General Conference, and we didn't go because Rylee was sick, the Easter clothes have been sitting on my dresser for a bit longer waiting to be put on. New Easter clothes in not an Aussie thing, but I have kept the tradition alive anyway. Since I had to search last year for Madi's dress, and had a hard time finding one, this year I started ahead of time. I have actually had these clothes for months and found them all on clearance - which is even better. For the first time they all coordinate as well. So I took the kids out this morning for a photo shoot and had to bribe them with Maccas to get it all done. We got a lot of bad photos but surprisingly some really good ones as well. Not many smiles were to be found, especially from the little squirt, and a few tears were shed. Here are some of my favorites!

It is so hard to get three kids at the same time. I need some more practice that is for sure and my kids are sick of me - so if anyone out there (that lives by me) wants any family photos, kid photos, anything really let me know. I would love to practice on you if you will take my services. I will give you all the photos and you can do whatever you want with them.

EASTER WEEKEND

We had a crazy Easter weekend - it was nice to have Kev home for a few extra days! We even had a fever for the little one which actually helped us to cut out some of our weekend - we will go to the Easter show next weekend.

Friday is a day off here and everything is closed - almost everything I should say - for Good Friday. I still find it very fascinating that an entire country shuts down for the day of the crucifixion of the Savior. Although most people just want another day off and don't really think about what it is for, I still think it is cool. Last year, I am embarrassed to say, I wasn't even sure what Good Friday was all about. First of all it isn't a holiday in the US and second of all I am a bit slow. To me Easter is more about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and not so much about his death.

Last year on Good Friday we thought we would go to IKEA and have a look around - to our surprise it was closed as was everything else in the shopping center except the movie theater so we went to a movie. In keeping with tradition we went to a movie this year as well. Monsters vs Aliens in 3D just came out and the kids really wanted to see it. Cooper apparently watched most of the movie without his glasses off - it was a bit much for him. Rylee even put on her glasses for some of the movie - although you should have seen her face when things came flying at her.

On Saturday we met a friend of Kev's from work and his family at the park for a picnic and a little play. They kids had a super swell time. We walked by the fountains on the way to the park and they were begging to get in the water. On the way back to the car the begging began again, I told them that it was okay but they would have to go home wet. The decision was made within seconds.

After a fun afternoon we hurried home to meet friends at our house for some more play time. The men went to the general priesthood session at the Stake Center and the rest of us stayed at our house to color Easter eggs. We were introducing an American Easter tradition to one of our Aussie friends and our Canadian friends have never done it either. Since it isn't something that is done around here there are no kits in the store to buy and no special crayons, stickers, stencils, etc. That's okay, vinegar, food coloring, and any old crayon will do. It was so much fun. Since the eggs here are all brown already no pastel colors will do only the bold ones - that means lots of food coloring. I think I was supposed to dilute the vinegar with water though - oops!

After priesthood was over some of our friends stayed to play games. We even ended up with some rock stars and a concert!!

Cooper, Adeline, Emma, Jocelyn, and Madisen

Just as we were finishing up is when Rylee woke up with a fever - that is when the weekend slowed down which is okay too. We spent the rest of the long weekend at home enjoying the spirit of Easter. We listened to the remaining sessions of General Conference that we hadn't gotten to and we enjoyed time with each other.

EASTER SUNDAY

I love Easter. It is such a wonderful time of year to contemplate the sacrifice the Savior made for each of us. I miss seeing the grass turn green and the new flowers peeking out of the ground. This always reminds me of new life and the resurrection.

We had very good intentions of going to see General Conference broadcast at the Stake Center today - what a perfect day to hear from the prophets and apostles. However, a little one with a fever ruined that plan. No worries, plan B, we watched the Sunday sessions of General Conference via the Internet in our own living room. I loved hearing all the talks about the Savior and the reminders of how to make my life better. We have one more session to watch for FHE and we are done.

We also had our Easter egg hunt this afternoon with good success. Every time we do an egg hunt I am reminded of the FHE lesson I love which used items from the last few days of Christ's life put into plastic eggs, along with a scripture reference, to tell the story for children. We do this FHE every year and I have done it in Primary many times as well. The last egg is left empty to remind us of the resurrection. When the plastic eggs are all emptied weeks after Easter and returned to me I am reminded of this - I hope my kids are as well.
HAPPY EASTER FROM THE LAND OF OZ FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

May we all be reminded of the Savior and his importance in our lives at this time of year and all year long.

I told my whole table...

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!

This morning while we were looking at the kids Easter basekets Cooper said something that really made me laugh so I had to put it up here to remember it.

First, you need a little background for this conversation.

My parents went to visit my brother, who lives in Atlanta Georgia. I asked them to send me a small coke bottle from the Coca-Cola headquarters. Well, when we got the package they also inlcuded some lip smackers. For those of you that don't know what lip smackers are I will explain.

A lip smackers is a flavored (not flavoured) chap stick. We were excited to see that they had sent us a Root Beer flavored one and a Cherry Coke flavored one. They were probably for the kids but Stace and I confiscated them. Stace loves Root Beer and I love Cherry Coke.

While we were opening some of the presents Cooper got there was one that I needed something to help open the packaging. I asked Coop to go in my bathroom and grab my nail clippers out of a box on my shelf. Coop walked out of the bathroom with the clippers laughing to himself and this is the conversation that followed:

• (C) [Laughing to himself]
• (S) What's so funny?
• (C) I told my whole table and they thinks it's funny!
• (S) What did you tell your table?
• (C) I told my table at school that my dad wears lipstick!
• (K) What? Why did you tell them that?
• (C) Because you have lip stick in your bathroom that you use.
• (K) [Immediately knowing what he was talking about.] Coop, that isn't lip stick. It's flavored chapstick.
• (C) Oh, it is? I thought it was lip stick.
• (K) Great! [As Stacy just keeps laughing!]

Just in case you are wondering what it looks like.