Keep on keeping on...........

Hello again

A nice photo of Greg and I

We are just plodding along as per usual in our very crazy busy world, trying to have fun at the same time.

It's been hot, cold, rainy and windy.  I got a yukky head cold and had to have two days off work.  Felt quite off, but on the mend now.

I had lunch with a lovely friend and coffee with a few others.  How good is that!!

I went through the boys clothes and am giving people two bags full of clothes for their kids.  Our boys are getting big now and all the baby stuff had to go.

I got the twins vaccinated.  That was fun - NOT.  No, it was fine - they were really good and nothing a jelly bean and the promise of McDonald's chippies couldn't fix.  Thanks to Daddy for coming to help.

I have been very naughty and haven't been walking.  I need to start because I can feel the weight creeping back up eeeek!

We had a nice dinner for my brother in law's 50th birthday.  He then came over and stayed on his actual birthday.  It was fun.

I worked ALL DAY on the school cake stall at the Fete.  Had a ball and we sold every single item for the school.  I made a lot of Minion Fudge.  We sold it all which was great.

I had a Multiple Birth meeting and got home just shy of 12am!!!  Lots to talk about and good company.  I was very tired the next day.

We had a lovely home visit from our Geneticist.  I really am an X-woman with my genes that have mutated in a way that the genetics people have NEVER seen before.  Special enough that they are going to write a paper on us and present it in the USA.  I passed it to my kids so we are all X-Men.  

I always knew I was a one of a kind mutant........  come and get me Wolverine  :-)

Got to love a bit of Hugh Jackman eh.

Have a great couple of weeks xxx

 

Finding my groove

It has taken a while, but I think once a fortnight blogging is probably the maximum I can do at the moment - it's all about finding my groove.  Ideally, I would like to update once a week.......... that will be what I will aim for.

We have been on school holidays here and Michael went to vacation care when I worked.  Playgroup on Wednesday was still was on so we all went along to that.  We had to stay at home to be here for my home help to come around on Thursdays and Fridays I spent catching up on paperwork and running madly around getting "stuff done".

I also caught up with an old friend who I hadn't seen for quite a while.  This was a lovely brunch catch up.  She supported me significantly when I was going through the awful time last year.  Thank goodness for really good friends.

Borrowed from a blog I follow.  So glad I'm not fake - what you see is what you get!

Last weekend, we had a lovely day at Bobbin Head.  Next time we hope to hire a paddle boat.

Doing the superhero moves

I had a farewell for a friend and made up some yummy treats.  Very sad to see her move away but we will be able to keep in touch via Facebook thank goodness.

Home made sausage rolls

Chocolate mousse and cream

It has been hot, hot, HOT here this long weekend.  Here is a very yummy and healthy smoothie I made for my breakfast.  Delish!

Blueberries, banana, grape, yoghurt, oat, ice and skim milk smoothie

I am VERY excited that my daughter Alex and her partner Ben are coming to Sydney for Christmas this year.  I haven't seen her since last Christmas when I went up to Darwin to see her.  We are having Christmas at our place this year so it will be wonderful for her to be here.  Ben hasn't met any of us (only Mum and I) so it will be lovely for him to meet us crazy bunch.

Love these two kids so much xxxx

A relaxing weekend for us this long weekend.  It was too hot to do anything significant.  I went through the boys clothes and have two bags full for family.  I have gotten all the summer clothes ready for the twins this summer.  Yay.

Have a lovely week/fortnight...........<3 

I'm still here.............

Oh my goodness, it has been a very busy couple of weeks and blogging went to the wayside.

I attended a Fragile X conference which was interesting and lovely to catch up with some people that I hadn't seen for a long time.  There is some interesting progress in research regarding carriers of FX (of which I am one, plus others in my family) but unfortunately I think solving the FXS issue is still too far advanced for the scientists at the moment.  

Fragile X Conference

I also had a call from our Geneticist too to say that a researcher has discovered some "thing" in the boys Fragile X gene and apparently it is new and exciting and he has written a paper on it, will be presenting his paper at a Fragile X conference in the USA and it may hold some sort of key to something...............???  Anyway, I am meeting with him later in the year to discuss further.

Ben helping me with the watering

At least someone has possibly found something good in all the shite of Fragile X.  Unfortunately, it changes nothing for us but hey you never know what is around the corner.

I picked Mum and Dad up from their round the world cruise of nearly 4 months as well.  I had to head out to White Bay in the city to get them.  It was lovely to see them again and catch up.

We have been doing the usual things like playgroup and speech therapy, school and work and busy weekends.

The big boy having fun at Cumberland State Forest

All my boys <3

Michael came second in the local Lego competition for his age group and won a cool Lego pack.  He built a Minecraft castle and we we so happy when he received second prize for it.  Happy boy!

I'm still filling out forms for "stuff" for the boys and for the family.  It is very time consuming but worth it if we can get some help (which so far we have been fairly lucky and have gotten most services that we have applied for).  Just a few more to go and then we will be finished!!!  Fingers crossed for the remaining xxxxxxxxx  (Just got word that we have been approved for all that we can apply for.  We got some, we didn't get some others but overall we are getting a lot of help for our family which is BRILLIANT!!)

Home made chocolate brownies and coffee - bliss!

Target has been having some big sales and I received an email regarding a further 50% off sale item clothes.  I got the kids some great clothes for next year (and this year).  Spent $218 but got 50% off so for $109 I got 20 items of clothing!  That is pretty good.

It has been beautiful weather but still quite cold at night.  Today I got the 3 beds stripped and washed plus a line full of clothes done.  I love sleeping on fresh sheets!

Bobbin Head - on my way from dropping the boys at family daycare

Bobbin Head

It has just started raining and apparently is going to rain for the next week.  The Central Coast had hail that looked like snow!  Lucky we still have lots of firewood as it might get chilly.

Can't believe the hail after weather like this:

A drive to Brooklyn

I got some lovely feedback from my supervisor at my new job.  I tell you, working part time is the best thing ever.  I don't think I ever want to go back to full time work.  I really love my new career and all the people I work with.  Nice bunch.

Planning for a day of paperwork and other stuff tomorrow.  It's the last day of school for the kids tomorrow and we are all looking forward to a break for a couple of weeks.

Planting some spinach for the chooks and a tomato for us.  Plus some sunflower seeds went in too!

Looking forward to walking more and some yummy dinners like this one now the warmer weather is here :-)

Hope all is good in your world too.

Lucky us - birthdays, school prep, flowers and freebies!

Another busy busy week flies by, a busy but productive week.  We got some rain early in the week which was desperately needed but is always a bit of a pain, especially with little people who love going outside!

 We celebrated Michael's 7th Birthday.  Wow seven years has gone very fast.  He got some great presents and had a lovely day at school.  I made him a chocolate cake to take to school, which all the kids loved.  Happy Birthday Michael.  We love you a lot xxx

Over the past few months I have been working, along with lots of other people/practitioners, to get Rhys and Ben into the Early Intervention School Preparation class at one of the schools in the area.  This is a really, really difficult programme to get into and I really thought the boys would benefit from the class.  Lifestart isn't running a programme that goes over the year any more (which is a real shame but that is a whole other story) so this was my other option.  This is the only school in our general area that runs it so I was quite desperate to get in.  

Well all that hard work from everyone paid off and both the boys were accepted into the programme for next year!!!  Wahoo!!! I am deeply indebted to all the people who supported and helped us in getting reports and information that assisted us in being successful in our application.  Seriously, I am so lucky to have all these people around me and my boys.  

We went to our Orientation Day this week and the boys had a lovely time.  Their teacher will definitely whip them into shape - she is very strict!  But, my goal is for both the boys to be at school together and I think this will increase our chances of this happening.  I am very excited for next year.  It will be busy but I think great progress will be made.

I had to pop up to the shop and saw these flowers on massive markdown.  I bought the three bunches and turned them into one big bunch.  We don't usually buy flowers because they are so expensive and then die, but for $6 I got a HUGE bunch and the look beautiful.  It brightened my days a lot looking at them and they are still going strong at the moment.  I love the little butterflies.

Here are some little freebie gifts I got this week.

I dye my hair but only buy it on super duper special for $10 a box (usually up to $18 a box at other places).  Usually, the type I buy is on special online, and if I spend over $100 then I get free shipping and can also get free samples.  So, here are my free samples that I received and I have hair colour for the next 12 months or so (all done from the comfort of home - got to love internet shopping for bargains).  Not too shabby!

Greg was my hero this week.

I had a flat tyre on Monday morning, found just as I was leaving for work.  He came home and fixed it for me which was great and thank goodness I was on late shift for work and leaving early because after it was all over, I was right on time for work!!

On Friday we went up to Mum and Dad's place to give it a bit of a tidy up as they are returning from their long trip away next week.  It was Greg's RDO and he did the lawns etc to get it ready.  Then Dad's car battery was dead so we had to get that going as well!!!  Good thing was that it all got done and we got Dad's car back to our place, ready for me to go into the city to pick them up next Friday.  Can't wait to see them after such a long time (nearly 4 months away).

I made some ANZAC slice as I had a friend coming over for a coffee and wanted to have something yummy to go with it.

Another week flies by and it is work for me tomorrow.

Have a lovely week and a thought for the week
(I'm getting better at this one)

A week of good

I class my week as starting on a Sunday.

I work on Sunday for about half the day.  I like it.  We can still have a relaxing morning and I can toddle off to work around late morning.  Tuesday is my last day of work for the week.

Love it.

We have been busy with some projects around the house, birthdays and general "stuff".  The weather over the past week and today was like a beautiful spring day.  It was very warm today indeed.

A couple of years ago, I rescued 5 battery hens from the chicken farm.  I got them for $10.  Sadly, all have passed away except one (the middle chook in the picture below).  My very good friend Courtney, who lives on a farm and has lots of chooks, was very kind to give me two more friends for Browny.  A white chook (Sussex X), who I will call Whitey and another brown hen who I will call Chooky.  So, we now have Browny, Whitey and Chooky.  Aren't I an original one eh.

 The gurls

Whitey was very proud of this effort I must say.  I ran out into the yard as I thought something was happening.  Suppose it was, she had laid this egg!

We had some storms a couple of months ago and a tree came down and crushed our beloved trampoline (and our fence too).  Thank you Grandma for buying the boys a new one for their birthday's.  What a lovely treat.

Look what a lovely friend gave me the other day.  A banana loaf.  It was delicious let me tell you.  Wrapped so beautifully too.  I am such a lucky lady to have such precious friends.

The temperature gauge on the white car had stopped working.  We couldn't get it to go up or down which was a bit of a nightmare in this weather (not to mention very cool as it was set low).

Apparently, the cost to fix this is around the $600 - $1000 USD mark - according to a guy on Youtube who did a video of him fixing it.

Greg watched the video a few times and Voila! the console was taken out, re soldered and it all works perfectly!!

Saving us around $1000

Yay Greg, you are a legend and I love you xxxx

Just had to have a BBQ for dinner tonight.  It was such a summers day in winter.  Haven't had a snag on the barbie for a while.  Yum these were delicious for dinner tonight.

My lovely plant is starting to flower.  Look at the buds on it.  Wow I am going to get a lot of flowers.  Its mate hasn't got buds yet, but they are not far away.  These two pots should give a good display.  Not bad for $1 plants, half dead from Bunnings and pots found in the cleanup on the side of the road.

Have you heard..........????  My most favourite ice cream is now being sold in a tub!!!

I have been looking for this for weeks and FINALLY found stock in the local IGA.  

A massive treat as the box is about $7.75 or so.  Mighty exy IMO.  

But this is a little special for me to have just this once.

Mmmmmmmm, it was delicious.  Tasted just like the ice cream on a stick.

 Lucky me.

It's our 6 year wedding anniversary today.  Time flies when you're having fun.  Greg is a good man and a great father.  We are a pretty good team.  Sure we have our moments but not many and we have weathered some challenges in our lives that would have sent many people running for the hills.  I think statistically, given that we have disabled children, twins and a teen - we have almost a 100% chance of breaking up LOL.  

I love you Greg and I want to say thank you for being there, especially last year when I was falling to pieces because of all the awful things that had happened to me.  You so supportive of me - you believed in me and it showed that you could be counted on when the going got REALLY tough.

Happy Anniversary
Love You
 xxxx