Cassie's Cuddles

Hubby is on holidays. He gets very bored so we have gone to nearly every shop in Melbourne. We don’t go to actually shop, just to be in the middle of the shoppjng frenzy. Eek! We met up with my daughter and her little family a couple of times too. Grace found a few favourites that she had to wave good bye to.We have enjoyed the pool every day too. We are so spoiled. I love the pool, it reminds me what it is like to just enjoy the outdoors. We are so blessed. A bonus is seeing Grace enjoy the pool too. She is a little water baby unlike her mother at that age, she is over confidant.I was jumping up and down causing tidal waves. Not the most becoming photo. Perhaps I will use this picture in some Woman’s Weekly article about a before and after transformation. You have to keep a few ugly pics.

Christmas was weird this year. We had grandparents who couldn’t join us, Great grandpa had passed away and Jared’s side of the family had a medical event which kept them resting. My Dad was with his wife’s family who were going through some hard times themselves. I had the thought that everyone that I use to have Christmas with as a young person has either died, seperated themselves from me, or joined a cult. I guess that is when you know you are getting old.  On a more positive note, Steph, Sam and Grace stayed the night so we all got up together for gifts before Church. I had to wake everyone. I felt like my Mum who use to sing out Merry Christmas waking us all up. Everyone like their presents. I gave Jared some Myer cards. I have never been good at choosing gifts. I went totally bonkers this year and bought myself a few gifts which I have never done before. Totally selfish.

Back to the things I bought..On a fb page selling Cath Kidston, I bought a new bag. It is reversible. It has a long shoulder strap too which I love because it keeps my hand free. I also joined up to the Sew Sampler box. This is my second one, totally indulgent. I cant really afford or justify doing this every month. Its great if you live in the US, but the postage is the killer. look what was in the December one.I really like the material and the magnets.Lori Holt has some lovely designs but I think that she needs a better profile picture for her items. A big smile makes everyone looks so much nicer ( even if you dont have teeth), not saying that she doesnt have teeth.. Anyway if you want to take a closer look at the box there are plenty of people doing You Tube videos on them.

We did more shopping.Here is Jared, with our Grandaughter Grace and our youngest, Cassandra.. I have sewed a lot. I made about 30 of these rattles.We went to a baby shower on boxing day. I didnt think anyone would turn up, but there was a good number there.  A couple of days after that we drove to Benalla and Wangaratta for two seperate ordinations. Three of our kiddies had gone to camp so we only had Cassandra with us so we stayed in Shepparton and went there for Church on the Sunday. It was lovely to enjoy Cassandra on her own. A day or so later Cassandra was vomiting. She had caught a bug off someone.This is where she slept for a few days. She normally sleeps on the top bunk and after vomiting from it about this time last year all over Alycia’s new school books, I wont be making that mistake again. Who knew you could reach every corner of the room with vomit from the top bunk. Great memories. The kids came back from Camp, and then it was Lachlan’s turn. The rest of us got away with it this time, phew.Getting back to Christmas, this was my favourite gift that I gave to someone. This was for my inlaws who are Christians and are bee keepers. I thought that they would like them.This photo is my little family 10 years ago. I was going to stick it on all the Christmas cards. Jared is suppose to be looking at his empty wallet, I was trying not to get in trouble and the kids where chaotic. Despite the Chaos at Christmas I hope that we can all reflect on why it is called Christmas and that is because of Christ. Our saviour came to die for us and to rise again defeating death, so we no longer have to fear. We now have hope, we have Christ, God with us.

The day finally came to open my swap. The swap was organised by http://santasackswap.blogspot.com.au/  I was partnered with Jo of  https://jobutterfield.blogspot.com.au/  Jo is amazing with all the sewing and knitting that she does. She even sews laundry bags for soldiers. Check out her blog.Look a whole box of pressies for me! I was so excited. Alycia and Cassandra helped me to unwrap the gifts. We all got a massive buzz opening all of the items. Jo, you are amazing. The first item is this really cute bear pin cushion. Isnt it adorable?My next favourite items are the jar covers. Wow, they look really time consuming to make. They are beautiful, I just want to look at them.Jo, stacked them on top of a jar that was filled with cardboard blackboard tags with some white chalk. I can see these lining up in my pantry. If you have a pattern for these I would love to make some for my friends. I am too selfish to share these because I like them too much.Here is a lovely pastel coloured bag that folds into a smaller little bag as seen in the following picture. Jo even sewed my initial on the front.You do amazing work, Jo.I love these face cloths. The yellow one even has my initial on it. They are so soft and colourful. Thank you for all of your work.This is one amazing Christmas decoration. It looks very complicated. A lovely and unique addition to our Christmas tree.In this little sack is some hot chocolate, mini m&ms, and mini marshmallows  in little tubes, very cute.A bottle cover that matches the bag. It is insulted too!  A lovely little cross stitch card to work on.Here is a creepy photo of Cassandra smelling the yummy chocolates. They didn’t last long with 6 in the house and two visitors. Saying that we all got a couple each, so thank you.Thank you once again, Jo. I am very thankful for everything that you made for me. It has also been good getting to know you a bit. You are a woman on  a mission.

You can see what I gave to Jo by going here: https://jobutterfield.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/its-christmas-day-and-present-opening.html?showComment=1482830113156#c7221162219054833397

The hippos have bred. I went a bit nutty and made anfew of them. Three I sewed by hand and two I made by machine. The ones made by hand are the better ones, the shape worked better.
Meanwhile the tadpoles are pretty much gone. The pool changed colour overnight. Cassandra got in two days latter and collected some of the leaves down the bottom. The filter is working overtime. We did find a couple of live ones, thankfully I didnt drink it.

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind! Another trip to Bendigo.Everything that the children do has a Christmas event. Gifts go out to all teachers.

We had a family gathering for Christmas. It was nice to see my Dad again. He is a busy man these days, but it is good for him, for us to see him happy with my step mum.
We have had a few visits to Gma. She is in a respite place right now, and it is a lovely place, but as the saying goes ” there is no place like home”.
Cassandras birthday is next week and she asked for the pool to be clean. After scooping out hundreds of tadpoles to be re homed at a local pond, I shocked the rest with a bucket of chlorine. I started praying that the next door kiddies wouldnt come outside because the fumes got pretty bad. Today it is blue, and I have been scooping dead tadpoles out like a njnja.

I have been working on a gift for my inlaws, but I cant put the picture up yet. I hope that they like it, because I do.

Oh, and here are the two monkeys that I was suppose to show you in the last post.
Today while I watched a YouTube video on homesteading I hand sewed a felt hippo. I love him, he is so cute!

When you can’t find shorts that dont look like undies, you are forced to make your own. I had Cassandra try on a few but they were too short. Her last pair of shorts were actually boy ones, they dont force boys to wear skimpy shorts, it’s not the 70s anymore. Haha. Anyway, I hoped  on to youtube once again and whipped  them up in no time. Yesterday, I couldn’t stand the birds any more. We have them in our lounge room and  they make so much mess with all their seed. So I got to work and make a skirt? for the cage, and it actually contains it. yay!

Today I recieved my magazine that Jared subscribed me to. Im on to the final ones now. I opened up the magazjne to see the message that I hoped that they printed. Bonus. Apart from Christ, my family is my greatest blessing.

Life has been pretty busy these last weeks. Everything that the children do, has a final night, or exam etc. Alycia had her grade 6 piano exam and achieved an A with honors. She wasna trooper handling her nerves this time. Her piano teacher has recommended that she skips grade 7 and goes straight into 8. Wow. I love that they can play. I have to admit that I dont enjoy the repetitive practice though. Some love it, I do not. Afterwards we went to Chadston to have a look around. It is a massive shopping centre.

We had the College dinner. Jared recieved an award for being the hip lecturer. He used BAE a few too many times. This is what happens when you have a teenage girl to teach you stuff like that. We have also been to a wedding and have another one this week to attend.

The children were interviewed this week for Church membership. I think that the children were all encouraged in this. All of us as a family will become members together.

I have just begun to make Softies  for Mirabel again. This time they will be collecting them in February, so there is no hurry. Theynwant homemade toys to give to children who have rough lives. The softies use to be displayed in the window, but they dont do that anymore. I use to get a buzz not only seeing mine in the window, but all the other handmade items.  So far Inhave made 4 toys.I forgot to take a photo of the two monkeys, I will do that tomorrow.

It has been a bit of a mixture as far as the week has gone. Sunday week Jared and I stayed in Bendigo so he could preach for Reformation Sunday. I enjoyed, the preaching, the fellowship and the night away. I was given some lovely homegrown flowers, that are still doing well on our fireplace. Jared suprised me by ordering late night room service. In nearly 25 years of marriage, he has never done thjs before. The next day we met up with a couple for a late breakfast, it was a lovely catch up.
On Friday we went to the zoo for our grandaughters second birthday. She is such a blessing. She loves giraffes. She threw her toy giraffe into the enclosure. Alycia climbed into the enclosure, she was her hero.One of my favourite photos of the day was of Jared holdjng Grace’s hand while walking out of the seal exhibition.Here is my baby girl who is  nearly 11. Time goes so quickly doesnt it?
Tomorrow we have grandpa’s funeral…..

Dear Great Grandpa passed away on Monday evening, October 31st. We will miss him very much. If ever you wanted to discuss something or sort it out in your head, he was the go to guy. He was the hardest worker I have ever known ( along with Gma), it may have been the era? When I first met him about 28 years ago, he use to ride his bike and balance big wooden planks on his handle bars and at least ride to the next suburb. When we lived in the manse, we came out one day to find our gate fixed or our bins sorted. He was 94, but his mind was as sharp as anything. In his younger days he could add up columns of numeric figures all in his head. My husband will miss him especially. I won’t  put up a picture because he wouldnt want that and neither would Gma. The box above  is somethjng that I made for him about 15 years ago, gma gave it back to me. I dont want it. So now we have a funeral to go to. We are having it at Moe where Jared use to be the minister. It is going to be a long week. Thomas Parker will be missed. xo

Ok, so the gardennis a bit of a mess right now but we are working on it. Ive offered our 14 year old Camden $20 an hour to work in the garden ( yes, we are that desperate). Older son does not want money even though he had the same offer. Camden will be rich soon. I have gone out for about an hour a day as well. I dont get outside enough, it really is quite lovely. We have a bush full of cumquats. We wont eat them so I offered them for free on a facebook site, they were snapped up within minutes.
I made a book cover this morning. I really like this one. I also experimented with sewjng some rope. I had some extra rope left over from operation christmas child. I put rope in for the older girls for a clothes line and some in for the older boys for whatever. Anyway, the one length of rope that was $2.95 made these two bowls. Cool, eh? I tried putting some bias tape on one of them to see how it would look.
Back to gardening. I think we need to harvest the tadpoles from our pool. yeah, you heard me, tadpoles. Time to buy some chlorine.

Jared and I are at the age where we can leave an adult child to be caring for the rest of his siblings. So, Jared and I stayed a few days in the city while the Church had their annual event. It was so nice just to hang out. I was left alone inbetween different events which was lovely. I dont really like the city, but I loved the room we were staying in. There was a spa bath, I had one about two in the afternoon. Yes, it was a lazy but enjoyable holiday. The children came in on the final day for a meeting and then they came back to the motel and went for a swim in the motel pool. I felt so naught smuggling them in. We then went out for tea. Here is a picture of Jared, I love it. He looks so relaxed. Those are bottles hanging from the ceiling, but plastic ones

On that  weekend we went to the March for the Babies. Did you know that is legal to abort right up until birth? Victoria has the worst laws. I went to parliment on another occassion where a femal politician said that an unborn child did not have personhood, therefore we could kill them. True story. I would rather support a scared, broke, raped mother, than to yell full force that it is a womens right to do what she wants wjth her own body ( cause we all know its not her body,but a seperate body), perhaps even not the same sex as her. Yes, I have lost friends over my opinion, but I believe that a mother and baby are as valuable as each other. There are some great organisations such as The Babes Project that you donate time or money to. It is also local.

Have you heard of Share the dignity? Every Christmas and June, they collect sanitary pads for women who are homeless. You get a handbag new or second hand and then fill it up with essential items. I am a bit nutty. I have collected bags through the year and have realised that I actually have 30 bags to fill! So far I have filled 21. I enjoy doing practical things and it helps me to realise that so many people just need to be shown kindness and love.

This last week I  have been sewing again. Another tutorial on You tube. They are fairly simple to make. You dont have to be specific on the size, you just use whatever material you have a around.

Stephanie got her haircut this week. She looks lovely. Suddenly she looks older. She is such a busy mumma with all her study, work and housework.. Meanwhile here is a picture of Lachlan with little Grace ( his neice) on the trampoline. It does look like a wilderness, we need to garden. At the moment we even have tadpoles in our pool. The kids love fishing in our pool. Gross!

Yesterday I bought 15 dozen eggs. I do this sometimes. ThennI got the kiddies to go andntake some to allmour immediate neighbours. Now I have to cook. Speakjng of cooking, look what Cassandra made for me. She is only 10. Not too shabby eh?

Dont you love these lillies? Jared bought them for me last week. He loves the fragrance, it reminds him of the smell at Cabrini hospital where we have had all our children. They always had lillies. The smell doesnt remind me of the hospital, but of my Mum. Mum loved lillies, she often had them in her house. She wanted them on her coffin when she passed away, but she died when they werent in season…..memories

On a happier note, because of it being Saturday, Jared dragged me off to check out shops for a new matteress. I hate doing this especially when you have an eager salesperson staring at you lyjng on the bed. As you can see, Jared didnt have a problem with it, lol. When we came home I did some cookjng ready for our church lunch tomorrow and then I finished my gingerbread ornaments. I also made some hair bands that are reversible. Alycia my 16 year old just told me that they are not “in” any more. Um.. Well, Im ready for an early night now. We have put our clocks forward ready for the end of Days light’s saving. The neighbours are having a party, so Im guessing we might be awake for a while yet. They normally finish up around 1am. I dont mind the music, it reminds me of the parties that my parents use to have. They often ended in Mum singing to a bunch of friends and Dad tearing up while singing Love Boat. Yep, a great song choice. Haha.

Tomorrow my Dad will be arriving home with Barbara after having traveled around China, Mongolia and a few other countires for 5 weeks. It will be good to speak to him agian.