Cassie's Cuddles

My hubby turned 41  last week ( I am actually older than him by a couple of months)..I hate those couple of months where I am the obvious “older woman”.  The children had something planned for his birthday, Jared asked me what they were doing. I couldn’t tell him much except it involved a chicken and a violin, lol. That got him thinking for a few days. The kiddies arranged to do a Fawlty Towers dinner..I found it amusing because they kept doing things wrong without meaning to. Lachlan poured a drink from a bottle, but it was oil! Also between the girls they forgot to cook some vegetables with the roast chicken ( I mean, possum). It all went with the theme though, right?Great menu eh? hee hee, I just love this girl, she makes me laugh.Don’t you love this cartoon? Well, it made me have a little laugh. I went op shopping with the two eldest this week and I found this jacket. I asked Steph to take a photo of me in it, to see if it suited me. I bought it. Meanwhile Steph just tried on some clothes…ugh!and then..Oh man, she is a challenge when it comes to clothes shopping. I mean, she doesn’t even take her jacket off to try on the clothes!! By the way, I did not choose the above, and we did not buy them. But I love this girl too, she is a real sweet girl. If I was a teen, I would be lining up to be her friend, she is a loyal and sweet talking girl. Love ya Stephy.I went to Heronswood in Dromana with my sister and mother ( and of course the kiddies), yesterday.  We got in for free being RACV members and the kiddies were free too! It was a lovely day. We also did a bit of op shopping ( of course). I found this swap to take part in, yay! My swap buddy is Sheryl, her blog is here…http://shez-enjoyinglife.blogspot.com.au/ I love swaps…what’s wrong with me?

Wow, another month gone? Phew! What have I been up too? Well, I’m still being a good girl ;D. I have lost 16 kilos now, I am pretty happy with that, but I know I have such a long way to go. If you are a chubs, let me give you some advice..”start today, don’t leave it until you can’t fit through doors without going sideways”. It really isn’t so hard, at least not at this stage. I have discovered yummy hot chocolates (thanks to Jared). Jared has decided to check out all the hot chocolate places in Melb!! He asked me to join him, how could I say no? They are so yummy ( and yet, I have to include 300 calories) to make sure I don’t go over my limit. I actually took the kiddies to “indulge” while Jared was at work, I sent him a text…nom nom nom..I have also been getting ready for the next Dayspring Day. I have decided to do a “Masters Chef” day. I will making 100 chef hats. I have nearly made 20.How do you think it looks?Stephanie received her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award last week. The funny thing was that Lachlan came home with one too! He got one without realising just by doing his Army Cadets at school. Stephanie on the other hand, had to volunteer at the local library for 3 months, run up and down the 1000 steps every week, go on two big hikes, and practice her violin for 6 months…Congrats Stephanie (and Lachlan).Meanwhile Camden has tried to be a Zombie..don’t ask.He tried to eat my brains..He went away hungry, lol.The girls and I have done a bit of Naan cooking. So yummy. We found this super easy recipe here:http://titlisbusykitchen.com/archives/naan-without-ovenCassandra lost her first tooth this week. I gave her $5. All of the kiddies have recieved $5 for the first tooth, and then it goes down to 50c per tooth after that. I have done a bit of op shopping and have found a few cute bags…And..Stephanie has been doing more driving, as you can see from this pic she is driving in the van behind me (we were coming home from Church in two cars).Stephanie has also been crocheting for a friend. Her friend loves Dr who, so here he is with a darlek.I bought Alycia a pattern of her choice yesterday to start work on. A hedgehog! Alycia loves hedgehogs. It wasn’t a cheap pattern, but once she can make one, she can make many. I love the fact that my children want to create.We traced the pattern and cut out the material this morning. We were blessed during the month by a 4 year old. He knocked on our door and said ” I want to share my cupcakes with you”. How sweet is that? I really love seeing little children directed to think of others. Thank you to his mummy Narelle for making and sharing such cute cupcakes.My friends and I have been able to be part  of wonderful idea. A place near me asked people to donate new baby things for single mums. Normally young girls who find themselves pregnant with no one to turn to. This group provides a wonderful alternative to abortion. I thank God for them. Check this out if you want to know more.http://www.facebook.com/thebabesproject

On a less serious note, I will leave you with a picture of my physco collection.

I’m 41 today, an old lady yeah? I must say I feel pretty good though. The kiddies woke me up with bacon and eggs this morning. I love it when the whole family ends up on our bed, talking, smiling. I have been so blessed. Cassandra had wrapped her present up by herself, so it kind of fell out into my hands. A packet of twisties  that I shared with everyone after lunch. The four oldest bought me a tin with a doll to make up from Typo. I opened it up, and 3/4 of the kit was missing :C, so we went back to Knox shopping centre to exchange it for another one. They also gave me some spotty notepads, nice. Jared also spoiled me by taking me to the pictures and out to tea with the family. Thank you Jared. My friend Narelle, dropped of some lovely flowers. Thank you Narelle.My friend Gail sent me this this week as a motivator. Thanks Gail. Look at this enormous blessing. A long time family friend dropped off a lot of goodies for us, some to pass on to Malawi, and others just for us such as TWO overlockers! Yup, you read right, two! My girls and I have been very spoiled. This will be very handy especially as I have just decided that I will make 100 chef hats for Dayspring Day this year. Now the girls can help me, oh yeah! Thank you Robyn.More strawberry jam was made. I didn’t cook it properly, it was a little runny, so I had to cook 12 jars again, but now it is perfect 😀

I just had to take a photo of this gross trolley that was waiting outside Safeway. Oh yeah, I’m really going to put my groceries into that!This is the best part of my life, little kisses and cuddles. If you are thinking of having more children , I say, go for it. They are my greatest blessing apart from my saviour, and a christian husband. I love being a mum, I am so blessed.

A great suprise for me today was that I hit the 10 kg goal, yay, yay, yay! I know I have a long way to go, but how good is this? I have learn’t that it isn’t really hard work as such (at this stage anyway), it is more discipline. I have never been disciplined. Of course I have to work up a sweat, I don’t think I ever realised that eyes could sweat! Even my watch is rusting on my wrist! I feel so much better, but I’m not sleeping as well as I use to, so I’m not sure what that is about.My boy has been doing some work experience this week. He has been working at surveying and engineering. We are very thankful for a friend who orgainised this for us, thank you Mairi and Basem, As you can  see, he even got paid for it. We went out for tea tonight, I am so spoiled. This is Lachlan and Stephanie my “twins” not really, but they are very close.This is my hubby and Camden. I think it is like a mirror. I look at Camden and I think this is what Jared must have looked like as a kiddie.Look at this cool kiddie sewing designer kit. I found it on pinterest. If you haven’t heard of pinterest, where have you been? Check it out here:http://pinterest.com/cassiehood/ It’s like a big scrapbook of anything that takes your fancy.

Can you believe it, two weeks of holidays nearly over?  How can two weeks go so fast? What have I done? Of course we had Easter in the middle, so it was busy with Church on Good Friday and  and two church services on Sunday. We also had a friend and her daughter stay for one night. It was lovely to catch up. My friend gave us a very generous gift too, which was much appreciated. Thank you Sandy. I also had time to catch up with some other friends.The girls have done some crafts. This is what Alycia made for her American Girl doll, Josefina.We also went to the Resource Rescue centre to buy a heap of junk to make other bits of junk. If you are a local, you can find it here:http://discountcraftsupplies.com.au/ I have been getting to know my camera. I have been using the treadmill that Jared bought me about 2 years ago. I would rather walk outside, but it is very handy when you have half an hour to spare or it is raining outside. This treadmill was a bargain, it was less than $200 from Kmart.It is very wizz bang. It takes your pulse, tells you how many calories you have burn’t and has a cup holder for my nifty bottle 😀I made a couple of bunny bags. The pattern is from Melly and Me. You can find her site here:http://mellyandme.typepad.com/ I bought the pattern for $4.50 at a local craft store, Keith Fagg. The second one was a lot better than the first. Today I also made another Peg Bear.I also made a Melly and Me bee.Those wings were a killer to turn considering I had stuffed them with some wadding.I drove over to Sunbury the other night for the children to watch Courageous with some friends. It was a long drive. I got Stephanie to do the driving on her L’s. She did such a good job. I drove home though. They are a lovely group of teens, I was there the whole time with one of their mums, and it was a lovely time of fellowship.I found some good books in the opp shop. Another Church history book. An old Pilgrims Progress and some Latin books. I also found a Holly Hobby doll for $1.50. It is very worn, but still sweet.My three youngest took to cupcake making while I sewed upstairs. Jared was downstairs so if there was a fire, he would save the day ;D  They ended up taking some over for the neighbors, the ones who made our house catch fire. All is forgiven eh?This is Cassandra in a cool mask, I love the way the nose sticks out. This came out of a book of masks. It kept her very busy.

Tuesday  night Steph arrived home from India. Her plane arrived at 8:40pm. I felt really excited waiting for her. A few of the parents hadn’t arrived by the time that the team where coming out, the kiddies looked disappointed. We were prepared with balloons and a lame hat 😀She finally walked out…It’s amazing to know that she has been to India and back. Of course she brought back some gifts for people. I told her not to bring back any trinkets, so i think that I actually stressed her out. She mainly bought back some bangles (glass ones) for her friends, a special box for her auntie, some ear muffs for her daddy and brothers. G’parents and supporters will get a little something too, just to say thank you. I love this picture, I can’t help but laugh. This is a small group of the team (one technically wasn’t part of the team, she came seperatly) in a rickshaw. Poor Joshua stuck in the side. I loved the fact that each group of girls had a boy to watch over them. He was to be the protector ( you have to love that eh?). All up, it sounds as though he did a great job, afterall they all came back, lol. Joshua’s mummy and daddy should be proud, all that training as the oldest sibling has paid off 😀 On the very last day they did some sightseeing. I would love to put some photos of the children that they went and and got to know, but I need to wait for permission.  Overall, it sounds as though they worked very hard, had their eyes opened, and also had the bonus of getting to know their team like family. Personally I feel as though I know Steph’s fellow travelers really well with all her talking over the last few days.This is a cool sight, I could see how far Stephanie had traveled on the way home. Awesome! I made up some washing liquid for the washing machine. I found the very simple recipe here:http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/have-you-tried-homemade-laundry-liquid.html All it takes is  1 Litre of water, I cup of Lux soap flakes, 1/2 cup of washing soda, and 1/2 cup of borax. Bring to boil, put into a 10 litre  bucket, and add water, mix well. Then funnel into your  clean bottles. Easy. I have done three loads so far, and it has worked well.  Rhonda has  just written a book too (which I have just ordered), so you might want to take a look at it.Alycia has done some painting.Another little experiment that I tried this week, is making an egg heart. I think I will need to try it again to make it perfect.this is my effort, mmm,,,try again..We have done a bit of cooking too. I love the fact that my local fruit shop, sometimes have a book of vegies for $3.As long as you use it up quickly, it’s a bargain.

My Big girl, Stephanie (16), has gone off to India. Wow, she has nearly been away for a week, it is sooooooooo quiet. I wake up, and the first thing I do is pray for her, and the it is the last thing I do at night. She will be working in an orphanage teaching and playing with them, and also doing some maintenance etc. She is with 13 other people. There is an older couple acting as mumma and pappa. She was one excited girl at the airport, and then suddenly she went quiet.This is her team.Besides hearing from her from Singapore Airport inbetween flights, we haven’t heard from her!! I know that someone over there has a phone, because that girl called me to say that she heard that Steph arrived, so……? Ugh!!  After we watched our girl walk through the international flight area, we went of to a friends house.  Cassandra was running around the house with their son, when they banged into eachother. Ouch, what a bruise she got.oh yeah, I take photos of everything. A couple of days later, she had nasty bruises under her eyes as well.Poor little thing. She is ok otherwise. In between we have had a few visitors for tea. One of Lachlan’s friend’s family, another family who is interested in homeschooling. We have been to the zoo, with a lovely family. Busy, busy. Now it is back to the school routine. Although I must admit, I wagged this morning to go and visit my mother :D. Check out this cup that I bought last week. I know, it’s kitch, but I love it, and at $2.99, how could I walk past?Look at these cool items! My friend Jayni who is in Malawi right now with her family, gave them to us. I was so excited.  They have been given to the girls of the Hood family. Some lovely papers, stamps, ink pads and this gorgeous owl punch. I admit it, I had a little play before the girls, but they will get to play too, I promise 😀 Thank you Jayni and Craig, you are very generous to think of us, when you are so busy as it is. If you are reading this Jayni, I admire you so much, not because of your gift to us, but because of your gift of  serving others in Malawi, especially the little children. Can’t wait until you get back to Aust. and we can have a good catch up.Check out my creative Dad. He made this echidna!! I was impressed. I’m thinking of selling it on ebay for him, do you think anyone would buy it for their garden? It has feet, and a nose. I love seeing my parents getting crafty.

I can’t believe that it has nearly been two weeks since the miscarriage. I have done a lot of thinking. There are times where I have felt a little alone, but Jared has been my great supporter. I am so thankful for him, and I realise that through this whole ordeal that perhaps I have taken this for granted in the past. He has been very tender.  Sunday was a difficult day, I thought I was fine. Jared was at a different church, so went to our home church on Jared’s advice, due to extra meetings for him. When I had people all of a sudden come up to me to say “sorry”, I had to use all my energy to keep it together. Now I am fine. I have come through the other side. God has been my strength, he has even given me a strong husband who knows me, and children who love me. Thank you God for our daily blessings. Time ticks on….

Now to show you my sewing, I made these for a young lady who is having a baby. We will be hosting a baby shower this weekend for her. I made 6 pairs of little nappy covers for her (3 boy, and 3 girl designs).I also made a few tissue covers, I gave a few away before I took this picture.These are super easy to make, you can find the instructions here:http://sewmuch2luv.blogspot.com/2011/05/easy-peasy-tissue-cover-tutorial.html All it takes are some rectangles 51/4 inches by 3 3/4

Jared went out with a couple of children the other day, and Cassandra had spent all her life savings on a bunch of roses and a fish. Well, evidently she paid for the roses, and Jared secretly gave her the rest of the money for the gold fish. I was so moved by her kindness, you see, she wanted to cheer me up. The next day, she came up to me, and asked me if I could give her some money, because she spent all hers, lol.Jared also did an amazing thing. He went into a material shop!! This was a huge thing for him to do, not only because of the type of shop, but because of the prices, lol. With Alycia’s help he choose a pattern of a bowling set WITH material to make it. I am impressed.My first outing was to a celebration of Jared’s boss retirement. The whole day was planned without us knowing what we were going to do for the day. We turned up to college, got in the back of someones van and drove to the river. It was a lovely day on the river although Jared still has me laughing when he said it reminded him of Gilligan’s Island. It made me wonder who on the boat could built us a big hut if we marooned. I didn’t like my chances.

A couple of months ago, I sent a letter and a tube of Vegemite to the Duggars. I was asking for a favour. I was hoping that they might write a note to a young lady who was getting married. I must admit I was disappointed that they didn’t write back in time, but today….I recieved a postcard from them. Ok, so it wasn’t for the young lady that I wrote for, but for me. I was still thrilled.On the back was a little message, and what I love is that the postcard had the gospel printed on it. What a wonderful opportunity that they have to share the gospel with people who write to them.Today Jared took the children (except for Stephanie) to get the car serviced. He potted around the city with three (while Lachlan was at school). Stephanie and I went up to Sassafras which is only 5 mins away.  There are some cool shops there, particularly the toy shop. I love buying toys to put away in the present cupboard ready for a pressie for someone special. This is what I bought.I said to Steph, “when I die, empty the present cupboard quickly, because when someone sees it, I will look like a nut”, Steph said “perhaps I could hand them out at your funeral?” That girl cracks me up! Seriously though, I would like Bibles handed out at my funeral, when people walk out the door. After all it is the greatest treasure. To read for yourself of God’s grace to us. while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Yesterday I spent a bit of time looking for my bagel recipe only to find that the website has now closed, ugh! Why didn’t I write down my recipe? So I searched for another, and found a suitable one. They were so easy to make, I didn’t even have to wait for the dough to rise for an hour.They are very yummy.My second batch looked better, I had to make the holes bigger (but I didn’t take a photo of those), you have to take my word  that they tasted yummy. Oh, yeah, I also made some cookies, nom, nom, nom.

Apart from cooking, finishing off school for the year (we still have a few weeks to go), we are still applying for visas for STeph, thus the photo..Haha, this makes me laugh! Meanwhile, Alycia is going through a growth spurt. She is so lethargic, I remember Steph being like that at the same age. The weird thing is the skin around her eye is breaking down too, the exact thing happened to Steph. She wasn’t so out of it, that she couldn’t make a happy animal out of her apple though.Can you see all my vases? I gave them a little clean with some salt and water today, works a charm. I learn’t this trick from “How Clean is Your House”. I also cleaned my pantry again!! Don’t you love this picture? A lady in the Church that Jared sometimes preaches at gave it to us.This is my first ever cross stitch. I made it for Jared when I was about 19. It means Scripture (the Bible), Grace  and Faith alone. You can only find out who God is and what he requires of us by reading the Bible. You can only be saved by Grace (God saves us despite us, not because of any good thing we have done), and faith alone ( a free gift).

Today is the 7th of November, so what did we do? Well, Alycia was ill on Sat, so you guessed it, Lachlan was sick today. So he got a day off. I did school with Camden, Steph did her own school, and Alycia and Lachlan slept. In the afternoon when people were feeling a little bit brighter we went to 7-11 to get a free slurpee each. Everyone seemed to really enjoy them. Later in the afternoon I also found this recipe, so I whipped some up. It was so yummy. I gave some to everyone.I think that they liked it. You can find this recipe and others here:http://www.mhcmag.com/On the weekend we bought a trampoline from Aldi for Camden and Cassandra as an early Christmas present.I did a bit of sewing on the weekend. Do you like my mermaid?and some Tilda birds.They are friends.Look at my wall. I think we have a problem.Our house is sinking, ugh!

Look at my vintage girl. My sister gave her this top. I had a track suit like this as a child…..I didn’t like it. But, hey, it suits her. It will have to grow on me.Ok, so here is my psycho secret. I am collecting smurfs. Perhaps I have enough now? I saw this bag in the op shop which now houses them. A perfect match don’t you think?