Cassie's Cuddles

It was a quiet morning, we all just potted around. Ellie came over early, we gave her a little sewing machine ($20) from Clints. I hope that she will get some practice making some things. Alycia also gave her “Happy Birthday” crown to her. Camden and Cassandra played “Let’s dig up gold in the back yard”…I wish! Lachlan played outside with some neighbourhood boys.

After lunch we popped into see mum and dad, and then to Southland to do some more pottering! Afterward Jared said “let’s go to a Chinese restaurant” so off we went to Sandringham, we actually mean’t to go to Blackrock. On the way we reminised about all the places that we have been to, or was special to us. First stop was my Nana’s old place, but it has changed so much…was it number 6?

We ended up in Mordialloc, and had our chinese food.We then walked along the pier, and climbed on rocks and a raft..It was lovely to all be so relaxed.Jared pretended to throw Lachlan backwards into a very expensive car!Camden loved the sprays of water.Lastly a picture of Steph and me!

The last few days are a blur. We have friends who live in Belgrave Heights, and they were evacuated on Monday? because of the fires. We actually had some ash over in The Basin….very scary, and yet surreal. It was very smokey. Thankfully they were able to go back home on Tuesday. Today everyone was warned about being on alert. Schools were closed for the day in our area, and others. The wind started to pick up at lunch, so I decided to go out with the kiddies. I asked Alycia to check the two children next door to see if they would come with me, but their mum had the good idea to have a sign on the door telling me that they were at work with her. We sat in the shops, the children played thumb wars.It is good to be home again, we even went for a swim after tea!

Yesterday Camden decided that he wanted to be a scientist. He is really interested in those magic trees at the moment, I’ll show you one tommorow. Yesterday we made some green pancakes, Camden was thrilled. We all gagged though, because they tasted like playdoh, ugh! Who would have thought that food colouring would have made such a differance to the taste?Some day this week, I really couldn’t tell you what day, I went into Dimmey’s. Cassandra always want to run off in this store, in 5 seconds, this is where I found her…up on the platform, and in a dog house! A new cubby house perhaps?Today we did some sorting of all my horded stuff, I am ashamed of myself. I have so many stickers, stickers that I don’t even give to my children because they end up on walls, floors, furniture….well, you get the picture.

Today is what I consided to be a great day. School went well, I had a lot of cooking done by lunch, and Cassandra was content doing crafts, yay!

After school the neighbourhood children played outside. Cassandra went out too!I love this photo of Steph, that Ellie took.

This afternoon I decided to go through the many draws that I have filled with craft items, plastic bags, Dayspring stuff and material. Do you believe after gathering everything together this is my biggest collection of..Rubber Bands! How can I have so many? I obviously can never find them, so I go out and buy more, duh! Here is a photo of my hoarding habit.

We started the day with Alycia donning a chef’s hat and apron, and cooking her first caserole. She did the whole thing herself, with me from the table (teaching Camden) talking her through the next step. She did a really great job, she was so good at following directions.

The washing machine leaked all over the place, suds and all, ugh “Mr Washing Machine man where are you?”Cassandra tried her hand at “sewing” with lacing cards.Just for interest, check out this photo of Jared and I, we were 17!  How young do we look? Oh man, I wish that I never looked at chocolate!and now, a silhouette version of our family..

FOR TODAY 23.2.09

 Outside my window..is a little dark and smokey, with a little glimpse of blue.

 I am thinking… I hope that it rains soon.

I am thankful for..My family, a beautiful home, and freedom to worship Christ.

 From the learning rooms…Alycia singing while she starts work on a Pace, Camden playing with Marbles

 From the kitchen… Ingredients are out to teach Alycia how to make a casserole.

I am wearing…  Jeans and a blue T-shirt.

I am creating… An appliqued square of Sun bonnet Sue for a friend (over due)

I am going… No where today, except to buy milk!

I am reading..My Bible, I am hoping to have read through the whole book by Septemeber (at this stage should have that done, in time to start again!)…

 I am hearing… The squawking of Cockies on the telephone wire..they are very loud, and the occasional Kookaburra.

Around the house…Cleaning needs to be done, especially the floor. 

 One of my favorite things… My computer, and my hoard of material..

A few plans for the rest of the week: to finish my applique, to shop way under budget (that should be a first).

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

Today Alycia turns 9!  I still see her as about 6, but no, time has moved on. I decided not to buy her toys because she is notorious for leaving things on the floor, so she chose a new doona cover set. I was pretty happy with that, especially as it was 40% off at Adairs Kids (a place I don’t even go into normally). She also recieved her first adult Bible! She choose a black NKJ, so now all she has to do is read it! Alycia is a little treasure, a little insecure though. I recently had a talk to her about “feeling” loved.  For some people they always have a feeling of being unloved, so it is important that she remembers that besides us loving her, she has a heavenly Father who loves her, and has proved that,by the sacrifice of His Son.  We met up with mum and my sister Nicky to have lunch, and then we went out for tea, taking Ellie with us too. Look at the size of this gelati!

Tonight I have been thinking about good examples. I have been blessed to have had some good christian role models in my life, ones that come to mind when I am thinking of which direction to take. I was talking to some friends the other day about the sabbath, there is no doubt that the Bible is clear about keeping the sabbath holy, so why have I gone into a shop or paid for the movies on a Sunday before? I guess I am a hypocrite. It really is amazing how you can think that something isn’t so bad if everyone does it. It is really rare to hear of people avoiding shops and the like these days.  It also makes me think now about what I do, and what negative influence I might have on someone…If you know me, it won’t take you long to realise that I slip up often, but hopefully you will also know that my trust is in Christ alone for my salvation.  I know with a certainty that only Christ  can save a sinner such as me!

This is Cassandra, yesterday she made some coconut balls for the College Opening Service. She couldn’t roll them into balls, but as you can see, she did everything else. She washed her hands about 20 times, so I can assure you that they were safe to eat!

The children were all well behaved during the service, it was such a late night for them.

Before I write this, I should really say that Jared and I have never celebrated Valentine’s day, but then again, if Jared choose to, I wouldn’t complain! But, Hey, I’m going to Europe, that is every Valentine, Christmas and Birthday since my birth, right? Today has been a day to remember our spouses in particular. My girls and I went to a friends renewal of wedding vows today. It was very God honouring, and one thing came across loud and clear, and that was that they gave God the glory for sustaining their marriage. I loved the fact that their three girls, aged 21, 18 and 15? each spoke or sang. One made a poem, another a song, wow, I actually shed a tear…..To celebrate, they didn’t want gifts, but just some afternoon tea, so that everyone could share in their day. I found these cute “Hershey Kisses” on another blog bellabia? Now I guess you would have to be an American to know what a Hershey is, so it was a little lost in translation..but it still tasted ok. The recipe was very simple, Orea biscuits, one packet plus 4 more biscuits, and a block of light cream cheese! Crush biscuits, mix in cheese, how easy is that? Here are some pics…oh, and you need to dip them in chocolate!

 Mold the cream cheese mixture into balls, put in the freezer for 10 min, take out then form a little tip at the top.

Dip into chocolate, place on foil, print off some little saying, and gather up the foil, easy!

I also made some for our church luncheon tommorow, Stephanie made the sausage rolls all by herself, how good is that?

 Gotta go now, so I hope that you all have a happy Valentine’s day. Now you can have a kiss with your cuddle! (how corny is that!)

Do you believe it? Jared will be going to Geneva to the Calvin 500 conferance, and because he loves me sooooooooooooo much, he can’t bear to experience Europe alone. Jared is sacrificing an expensive  motel, and other little luxuries so that he can bring ME!  Wow, I can’t believe such a thing. Despite saying that I don’t have any interest in Rome, I will even be visiting there for a Day!  I don’t know if I could take on the Pope, but if I see him, I would probably try to convince him that he isn’t any mediator and neither is Mary. Aren’t we glad that we have the Bible to read ourselves? This is what the conferance is all about. Both sets of parents have offered to look after the children for three weeks (yeah, I know, they are very brave), but considering my dad works full time, it might be fairer to have two parents (being Jared’s) to brave our little bundle. I feel a little nervous leaving Cassandra ( I hope that she doesn’t forget me!).

Today we started on school and then went with mum to the Carrabean Gardens. After some food shopping, we came home for lunch, and then back to school. Camden fell in love with this little tin train for $12, he had kept his birthday money from December, so I let him spend it, check it out.