Cassie's Cuddles

We didn’t go to the Anzac service, we didn’t even make Anzac biscuits, but we do remember them. Thank you.

We had a quiet day home with everyone, so nice. We did a bit of a clean up.dishes done.Bins emptied.Oh man! While I was on the treadmill up stairs, Jared gave Cassandra permission to have her first shower by herself. Well, she sat over the plug hole, thus flooding the floor again!! This carpet is doomed!In the afternoon, Jared took myself and the three youngest children to Eastland so he could buy his “special” hot chocolate. I didn’t want one, after all I’m trying to loose weight, but he really wanted me to. So…One dark chocolate milkshake (didn’t much like that one), the other one was a hot, cold chocolate, yummo. Of course these two were shared between the five of us. When we got home, I made up some badges. I got this tiny toy badge set from the op shop, so I had a little play.I made some tiny badges.I got out an old Cath Kidston catalogue and cut out some of the designs and made these up. Then I got out the real badge maker and made up some bigger ones. I also made two American girls badges too.I have also made up some yoyo hairclips for a friend’s daughter. I cut out some extra circles so that she could learn to do some too. They are super easy.I have also bought 80 of these little cupcake container ready for Dayspring Day. I need another 3 sets of 8 though. I hope I can get them tomorrow.Today I have done two lots of burning 500 calories on the treadmill. I did this yesterday too. I am eating 1300 calories, so I had better burn some weight this week, seriously, or those scales will be thrown out of the window.

If you want to see the Owl swap I sent, go look here:http://craftybitsswapspot.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/happy-hooters.htmlI saw this little sign on Pinterest, don’t you love it.I also love this sign. I hope that I am such a woman.

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.

8Kg down, yay! I found the above book in the opp shop. It gave me a little laugh. Of course the women ends up giving in to the chocolate, but I will not…..well, maybe just a little bit ;D

So, I haven’t been on here much, I don’t know why, I just haven’t. What have I been up to? Just life. Of course I have been getting up and going for a walk every day, counting calories, and craving chocolate :D. I have made a few things such as this little fellow.I made a bag to put him in.My big girl has a job! She is now the administrator of RTR, The Reformed Theological Review. She has been helping Jared who is the assistant editor while he learns the ropes, and then he will be editor. Stephanie is stoked. She actually gets Paid, she has earn’t over $400 already. Start saving for a car Steph 😀Do you like my water bottle? A friend Natalie, gave it to me as an encouragement to me to keep on loosing weight. I have been pleasantly surprised by the support I have been shown by everyone. Granted some people say weird things, but that’s life right? To date I have lost 6 kilos, a whole stone!! I realise it will get harder, but hey, let me be happy for a bit ok?Look at all these blankets! I have a friend who is living at a uni, and she saw all of these blankets being put into the rubbish skip, so she pulled them out. They are 100% wool! I have kept them for the next Malawi shipment. Phew, that was close. In this day people go on about not wasting, and yet someone drops off over 17 bags of blankets in the bin? There is nothing wrong with these, how wasteful.The three oldest children played volleyball with their church team last Sat. I must say that they are probably the worst players on the team, but they try..I went to watch the last couple of hours and brought along some gingerbread biscuits for the team to nibble after a hard days work…

It is school holidays at the moment, so I will have to show you what the kiddies are getting up to another day. In the mean time, we have found a bird in our fireplace (don’t ask), a fish died, and the guinea pig that has been loose down our street in the reserve is finally missing in action :C He lasted for nearly three weeks, but the last time we saw this little white creature, he was walking slower ( not a good sign). May all your little animals be well and happy.