It has been how long??

Has it really been since the 24th of July that I sat down and posted here?  I mean a picture post, or an updating post.  Sorry everyone!  But if you knew how much we had to do in the past month...!  Sooo where do I start?  Well, we had John and Naomi, and then John only and then both again (yes it is confusing) for at least a week and a half.  We also had two Manse Nights for the youth in our church.  And of course I'm schooling Amelia and Aaron and trying to spend time with Owen.  Keith gets attention regardless, but it is the middle children that can be neglected, at least that is from my experience.  Amelia is almost done her grade 1 Language and Spelling.  I have yet to see her finish her Saxon Math.  I will not be buying Saxon again for her...I think they could've made it at least somewhat colourful for the first several grades!  Probably it would've been better if I bought the manipulatives to go with it but well you try to pinch pennies (ahem dollars!) here and there.  I've already bought her Grade 2 Math, Language and Spelling from Abeka, but I would really like to get another Apologia Science book and maybe just maybe dive into some History.  I really want to know what The Mystery of History is like so if you've done quite a bit of it please leave a review I want to hear from you!  Yes, I am rambling again!  So with Aaron what am I doing?  Well, he is practicing how to write letters and it is rather hilarious to watch.  B's end up with three humps usually...the X's look more like T's and so on. At least he is trying.  I'm going through Amelia's K4 readers with him and he seems to be doing quite well...at least when he isn't being a goof!  

Oh no!  He can pull himself up!  And I actually caught him getting himself up on his feet with out holding onto anything!  I hope walking isn't coming too soon!

He really wishes he could be out there too.

Aww!  Seriously he is like this most of the time!

Cauliflower Bean Casserole = yum!!

Well!  Here I am typing with one hand and holding baby in the other as wells trying to cook dinner and write up a blog post...yes ridiculous I know.  I am putting him down whenever I need to do something dangerous in case you think I don't care about the safety of my child.  He is not very happy right now. :(

So, I'm typing this to give you a yummy casserole that Ida gave me which is what I'm making right now too.  It has passed 4 Smith's and they all gave it a good grade (oh one of those Smith's was me, ahem).  So have a go at this because it is filling due to fat content, but delicious though easy!  And you know how mum's want easy yet delicious meals! :)

Cauliflower Bean Casserole

1 cauliflower cut into florets 

1 bag of frozen green beans

1 small onion chopped

1 package of bacon

1 cup of grated cheese

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 cup of butter (yes the original recipe calls for 1 whole cup...I put in maybe 1/2 cup don't do this to the mayo though, because the mayo gives this dish its delicious flavour)

So you cook up the cauli, the beans and fry up your bacon (I snip mine in half before hand to make it easier to eat) and your onion if you don't like too much of the raw onion thing (husband).

In a large casserole dish mix the cooked stuff together.  Then I guess you melt the butter or at least soften it enough to mix with the mayo and you mix that into the mixture and then you top it with the cheese and bake it at 300 for 20 minutes.  Enjoy :)

All right I have to grate my cheese now! :) 

Happy 6th Birthday Amelia Jane!

We are having a quiet day here.  I decided not to do the birthday party thing.  It just seems like too much work.  I also don't want my children to expect a big thing every single time.  Maybe next year I'll try to manage one of her friends to come and play, but for now I think we will keep it family time. :)  

I finally made her cake this morning after I substituted a couple of ingredients (I didn't have quite enough cocoa, nor white sugar).  She said she would like a chocolate cake with pink icing so that is what I made, nothing fancy...I don't have energy for that but I do enjoy trying to make things cute like: Owen turns 1

Birthday girl.

:)

 

LOL we don't look alike do we?

Sorry for all the photos of me but Amelia wanted to take them, and I wanted one with just the two of us since we are outnumbered in our family!  So she is six today.  Can't believe it. 

Another week

At this moment Amelia is trying to play by ear the "Happy Birthday" tune on the keyboard. (Somebodies birthday is coming up.)  Aaron is uh, lets just say he is busy.  Owen is playing in the playroom.  Keith is taking a morning nap.  And Mr. Smith is preparing for tomorrow's services.  And you know what I am doing. :)  I wasn't planning on doing this today, but I figured it has been awhile since I updated this little page.

It is busy.  Life is.  

We had John and Naomi for the weekend.  And on Monday we went to the Museum again (it was raining so no bush walk). Amelia was thrilled to know it was raining, I think somebody likes going to the Museum!  Jett was off to Gisborne for two nights (Wed & Thurs).  I went to Melissa's for dinner on Thursday which I really enjoyed!  

Isn't he just a doll?

 I love this little man!

 Even if he is just a wee bit too active!

 This small park is maybe 5 minutes of a walk from us (if that far).

 Quite nice I think!

 :)

Jett brought home fruit from the Gueze's (Gisborne)  Yum!  His fruit is so much better than the supermarket! And yes those are the green fuzzy kiwi fruit.  (The mesh bag is holding golden kiwi's from the supermarket. And there are some oranges there that came from the Jago's.) So many thanks to the Gueze's for the fruit!  If I had their address I could properly send a thank you note...anybody have it off hand? :)

 

Now I had better get to cleaning my house.  Looks quite messy and dirty at the moment!

what we've been up to

Hello!  I know my mother is wondering where I've been maybe you have too.  I guess blogging isn't something I find a lot of time for.  But I can assure you that I've been busy.  This is the first week of school holidays (2 week break between the terms)  and it is pretty much over.  Not sure what I've really accomplished in a weeks time but nevermind I have high expectations...too high. So in the past two weeks or so...

We've been to see Kelly Tarlton's with Rosie, Linda and Hanna.

Keith is teething... :(

We caught nasty colds.

Aaron is doing so well on the potty so we rewarded him today with a new train.  This is very exciting news for us. :)

We visited the Verheijs (er I did with the kids) and had most of them over.

We had the Van Kralingens for dinner.

I got a deep cleaning schedule in order, and set up something for every day (you know: Monday wash day etc....monday is not my wash day just so you know). 

I started to put that list into practice.

And now the photos....

My little helper feeding Keithie.

Sitting on the sea turtle at Kelly Tarlton's.

Aaron was very unsure of this...see he "was" scared of sharks.

Wearing Mommy's glasses for a second.

This is what happens when you give eager children a bucket of "sidewalk" chalk.  They were pretty good that afternoon!

This is what happens when your child is such a wriggler...or more like a bouncer and half crawling at the moment!

Aaron eating his well liked Golden Kiwi fruit.

Amelia eagerly reading a letter from her cousin Savannah.

 

Guess who is 6 months!!

We love this wee man very much.

Especially with the smiles.

They are contagious.

:) Who does he look like?

Amelia's photography.

And again.

I've always enjoyed watching my babies develop new skills.  To us they are so basic (the skills that is) but they are the starting point for so much more.  A baby needs the strength to be able to crawl, and balance to be able to stand, and more strength and balance to walk etc.  What is even more cute to see develop is the child's character.  And Keithie is showing quite the character!  He is our strongest baby yet.  Even in the womb he was a strong baby in comparison to the others (his kicks and punches were very strong).  When he was first born he was already keeping his head up and the midwives were wowed over his strength.  Jett is going to put his strength to good use when he is older such as cleaning the car and mowing the lawn... :D  Keithie is also energetic, not slow like Aaron was, but energetic like Owen was.  He is also a very smiley baby like Aaron was.  So...we've got quite the mixture. :)  One of my favourite things to see first thing in the morning (you know when I'm still half awake but Keithie is wide awake) is to look over to his cot and between the rails see him talking to himself and then once he sees me he gives this gorgeous big smile...ahh, it is lovely. :)

Auckland Museum

A very large waka (canoe) or rather a war canoe.  I forget how many warriors they were able to fit in but it was around 100 or so. 

One end of the waka.

 So yes, we went out today (Monday is J's day off)  so we opted for the Museum.  Good thing we did too as it began to rain heavily while we were looking around the museum.  I really wanted to get a picture of the outside...because it has these lovely Grecian or Roman (don't know the difference) columns/pillars, but like I said it was raining.  :)  The museum is free for Aucklanders.  If you can prove you live in Auckland that is!  So free for us! :)

Scallywags!  These two are good friends.

The kids enjoying running around on top of a miniature map of Auckland and area.

 They had a kid's section at the museum which was pretty exciting for the kids (the above photo is not in that section)!  Hands on stuff is great, and being able to get very close to cockroaches is double great too because we all know how much mommy likes those buggies! 

Letter to Diana written after we went to the museum.

Letter to Anne Roos... we was eating! LOL

more

Me and Tanya

L-R Monique holding Laura & Bianca holding Maria

Keithie and Laura

Rev and Mrs Rayner with Owen

We thoroughly enjoyed having them!

Photos! :)

Amelia asleep.  Notice the purple bear is perfectly tucked in.

Gotta like how kids sleep!

Your smiling aren't you??  I knew it!  I wonder who can not smile at a cute happy baby!

Amelia and her new best friend Diana. Amelia has a lot of "best" friends by the way. :D

So this is what happens when you discover the camera still works.  You turn on the bedroom lights and take pictures of your sleeping children regardless if they wake up or not.  Yes I am slightly crazy.  :)

But isn't this exciting?  I gave one last try to see if the camera works.  I wiped the areas where the batteries would be in the cam. and then popped new and good (a good brand) batteries in and voila it worked!  So we are happily taking as many photos as we can, because really who wants to lose these cute cute moments of Keithie?  Not I! :)

webcam photos

Thanks to my mom for taking most of these...yes we still do not have a camera, and I'm not sure whether to buy a new one or get the Nikon fixed.  The Nikon is about 4 or 5 years old now.  Advice please?

And isn't my 5 month old growing fast??  He is no longer that newborn baby but he has become this very active rolling around and trying to crawl boy.  They don't stay little for long at all.

Tomorrow morning D.V. Jett arrives back from Scotland I'm just a *little* excited (more like jumping up and down excited).  Tomorrow afternoonish the Rayners arrive, and the communion begins Thursday.  So we are in for a busy but I hope blessed weekend!

The Lord is my portion

Something I read this evening that was very comforting... to read more of the same go to: Daily Need Divinely Supplied

THE LORD MY PORTION

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him." Lam. 3:24

It is our great privilege, beloved, that we live in a portionless world. This is both our distinctive badge and our Christian charter. When God parceled out the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, He made an exception in the tribe of Levi, to whom He said, "You shall have no inheritance in the land, neither shall you have any part among them;" assigning as His reason, "I am your share and your inheritance." The gospel teaching of this is obvious and significant. As the Lord's true priesthood, this world is not our portion, nor earth our rest. It may have required some painful discipline, and no small measure of faith, on the part of the devout Levite, as he gazed upon the fertile meadows, the watered plains, and the vine-clad hills of the Promised Land, before he was made willing to relinquish it all for Him who is invisible--and it needs no little teaching and discipline of our God, and no little faith on our part, before we are led to give up the world, the creature, self, and all, for Christ--satisfied to have the Lord alone as our Portion, and heaven only as our inheritance.

But the Lord will not put His people off with anything unworthy of Him to give, or them to accept. He has set them apart for Himself, and Himself apart for them. "All believers are the Lord's CLERGY; and as they are His portion, so He is theirs." (Leighton.) "The Lord's portion is His people, Israel is the lot of His inheritance." "The Lord is my portion, says my soul." His love to us was so great, that when He could give no greater proof of that love, He gave HIMSELF. Nothing more could have expressed the yearnings of His heart, nothing less could have satisfied the desires of ours.

And oh, what a Portion is God! All that He is and all that He has is ours! Every attribute of His being is over us, every perfection of His nature encircles us, every pulse of His heart beats for us, every glance of His eye smiles upon us. We dwell in God, and God dwells in us. It is not the world which is our portion, but HE who made, upholds and governs the world. It is not the creature who is our portion, but the Lord of angels and the Creator of men. Infinite portion! illimitable power! immeasurable grace! boundless love! all-satisfying good! all, all is ours!

And what a Portion, O my soul, is Christ! A divine Christ, a redeeming Christ, a full Christ, a sympathizing, ever-present, ever-precious, ever-loving Christ.

Believer in Jesus! make the most of your portion. It is all-sufficient for all your need. God has, perhaps, made you poor in this world, that you might be rich in faith and an heir of that kingdom of glory, the New Jerusalem, He has prepared for you--whose foundations are precious stones, whose walls are jasper, whose gates are pearls, whose streets are pure gold, and through which softly flows the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb, in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river is the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruit, and yielding her fruit every month. All this awaits you! Hope in the Lord, hope in adversity, hope in trial, hope against hope, for God in Christ is your present and eternal Portion. "The Lord is my Portion, says my soul; therefore I will HOPE in Him."

Camera is no more!

That title is very sad.  Because well, our camera has decided not to work anymore which means, no photos!  And no little video clips.  This is not good.  Because Keith is doing a lot of cute cute things that I want to capture before he gets too big!  I'll have to figure this out, but for now we are cameraless. :( On another note, Jett is coming home tomorrow D.V. from Grafton.  That man has been away so much since last fall.  In fact I counted that he will be gone about 5 months in less than 12 months by the end of this month.  Sorry if that didn't make sense, I don't really have brains at the moment to go back and try to fix. :)  Anyways, Jett got his Kiwi driver's licence, I'm next at some point.  His TX license was about to expire...oh this coming Friday.  Yep, somebody has a birthday coming up!  Which also means we have our anniversary coming up.  It was our bright idea to have his birthday and our wedding side by side (11th & 12th).  Owen's 3rd Birthday is right around the corner too, and I have a feeling we'll do the present and cake thing before Jett goes to Scotland (next week).  So, there you have our little update. :)