My Clever-Cloggs Husband...

The sound of hammers, saws, sanders and drills have been ringing in our ears recently. Poor Sam, every time he hears "darls, I've got a GREAT idea" he knows his work is cut out. Having a large family in a small house, without any storage isn't ideal and we have been brainstorming ways to make life more organised and in the long run more simple. We have one corner of the living room in which we have tried putting the dining table, arm chairs and a few other set ups. I decided we needed a play room with loads of storage to keep the bedrooms calm an clutter free. So one morning while having a cuppa I whipped up a drawing of my vision and left Sam to ponder how to actually make it work. The next day we trotted off to Bunnings. 2 hours later we had two very excited big kids and two very tired little bear cubs - but we also had a trailer of supplies for what is really our first big project in our little house. We fed the kids arvo tea from the sausage sizzle outside Bunnings (proceeds to the Longford Bowls Club-perfect) and went home to get started. Daddy and his apprentice set to work!

I'm really proud of the finished result, and while the decorating hasn't commenced (cushions, a bunting and of course some artwork from our budding Monet's) this is it so far:

Hasn't he done a wonderful job?? Amazing huh!! 

And the kids are as pleased as punch....

Xx

End of Year Busy Busy

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Can you believe it????!!!!

I didn't have a chance to make it into town to buy the teachers any goodies so I had to raid the garden. We've had so many windy days, most of the flowers have blown clean off the bushes, but this is what we found:

And now I'm baking gingerbread for George's end of year class celebration. 

One more thing-for those who don't know Louis is now Rupert. Nobody seemed to know how to pronounce or spell Louis which when you have a very tricky surname is a bit mean. So Rupert it is. Good thing we hadn't registered it properly!! 

Anyway, I've been a bit busy recently-I will update the last few months in the next few blog posts- but it has been CRAZY busy!! Cheers. 

Louis Update

These pictures of Louis were a bit too beautiful not to share...

A bit fuzzy I'm sorry, but not bad for a 2 week old!!

Cypress Chain Gang

When we bought the house one if the things that turned me off was the front yard...

Bit bland huh! And that concrete path ughh! Enter the Cypress Chain Gang! 

Not content to sit and watch, Arthur joined in by loading the wheel barrow with concrete...

Well done boys - about 1/4 of the way through...

Slugs & Snails vs Sugar & Spice...

Ahh, the last round of parties. George's mate James had a lovely 6th dress up shin dig at a local hall. Great party, and the kids had a ball...
Ingrid's mate Isabella turned 5 and had a pretty, pink all girls do (except for Arthur and one other little bro) on the farm. Olivia decorated the table beautifully, and borrowed the Johnston's pony Tess. See if you can spot which pics are from which do....
The last one is of Ingrid & Isabella off to gymnastics and ballet respectfully - post party. She slept well that night!!

At Last - He's Here!!!

Hi all sorry it's been a while. We've been a little busy with little Louis, who is now 2 weeks old.

 George & Ingrid have been such good helpers and dote on him which is lovely. Arthur can't work out why he wont just get up and play with him and needs the odd reminder to be gentle! All well meaning though, however I get the impression Louis will definitely be able to stick up for himself!!

And yes, like the others he LOVES to sleep in the bath!!

Duh Wha?

Oh dear. Tony Abbott is catching. The inner Brisbane Liberal candidate Teresa G was questioned about why she couldn't give an answer on how which way she will go on marriage equality. "I will not be pressured. It's politically driven". Duh Wha? Sorry love. You do realise you are a POLITICIAN. And that there is an election campaign on... She also said something along the lines that when she was ready she would vote about what HER conscious felt comfortable with. Errr you do realise that you are representing the people... For the record once it became very clear she was going down in a big way she declared her commitment to marriage equality.
Fiona in Sydney (you know, the one with sex appeal??) was asked why asylum seekers is such an important issue for outer suburban voters. Her answer stated that as a mum the motorways are so overcrowded that when you are racing to pick up kids from daycare by 6pm and the overcrowding meant that they were being overcharged (per kid mind you) for every moment they're late. Yeah right. Late for day care-asylum seekers... I don't know about the other mums and dads out there, but when I think about having to make a decision about putting my children on a boat to keep them safe I think how bloody lucky we are in our situation and how we as a nation ought to show some bloody compassion for people in need...but that's just me...

These Boots Are Made For Climbing...

New shoes all round....again! I did lustfully look at the $8 Target numbers on the way past, but decided the $70 Clarke pair for the big kids school shoes would be a much better investment. One pair lasted 2 days, the other 9. Thankfully Lead Em Footwear have fantastic service and have sorted us out. We also bought a pair of proper shoes for Arthur. This investment was somewhat spurred on by him getting up on his hind legs and taking two steps (in front of the whole family, no less). Mostly though we just needed something he couldn't remove and hurl at passers by while traveling in the chariot (pram).
Armed with new shoes its now been 9 days....and not even a step!!! They have, however improved his climbing skills...

Off Air Update

Hi. Remember we went off air for a bit? Well went to Queensland on a holiday. Turned out to be a comedy of errors.
It started when our plane was delayed, then spent further time circling the Gold Coast. We didn't get back to mum's til midnight. Thankfully Mum leant us the Silver Swan (1980s Camry) which is a spare car just for this type of occasion. This meant we were able to be independent which was fantastic. By the 3rd night Arthur was in Nambour hospital. I promise I will never complain about the LGH again. It is a 5 star resort in comparison. We were staying with my dear friend Kate who held the fort for me with our two biggies and her two (what a woman). In fact she spoiled us all rotten the entire 5 days we were there-the food was amazing, and she managed to cater for the gluten free vegetarian low GI requirements like a pro. In fact the cooking was magnificent. Ingrid and Mia chased the chooks most days (hmmm there was a curious lack of egg sandwiches on the menu though. Shame. She makes THE BEST egg sangas!!!). While the boys leggoed to their hearts content.
We then cruised down to Brissy to pick daddy up and had a few days at Kingscliff. Poor Sam came straight off night shift and little Arthur bear was still requiring ventolin during the night and we were all in the same very small room together. Made for a bit of a (understandingly) grumpy Papa Bear!!!
We had a lovely day eating our way round the Byron farmers market. We then headed down to Lennox and ran into an old friend. Then we stopped at Bangalow for arvo tea en route back to the caravan park. I drove the last leg while everyone we had a snooz. Poor George had some sort of reaction to something and when we got back he had such a swollen face the poor thing couldn't talk properly. He was white as a ghost too.
Then it was onto Grandpa James' new bachelor pad at Burleigh Heads for a few nights. I managed to lock the keys, my wallet, phone and ALL the groceries in the Silver Swan at Robina Shopping Centre. Poor James had to leave a meeting early to come and help. We ended up having to smash a window to get in (they don't make em like that any more). We did manage to find a wreckers yard with a spare window which was lucky!! We had such a lovely time at GPJ's, though the highlight for the kids was the pool and the beach. We also took him down to the farm for a day. We built fires and the kids rode in the back of his ute and played in dirt (Arthur ate dirt) and generally had a wow of a time. Before we knew it, the week was over and Daddy was back on the plane. The rest of us headed back up the hill to Mums. She was still at the wedding in Bali for the first few days. And guess what? It rained everyone of those days. We did have one rainy day playing twister with Max & Helen which was a hoot. We also had an encounter with a baby salt water croc. Arthur promptly put its tail in his mouth and bit, hard.
It was worth all the rain to see mum for a couple of days before we once again met daddy at the airport and all flew home again. Where it has rained for 4 1/2 weeks straight!! x

Every Little Boys Dream

George's class has been exploring our community. As part of this they have been going on class excursions to parents workplaces. Sam's dad is a fireman....

Glam Gladys

Ahh it's glam being a housewife ain't it!! We've had the wettest August in town for a couple of decades. This is my mountain to tackle today....and my little assistant who seems to feel the washing machine is an exciting contraption from side show alley-maybe like the Big Dipper?