Life Changes and That's Okay!!

A lot has happened in our time here in Australia. We have experienced in your face wildlife, hot weather, raging storms, massive bush fires (that turned the sun blood red), been living with deadly spiders literally hanging in our doorways, moved states (from QLD to NSW), had another (unexpected) baby, celebrated birthdays, holidays, battled rare cancer (and won!!) and watched our kids grow and excel regardless of what obstacles confront our family or them directly.

Yes, you read all that correctly; birthdays, birth, braving cancer and beating odds.

In my last submission I mentioned the birth of our 5th child (and last daughter), Lilliah. Since that entry she has had her first birthday. She is walking, signing & talking (just a little); she says "Lilliah" when she wants something for herself.

Lilly-Billy on the day of her 1rst birthday anniversary. Awwww!

Lilly-Billy had a GIANT apple pie for her birthday... LOVE Costco!!
The other photo wouldn't load to show but it was so big that Lilliah could have sat in the middle and I still could have served pieces of the pie!!

She has a mind of her own and she doesn't have any issue letting you know if she doesn't approve with your decision on something... like nap time

She is growing so quickly! She knows she is the baby and uses her utter cuteness to her advantage!!







A few of the other kids have also had their birth-anniversary's:

Maileigh turned 3 this year. We had a very small gathering, and our friends brought the cake made especially for her.

She recieved a beautiful (giant) wood castle complete with little wooden people.
Maileigh loves her dresses but loves dinosaurs more.
She adores dinosaurs and mud, and oh, right... dinosaurs! It isn't uncommon for her pretty castle to be crowded with dinosaurs hanging from every turret and hiding in every room!

On another note Maileigh has begun reading simle words like am, sat, see. It is very exciting and very fun to watch her progress!!





Alexander is now 8 years old folks!!
He is doing great in his studies, attends hiphop dance classes on Mondays and has become really good on his bodyboard in the waves at the beach.

 He is still into airplanes, tanks and skateboards but his growing mind is starting to lean towards sports with a little more speed....
No he doesn't own that bike in the picture but he sure wishes he does!!

This year instead of a cake Alex went to a shop that specializes in donuts; he hand picked each donut with particular care for whom he was choosing for. The following day he and some friends (and siblings) attended a donut decorating workshop put on by the same place we went to get these donuts.

Jonboy is 5 and really starting to get some length to his smallish frame. Jonboy has begun to show a real interest in maps... but still LOVES dinosaurs!!

Jonboy has a really cool red bike that matches this brand new helmet he picked out and ordered off the internet. It worked out perfectly that his helmet arrived on the morning of his actual birthday!!












Jonboy is reading simple sentences now; he is VERY good at it. He also LOVES maths... he is adding and subtracting single digits now. One of his FAVOURITE things to do is mazes... he loves, loves, loves mazes.

mmmm... CAKE!!

RECENTLY....

The family recently attended an anniversary festival for Wades work/company.

 There were all sorts of rides, jumpy castles,

 

 climbing walls, face painting, free food and treats; 

as well the eldest two won rides on a giant mine truck! 

We noticed this guy during a bush ride just a week or so ago... he's loving the sun!! (so are we!)

Currently we are studying...

Jonboy's

Maileigh's

Alex's

Zedikiah's

One of the activities we did was creating our own paintings which had to include the basic plant system: leaves, stem and roots. Maileigh created a dolphin tree, Zed's is featured above, Jonboy created a mini forest and 

Alex created a tree he remembers seeing some where in Australia.

Lilliah... just wanted to taste them all! 

We are also working on expanding our experience in the cullinary world... we are trying out lots of new ideas, recipes and foods. 

Zed's apple-raspberry crumble

Zed's mini brownies

Alex made Vanilla cupcakes filled with his own
home-made raspberry filling

Bacon wrapped risole-hamburgers

Mini-risole meatballs that went into a very spicy rice dish (opps- little too spicy!!)

Over the past little while we have been trying to make an effort to make more memories with the kids.

The three boys have been able to attend many fun things such as...

 Going to Sydney with Wade and attending The Monster Jam show.

The boys attended an aborist camp with me; that I'd been invited to by some of my friends. The camp was held at Port Maquarie; about 3 hours away.

We saw a lot of neat and interesting things!! One of which was one of our camp mates sleeping in a tree!! There were a few others who did that as well.

There was this awesome swing set up that was about 7m high... that is close to about 23 feet!!

It was a great weekend; it will be something we'll have to make sure to do more of!!

Now for some seriousness...

Many of you already know that on Maileigh's birthday, June 5th, Wade was admitted to the Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle, NSW. Wade had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. As a family, and with wonderful support of (mainly) the homeschooling community in our area we were able to come through it. Wade continues to be closely monitored even though he is in remission. He has however, already returned to work part time; he is glad to be getting back into the swing of things. 
I want to say a special thankyou to all of you who spent so much of your time and energy praying and encouraging us through that time. It was a very humbling experience in so many ways. 

I also want to mention that this experience allowed opportunity for every one to reflect, realize some things and grow to adjust for these realizations (which often requires changes). In time that statement may make more sense; so I wanted to remind everyone that change isn't always bad, though it may seem so at the time. Many will not understand why or how such 'drastic' changes can happen, so please remember that there is always more than what meets the eye (or ear). 

Again, thank-you for your support, in any way you gave it. It was an experience I don't think any of us EVER want to endure again, but one that has certainly changed the course of our future forever.