No spend year

I have a very generous and selfless grandmother. Other then all the things she does, still at the age of 30 she gives me birthday and Christmas money. Now that I have children - once a month or so she pops money "for the kids" into our account. That money is so appreciated at this time in our lives.

So I decided this year that I would not purchase one thing for the boys - at all. I have come to realise that they have EVERYTHING! And i really just enjoyed adding to the things they already have. A trap of commercial wants!

So what about when they actually do need something, a new water bottle or hat shoes or swimmers? Well we just have to make do, and then get creative.

I'm looking forward to their birthday parties this year - and again this will include the no spend policy! There will be no - purchased - gift from us. I want to see if its possible. The parties will need to be on a strict budget with serious creative ideas to pull it off.

When grandma does spoil them, I save making any essential purchases for then. Today it was new pjs they did desperately needed, all thanks to grandma!

We manage to live quite comfortably although on one small income. I'd like to think we can keep this up and remain self sufficient.  It is teaching me a lot and hopefully the children will gain appreciation for their posessions  also.

I'm grateful for the blessing of knowing money is a gift and not my own. There is much good we can do with what we have been given and this is my responsibility.

Anyway, just some of my thoughts for today

xx

The life of a pilot's wife

The life of a pilots wife...

So he's been gone for more then a week, about 11 days and surprised me by coming over for the weekend - just over 24hrs he will be with us before another week away.

I heard a familiar sound pull up in our drive way and quickly opened the door to see him standing there. I was so shocked and happy. I threw my arms around him and held him tight - ( probably as tight as a kid would do when you pick them up from a day at day care!! )

He had a tiny bunch of roses (I know for a fact we can't afford roses but he did it anyway) - my heart melted seeing him. I knew the boys needed to see him, sariah did - we all did. I was determined to make the next 24hrs count so I said "right, no naps today! We are going out!!!"

We had a delightful trip doing a grocery run, then onto an afternoon drive around our town and a stop at a huge playground, packed with families for the weekend. To top the night off we had a movie night enjoying hot chocolate and jelly!

Right now he is asleep, which is annoying but just the way it is - its like their home time is just so they can sleep and have the energy to go through it all again.

We love daddy!

xx

Book reviews & Sea World!

I'm in and out of things, and always on the go never really with a moment to myself. Thats ok with me as what else would I be doing?

But in the middle of it all I like to read. Generally several books at once that i dip in and out of - unless its a novel that i love and i don't end up putting it down until I'm done. And there are certain books I should read more and over and over.

Good books are like gold - little treasures of wisdom. The books I've been looking at over the past many months are about parenting (of course) and about teaching children.

Obviously using my own heart mind and judgement, I decide what suits us and what doesn't. I would say though that unless it's not from an area I already feel passionate about - I probably wouldn't continue reading as I know my heart feels different.

So a while back I read this book -

It is the montessori one I wrote about some time ago. I must have been 'guided' to this book as I stumbled across it in an old op shop...seriously a diamond in the rough. I think it was written in the 70s but so much good knowledge! Talks about how we really have only just tapped into the notion of how much babies and the under 6 crowd actually do take in within these first years of life. How there is so much more we could be feeding them, knowledge wise, and how that transforms these little ones and therefore our joy as we parent them - if there is more pleasure rather then just 'babysitting' all day long, the task is joyful!

Another are these by Dr Shefali Tsabary. Seriously, revolutionary stuff. For me anyway. This is not at all how I was raised - nor anything like it within my extended family. 

Again, this was something that I stumbled on...I follow Oprah on instagram (yep i do) and just was scrolling through her posts not looking at anything in particular - as you do while on the internet! Then bam. Here was a post about an indian clinical psychologist presenting a different mindset as to how we parent. There is some great stuff on Dr Shefali on you tube to check out. I love her TED talk. 

There is also this one - i love the way this is written as I believe the author has no professional background - but is a mother herself. So wise in how she uses scriptures to bring to life what was the intention of us being mothers in the first place. 

There is also the Dr Sears library - a collection of parenting books that i like, in particular The Baby Book. All about attachment parenting while also from a western medical point of view. 

I like their notion of trying to do things naturally ie medication wise before taking on drugs to treat children with illnesses - 'skills before pills' is their motto - which i love. 

There are plenty more books I haven't  mentioned that I've read and have helped me during these years - all in all - I love spending time on the different theories and hearing why they work. 

I pray about my kids and my parenting. I seek for correct guidance and I don't take any of it lightly. If something i do isn't working I go back and learn where to make changes. I love that this is a learn on the go kind of job. I love that I've been trusted to look after these babies - such a long way to go though for me and my maturity and understanding in my motherhood. 

Here is a little pic of a recent trip to Sea World. More then 4 hours return drive - by myself with 3 hooligans - it actually was a great day and they were remarkably manageable and well behaved. They were thrilled when I told them I was taking them there...Asher kept saying " I love you for taking us mummy " and several times during our visit he just randomly would say thank you over and over. It was worth the sacrifice! 

Daddy is not sure when he's coming home, could be another week, could be more. The boys miss him. We all do and look forward to hearing him come through the door. Until he does, we will keep occupied and work hard at all the fun there is to do from the eyes of a child. 

xx

I

New year, fresh start.

This past year has been my biggest to date so far. Biggest because now I have 3 babies! All still while daddy is away flying. We are so thankful for a good job and lots of gained experience - though we hope for daddy to be home more real soon.

Our new place is lovely, the town is so pretty with less commotion from where we used to live. Lots of beautiful greenery and parks for exploring. I miss comforts of home and friends and "city" living - but know this is the right place for us right now.

My children prove to test me more and more each day. I'm tired, I'm cranky and fed up more then I'd like to be or even thought I'd ever be. I've been reading some good books, one in particular - Christlike Parenting. I can see it helping me in the daily grind of it all. 'Be of good cheer' is one lesson that is ringing in my ears at the moment from the book. Clearly our goal is to strive to learn and live as Christ - so all of my parenting challenges will become less of a burden as I keep that focus.

We have now given up TV for the most part for our kids! Can't believe I did it but it had been in my heart and mind to do for a long time. I thought it would be torture to not have it - seriously took about 3 days or less to kick the habit. We still have it there for family movie nights whenever it feels right...i can see a difference in the children wițhout its noise and nonsense. The thought that i was being mean to not let them have it or to not let them see their favourite characters/tv friends did cross my mind. I realised that its just a gimic, a lure and really just a false idea that those things are good for them. Me spending time with them is far better. The boys playing games together and imagining pretend stories is priceless and can't be beaten by a half hour tv show.

The boys don't touch a smart phone or ipad at all st any time of the day. I love that I've been able to maintain that as well.

We listen to lots of music, lots of 'read-along' books and play lots of games. The 2 year old messes up a lot of these games and it more often ends in tears but we're doing it. Our eldest loves memory card games and puzzles.. I'm talking serious puzzles. They are huge. I didn't think he could do them but man do I underestimate him. Probably we all do when we really think about it. There is so much more they could be doing that we just say they're too little. Our eldest is 4 and this morning unloaded the dishwasher and was seriously accurate and fast at it. He sets up 3 different kitchen timers we have when he has 'jobs' to do. They are a favourite motivation of his, those timers.

Anyway, although this all sounds amazing - no tv, puzzles, doing jobs around the house - reality is its hard and trying and draining every single day. I don't find any day cruisy or easy. I struggle. The baby is so much bigger now and needs even more. More food, more attention and having less sleep at nap time. She is delightful and so good to be around - the boys just can't stand that she takes up a lot of my time. It is teaching us all a lesson in patience.

We have had lots of outings and things going on over Christmas - here are some cute photos of it all.


Doing these fun things keeps me sane. Some mothers coping strategy is to stay at home - mine is getting out of those walls. Neither is right or wrong. I find i get lonely so going out makes me feel i have companionship... My eldest is like this too, has always loved being around and amongst people.

happy new year and hats off to mothering!