The Year Passed

as the new year approaches, i have found time to reflect on the year that has just passed.

if i could sum up this year in one word it would be Hard.

it was one of the most challenging years i have faced.

mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

there were times where i thought i cannot do this anymore.

jevan has chosen the profession of auditing which takes him away from the home for 6 months of the year, add full time study and a time consuming calling on top of that and you have a husband that spends the minority of his time at home.

i had to adjust alot to these changes which in the beginning i struggled with, but with help i was able to work through these.

makai went through times of struggle where i sometimes would sit on my bed and with tears in my eyes and pray that i would be able to have the patience for him.

my own spiritual well-being took a beating for months and months which was so draining.

this year was not the relaxing year i had hoped for but because of all these trials and challenges i learnt so much about myself, i learnt what i can really do, who i have faith in and now looking back i am glad that i didn't have a relaxing year, i'm glad it was filled with challenging moments that were there for a time and season because without those moments i wouldn't have been grateful for the amazing sweet and tender moments i got along to way.

makai overcame so much at the end of this year, i am so proud of him and his quiet achievements.

i'm so grateful for the people that were put in his life throughout this year.

braxton may just be hitting the terrible two's in this last week but he has been a delight for the majority of the year, his own little personality really started to shine this year.

jevan has never worked so hard since i've met him, he is such a great example to me and the best husband and father i could have ever hoped for. together this year we have really learnt the true meaning of marriage.

as i sit here and think of the new year i cannot even imagine what is in store for me on my journey but i know it will be for my benefit - even if i may not like it.

He Is My Sunshine

today i got to watch makai at his first christmas concert.

i can't begin to write how proud i was of him.

makai gets really anxious and on the drive to the concert i could see his anxiety starting to get the better of him.

he kept saying "you will come with me mum and stand with me"

i was abit apprehensive on how he would go, if he would even stand up on stage and sing at all.

i walked him to his teacher and pretty much pushed him in the room they were getting ready in before he had time to turn around and run away.

i was nervous for him at this point.

but the curtains opened and there he was my big brave 3 year old standing right on the front row.

the music started and he was set.

singing and doing the actions he had overcome his fear and that could not have made me prouder.

my most favourite song of the day was when he sung "You Are My Sunshine."

the past month he would come home from pre-school and sing that song to me every afternoon while i cooked dinner.

these are the little memories that will last in my heart for a lifetime.

and yes of course, i cried - pregnancy hormones.

brothers

to be a mother is a special thing.

what i love most about being a mother is the opportunity i get to watch their individual personalities and their spirits grow and shine.

i am always amazed that these two boys were created by the same two people but yet are so different.

makai is reserved at times and will assess all possible risks in situations that are presented to him.

braxton has absolutely no fear and no worries that he will just dive into everything.

makai is sweet and tender but can be very challenging and strong headed.

braxton answers to noone but himself but if he is without his "ted" will cry until he gets him.

i could never compare these two little boys, they both bring a unique and special attribute to our family which we love, adore and couldn't be without.

i always wonder if they were best friends in the pre-existence and wanted to come down to this earth as brothers, i know they will always look out for one another and will share a deep love, connection and bond with one another.

i get the privilege to be apart of that and watch that special bond grow.

i cannot wait for their baby brother to come to this earth.

i bet he has been missing them while they have been gone and he has been itching to be with them again.

One By One

today i was reminded off my mum to do a very simple thing.

count all the things i HAVE been blessed with,

instead of thinking of all the things i want or don't have.

somedays i guess you compare yourself to other people and we shouldn't.

i am grateful for a husband who took me to the temple.

i am grateful for 2 and a quarter beautiful, healthy boys.

i am grateful for family.

i am grateful to be a mother.

i am grateful to be healthy.

i am grateful for clean water and food to eat.

i am grateful for the money that i have to buy all the necessities in life.

i am grateful for friendships.

i am grateful to be a latter day saint.

i am grateful for a house to live in.

the list could really go on and on and on !

i have to admit that sometimes i become a bit of a downer and instead of saying i'm grateful for and finishing the statements off at the full stop, i replace it with a but i wish or i want.

life needs to be full of more thanking and less complaining.

Sunday Selfies

we had some spare time before church yesterday,

 so of course i took the advantage of that and took some photos of the boys while they were looking so dapper.

i did have to bribe them with cheese.

don't you love it when siblings decided to smile at different times and NEVER at the same time.

on another note they are growing up way to fast, 

where has the time gone eekk?

It's Official

it's officially christmas time in the ormsby household.

on sunday we put up our tree, a little earlier than usual.

makai was busting to put it up this year.
we turned our christmas playlist on and away we went.

i say this every year but i think this year will be my favourite christmas.

both the boys are really getting into christmas this year and understand what it is.

whenever they see lights, trees and santa they yell "it's christmas mum."

makai goes through junk mail with me and circles all the things he would like santa to bring.

not only does he understand that santa brings presents but that it's jesus christ "birthday."

i love how christmas brings people together,

everyone is so joyful - don't you just wish christmas could be all year round.

but i guess that would spoil how special it really is.

THE boy

normally in my blogs i refer alot to the boys and i (referring to my sons),

but this post is about THE boy.

he has been away this week and i found myself thinking of all the little things he does.

note - this post may contain some cheeziness.

we just completed a marriage course that our church wants ALL the married couple to take.

and in one of the lessons for an activity we had to write down all the characteristics that we love about our partner, so i thought why not write down a list of all the things i just love about THE boy in general.

1 - His smile, i didn't realize how much i missed it until we did some facetiming the other night.

2 - He takes Makai to the toilet before he goes to bed, because my belly is getting in the way of getting him off the top bunk and the main reason because i've normally crashed out on the lounge.

3 - His eyes, this may be one of the reasons i wanted kids with him (i wanted them to have his eyes.)

4 - His integrity, diligence & ethics.

5 - His sense of humour, we are total opposites in every way but he makes me laugh and that's all that matters.

6 - Random Texts, how can any girl not love uplifting texts from their partners?

7 - He is super predictable that now i just laugh at the things he does.

8 - His memory, he can remember everything, no joke, i especially love it when he tells me about memories of when we were dating because my memory got lost somewhere when i fell pregnant with makai.

9 - Kisses on the forehead, they are even better when they are randomly distributed.

10 - He plays with our boys, nothing quite so special than seeing a father with their children.

Family Date 10.

so you know that goal i had in january to have a family date every month where we actually go out and do something, yeh we were doing awesome until that darn october month came around.

so we were back this month keeping the goal alive.

only skipping one month isn't the end of the world, right?!

in sydney we have been blessed with amazing spring weather.

it's total beach weather.

of course, we had to take advantage of the 36 degree saturday yesterday and we headed to one of joovy and my all time favourite beach, Manly (for total sentimental reasons).

we decided to get breakfast there and then have a dip in the beach or "sea" as makai likes to call it.

i LOVE going to cafes and getting breakfast, it's one of my all time favourite dates to do.

but being a mum with boys the mornings sometimes can be ridiculous to make it out of the house without pulling my hair out so we made it a brunch date instead of an early morning breakfast.

what i love most about going to breakfast with joovy is that he is my total opposite.

he hates tomato's, mushrooms anything green and i LOVE it.

where i'm not a massive bread eater and it's in his blood to live on bread - he's a total maori.

we are complete opposites but we "compliment eachother" as joovy likes to say.

kids are easily pleased makai loves pancakes and brax loves eggs - not just any eggs they have to be fried eggs.

Never Say Never

when i was a teenager and i would think about raising my children,

i said i would NEVER EVER listen to any type of children's music in the car.

especially THE WIGGLES.

i am here typing before you today to admit,

i just downloaded a whole bunch of wiggles music for my kids to listen to in the car.

here are my two reasonings for this event

a - it keeps them super entertained whilst in the car

b - the smiles that light up their faces when they get to listen to the wiggles is absolutely priceless

kids have a funny way of making you swallow your words.

The Boys + I

with finding out a couple months ago that we were expecting our third and final installation was a boy,

i thought a blog name change was due.

i'm always finding myself saying or writing in my posts "the boys and i" and i thought why not embrace the fact that i'm the only girl in the household and name my blog "The Boys + I"
it sums up my family pretty perfectly.

 

here's a couple of pics of the boys + i.

we went a little crazy testing out the tripod.

(no judgements on the make up-less face)

Teddy Bear Picnic

on saturday we celebrated braxton's 2nd birthday with the people that he loves most,

 (minus those that live overseas)

but really, he only cared that his "gampy" was there.

if anyone knows brax, they know about much he absolutely adores his teddy.

his teddy has been his buddy since he was born and he never goes anywhere without.

he named his teddy, ted - very OG.

so of course I had to throw him a teddy bears picnic.

i love it how simple parties are in at the moment.

no fancy decorations or food.

the most time consuming part was putting together an adorable sign that i just wanted to do ever since i started researching ideas on pinterest - i'm telling you that site is dangerous when you get going.
every party i say it's my last, lets face it i'm a total liar.
it's so worth it to see the smile on your kids faces and there's a feeling of satisfaction you get when it all comes together on the day.
enough talk here's some pics from the day

all the kids got so filthy, so i'm going to go ahead and say that's a sign of a good party ; ).

My Batman and Robin

i love the fact that halloween is becoming bigger and bigger here in australia,

i'll take any excuse to dress the boys up really.

from the beginning of the year i knew i wanted them to go as batman and robin.

thankfully they are too young to really have a say in what they go as ;), maybe next year i'll let them choose.

however they do absolutely love dressing up as superhero's at the moment so it was a win win really.

i love pinterest, a little to much.

it's probably one of my most used apps on my phone.

so of course that was my main source for research.

i found adorable and super cheap diy costumes.

i literally spent $5 each for both of the boys costumes.

i think they turned out ok, even if i might have made up my own instructions - i do that often lol i get a tad impatient.

this was the only pic i got of the back of their caps.

Freebies

i love it that we really don't have to spend a whole lot of money on kids to make them happy.

we took a trip to the park yesterday morning.

it's one of our favourite things to do.

 but adding a bubbler to the mix was just the ultimate fun for the boys.

i finally gave in, let's face it in 35 degree heat they would dry off before they got back into the pram.

they had such a ball and got super duper messy.

i think you can judge the fun they had but their dirtiness.

the dirtier they get the more fun they had.

although, that could just be a boy thing?!

boys are forever dirty, i've given up cleaning them on a constant basis.

pick your battles, right.

Mum Mumma Mother

 these two crazy boys can make me pull my hair out one moment and then have me in laughter the next.

i think that's what motherhood is all about.

it's super hard.

but you get these moments of clarity and you can see all the hard work that you put in, is paying off.

to me, the simple manners that come out of my boys mouth (without the reminding) makes me smile and i feel like "oh you actually are listening to me."

we only have them for such a short time and sometimes i find myself wishing the bad days to just be over but instead i should be finding good in everyday.

ok sometimes there is barely any good in a day but i still love their craziness.

i am so proud to call them my sons and i hope they are proud to call me their mum.

i cannot wait to meet the next handsome that will join our family.

hurry up february.

What Shall It Be?

this week is a pretty exciting week in the ormsby household.

we get to find out what this little person is going to be and i turn 21 for the 3rd time ;).

what do you think it will be?

a he or a she?

daddy is guessing a boy

mummy is guessing a boy

kaikai is guessing a girl

brax is on the fence.

Family Date 9

this family date is probably one of my favourites this year.

we got to tick off some things on the boys list that they have been dying to do but we couldn't because of the price.

for as long as i can remember makai has been begging to go on a "ferry boat" like not just any ones the green and yellow ones that travel between the city and manly.

this month we based our whole day around things the boys have been really wanting to do or see or eat.

the day went as followed -

*drove to the city (we get to park at jevan's work now and it's awesome because it's FREE-yay)

*we hit up the rocks markets and scored ourselves a egg & bacon roll, i have to admit this was purely on my wish list the boys didn't care.

*we headed to wharf 3 at circular quay and caught a long awaited ferry ride straight to manly wharf.

*these boys are the biggest chip lovers (including the biggest one) and what better place to have chips than right at the beach.

* sharks, stingrays, turtles, penguins and jellyfish were a big hit with these two boys at the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary.

*to finish off any good family date we had to have ice-cream and milkshakes - braxton looks like he is a milkshake-a-holic in this photo, we really need to get him help with that problem ;).