I Am Grateful

today was a good day.

there were still tantrums and there were fights but they were ones i could still smile after.

today i am grateful for my three little boys.

i am grateful that i am there mum.

i am grateful that i am their comforter, their biggest fan, their nurse, their teacher, their guide, their chef.

i am grateful for every achievement they have accomplished.

i am grateful for every failure they have overcome.

i am grateful to be the one who irons their shirts for church.

i am grateful that i am the one who does their buttons and shoelaces up.

i am grateful that i get to do their hair and help them brush their teeth.

i am grateful to be able to be blessed with the magic of kissing a sore and it magically feels better.

i am grateful for the snotty noses i get to wipe when the snot is oozing its way down to their lips.

i am grateful to be able to give that special sort of mother hug that tears disappear and smiles replace.
i am grateful for the daily train track i build.
i am grateful for the ninja turtle fights, and the avenger dress-ups.
i am grateful for the million matchbox cars that are left lying around all over the house.
i am grateful for the lego left out at night that i step on.
i am grateful for the planes that we spot in the sky and the trucks and buses that we count on the road.
i am grateful for the little conversations that we have while we are in the car, while we are cooking together, while we are at the dinner table.
i am grateful for the rendition of I Am A Child Of God that they sing in the most off-tune voices.
I am grateful for their sweet, tender, meaningful prayers that get to be apart of.
I am grateful for the love that they teach me to have more of.

i am grateful to call myself their mother.

one day they will grow up - some days i wish that it would come much sooner - but i will wish all these simple daily tasks (that sometimes are a nuisance) to have not gone so fast.

they will never know how much i love them or the aspirations and hopes i have for them until they become fathers for themselves one day.

i love being a mum of boys, but not just any boys, my boys.

Rain Rain Go Away

sydney peeps, whats going on with our weather?

it's ridiculous !

i really dislike rain, ALOT.

so this weather and I just arn't agreeing and it def does not agree with my boys.

not sure if it's all boys or just mine (because they inherited my genes) but they hate being soped up inside for more than a day.

the boys literally could live outside as soon as they wake up until they get called in for bed.

we have started to go a little kuku this week.

if there is no sun soon for a day straight i am concerned about what will happen to our sanity in this household ;).

so yesterday i had enough of the raining not raining shinanigins that we decided that we would get out for a quick walk to the bakery, get some treats, jump in puddles and run back all before it started pouring again into our cubby house that we had made in the lounge room.

it hasn't helped that braxton has decided to come down with the flu while his dad is away.

he is in denial he is sick (because neurofen is AMAZING) i have to remind him to keep taking it easy, needles to say he didn't listen to me and crashed out at 5pm.

Discovering Me Again

as a mother and wife i feel sometimes i have lost my identity to who i really am.

i know who i want to be but i don't have time to become that person because raising children supporting the main man to achieve his goals and attending to everyone's needs in the family is a full-time job.

i remember days where i had to time to do my hair and make-up, choose an outfit that i felt pretty in.

i felt like i could paint the town red, i was confident in myself and had no self image issues.

now it's 5 min shower, hair greasy up in a top bun and make-up - who has time for make-up?

most days i don't feel pretty at all.

i try so hard to give my kids the best start to their journeys.

getting them to pre-school, getting them to swimming lessons, making their breakfast, lunch and dinner, taking them on play dates, exploring our local surroundings, getting them to church, dressing them, bathing them, reading to them, going on walks, scooter rides, buying them clothes, getting their haircuts, taking them to the park, doing the laundry, running the household, supporting the main man, the list goes on and on.

i absolutely love my boys and i love being a mum and a wife.

i would not trade that in for the world.

but i think maybe once a week us mums and wives need to take some time for ourself and find/remember/revive who we are, who we want to become, what talents are.

find some time to do our hair, do our make-up so that we can feel beautiful or even sexy, paint our nails, discover a new hobby, go for a walk, have a bubble bath WITHOUT any interruptions.

i wish those mothers out there that can deal with all this, look beautiful and most importantly look confident in who they are could give me some pointers on doing it all.

one thing is good to know that i have 3 gorgeous boys and one wonderful husband that love me unconditionally and eternally.

friday-itis

i think friday-itis is a condition.

don't judge my parenting methods for friday.

i don't know what it is about fridays, but i am just so blah ALL day.

it's pretty much a home day except for a quick trip to swimming.

today i was especially blah.

the kids got extra quiet time (which they were not complaining about) after lunch,

and then i convinced them that it was a good idea to bath at 4:30pm get in their jammies,

and have an even longer tv time whilst having dinner in between instead of before (which again they were not complaining about).

to top it off the boys had cheese toasties for dinner - i know so nutritional.

but i was so over the day i could not think of what to cook.

and zay, well zayden had the best dinner.

because i heated his potato and leek soup up for too long i had a bowl of custard for after his dinner, it was the perfect temperature.

so you can guess what got for his dinner.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR !

oh friday-itis, i'll beat you one day.

Prayers

since i became a parent i have been waiting and waiting for makai to be able to say prayers all on his own - for the simple reason so we i dont have to say it about 10 times a day.

i'm not even joking.

jevan would be like "i think it's your turn" at night.

i would just look at him and be like "umm are you serious, for everytime i've said it double that."

i was running out of things to prayer about ;).

so this last couple of months makai has been saying his prayers all by himself.

i really love listening to what he says everytime we fold our arms.

sometimes i have to admit i squint to keep my eyes open just to see his little face really concentrating on what to thank heavenly father about next.

it's really sweet.

i really love how kids have the most simple prayers but they are so beautiful.

they are so genuine and they mean every word they say.

(especially when they ask heavenly father for mummy to please buy another ironman - the blue one please heavenly father.)

i think makai is having a little competition with himself,

everytime he finishes he looks at me and says "oh mummy that was a longer one today."

so to sum it up i'm so glad we can now add another individual to our family prayer roster - next up braxton.

Sayings

lately the boys have been saying things that just make me laugh.

we will be driving along and having a conversation and one of them will just say the most random thing

so i started writing down a couple of them (when i can remember to).

you probably wont find them funny - it's probably one of those mother things that the mum only finds hilarious.

so we were driving on our way to bunnings when this conversation happened.

makai "where are we going mum"

me "we have to go to bunnings to get some light bulbs"

braxton "oh i love going to bunning rabbit, they like to eat carrots"

makai chuckling "oh bracky it's not bunning rabbits its bunnings"

makai has taught braxton how to play "What's the Time Mr Wolf"

and he absolutely loves it, its a must play when we go to the park now.

when it's braxton turn he says "What's the time Mr Clock?"

makai and i both say bracky its whats the time mr wolf, 

his reply yeh thats what i said whats the time mr clock.

and lastly this morning during our morning prayer,

makai - "thanks that daddy could go to work

and thank you that mummy will stay home and cook for us"

i now know where i stand in his life.

lol.

these two boys crack me up.

Journal Smchournal

i am so so terribly bad at keeping a journal.

i kick butt for like 3 days and then nothing for a year.

i'm just terrible at remembering to write in it.

 and then one of my friends on instagram has started a photo journal.

for almost the last year she has been taking pictures of something she has done during the day writing a comment on it and the date on it.

i thought this was PERFECT for me.

i take pictures of what we do daily - i'm super amateur at it but hey it's only for me.

this was on journal i could actually complete for a whole year.

so i am up to day 11 and it's much more easier than i thought.

the only thing i have to remember is to take my camera.

another great thing is it actually makes me get my DSLR camera out instead of being lazy and using my I Phone.

at the end of 365 days i'm going to them printed in a photo book and this will become my yearly journal - 2014 is looking like the year i will finally complete A journal for a whole year.