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Home & Family

.Run, Noah, Run.

Today I had the honour of joining with hundreds of other people in saying goodbye to my cousin (and dear friend) Lisa‘s son, Noah.

Photograph from here

Noah was born with hydranencephaly (you can read his story here) and he has been a fighter from the day he was born.  His life expectancy was 2-4 years, but this little boy showed the world what he was made of and lived for 10 wonderful years.  Surely he was living, breathing, and his heart was beating for the love his family showed for him.

Lisa with her four boys – source

The last week has been emotional as we have joined together with the King family to mourn the loss of their sweet boy.  Today it was a privilege to be among those who united to celebrate the life of Noah King.  Noah was an amazing little boy who taught life lessons to those around him without ever saying a word.

Through Noah, I have learned that your worst fear could actually become your greatest blessing.  That every single person living on this earth is of great importance and deserves the love of those around them.  I’ve had the blessing of watching those I care for go through difficult times whilst still remaining optimistic.  I’ve learned that Heavenly Father places angels like Noah on earth to remind us to slow down and smell the roses and make the most of every special moment we have with those we love.

Noah’s balloons

Noah’s funeral today was perfect.  A true celebration of an angelic boy who was a gift from God, sent to earth for 10 short years but will be remembered for eternity.

 

 

During the funeral service, Lil (who, for the last 6 months has had an obsession with talking and asking questions about death and dying) drew pictures of Noah, his Mum and his Dad.  I love Noah’s wheelchair legs and I’m not sure why Aaron looks like a caterpillar!!  Towards the end of the day, Lil also declared that “today is the best day ever!” – and she was right…today was the PERFECT way to celebrate the life of a PERFECT child.

Those who know Lisa well, will at some time or another have had a jab at her about taking a gazillion photos of absolutely everything!!  Today I learned that one can NEVER take too many photos – Lisa, you keep snapping away.  Photographs are memories and memories last forever.

Photograph from here

Run free sweet Noah.  ‘Till we meet again.
x

October 13, 2011
Home & Family

.Oscar Is Six!.

 
Friday marked the 6th birthday of our big boy!  Hard to believe we have been muddling our way through this parenting business for 6 whole years now, we are so proud of our practical, fun-loving boy!  Oscar has been Lego-crazy for a few years now, so we decided on a Lego-themed birthday party for him and a few of his little buddies from school.
I made the invitations using some Lego Minifigure images from this blog (really cool, ready to print memory game here if you are interested) and printed them out A5 size on cardboard…(feel free to use these images if you want to use them for a party – I know Lego is the flavour of the month for many little boys out there!)
Front of invitation
Back of invitation
I’m a bit of a sucker for these message banners and made another one to surprise Oscar when he woke up in the morning…(I’ve got a LOT of scrapbook paper that I don’t use much anymore and feel happy putting it to good use!)
The decorations were simple, aside from the banner, I blew up a handful of balloons and made some funky Legoman Kirigami shapes using a template from here.
 
The party started right after school, so we started with some food and milkshakes…
(not sure if the other mothers want pics of their kids on my blog!)
 
We had a few games organised, but after playing pass-the-parcel and pin-the-hat-on-the-lego-man, the boys were more interested in playing outside – kicking the balls around and jumping on the trampoline so that’s what they ended up doing! 
After a run around outside, they came back in and each made a mini pizza for dinner, then more playing outside while the pizzas were cooking.  Then it was time for pizza and singing happy birthday and CAKE!
You’ll know by now that my birthday cakes are very maker-friendly…I’ve had enough stressful moments in the past with elaborate cakes not working out how I imagined so like to keep it low-key now! 
Oscar was happy with cupcakes, so cupcakes it was!

I did jazz them up a bit by making cupcake wrappers using leftover paper from the banner and this template – thought they looked super cute and a nice change from regular cupcake liners that never look very nice once the cake has been cooked.

The cupcake toppers were made using the same images from the invitations.  If you want to use these toppers yourself, click on the link below to download the document.  I printed two copies of 12 toppers and laminated them, then stuck them either side of the stick so that there wasn’t a “back” side to the cupcakes.

Click here to download Lego Man Cupcake Toppers
 
 

And after the action-packed afternoon, all that was left to do was to blow out the candles!!

 

Happy Birthday Oscar J!!  We hope you love every moment of being six and can’t wait to do it all over again next year!!! xxx

October 9, 2011
Home & Family

.Dad is Fab.

Happy Fathers Day to everyone who is celebrating out there!  We had a splendid day here 🙂

I waited until Jaron had gone to bed last night and sneakily hung up this Fathers Day banner I had made for him…I think I have a new love – message banners!  Have seen a few popping up on Pinterest and think they are great.  Super easy to make too – I just used some sheets of 12×12 scrapbooking paper and drew the letters free-hand then cut them out.  I like the slightly wonky, unevenness of them.  Strung them together with some cotton twine and a big needle and used a bit of blutac to secure each end on top of the architrave.  Simple!  I’m looking forward to our next celebratory event so that I can make another…or perhaps I’ll make one “just because” – no need for a special event!
During the week I asked the kids a heap of questions about Jaron and made their answers into a book – some of them were very cute/funny.  I wasn’t intending to do it scrapbook style but when I was rummaging through my supplies I found an unused album so popped everything in it.  The intention is that we can add to the album each year – maybe something different next year…portraits of Dad or memorable stories?
Along with a few needed gifts (new shaver, squash racquet) Oscar chose a Nerf Gun – last year he gave Jaron some Lego…smart kid!  I have to admit that I have always been anti-guns in this house, but these look like fun and it has provided a full afternoon and evening of entertainment!  We have plans for a big family Nerf Gun war at Christmas now!  I’m still sticking with my no Wii, Playstation, video game rule though – would rather save a special gift like that for when the kids are much, much older and it will mean more to them.
  
 
 
 
 

 

Happy Fathers Day Jaron – you really are a FAB DAD!

 

 

 

September 3, 2011
Home & Family

.Sunny bubbly days.

This weekend we have FINALLY been blessed with blue skies, sunshine and warmer air.  We made the most of it with a visit to the park and beach yesterday and some bubble fun this afternoon.

The kids found a big bubble kit/book that we got for Christmas and haven’t used yet so we made up some mixture and had a play.  The bubbles were a bit tricky to get working, but once we got the hang of it we got some whoppers!

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
  
Sunny, bubbly fun.  The perfect recipe for some fresh air and much needed Vitamin D!  11 days ’till Spring – we can’t wait!
August 21, 2011
Home & Family

.Another birthday.

In our house we have a birthday every 2 months, all year round (with Christmas falling on the bi-month that we don’t have a birthday).  We didn’t plan it like that, but I am glad that things turned out that way so that we have a nice distance of time between each special day.
Yesterday it was Lil’s big day – number FOUR.

We have been counting down this special day for quite a few weeks now and all day long she had an excited smirk on her face and would quickly tell everyone, “it’s my birthday today, I’m four.”

 

We spent the morning at Pre-Kinder then back at home for a quick clean up and got things ready for her mini-party.  My kids loooove birthday parties, but I don’t want to get into the habit of a full-blown party every year so have compromised by letting them have a few friends over for some snacks, a play and cake after school on their birthday.  Takes care of the birthday party pleas without a lot of fuss or effort from me!
I was all systems go for a ballerina cake – even made a cute little ballerina from one of my wooden dolls to pop on the top of the cake (inspired by this cute cake)…

…until this morning Lil decided that she actually wanted a love-heart cake.  Thanks for the advanced notice Lilsy!  Luckliy I remembered this cake I had recently pinned (Oh, Pinterest, how I love you!) and made up a heart-shaped stencil from some paper and sprinkled away.  If you decide to do this at home, I’m warning you that it is messy!  But a cool way to achieve a cheap and easy cake decoration.  I’ll definitley be doing it again.
 

She was soooo excited when we were singing Happy Birthday to her – cute!  Lil is the unpredictable one in our house – happy one minute, melt-down the next.  When she is good, she is very, very good.  But when she is bad…you get the picture!  She makes us laugh all the time though and we love her to bits 🙂

 
Happy Birthday little one!
August 3, 2011