January 6 2014. I lost my first tooth!

Woohoo I lost my first tooth. The tooth fairy left two $2 coins. Mum says that's because it's my first tooth. I'm going to put it in my new money tin and save it for my tablet. I

December 31 2013, Christmas tree time!

This is our gorgeous tree. Grown by family and it smells divine. Leon did most of the decorating with Dad doing the higher stuff. There are still 2 boxes of decorations left, but this is how the boys did it so it I think we'll just leave it.    : )

January 4 2014, Birthday sandpit.

Leon was super excited to 'unwrap' his sandpit. 

And the Tonka dump truck.

He's been watching Dad build it for the last few days thinking it was a raised garden for me.   : ))

Awwwww........giving the bro some love.

Fun in the sandpit with Darcy.

January 3 2014, Last day of daycare.

Leon got the most beautiful skirt (it has rose petals in it!) for Christmas from his aunty and was allowed to wear it on his last day of daycare. He loves his earrings too that he designed.
I was most impressed when I got to daycare to pick him up, and he had changed into shorts to play outside in. : )
The kids had a lovely cake, goody bags and cupcakes. 

Leon did not seem sad at all to be leaving. He has been looking forward to this day for weeks saying excitedly"and then I'll be staying home forever". So cute.
A couple of weeks ago I asked him what he would tell people when they ask what homeschoolers do and he immediately came up with nearly a dozen ideas on his own in about a minute. He's very enthusiastic about home schooling which is just awesome.

January 2 2014, Leon's 5th birthday

Leon's birthday was lots of fun. We added some extra Christmas decorations to the lounge and put his presents under the tree so it was like another Christmas day for him. 

He got another play-dough set and was straight into it making gorgeous desserts.

He insists on wearing his new merino skivvy even tho it's really warm. He does love stripes. : )

January 7 2014, My garden

My garden patio area after a good weed. It was lovely to get outside for a while. I was able to stay in the shade the whole time which was gorgeous.

My tomatoes are ripening beautifully in this weather. I think I'll be tasting the first one very soon.

This is a yellow one.

Definitely time for an update!

Well it's taken me a good half an hour to find this blog again......and I"m sure I had the same problem in January when I posted last! Must make sure I remember my log in details.  : )

Things have been super chaotic since my last post.......Hannah started correspondence school and it's been a hard slog dealing with that as well as trying to manage her diabetes and epilepsy. She's also lucky enough to have started a great part time job and this is giving her some lovely pocket money. She turned 16 last week and we have had some challenging teenage moments recently.  

Darcy started Year 9 at the beginning of the year and is doing really well. His 14th birthday was last month. He has some great mates and is enjoying high school heaps. He thinks he might like to be a scientist as he loves science and maths (and is doing really well in both classes) but he's also fantastic at digital technology so that might lead somewhere as well.

Leon will be turning 5 in early January and at this stage I am very keen to home school him. He attends a local early learning centre 5 days a week and just loves it. He always comes home wet, dirty (messy means fun in my book) tired and usually face painted! I do miss him during the day and I'm looking forward to be at home with home next year.

As for me, my arthritis is still trying to beat me (and nearly does some days), but I'm feeling stronger and more able to deal with it most of the time. I lost heaps of weight earlier in the year due to all the nasty drugs I was on but I decided to have a rest from them while I put on some more weight. It's hard tho and I'm struggling to get over 50kgs. My nutritionist has put me on a high fat diet and I have a special supplement drink that I call my formula. It's yummy thank goodness.

I'll try and find some recent photos but these days I use my phone and then don't upload the pics. Easy enough to do but that means finding the cord.  lol

Leon got a big box of clothes from my sister's friend and was very excited to find these stripey ones.....including the glocks.

Lost blog.

I thought that I had lost this blog as I'd forgotten that we had used my daughter's email for it. Duh! I created a new one.......and then of course I found this one again. 
You can visit the new one here.   rainbowrapture.blogspot.co.nz
I thought I might use it mainly for Leon as he is the inspiration behind the name and it will be fun to keep track of what he's up to especially if we decide to home school.

So I will definitely post some more up to date photos soon but for now here is our cute, live Christmas tree. She's only little now but she'll grow heaps in a year. And she smells SO good!!

Our gorgeous little man.

This is the kids on their first day of school.

Big changes

Things have taken a complete turn around for our family over the last 2 weeks. We moved house and the kids started school. It was a very sudden decision for them to go back to school after three and a half years but has turned out to be fantastic for all of us.
Hannah was accepted into a Yr 8 accelerate class (go unschooling!!!!!) at our local intermediate and Darcy has 2 terms left as a Yr 6 before he goes to intermediate.
They are both loving it and doing really well. They only had one week before the holidays started and now they can't wait to get back.
It's also lovely for Leon and I to have some one-on-one time during the day....something we've never had so regularly.

Photos to come soon....watch this space. : )

Eating cereal

Leon had heaps of fun feeding himself cereal the other day. He did a really good job and then decided he was way too clean so tipped the rest of the cereal over himself and the highchair.
Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that. : )

Leon's 1st Birthday

Leon and Daddy.

Leon and big brother.

Leon loves shaking his sippy cup and getting water everywhere.

This is our local playcentre.

I guess Daddy really is a back-seat driver!

Mmmmmmm yoghurt ice-cream.

This was one of his favourite presents.

Four generations here - Leon, me, my Mum and her Mum. How awesome.

Funny face #249

Ooooooh wrapping paper...thanks.

My beautiful kids - photo update.

Leon will be 11 months tomorrow and is the most gorgeous, sunny natured little boy.
He makes us laugh so much with his cute antics.....what a sense of humour!

Leon has only learnt to stand like this in the last week and now he's a bit of an expert....holding on with one hand while leaning down to pick something up from the floor...and today he was holding a toy in the same hand that was holding the playpen but he couldn't get a proper grip and so he swapped the toy to the other hand but he still wanted have one hand free, so he popped the toy in his mouth and voila!! Boy did he grin at his own cleverness.

And standing on one leg is fun too...and gets a good response from his sister and brother.

Darcy has played rugby for our local school for the last 4 years (only 1 of those years while he was attending the school) and last week they had their sports prizegiving.
We always enjoy going as it gives us a chance to see people we haven't seen in a while....and of course celebrate the children's achievements.
Darcy was fortunate to be chosen MVP for his team. What a proud moment for Mama! :)

Is that a Marmite sandwich you're hiding there Leon?

My two darling boys.

Clever clogs baby......holding on to the playpen, tiptoeing and making his latest cute face.

Look Mama, one hand!

Darcy's 10th birthday. He and Hannah had so much fun putting together the Lego sets that we got him. He got a card and $50 Australian from his Dad which was a super birthday surprise.

What we've been up to lately.

Wow it's been ages since I posted something here. We have been crazy busy for the last 5 months in particular as Hannah was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in June.
It has been a huge lifestyle adjustment and although we have many up and downs, we are doing ok...I think. : )

Last weekend Hannah went to Skyline Skyrides with other kids who have diabetes and had a blast on the Luge.

She also had a go on the SkySwing which she thought was scary but lots of fun.

On Tuesday my sister shouted all the girls a flash haircut.....this is what mine looked later that night.



And this is what Hannah's looked like. Pretty styley isn't it? She is very pleased with it.

Photo update