My Family

Who knew Reuben had such insight????

(actually I did know he has a good eye)

For FHE a few weeks ago we talked about all of the good things we each bring to our family. We finished with beautiful pictures of everyone. We could do the drawing any way we liked as long as it was what you thought was a true representation of each of the members of our family. Everone's pictures were displayed proudly on our laundry door (which is off the living room) so we could all look at them and be reminded of our fantastic family. About week later I was doing the washing when I decided to take a closer look at the details in the kids pictures.

WEEEELLLL....Reuben is the artistic one and his pictures were very interesting AND MORE IMPORTANTLY very accurate.

Check them out.

and finally this... hmmm

Oh man, what a crack up.

Since I took a closer look at these I have decided that maybe I should get to bed a little earlier! And maybe look into getting some botox???

40

-Cue Bryan Adams softly playing in the background...it was the summer of '69...

It was the summer (in America!) of '69 when little Matthew Keith Sayers was born. Yes he's been on this earth for 40 years. Today is his birthday and I think he had a pretty good day.

We began the day with the traditional gift opening. We got him clothes, because that's what he wanted. "I think it's time for me to become trendy, so I just want clothes", he says. He's never specifically asked for anything before so I was really happy to oblige.

I can't wait to take my new 'trendy' husband out on the town. Oh yeah we did that already!! We went out for dinner on Friday night with David and Chelsea. Had a fun night of chatting and laughing, wondering why so many people want to walk the kokoda trail these days, swapping stories, listening to some great live flamenco guitar, and enjoying a yummy Turkish banquet. I was so stuffed, my tummy hurt! I'm sure Matt would agree that the highlight of the night was getting his very own, brand spanking new BMW (photos later).

IS THE TRUTH REALLY OUT THERE?????

What are all these strange markings on our lawn ???

This is what the CIB did today after our encounter with what we, and they, believe to be extraterrestrials. Last night Matt and I had the weirdedst experience. It was close to midnight and suddenly our house went completely dark. It was very eerie. Then just as suddenly the brightest lights I've ever seen filled our living room. I can't really talk about what happened next, I'm still trying to process it really...

Actually I'm not processing it at all, I'm making it up as I go!!!!

The true story is...

In a month or so there will be an extension where Bella is standing in the photo above.

We are adding a family room.

Our family is growing and taking up more space.

They are bringing more friends home.

They are getting noisier.

We need somewhere to put them.

We need somewhere to hide from them.

We just need more room.

Where the window is in the photo below will become large double doors that will open into a lovely 7m x 5m living room.

The new room will also open onto a new deck which will aso be accessed from our existing living area. Our builder, who is also my cousin - Rory Wright from Southcoast Builders, came up today to mark it all out. Dad will do all of the excavation work on Saturday. Good ol' Dad is also going to help us put in some drainage through our back and side yards and level it all out.

This is so exciting. It's gonna be like a little renovation rescue weekend! I am so grateful for all of the help dad has (and will) give us. Matt and I will have to 'give back' a weekend to help mum and dad at 'the farm'.

I'll update as we progress.

ALRIGHT...

so everybody HAD to know the gory details.

Yes Rory succumbed to the sharp end of a spade ok.

I did some research and consulted some experts on the most humane way to euthanise a chook and this is it...

• You catch them at night when they are in their coop sleeping , that way there's no stress.
• You put them into a hessian (or similar) bag.
• You dig a hole.
• When the time comes, you quickly and forcefully 'chop'. Because he's already in the bag there's no mess, just a bit of flapping (which is reflex)
• Then you simply cover in the hole unless you want to 'dress' him - to eat .Don't have those details sorry you'll have to google it:)

There are other suggested methods involving alcohol or ether or carbon monoxide that sound much 'nicer' but they're not guaranteed to work. I didn't want him to suffer at all and I wanted it to be quick and successful.

Just so you know I didn't do it myself, I couldn't. A very experienced and very kind friend offered to 'help me out'. And incase your wondering why my darling hubby didn't do the manly thing and do the deed. He wasn't here.

I love animals and this really was a last resort. I tried to give him way (and Nettie you'll be happy to know that I called the wildlife parks including Zoo Doo) but no one wanted him. It's illegal to keep them where we live (if they are noisy) and the fine is a hefty one. Unfortunately sometimes we have to do stuff we don't really want to do. I've shed a tear or two for poor old Rory (actually he wasn't that old - only a youngen) and now I'm enjoying the quietness that greets us - and our neighbours - every morning.

On a nicer note. Our neighbour over the back fence was chatting with Matt yesterday and noticed that our brown chooks look just like the 'stray' one he has living with them. Some of you might remember my post about our 'missing' chooks last year. Well lo and behold it was her!! I can't believe she was living so close to us all this time. So now we have all of our girls back with us. Once she got over the intial shock of Rosie (our dog) checking her out she was happy as Larry scratching and digging with her sisters.

Funny how things turn out.

Going, Going, Gone...

Just a little update on Rory the Rooster.

HE'S GONE...

...to heaven.

Don't ask me any questions!

PJ's

I've been doing HEAPS of sewing lately. Roman blinds for a friend, 11 costumes for the school play, and today I made Charli some PJ's.

She loves them.

She has had them on all day since lunch time and even did a little fashion parade before bed tonight.

I thought these photos were funny and really portray Charlotte's personality so well.

don't you just love the pursed lips?

And this one is kinda weird... She looks like an angel with wonky legs!!

Tuckered out after we'd dropped everyone else at mutual and activity night.

I think the new jim jams are a hit!

KFC

Ok nobody guessed his name! I think Nettie is closest though 'cause at least she had the right letter...R. His name is:

RORY

I'm going to give him to Kim though because she needs him the most. I'll stick him in the post tomorrow. If you don't want him Kim I'm just gonna drop him off at Kingston KFC. I'm sure they'll look after him there.

Seriously though if you know anyone who wants him PLEASE let me know.

What's in an name?

This is our Rooster....

He's a pretty good looking sort and I think the girls (by that I mean the female chooks!) kinda like him 'cause they never seem to mind his 'advances'.

We got 'the rooster' from mum and dad after their chooks had babies (so cute) last year. Mum was hoping for a few more chickens but ended up with about 10 roosters!

We wanted to have our own babies too and things have been going quite well until about the last fortnight. Our rooster has never been an early riser, thank goodness, and will only crow at about 7.30am which is quite civilised.

BUT NOT ANYMORE !!!!!!!

He has changed his habits over the last couple of weeks and now he IS an early riser who crows at 6.05 am every morning. NOT GOOD seeing as though we live in a suburban area surrounded by (long suffering) neighbours. So we decided through bleary eyes this morning that he has to go!

I thought I'd make it a little bit more fun than just taking him back to mum and dad's farm, so if don't mind the sound of a 6.05am 'cockadoodle do' you might like our rooster.

All you have to do is guess his name.

If you don't want him but want to have a guess anyway that's ok too!

Or if you want him but don't guess the right name, you can still have him.

AND for those of you who are thinking "Just eat him"

forget it, that's not happening!

GREEN

What the heck is this??????

Yesterday after church Bethan came to play at our house. It was a grey, rainy day so we decided it would be a good idea to make something. So what did we make????

SHRECK BOOGERS!

MMMMMMM.......Tasty!

Well it's not REALLY boogers, but it did look like that.

So what did we make?