As promised here at some photos from the concert on Friday....the kids had a wonderful time, my friend's daughter was a little overwhelmed as it was her first concert but she did pretty good. As it was in a small theatre the kids could all go up the front and stand and dance - and the stage was nice and low so they could all see! The photos aren't fantastic but they are here, LOL!

Jack when we first got there, look at the excitement!:

Oscar posing for the camera - lovely, LOL:

Dorothy the Dinosaur:

Captain Feathersword:

Henry the Octopus:

Jack and Oscar right up the front enjoying the show:

I didn't get a good photo of Wags the Dog...there are heaps more that I would love to put up but it's just too many & takes me too long! Hope you enjoyed them! xxoo

I just wanted to share our piece of paradise with you (I know you would like to see Nat, LOL)....we live in the middle of nowhere really, plenty of room for the kids to run, ride their bikes, play and make as much noise as they please without bothering another soul...plenty of room to have all our animals (6 dogs, 8 chickens, 2 roosters and a goose) and let them run around and play and make noise too. We couldn't live in a town unless we were forced to for some really good reason, we really don't like living where there is anyone too close as we like to have our space and all our pets. Here are some pics for you all to see what it's like where we are.

This is what I see out our kitchen window while washing the dishes or eating a meal:

more of the back yard:

out the front of the house:

I was going to put a couple more pics up but it's not working for me now...I will put them up soon!

I hope you all enjoyed visiting my place - jealous at all, LOL! I know I would be if it was one of you living here, HAHA!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a lovely one...Friday I took the boys to Horsham to see Dorothy the Dinosaur (pics soon I promise), Friday night we had my mum, stepdad and my grandparents stay the night, Saturday we cleaned up wheat from under the silos and relaxed for a while before I worked that night waitressing at a wedding and Sunday we planted pumpkins and potato after we had a lovely picnic in the back yard with a platter of capsicum, olives, biscuits, capsicum dip, cold sausages, fritz, strassburg, cheese, kiwi fruit and strawberries - so yummy and the sun was amazing! Oscar managed to scratch his forehead on the barbed wire fence and has a nice scratch right down the centre...nothing serious & shouldn't have happened but kids just don't listen sometimes!

The kids have a wonderful veggie garden happening (along the fence you can see behind the clothes line there are now 6 half wine barrels)...they have planted tomatos, onions, carrots, corn, dwarf beans and snow peas so far in them and will be getting some capsicums to put in and also some zucchinis to plant over the back fence with the pumpkins and potatos. Around the side of the house alone the shed wall I have 4 other wine barrels that have strawberries (been growing for 2 years now), a barrel of mint, a barrel of mixed herbs and one with some Aloe Bolleri (similar to Aloe Vera - the juice has the same healing properties) and some other succulents in with it.

Jack is still sick...he was very sick...Friday night I was up with him all night. He went to bed around 7.45pm, went to sleep, we were just going to bed around 10.45pm and Jack started sooking, James went in and he started screaming...We couldn't settle him down, nothing we did helped - he was screaming his tongue hurt and pointing to the back...tonsils obviously STILL! We had our suspicions that the antibiotics weren't working well as he hadn't been eating much - he'd been on them since Tuesday. All night he writhed and sooked and screamed (he was in bed with me & James slept in Jack's bed - not that any of us, besides Oscar, got much sleep)...it changed from his tongue to his finger (?) then to his ear...then stayed on the ear. We were dosing him with panadol every 4 hours on the dot...James got a little sleep in between getting up to help me 3-4 times. By 6.30am we were out of bed. Jack wouldn't take panadol or his antibiotics and was still screaming so I rang the hospital. The midwife that went through my labour with Jack answered, listened to what was going on, heard Jack screaming and told me to come in. So on no sleep I had to bundle Jack in the car (he wouldn't even let us dress him or put shoes on him) and drive 1/2 hour to the hospital. I got there to be told I should try to wait until the Saturday morning clinic (which opens to take appointments at 8am but doctors don't start until 9am!)...it was another 1 1/2 hours until the doctors would even get there, but as Jack wasn't screaming anymore & they had offered to give me a panadol suppository to give him I said I would see how he went & they sat us in the casualty room until they bought the suppository in for me to give him (they told me to do it as they would have to do a heap of paper work if they did it). Jack is so good with suppositories that he shocked the nurse - she said she's never seen a kid just lay there & not fight it...I said if he was well he probably wouldn't, but who would try and give one to a kid that wasn't sick, LOL!

They then let us sit in the day surgery lounge and watch tv until 8am when the doctors were open for appointments in the other wing...I made a well needed coffee and tried to keep Jack reasonably calm and happy. We wandered around to the doctor's wing just after 8am and got in for the first appointment, sat for 10 minutes then I decided to go to subway to get some breakfast for myself to keep me awake...Jack was happy after the suppository kicked in so we got in the car and drove down the street. I ordered an egg and bacon sub, Jack started swallowing hard so I asked him if he was going to be sick & he said yes...I told the lady I had to run him to the loo & go half way there & he vomited everywhere - right in the middle of Subway! They  were so good about it & wouldn't let me clean it up so I grabbed my roll and an iced coffee and we went to sit outside while I ate it.

After I was finished and Jack had gotten a drink we drove back to the doctors and waited until he arrived. When he called us in he asked what was going on...I explained that we had been in on the Tuesday, Jack had tonsilitis, been up all night screaming, started vomiting again, etc, etc...explained that he had had tonsilitis 5 times this year (and only 3 weeks before this bout), 5 times last year, etc. The doctor looked at his file & said "he certainly has more than his share of illness!", he checked his tummy, lungs and ears...ears were infected & throat worse...antibiotics no longer working for him as he has had them too much! He said he was giving him a different antibiotic and double the strength he would normally have, said it may give him diarrhoea but I said that I can handle that if it makes him better (no diarrhoea so far). He also said he was referring him to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist that comes to Naracoorte - he dictated the referral while I was there & insisted his tonsils be removed within 6 months as Jack is constantly ill and lethargic. He told me that he could understand the other doctors not referring him last year, but he said he should have been referred this year months ago as it isn't going to stop & he is constanly ill - finally someone understood!

Now I have to ring tomorrow to get an appointment with the surgeon when he has one - he only visits here so he's pretty busy. I am happy that something is finally going to be done, although a little worried about him having surgery. It's been a rocky year with the kids being sick - as most of you know - and we are getting sick of people saying "your kids are always sick (Jack in particular)" as if it's our fault or something!

I hope everyone else has had a better weekend than us....Jack is looking better today and starting to eat so maybe next week will be better! XXOO

I really don't know what to do anymore...I know there are tonnes of bugs going around this year - but why do my boys have to get every damn one?

Oscar is on the mend from a severe chest infection that was almost pneumonia & nearly had him having chest xrays. Now Jack is sick - Sunday morning around 6am I hear the croup cough & ran in, turned the hot shower on & grabbed him & sat in there until he was ok. He has been coughing since and not 100% but has not had temperatures so we have not been overly worried. Yesterday he didn't eat much and didn't want to eat, but he was drinking and still didn't have a temperature. Last night he was looking progressively worse and fell asleep leaning on James while watching tv. We put him to bed, and at around 2am he was sooking, I went in and sorted him out and went back to bed. Then of course Oscar woke around 3am and I put him in with us as he won't go back to sleep in his own bed. Jack woke crying again at around 5am and I went in and asked what was wrong...he just kept sooking and then said something about his tummy. I asked if he wanted to go to the toilet but he siad he just wanted me to hop in with him, so I did. I didn't really get anymore sleep, but I rested my eyes I suppose. Jack felt quite hot, but the thermometre said he wasn't and at around 7 I went into my room as Oscar was screaming for me cause he woke up & I wasn't there (we both have to be in our bed with him when he wakes or he goes bananas). Jack woke a few minutes later sooking so I went in & he said he needed to go to the toilet & wanted me to carry him. Just as we got out the back door (our toilet is off the back veranda in the laundry for those that don't know) Jack said "my tummy" and vomited over my shoulder. Nothing on me or him, just all over the tiles, then he vomited about 4 more times in the toilet. He went to the toilet & we came back inside, told James & took his temp again - said it was normal again so I waited 10 mins & took it & it was 37.8 so I gave him some Dymadon and a little drink of water to wash it down. Low and behold, 5 minutes later it all came back up! So out came the Panadol suppositories - not something I ever wanted to do but I had to - James layed Jack across his knee & I popped it in feeling so terrible for doing it but Jack wasn't bothered in the least (he has had them before when he was in hospital last year).

Now Jack is sitting at the table eating some Nutrigrain - he said he was feeling better and wanted breakfast...I think the panadol suppository has kicked in, not looking forward to it wearing off I can tell you! I have called the doctor and have an appointment for 11.20am South Australian time - so off we go to make the 85km round trip to the doctors and probably to the chemist again!

Ahhhh - can someone please tell me when all this stops!

Hope everyone else is having a better week than me so far. xxoo

This is Jed (he is getting a proper collar when I get to town Friday):

Jed is a 5 month old kelpie that got a ride home with James after work yesterday....well we did pay for him, HAHA! James needs kelpies for work when they are working with the sheep - unfortunatly it is generally only 2 months a year for James as he does a lot of work with the crops. We already have one - my beautiful boy Mac - who is 5 years old and a fantastic working dog and a great pet. The fantastic thing about Mac is that he's wonderful with the kids, can stay at home and play with us for 10 months of the year then go to work & work like he works every day of his life! James has been saying for 2 years that he needs to get another Kelpie as Mac works alone & is buggered by lunchtime (but he keeps working all day anyway), and last year he got quite sick & James was worried that he wouldn't have another working dog if anything happened to him. James always manages to talk himself out of getting "another dog" as we have 5 already (most of you know that though, LOL). This year I almost had him convinced to get another & Mac had a bad accident at work - this may make some of you cringe...he jumped a fence and caught his manhood on some barbed wire, it took James and another bloke to get him unstuck...my poor poor baby! He peed straight away so James thought he may be ok, but Jason said the wound was pretty big. When James got home and told me I panicked...Mac is my dog, my baby! The next day he seemed ok, apart from a limp, and I was checking him regularly. When James got home we went to check him again & his foot was swollen like a balloon! I couldn't get into the vet until the next day (they were closed anyway & it's a 1/2 hour drive) so I made him comfotable and the next morning loaded the kids into our SINGLE cab hilux and off to the vets we went. By the morning Mac had chewed his foot and burst it to let the infection weep out - I know it sounds terrible but that's what dogs do & they quite often can clear infections themselves this way...not that I ever let my dogs do that! His temp was quite high, 39.8, and the infection bad, his penis had just started to become infected and when she checked to see how bad the wound was I got tears in my eyes - he was about 7mm off ripping it off! The wound on his penis had started to heal itself, so they just wanted to dig in his foot to see if there was anything stuck & give him a shot of antibiotics & pain relief/anti-inflammatories. He was such a good boy, layed there cuddling up to me & let them look at his wounds without ever looking like getting angry. They kept him in for 3 hours while they put a local anaesthetic in his foot to look in it & gave him his meds. They called to say everything was ok, there was a hole in his foot where something had gone in and out (very small) and I told them that it was the barbed wire from the fence he got stuck on - they didn't believe me before they charge me a fortune for the anaesthetic though! So $200 later and a bright yellow dog bandage on his foot we bought him home again. He's doing 100% now.

my beautiful boy, Mac, with his bandaged foot:

Jack has claimed Jed as his puppy, LOL, but he knows that dad has to take him to work so is now saying he's "Mac's puppy". Mac is actually Jed's uncle as Jed's dad, Mac (out of the same litter and all!) is our Mac's full brother. He's such a nice dog and is good with the kids even though he hasn't been around kids much at all. The boys were so excited when I said dad had bought a puppy home, LOL! You would think with 5 dogs of our own already and at least 2 litters of pups a year it wouldn't be a big deal, but my boys love their dogs!

Here's a few pics of the boys from the party Saturday night:

Jack flaked out on my lap around 9pm and we made up a bed for him in the club room kitchen:

Oscar pinching balloons (he's pretty tired by now, lol):

Both boys dancing with my mum & my cousin early in the night:

The party was my cousin's 21st & was a "Swinging 60s" theme....no I don't have a photo of me, LOL, but I will get one of someone else I promise! It was great fun even though I hardly had a voice AGAIN as I've had this throat thing twice int he last 2 1/2 weeks! The boys went home with my mum & Mick on Sunday morning & stayed there for 2 nights - I was completely lost & hated the silence! It's the first time I have been away from Oscar overnight, so the first time I have been childless since Jack was born ...I wasn't away from Jack overnight until I went into hospital to have Oscar. I tried to relax, I had a nice long bath with bath crystals and a Ginseng and Ginko Biloba face mask while I layed back on my bath pillow and read a magazine...it was very nice but I couldn't relax, I wanted the noise & the kids standing there with me, LOL! It will most likely become a semi-regular thing now - maybe once every 2 months or so - so I need to get used to it, I guess the more they go the more I will get used to it and be able to relax.

Well that's it for me today, I hope everyone is enjoying life & their kids. xxoo

Well, not exactly broken I guess...but not so useful for a few days.  WARNING - contains slightly gorey descriptions!

Yesterday afternoon after I stopped gabbing to Nat on the phone I went to put some towels & tea towels away in the linen closet before I took the kids out to play...our linen closet had no shelves when we first moved here just over 6 years ago so we went to a hardware store one day & bought some metal workshop shelves that we could make up to fit in the cupboard. As I put the tea towels in I felt my finger hit the side of the shelves, didn't hurt but I looked anyway & WOW...on my knuckle I saw a little blood - nothing too drastic but I thought I'd better go to the bathroom and put a bandaid on. Our hallway is rather dark so I couldn't look much there anyway. I got to the bathroom with 2 kids in tow saying "what's wrong mummy? Why are you looking at your finger?", LOL, bent my finger slightly to see the damage (still not hurting at this stage) to catch a glimpse of my knucle - the inside the skin view! YUCK! I straightened my finger immediately as blood was going everywhere,
grabbed the face washer & wrapped it around while I got the first aid dressings box out of the cupboard. I grabbed a fist full of gauze & some tape & wrapped it up nice an tight to stop the bleeding - while at the same time calling James to tell him I needed to go into town to get stitches!

James was at one of his boss's other farms spraying crops - 80km from here & 30 km the other side of Naracoorte which was where I had to go to the doctor...he said call Shantell (my cousin's wife) and see if she can drive you to town, I said I could drive myself but I needed someone to watch the kids while I was in with the doctor...he told me he would be able to meet us at the doctor's on his way home as he was finishing within an hour down there, but I was NOT to drive myself. So I rang Shantell but her daughter is quite sick so I had to call my auntie (my uncle and her work with James) and she knocked off work early to take us in.

We started off down the road & my car started squealing from the front driver's side...I thought "this is all we need" as it was already 1/2 hour since I had done it...then Lesley pulled over, said "how easy do the kids seats come out?", she reversed slowly, went forward slowly & it stopped - just a stone in the breaks thank goodness! We even got stopped for a Random Breath test before we got to town, lol! By the time we got to the doctors and got out of the car James was pulling into the carpark so Lesley said she would drive the work ute back to the main farm, pick up out Hilux and bring it home for us as her ute was at our house.

The wait at the doctors wasn't very long. The nurse on duty laughed when she saw us & said "what's happened this time?" as James is quite accident prone & has ended up there numerous times with bad injuries & she always seems to be on duty. I said it was me for a change & she told me I was spending too much time with James, HAHA. She took me to the emergency room they have there & told me I did a great job with my first aid - but of course I have had lots of practice and training, LOL. My friends dad was also in there & had cut the tops of 2 finger off!

We got the dressing I had put on off & half the cut had sort of stuck back in place a little but a big lump had formed under it. She got the dressing tray out & smothered my finger in Betadine and got me to hold some gauze soaked in Betadine on it until the doctor came in about 10 mins later. He had a look & I started to get queasier (I started feeling a little queasy about 5km from the doctors because I was thinking about how much the anaesthetic needle was going to hurt, HAHA, and the pain was getting bad too...I had really coped well until then). He said they would glue it...RELIEF....but I was already too queasy. Jane (the nurse) looked at me & said "are you ok? Right I'm laying you down", I said I wasn't good, I was woozy & sick so just as the doctor & her had put the glue on I had to move to lay down & the doctor panicked cause the wound moved..Jane said to him that she knows me & I had to lay down NOW. HAHA....I'm not that bad, I don't have  a weak stomach, but I guess the trauma got me finally. They stuck  little more glue on, held it for a few mins & the doc left leaving Jane to strap my 2 fingers together so I can't bend the wounded one and give me a tetanus shot and send me home. Of course it had to b my left index finger & I am left handed!

James drove us home...we got 5km out the road & Jack said he wanted pizza for tea - which he had said earlier & I was going to make it but by now it was too late to make the dough - so James turned around & went to the supermarket & got 2 pizzas to put in the oven, LOL! We put some extra toppings on & put them on while James had a shower. I got it nice and easy - James dished up, showered the kids & got them ready for bed & I got to sit on my but and wallow in self pity, HAHA.

So today I have the fun task of looking after 2 kids pretty much one handed, and typing this took me forever (sorry if there are any mistakes, lol)! I'm sure in a few days it will feel heaps better and I'll end up with a gnarly scar for all to see, HAHA!

Hope everyone has a great week   xxoo

That's what we are having for dinner....along with some roast potato, roast pumpkin, cauliflower and white sauce and steamed peas, beans, carrot and corn! I just had to let you all know cause the smell of the roast is making my mouth water and I just finished the Chocolate Ripple cake whilst fighting off little fingers! Chocolate Ripple cake is James' absolute favourite dessert and we don't have it very often so I thought we would have it tonight for a treat...and the kids think it looks yummy - especially with the peppermint crisp crushed & sprinkled on top! YUMMO!

The roast is huge so it will keep us in cold meat for the rest of the week, but oh does it smell wonderful with fresh garlic & rosemary from my garden stuffed in it and roasting in the oven!

I took a pic of each to tease you with....keep in mind the lamb is only 1/3 cooked so far:

Hope you all have a nice dinner too! xxoo

in my lounge as usual!

in my lounge

in my lounge for all my lovely friends! xxoo