five!

Having five kids is a blessing. It means life is busy all the time but

it's a good kind of busy. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's exhausting.

But that's parenting in general isn't it?

There were times when four of our children were aged five and under, where I felt I wasn't coping. Theres been times throughout my time as a mum where I questioned whether I was up for the challenge of having a big family. But I've never regretted it, I wouldn't have it any other way.

One of the biggest challenges is making sure everyone gets what they need. With five different personalities and ages ranging from seven to twenty it's sometimes hard to get the balance right. But I do try to make sure everyone gets a go, and that everyone is heard. Our youngest one doesn't have any trouble being heard, thats for sure! I've got a theory about youngest kids, they are loud! I guess they have to be :)

One thing that works for us is breaking up the family gang and doing things separately sometimes. I"m all for us being together most of the time, but time out does wonders too. Mark has been taking Bill & Lucy to the footy, yay! We get some quieter girl time at home.  Soon I will take Lucy and her friends to Melbourne for an overnight trip for her birthday, such a treat for her to have some space with her friends. Rosie and I have special story time every night, Sunday & I like riding our bikes down to Hepburn. Sometimes Bill, Sunday & I go for a bush walk. Mark takes Rosie & Sunday to the playground. Lucy visits Charlotte for sister time. One of my favourite things to do is to visit Charlotte myself in Melbourne. We go out to dinner, mooch around in Readings, eat cake at Brunetti's and go home and chat. Bliss! I guess all these things are easier to do now the kids are a bit older. I'm looking forward to lots more time together as they grow up.

                                          Sometimes I can't believe I have four daughters!

                                      And they are all so different, and so special to me.

Yes they do drive me mad sometimes, but I'm so lucky to have them, and they are so lucky to have each other. I always wished I had a sister.

And what a bonus to have a son too. I love my Bill, he's one great kid.

He makes me laugh, he is kind, crazy and clever. We have a lot of fun together.

I've been reading a few posts about parenting lately. Seven Cherubs has a busy life with her gang and has many interesting thoughts on life in a big family. I don't always agree with her but that's ok, she has a big heart and is a great mum.  I really enjoyed reading her post about the reactions people have when they hear she has seven kids. Another space I've been enjoying is Reservoir Dad, he has four kids and is a SAHP (stay at home parent). It's refreshing to read a dad's perspective, I like his writing style & also I like reading the comments left by others. Having said that I'm still always amazed how judgmental people can be online. And how rude. (This seems to happen more on Facebook than on blogs but it's still not nice.) Sharing and listening to other peoples parenting experiences helps us to reflect on our own and we can learn so much from each other.

Anyway, whether you have five kids, one or maybe eight, parenting is a HUGE job. That's why Mark & I try to make time for each other too, which isn't always easy. We're hoping to sneak away for a night soon, boy do we need it :)

Do you struggle with your gang? Do you find it hard to get the balance right?

Hope you are finding some space for you too,

see you soon lovelies xo

Duck tales...

You may remember when our family went on a holiday to America earlier this year, our entire duck family were killed by foxes. Our beautiful drake, Freddie, tried to protect his girls and managed to survive for a few days, before dying of an infected wound..and a broken heart.

It was an awful day when we heard the news. Even though I knew that this is the cycle of life, it still hurt and we all cried to think of our ducks being scared and dying in this way.

Several months later we offered to take a friends' trio of ducks, the offspring of our original duck family, Freddie Jnr and his two girls. Just as the quince tree was blossoming the sister ducks began to lay and eventually were sitting on about twenty eggs between them.

It's always such a joyous site to see the first little duckie appear!

And they kept on appearing! In the end there were 19 ducklings..with one little one born sickly, which brought the number to 18.

Five little browny ducklings and fifteen yellow. Is there anything cuter than a duckling? So adorable.

And hungry! Boy do they eat A LOT! 

And they grow so quickly. Almost before our eyes.
After the first week I noticed one little one was dragging it's leg behind it. It struggled hard to keep up with the others, looked in pain, and was obviously not in good shape. At first I thought she would probably just quietly pass away as she grew weaker and weaker. I thought about euthanising her, it's always hard to know what to do in this type of situation.

Anyway, in the end I took her to our lovely vet who was SO kind and showed me that the duckling had broken her little leg. Together we put a mini splint on and taped it up. For the next two weeks she lived in an old guinea pig cage where she was clean and dry. No traipsing around our big back yard meant her leg would have a better chance to heal. And it did!

After week one I put two of her siblings in with her to keep her company and at the end of week two she had her splint taken off. I did a little duck physio to help her leg to bend properly again and very quickly she began to walk/run like the others! What an exciting moment.

Today was just the best. Here she is, standing in the front/middle, after being re united with her family.

Her mum's were thrilled to see her and she has joined the others as if she had never been away. I am so happy I took her to the vet that day, and that the care she received means she is likely to now have a good, happy and active life. I think we might have to keep this special girl. She has been so strong and brave.  And what a beautiful & caring vet we have, she treated Little Ducky free of charge and with such respect and love. Tomorrow I'm going to drop off some flowers and a photo of her little patient.

You can learn so much from others can't you? Bravery, perseverance, kindness and compassion. And even though the cycle of life continues on, with it's sadnesses, and challenges, it's good to look for things that inspire, like courageous little ducks and big hearted people x

If you had...

If you had a grown up daughter who lived in the city, I'm sure you would want to let her know the news from home. I bet you'd text her, call her, and email her often. 

 And I know you'd miss her too. Her funny ways, her beautiful smile, her company.

I know you'd want her to see how things are changing back at home.

How old things are becoming new again,

If she couldn't come home too often I'm sure you'd be showing her photo's of the changes in seasons, maybe the new little apples on your apple tree. Or the clucky chooks who spread their feathers over an ever growing nest of eggs. And she would probably laugh at your 'farmyard' and crazy collection of animals.

If you had a beautiful daughter who lived in the city I bet you'd want her to know that even though back at home things are changing, evolving, growing..

that some things will never change. You'd want her to  know that her home is always with you, that family life isn't the same without her, that she is missed & loved & talked about every day.

Do you have children that have moved out of home? Or family that live overseas? Do you keep in touch with your loved ones through the internet? Do you blog, Skype, FaceTime?

Do you see what they are up to on Face Book or Instagram?

All these things are great, I love the way we can connect with each other in so many ways. I love that I can share our news, and our thoughts, our photo's and words.

But if you had a grown up daughter who lived in the city I bet, just like me,

you would be over the moon to be seeing her in real life...

TOMORROW NIGHT!

Yay!

See you soon Char, and see you soon too lovely ones xo

And the winner is..!

Our school fete! Don't you just love a fete? I do. We've just had ours and it was fantastic!

It's such a fun community event and we were so lucky to have such a sunshiny day too. I had fun with Tracey at the second hand clothes stall. It's a good feeling to be recycling lovely clothes and other bits while also raising money for our little school.

The other stalls were fantastic, I loved the plants and books, the fairy floss and of course the cake stall. Yum! It's such a busy time of year isn't' it? Fetes, festivals, concerts..wow. What are you busy with lately?

Talking of winners, thanks so much to everyone who entered my Instacanvas giveaway..I'm thrilled to announce that Carol of Perennial is the winner! If you are an Instagrammer you should pop by and say hi,  I know you'll love getting a glimpse into Carol's world. Congratulations Carol! Send me your email and I'll give you the details on how to receive  your very own Instagram photo, beautifully printed and framed by Instacanvas.

I'm off now to water in my new little seedlings..it's been a huge day in the garden. Are you planting too? Have fun lovelies, see you soon xo