* * * SPRING * * *

Spring has definitely sprung! Blossoms are puffing up on every limb, bulbs are popping through the soil with colourful goodness, honeysuckle can be smelt in the air and the birds are singing once again to the sounds of "enough already". We even had our first snake of the season yesterday, it took a joy ride in the mouth of our resident kookaburra. It was only a baby, but a black none the less. The world needs more Kookas.

On the back of my Spring excitement are always the memories of our family trip (us, both sets of parents and one uncle) to Japan in blossom season, 3 1/2 years ago. 

It was our first trip to meet the Japanese rellies, and it was superb.

Never in my lifetime was Japan on my "to do" list, but oh am I glad I married an Aussie with a Japanese mum (well she is more Aussie than me now, she has lived here longer than my 33 years, most of which were on a beef farm, she says "struth" and drinks beer!) but anyway, I was totally blown away by the graciousness of the Japanese people, their detail and love of beauty even in mundane items, and the cleanliness and thus pride of the nation and their culture. 

We covered quite a bit of ground but if ever you are lucky enough to visit Japan give yourself ample time in Kyoto, formerly the imperial capital and the arts and crafts epicentre of Japan. Geisha's can been seen shuffling the streets, tea houses are spotted all over, the architecture of the ancient temples is quite something, textiles aplenty, the pottery has become another love of my life and the blossoms.....oh the blossoms.  A M A Z I N G !!!! (and just a bit of trivia, I didn't see a single bee ?!?!)

Ahhh...the memories.

I feel a lot of Spring photos coming on.

With Love

Liv xo

40 years!

Mum and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary yesterday, a true testament to the love, commitment and courage they showed when they made their vows 40 Springs ago!

"The only way love can last a lifetime is if it is unconditional. 

The truth is this:

Love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love."

- Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare -

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A lifetime of love & fidelity, 5 children and 9 grandchildren.

Marriage is a covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.  

(get it Rudd? got it? good) 

Liv x

Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day to the Love of my Life! I wrote a whole lot of soppy truths in your card but I want the rest of the world to know that you are an amazing Dad too. Our kids are so blessed.
All kids want is TIME and you give it in abundance. I love you so much xo

Love you xo

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And to my own Dad, I couldn't have asked for a more generous, proud, loving and giving Dad. You are an amazing father, father in-law and Poppy. There are no words for my gratitude, I love you to bits x

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And then there is Bob, my Father in-law. Thank you for giving Paul and I your love and support, and for being a true witness to family and faith.

Love Liv

xoxo

My week in focus

I'll be quick because it's friday night and a snuggle on the couch is in order.
After my last post I told you I would stay aware and be grateful for my loves and the little things around me...so here we go:

grateful for beauty

grateful the days are stretching out

grateful that Spring is so close

and as much as I love my jeans, I was grateful today that as the weather heats up, I won't have to wash and iron these legs for a while.

And of course always grateful for these peeps:

(and of course, grateful for my Treashy, but he'll get his own post on Sunday!)

Happy Weekend Everyone

Liv xo

Life is like a rambunctious toddler.

Today I'm linking up with Em at The Beetle Shack  who says life is like a rambunctious toddler..."sometimes it's cute and clean cut and wonderful and other times it's face is covered in snot and you need to wipe up some serious metaphorical boogers before you can face the world ". I have to agree Em, life is definitely made up of naughty and nice moments, and as a young family all too often we focus on the naughty ones. I often catch myself thinking 'can my day get any worse', but in the scheme of things they are petty and passing, just moments.
A few of those moments occurred this week:
- Loosing my temper and considering boarding school most mornings and then mulling over it all day and beating myself up for even considering it.
- Putting my second favourite woollen jumper in the dryer, it now fits my big toe.
- Breaking 2 wine glasses (at different times with a house full of people) and then having to wrangle the vacuum cleaner amongst the guests.
- Vomit after vomit (not my own, but mine to clean).
- Burning the toffee for my big boys cooking project.
- Lining up with every other Australian citizen at the Post Office on Tuesday and half way through the line Bear announces that he has done a poo (there was really no need to be told, the odour spoke for itself)
- Generally just doing grocery shopping with a 2 year old.
- Having the carseat debate with the the same 2 year old. every. single. day.
- Racking my mid-week brain to decide what to cook for dinner and come 6pm no one is hungry, late lunches all round.
- Attempting to get a screaming child out the door (who doesn't want to go) whilst holding armfuls of apparently necessary items and then dropping the keys on the way to the car, bending down to get them, using my chin as a 3rd arm and copping a big fat wet lick from the dog right across my face.
- Walking past the big boys room 100 times a day and just shaking my head.
- Daily: wiping wee from the boys toilet seat, picking up empty toilet rolls, scrubbing hardened toothpaste from the sink, hanging up wet towels, picking up cushions, school bags and shoes, closing doors, turning a million lights off. (I know what you are saying.....)
- copious piles of ironing banking up
Bloody hell I'm a whinger. sorry.
But these are just moments. They pass (albeit slowly). It's part and parcel of family life.
Ok, as a 21 year old bride I didn't think too much about these moments, in fact they never crossed my loved-up mind, but they are what they are. I still don't like them but they will pass, I have to keep reminding myself of that and rather focus on the happy moments: the fun, mundane, loving, generous and carefree moments that make up the best of family life. Like unconditional love from my best friend and hubby, having him cook me breaky every morning and enjoying it together whilst our babies sleep,  letters from the kids, cuddles on the couch, carefree moments on the lawn as the sun is going down, dinner on the deck as Spring approaches and the evenings stretch out, umpteen drawings and crafty gifts, daily watching our kids strive to reach their goals and sometimes attaining them,  moments of hilarity, wacky jokes, family outings,  and unimaginable amounts of priceless love - not always in the form we expect but always, always present. These are the moments that make the tough ones bearable.
So today I'm going to look out for and freeze some of those precious moments.

Thanks Em for making today a 'grateful' one.
Liv xo

Siri

Every time I have sent an email these past few weeks 'Fred sweet cheeks bubble pop' comes up in my address bar. I smelt a rat and after 2 weeks of saying I'll get to the bottom of it, I finally did tonight.
I called my darling boys in and asked who the culprit was. Fingers were pointed, blame was laid, accusations were slung back and forth...but deep down I knew who it was, my nerd Jim.
After explaining how embarrassed I was after realising I'd sent his teacher an email from 'Fred sweet cheeks bubble pop' (a white lie, but necessary), he giggled and said: "well mum you have to agree it's pretty funny."
He assured me he knew how to fix the problem and proceeded to talk to Siri.
I have heard of Siri, but we've never been introduced until tonight and I sure as hell didn't expect that she could change my name at the drop of a hat (or a cheeky kids request for that matter).
So Jimmy and Siri had words to this effect:
(loud and slow)
Jim: "Siri can you please change my mums name back to Olivia."
Suri: "I'm sorry I do not understand."
Jim: "oh I mean can you change Fred sweet cheeks bubble pop back to Olivia Denahy."
Suri: "I'm sorry I do not understand. Do you want me to call you sweet cheeks bubble pop because you are my friend?"
Jim: "No, I don't want to be your friend, can you just change my mums name back"
Suri: "I'm sorry I didn't get that"
Jim: "change Fred sweet cheeks bubble pop to Olivia Denahy you idiot"
Suri: "Well you are entitled to your opinion"
Jim: "What?"
Suri: "I'm sorry I do not understand"
Jim: "FAR OUT, YOU ARE DUMB. Just change Fred sweet cheeks bubble pop back to Olivia Denahy"
........... this went on and on and on and on............until finally Jimmy and Siri came to an agreement and my identity was restored.
A lot of pranking goes on in this husienda and sometimes I feel I'm loosing the battle like here and here and here. But one thing boys underestimate is the power of a woman's words, and I don't think Jim ever wants to cross paths with Siri again.
I won today.

Until tomorrow
Liv xo

Weekend wrap up.

I had my biggie home sick on Friday with the vomits so needless to say I didn't snap many pics of him over the last few days, it wasn't a pretty sight. Infact I'd go so far to saying that it was possible the biggest vomit I have ever seen. I did two loads of washing at 11pm on Thursday night just to clean one chuck. That was it, just one. The next day precaution and man-flu ensured he scored a day off school, but he magically got better when it was time to go and watch 5 rugby grand finals with Dad on Saturday.

We hosted an end of rugby season BBQ at our place yesterday for Jimmy's team, and the day was so spectacular that they all jumped in the pool (Winter, what winter???)

He crashed last night and gave me more fodder for this post .

It must have said something in that yellow book 'The boys book to survival' about sleeping under your bed makes you tougher?!?!

Pink Dot, had her 'Book Week Parade' on Friday and she went as Ariel from The Little Mermaid, but her bothers insisted she looked more like Lady Gaga (how the hell they know who Lady Gaga is was more distressing  than their comment).

(she forgot the memo 'go bare foot')

...and Bear just rolled with the punches, witty as usual.

Other things that happened in our world:

We made a visit to the cousins in the Blue Mountains, and Spring has definitely sprung early there:

The best Dad in the world framed some more paintings for me:

Visit my Etsy store :

Lulu introduced the neighbours horses to her horse.

I scored myself a new Riedel glass:

Shenanigans. Always shenanigans. 

And the winner of my painting give away is:

 Angels have Red Hair

(Congrats! send your postal address to odenahy@gmail.com and I'll send it to you ASAP. I hope your red headed boys enjoy a splash of pink! )

I hope you all had a lovely and sunny weekend

Liv xo