picking battles

When I announced to Zahn that we were going for a bike ride and told him to go and put a shirt on. What I actually meant was, 'grab a nice shirt that will 'compliment' your hair (NOT the bright yellow one he seems to pick every time) so I can take some cute pics that will hopefully make it onto my "work in progress" photo wall.

When he emerged from his room wearing his black and green fluro skeleton outfit and his brown sandals, it wasn't quite what i had in mind. But if you know Zahn, not exactly out of character either :)

Of course I TRIED to persuade him to put something else on (naturally thinking of this great photo op and nothing else, I mean wearing that outfit, even with a cute picture, its use would be so limited.

But when the 'almost' tears and the "but i just love it, why can't i wear it" started, i had to remind myself WHY I was taking him out riding And after my futile attempts at bribery and coercion, I decided it wasn't worth the 'fight', and I should save my 'mother/son' battles for something that actually mattered.

Naturally Zahn was thrilled. Which in itself made great pics just because he was so happy about his 'victory'. And now when I look at these pics I can't help but laugh and remember how excited he was about wearing his 'outfit'.

"do the kung fu bow"

"I'm the king of the world"......one of his current favourite sayings

nothing like a bit of big brother love......

I love spending time with these funny little companions of mine :)

a little ray of sunshine........

"has come into the world. A little ray of sunshine in the shape of a girl"......(go on you know you want to sing along!

WARNING - this blog entry may be a little (or a lot) 'sappy'. But all the words contained herein are true. And today I will share them.

I know that every mother is partial to their own children. I am obviously no exception to this fact. But honestly, how did I ever live without this gir l(even with her crazy 'banshee' sounds and little tantys that she's started having. I completely ADORE her funny little personality and her gorgeous chubby face! We are all so in LOVE with her.

I can still remember the anticipation I felt waiting for her to arrive. I remember having her and bringing her home. These memories are so vivid that I can't believe it was 12 months ago. That's right 12 months. On Monday our girl turns 1!

I can still remember the happiness I felt when I brought her home. In the days and weeks that followed her arrival, despite the exhaustion of new motherhood i thought i would feel, I seriously felt overcome with a sort of contentment for life. What can I say. The girl just makes me happy! very happy! (yes. happy. despite the agony of feeding her - seriously this girls petite little mouth would open like she was about to drink from a straw.....and we all know that was NOT the case...I'm grimacing now just remembering, but i digress). I would look at her perfect little face and feel overwhelmed with this new little love of mine. I had a daughter.

I knew we would all love her but i had no idea the impact she would have on our little family. or the impact she would have on me. I didn't understand the bond I would feel with her. I didn't know that I would love her the way, and as much as I do. Maybe it's because she's like me. A little daughter of God that is trusted to my care to teach her how to be a Woman. A Mother. A Wife.

I love that people love Jasmin. I love that her little eyes light up and communicate with everyone who looks at her. I love that she waves and smiles at everyone. I love that wherever we go people stop and comment about her. talk to her. smile at her. adore her.

I'm so grateful to be the mother of this happy little girl!!!!

Guten Tag......

or 'hallo'.......if we could choose to go and live in another country it would be Holland.....hands down!! (OK I know that 'Guten Tag' is German......but that's seems much more exciting for a title than 'hallo'.....which could easily be a typo)........

I can just imagine us riding our bikes around the beautiful landscape of Holland.......singing like the vantrap family......while ZAHN skips around wearing shorts pulled up too high with braces and clogs, yodelae-he-ho-ing as he goes.....(classic image)......

So seeing as we so 'desperately' (i hate to use that word but it's true) want to take the kids overseas for a couple of years, we thought we'd pretend that we were jet setting off somewhere amazing and had a 'culture day' of sorts.......and went to Holland.....

did I say Holland......in our dreams......i mean, we went to the "Holland House".......right here in sydney....

It was this quaint looking building in the middle of 'nowhere' (completely bizarre) with a dutch shop in front, walk through area to this endearing little cafe that was SO cluttered with clogs and flags and lamps and fake flowers......just how I imagine it would really look.....and then a walk through area to a giant warehouse full of dutch souvenirs (like I said completely bizarre for a little suburb in Sydney......

So we did a little shopping, pretended we could understand dutch when the lady in the cafe assumed chad could speak her lingo (what a spunk).......



i know the photo looks a bit random.....it was just outside 'the house'......but did i already say.....what a spunk????

'ordered some 'kroket' which the kids loved......dank u wel'.....

talked about 'all things Holland' and the things Chad did while he was over there last year (for 6 ridiculously long weeks), spoke some more dutch with the lady.....



and tried some more cuisine.....



Rylan not loving it.......



Zahn 'praising' the heavens because he loved it sooo much.......(pretty much pure sugar)........

and all this followed by a dutch dinner, al-la-carte Chad style.......(this was a meal he had with a few families while he was over there)......the chips and mayo were delish!!



So here's to 'culture' days and happy brothers that only fought in the car for a portion of the way there and the way home.......ahhhh sigh.....one day it will be for real!!!!!

looking back.......

Our favourite view from the Drivers seat in our car........

love those funny facials!!!

Let me set the scene......

I was in the kitchen doing something this morning and Zahn was playing in the lounge room.......He then enters the Kitchen and here's the conversation that followed......

Z: muuum, can you come and help me in the lounge room......

M: hang on a sec buddy, let me just finish this, then i'll come in.....

now comes the "but muuuuuum I need you right now" (said in a drawn out whinny kinda way).....followed by a few more "hang ons".....and a few attempts at reasoning. He then looks up at me with his little freckled face and says:

Z: mum, this is important to me and Jesus said we should ALWAYS (emphasised) help people and we should definately do what he says.....so come oooooooonnnnn........

now usually Zahn knows that if he says something is quote, "important to him" (key words) that I almost always instinctively stop what i'm doing and help him with whatever he needs (within reason of course) - i mean really, how can I not help him when he's pleading "it's important to me") so he's kind of figured out it's one of my 'buttons' so to speak.....but this morning when I was trying to reason with him.....and he so sincerely mentioned doing what Jesus says, (my other 'button') how could I not abruptly stop what I was doing and go with him to the lounge room......i mean how can I ignore a comment like that!!!!!!!

I love this little boy!!!!!!!!

WHO??????

Who in their right mind would choose a white polo shirt for boys aged 4-11 years old for a school uniform. Yes, that's right I said uniform. A white shirt EVERYDAY (not just on Sunday when they put it on as we are walking out the door to church, and then take it off as soon as we get home)......EVERYDAY.......while eating, playing, painting, drawing (with textas) rolling down hills, and possibly hugging trees (i'm just going by the grass stains and crazy bark patterns that appear on Rylans shirts) running through some serious mud piles (again just going by the mud splashes all over the back of his shirts) and well just being a boy in general.(seriously even as an adult Chad dosn't wear white T-shirts)!!

So i have come to the conclusion that although the shirts do look nice (on the first day they are purchased and before they are worn) It must of been someone that dosn't have a son that chose white for a boys uniform!!!!

This is only 1 side of the shirt and doesn't do justice to how filthy it was :)

Arrrgghhhhh - I need some more napisan!!!

Star of the week.....

Growing up in the Bryen household we had various types of bribes awards given to encourage us with different things. One of these prestigious awards was STAR OF THE WEEK.

I don't personally remember receiving it :), but I DO remember the excitement and hype over WHO it would be awarded to (and I remember thinking desperately 'oh please let it be me' :)!!

So last week we introduced star of the week in the Aston household......

To start off this new tradition we opened with an honorary FHE for the winner of this exciting and prestigious new award.

and the award goes to.............

none other than Chad Rylan (this is how he often likes to refer to himself)!!!!

There are so many things we love about this boy and it was so good having him stand in front of us all while we talked about why he had won this special award and what we all loved about him.....seriously......he was beaming!!! (and therefore, so were chad and I).

So here are just a few of the reasons (other than being such a great kid) why Rylan was the first recipient of the star of the week......

• He gave an excellent talk in primary on Sunday (and bore his own sweet testimony about the importance of mothers (*sniff sniff* loving it)

• He prepared an AMAZING poster for a topic talk at school by himself - the pictures he drew were so good (i can't even believe i didn't take a picture before it went to school.....SO unlike me)

• He received a MERIT award because his topic talk was so well presented (apparently he was the only one who got one that day for the talks (more about that to come)

• He was chosen to be the new CTR8s class president (proud parent moment)

• He got a singing time award in sharing time
  

• He read an entire novel over the week (which took him just over 3 hours......so dedicated)

• He is doing EXCELLENT on the piano......it's amazing watching him learn so quickly

• He is VERY grateful for things he is given
  

• He's always a great big brother and loves to help out and play with Jazzy
  

This list could go on but we'll leave it at that and call this his 'highlight' list.

So the next question you may ask is "what did he receive" (other than the title, and an acrostic poem about R.Y.L.A.N (for some reason he loves these kinds of poems). I have to say the best thing that goes along with this award is that the winner gets to sit next to Chad-dad at the dinner table, everyday for the whole week. I would love to say that the boys fight over me every.single.night, but, it's just not true :) I do usually get a charity "oh yay I get to sit with mum" but really both these boys idolise their dad and it's a fight as to who will have the honor of sitting directly next to him at the table.

So here's to a new tradition in the Aston household and hooray for Rylan for being such a star!!

We love you buddy!!!

Pony tails and eating grass

So Jasmin's hair is just long enough to wear a little pony......we completely love it!!!

To quote the boys when they first saw her.....

Rylan "ooooohhhhh you look sooooo pretty Jasmin"
and Zahn "ooohhh she's adorable, do you like your ponytail Jazzy" (both said in their 'baby' voices they put on when they talk to Jazz, while cooing all over her - so cute......i love it!!)





of course it wouldn't be a true depiction of Jasmin if she wasn't putting something in her mouth........

and let's not forget about Zahn......diligently entertaining her while i snap away (OK - I had to really bribe him to help me out :) but he did it!!!!



the only way to get Zahn to smile......put him up against the wall completely out of the sun.....



a few 'rays' still reaching zahns ridiculously sun sensitive face :)

Questions and Answers

So I've had a few people comment on the crazy times I post my blogs, so I thought I would clear up this misunderstanding. For the record I don't post at all hours of the morning and night. Obviously the default time is set in a different time zone (which I will fix :) and is not publishing on Australian time! So as much as I LOVE blogging, I'm not actually that obsessed.......well not really :)!!!

And Question #2. Yes, I did find out who my 'secret crush' was. It was one of my lovely friends from church, Maribelle!! (luckily, no love story to tell :)

And the pic is purely because a photo always make a post more interesting.....so here's one of me and my happy girl (when she's not teething that is :)

baby love......

Ever since I was little I have had 'a thing' for baby dolls (yes I was completely obsessed with the 'my child' dolls you kissed on the nose and 'they became yours'.....and I may have secretly always kissed my friends so I could pretend it was mine........)

so I was excited when Jasmin got her first baby doll......

she loves it....it's so cute when she cuddles it (and the boys think it's hilarious when she throws it on the ground.....)

thanks grandma......'we' love it!!

Home

The best part of being away from the boys for 5 days was definitely when they picked me up from the train station and Rylan and Zahn came racing up the ramp chanting my name while jumping on me! Man I missed their little faces and was so happy to be home with them again. It was SO SO cute watching chad and the boys all crowd around Jasmin and gush over her. She is so loved and adored by those boys - I love it!!!

Now despite missing the boys, I LOVED spending 5 days with my sisters and parents. It's always nice to have uninterrupted 'talk' time (which is constant) with girls that love to talk as much as I do, and with girls that really are my best friends!!!!

I love my sisters and my mum and am so grateful for each of them and for the friendships we have!! It's so inspiring to be with women that love the gospel, love being mothers and know how to have fun!

I love discussing (and learning) what works (and doesn't always work) with our kids. I love laughing till we cry (which is often) and being our 'un-edited' selves.....(which means crazy, loud, crazy and loud :)

I miss them already!!


A few pics from our getaway.....



Jasmin getting ready to take off........look at those cheeks :)



Goodbye Sydney......see you in 5 days :) wahoo



Birthday dinner for Zara - (I can't believe i have a 12 year old sister!!!)



Emma and Fiona



One of the highlights of our trip was going to the temple with Zara for her first time. There is something really special about being in the temple with your family!!!!



Mum and dad with their newest grandson Ammon (love that baby :)



Mel and Ruebs



Cheeky brothers, Jayden and Ruebs



The birthday girl Zara, and Maddy



Kaydy baby



Ammon (and auntys) sleeping........



Asher my genius nephew (seriously when he was like 2 years old he could read......genius :) and he's so cute!!



Olivia.....Jazzys 'BFF'. Such a sweet gorgeous girl



And Neets giving Ammon some more baby love (clearly he's feeling the love :) haha!!

We had such a great time. And to Chad - THANKS for being such a great hubby and 'letting' me 'party' (used very loosley in a relaxing, talking, reading, hanging out with my sisters) kinda way! I know you had a CRAZY busy week so THANKS for the time to getaway!!