Why?

WHY?

How can such a tiny word hold so many possibilities?

There wouldn't be many of us who at some stage have asked "but why?" Finn is an EXPERT at this ( goes with the territory of being 3.5, I know!) and why shouldn't he ask? What better way to learn and grow than to ask, why?

Have you ever wondered:

Why is it that when you have the opportunity to sleep - you can't?

Why is it that some colours appeal to me, but not to you?

Why do I like the taste of pineapple but not pawpaw?

Why do we have to lose our childish innocence as we get older?

Why can't I remember like I used to?

Why can children remember words they shouldn't, but forget to say please and thank you?

Why is weight so easily gained, but not so lost?

Why is there injustice in our society?

Why green the colour for "go?

Why does a pimple form right before a special ocassion?

Why does Ruby invariably need a nappy change only after she's all dressed and ready to go out the door?

Why is it always that ONE pocket you don't check that has a tissue in it???? ( and in a 'darks" cycle!)

Why is it so challenging to answer the hard questions in life?

Why  have I forgotten the inspiration behind this post?

Danni xx

Fruit

I like to think that I'm doing a pretty good job with my kids healthy eating ( for the most part anyway) ... they aren't fussy eaters and eat most of what is put in front of them. It is always a challenge to keep them interested and partaking in the "good" things though. I'm trying to encourage them to learn about "sometimes" food and "all the time" food - and why they are different (Finn can distinguish between the two but wants the former more often!!!)

My kids are both big fruit eaters... in fact Finn would eat only fruit all day if I allowed it - he just loves it - and is not particularly fussy about what type of fruit it is. He does have his favourites though and at the moment it's watermelon and oranges. I'm thankful that it's not bananas right now - at $12/kilo - he'd send us broke!

Thinking about fruit and it's presence in the kids lives, led me to think about a different form of fruit that I'd like to be of influence to them too. 

I want to try to teach them the importance of these fruit and how best to do that? I need to lead by example - not always an easy thing for me to do. A while ago I found a quote that had a big impact on me - so I typed it up and stuck in on my fridge as a great reminder for me:

"What we want our children to become, we must endeavour to be before them"

 Anyway... back to the fruit.I try to teach these and have them as active guidelines within our family life but I think I need to put them somewhere, physically to remind me... just like that quote.

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self Control

These need to be in the "all the time"  category - not just the "sometimes"!

Wishing you all a fruit-full day,

Danni xx

The Dark Cloud

It saddens me just how many people I know, love and care about have suffered or do suffer from  depression. Too many of them.

Not much more to say other than I am thinking of you, sending and wishing you  loads of love, light, healing and .... rainbows .

Hope your days are soon brighter

Danni xx



Baking with Finn

Finn wanted to bake cupcakes while Ruby was having her daytime rest... if I'm being completely honest here, it was the last thing I felt like doing.... so I thought: " I know, I'll document it and blog it"! So here it is

Yellow patty cans - "Lellow" is Finn's favourite colour!

Nothing like learning how to crack an egg!

Milk next

It's hard to get the butter off the spoon!

I just LOVE the look of sheer joy on his face here...

 he was always a little afraid of the "noisy fing" used to mix...

but

he's mastered it now!





Licking the spatula - one of the best bits of baking!

Ruby woke up just in time for the icing part!



So proud!

Such concentration...

"Dip Dip"

Ta-Daaaaah!

Enjoying the products of their hard labour!



Danni xx

The "Big Cheese" !

Mr Dandy has officially requested that his name be changed. From thus forth, Mr Dandy will now be referred to as:

THE BIG CHEESE

(This has now caused me to ponder.... should I change my name to Brie???????)

Close your eyes Daddy, make a wish and blow.......

Talk again soon,

Danni xx





Summary Sunday

This week I'm thankful for Finn's swimming teacher - he went back to swimming lessons after a 5 week break due to his broken arm ( thus missing assessment for advancement)  - she advocated for him to go up a class despite his absence. So thankyou to her for many things - but most importantly for teaching my boy water safety

 It made me so happy to catch up and have a coffee with a friend who I haven't seen for a very long time.. it was long overdue but we just picked up where we left off.

It made me smile to hear Finn ask Ruby how her daytime sleep was. He said "Did you sleep well Rube?" - she replied "Yep!" with a grin. He asked "And did you dream?" and she nodded " Tuddles"... so he gave her one!

I'm grateful for my Mum

I love that I live in a street with fabulous neighbours who look out for each other and have such a wonderful spirit of community

It made my heart melt  to hear my kids killing themselves laughing as they played together outside this week ( I know, I know - make the most of it for before long they'll just be killing each other!!!)

One of my dearest friends  made me laugh and said so much in a simple text to really make my day - I needed that... Thank you!

It made me a very happy Mummy to have a sleep in til 9.30 this morning! Thank you Mr Dandy! 

Hope you had plenty of joyful moments this week too

Danni xx

Just closing my eyes...

...making a wish and blowing....

Just needed to do that today

Danni xx

Finn's Funnies

This post is dedicated entirely to my entertaining, funny, charismatic and delightful little man, Finn! He has an amazing way of making me laugh - even at the most in-opportune times - but that's one of the things I love most about him! Thought you may get a giggle out of a couple of these!

   

    I asked Ruby who had drawn on the kids table with crayon and she said "Finn".... he

    replied with:  "Are you playing porky pies, Rube????"

    After handing me a bowl with mud,sand and pebbles in it I dutifully exclaim "Oh how

    delicious! Just what I felt like, thank you Finn" ... he looked at me and said very simply:

    " It's pretty disgusting actually Mum!!!"

During a role play, Finn wanted to be Daddy - he started this interaction with:

" Well now, my dear!" 

( You'd NEVER hear anything like that from Mr Dandy, so go figure!)

"Take a picture of me Mum, 'tending to be a photo!"

Even when he's asleep - he still makes me smile!

Oh how I love you Finn, you were so worth the wait

xxx

Spirituality

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience,

we are spiritual beings having a human experience

I like this. I like it a lot - it has been on my mind a lot lately and I've been wanting to blog about spiritualism and my journey ... but wanted to get it right.... so I put it out there and....

Closed my eyes made a wish and blew.....

Spiritualism and it's definition is such a personal thing and so open to interpretation - I guess that's one of the things that I love about it. It can mean one thing to you and another to me - but in doing so it can still have the same desired affect - pretty cool, huh?

A few posts ago I mentioned the "church" that I go to... it's not a regular, mainstream, dare I say "normal" church - it's a Spiritualist Church ( one of my dearest ( cynical?) friends calls it my hocus pocus church!!!) So, what is a spiritualist church I hear you ask? Good question. I won't go with a standard definition or look one up on the www... instead I'll tell you what it is for me.

 

It is a bit of a sanctuary for me... a place that I walk into and go "AHHHHHHHH :) " I remember very clearly the first night I went.. I was so nervous and wound up like a kids toy ready to fling off to the other side of the room, BUT, the moment I walked into that room - it was like a calm came over me and I felt completely at ease. I still get that calm every time I go - I leave there feeling grounded again and ready to face the next week ahead!

One of the things that I like about it the most, is that it's about LOVE - love in it's purest form - that's what it comes down to, very simply. Love and positive energy. What I don't like about a lot ( not all but a lot) of other churches is what I call the "fear factor"... they literally put the fear of God into people. I disagree with this. Surely, a God of Love wouldn't want you to fear him?? There is no "fear factor" at my church - far from it. I love that.

Wise man...

I like that it's about personal accountability -it reinforces  that you are responsible for what happens in your life, that you control what you say, do, feel and how you act .That you and only you  have the power to change you for the better, to change your thought patterns. Personal accountability is hard. Really hard. It makes you reflect and be really, really honest with yourself... and some of us find that harder than others, maybe that's why I like the church - I struggle with this. One of my favourite lines from our healing meditation is something like this:

"... if the ego in you speaks, the ego in others will respond....so too, if the Christ in you speaks,the Christ in others will respond.."

Now I know some of you will freak out at the use of the word Christ here... BUT, bear with me..... what if I replace the word Christ with: love... or kindness.... or compassion... or gentleness... or humour... or ...  are you with me??? I think it's a great way to look at things - and it's helped me to stop sometimes and reflect and THINK before I speak/respond to people ( not always... of course, but I'm really trying and trying to be conscious of my words - and it's good to be reminded each week)

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you;

you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you"

I like the reassurance that I have guardian angels and guides that watch over me and my family and friends to protect, guide and support...even if we don't always see, believe or feel them. I like that sometimes I get "proof" of those around me and the messages that they send..

I think I'll leave it there from my personal perspective for the moment... I could go on for hours... and I will come back to it. But I will share the 7 Principles of Spiritualism before I go. These simply act as a guideline for the development of a personal philosophy I guess of how to live your life. As I mentioned before, the liberty of interpretation is given to us all ...

1. The Fatherhood of God

2. The Brotherhood of Man

3. The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels

4. The Continuous Existence of the Human Soul

5. Personal Responsibility

6. Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all Good and Evil deeds done on Earth

7. Eternal Progress open to every Human Soul

( Disclaimer:I don't claim to understand and /or "know" all of these principles.. but it's a journey,right?)

Danni xx

Happy Birthday Mum!

Today we celebrated my beautiful Mum's 79th Birthday! Hard to accept that she is this age - she doesn't act nor look it - which makes it easy for us to sometimes over estimate her and have higher expectations of her than we should!

Is it any wonder?!?!



My Mum is an amazing source of inspiration for many people - she is kind, thoughtful, honest, caring, creative and  funny.  Mum is a singer - she doesn't even realise how much she sings - but she has a song for every ocassion - and the kids love it! Only the other day I heard Ruby singing " Bye bye little girl don't you cry... you'll be a better girl, bye bye and bye" to one of her dolls! ( This song Mum sang to my sister and I growing up and now to our kids)..... Mum is a fabulous Nanny!

We went to my sister's for dinner to celebrate - the first time we have all been together for Mum's birthday in a long time. You could tell she loved it! Alot!

Happy Birthday Mum, Love you xx