Long Time Between Updates (Again!!!!)

Went out for lunch with a blogger friend Tania yesterday and when I got home this is what the kids had done for me. How cute!! Nikki did the mermaid painting which I thought was pretty good.

Tania and I had a great chat over lunch about lots of things but mostly we talked about emotional eating and how we wished we knew the answer. I have put on a few kgs since easter and just can't find my motivation to get back on track again. I know I have been emotional eating and most of what I eat when I am stressed is chocolate!!!!

Why am I stressed????

Apart from the problems with my marriage, I have taken on way too much with the girls netball. I am dreading Mondays now because everything starts again for the week. Netball practice for Nikki's comp netball on Monday after school, then Ashleigh's school netball Tuesday afternoon, Nikki's comp netball Tuesday night, then Nikki's school netball Wednesday afternoon. It's just too much. Why have I taken it on I hear you asking??? Well I always said I would coach Nikki's competition netball for the winter season. Then when no-one out of 19 girls parents volunteered to help with the school netball, I said I would do it. For the sake of my girls or there would have been no school netball for the 3rd year running. Why is it that it is too hard for these kids parents to help out??? I know it happens everywhere and it really is disgraceful.

Ok off my soapbox now!!!

Onto the marriage topic. Steve and I had our first counselling session a couple of weeks ago and we both found it very helpful. We talked alot about how we both deal with the children and the stress they put on our relationship and how to make it better. We both got a lot out of it and are going back again at the end of June to focus more on us and our relationship. I have definitely seen an improvement in the way Steve interacts with the kids so that's gotta be a good thing.

Last week we had Steve's 15 year old niece Jessica and her friend Kurt stay with us. They live in the country 2 hours from Adelaide and they were over here for careers week. It sure was a full house but it was a great week and my kids loved having their cousin staying with us.

One thing Steve and I did get out of the counselling was to spend more time as a family so we have decided that once a month (unfortunately not more due to money limits) we will go out on a family outing. Today we went ten pin bowling. Not a cheap exercise - we spent $50 and I had a voucher out of the entertainment book. The kids had a ball and they all thanked us for such a great time. There was a catch though. They had to spend the morning with me in the front garden which we are making over. And they were fantastic about it. They all got out there and helped me cut back plants and do lots of weeding. We managed to fill two green waste bins. I will post before and after photos when it is all finished. We were going to get a bobcat in and pay someone to do this, but I have decided to take it on as a project over winter and hopefully by the time we go to Qld in October, we will have a gorgeous front yard. We have a lot of work ahead of us as it is very overgrown and has been very neglected. I guess because we spend so much time in the backyard with the pool in summer, it just hasn't been a priority to get the front yard looking good. Actually what I will do is post progress photos. I will take a photo tomorrow and then each week when we do some work, I will post more photos.

I must admit I haven't really felt like blogging the last couple of weeks. Not sure why because when I do post, I quite enjoy it. I think because I am so busy, when I do get on the computer, I prefer to read and comment on other people's blogs rather than posting on mine. I will make an effort to post at least once a week.

Thanks to everyone who does comment here. I love hearing from other bloggers.

Have a fantastic week everyone.

A Very Busy Weekend

Nikki sang in the combined school choirs at the Port Power game yesterday. This picture is of Nikki, Ashleigh and Tamika, one of Nikki's friends. And the best part of the day...................

Port won. Again. They have had a great start to the season.

Jarryd played his first game of soccer on Saturday. He was so excited. He played goalie and saved 2 goals. His team won 3-0 so they were all very happy.

I'm going to have to get used to the Saturday morning sport again. Nikki played netball on Saturday morning last year and I hated getting up on the cold, wet mornings. Hopefully there won't be too many of them.

Happy Mother's Day

This is the sunset I saw the other night when I was driving home from work. Lucky I had the camera with me.

These are the beach huts at Mornington. What a colourful sight.

How cute is this photo of Lisa's daughter Charlotte??

This is my bestest friend Lee looking at all the in room information from the Stamford Plaza where we had a luxurious suite.

This is LisaB and her baby Charlotte and MissyP and her baby Imogen. They travelled a fair way to meet Kate and I for lunch. We all had a yummy lunch and then indulged in cake after. There was so much to choose from, it was a difficult decision. We did get a photo of the 4 of us taken by the waiter but I look disgusting so you're not seeing that one - lol. There's a good photo of myself and Kate on her blog. Thanks again for making the effort to meet up.

I hope all the mums in blogger land had a wonderful day and didn't have to lift a finger today. I was very spoilt. I had already bought myself a new non stick frypan that I desperately needed a couple of weeks ago so the kids all made cards and presents at school which were much nicer than any bought present. We had a lovely family lunch at my mums with my brother and his family and my sister and her 3 year old son, my grandma and my mother. It was a great day and we even got to have lunch outside in the sunshine because it was such a glorious day.

I wish blogger would upload photos where I want them. Sorry you'll just have to follow along because it's not doing what I want it to do.

A Very Naughty Blogger

I'm so sorry I haven't updated my blog. So much has been happening including a 4 day trip to Melbourne. I have photos to upload but I will do that on the weekend when I have more time.

I have taken on coaching Nikki's netball team and then I also got the job of looking after Ashleigh's school netball team because not one other mother or father put their hand up to help. So I have netball 3 nights a week now. Ashleigh's team is gorgeous. Out of 7 players, not one of them has ever played netball before so it is a real challenge - lol.

I had the most wonderful time in Melbourne. My best friend Lee lives in Melbourne and we managed to spend 3 full days together out of 4. Unfortunately she had to work on the Saturday, but it gave me the chance to have lunch with some of the Melbourne bloggers. Wonderful Kate picked me up and we had a really yummy meal at a cafe in Glen Waverley. It was so good to meet Kate and LisaB and see Penny again. Penny and I met each other a couple of years ago through another forum and we have kept in touch ever since. So a huge thanks to Kate, Lisa and Penny for going out of your way and catching up with me. It was a lovely afternoon.

I also managed to fit in going to the MCG to see my team Port Power beat Melbourne. I have never been to the MCG before and it was huge. I guess it looked even bigger because there were only 16,000 people there in a 100,000 seat stadium. It actually looked grey and drab but only because there were so many empty seats. Oh well, the sun was shining and it was a great day.

Lee and I treated ourselves to a night in the Stamford Plaza in the city. I booked it on lastminute.com as a mystery 5 star hotel room and only paid $145. The deal was I didn't know what we would get or where it would be until I booked and paid for it. But I thought you can't go too wrong with a 5 star hotel for $145. We ended up with a suite with a spa and it was very luxurious so we were very lucky.

Steve had the job of looking after the kids for the weekend. I was a bit worred after I got my first phone call from the kids on Friday night and Nikki burst into tears because she had already had a run in with Steve. But I couldn't let it spoil my weekend. I needed and deserved this break and I knew they would be ok. And they did survive the weekend.

I did get another bunch of flowers from Steve when I got home so that was a lovely thought. We are getting on ok at the moment. We have our first counselling session next week so I know that will be very interesting. I just hope Steve can open up and confide his true feelings.

I'll be back on the weekend to upload some photos.