The week that was

I am so glad this week is over, it was long and tiring! On Wednesday I had a little bit more energy seeing as Lili slept really well, on a side note whoever came up with the say "slept like a baby" obviously never had a baby. Annnnyway, I decided to head into the city to go to a fabric store to get some stuff to make something for our new nephew who is due in May, and to go organise our membership at Costco. So walked to the train station, 20min walk, make it to city after 30min train ride, go to the fabric store, it was waaaaay too expensive like $50 a metre, decide to head over to Costco. I needed to catch the tram to do that. Well that was a huge failure too because I soon learnt that prams don't fit on trams! So what do we do? turn around get back on the train and go home. Lucky for me my lovely husband was there waiting at the train station to pick us up.
In other news this week, I hired a carpet cleaner to clean our carpets. Auron had drawn all over them in permanent marker, so that along with the mushed in food and grime and I'm sure some left over vomit from Auron's stomach bug that warranted a good deep clean. What I found fascinating though is that the carpet cleaner got out the permanent marker but was no match for the yellow felt pen . My floors look lovely by the way.
I got my annual hair cut this week. My hair was pretty much down to my butt. If I back I could easily sit on it. I gritted my teeth and cut a good deal off, now its about 3 inchs shorter. It feels good and I no longer wake up strangulating myself.
On Saturday we went back into the city, drove this time it took like 15mins all up to go finish my mission from earlier in the week to sign our membership for Costco. It was closed, apparently they close on public holidays, I thought they would still be open seeing as we are "observing" Australia Day on Monday. Needless to say it was dissappointing, Aarahi says it's a sign that we shouldn't go there haha, he may be right. We just ended up looking around Docklands and getting some lunch. We did stop at a fabric store and pick up some cute fabric.
Aarahi asked me if I could try making corn chips from scratch last night, I obliged and the results were pretty good. They cost about 50c to make compared to the $3 bag of Doritos we have in the cupboard. They kinda made my "quick" nacho meal into a long drawn out process so I think next time I will just make a whole bunch one weekend like I do the tortillas.
Now it's Saunday, and after the longest sacrament meeting ever (2 hrss) we are home since we skipped the last hour of church and I am hiding out in the bedroom because I am tired and incredibly grumpy probably due to feeding Lili 7 times from the time I went to bed at midnight til 830am when she woke up for the day. I'm glad to say that doesn't happen often.
Tomorrow is a public holiday and Aarahi's home, I imagine he's going to make me go driving (I don't drive, ever, I have an irrational fear of the breaks not working and cars crashing into me) but I have run out of excuses and he is insisting that I start driving.

A week of special days

This is a busy week in my family, and always will be. To start the week Monday was our wedding anniversary, yey for 3 years! it really doesn't seem that long but my gosh it seems like a life time. We have done a lot in the past 3 years. Gotten married, moved countries, moved states, had two kids, traveled overseas and all the other stuff that comes in between. It has been three of the hardest but the best three years of my life. I am married to my best friend, and he really is the best husband out there, well the best husband for me anyway. I remember Mum telling me that her and my "other mothers" Teri and Mel were discussing what kinda of husband I needed. They decided I would probably need someone who would "tell me how it is" oh how wrong they were. Aarahi is lovely and sweet and lets me do whatever I want. 

This week is also my sisters wedding anniversary, tehy got married a year before us, and were sealed in the temple the same week as us. Talking of temples this is also the week that most of my siblings and I were sealed to our parents three years ago. This week is also our dad's 'deathday' he passed away from a sudden  massive heart attack a couple of days after my sisters wedding. Last but not least it is also my little brother Teina's 12th birthday. For a LDS boy turning 12 is a big deal. He will receive the Aaronic priesthood. This is very special and he will have the opportunity to serve the sacrament  and attend the temple. He also moves up into the youth program at church. 

For our anniiversary, we started out with going to a funeral for one of the members of our ward. It was really nice to be there. It was a small and simple service but so sweet. After the service was over and we had finished talking to everyone we headed across the road for subway, as it was now 1pm and neither of us had eaten yet because we were in such a rush to get to the funeral. Aarahi pretty much rushed home from work came inside threw a shirt and tie on and we got back in the car. While we were sitting in there eating our lunch Aarahi's Aunty Jenny walked passed, so we called out to her and she joined us for a little bit. We got home about 2pm and everyone except me went and had naps, I watched a documentry about the Amish, but more on that another day. We made a gingerbread house when everyone woke up, then out to dinner.

It seemed like it was Family Home Evening at the restaurant as there were a number of other member families there too. Our dinner was anything but a simple anniversary dinner where we could sit and talk. They seated us right next to the play area, so Auron made a bee line straight for it as soon as he finished eating and that was the end of us being able to eat together. Haha we said next year we need to find a babysitter! Actually next year we will be in New Zealand so I'm planning to leave the kids with someone and we are going away for the night! The night ended with a trip to the supermarket for nappies...confirmation that we do indeed have children and we are no longer the carefree duo we were three years ago. But we wouldn't have it any other way. 

For those who get this in your emails. there is a video on the blog website if you want to watch the address is http://matthewswhanau.blogspot.com.au/ 

This is my Little brother Teina when he was little and cute , my cousin Georgia

My sister Ellie and our Dad on her wedding day a couple of days before he passed away

Our wedding day 

Jam Packed Saturday

Yesterday we decided to go into the city and visit the Royal Botanic Gardens. It's something I had been wanting to do for awhile now. They have a Children's Garden which I was sure Auron would love, and we haven't gone anywhere especially for him so off we went. First we found a good spot for a picnic, I forgot to bring a picnic blanket so we made do with one of Liliana's. There were HEAPS of people who had the same idea as us. Once we went into the childrens garden it took a bit for Auron to really enjoy it, he seemed a bit apprehensive, although after 20mins or so he was having the time of his life. They had a cool water fountain thing, some kid stood on it and I got saturated, oh well. They also had a man-made stream that wound its way though the garden which the children could play in. This was Aurons favourite part. I had a feeling he wouold get we so packed a spare set of clothes. In hind sight it would have made more sense to change him into the spare shorts and tee shirt I brought first instead of letting him get wet in his long jeans and tee. Oh well that's life.
When Auron had exhausted himself we went to explore the rest of the garden. This was probably the favourite part of my day. Aarahi and I managed a good hour of non interrupted (auron was resting in the pram and Lili was asleep) time to talk. I don't think we even talked about money or kids.
After the gardens we went to Costco, to see if it was worth getting a membership...we are still thinking about it. Following our trip to Costco we caught the tram right into the city, to meet Aarahi's friend and his wife. Reece was one of Aarahis investigator's from his mission, he has since gone on a mission and gotten married. It was good to meet them. We went to this pizza place which was pretty average, despite its really good reviews. The waiters were really nice though and bought Auron a special plate of pasta (they dont do kids meals) Auron also had half the restaurant ooing and ahhing over him...not hard to do.
Dinner was followed by a walk down to Pancake Parlour for dessert. The five of us, Auron included shared a huge icecream sundae, it was called the colossal.
We arrived home about 10pm and it was definitely straight to bed.
Today Lili and I stayed in bed the majority of the day sick. Lili's not really too sick she just wanted to sleep all day.
It really doesn't look like we had a frugal weekend does it? well I did make some more frugal choices.
- I cut our grocery bill by $50 this week
- We parked further out from the city, $6 for parking instead of $16 and caught the free tram to the central city
- We shared a dessert which was $30 whereas is we had bought our own sundaes it would be close to $40 just for Aarahi and I.
- We packed a picnic instead of buying food at the Gardens
- had a $2 slurpee as a treat instead of $6 milkshake.

So that's like close to $100, not too bad if you ask me!

Yup totally wet

Mmmm dessert

5kg of Nutella! 

Auron and Daddy on the laptop around the same age

Lili and Daddy playing on the laptop

Cutting Back

Since it's the new year and all, I like most people have spent time contemplating how I want to better mine and my family's life over the coming year. One area that I want to work on is becoming more frugal. We are in a fortunate position where we don't aren't stressing about money etc but that's not to say that wont always be the case one day. We have a goal of moving back to New Zealand within the next 5-7 years, unfortunately NZ is not the cheapest place to live and the family tax benefits are laughable compared to Australia's, and Aarahi we surely take a significant pay cut when we move home. So with that said learning now to live with much less and save the excess seems to be a wise idea. As it is we live off aarahi's income and the money I receive for from family tax benefits and Liliana's baby bonus goes into saving and paying off that wretched student loan.
My dear husband doesn't really know how much money we have, or where it is, or how much we spend on things. His job is to go make the money and my job is to spend it wisely. We are both happy in these roles.
We already do a few things that save us money:
- we buy homebrand from the supermarket.
- I cook everything from scratch (I feel guilty doing other wise, my mum and Teri have always cooked from scratch and I love their food best)
- I make our own laundry liquid
- Never pay full price for the kids clothes, but buy quality over quantity
- I check ebay and online stores first before I buy in store as most often it's cheaper there.
- Auron wears cloth nappies/diapers
- We don't formula feed Liliana at all.

Areas where I need improvement:
- We eat out way too much, as often as 3 times a weeks. This can range from $20-$80 each time
- I should start Liliana in the cloth nappies too, I've just been too lazy, and while I'm at it toilet train Auron
- My grocery bill could use some work. We go one of the more expensive grocery store because the cheap one has a long line at the check out counter...lame excuse I know.
- I just found out that if you are in Australia you can set up online payments to pay your NZ student loan...I need to do this because I bad at remembering to go online and make regular payments and the interest is going to be the end of me.

Another new change for our household is that on Monday morning I am unplugging the TV and Xbox. It has become too distracting from family time and other important things. It will be turned on again on Friday nights ready for our traditional homemade pizza and dvd night. Then off again The following Monday morning.

Well Aarahi and Liliana are up from their nap so we might go do the groceries...and not buy our dinner in town!

Auron helped me make some cookies for Daddy's lunch. He did the rolling and  squashing all by himself.

Auron loves getting into mischief. Love his new PJ's. My deal of the week thanks to a huge sale at Baby GAP, and free postage!

A night away

Australia is in the middle of a heat wave, yesterday was the hottest with some places in Victoria (the state we live in) reaching 47 degrees. In Melbourne it was around 41/42 degrees, still too hot though. I decided that I would surprise Aarahi with a night in the city at a hotel with lovely air con and swimming pool. (me and the children thought that we would benefit greatly from this treat too)
Aarahi arrived home and I had all the bags packed and house tidied ready to go. He was excited and we pretty much left as soon as he finished his shower. The drive into the city was really nice, relaxing even, not something you can often say about Melbourne freeways. We arrived at the Sebel Albert park and checked in...it was really pretty and a bit flash with an awesome spiral staircase in the lobby.
We just relaxed for the rest of the day/night. We went down for a swim in the pool, there were a few otehr families there escaping the heat aswell. A lady and her daughter came and told me how cute my kids, I may be biased but I do think we have pretty cute kids. Lili got to try out her new togs (New Zealand word for the clothes you swim in) and have her first swim. She screamed at first but then loved it, she kicked and splashed and stayed in the cold pool for a good half an hour before we headed to the spa she was happier to get really into it there.
We went back to our room and ordered room service, put the kids to bed watched some tv and fell asleep before 8pm.
Today we checked out of the hotel and headed out for breakfast at the Pancake Parlour. Then did some shopping there were heaps of sales on so I stocked up on clothes for Lili and Auron for next summer. I very very very rarely pay full price for any of their clothes. We also picked up some new dvd's which Aarahi and I plan to watch together with some treats after Auron is asleep tonight.
It was such a lovely weekend, I love being with my family couldn't think of anything better.

We went to the city on Thursday, I got Auron this  balloon Cookie Monster, it is really cool. I think we were more impressed that he was

I came out of the bathroom and these two were busy taking silly photos

Yup I love him

Auron wasn't too impressed by his pancake with icecream choc sauce and sprinkles.What kind of kid doesn't want that!

Mine and Auron's dinner. Just took this picture because I was impressed with the decent amount of sweet chili  sauce and sour cream. 

Auron is always worried about Liliana-mei having a dirty face. He doesn't seem to care if he is covered in snot and left over cereal though.

Aarahi and the little ones

Lili's first swim. 

It was all just a bit too exhausting

My christmas present from mum. A already used, crumbs added jar of marmite. For those of you who don't know, the Marmite factory was destroyed in the Christchurch earthquakes so there is NO marmite until they rebuild. a jar this size is selling for $80 on ebay. We had marmite toast and Hubbards cereal for dinner, thanks Mum.