Spring 20 day challenge

Welcome Spring!

It is absolutly gorgeous and sunny outside today. As Levi has pointed out to me, I don't need to dress him in so many layers anymore :)

Well, with Spring comes the Spring cleaning.  This year, 'The Organised Housewife' has set a 20 day challenge. I decided that I would try it.  With three kids, it seemed easier to do it in 20 days rather then wearing myself out and (probably not) getting it all done over a couple of days.

I decided that with the challenge, I would work at memorising scripture and would also have one person or thing to pray for while I'm slaving away :)

So, day One...
The task was to clean the kitchen
The passage to memorise was Proverbs 31:10 - 12
And the person to pray for was Ben

¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.

Kitchen: Before

Kitchen: After

 

So far I am loving this challenge. I am really loving the prayer time also. I think I might adopt this cleaning and prayer idea for every day.

Thankfully, the kids were very good while I cleaned so I got it done in good timing and could also spend time with them.

While I cleaned this is what Mr Lazy was doing :)

Nanna, Snow, and Dress Ups

Here are some more photos of different things that have been going on with us lately.

Well, firstly, here is just a photo of Levi and Me. First thing in the morning, he is a very happy boy. A good nights sleep will do that to you :)

 

Here is a photo of Levi at 1 hour old and 3 months old.  I tried to put him in the same pose so you can really see how much he has grown.

I know I'm bias, but isn't he just too CUTE

Friday the 17th...

was GRANDPARENTS DAY.  Lydia was lucky enough to have Nanna come visit (and thank you Nanna for waking up at 5(ish) to get here on time - what a great Nanna.

Lydi has such a great time and is still talking about the excitment of having everyones Grandparents stay at their school for the morning. Lydi says the best things were painting with Nanna, making cookies for Nanna and reading books with Nanna.

To top off all the fun, it also snowed. This was the first time anyone in our family has seen snow so we were all pretty excited. It looked so so pretty falling down on the school oval.

  The kids wanted to build snowmen...unfortunatly, there really wasnt enough snow to do that.  They had to just live with making paper snowflakes. 

BOOK WEEK

Lydia had book week at school this week.  She got to dress up as a character from her favourite book.  Her favourite book at the moment is a book called "It's Mine" by Leo Leonni.  The book is about three rather selfish speckled frogs who constantly say "It's Mine" but in the end they learn to share everything together and realise that life in the pond is a lot more fun to play in TOGETHER. Well, one of the frogs names is Lydia (I'm pretty sure thats the only reason Lydi likes it). Here is Lydia's costume - designed and made by Lydia (with Mum's help obviously) :) Don't you think she did a great job?

Baptism

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant

between me and you and your descendants after you

for the generations to come, to be your God 

and the God of your descendants after you.

Genesis 17:7

On Sunday the 19th of August our son Levi Jacob was baptised. I love watching baptisms, especially when it is your own child.  

Firstly, its fun to see how the baby is going to react. Well, Levi was his usual chilled out self. I think he just enjoyed being up on the stage so he could see everyone looking at him.

Secondly, it is wonderful (and daunting) to promise to bring up our children in the way of the Lord, teaching them God's love and saving work. It is a great reminder (especially when it is so easy to be slack) to use every part of my children's lives, to teach them about God, their sin, repentance and forgivness. And also, how to be bright, shinning lights in this world.

My Prayer for Our Levi...

Dear Father, Thank you for this treasured child of mine. Although you have entrusted him to me, I know he belongs to you and he is always in your care.

Help me as a parent, Lord, with my weaknesses and imperfections. Give me strength and godly wisdom to raise Levi after your Holy Word. Please supply what I lack. Keep Levi walking on the path that leads to eternal life. Help him to overcome the temptations in this world and the sin that would so easily entangle him.  

When it’s hard to be patient… make him willing to suffer
When it’s ridiculous to be thankful … make him see all is grace
When it’s radical to forgive…make him live the foundation of our faith
And when it’s time to work… make him a holy wonder.

Send your Holy Spirit daily to lead and guide him. Ever assist him to grow in wisdom and stature, in grace and knowledge, in kindness, compassion and love. May he serve you faithfully with his whole heart devoted to you. May he discover the joy of your presence through daily relationship with your Son, Jesus. 
 

Help me never to hold on too tightly to my boy, nor neglect my responsiblities before you as a parent. Lord, let my committment to raise Levi for the glory of your name cause his life to forever testify of your faithfulness. And raise me, Lord, from the deadness of my own sins to love this wonderful boy like You do…In the name of Christ...Amen…

"A Parents Prayer"

Full of Smiles

My baby is just growing up too fast!!!

I can't believe how much Levi has changed in 8 weeks.  Looking back at the last blog post...he has grown so much and has now lost that newborn look.  He's not only changing in appearances either - he is becoming more alert every day.  He loves to just lie down next to the kids and smile at them playing. He now enjoys his own toys too and is starting to try and grab them.
He is starting to realise that playtime is more fun then sleep time which does make for a tired mummy but he is so cute when he plays and the kids love it when he is awake and smiling at them.

My Adorable Baby

So, I thought I should put up some photos of my gorgeous little man. They aren't the best photos because they are taken on the phone but you can still see how cute he is :-)

Just born

I love this photo...it really shows just how HUGE he was (an hour old)

 

Poor boy didn't fit in any of the suits I packed for him

We finally went home

Lydia and Levi

Zac and Levi

Lydia and Zac love their little brother to bits :)

Quite content after a feed

Our little thumb sucker

Cuddles with Mummy

The Busy Birthday month

June is a very busy month for the Kastelein family, full of lots of celebrations.

Happy Birthday to Dad, 

Happy 30th Birthday to Chris, and 

 Happy 28th Birthday to Penny

Although I miss you all lots, I do love our phone and Skype chats.

Happy Birthday to you all. Love you lots.

And now, moving away from the Kastelein family, and onto the Wyllie family...

Happy Birthday Jacob

(I just discovered that the latest photo I have of Jake is when he was 10. Probably because he is always the one behind the camera)

Ben

With all the chaos of having a new baby in the family, I totally forgot to wish my hear husband a Happy Birthday.

Ben really wanted Levi born on his birthday and he almost got his wish. I went into labour on Ben's birthday but Levi actually decided to come an hour into the next day.

Ben and Levi have both decided that maybe this is better because in the future, if they want to share a birthday, they can; but also, if they want to celebrate separately, they can also do that.

So, Happy 26th Birthday to my wonderful husband. I love you lots and I am very thankful to God for you.

May this next year be a wonderful blessing to you.

 

The 2 birthday boys on Levi's Birth Day - Ben and Levi

Welcome to the newest Wyllie . . .

Welcome to...

Levi Jacob Wyllie

 May 24th 2012, 

1:05am

11lb 13oz

Thank you all for your love, suport and prayers! Levi and the rest of our family are doing very well and Levi is thoroughly enjoying all the cuddles and kisses he's getting.

What a gorgeous little man we have!!!

My Man knows me so well...

Guess what my wonderful, amazing husband bought me the other day...a CELLO. How cool is that? How awesome is my husband? :)

I have wanted a cello for years and years. I always said..."One day I'm just gonna buy a cello and teach myself". Well, in my mind, that "one day" was a few years away but Ben had other plans.  Apparently, he has been doing research about them for weeks to see what would be best for me.

He came home the other day and Zac was fast asleep on my lap so I couldnt get up.  He just said "Hi, I'll be back in a minute". He then went to the car and came back to the loungeroom and placed the cello on the lounge opposite me.  My first response was a HUGE smile but I said "Ben, what have you done". He walked back out of the room and I was left there gawking at what was on the lounge.  Lydia kept asking me questions but I just kept gawking.

So yes, Ben bought me a cello. I feel like a 5 year old again. I have put fingering stickers on the fingerboard and I have to keep looking at both my fingers and the bow otherwise I play the wrong note or squeek the bow.  I now have to learn a whole new cleft which will be a challenge but hey, thats the fun of it.  Mind you, after all this squeeking, Ben may regret buying it for me.

But, it is a lot of fun and I am so so so thankful to Ben for it.

New Blogs

My sister started a blog...YAY.

Except for the fact that she writes way better than me, I'm glad she started a blog because now I get to see more photos of her and her family.

If you want to get to know my sister Penelope, go to...booksboatsballet.blogspot.com.au
and, happy reading.

Nathan, Penny, Miles, Antigone & Dakota

The Update...finally!!!

So...a very quick rundown on what has happened in the Wyllie household this year

Happy Birthday to Heather (who had a 16th couples party) - was a lot of fun dressing up as The Phantom of the Opera and Christine. Lydia and Zac dressed as the Princess and the Dragon

Christmas Day - All the family came over for wonderful celebrations minus the Stanley's :( But we did get to Skype them)

Smashing the Gingerbread house

My Dad, Mum and Brother stayed longer after Christmas and we went to the pool, Questacon, and did bargain birthday shopping

The kids loved MiniQ

 

Baby #3 Ultrasound - We took the kids in with us so all four of us got to see our little baby on the TV.  It was so wonderful to be able to "meet" our little one.  It's amazing how you feel like you have a sense of their personality before the baby is even born into the world.  Our #3 seemed a little shy...it wouldn't move its hand away from its face (just wanted to cover up and be left alone). No matter how much the sonographer poked and proded, our baby would not move its hand.  It even did a sumersult and totally changed direction in the womb but still left it hands over its eyes.  It was kinda cute and the kids thought it was funny that the lady was calling it a "little rascal".  Lydia is very proud of the photos that the sonographer gave her.  Zac was great at pointing out the different parts of the baby...feet, hands, face, etc. I cant wait to meet our baby for real in a few weeks.

Lydia turns 4 - to her, this is a HUGE accomplishment.  I had not realised that there are SO many things you can only do once you turn 4...but I have now been informed of them all. We went to Merry Beach for her party.  The Merry Beach Mission was on that weekend so we went and had a beach/pool party with Lydia's cousins, the Watmuffs and the Papavegerisis.  The kids had a great time building sand castles, watching their dads get a little carried away with "who could dig the biggest hole" and splashing around in the pool.  So the weekend was exhausing but SO much fun.  It was a lot of fun to be back at Merry Beach for me and Ben too...it brought back many fond memories from our dating days [grin]

I turn 25 - Started with some shopping, then cleaning, etc.  We went and picked Ben up from work and he took us out for a surprise dinner to El Darado.  Now, this just shows how well Ben really knows me...I always crave red meat when I am pregnant so going to El Darado's and having a big steak with potato bake and veges was the perfect meal for me...very yummy

Brother Nick turns 22 - Happy Birthday Nickky :)

Australia Day.  We woke up at 6.30 and got ready to go to the Australia Day Breaky.  We got there just in time for the "Fireman Sam" show to start.  Had a lot of fun eating sausages and fruit while watching the kids dance and sing along with Fireman Sam. After lunch and a nap, we went to Lake Ginninderra for a BBQ picnic dinner with friends. They guys played cricket, the women chatted, the kids played in the lake and playground and we ended the night with some Aussie pavlova.

Day after Australia Day -We went to see The Muppets in the afternoon. We were really unsure how Zac would go as it was his first trip to the cinemas but he did really well. He danced along to all the songs and cracked himself laughing numerous times.  Ben is very proud of the fact that "The Muppets" was Zac's first cinema experience :)

Happy Birthday Nathan (In February)

Zachary turns 2 - we celebrated by taking him Bowling with some extended family.  By his request, we ate chips and chicken nuggets and he had a chocolate cake with strawberries.

On the same day as Zac's birthday, Lydia started Pre-school.  She is loving it, making lots of friends, having fun being crafty more offen then I ever let her be at home. She is learning many new things and is growing up SO SO quickly.

25th Feb - Ben and I went to see Celtic Thunder for our Anniversary.  They were amazing. Mind you, I think our baby now thinks it is Irish. It didn't seem to mind that it was giving me motion sickness while jigging away through the WHOLE concert. We had a great time though. They are coming back next year so we might have to start saving our money :)

Church Camp - We had Family Camp at the beginning of March. Roger Palmer was the speaker and he did a series on Nehemiah. It was a great weekend of relaxing fellowship together.

Antigone turns 3.  Happy Birthday Tig. Penny made her dress - isn't it gorgeous!

 

Elley turns 18 - with a fine Bush Dance Birthday Party. Once again, it was fun dressing up (and dressing the kids up). Happy Birthday Elley.

My Best friend had a baby - Mary and David had a baby boy last Wednesday -named Daniel Raymond.  He is VERY cute. I can't wait to see the 3 of them when we go to Adelaide at the end of the year.  I miss Mary terribly.

So, that pretty much brings you all up to date.  The four of us are eagerly awaiting the birth of our little baby - 5-6 weeks left.  
There has been a lot of talk about whether it is going to be a boy or girl, how big it will be, when it will be born etc. So if you decided you want in on the arguments - feel free :)
By the way, I have no idea so am not saying anything. I just HOPE it isnt born late like Zac was :)