letting go

I am feeling a bit teary this morning. My baby is off on a holiday all of his own. He is with his grandparents, aunty and cousins. He is having a wonderful time, but he is 4 hours away. It is his first holiday without his mum, dad and brother. He is 12.

When we have babies and small children there are sleepless nights, nappies to change, hugs and cuddles, smiles, interrupted sleep, teething, colds, endless games, the list goes on. A lot of it is wonderful, most of it actually, but there are hard times too. We think things will be like this forever. We think we'll never get a good nights sleep again and we think those hugs and smiles will be there for us everyday. But they're not. One day we turn around and our children are off on their own little adventure without us. It's hard. It is change that you may feel not quite ready for. It is sadness for yourself, but happiness that your child feels secure and confident enough to be out exploring the world without you and that they are having fun.

On Friday morning my husband and Josh went to visit my husband's parents, sister and niece and nephew for the weekend. Brad and I stayed at home. They all had a lovely weekend. On Sunday my husband packed the car ready to come home, but Josh decided he might stay for a few days longer as it is school holidays. He then proceeded to get his things back out of the car. He has been talking about doing this for a while now, but this time he actually did it. It's a big step for him. He is in wonderful hands though as his grandparents, aunty and cousins are wonderful people. They will spoil him in the best possible ways with lots of love.

Today is Tuesday, so I haven't seen my boy for four nights. He was going to come home on Thursday, but is now talking of staying longer. How will his dad and I cope?  We are both struggling a bit, but are happy our boy is having so much fun. We've told him that as soon as he's ready we'll come and get him.

This parenting gig is hard sometimes. I think it's the hardest thing we'll ever do, but also the best thing we'll ever do. We love our children so much. They are the most important thing in the world. We need to make the most of everyday with them. Hug them, cherish them. They are so beautiful and they are so loved. xxoo

my mood board

My mood board, for me, is all about inspiration and motivation. It is how I want to live my life. It is all about being healthy, happy, joyful, having love in my life, living my dreams, eating healthy, being grateful, flowers, gardening and bringing fresh produce in from the garden, exercise, candles, going to the beach, yoga, meditation, becoming a Certified Health Coach and I have added one more word, nature, to remind me to get outside into nature every day. So these pictures are reminders for me. I have it hanging near the kitchen so I can see it while I work. 

Happy Monday.

I hope your week is a lovely one.

xxoo love Julie

saturday

My 14 year old is a bit into photography at the moment. I love it when I upload my photos onto the computer and there are some of his there. 

These ones were taken over the road from our house. 

These were taken on one of his walks.

Now for Saturday's post.....

I started the day with a bit of blog reading.

Loving Kim's new kitchen. I'm a bit envious actually. When we built our home we had a second hand kitchen put in and I've never liked it. I don't like the colours or the design. It annoys me a bit because I spend so much time in there.  I think I might open a new bank account and call it "The Kitchen Fund Account". I'll say to my boys "Imagine the food you'll get when I have a kitchen that I actually like?" A great plan, I think.

Click on the link above to have a better look. Kim is an Interior Designer and is super talented. She is an expert nest featherer. I can't wait to see the kitchen when it's finished. 

Writing in one of my journals. The one where I plan my day.

At the moment I'm beginning my day with hot water. I boil the jug and have it as hot as I have a cup of tea. I also put some in a thermos to sip on through the day. It's a great way to flush out the adrenal glands.

After breakfast I went out into the garden.

In this bin we have liquid fertiliser. Water plus weeds, horse manure, worm wee, a bit of chook poo. Whatever you have available. I'll also add some seaweed. We keep it in the vege patch yard so it's nice and handy. Jackie french has some great info on making your own brew. I'll do a post on it one day.

The 'brew', sorry if you're in the middle of breakfast. 

The compost bays that the boys set up. We're using the compost on the right at the moment. I can't believe all the worms in it.

The calendula plants we had in last spring have self seeded. This is our first flower for the season. I grow them for their beauty, to attract bees and I use the petals in my soap making.

The little patch I worked on today. It contains calendula, celery and lettuce. I am using the pots as snail and slug collectors. Each morning I go out and check them. There is usually a slug or two in them. I am going to buy some more pots to put around the garden. I love the look of them too.

Some calendula that has self seeded. I find it very difficult to thin them out. I might put the left overs in little pots to give away or scatter through the garden, both I think.

Then it's inside for a smoothie. Milk, cacao powder, honey and spinach. I saute the spinach in a bit of coconut oil before blending it. 

I bought the mini tramp back inside this morning. In my efforts to reduce clutter I put it out the back, but I found I was forgetting to use it. So it's back inside. Sometimes I don't feel like going for a walk, whereas I don't mind doing 5-10 mins on the tramp, here and there through the day. It's amazing how those 5-10 mins here and there all add up. I also find it gives me a burst of energy to then get a few tasks done. Love the endorphins too.

Some washing, there's always washing. Can you tell I live with three boys?

I'm working on my first mood board, as an adult. When I was growing up I use to make posters with pictures on it that I liked. It made me feel good. I'm not too keen on cutting into those Country Style magazines. I've only picked a few of my older ones.

A glass of wine to go with a lovely task. Nice and relaxing on a Saturday afternoon.

This was followed by some study. I'm finding it a bit hard to keep the momentum going at the moment. I'm half way there though and I do love what I'm learning. A lecture by  Dr Mark Hyman today.

We've been letting our 'girls' out to wonder freely of an afternoon. They have a huge yard that they're always in, but the grass is a bit dry at the moment. We let them out so they can find a bit of green to peck at and some snails etc. They love it and we love having them wondering around the house.

I need to remember to put our kale seedlings up though or they would soon disappear.

And the rainbow chard too.

I found these beauties while I was out there.

Some celery waiting to be planted in the garden. 

I'm enjoying this rocket.

Some more beauties.

I hope your Saturday was a lovely one. What did you get up to?

xxoo Julie