Celebrating May Day 2013

It must be fairly obvious that I love May Day and so I just have to  finish my posts about this day in our home this year.
Obviously I am way behind because of the time I have been in hospital with Corbyn.

Anyway this was our May Day Display on our Kitchen Table with our May Day Cake, beautiful flowers, May Day Wreaths for the girls our Kid friendly May Poles (no post for this yet), our Miniature May Poles, and our Doll/Fairy May Pole (no post either yet).

 We just had to decorate our cake with a Miniature May pole and those cute little Sylvanian Critters we own.The children are playing on the May Pole and Grown ups watch....just waiting for a chance to play as well I am sure.

For our cake we used this recipe from All the Year Round with a few little tweaks:
We used butter instead of margarine
Rapadura instead of caster sugar
Spelt flour instead of plain flour
and it turned out very nice indeed.
However next time I will use sprouted flour instead too

This was my piece of saved cake that someone took a little nibble on.
We used a cream-cheese and butter frosting with a hint of stevia for sweetener and some cinnamon too.

Of course we had to have the May Pole Dance and due to the fact we left our old May Pole in Tassie when we left Rogan was a great help and found us a pole (even though it wasn't as large as last year) and affixed the ribbons and flowers on to it, in a very similar way to how we made it last year.
In fact it really is a very easy may pole to make!!

WE did not have all our children home to celebrate the May Pole Dance, in fact we only had 7 of our children and it seemed very small indeed. However it was certainly celebrated with all the enthusiasm and vigor of past years.

Our little girls wanting another turn ......again........and so were untangling the ribbons

Because the girls had  May Day Wreaths on the little  boys insisted they needed crowns too and so quickly found their birthday crowns and used them as well.

And there you have most of our May Day Celebrations for this year!!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Happy Mothers Day

'Mothers Day' that one day a year when the value of motherhood is celebrated in our society!
How many times has this day not gone exactly to plan in most of our lives.
The reality of the day as opposed to the expectations of the day can sometimes cause an emotional let down not only for the Mama but for those who are trying to create the special day.

And yet the hype that it is given in our society is really part of the problem.
The commercialism and the images of a perfect 'Mothers Day.'
This may happen in some homes and yet a lot of mothers who want this to be a fantastic day of memories, are often surrounded by those very small children who call them mummy, and invariable the everyday living of being mummy to them can cause tension and anxiety for everyone involved.

Now don't get me wrong I love the the fact that I get to be 'queen of the day' in our home for this day BUT really I aren't I always?
Is this not a title that can be applied to every mother?

Am I not the one who can create special times with the family, the one our little and yes big ones come to for help and a wee bit of love and encouragement.

The fact is Mothers Day is not a single day in each year but the joy that comes from  being blessed mothers everyday.

The joys and the tears, the frustrations and the triumphs are the crowning glory that we have as mothers.
It is in the everyday that we are cherished and we choose to cherish and nurture those precious souls entrusted to us.

Motherhood  is a GIFT!
A gift we can welcome and enjoy everyday despite the days when it all seems too much work.
But oh the countless times that gift can bring such wonder and absolute joy is why 'Mothers Day' is in my opinion EVERYDAY.

May your Mothers Day be a most blessed day surrounded by the love of each of your children who may be near or far, and may the love you have for them and they for you  never diminish!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

An Unexected and Extended Hospital Visit .........

It was a week ago that we started down a new adventure thanks to our sweet and extremely active seven year old Corbyn who fell of his push bike and (we think) had the cross bar of the bike land on his leg resulting in a  broken femur.
This is the only way to stop our boy who only knows two speeds: fully go and stop.
And guess what it is all stop for him for a while now.

Naturally this would not be a straight fracture but a spiral fracture that the doctors were not sure which way they would be able to fix it. There were three possible ways to fix the bone but they were not sure which one would be the best until they had him in surgery.

It was a very long day on Saturday and he did not get into the surgery until after 7pm at night.
I know any Mama who has had to have a child go into surgery would understand how small and vulnerable he looked as I had to leave him on his own without me.

However the surgery went well and it seemed the surgeons thought Titanium Elastic Nails was the best option for him ( here is a link to the method but honestly I have not read through it as I am certainly NOT nurse material and this just makes me squeamish to say the least). Given the other two methods were more invasive of his little body I pray this works for him.

This is our boy the morning after the surgery and the start of our possible two weeks in hospital.

He still had his IV attached and he really did not like it or the fact that his leg was bandaged at  the knee.
Corbyn really had no idea of what had happened from the time we brought him to hospital until the next day. Due to the fact that from the moment he was wheeled into emergency they had some pain relief and gas for him.

Thankfully that was how we were able to treat him initially as he was in great pain from the time we found him sitting on the found with his leg bent until the surgery was over.

Also thankfully we were able to slide his bottom across on to a board and take him to hospital without having his leg change position and thus injuring him more or increasing his pain.

Due to the surgery he has had he will not have a cast on his leg at all. So it does not look like it is badly injured.
This may be a problem when he is on crutches  and at home as little people may not remember by the visual cues of a 'hurt leg' look.

Stephen and his parents have been bringing the children a few at at time to visit and Stephen's Mum has stayed with Corbyn while I have been home to the other children to visit.

Eeyore was a very welcome friend that came for this new adventure, even though he as a new name- Simone.

First visitors...........

Not impressed with the bandage and IV

It has been quite a challenge to keep him entertained and happy and we have played quite a few games and played with play doh and cards and colouring and painting and and and.......

Finally the Bandage is off.
On both sides of the knee and the outer upper thigh are the entry points for surgery.
These pins by the way have to come out in 6 months time

Not really sire about the bandage off

We are getting him out of the bed each day and sitting in a chair

Moran and Rogan playing with Corbyn for their visit

Oh yes the  hospital I-pad has been a big hit with him as I don't allow hardly any computer games at home.

The other day was May Madness in the hospital and staff were asked to dress up and have crazy hair.
After Matt one of his favorite  nurses had finished with his costume he game it to Corbyn who was delighted to have it.

Gemma another favorite was keen to have a photo with him too.

Seriously it actually has been lovely to have a little one on one time with Corbyn as we do things together like painting this farm today. I know he has enjoyed just having me with him but I am missing all our other ones at home as well as my dear honey. And I know our little ones still need me there.
But the older kids have been CHAMPIONS at home helping in so many ways.

Corbyn taking photos from his bed

This is the view from our room where we have been for 8 days. Not that I am counting or anything.....

Tomorrow we may try crutches as we move into the next phase of his healing.
He will be non weight bearing for  6 weeks and so the fun begins I am sure!!!!!

If this post has bad spelling, grammar and other mistakes like not making sense, I blame the fact that I am a tired mama  but hope you forgive me anyway!!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Making May Day Wreaths

I had every intention of completing my May Day \posts sooner but we have had a little incident with our very energetic and active Corbyn falling off his bike and breaking his femur and thus us having to spend time in hospital.
So as I sit with him in hospital when I am not busy helping him I hope to catch up with a few planning things , and blog posts too.
And so here is how I made these May day wreaths for the girls to wear earlier in the month.

First off I bought three longs strands of  flower garlands from Spotlight as it is very difficult to always get fresh blooming flowers in the Autumn season down under.
I bought these a couple of years ago for just this occasion!

Measure around your sweet girls head for an approximate size and cut to length with an overlap.

Using the left over ribbon from making the Mini Maypoles  or any other ribbon you might have simply tie three ribbons in two colours for the wreaths.

Hot glue them in a desired arrangement around the floral wreath.I used two to cover the joins of the wreaths

And very quickly you have one or six in our case lovely May Day wreaths for your beautiful girls to wear.

\just a couple of the different colour combinations our girls have

And of course it would be incomplete to not have some of our girls wearing them, so here they are.............
Myffwyn (above)

Moran

Arwen

Vellvin

And a final back view of Vellvin's!!!

Blessings to you and your homes,