A home again ...

To say the last 4-5 months of our lives have been emotional , is an absolute understatement. There have been many lows, tears shed and tough moments but the highs and happy times , by far out weigh all of the hard times!! We are happy, content and feel like life is working out for us , finally. 

Yes I miss my family. More than anything else in the world. I miss my Mums cuddles, my Dads pats on the back and my sister and her beautiful family BUT , I am making the most of everyday. The meeting of new people, establishing new relationships, discovering new places to go , new things to do and generally forming a new little life for ourselves here. Complete with a family of friends , all here for the same thing, in the same boat and willing to share their lives with you too. 

I have surprised myself by realising that I indeed LOVE our new town. Sure, the lack of shopping, places to eat or go to are a downfall, but the town is full of gorgeous friendly people, lots and lots of activities and things to do all the time and as a family we have a much calmer and more relaxed lifestyle. 

My husband works less, we go out more as a family and have loved spending lots of time at the pool and parks on weekends and afternoons. The weather is nice and warm (and its only October), usually sitting mid to high 30's , sometimes the odd day reaches 40 degrees but with a lot less wind than our home town, the afternoons are glorious!

I finally feel settled now. And I know a large contributing factor to that would be that after 10 weeks in a transit house, we finally moved in to a house of our own. 

I can not emphasise enough, just how amazing it was , to see the big orange truck pull up and start unloading our containers that had been in storage! 

The kids were in heaven! Discovering all their old toys and belongings, even just having their own quilts back on their beds put massive smiles on their little faces!

So..... a few pics of our moving process ...

Packing up the transit house. This is all we had for 10 weeks. Clothes and some kitchen items. 

Our new house!! The colours are out there! It is a slightly renovated 70's style home , but with new tiled flooring and quite an odd layout, but we have made it work and love it now!

Our BRIGHT laundry!

Living area looking towards kitchen and hallway with front door

DURING!! Just keeping it real!

The boys now share and so do the girls and the change has been really good!

The buffet in the entry 

Our Liatorp unit that was a part of our TV unit before didn't fit anywhere unfortunately , however we split them up and now the kids toys are housed in here in their Toy area.

More of the toy area

Our living room

A girls gotta move over 1200 km to get herself a craft room!

And when most of the unpacking was done, the kids got to rediscover their long lost Trampoline!!

So there you have it. A few sneak peaks inside our new humble abode. Never fear, this place needs lots of organising and redecorating and all for a rental, which is a bit different for us, so stay tuned for more posts!

Ahhhh it feels so good to be back blogging again x

3 week milestone

Today marks exactly 3 weeks that we have been living in our new town. The weather has been gorgeous, there are lots of parks and new places to see and explore but I feel tired. Riding this emotional roller coaster is exhausting! ha ha (Perhaps its more about a teething toddler, who is adjusting to his new environment and likes to cry for his Mum right through the night) 

But hey... we have survived and I am proud to say, with only one 'melt-down day' in the mix.

We had a week here and then school holidays started so its nice to not have to start organising Stella and having deadlines straight away, although she is desperate to start school. We don't know where our permanent housing will be yet, which is making enrolling in a school quite difficult but by early next week we 'should' have it sorted.

We have joined a playgroup and attended 2 sessions so far, its nice to go and have adult conversation and meet new people. And I am lucky enough to have one friend who moved here a few years ago and we have met at the park a few times. These things have contributed greatly to my sanity. 

My husband is loving his new job, which is fantastic, we couldn't ask for more than that and over time I know things will get easier. 

I am just desperate for a permanent house, all our furniture, kids toys and possessions but that could be up to 4 months away yet! I have never been one for living a minimal lifestyle and as you all have realised, I love photographs and prints , and like to have them all around me!

Soon..... I keep telling myself , soon.

Anyway.... here are some pics of the last few weeks , exploring our new town.

My loves, watching a ship going out and the chopper going out to a new one. The port here is so busy, the kids are loving it!

We have been loving checking out all the awesome parks around. The weather has been warm (shorts and shirt) and by the end of the day the kids are knackered from playing hard. Perfect!

This park is around the corner from our house. Its nice to just walk around and play whenever we want /need to.

Little Angus thinks he is a monkey and is NOT afraid of anything at the moment!! 

Park with a view, overlooking the ocean. The kids call this the "dizzy park" because everything seems to make them dizzy.

Oh o. First park casualty. Soft fall is great for cushioned landing, not great for faces. 

                                     This park has a view overlooking the port and the ships.

And we have had a disaster or 2 since being here swell. Max found his Dad's small clippers (that he uses on his face) and decided to give them a try!!! 

And then he tried them out on his little brother but was luckily caught in the act before it progressed past a small spot on Angus. ( All while in Dads care of course, thank goodness not in mine!)

Everything is close enough that we can walk or scooter and occasionally the kids walk nicely! ha

We have changed the bedroom configuration around since moving too. The boys share a room and the girls share. Splitting the twins up was a big decision as they have never slept separately but it really isn't an issue. As a result though, the boys are growing closer everyday. So cute!

We have enjoyed finding gorgeous little things around the town, the kids especially love these veranda type things that line the main street, and cast a gorgeous shadow on the ground below.

The first weekend we were here , we caught the night markets. A mix of great food and entertainment and some cool stalls of local handmade goodies. I am looking forward to the next one , as they are every 2 months in winter.

Entertaining the kids for 3 weeks has been rather ...... testing. Especially when all they have is one packing box of toys for the 4 of them, no outside play toys and no craft supplies.

We can't live at the park all the time, unfortunately, but they have been making do and still smiling :)

Playing hairdressers

Playdough and plant creations

And occasionally the odd toy or 2 has been confiscated. Worse punishment for them if its a favourite.  Barbie struck it lucky this day!

And the best part? That my husband finishes work by 4 in the afternoon. That the weather is still warm enough, in the middle of winter, to enjoy a play and dinner at the park.

                                  That the view when cooking said dinner , looks like this ;

                         And whats the best best thing? That we still have each other. Our family.

P.S- The mojo is slowing starting to come back. Its not that I don't have a desire to write, because I do, but we are in limbo at the moment, and there is only so much park and play one can see, am I right?

HOWEVER!! Stay tuned, because tomorrow I have a cool giveaway starting x

A new start ....

Its been too quiet around these traps of late, for that I apologise, and I will make a BIG effort to keep things updated regularly from now on. Promise!
You may be seeing some new things on Bizzy Dayz, new places, new houses, new adventures. And this is the main reason that I have been so absent.

You see, over the last few months , my husband and I , have been making some rather big , life changing decisions. All which have been consuming every space inch of my heart, and head. Even blogging, which has always been a safe haven and retreat for me, didn't even get a look in.

We decided to move. Not just houses, not just suburbs, but towns. And a town over 1300 km from where we lived. Where I grew up, and everything that I have ever known.
Why? I know its the question on every ones lips. And believe me, if I had a $1 for every time someone as asked me that over the last few weeks, I would be rich, and probably wouldn't have had to move here in the first place! ha
The answer? Why the root of all evil of course!! MONEY!
We saw an opportunity, my husband applied, and he got the job!! A fantastic job, with an amazing company, working less hours, for a fair amount more money , and he is still home every night to tuck our children into bed and kiss me goodnight. What more could we ask for?
This is a life changing decision for us.
We have set a plan of 5-6 years (although everyone guarantees us we will be here for longer) and in that time, we can make such a difference to our finances that we can be more secure, for the rest of our lives. I may even get to be a stay at home Mum until I choose to return to work. Not because I have to return to work.
I get to have the liberty in doing so, that my Mother just didn't have, and regrets everyday of her life.

It hasn't been easy. Actually, it would have to be THE hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Pack all our worldly possessions into boxes, load our lives onto a truck and then have to say 'goodbye' to my friends and family.
Leave the house that I really did love, in a beautiful suburb. The very house that we bought all 4 of our beautiful babies home to. To move to a place that I had only visited the one time ( on a site visit to check out everything before we made our decision), a place that I knew next to no one. Hell I don't even know how to get around or where I am going!! A concept that is so new to me , its not funny.
But one of the hardest things has been taking our 4 kids away from everything they have ever known. From 2 sets of Grandparents that they love and adore. Stella away from her school that she loved and her best friend that she loved more. The kids away from spending weekends at my parents block, riding around on 4 wheelers. From their Aunty and Uncle, and 4 awesome cousins. From everything they love. Taking the kids away from that has been THE hardest thing for me. I can cope fine. Adults know and adjust, children do not. One child, yeah no worries. 2 kids, would be hard. But 4 kids..... thats devastating. But thankfully they are still happy and smiling. Thats all that matters.

But after all of the emotion, all of the drama, all of the tears. We are here. We are loving everything so far. The weather is glorious (but do NOT ask me that in summer!!) , the facilities are fantastic and my husband is loving his job so far.

It has only been 10 days. I know I am still in the honeymoon period and I do desperately miss my family already but with care packages arriving, and the glorious world wide web, we have been able to still chat, face to face and that seems to be tying the emotions over so far.

The worst part? We are in short term housing. A fully furnished (and luckily very nice) house but its for anywhere up to 5 months. Five long months without all our gorgeous furniture. All the kids toys (we have a small amount here), all our linen and rugs, all of my cooking and kitchen ware and without our very comfortable bed!!
But its only for a short while, and we are making do with what we have. The kids haven't missed their toys yet, as there are so many wonderful parks around that we have been going everyday, sometimes fitting in up to 3 parks.

And we are together. We are a family and we are together. Everyday.
A short term pain for long term gain, and soon, this place will feel like home. Well that is what I keep telling myself anyway.
So, stay tuned for more moving adventures. Discovering new places, organising and decorating a new house (when its finally available ) albeit a company rental house, enjoying our new way of life.
Something new and different for everyone. Especially for us.
Its our new start. And as much as I am emotional and sad at times, I am happy, healthy and excited! x

Some pics of our moving process x