10 on 10 Photography Circle - August

For the past two and a half weeks we have been hosting a Japanese exchange student....hence the reason there have been no blog posts for the past few weeks....busy, busy!!!

So this months 10 on 10 Photography Circle is dedicated to our exchange student!!

Make sure you follow the link at the end to pop over to Steph's blog and follow the circle around until you are back to me!!

Through our local council there is a program where students from our sister city of Fujieda, Japan, come out here for three weeks....we host a student and then in September/October Miss 16 travels to Fujieda to spend three weeks with our exchange student and her family.

So for the weeks prior to our students arrival there were council meetings to attend and a whole lot of cleaning to be done!  Negotiations had to be made with Miss 14 to vacate her room and everyone was reminded to be on their best behaviour (that translates to hubby had to curb his swearing!!) 

Finally the day came and she arrived!!!

  Despite being an only child she has been fantastic with all the siblings, 
especially Miss 6!!  Origami lessons in full swing!

Breakfast on day one we introduced her to Vegemite!  She very politely said that 
it was delicious...but she is yet to ask for more!!!

There are a few functions we get to attend through the local council....welcome morning teas, dinner with the mayor.....and none other than a bush dance....yeehah!!

Showing them some local fun!

A spot of sightseeing....they were amazed by the views.....and I was freaking out that they were too close to the edge!!!!

We walked across the Harbour Bridge, did the pylon tour and then walked under
the bridge for some lunch!

The Blue Mountains blew their mind!  They loved the views despite the fact that it was 
still only about 2 degrees at 10am!!

She has loved learning to cook in the Thermomix....Anzac biscuits one day, 
beef stroganoff the next!!

She said that onesies were not a big thing in Japan so a trip to the onesie store was in order....as was a sleepover with miss 16's friend and her exchange student all in their onesies!!

She turned sweet 16 while staying with us so a cupcake for breakfast to celebrate!!

I'll admit that I was really unsure about the whole exchange student thing.....for starters there are already seven of us in a tiny three bedroom house, then there were the potential language barriers and the fact that I love to put my pyjamas on at 4pm in winter!!

Our home is where we retreat after busy days and long hours of work for hubby.  It is where nobody seems to be able to put the toothpaste away or change a toilet roll, dishes never make it to the dishwasher without constant reminding and washing the sheets is not as regular as it should be!!  So yeah I was definitely a bit apprehensive about the whole thing.

But I'd have to say now that the whole experience has been totally amazing for our whole family.  We may have hit the jackpot because her English is brilliant and she fits in so well with the whole family so there are no awkward moments if Miss 16 is not around.  She laughs at hubby's lame jokes and she has graciously eaten every meal given to her.....in actual fact I am thinking of keeping her!!!

It has only been two and a half weeks but it is going to be hard to say goodbye to her at the end of this week!


And here's a sneaky 11th photo!!!

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Make sure you check out Stephs photos of the beautiful Botanic Gardens by visiting her blog here and keep following your way around the circle!

HomeHello House Cleaning Review and Giveaway!!!!

sponsored post for HomeHello

With 5 kids, 1 hubby, 2 cats, never ending sport and work commitments, after school activities etc... I am hard pressed to get the dishes done and the uniforms washed before BAM the week starts all over again!!!!

If things are the same in your part of the world then I think I may have just found the answer to our problem!!

Let me introduce you to 'HomeHello' house cleaning services.

The few times in the past that I have used a house cleaning service required grabbing the local paper and checking for local cleaners or resorting to good 'ol Google to help find somebody....then it was a case of calling around, checking prices, available times etc... a hassle in itself.

But not anymore!!!

With HomeHello you pop over to their website, enter your postcode, select a few details about your house such as number of bedrooms and bathrooms, whether or not you will be supplying the cleaning products etc..  next you enter your contact details.  The next screen that pops us shows you what days are available.....click on a day and then the available times pop up, choose whether you want your clean to be a one off, weekly, fortnightly etc..  and then on the next screen you enter your payment details and your done....your appointment is booked.....it is totally that easy!!

Prices start at $25/hr for a weekly or fortnightly clean or $29/hr for a one off booking.

So what is included in the clean....

In the living areas they will dust (yes dust!! I cannot remember the last time I dusted!), mop, vacuum, empty rubbish!!  

In the kitchen they will dust, wipe the exterior of appliances, oven and fridge, wipe inside and exterior of microwave, clean and sanitize the sink (yes sanitize!!!! ) and they will wash and dry dishes.

In the bedroom they will make the bed (yes make the bed!!!!!), organize and fold clothes, wipe down furniture, mirrors and fixtures, dust, mop, vacuum and empty the rubbish.

In the bathroom they will dust, wipe all surfaces and fixtures, fold and hang towels, wash and scrub toilet, bath, shower and sink (yes wash and scrub!!!) vacuum and mop floors and empty the rubbish.

Additional services include cleaning inside cabinets, cleaning interior windows, cleaning inside your fridge....and wait for it.....oven cleaning (omg oven cleaning !!!!!!!)

HomeHello guarantee that their network of cleaners are experiences, police/reference checked and insured and monitored for quality assurance.

You can pop over to the HomeHello website to find out more.  And why not check out their blog which is full of cleaning and decluttering tips!

Seriously HomeHello sounds like the answer to my prayers!!!

And now for the fun part!!!  A giveaway!!!!

Thanks to the lovely team at HomeHello I have one 3 hour house cleaning voucher to giveaway (valued at $97).

I was thinking that we might add a random act of kindness quality to the giveaway by allowing the winner to give the voucher away to a family member, a friend or a colleague if they choose.....

So in order to enter the competition here's what you have to do.....

*   pop over and LIKE my Facebook page Mum Of Five Girls  

*  then come back here and leave an answer to this question in the comments below (please include your email address so that we can contact you if you are the lucky winner!!)

   

 IF YOU COULD GIVE THE 3 HOUR HOUSE CLEANING VOUCHER TO ANYONE YOU    WANTED TO WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

Terms and Conditions:

1.  Please note that HomeHello only operate in Sydney and Melbourne at this stage so the winner or the person that you intend to give the voucher to must live in one of these two       states.

2.  Competition is open to Australian residents only

3.  One entry per person.

4.  The winner will be chosen by Mum Of five Girls based on the most creative answer

5.  Competition starts on Friday 24th July at 8.00am AEST and ends on Friday 7th August at 5.00pm AEST

6.  The winner will be announced on my Facebook page on Monday 10th August and will     be contacted via their email address

Your Kids Will Catch the Travel Bug with Lonely Planet Kids

Brought to you by Nuffnang and Lonely Planet

It is nearing 8 years since hubby and I ventured overseas, the first time for each of us, and the first time for our then four daughters aged 10, 8, 6 and 3.

Everyone that we told gave us that look.....the only like we must be totally crazy for planning to take 4 children to the other side of the world...and in winter!!

But this was our once in a lifetime trip and we were going to make it happen.  The Lonely Planet guides became like my bible as I researched the crap out of every place that we intended to go!!

Our bags were finally packed and off we went!  We visited where hubby's ancestors came from in England, we went to the Christmas markets in Germany, spent Christmas in the Swiss Alps, saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, ate crepes in France and finished off our four weeks with Hong Kong Disney.  It was a whirlwind trip, we were on the go most of the time with our longest stay anywhere being one week but we returned home with our bags full of souvenirs and our eyes opened up to the world beyond Australia.

From that trip the girls have developed a love of travel.  Miss 17 is hoping to take a gap year after the HSC and travel Europe and Miss 16 is about to embark on her second trip to Japan this September so I see a lot of Lonely Planet travel guides in our future!!

While the younger girls are too young to be jet setting off anywhere for the foreseeable future they can catch the travel bug through the Lonely Planet Kids range which includes books, aps, website and facebook and twitter pages.

Now if you've done your maths you'll realise that Miss 6 was not a part of that 'once in a lifetime' family holiday (hence the reason the photos aren't on display lol !!)  so now is our chance to share the world with her from the comfort of our lounge room with the Lonely Planet Kids Adventures in Famous Places Sticker and Activity Book (rrp $12.99)

This book captured her attention right from the beginning with its bright colours and wonderful illustrations...and the stickers...she loved the stickers!!!  We had adventures in the United Kingdom, Japan, Dubai and Canada to name a few.

Miss 11 was taken with the Lonely Planet Kids Amazing World Atlas  (rrp $29.99).  I can see this coming in handy for the many school projects that lie ahead of us.  The atlas is filled with more than just the usual boring maps, it is full of pictures and quirky facts which meant that she learnt a lot.

And thanks to the Lonely Planet Travel With Children (rrp $29.99) I can while away the hours planning a new 'once in a lifetime' trip to include Miss 6!!!!  This book is a wealth of information about traveling with children...from immunizations to health and hygiene it has you covered. It is written by a team of parent-authors  and covers more than 80 countries around the world!

To find out more about how Lonely Planet Kids can kick start the travel bug and open your children's eyes to the world around them you can visit the website, facebook page or twitter.

I think a love of travel is a wonderful thing to have and I am glad that my girls are developing it too!

The above books were given to me for the purpose of this review but the opinions stated are my own.

Have you travelled with your children?  What are some of the places you have 

been with them that you and they have loved?

Our Finances Suck Part 9 - Health Insurance

Well life got a bit busy last week with the school holidays so there was no post on my financial series......but this week I am back with a sponsored post from Health Insurance Comparison.

If you are watching your finances then you will probably want to check that you are getting the best value Health Cover for your money....but it can all sound a bit too hard can't it....well then read on, this post is for you.....

Reviewing and Switching Family Cover

If you have had your health insurance policy for at least a year, it may no longer be the best option for your needs or the best value for money. Many families will find that their health insurance needs will change as children get older and start to benefit from a greater range of services, and this is why it is so important to review your cover on a regular basis. This can make sure that you are not paying for services that you are not using and to ensure that you are covered for things that you definitely do need.

Knowing exactly what you will need from your health insurance in the next year puts you in the perfect position to compare your options and see if you can save money by switching to another health fund.

Here is our guide for how to review your policy and some tips for switching if a comparison reveals that you could get a better deal with a different health fund.

How to Review Your Family’s Cover

When you are reviewing your family’s cover, you’ll need to think about the services that are going to become important in the next year - as well as those that are needed currently. This is because waiting periods could otherwise catch you out if you don’t have cover in place in time. Key waiting periods to be aware of include 12 months for major dental and orthodontics and anything between 2 to 6 months for many other Extras services. If you suspect that your family are going to be making better use of Extras services in the not-too-distant future, you’ll need to make sure that they are covered on your policy anything up to a year before you anticipate needing to make a claim.

As well as pinning down what you will need going forwards, have a think about any services on your policy that are not going to be needed anymore. Have you decided not to have any more children? Downgrading to a policy that does not include pregnancy/birth related services will be more cost effective if you don’t see yourself getting any further use out of them.

Once you are confident of the kind of services that your family are likely to need in the coming year, you can compare your options to see if you can get a better deal elsewhere. You can choose to do this yourself and trawl through various health funds to look at their policies, or you can use a comparison service to do the legwork for you.

Switching Your Cover

As a consumer, you have the right to switch your custom to a different health fund whenever you choose to do so. As well as switching to get better value for money, you may also choose to make the jump for superior customer service or because a different health fund may have benefits that aren’t available to you currently.

If you have never previously switched to a different health fund, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s definitely not as complicated as you might think. Portability rules mean that any waiting periods served under your existing health fund should not need to be reserved if you move to a different insurer. This is usually the case if you’re moving health funds but keeping a similar or lower level of cover to before. If you have only partially served a waiting period when you switch, you’ll need to finish serving this with your new health fund before you would be eligible to make a claim for that service. 

If you’re upgrading your cover when you switch, you will need to serve new waiting periods, just as you would do if you upgraded with your current health fund.

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading will not be affected if you switch health funds. Any loading that you have already incurred with go with you, regardless of which health fund you are with. Likewise, if you don’t have any loading when you switch, you won’t incur any by moving to another health fund.

Don’t overpay for your health insurance policy! Whether you’re completely new to insurance or you’re looking to see if your current policy is still competitive, start saving today by comparing private health insurance funds today at HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au 

Well I have to admit that I am way overdue for a check on our health insurance policy to see if we are getting the best value for money as well as the best cover for the stage we are at....which seems to be involving a lot of orthodontics and glasses!!!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT

Do you have private health insurance?  Have you checked that you have the best value cover for your family's current stage?

10 on 10 Photography Circle - July

Wow the 10th of the month already!  Well this month I've decided to share a weekend in my world during winter.....it's a bit more wordy than usual but here goes....

The Oxford Dictionary defines the weekend as "Saturday and Sunday especially regarded as a time for leisure"  The person who wrote that definition clearly does not have 5 children doing 2 different sports over both days of the weekend....yeah that's a whole shitload of leisure!!

Here's how our weekends roll in the depths of winter....

SATURDAY....

Wake up just as early as a school morning....which totally sucks!  Make first attempt to wake Miss 10 and Miss 6, shower, make second, third and fourth attempts to wake Miss 10 and Miss 6, feed Miss 10 and Miss 6, everyone gets dressed and despite our best efforts we generally leave the house later than planned!!  Thank goodness that we live close to the courts and I never thought I'd say this but thank goodness that we have to be there by 8.30am as it means we can actually get a pretty good parking spot!!!

After half an hour of warm ups and practice Miss 6's game starts!!  Endure four quarters of ten minutes each in which a dozen kids run around in a pack attempting to get the ball and trying to remember which lines they can and cannot cross!!!!  The score is generally a pretty predictable nil all draw because this is what the hoop looks like when you are 6 years old!!

But there's always one or two teams who have that mummy coach in her Lorna Jane gym gear who has the best player on the team who has clearly spent hours each day throwing a ball at the hoop and can actually get it in at least once during the game...clearly that is not our team....here's our teams best efforts yet..  But it's okay coz we're all here for the fun...yep we're here at 8.30am on a Saturday morning...for fun....totes awesome!!

And sometimes it gets even more fun....like when it's sub zero temperatures...oh or when it's raining....totes awesome....fun, fun, fun!!!

But it's all worthwhile when I see how much fun Miss 6 has out there on that court and when she talks about it endlessly and when I remember how much cheaper it is than dancing!!!

Now the fun and games doesn't end after that 40 minutes...hell no!!  We wait around for about half an hour, debating about why Miss 10 and Miss 6 cannot buy lollies from the canteen every week and then Miss 10 goes off to warm up for her game.  Half an hour of general whinging from Miss 6 passes like a wet weekend and finally Miss 10's game starts...and the countdown til when we can go home begins!!

Miss 10 marks her players to the point where she totally does their head in, all game every game she marks them like this.....

Sometimes the under 12's even manage to score a few goals...though this year the opposition seem to be doing it more than us...but that's cool coz we're here for fun!!

Finally, at about 12pm, after three and a half l-o-n-g hours we can go home!!!  But not before I succumb to those little donuts.....I just can't resist, I mean look at that cute little duck face that totally has nothing to do with donuts!!

Before you know Saturday bites the dust and Sunday rolls around.

SUNDAY

You've seen Groundhog Day yeah?

Wake up just as early as a school morning....which totally sucks!  Make first attempt to wake Miss 17, Miss 16, Miss 14, Miss 10 and Miss 6, shower, make second, third and fourth attempts to wake said children, feed said children, everyone gets dressed and despite our best efforts we generally leave the house later than planned!!  

Hubby coaches Miss 16 and Miss 14 in the Under 16 girls so I get to drive Miss 17 to the ends of the earth to a desolate soccer field in the middle of nowhere with Miss 10 and Miss 6 in tow....short straw I know!!

This is quite often what we arrive to....

But Miss 6 has got it sussed....best seats in the house...

Generally the game drags on.....45 minutes a half....feels like an eternity !!  

Finally the ref calls time and it's all over red rover.  Then we go home and cook up sausages on the bbq because there is no way that we can justify the cost of buying them at our respective grounds!

Miss 17's team seems to be edging it's way into the top 4.....how totes awesome is that.....another few weeks added to the already dragged out season with semis and finals.....yay!!!!  

Thankfully the girls steer well clear of summer sports so I have time to recover before wham bam winter sport registrations comes around again and slap you in the face and you sign up to do it all again!!!!!

I know I may have exceeded my 10 photo limit but hey I didn't want you to miss any of the fun!!

This month I am linking up to Cathy whose wonderful blog you can find here and you can check out her amazing photos for July here .  Make sure you pop around the whole photography circle...so many great photos to see!!

3 Family Friendly Things to do in Western Sydney

This post is part of the Kidspot voices of 2015 put yourself on the map challenge

You know I think I may have a bit of gypsy in my blood because I am happy to be nomadic, not tied down to a particular area or suburb, I'm happy to call any place home that sees hubby and I together with our girls.  So when about 6 years ago we had to up and move our family of seven to the Penrith area out of necessity rather than choice I just embraced the move as another stage in our family's story.

Moving 50kms away from Sydney's CBD to Greater Western Sydney was never the plan but sometimes that's how life rolls.  So we found ourselves living near Penrith, we found new preschools and schools for the girls and we found a whole heap of new things to do as a family.

Let me share with you 3 of our favourite family friendly activities in the area.

1.  THE NEPEAN RIVER

The Nepean River is the perfect place for a family friendly day out. Arrive early and grab yourself a gazebo for the day.  Bring your own picnic or make use of the fantastic bbq facilities to cook a snag or two while the children play at the nearby playground.

After lunch have a game of cricket on the plentiful grass areas or take a walk down by the river where the children can ride along on their scooters or bikes and take a look at the Nepean Belle paddlewheeler.  You could even go on one of the bush walks featuring amazing lookouts or perhaps try your hand at fishing further up the river.

The river is home to family fun every weekend all year round, it's just a beautiful place to be and best of all it's free!!

2.  AQUA GOLF

Aqua Golf is a lot of fun for the whole family, even our youngest gives it a good go. According to my children hitting golf balls into water makes golf less lame!

Aqua Golf is open 7 days a week from 8am til midnight and Friday and Saturday nights til 1am (way past my bedtime !!!)  It's a great way to fill in an afternoon and gives a whole lot of laughs if you play anything like I do and hubby can use it as a bit of stress relief after a particularly hard week at work and it's cheaper than therapy!!

It is an especially great activity to partake in on long summers nights.  Your children can even have their birthday party at Aqua Golf with full use of their seating areas and bbq facilities!  

It's easy to find as it's located at Panthers Leagues Club, you can check the map here.

3.  THE MUSEUM OF FIRE

The Museum of Fire is a wonderful place to take the family.  With interactive displays and fire engines dating as far back as the 1800's the kids will be entertained whilst learning without even realizing it...bonus!  It even has an area dedicated to educating about home fires which is eye opening.  

You can go through the museum at your own pace so expect to spend a few hours there.

There is an area inside for the kids to dress up in firemen's jackets and helmets and play on a few fire engines and outside there is a playground and tables where you could enjoy your picnic lunch and soak up some sun.

The Museum should definitely be on your list of family things to do in Penrith.  You can find out more details about admission prices and opening hours here.

One of the things that I really notice about living here is the sense of pride and loyalty that the people here have for the area.  My slightly nomadic self was initially blown away by their passion for their suburb.

But you know what,  these people have every right to be passionate about this place. I have even grown to love it a little bit!  

The gypsy in me does't know if this will be our forever home but for now it is making a great next chapter in our story.

A snippet of a whole heap more family friendly things to do in and around Penrith

Thanks for taking a look at my Western Sydney!  
Have you been to Penrith before?  If so what would you add to 
the list of family friendly activities in the area?

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT

Air Wick Silhouette Candles...Amazing!

sponsored post for Air Wick


Recently I was contacted to review some Air wick candles......now I love candles so it was an instant 'yes please' from me.

I might get a bit too excited when a parcel arrives at my front door...so when the candles arrived I opened them up straight away. 

The first thing that I noticed was the fragrance...so very pleasant and not overpowering like some candles. I received Amber Mandarin Glow and French Vanilla Romance and loved them both.

The second thing that I noticed were the silhouettes on the glass jars...they are the sweetest scenes, just lovely and tranquil to look at.

Now as if the fragrance and the silhouettes were not enough when you light the candles you get an amazing colour changing effect which makes these candles a real feature in your home.

My girls came home from school and loved the candles instantly....in fact they tried to claim them for their respective bedrooms....but I won out and the candles have pride of place in the lounge room and the dining room.  Everybody who has come over while the candles are lit has been totally mesmerized by them!

I love having scented candles burning throughout the house on a regular basis and reed diffusers work really well to freshen up our tiny bathroom. Be sure to check out the great range at Air Wick and  I'm sure you will find a product and a fragrance to suit you.

Do you love scented candles in your home?  What is your favourite fragrance?