What!

I know, nothing and then 2 posts in one day.  Will keep this one short.

I was playing around with my camera today and snapped this picture which just makes me laugh. All is not as it seems……

…no Declan was not in pain , he just happened to be rolling around on the floor (as 6 year olds do) whilst Riley was playing up for the camera.  I giggle everytime I look at it.

Snapped a few pics in the garden today as well.  Was playing around with a few settings.

Its a sign of the times here in Melbourne, a bird bath with no water in it.  Have decided I would LOVE a macro lens.  Maybe if I head to Hong Kong next year…….. mmmm now there’s a thought.

Had a ”discussion” with Declan yesterday that went a little something like this,

Declan “Mum, I want a lunch order today”

Mum “No, you had one last week you are not having another” (He is allowed 1 per month)

D “Na, your wrong its my lunch order so its up to me!” (don’t you just love the attitude… NOT!)

M “No, your wrong, its up to me and I say no!”  

Next thing I see him get out the brown paper bag, the texta  and his wallet.   I was really unsure what to do here but in the end decided if he wants to waste his pocket money on lunch orders then thats his choice. I know it will hit him hard when he sees something at the shops he really wants and he has no money left and when he realises that his little brother has $27 saved and he has only $6.  Still not sure if that was the right thing to do and I really didnt want him to have a treat after the way he spoke to me but yes it is his money to spend.   If this becomes an ongoing event I think I will have to put my foot down but he only gets $4 pocket money and thats not every week (we skip some here and there) so he will run out of money soon enough.

To make matters worse, today at school he won a $5 canteen voucher for good behaviour in the playground. Now he wants another lunch order on Friday! How can I say no to that when this one is a reward for being so nice in the playground AAAGH! 

OK , thats its, time for bed

Take care

Helen xxxxx

Hello………anybody there……?

My minimal amount of blogging has been due to lack of motivation rather than lack of time. I have started this post a few times over the last week but never quite got there. Lets see how we go today

I am still not feeling great, just a horrible bug thats going around and now poor Matilda is not well, full of a cold and other stuff we wont discuss at this hour!.  

Here is a quick update of the past week or so:

Steve managed to fix his car and it now runs like a dream  ***EDIT – I am the worlds greatest Jinx (as are my parents….long story), the car is broken again this time its the starter motor. Steve has just pumped up the tyres on his BMX. He has decided this will be a good time to try and get fit!***, Declan completed his first school assignment (and I forgot to take a picture oops), Riley had a very successful swimming lesson with no tears at all and he swam like a champ!!! , Matilda has spent a good part of the week walking her baby around in its pusher, its her new “thing”. 

I worked last Tuesday (which I loved!) and Steve was a champ looking after 5 children aged 6,3,3,2 and 1 for over 2 hours (not sure he is going too offer his services again anytime soon though!). He has also managed to hurt his knee again (Dirtbike incident), will he ever learn? 

Saturday night was party time for Riley. We celebrated his 4th birthday a week early to fit in with other commitments. He had a ball, his friends had a ball and I didnt have a mess to clean up so I had a ball

Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun (and for the cool pressies). His birthday is this Friday but he thinks he is already 4, whats a few days?.

Nothing else to report, no scrapping just struggling to keep up with the general day to day chores at the moment. Busy weekend coming up, though they all seem to be between now and Christmas. Did you know its only 58 sleeps to go (or something like that)!!!!!!!. Who’s organised?………….not me.  I know what I want Santa to bring me but thats about it.

Enjoy the rest of your week

Helen xxxxx

Crazy Sunday

What a day!. I have had to get in and out of my car 11 times today, most of them with at least one child in tow.  Its a good thing I love driving my car

here is a quick recap of today

*   Woken at 5am by Riley with croup……..again. Luckily he doesn’t seem to get “sick” with croup, just sounds awful.

*   Headed off to the Baby Market in Berwick only to miss out on what I wanted and come home empty handed.

*    The children and I attended the Wetlands Planting Day at Declans school. Lots of fun.

*    Spent the rest of the day taking Riley to the Doctors, picking up car parts for Steve, getting supplies for Declans first school assignment, going to the chemist, returning car parts which were wrong and going to another store to get the right ones.

*    Steves car is still sick.  Its not an expensive fix but just a time consuming one.  We are lucky that he can do repairs like this himself. Currently half his engine is in pieces on our garage floor. The upside is he has to take my car to work tomorrow so it will get a nice run. Its not often it ventures more than 10 km from home which means I should really get a life.

*    I have a job!, for one night only, working with Caroline helping out on a stocktake. YAY

Forgot to mention that my jet setting parents are at it again. They left today for 2 weeks in Vietnam with some friends.

That’s enough, I’m out of here…….

Have a good one

Helen xxxxx

No!

No!,  this is Matilda’s new word.  Usually it is the response we get after telling her not to do something she shouldn’t be (which is often!).  She is only 18 months old but the attitude is really starting to show. I know all you “girl” mums are laughing saying “she hasn’t seen the half of it”. I still have a lot to learn. 

We are currently halfway through a busy weekend which just got a whole lot busier as Steves car developed major issues today and will require his full attention tomorrow so he can hopefully drive to work on Monday.  So much for his day off!. 

The past week went by in a blur. Declan was off school earlier in the week due to a bug which he kindly passed on so now I feel like rubbish.  His tooth is still wobbly but only a little bit so we still have a long way to go with that one. He told me it will fall out at Christmas, only problem is he thinks Christmas is 19 sleeps away.  Not sure where he got that idea from!.

Riley was having a really good week until Friday when his swimming lesson left a lot to be desired. He has recently had his arm floaties removed and he lost all confidence in the pool again.  He screamed for the whole lesson except the last 30 seconds when he realised he was not going to sink to the bottom of the pool. Phew!.  We decided to nuture his love of water again and spent yesterday afternoon at the local wave pool .  He did really well, swimming in very deep water and loving every second of it.  Fingers crossed his lesson next week will go well and that his teachers ear drums have recovered (I think I said sorry to her about 20 times).

Sorry, this post is all over the place, a little like my head at the moment.

Will leave you with some pictures from the past week.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Helen xxxxx

Hello Blossom……

Halfway through spring already……….where does the time go????? 

Helen xxxxx

Blue Monday

I have the back to school blues.  It was hard to get up this morning, so cold and wet. Yes I did say in a previous post that it wont rain now our water tank is hooked up, really I should have said it will only rain at 9am and 3pm on school days!.  It is just me or does that always seem to be the way?. I know, I am never happy (but my water tank is).

Yesterday was busy busy busy. Poor Steve worked all weekend so we spent the morning at Duffys Picnic Ground with some friends. The weather was divine and the place was pretty busy, it was so nice just to be out and enjoying the day .  We returned home to quickly mow the lawns, cook dinner, watch the Bike Races then we headed out to Cranbourne with my Dad to catch the convoy of bikes on their way home from the Island.  For those of you who don’t know, my boys love bikes, cars and really anything with wheels!

Tried to get the children to bed at 7:30 last night. Steve had a big talk with the boys to explain why they were going to bed whilst it was still light but it didn’t work, Riley was up and down for the next hour and Matilda was singing away for a while too.  Might explain why I had to wake them just after 8 this morning GGGGRRRRRR.

Now time for a

*** SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ***

from Master Declan……

HE HAS A WOBBLY TOOTH  

He is very very excited and has been waiting so long for this to happen. Most his friends have lost quite a few teeth but his were stuck fast until now.  Will keep you updated.

Time to walk to school, still raining though so it might be a run!

Have a great week

Helen xxxxx

Something to share

For the first time in a long time I scrapped at home AND I scrapped a page and not a mini book.

Nice and quick……

and BRIGHT!.

Might try and get another one done tonight.

Helen xxxxx

For the record, our water tank is now connected so murphys law says that it wont rain here again for a very long time.

Its been a slow week.

This week has not always gone to plan.  Mondays activities were cancelled due to the gloomy weather and put off until Tuesday, only to be cancelled when I woke up not feeling quite right and having to spend most the day hanging close to the bathroom IYKWIM .

So instead we had 2 quiet days at home…..

doing our homework,

Playing with “hair”, how cute is that ponytail?,

playing with some of the settings on my camera (shutter speed),

and just generally relaxing ..

Yes Riley was around, he just didnt want his photo taken

Finally today the sun was out and I was feeling much better, so Caroline and I headed to Wilson Botanic Park for a picnic and to give the children a chance to burn off some energy.

Only a few more days of R&R before we head back to the daily grind.  I am already looking forward to the summer holidays……..

Helen xxxxx