There is nothing better than a good thunder storm and that is what we got Thursday afternoon.
What else is there to do when its pouring with rain but run around and get soaking wet?
You may even find time to sit and have a chat with your sister.
What a beautiful way to to end a hot and very busy day.
Helen xxxxx
Was having a little play with my camera in the garden yesterday when friendly Mr Bee came by to say hello. Tried to get a few shots, only managed 3 before he flew away, but this was one of them.
Is he sticking his tongue out at me?. Do bees have a tongue?. Pity he was not in focus but hey, it was worth a try.
Here is a pic that worked much better, grubby face and all.
Have Declan home sick today with an upset tummy, sore throat, cough thingy that is going around our house. Riley is very “emotional” as he is not 100% either so it is turning into a very very long day.
Did manage to bake some Burnt Butter Cookies, oh my they are good. Trying really hard not to eat them all as they are one of my favourite biscuits and I have not had them for years.
Did you know that this time next week it will be summer and my Christmas tree will be up? WOW!
Happy Hump Day
Helen xxxxx
Keeping it short, lots to do…..
The party went really well, lucky for us the weather came good just in time, ended up being a perfect day.
Lots of family and friends, lots of food and drink and most of all lots of lovely memories.
Happy Birthday Dad 
Sorry, no pictures of me and my new hair do (I am always the wrong side of the camera), though despite what I think no one seems to notice the new style so maybe its not that different after all?.
Oh well, I still love it.
Take care, have a great week
Helen xxxxx
I am still here…….
Been a busy week or so around here. Glad to finally have a day at home.
Firstly I would like to say “Happy 70th Birthday” to my Dad!.
We celebrated with lunch on Thursday and are having a BIG party tomorrow (please keep everything crossed that this bad weather will pass before then). Caroline and I spent many hours creating a photo book for him which he loved. It was hard work but so worth it in the end. It was finally delivered on Wednesday afternoon, just in time.
Mmmm what else…. I had my hair cut and just love love love it. I changed my style a little for summer, which means I don’t have to get the hairdryer out everyday YAY (I hate drying my hair).
I got to use all 7 seats in my car for the first time. It worked well but the only problem is the boys think they can sit in the 3rd row all the time. Not going to happen just yet.
Riley had 2 swimming lessons this week, both went really well and he told me that swimming is his favourite place to go?. What a change from last month when he screamed the place down.
Declan is busy with school and birthday parties. Its had to believe that at the start of the year he could only read a couple of names and now he is bringing home books like this:
He also completed the Premiers reading challenge and had his name printed in The Age, did you see it amongst the other 120,000 names?.
Matilda is turning into a chatter box, a bossy boots and is practising madly for when she hits the terrible twos ( I think they are already here!). She is into EVERYTHING, you can not turn your head for a second without her eating a crayon, emptying my handbag or breaking the latest lego creation. She can also open drawers now so there go most of my “Matilda safe” spots 
On top of that she mastered opening the front screen door this week as well. On a good note she now gets her own bibs before each meal and helps set the table sometimes as well (notice how they are both food related?).
We finally got our options for 4yo kinder. I have put in my preference for 2 x 5 hour days, 9:30 – 2:30. Really hope I get these times as it will just make life so much easier. Riley is really excited about going to big boy Kinder. Unfortunately we wont find out our session times until Dec 15th so still a long wait.
Will leave you with a couple of photos from this week.
Matilda enjoying fairy bread (more food!)
and Riley not wanting his photo taken
My poor camera has not seen much daylight this week. Will make up for that tomorrow!.
Better go, the housework is calling UUGH!.
Promise not to leave it so long between posts next time
Take care, stay warm and dry
Helen xxxxx
As the title suggests, I had a very productive weekend. Saturday morning was long. I wont put you to sleep with all the details but it did finally end with Riley having his 4yo immunisations. He was a very very brave boy, no tears at all. From memory Declan reacted quite badly to these shots, his arm became very swollen and hot but so far so good with Riley.
Saturday evening I was lucky enough to head to Paper2 for some “scrapping and girly time”. It has been a while since I had done anything. I manged to get a bit done. Here is one page I completed, the 2nd may still need some work so wont show that just yet.
I also fixed up a mini book I had done a couple of months ago, oh and stocked up on some supplies
On Sunday the weather was just perfect. Steve disappeared up into the hills again with his bike so I actually managed to get some work done!. Lucky for me Matilda had a nice big afternoon nap and I spent 3 hours in my garden doing the weeding , mowing the lawns and having a general tidy up.
Its amazing how quickly the grass can go brown with just a few warm days. Despite have such little rain most plants seem to be thriving, much better than last year. I guess they are all getting use to surviving on less water, which is a very good thing. I really enjoy spending time in the garden, I find it very relaxing.
Now for the photo techs out there….I took this shot and it just doesn’t seem right.
To me the colours look a bit “in your face” (techincal term there!). Yes it is a very bright flower and yes it was very sunny but still would love to have toned it down a little but I could not work out how. What do I adjust to do this?. It actually hurts my eyes to look at this!.
Rileys birthday just keeps on keeping on. Today we celebrated at playgroup and I had to take along some cakes. Riley decided he wanted red cupcakes with blue icing so that is what he got!. Sorry didn’t take any pics but believe me, a lot of colouring went into them. Its very hard to make a red cupcake that doesn’t look pink IYKWIM. He was happy with the result so that is all that matters.
Declan seems to be getting sick again, sore throat and a cough, hope it goes away. Matilda is turning into a real chatterbox, saying something new everyday.
Hope you all enjoy your week,
Looks like its going to be a warm one for most of it.
Helen xxxxx
On Sunday we decided to head out with the children for a picnic. Riley really needed some space to get use to his new bike. He was so capable on his old “tiny” one but this new bike is a whole other story. He can only just touch the ground so his confidence has gone. Once he gets going he is OK . He does ride to school everyday so I am sure it wont take long and he will be zooming around like he did in the past. We did have a few “stacks” one of which was quite big and I still don’t know how Riley didn’t knock out a tooth. As Steve would say “if you don’t stack, your not riding hard enough!” which explains his recent injuries from riding his dirt bike.
As you can see Matilda was not left out as we took her little “bike”. She didn’t stop all day, those legs certainly got a good workout! The green spider in the top pic appeared on Steve’s bike whilst we were having lunch. He was a funny fellow, quite aggressive (but so small it didn’t matter) . After a while he spun a web a did some bungy jumping, seriously!. The boys had a good chuckle over that.
The afternoon was spent doing some sneaky shopping on behalf of Santa IYKWIM. Lets just say the boys are getting very very spoilt this year.
Last night they created a new mode of transport. It involved a wooden trolley, old playstation controller and a rubber glove.
They went up and down our hallway so many times at full speed. The noise the trolley made on the tiles almost drove my crazy but it did give me the opportunity to have a little play with my camera.
I know technically its not a good photo but Declan loves this shot as it shows just how fast he was going!.
Its all about learning.
Helen xxxxx
What could be worse than getting gastro?…….., getting it on your 4th birthday!!. Thats what happened to poor Riley Luckily he is a trooper and once he has a good “you know what” he seems to bounce right back.
The horrible, nasty gastro bug has been hanging out at our place for the past week. Matilda started a new routine of decorating her cot at around 4am for 4 mornings straight. These events resulted in the usual clean up/bath/bed change. In between that the bug hit Steve HARD so I had to collect him from work and take him straight to the doctors where a quick needle made him feel so much better. Finally it was Rileys turn. He had only been 4 for no more than an hour when….. you get the picture. By Friday evening I was exhausted and feeling pretty average myself, so I took an anti nausea tablet which knocked me out quick smart and enjoyed a nice long sleep. Fingers crossed the little “bug”ger has now gone.
Luckily Friday morning Riley was feeling much better and all set to open his presents.
and test out his new wheels.
and of course he was feeling well enough for birthday cake…..
He seemed to enjoy the day even though he was not feeling 100%. I am so glad we held his party a week early.
The past 2 weeks have been rough for us, nothing went right at all so we are more than happy to welcome a new week, a fresh start, an end to bland and gentle on sore tummy meals, 3 cars that are running better than ever, a near full water tank, Mum and Dad back from Vietnam and a boy who is now 4, YAY!.
Had a really great family day today, but will save that for another post.
Good luck on Cup Day and my tips are of course Master O’Reilly and Mad Rush (because thats the constant state I live in!)
Helen xxxxx
