It has taken all day, but finally the brown, ugly 1970’s blinds shown here

have been replaced with these…

We are happy!

Best time of year in Canberra and it has started out with a bang – wild weather with lots of thunder and lightning. One massive crack a week ago, set the house alarm off and made Jess and Amy scream and run for cover (my bed). They had every right to be freaked out, it really was a heart jumper.

Yesterday we had registered for a 25km Bike Ride but it was just too risky riding on the wet with the littlies, so sadly we gave it a miss. Bight sun shiney day today though!

Amy has learnt about traffic lights and now is quite the backseat driver whenever we go out. She sings this song from Playschool….

“Everybody stop and the Red light,
Everybody go on the green
Get ready to stop at the Yell-ow Lighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht
Yes that’s what the traffic light mean
OH YEAH
That’s what the traffic lights mean”

She often has me in stitches. Just love that little girls to bits.

Holly lost a tooth last night. Wasn’t even really wobbly, at the first sign of wobbliness she got underneath it and popped it out. That is what happens when you are 9. No more fiddling with it till it is hanging by a thread. No sir, just pop it out. Unfortunately she is so low key about the whole thing that the Tooth Fairy invariably forgets to come (this is the 4th time that pesky fairy hasn’t shown up). She was bitterly disappointed, but my friend pointed out that at her place the money often gets stuck in the pillow case. We might have to look there after school.

Jess is cracking me up with her school work. She brings her readers home and “reads” for me. She is looking everywhere but at the words. The text is too predicable for her, eg: The Eggs are in the trolley, the bananas are in the trolley, the apples are in the trolley etc. She is reading everything, everywhere and basking in her cleverness! She is such a joy.

Meggie got dancer of the week last week. It think this has more to do with the teachers political correctness/fairness, but she was pleased. We are still patching her eye every day, to get the other eye stronger, and she is coping well with everything that gets thrown at her. Quite the peacekeeper.

Justin and I took Holly and Meg to see “Alice in Wonderland” yesterday. jess opted not to come cause someone told her there might be a scary bit in it. Probably a good idea, it was a bit dark!

Tomorrow we are getting roller shutters installed. I was not a fan of the roller shutter (still am not in a lot of cases where the house ends up looking like a vault) but this is upstairs on the top level where we cannot get out to raise blinds. Currently we have the oldest canvas awnings in Canberra up there. They are banging around in the wind and generally being horrible in their brown-ness. One more sleep till they are gone…..

Kate, Lisa and I have got some plans sorted for our holiday in June to Hong Kong. Prior to that though we have to go to Perth, get through Easter and school holidays, run the Mothers Day Classic and Organise the Charny Carnival (20 March, get on down there!).

That is it for now, got a banana cake in the oven for Amy and Sam when they get home from Possums.

xx

We’ve had a big week so far – school continues to be great for Jess. She has settled in really well, bought home her very first readers (level 2 – Big Grin for Jess) and loves sports day when she can wear her green skirt. After the first day she informed me that the school had “3000 toilets and the girls toilet has a picture of a girl wearing a dress, but the boy is naked”. They also pray each morning to “Gawd” so we are working on elocution as well!!

On Sunday Justin, Holly Amy and I went for a walk around the mountain while there was a break in the rain. We left Meg and Jess playing with GND (Girl next door). When we got home there was a distraught neighbour babbling on about ..Jess…tree…hospital…arm…

It turns out Jess fell out of the tree, gave her arm a really deep and long gash and they took her to Emergency. I drew the short straw and had to dash off to the hospital to see the blood, face the tears etc. Strong, brave, manly Justin choose to stay home with the other kids! Jess was the brave one apparently, with Meg being a trifle upset about the incident (she is always the one who has the greatest empathy for others). So we waited at the ED for about 2 hours before being taken in. Mum graciously came and sat with us to keep us company. The Doctor was lovely and calmed Jess down who was freaking out about having a needle, but then didn’t even notice when it was going in. “Have you done it?” she asked him incredulously. He was a good sport! 7 stitches later she was all done and jumping out of her skin to get home and show everyone. The bandage around the spot also gained a lot of mileage.

Monday was to be my first day alone (as in with all the children in official “care”) with Amy starting Possums Playschool, but Jess stayed home as a result of her injuries. That was OK. She just took it easy and we had a nice day together.

So… Possums!! Dropped off Miss Independent at 9.15am. Sam was there so she had all that was important to her. “Bye mum”. 9.20am back in the car and leaving my baby behind. I knew she would be ok, but I have to admit I did miss her! Having Jess home filled the void, but Tuesday I was on my own, laughing all the way to the shops, enjoying 2 hours walking around, coming home and doing what I wanted (Oh sweet Oprah it has been too long since we last met), then picking them all up. She had a ball. She was dirty and tired, but full of chat and keen to go back next week. She is fairly exhausted now (Wednesday) so we are having a quiet day to regroup our energies.

Bootcamp is going great. I just love it. Monday we boxed and ran, did millions of push ups and many minutes of wall squats. My thighs are getting very strong (Justin did comment that I looked like Serena Williams but insisted it was a good thing after I socked him over the head with my shoe). This morning we did more running and then stations – one was lying flat on our backs doing lift ups with tyres, another was throwing medicine balls and the other was lifting kettle bells. In the running (2 laps around the oval) the Boy beat me, but I kept pace and made him work really, really hard for it. I was working hard too!! When I got home I told Jess about the young whipper-snapper who beat me and she said, “Well that is because he is in the Olympic Games”. Jess, my champion, of course no-one could beat her mum who wasn’t of Olympic caliber!

Holly and Meg are taking part in a Triatlon on Sunday. It takes in a 100m Swim (in the AIS Pool), 3km ride and 500m run. It is just for fun and not a race, but they are pumped and I hope they compete well and in the right spirit. Keeping fingers crossed for no rain.

I’m going out to dinner tonight with my best girls. Been trying to arrange it for ages. One delicious Thai meal coming up.

Take it easy till next time……….

Homework….the school is really cracking down on reading, spelling and maths. This is great and I am all for a bit of work at home. However, I am realizing that with 3 children needing supervision while homeworking I’m not going to get much done. I have actually begun to make this statement in my head “This is about the children – my home duties have to come second and I am just going to have to do this and get over it”. The girls get too distracted if I am not there on hand to help out, and then they muck around, and homework time goes on and on. It is overwhelming. I need a strategy and I am hoping that a dedicated homework time is the answer. Simple – seems so. Managing 3 of them doing homework is a tuff gig. We’ll see how things go this week. Maybe this is what other people do and I am just realising it? How do full time workers manage? It is for the good of the kids…It’s for the good of the kids

Jess cried today when I dropped her at school. Big fat tears rolled down her cheeks. It broke my heart, but the teacher said she’d be ok when I leave (ie please leave!). Went on to have morning tea with some mums who have become good friends of mine. They say the right things and understand. Funny isn’t it – how you think you are muddling along all alone, but we are all feeling the same way underneath. I love my friends.

Ok, enough of the melancholy stuff for now. Jess really got to me. Might need another coffee!!!

Jess is there – all day! She was a bit worried this morning. She had a cry and it all tumbled out. That she might not know what to do; it might be hard; Amy will be at Possums and I’ll be all alone. Ahh – precious girl, worried that I might be lonely! I assured her that the mounting pile of work on my desk meant that I could never be lonely. She toddled off happily when I dropped her at school, and I’ll be collecting them shortly, so I really hope she was OK.

Amy was dressed in her usual array of fantasy outfits on the weekend and I got this photo of her with the HUGE dog over the road. Sadie is just a puppy…..

We went to Possums Playschool this morning for Orientation. Amy played solo but had an absolute ball and didn’t want to come home. She will be OK there. I’m just worried about what might happen at the time she normally has a sleep and there is no blanky there! I guess she’ll learn to cope – the others had to!

This week we are back into full swing with dancing, swimming etc. The schedule is getting more complicated as they get into the older agegroups, so a bit more running to and fro. I guess this is only the beginning in terms of the taxi service.

Bootcamp is going great. Twice a week I’ve been pounding the oval with a group of women (Lisa included, she got me hooked) at 6am till 7. I just love it. Worked hard this morning and am exhausted. Just had a sleep for an hour or so and that is not like me at all! The trainer had us running, then pushups, lunges, squats, jumps and dips. Even though it is tiring, I feel that I have to put in extra effort (seeing that I am making such an effort to get there) and it is paying off in terms of how strong I have become. I think I have some side abs! I am more toned and fitter than ever before. Push-ups on my toes were once only a dream, now I can do lots of them. It is helping with my overall fitness and making running a lot easier. I did a 6km run yesterday and it felt easy compared with 5km that I did say this time last year. While the body holds up, I’ll keep going. Also, we had a boy come to class today and I had to kick his butt. We just can’t have young blokes rocking up thinking that they can whip us!

xx

The day has finally come. As she came down the stairs this morning, all sleepy and rustic, I actually got all teary. We had a cuddle and an upbeat talk about the day. She was very excited to have her shoes on, uniform neat and tidy and lunch in her lunch box. After yesterday’s debacle we were ready to go with time to spare.

Arriving at school was great. She went straight into her class, found her name at her desk and greeted her friends. She was OK!

She is home now (they only had a half day today) and she is full of news about what she did. I’m very proud of her (and proud of me for not crying!).

6 weeks is a long holiday right? Haven’t really had a chance to update over that time because life is pretty hectic and also I have a 9 yr old who loves being on the computer!

Holiday highlights:

Went to Dubbo with James and Rowena, stayed in a great place with 3 pools and plenty of space and went to Western Plains Zoo over 2 days. It was a great break and the kids had a ball with Oscar, especially Amy, who loves him dearly.

We took a day trip down the coast. Had lunch under a beach umbrella, kids boogie-boarded, and I got extremely sunburnt. Not a good look to have skin falling off you while you are at work!

It was Holly’s 9th Birthday. She had a few friends over. Justin took them to the movies, and we ate a lot of cake!

On Australia Day we headed out to Casuarina Sands and had a BBQ while the kids swam in the Murrumbidgee River. It was blissful. We went back again on the weekend and the girls boogie-boarded there. No waves, but some great space to get some speed up.

Jessica mastered riding her bike without the training wheels, and Amy is learning to ride hers with the trainers. Big milestones for both of them, and both equally proud of their achievement.

The rest of the holidays were a jumble of swimming, friends over, going to friends places and more swimming. I even took the kids into work to test their hearing because I thought that over the break they had lost some – it turns out they were just ignoring me!

It was super to catch up with Laura and Giri, home from the UK at last; Gavin and Louisa on hols from Melbourne; and the ENTIRE family over here on New Years Eve where we took this amazing photo of us all. 4 generations, 12 kids and 26 of us in total (including James and Sascha’s baby bump).

Back tomorrow!! xx

Haven’t the holidays been LONG!

Today is the first day back at school and I have to admit that I am pleased. The hols were great, but I am a bit overdone, a bit tired and cranky, and in need of house order again. Having said that, this morning we got up and were on time to get the girls to school. We walked out the house to take some pictures and locked the keys inside. With no time to spare, we ran/sprinted/walked down to school and arrived late. We couldn’t find classes, there were people everywhere wanting to know why we were late, I just wanted to cry!! Not a great start. Thankfully it wasn’t Jess’s first day, that is tomorrow when I shall surely shed a tear or two.

So here are my 2 big girls, Holly (year 4) and Meg, year 2, off to their first day.

And here are my four beautiful daughters.

Will post a pic of the new Kindergarten girl tomorrow.

xx

Got into the Christmas Spirit last night by attending the school Carols as Holly was in the choir. It was really my first bit of Christmas as we have no tree (infested by rats in the great plague of 2009) and no lights up (that sort of thing is left up to the real die-hards!). Singing along to the familiar words and music was just lovely and made me a little giddy with Chrsitmas Cheer!

I’ve done a bit of present shopping but really don’t know what to get the girls that isn’t a DSi or ipod etc. I’ve made a blanket rule about no electrial giflts till they are 10. And then maybe I’ll even make it 15! Besides, they are very expensive and if I by one then the others are going to complain about why didn’t they get one as well. You know the drill.

School reports were great. Both Holly and Meg had improvments and i bribed them by saying i’d give them $10 for every A. I’m a little bit poorer as a consequence, but they are all the richer for the extra effort they put in and pulled off. Yay girls. Oh, and they also were promoted to the next class, so Meg into year 2 and Holly into year 4. Jess was placed in the Kinder/year 1 class which i am happy about. She’ll surely benefit from the maturity and independance of the year 1’s and the accelerated learning.

My running workshop was great. I learnt a lot about breathing, arm movement, cadence of steps, body position while running etc. I’ve been practicing and have noticed the difference. When the arms are in position everything else just falls into place and I don’t run like such a girl!

Had a funny conversation with Amy yesterday. We were lying down tyring to have a sleep. I was dozing and she strokes my face and says “I love you Mummy.” to which i replied “uhumm uhummm”. She says to me quite sternly, “Mummy don’t say uhumm uhumm. You say, I love you too Amy. Now …I love you Mummy…???”. Not wanting to be told off again, I gave her the right answer!! She is feeling much better now. Back to her normal self, eating everything and being happy. She loves all the Christmas decorations and visiting Santa at the Mall, but she is still too scared to sit on his lap. Maybe next week her nerve will improve!

On Sunday the girls had the Physical Culture dance competition and end of year concert. Holly came away with 1st place and a trophy. She was delghted but also a bit cocky! Meg came second in her division and was gracious in defeat saying that the girl who had one deserved it and was a good dancer! Jess, who has only been learning 2 terms was placed 5th in the 5yr old section. She got a medal, and this was good until all the trophies were handed out and she realised that she didn’t get one! She must have cried for about an hour. And of course, Holly’s cockiness didn’t help matters at all. It is very hard to be diplomatic and explain it all to a devastated 5yr old. She is s good dancer though, and next year will be her time, if she keeps it up.

Ok, this is long enough and has taken me all day to write. Got another busy weekend ahead with Christmas get-togethers and a baby shower. I really nee to wash the floor too!!

xxx

This week has been kinda crazy with lots of things going on.
Tuesday we spent at Kidcity. This is not somethng I normally do, but since Amy is refusing her day sleep and jess is soon off to big school i decided a few fun excursions might be a good thing to do. Lisa and the boys came along after we’d been there for an hour or so, and Justin met us for lunch. Sam broke his arm last week so he was hilarious trying to climb up onto the equipment with his little monkey fist. He and Amy sat on my lap going down the super-slippery-dip about 57 times. They squealed with delight and yelled More More More until I did it again. Ahhhh – happy times.

Not only is Amy now refusing her day sleep but pretty much all food offered to her as well. At first I thought it was just her 3yr old obstinance , but now she cries if you offer her any food and will not attempt to try anything. Yesterday without any dinner the night before, or breakfast that morning she was a little limp leaf, clammy and lethargic. I called the GP and couldn’t get in until Monday! I gave her some apple juice and she perked up, then she ate some crackers, but refuses other food. I’m not sure what is going on but hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of her issues soon. I’m hoping that she ate her lunch at Mum’s today.

Jess had another practice school session. I’ve asked that she be placed in the Kindergarten/year 1 class next year. i think that physically and maturity wise she will cope well in that more advanced environment.

We’ve decided to travel up to Dubbo and see Western Plains Zoo after Christmas. Jusitn has bugged me for years, so I put it on the agenda. Kids are excited.

Christmas parties are coming thick and fast. I’ve been so good, lost 3kg since France and am feeling great. Running workshop is on Saturday. Loking forward to that!

CYA.