Off to School 2011

I'm sitting here... all alone. There is no noise. There is no chatter. There is nothing. I can hear myself breathing, that's how quiet it is. Why so quiet?

Today was the start of the school year. And all three darlings left their Mamma at home, while they are off getting some edumakation.  EJ started Reception today - he was confident walking into the school yard, he was happy to see his new teacher, he walked straight to his classroom and sat down at his desk. He was happy to see his cousin sitting across from him, and he was happy to sit down with all the other kids for floor time. I then said goodbye cheerfully and left him to it. I didn't want to spend time drawing out the goodbye, just in case it panicked him. And that was it. Bye bye EJ.

Then I took my youngest to her pre-school. She waltzed on into her classroom, waved goodbye to me and sent me on my way. And suddenly.. I was alone. All alone. No one to chat with, no one to play eye-spy with on the way home, no one to sing Old Macdonald with... in fact.. I listened to MY music and sang at the top of my lungs, without any little voices requesting we sing Twinkle Twinkle.

I am all alone. In 10 minutes, I will have to go back and pick Milly up from kindy... I've spent the whole first morning alone... blogging! :) What fun!

I just hope I get used to the silence...

Here are some pics of the morning...

Here is my big kindy girl.... just wanting to get going, and was pretty intolerant to Mama and her camera. I could her it in her voice when she said "CHEESE" through gritted teeth in THAT tone.


And here is my beautiful big boy - so excited and ready to go.


And all three heading towards the car.


Righto... in 3 minutes I need to go pick up Milly Moo. :) YAY!!!! Someone to play with!

Girly bonding

A few days ago I announced to the girls that it was hair-cut time in preparation for the new school year. Mop was excited and complained of her hair making her hot and being too heavy. I understand - her hair is super super thick, and when it gets too long it gives her headaches. So I asked her what she wanted. She said she wanted her hair cut up to her ears and a fringe. I negotiated and said "How bout up to your shoulders first? And if you want it shorter after that, we will do it. Once it's cut, it's done - and if you didn't like it it would be too late to do anything about it."

This is the results:



She loves the length and loves the fringe. She looks so different and so grown up.

Then it was Milly's turn. I just cut an inch off her hair and gave her a fringe too. Her hair is very fine and there isn't much of it, so she can rock the long hair look.

This is the results:


The girls had so much fun together, getting a new look and laughing together being girly.

I marvel at my girls: they may be 4 1/2 years apart, but are close, and love each other to bits.

A fresh realisation...

Yesterday we took EJ down to the uniform shop to get his school uniform. Tears pricked my eyes when he came out in his little school uniform, looking pretty proud of himself. In 1 1/2 weeks, my little boy will be a school boy. YIKES!!!

I'll take you riding in my car....

Remember this disaster?

Well finally we have come out on top, got the blasted thing repaired.... and traded it in for a new one!
Well... not brand new... second hand... but new to us.

Here is our new broom broom.....



We pick it up when the leasing company get their act together. :)

Apart from the woodgrain interior, it's got amazing features including an in-built DVD player and air conditioning in the room for the kids. We can't wait to get it, so then we can start going on weekends away in our caravan once again. :)

I'm so glad the old car is gone and we can start again with this lovely broom broom!

Christmas Day 2010

It's been so crazy busy around here so I haven't had time to put my Christmas pics up.

Christmas day was a wonderful day for everyone. It was so wonderful to share it with all the family and the kids LOVED having their cousins around to eat with, play with and share the day with.

The day started for Daz and I around 7:30 - the kids were still sleeping, so we crept out of bed and started the early preparation. One by one, sleepy children emerged, rubbing their eyes and murmuring their "merry christmas". We crowded into the lounge room and began opening presents.

We have a small glimpse of the moments of the day.

Here are the kids, cheering and excited about the presents!



... and it begins!



Milly unwraps her quilt I made her...



...and starts testing it out for comfort.


Caitlin unwraps her quilt I made her...


EJ finds the pillow I made him....


Mop was pleased to get another Wii game


Milly stoked to find her Christmas present behind the pillows (we did a treasure hunt for the smaller gifts!)


EJ test driving his new scooter.


Daz happy with his new BBQ cleaner


My necklace that I got


Milly's school bag for starting kindy next year


I also received a watch with my beautiful babies in the face, smiling at me!


A new cook book from my bestie in New York!


A BBQ apron for Daz.


Bath toys for Milly Moo


I sooooo wanted this soooooo badly... and I was stoked to get it! Lark Rise to Candleford!! (Excuse the bed hair!)

A new cubby for Milly


A nice shirt for Daz


and looking good is not complete without smelling awesome!


Mop was thrilled to get this Barbie set... mainly because she now has a Ken doll. :)


Lots of princess dolls for the little princess.


EJ with a marble maze game that he is thrilled with!!


The Christmas table...








... and here it is again, with all my wonderful family at it!


More present opening with the family...

Shameless boasting session..

..be warned... this post is written by an extremely proud Mummy.


Since Mop was small, we have always thought she was a very intelligent child. Before she was 3 she was reading... not just cat and mat... but menus! She knew what a decagon was before her mother! She reads and retains the most amazing stuff.... for example she could explain the workings of a digestive system at five years old.... because she read it in her anatomy book... written for MUCH older people! Anyway..... she's smart... but we had no idea that she was THIS smart...







Last night was speech and awards night.... and Daz and I were astounded and ever so proud to hear Mop's name called to receive the "Highest Academic Achievement" trophy for her grade.




She also received a medal for the English Award. I like to think she's her Mother's daughter! :) I have always been good at English... anyway... She also received a trophy for her scripture memorisation as well (which is remembering a scripture every single week of the term and reciting)



Here they all are. (the school name is blotted out so just ignore that! :) )


And here she is with her teacher for 2010.


She was a fantastic teacher, and really did an amazing job with Mop. She stretched her and recognised her love for learning and abilities - so Mop never came home complaining of boredom, instead talking with enthusiasm about all the wonderful things she had done and learned.

So Mop darling, we are super proud of you - even more than we usually are, and congratulations on putting in all that hard effort and work and producing amazing results. Enjoy your 8 weeks off Doctor Mop. :)

EJ-ism

"Mummy.... I need some sun-scream on"

(meaning sunscreen)

3 years on...

Remember THIS??

Well 3 years on she has grown into a beautiful, sweet, kind, funny, imaginative, clever little poppet. Darling girl, we are so incredibly glad you are in our lives. You are a precious little lady and we love you dearly. Happy Birthday Milly Moo!!



The birthday celebrations started with her present from us - which was a huge dolls house - which she LOVED and refused to come to breakfast because she was too busy playing. We let that one slide. Then we dragged her away to go out into the stinking heat for the family birthday picnic. 2 of my nieces and Dad all had a birthday within the week so we decided to catch up then to celebrate all the birthdays. It was hot... too hot to stay long... so we came home for a swim in our pool - and Pete, Deb and the kids came back as well. Then the inlaws came over for a little while, until we popped 3 very exhausted children into bed.

Dear Lord....

...please protect my son from himself....



... AND HIS MOTHER!!!!


EJ is going through a very annoying stage.... he's stealing stuff. We gently tried to explain that he can't just help himself to stuff, he needs to ask. But crackdown HAD to happen when he handed me an empty bottle of 100 kids multi-vitamins (previously mostly full) and said we needed more "lollies". He had gone into the pantry and fossicked around the shelves and found them, took them outside and shared them with his baby sister!!!! Oh. My. GOODNESS!!! I nearly had a heart attack. I rang health direct pronto and we went through the ingredients. Thankfully there were no ingredients that were dangerous if they overdosed.... I have no idea how he knew what they were!!! Mop is the only one who has them, and only if she is run down.

I only got 15 new grey hairs that day.

Mum thought it was funny.
The Health Direct lady was chuckling.
I'm yet to find the funny side.

Good news

EJ has finished with the psychologist!! :)
They think EJ is progressing at a good rate and no longer needs the mental health system. We are winning this battle with SPD! YAY!!! He will have a little graduation party with his speechie and psychologist in a few weeks and we will be on our merry little way. I'm so proud of him!

Also EJ had his first day at primary school for orientation on Tuesday. He LOVED it!! He loves his teacher (who seems very gentle and motherly) and I'm thankful his first experience in a classroom setting was good. Over the next month or so, we will need to start putting things in place to help him cope with SPD in the school environment. The psychologist is confident that EJ will get much better with coping as he develops and matures - and school will be very good for this. I met the special needs co-ordinator and she seems really lovely. I'm sure EJ will love her too.

Professional Man-Flu-artist

This boy?

No... surely not!!??

You should hear him carry on whenever he has a small injury!! He had a tiny graze on his knee the other day, with one tiny drop of blood. You should have heard him scream!! And when I went to clean it up, he kicked me and yelled "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" He wailed like I was about to amputate his leg, while I gently wiped with a wet cotton ball. LOOOOONG after the blood was cleaned up, he was still wimpering and complaining about it. He couldn't feed the dog.... because his knee was bleeding. PFFFFT!!!

This kid is practicing his man-flu act..... and it's kinda funny. Though for the sake of my future daughter in law - I'm not sooking him or encouraging it... I'm just laughing at it and rolling my eyes (on the inside)

10 years ago....

I married my best friend.



(I love this photo - this is when he first saw me walking towards him down the aisle)



I vowed to honour, cherish and be faithful.



In return he promised to love and protect me all the days of his life.




On this day 10 years ago, we became family....



.... united by God



10 years have passed....



.. and I love him more deeply and more passionately than ever.



Happy anniversary babe! I love you!