Excitement!

I just got an email saying that there is a super awesome parcel on it's way to me!  Do you want to know what the best bit for you is?  It's for a FANTASTIC GIVE AWAY!

But that's all I'm telling you right now.

So, what else has been going on around here in my bloggy quietness?  Lots.  That is partly to blame for the quietness.  It's been a busy two terms at school and last holidays we were so busy with endless invitations to here and there that we didn't get much of a break.  Now we are in our second week of these holidays and I am feeling refreshed and ready to face the final chaotic term of school.  I made a purposeful decision to stay home a lot these holidays.  As much as possible to do things that included all of the kids and to spend lots of time just being together.

But, leading up to the holidays we did have a little bit of fun...

Lion's school does a school concert every second year and in the other year the do something on a much smaller scale.  This year they presented a Food & Dance Fiesta!  Each year level presented a dance and there was all sorts of food for sale and the year levels all manned stalls selling different things.  The year ones all had to bring in cupcakes to be sold at their stall which was a raging success.  Lion's class danced to "boot scootin' baby".  I was thrilled when the classes came out in lines and Lion was right at the front down the end where I was standing (I had Monkey in the pram so I could only get to the ends).  Then they decided to do a re-shuffle for some reason... Lion ended up at the back, in the middle, behind some rather tall kids.  I got rare glances of him and managed to get a couple of photos that weren't real good but hey, we got a record of the event.  After the first time through they had to come and get a parent to dance with them.  Unfortunately with Monkey in the pram (against his wishes) and Wolf at work, I couldn't be the one to go and dance with him.  He had taught Dragon some of the moves so I encouraged (bribed with an extra cupcake) Dragon to go and dance with him.  You can imaging how much of that I saw with all the parents of the kids in the front two rows dancing in front of my tiny little boys.  Oh well, I was proud of both of them for getting up there... even if I couldn't see most of it.

We went down to The Strand Ephemera to check out some of the artwork on the day before Father's Day.  The kids had a ball but I was suffering with sinus headaches from a horrid sinus infection that just wont go away.  Some of the art was good... some was just really really poor.  These are two pieces that the kids particularly enjoyed.

Last week (1st week of school holidays) Wolf had the Tuesday off so we took of up the the beach hut for the day with Grannysaurus and Cheetah.  We played in the sand, swam in the ocean, boogy boarded, went to Frosty Mango (Aunty Chimera and Little Bear joined us for that)... we had a generally awesome time.  Not many photos were taken because the photographer was having too much fun!  Mum did grab a few on my camera while I was in the ocean though.

I was so proud of my kids... and Cheetah.  We'll start at the oldest...  Cheetah had never ridden a boogy board before and was struggling to catch a wave.  Even after I explained when to push off.  I had a thought... I don't use the top of the wave to tell when to jump, I use the feeling around my ankles of the water rushing back out to sea as well as the look of the wave...  As the next lot of "big" waves were starting to roll in I quickly explained how waves work and at which point in the waves life you need to push off and all of a sudden he was riding like a pro!

Lion was dumped wave after wave.  He saw a particularly big wave coming and got a gleam in his eye... He caught it and it took him two metres and dumped him.  HARD.  His little head popped up from under the water, he spat mouthfuls of sand and sea water out and looked at me.  I thought he might be about to cry... his little voice spoke up... "that. was. AWESOME".  He grabbed his hat, wrung the water out of it, put it back on his head and took of to find his next wave.

Dragon is usually a one wave boy.  He gets dumped once and that's it.  He's sitting in the shallows and wont try again.  He was dumped over and over and over and he just kept going back for more.

Monkey is also a stick to what he knows kinda kid.  Especially in the ocean.  He got out there and was riding the boards with no one holding on to him (much to mummy's horror), he was jumping waves and pretending to fall over... he had a blast!

So there's a little of what we have been up to.  There's still so much more to share... but not today.  I hope there are still people reading this little old blog... it'd be a shame if there was no one to win the fantastic prize I'll have to give away soon!

What's for dinner?

Life has been moving faster than we can catch up at the moment.  Wolf has a new job, Monkey is getting smarter and smarter, Lion has finished his first year of school and Dragon is done with Kindy for the year.  It's almost Christmas and I am soooo far behind on blogging what's been going on around here.  I'm just going to do my best and see how fast I can catch up.

 *****

Driving along in almost silence one day, Dragon was obviously doing some deep thinking when he came out with this doozy... "Mummy, Are we God's Lego?"  Wow, what an opportunity... kicking my own deep thinking brain into gear I got on with an answer... I can't remember it exactly what I said but it was along the lines of "yes...and no"  Yes, we are like God's Lego because God can make us into whatever he wants to, he has complete control of us.  But no, because God loves us perfectly, he loves us more than we could ever love Lego and because of that there's never a person that is out of his sight, he never wanders around saying "now where is that kid with the red cap, I know I had him here somewhere yesterday".  He takes care of us better than we could ever take care of our Lego.  Dragon took it all in, processed it and gave me a deep response... "I need to wee when we get to the shops".

*****

Lion had a bit of fun a while back helping Grandad to clean their big trailer with the pressure sprayer.

*****

I think I sing too many children's songs when a sudden ant bite sends me into a tuneful (or not) frenzy of "Ants in my armpit, a a a, ants in my armpit, a a a..."  Stupid ants.

*****

I found Monkey a few days ago sitting on the floor unwrapping a Dove chocolate like we have in the advent calendar... I don't know where he got it. He tried to pretend he wasn't opening it and gave it to me while looking all innocent... I pretended along and shared it with him... no one need ever know....

*****

These are what Lion and Dragon took for their school and kindy friends instead of Christmas cards or candy canes.  I hate candy canes, the kiddie-crack that they are, and there was no way I was going to sit around and supervise as they wrote in 483940 cards for their friends and then when handing them out find that we missed a kid who is now in tears and... and... and... it's all too much for this season of love and goodwill.  Something sweet, something with no names attached... easy.  Yes, I'd much rather stay up late, after the kids are in bed and make treats for their friends than supervise the Christmas card writing.

*****

Cleaning up the kitchen bench junk piles recently I found...

• 1 hand grenade (toy, thankfully )
• many rocks
• 2 pairs of socks
• 1 snake skin
• sparklers
• matches
• an array of things I should have returned to people

Life with boys is never dull.

*****

Lion's class led the school assembly a few weeks ago.  It was awesome.  This term they were discovering "Who Sank The Boat" so they performed it for us.  Lion had to welcome everyone to the assembly and introduce one section then thank everyone for coming at the end.  He had a lot to learn but he did a great job!

*****

We had Cheetah and Little Bear come for a sleep over a few weeks ago... it was absolute chaos!  But we did have a lot of fun!  Believe it or not the last two to go to sleep were Dragon and Little Bear... those two kept going and going and going and going!

Little Bear managed to find our only two Duplo girls... she said one was her and one was me... she's so sweet.

***** 

Judge me if you wish but when the kids ask what's for dinner over and over and over they usually get the response "poo on toast".  One day Lion came to me and asked "Mum, are we having poo on toast for dinner?"  "Yes" I responded... "Oh noooooo" said Dragon... "not TOAST".

*****

Phew... there's a bit of a catch up... still more to go!

GREAT grandma!

A bunch of us trundled over to my grandma's on Thursday night for dinner. I took along the camera because I never remember to get photos of the boys with their great-grandma. I nearly forgot again except that Grandma wanted some other photos taken and that reminded me that I needed to get mine in.

To keep Little Bear still she got to wear her mum's "princess bracelet" until He-Man himself flogged it. He looks oh-so-tough in his precious gems doesn't he? That's my Dragon.

So we got one of Dragon, Grandma and Lion.

One of Little Bear, Grandma and Cheetah.

And one of Grandma and Cheetah after Little Bear didn't want to sit for the camera anymore.

Peach Blossom McTavish

Some questions answered...

We have a due date of September 6 but since I can't seem to get babies out the conventional way as Lion says "we will chop mummy open and the doctor will pull the baby out". That will be probably 2 weeks early if Dr "Geoff Jansz" goes to his usual program. Although he may let me go longer since I don't have to fit in with his annual conference he attends the last week of October this time :)

This was absolutely a planned baby! We are very excited!! We will find out what we are having but we will only tell close family (when you know the exact time the baby is coming you have to keep something a surprise for your adoring public). We don't have real good odds to get a girl though. I probably wouldn't know what to do with a girl now! We'll take what we are given and will be just as excited with either. We will not just keep trying until we get a girl, that's just crazy talk.

We have chosen the name Peach Blossom to keep with the flower names that our kids have until they are born. It started with Lion, I was pregnant but we weren't telling anyone but parents and brothers and sisters. Chimera put the question to Cheetah that if Aunty McTavish had a baby what should she call it? Flower. But what if it's a boy? Yeah, Flower! (he was 4) So Flower stuck. (Although I seem to remember the Aussie Half-Dozen calling him Lizard after they found out he would be a boy, thanks Dragon for being so excited about a boy cousin!) Our Dragon was called Gumnut until he was born after May Gibbs Gumnut Babies, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

This time it's Peach Blossom. Unless you are Lion, then it's Spiker and to Dragon it's just Bubby. That sometimes comes out Blubby so I was a little offended when he kept tapping my tummy saying "Blubby, Blubby, Blubby" It's easy to get offended when there's hormones going crazy.

I'm pretty much the same as any other pregnant chick.

I am not keeping real well but it's nothing I can't handle, constant morning all day sickness combined with my tummy bug I had a few weeks ago and then the cold and then the cough keeping me slow moving and close to home. But you just have to keep doing some stuff. I know that I get worse in the afternoons so I am doing stuff in the mornings if I can. I'm used to it now, and I know not to listen to anyone that tells me about the magic 12 week mark where all of a sudden your sickness goes. Then when that doesn't happen it's 18 weeks then when you are still crook all the time you get "well at least you aren't on bed rest". I am having ginger this and ginger that and wearing my seabands when I can, it all helps and at least I'm not greeting the toilet bowl each morning.

I have a smell up my nose constantly. Not so strange except that I have no sense of smell any other time. I wake up randomly during the night smelling poo, raw red meat, rotting grass, just random gross smells. I have had to change to liquid soap in the bathroom because I figured out that was part of my smell problem. It smells nice usually, it's just yuck at the moment.

I am pregnant so all the yuckness is just part of it and I'll survive.

The boys are a bit of a mixed bag the way they are reacting. Dragon seems most excited but also has decided that he wants to be a baby all the time. There is also that whole shower thing. I had seen the book that was recommended "There's a house inside my mummy" in a bookshop and looked for it at the library along with another book that looked good (I can't remember it's title). Thing is when I used the computers at the library to search for it they gave me some random place to look and I couldn't even find that section. I got home and used their internet search and found that it's in a special parents resources section that I have never seen before. So now I need to go back. Lion is just getting on with life.

So Jennifer from The Miles Family Adventures guessed our news first (well Chimera actually did but she really knew already so she got a different treat) so Jennifer will be getting a special treat soon.

I have my first OB appointment next Tuesday. I got a gentle lecture from the receptionist about leaving it so late to make the appointment since I should have been to see him about week 10. We're not all that rich so I figured the longer I can put it off I might save one or two appointment fees over the course of the pregnancy.

What you've all been waiting for...

This is the birthday post. I thought I probably should get it done before a whole month passes since their birthdays. First to answer the question on everybody's lips... So how did the Monkey cake turn out????

Well, it looks like Wolf gives it his thumbs up. *** wouldnt you know it he did his sillyness in the best shot of the lot*** I started to put a little glint in his eyes for realism but decided I wouldnt be able to stick a knife in it if I did that.


That is the on-the-bench-as-soon-as-it's-finished-in-the-middle-of-all-the-decorating-mess-get-some-photos-just-in-case-anything-happens photo. Now for the real-thing-candles-and-all photo...


Of course there wasnt a big old smudge in the corner, that is where i smudged out his real name in the photo (you didnt really think his name was dragon did you???)

Lion got the digger and chocolate crackle construction site cake again. This time with his precious Bob the Builder candle on it. We bought that for his second birthday off eBay, it survived the post (candles dont post well to North Queensland as I guess you can imagine) and he had it on his second cake and third cake and now fourth cake... for 99c I think I am doing well, he wont let Dragon use it. He did allow daddy to use it for his last birthday pie.

For their birthdays they got a whole slew of great toys. Lion got his first REAL bike. It was cousin Cheetah's bike that he had grown out of and Uncle R and Aunty J cleaned it up and put some training wheels on it. Lion LOVES it.

But when that scary unmanned scooter starts chasing you just put your head down and GO GO GO!!!

They both got John Deer farm equipment. Lion got a Digger and Dragon got a dump truck. Dragon decided to ride Lion's digger and Little Bear climbed on too. He does look rather annoyed with his new hood ornament! It's not a ride on toy, it's just so big that they can ride it.

Lion also got a jackhammer. But it's going back. What's a birthday without at least one dangerously defective toy. There will be letters to Bosch who brand it, the company that manufacturers it for Bosch, Target who sell it and product recalls who need to know that it was seriously faulty. It didnt come with batteries, so being a good mummy I chucked some in the night before when I wrapped it. We took it out and started it up and they had a bit of fun but it started making a weird noise. We tried turning it off and on again but it wouldnt turn off. And then it started making a really weird noise even in the off position... so we took the batteries out, which were REALLY hot! That really worried me. So back it goes...

They each got a sword and shield for their birthdays. Actually between the two birthdays. I couldnt deal with giving lion his and dragon knew that there was going to be one for him (he was with me when I bought them) and it seemed like I was giving a 4 day head start to the beating Dragon would receive if I let Lion have his first. They are a hit!

Dragon loves his new chair that his Great-Grandma gave him. He goes out ont he patio and just sits in it and watches Lion play. He also loves his new Bob the Builder shirt from Aunty and Uncle Wilbie and Little Wilbie. It came with a cup which he has used every day since!

If you are still with me after this long post, I thank you. It's done now, I have posted the birthdays. Actually, not quite. The first birthday post had some photos I didnt tell you about... Lion got a Wall-e toy that talks to you in gibberish. He loves it. We havent seen the movie yet but he knows about it somehow. It responds to any noises you make, it is kinda cute. Dragon got a remote control dinosaur. It's gone back too. It had crossed wires that meant it's head was doing whatever it felt like doing when you pressed the button, sometimes noise and no movement, or movement and no noise, or neither or both or weird non-dinosaur noises. There were no more when I took it back so I got a much cooler (in my opinion) little kids remote control car made by matchbox. it's great, but it sucks the life right out of the batteries!

This is how birthdays go for us. there is always something faulty or broken that needs returning.

Oh, and lion's jackhammer was replaced with a cool flashing soccerball and flashing headbands for playing soccer at night except that Lion is too scared to go anywhere dark enough to use it!

Cousin Cheetah visits

Okay, “Cousin M” isn’t the most exciting name. I figured I would ask him what he wants to be and he decided Cousin Cheetah (from here on just called Cheetah).
Aunty K had to work today and being school holidays Cheetah was being looked after by the grandies so I asked if he wanted to come and play for the afternoon. All parties agreed on it and Lion and Dragon woke up from their naps to find Cheetah here! YAY! What an afternoon it was…
We love Duplo (or Duplaya as Lion calls it) and they decided to get all the different machines together with their different parts and correct drivers. I decided the results might be an opportunity to get a nice photo of the boys all together. it was a bit of a challenge… so a montage was in order so you can appreciate the full challenge that I faced. Cheetah isn’t great with doing a natural looking smile on cue and Lion is getting a bit the same. The big cheesy grin wasn’t what I was after so I thought I would say silly things to get them to smile or even giggle. Obviously I am funnier that I realise. A winner is always “daddy wears pink undies” or anything ending in “undies” kids find funny and their face is in the right shape for a smile (Same principle as “cheese” only not quite so boring) so then it just went on and on and on… 12 photos later this is the result.

After I had given up and hoped that at least one of the photos was just what I wanted (close but not really) I thought I would just take a few of each of them. None were really in the mood by that time. I did get this very cute shot of Dragon doing the serious job of making digger noises.

In our house the end of Playschool signals morning or afternoon tea. Playschool finished and I whipped up a big bowl of plain popcorn for them, they were quiet for about 15 minutes, it was great!

Eventually I took them all outside to stop the house falling down around us and Dragon found Lion’s gumboots he had left outside. He looks like a little farmer trudging though the grass.

Lion came up with a great game on the swing set where the rocking sort of swing is a rescue helicopter, the roman rings next to it and the disc swing next to that are the winches to get the “rescue men” down to the water to save the people. Dragon was the pilot and Lion and Cheetah were the rescue men. Cheetah was hanging upside down on the rings at one point and explained his rescue tactics to me… he hangs upside down so he has his hands free to pluck someone from the ocean, he grabs them bythe ankles so they have their hands free to grab the next person by their ankles and they have their hands free to grab the next person by their ankles and so on.

Thankfully they all made it back into the rescue chopper and safely to land. Then the rescue chopper became a fire helicopter and it just kept going.

I kept trying to do work inside while they were all playing nicely, it didn’t work. Each time I went inside things descended to chaos so I was in and out and in and out and I gave up. WHAT AN AFTERNOON!