Don't be this dude.

My oil light flicked on and off the other day so this conversation happened with Wolf...

Sounds pretty easy, right?

I popped by an auto shop to grab some oil. I had just spent the morning sitting on a non-waterproof picnic blanket on the wet ground so my pants were wet... I was looking forward to getting home, not to this.  I had Wolf's assurance that it was as simple as walking in and grabbing some oil. What could go wrong? (Other than that my pants looked like I had wet myself... and I had a sense of impending doom rising in the pit of my stomach... Auto shops and I don't get along, I've never had particular success in finding what I need without running into some kind of issue.)

Well this is what could go wrong.

Apparently it's not as simple as all that. It seems there is a choice of 37493 different oils and when you use their handy dandy little oil selector iPads strapped to the shelves they only tell you the 35 options for your car from that one brand... they don't consider that you have 639 different brands to pick from.

So I sent Wolf another text...

Stupid phones cutting down the image for a preview

made it look like there was only 375 choices.

Thankfully a kind assistant came to help me hurry up so I could get my 4 kids who were touching their stock out of the store. The assistant dude helped me pick some and said I needed to put some in immediately if it's so low that the light is coming on. So out to the carpark, kids safely in the car, I pop the bonnet and start trying to get the oil cap off. I can get it to move a tiny bit, but it's pretty much stuck. I wrestle with it, move around to get a better grip, battle it as best I am able but it won't move. The benefit of this is that my shorts have dried now while doing oil cap battle in the sun. Short of climbing up in the engine cavity to get a better handle on it there is nothing left that I can do, nothing other than to use my finely tuned mother skills on it. I stand back and stare at it hoping to frighten it into submission with my displeased gaze... I hear laughing. Surely the cap is not laughing at me. There's nearly 12 years of practice in that displeased gaze... I can break a child's will with that gaze. A ute a few cars down has two blokes in it, one about my age, one in his 60s, I soon realise it's them laughing, and they are clearly laughing at me. Not even trying to hide it. 

Their arrogance makes me more determined. I grab a tissue to try and clean the cap to maybe get a better grip... It continues for what seems like a very long time out in the Townsville sun.

Eventually, defeated, I gather my stuff and load it in the car with one last displeased stare at the now closed bonnet. Out of the corner of my eye I notice one of the guys, the younger one, walking over. "Do you need a hand at all? I saw you struggling." I resist the urge to vent my frustrations about his arrogant laughter and accept his help.

He goes to twist the cap... It doesn't budge.

He uses a little more force... It stays stuck.

He makes a lame joke about how it's been put on really tight... I am not feeling like joking.

He tries to not grunt as he uses all his effort to finally make it loosen.

It's off.

Old mate in the ute cheers for him.

I thank him, he gets in his ute, and they drive off (making it appear they were hanging around for the show and nothing else, though I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming there is more to their story). I stay and fill my engine oil then take my kids home with yet another undesirable auto shop experience under my belt.

An artists cynical impression of the events unfolding

The moral of this story, for those who desire a point to blog posts, is that kindness is free, and laughing at someone who is doing their best at a task and still failing, instead of offering to help, is not only unkind, but a waste of their time and yours.

The corollary is that if you are going to laugh at someone struggling to do a task, you'd better make darn sure that you are confident in your ability to do it effortlessly!

I am honestly thankful that he offered his help when he didn't have to. I also appreciated the chance to share with my kids how it made me feel to be laughed at and that I expect great things of them, kindness even when it's not expected or necessarily your responsibility is the least of these.

Anzac Day 2014 *catch up*

*Catch up post* (yeah right, like I could ever catch up from how far behind I am)

Anzac day each year we go down to Anzac Park in the city at dusk for dinner and a wander around looking at the monuments and memorials (and a chance to get a few more photos of the kids). This year was no different except I had a most adorable little assistant who got me all excited for my future shoots by wanting to carry my tripod for me...

I'm thinking that I might need to do a little more training with my little assistant. Like maybe teaching her the difference between a tripod and a camera...

The boys all had their scooters to get around on but they were going too fast and weren't keen on having their photo taken. Thankfully Butterfly decided that she needed to let me get a photo of SOMEONE on a scooter. Lucky her Daddy isn't that hard to convince when she asks him to help her have a ride.

The fountain was *mostly* doing everything it was supposed to. All it's colours worked and most of the different squirty bits were squirting like they should. The kids were, as usual, fascinated with it, especially Butterfly. I think this is one of my favourite photos of the kids. Though the one I took shortly after this of Lion's silhouette coathangering Butterfly's silhouette as she tried to get away and climb down into the fountain is pretty good too.

Left to right, they are Butterfly, Lion, Dragon, Monkey.

Then, as Wolf was loading the kids into the car, I stood and waited for the lights and fountain to go through their changes for one last photo. As it finally changed to where I wanted it a group who had obviously been revealing since the pubs opened decided to jump in and try to photobomb it. Thankfully there was one soberish one who pulled the most insistent one away leaving me with just enough time to snap a couple of shots.

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!

'sup?

This post has been sitting in my drafts to add some photos to and then post... I'm just going to post it, okay?  I'm glad you're going with me on this one, I'm trying to get posts up, they will never be perfect so just getting them published will have to be my goal, no more languishing in the drafts for months...

Things have been changing around here.  Wolf got a new (long prayed for) job.  Wolfs new job went from being contract to permanent.  Lion started a new year at school.  Dragon started a new year/class at kindy.  Monkey has grown up so very much.  Mummy has... done stuff... or something... I can't really remember, I am having enough trouble remember which classrooms my boys need to go to and dropping the right child at kindy and at school and making sure that at least one child comes home with me...

Anyway, part of Wolf's job now is weird shifts.  His old job meant that he was around in the mornings to help (a bit) with getting us off to school before he went to work.  He was then home about three quarters through the afternoon to help with dinner, bath and bedtime.  His new job has some shifts that I don't like very much.  I enjoy the perks of these shifts like starting at 7am means he's home at 3:30pm and we get lots more play time.  Starting at 2pm means we've had the morning to play and go for a coffee if we want to.  Unfortunately it also means that I get a little stressed in the mornings if he's got to head off early.  Or I flip out in the evenings if he's going to be home after bedtime.  The big boys are very light sleepers in the early hours so they wake up when Wolf is getting ready... at 5:30am.  Which means they wake their little brother about that time too... which means I am dealing with tired cranky kids from the start.  Getting tired cranky kids ready to leave the house is not fun.  But at times it does come with some entertainment.

One particular night we finished two separate boxes of tissues so the next morning beside the bin were the two empty boxes.  Monkey thought these were great and while Mummy was busy trying to convince Dragon that he really did need to wear clothes to kindy Monkey put them on his hands and went around the house banging them together to make as much noise as he could.

Lion always wears joggers to school, Monkey found his own joggers and decided that was what he wanted to wear today so I found him some socks and we put them on him, Dragon decided that since everybody else was doing it that he wanted to wear his joggers too.  The problem with that is he never puts his socks back in the wash.  Or one goes in the wash and the other disappears.  So I went hunting for two matching socks.  After a few minutes I called to him that I was having trouble finding two socks that matched and could he just wear his clogs today?  "No mum, I want two socks that are not the same as the other one"... well, that might also account for why none of the socks I can find match, they aren't even worn as a pair!  So, you can't get more mismatched than one blue sock pulled almost to his knee and one grey sock that comes about an inch above his ankle.  I didn't explain to his teachers at kindy what was going on, they see me drop him off twice a week, they probably figure that it's lucky we remembered to turn up each day... and that I don't accidentally leave the wrong child behind.

On the way to kindy there was a general cacophony in the car, I assumed it was coming from all three boys.  We stopped at the traffic lights and I glanced back and saw Monkey sitting in his seat, worn out look on his face, fingers in his ears.  I know just how he feels.  I thought I'd have a better listen to what was bringing on this reaction from him...

Dragon was burping "baa baa black sheep"... the whole song.
Lion was baaing (yes, like a sheep) the ABCs... all of it.

I wonder what effect this will have on my little Monkey, will he go for a "can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach?  Will he be "the quiet one"?  Will he raise his voice louder still to be heard above the din?  Who knows.


*Don't forget to check out my Walt Disney Studios Alice In Wonderland 60th Anniversary Edition giveaway here.  It ends this Sunday*

Super Brother To The Rescue!

Now that I can post photos again I am going back through the albums and seeing what needs to be blogged.  In amongst some photos from Easter I came across this little group of photos that I wanted to share... I thought the event deserved a post all it's own.

My little Monkey, not quite 20 months old at the time, decided to wade himself out into the water.  He was doing fine, stopping and steeling himself as each swell came along.  Just as I was about to let Wolf know that he might need to be stopped before it gets too much for him he got into trouble!

He could still touch the bottom of the sand with his hand and could just keep his face above water during the swell but he couldn't right himself again... and he was ready to panic.  Wolf moved into action.  But so did someone else...

A little yell came from my sweet Lion... "Don't worry, I'll save him!" and he started madly paddling towards him on his boogy board.  Wolf beat him there but Lion was only a second away.  I was so proud of my big boy, ready to rescue his brother in an instant.

Chocolate, Tantrums & Rain. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

To those who are still in drought, battling bush fires, struggling to get their garden to grow etc. I am sorry for what you are about to read but it has to be said...

ENOUGH WITH THE RAIN!

We have not had, since BEFORE CHRISTMAS, an entire week without rain. I am so sick of rain, the smell of rain in the air no longer excites me, it depresses me.  I am sick of making sure we have dry shoes, that no one is tracking slippery footprints into the house, that kids don't slip on the footpaths that have become slime covered concrete -a death trap if ever there was one.  Sick of feeling like even the clothes I am wearing are damp, like my hair is never quite dry unless I have just put down the hairdryer, like I am living in a fishbowl... and not because everyone can see into our house because no one closes the blinds, it's because the air is so damp, so very icky and damp.

When I say that it's been since before Christmas that we had an entire week without rain, I am not meaning that we get maybe 5 or 6 days without rain, we get 1 or 2 if we are lucky.  Some people are still able to mow their lawns if we get a couple of days in a row but even then, they usually leave mower tracks in the lawn.  Us, well, it's pretty much swamp land out the back.  Even the front, with it's sloping angle is rather swampy.  This does bring me to one positive about the rain, the yard hasn't been able to get the manky swamp smell about it because it is constantly being flushed with fresh rain water.  Thankful for small mercies?  Hmm, maybe.

*****


Scream scream scream if you feel you want to-ooooooo
scream scream scream if you feel you ca-aaaaaaaan
scream scream scream if you feel you want to-ooooooo
scream scream scream if you feel you can.

This is Monkey's personal theme song at the moment.  39470 times a day we find ourselves saying to him "Use your words"... the thing is, he really doesn't have many words to use yet.  I know he's frustrated but really, there are some times when he can help himself.  He used to be able to ask to be picked up- "up-bah" was his way of saying "up please".  Now he screams.  I tell him to say "up please" and he screams some more.  In the end I usually comply if he will at least stop screaming and make some kind of agreeable, attempt at communication.   He loves to walk himself most places where I would rather he was picked up, so we can go faster/he's safer/I have hands for his brothers to hold... But instead he'd rather dawdle along slooooow as can be (he can go fast if he wants to).  Then, when his brothers decide to dawdle when he wants to be moving he walks up behind them, puts his hand flat on the small of their back and gives them a guiding shove as he forcefully tells them "GO".  So he can make his needs known if he really wants to.

*****

It's been a loooong term this one.  We are in week IdontknowbecauseIlostcountatsix and Lion is sooo tired.  He is ready for the holidays!  I was hoping we would be going away these holidays, perhaps to Brisbane, but it looks like we will be at home with Wolf working most of the time.  At least it will give Lion a good chance to rest and get ready for the next term.

Lion is loving school, even if it is making him incredibly tired.  He is doing really well with his spelling and sight words.  His reading is going great and he loves the feeling of getting to the end of a homework reader and knowing he did it all himself.  I helped him do a quick clean up of his desk tidy tray this morning when I dropped him off.  He couldn't find what he was looking for so we pulled out all the notes and drawings he's done to facilitate his evil plans and then we pulled out all his crayons, textas, pencils and stuff and put them all in the pencil case that was almost empty (hey, if it's hardly getting used at least it'll still be good for next year).  We kept out a few lead pencils, a sharpener and eraser so he could get them easily and stacked everything back neatly in his tray.  If he's anything like me it will be back to it's pre-cleanup state by this afternoon.  *sigh* It's hard to fight that.

*****

Our big boys share a room.  This has it's good points and it's bad points.  It's good because they are kinda freaked out by being alone so this way they don't have to be alone.  The bad point is that they are never alone.  If one needs to go to the toilet or come to our room during the night they wake their brother up to go with them.  Whoever gets woken up is NEVER impressed and will hold it against their brother until the next time they want to go to the toilet at 3am... then all is forgiven.  This can lead to some interesting situations.
10:30pm Dragon wakes Lion up to take him to the toilet. Lion doesn't want to so walks past the toilet to our room to tell us that Dragon woke him up.  He walks in the door and closes it behind him... on Dragon's head.  Dragon bursts into tears, Lion says he didn't realise Dragon had followed him.  Cuddles for everyone, Wolf takes Lion back to bed, I take Dragon to the toilet and then back to bed.  Just what we need at 10:30pm.  And neither of them could see that any part of this was a problem.  I think it all worked out okay though because when Wolf checked on them before he went to work in the morning they were asleep in the same bed.

*****

Dragon wrote his name so beautifully yesterday!  If I could somehow show you what he wrote without showing you his name I would in an instant.  Beautifully formed letters, all neatly in a row... made me proud!

*****

I think I need to perhaps do a bit more housework. *insert laughter from my parents and siblings (and friends and generally everyone) here* *Insert choking on the snide remark Wolf is trying not to say here*

This afternoon Monkey put on a pair of my good shoes, grabbed a broom and started sweeping.  I guess he hasn't seen enough examples of when those two things get used to know that they don't go together.  At least they were flats... he's not old enough to wear the heels yet :-)

*****

I don't actually do heels... I fall off flat shoes so I don't think heels are the right footwear choice for me. 

*****

There has been a recall on a whole bunch of Lindt Easter chocolates.  I would like to offer this as evidence for why I should be disorganised.  If I had thought ahead and purchased my chocolates I probably would have eaten them all by now and be poisoned and need to buy more for Easter I would now have to return them which would be an extra trip, purchase more eggs without the kids seeing, try to not eat those eggs... ugh.  It's all too much.  Instead, I can go to the supermarket Easter Saturday and everyone else has discovered the poisoned eggs first and they have got their pesky recalls out of the way so I know whatever is left on the shelf is safe to eat even if all that is left is the rubbish that tastes like poop and my kids wont be getting poisoned eggs from us the Easter Bunny this year.  Being disorganised is saving my kids from poisoning.

*****

Photoshop isn't letting me save so I'm limited to photo free posts at the moment until I figure out what's wrong or I figure out how to use another program.

*****

Dragon offered this nugget of wisdom this week... "When you add hotness and coldness you get two feet. One is ours and the other one is ours too, so both of them are ours, I saw this".  If only I could figure out what he was saying.

*****

If you made it this far through my ranting and raving then you deserve some chocolate.  I hope you have some in the fridge that isn't poisoned.

Disclaimer: I actually didn't bother reading what was wrong with the recalled chocolate, only if it was anything I had purchased.  It probably isn't poisoned, it just had pieces of someones finger in it or something.  I'm sure your chocolate is fine to eat.

Quick Wit

Scene: TV dinner -The KFC "the pigeons called" ad comes on...

Lion turns to Dragon and announces "Dragon, the pigeons called, they want their dinner back".  Dragon doesn't skip a beat..."Lion, the pigs called, they want their head back".  I just about snorted my dinner out my nose.  That kid is developing a quick wit which is getting him into a lot of trouble.  It's hard to explain to a 4 year old when it is "quick wit" and when it is "smart mouthing".  For instance, if you are getting in trouble and you give one of your jibes to your mother... that'll get you in a whole lot of trouble.  If you are mucking around with your brother exchanging good natured barbs... all's fair.

Now for a little "Out & About with Clan Mctavish"

It comforts me that we are not the only family that does this with cheerios...

He had a whole row, this was the only one he didn't find to pull back off

Although having the ladies sitting in front of us at church giggling at my kids as I whisper sharply to them "DON'T lick'n'stick, just eat them" was not one of our finer family moments.

Don't be fooled.  He's not really this civilised.

While we were out he decided to be like all the trendies and sit and read his book at the cafe with his snacks, babycino and his water.  He fitted right in, he was just with his uncool parents, a major flaw in his social image.

"oof, oof"

Lion found a puddle of water on one of the seats outside his classroom and started blowing it towards the end of the seat to watch it drain off... Monkey misunderstood what was going on and started woofing and slurping the water up.  I am running with the theory that the seats were really clean from all the rain that we've had lately... right?

Hugging the dinosaurs at the "Zoo"

We took a little trip to the Zoo, otherwise known as the Museum of Tropical Queensland (MTQ) with our friends.  The kids love it, it's all very hands on and although some of the exhibits have been there since forever, the kids see it all as new every time.

This was the ONLY was Monkey would get close to this dino.

It's "the zoo with the dinosaurs in it" to my kids and that is always a thrill.  There is also a fantastic display of the HMS Pandora and general North Queensland displays of wildlife and stuff.

We HAVE to take this photo every time.

Dragon & Monkey with the fantastic introduction to the A is for Animals exhibition

The current attraction is A is for Animals, showcasing animals involvement in wars (past and present).  I loved it!  I particularly loved the artworks and the photography on display but the kids liked the more interactive bits with the cockatoo that talked to you and the puzzles and games where they could get hands-on.

Monkey tried very hard to dress himself, he seemed satisfied with this result.

Lion with his sculpture of a man wearing a kilt.

Sunday School had an art gallery exhibition on Sunday. They had been learning about Creation and we went to see the creations that they had made.

Lion with his painting of... I'll have to check with him again, I can't remember.

Dragon (standing on a chair) with his painting of a desert with a red squiggly road and a sunset and a tree.

Dragon's sculpture of Monkey

Extreme Lounge Room Sports

Lion has often said he wants to be a monster truck driver but I'm getting worried when the monster truck is part of the line up and a TRAIN is doing the jumping.  I don't think there was a proper risk assessment for this jump.

My plan is to be back blogging more often (than even BEFORE I was sick) so I don't have to do massive catch ups on our life like this... but I think it's going to take me a while to get back into any sort of pattern.  I am setting aside some time each day to write the Yasi story but because I'm not writing it in order it's making it hard to post the next bit but I'll get there... I promise!

The Post Christmas Post 2010

Christmas is done and dusted.  The tree has been decorated and destroyed.  The fat man has been and gone.  The presents have been wrapped and unwrapped.  The treats have been made and eaten. Carols sung, toasts made, photos taken, children spoilt... it's been a good year.

Now it looks like Santa's Elves threw up all over my house.  New toys strewn across the floor... in the lounge room... the play room... the kitchen... the dining room... the bedrooms... EVERYWHERE!  Wrapping paper hiding in all sorts of weird places, just when you think you have thrown out the last piece of toy packaging the kids have found another piece that they just can't bear to be separated from because "it can be used as an aircraft carrier" or "but it's perfect for something, mum".  Almost every decoration has been stripped from the lower branches of the tree and I've given up re-hanging them, now they just get tossed back under the tree.  There are two gifts left for two little boys who were away for Christmas but they will be delivered tomorrow.  There's still fruitcake to eat, the ninjabreadmen are all gone, the chocolate pops are all eaten, most of the chocolates people gave us have been consumed during the post Christmas DVD watching stupor.  Yes, it has been a good year.

Because I decided not to decorate our Christmas cake this year I left it until quite late to make it.  Thankfully I didn't' have any helpers other than a small Monkey on my hip trying to peer into the mixer bowl and a couple of taste testers at every stage.  It turns out Monkey quite likes fruit cake mixture...

I gave him the beater first and he licked away at that and I tried to take it back and he growled at me... yes, like a puppy with it's bone.  I gave him the spatula thinking I could switch them out... he growled again.  I figure if he has the bowl that's three items for two hands, he's got to let me have something!  Nope, he wanted it ALL... there were some big tears when I finally had to take it all away and clean him up.

The next big job was decorating the Christmas tree...

Lion got the thrill, not of putting the angel on the top, but putting the top of the tree on the top!  He was pretty proud of himself.

After the angel on the top, the first decorations to go on were three identical snowflakes Nano sent last year...

The precious and breakable ornaments go at the top and other than that it's wherever they land.

But, the same as every year, things got a little manic and had to be brought back under control a few times but in the end we had a decorated tree.

So that brings us to Christmas Eve... Wolf was working late so I got moving and got my very last minute baking done and Santa started doing his thing.  Santa left them one stocking each this year... and that was it.  I think I'll be asking him to do that every year... it was so much nicer.  The big boys and I had got into a bit of the wrapping earlier in the week, doing the stuff for Wolf and for the cousins and the things that were for Monkey from each of them.  That still left a lot to do though.  I will admit, there was much less last minute wrapping than other years which I am thankful for.  Wolf helped with the wrapping and general tidying up of the lounge room when he got home.  I made our food gifts up for family members and thought I must have been insane when I came up with what I was going to include.

So here we have a representation of what was included in each gift, generally one for each person it was intended for, other than the chocolate powder, that was one per family.  Top left, we put in a chocolate pop for them (these are the ones I did for Lion's class, I didn't take a photo of the next batch). Bottom left, my ninjabreadmen... I did as many as I could in ninja pose and decorated but with severe back pain by that point Wolf finished filling in that tray for me and that was it.  Right, Italian Hot Chocolate powder (aka Love Potion).  This isn't the batch I made for the family gifts, this is another lot but I didn't take a photo of the cute little jars I did up for family.

So, now we are a Christmas day...  Lion and Dragon woke early but had been told they were not to come in to us until the sun was up.  So, as the first rays of light filled the morning two EXCITED little boys appeared beside our bed telling us "It's CHRISTMAS and SANTA has BEEEEEEEN".  Up we got, woke up the poor little Monkey (he did NOT like that idea) and we got into the gifts.

I realise there are way more photos of Monkey here than of his brothers but they didn't exactly sit still enough to take photos.  At one point Monkey was doing his best to take photos of all that was going on because that was what mummy was doing!  Monkey took a while to figure out what was going on but he was a champion present opener in the end.  He opened with gusto but considered each gift carefully before moving on to the next.  Special gifts in the above image that need to be pointed out (I'm guessing you can click on it to see it larger) are (top row, middle image) Monkey's gift purchased with money from Lapun Mama, a wooden car parking garage... it is in CONSTANT use.  (bottom right corner) Lion and Dragon with their iPod Nano and docking speakers that we purchased with their money from Lapun Mama.  (image above that) Three boys trying to decide just what their gift from Grandpap and Nano is... it's a blow-up "carwash" that you can attach the hose to and ride bikes through and it looks like great fun... but it's been TOO wet to use it so far :-(  Try explaining that to a 4 year old, it's TOO WET to use a toy that makes you get wet.

So, after church we headed around to Aunty Chimeras for morning tea and to open gifts with the family.  Romeo, Juliette and Ladybug couldn't make it because they were with Juliette's family for lunch but the kids that were there were all wearing their Christmas shirts/dress that I had made so we did the best we could to get a photo...

 It's pretty much what they are all like anyway... not perfect but perfectly wonderful.

So, although it's late, and it's 2 hours until next year right now, from the McTavish family to your family...

Merry Christmas

Odds and Ends

Driving to school last week and a little Dragon voice pipes up from the very back of the car...

"Mummy, Mr Maker has boobies like yours".

"What was that, sweetie"

"I said Mr Maker has boobies like yours"

"uh, okay, are you sure?"

"Yeah, he does"

"No, Mr Maker is a mans and he can't have boobies like Mummy because Mummy is a girl"

"No, Mr Maker has boobies like Mummy"

and for Dragon, that was it.  That signalled the end of the conversation and neither Lion, nor I could say anything to change his mind.  I don't know where the idea came from and it hasn't come back up.  Random.

We had rainbow day at playgroup last Tuesday, I was on morning tea for the grown ups so I made a cake.

This was the outside...

This was the inside...

Yes, it was for the grown ups!

In other exciting events Lion tied one end of a 5 metre rope around his waist with a single knot.  He ties the other end to the rail of the cubby house approximately 2 metres off the ground "with a very tight knot" and informs Wolf that he's going to jump over the edge and it's okay because the rope will stop him before he gets hurt.  Thank goodness he decided to tell Wolf what he was about to do or that would have been a very painful lesson in length and double checking calculations.

For Remembrance Day last week I did some poppy craft with Dragon, he had loads of fun and even thought himself to give his craft to one of his friends whose daddy is overseas with the Air Force.

Things have been interesting around here lately.  Saturday must have been in the running for some kind of awards. After the first few incidents that I can't remember now I figured why not give my friends on facebook a live feed of the crazy...

*Do not give your 3 kids babycinos and then hide from them for some peace and quiet.

There will be mess.

It will be on the carpet.

You will be sorry.

*I just found Monkey standing on the kids table singing and shaking his toosh dancing... lets hope this isn't a future career path for him.

*I let Monkey play with daddy's hair brush while I changed his nappy and... Well... I'm gonna need to wash it now. Should I tell Wolf?

*I Went to put Monkey in bed and found he'd trashed his room at some point... I made him clean it up but he had so much fun cleaning it he promptly up-ended the basket of his clothes so he could clean that up too.

This was another gem, I had helped the big boys build a pillow fort to try and keep them a little bit quiet while Monkey had a nap, Lion and Dragon were both talking a mile a minute, speaking as one person."...and mum, y'know what mum, if anyone tries to get into our fort the crocodile will eat them, or the snake will bite them, or the lion will eat their foot, or the dragon will breathe fire on them, or the possum will hiss at them, or the rock wallaby will... um... throw rocks at them"

Monkey loves apples, so far I've only given him a whole apple.  I love my apple slinky machine so when I was making apple slinkies for his brothers I figured I'd run one through for Monkey too...  I don't think he quite knew what to do with it so he did what any self respecting 1 year old would do... he broke it into a zillion little pieces and threw them around.

I think he may have eaten a few small pieces.

Monkey also loves his highchair, if he's in his highchair, it means I'll be giving him food.  So he got his hook on highchair pretty grotty so I put it by the back door so I could take it outside and hose it and the next morning while we were getting ready I found that it was suddenly filled with a baby again.

Today I read on Twitter that someone (I wont name her just in case she doesn't want it shared further than she already has *update* Ali is happy to be linked and she's heaps of fun so go here to meet her) was going to book herself a colon hydrotherapy appointment.  Now, I was a little sleep deprived so I didn't connect the dots of colon meaning, well, your colon and hydrotherapy meaning LOTS of water.  So I googled what colon hydrotherapy involved... then I lapsed even further and I clicked a YouTube link... yeah. I did.  I quickly figured out that this was not something I was going to be putting my hand up for any time soon but figured that surely the clip will just go though what happens without actually showing it.  Nope, not only do they show you what is being cleansed from the colon but these people show their faces.  What possesses them to record this stuff in the first place but more than that, what possesses them to cut to a shot of their face, immediately to a shot of what was formerly residing in their bowel.  I was rather shocked by the clips we found on YouTube of people using neti pots and filming the former contents of their sinus cavities but this was just plain crazy.  The similarities were not lost on me though... Colonic Irrigation, it's like a Neti Pot for your, well, you know.

Now, to get those mental images out of your head...

Here's a cute kid.

Sunday Snapshot

Our new family portrait

This is our family.

Yes, Monkey is trying to remove Dragon's head.

That's just what life in our house is like.

If you look really close you can see the nose of a giant snake sticking out from behind Monkey's hat.

The snake was the whole reason for taking the photo.

Yet, still he missed out.

I am loving the self portrait feature on my phone.

So are the kids.

When...

When it's 5pm and imperfect me has no idea what is for dinner...

I will praise my perfect God because I have a cupboard and fridge full of food!

When imperfect me is serving dinner and the kids are crying because dinner is "yucky"...

I will praise my perfect God because their bodies are healthy and they can feed themselves!

When imperfect me gets so sick of the back-chatting from Dragon that I want to put him in his room for the rest of the day and it's only 9am...

I will praise my perfect God because my son has a voice that works!

When the washing pile overflows and threatens to swallow imperfect me whole...

I will praise my perfect God because we have enough clothes and sheets and towels that it can get to that state and we still haven't run out!

When my imperfect housekeeping means there is so many dishes in the sink that Wolf can't even fill the kettle for a cup of tea...

I will praise my perfect God that I have a husband who loves me imperfections and all!

When my imperfect parenting means I have let a disagreement between the kids get too far out of control that someone has been hurt and it's my fault...

I will praise my perfect God for his perfect example of grace and forgiveness!

When imperfect me lets the kids spend the day in front of the TV because I didn't get enough sleep the night before...

I will praise my perfect God that we made it safely to a new day!

When imperfect me spends another night awake cranky at Lion who can't help getting nightmares...

I will praise my perfect God that little kid nightmares are the worst he has to worry about at night!

When Monkey refuses to nap anywhere other than in my imperfect arms when I have 500 other things to do...

I will praise my perfect God that I can make him feel safe with just a cuddle!

When my imperfect book keeping means we don't quite have the budget for cars that need servicing...

I will praise my perfect God for his provision of any car at all!

When imperfect me raises my voice AGAIN to the kids out of tiredness, frustration and imperfect hormones...

I will praise my perfect God that my kids will still climb up on my lap just to tell me that they love me!

When my imperfections get the best of me and I am in tears again...

I will praise my perfect God that he is perfect, I am not and yet he loves me anyway!

I will start right now.

Linking up today with Kate over at Picklebums for a week of imperfection.

Sunday Snapshot of Randomness

Another little snapshot of our week... and a video from the week before because I haven't put it up here yet.

Dragon has been telling me for days that he has a cough but is only ever coughing to punctuate his desire for cough medicine.  I've gotta say, our cough medicine tastes good, I can't really blame him for wanting some.  So, judge me if you want, I spun him a story...

Mummy: "Are you sure you want cough medicine?"

Dragon: "Yes *cough* I have a cough *cough* I need some of my cough medicine *cough*".

Mummy: "I don't think you do have a cough."

Dragon: "*cough cough* I DO have a cough *cough*"

Mummy: "Well, just be warned, cough medicine tastes really bad if you aren't really sick.

Dragon: "I am *cough* sick *cough cough*"

Mummy: "Okay".  Goes and pours a couple of mls of straight lime juice into a medicine cup and heads back to Dragon.  Making sure he's standing on the tiles just in case we need a clean up she hands him the cup.

Dragon: Takes a big swig of 'cough medicine' and puckers his face up from both the surprise and the taste.

Mummy: "How did that taste?"

Dragon: "not very good" and defeated he goes back to playing without coughing... kinda like he's been doing all morning other than while he'd been asking for cough medicine.

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Lion read a book for himself today.  ALL BY HIMSELF.  Actually, he read FIVE books ALL BY HIMSELF.  I cried.  Because I'm a big fat sook. I have been trying to convince him that he can read, he has all the skills he needs he just needs to sit down and really give it a go.  This week I caught him sounding out words on EVERYTHING he could get his hands on so I pounced.  I praised and I encouraged and I praised some more.  I couldn't find any books that we had that were written completely in words he could read but I got him to read as many words as he could but he still didn't get it that with the right book he would be able to read it ALL BY HIMSELF.  Today he found one of our boxes of Reading Eggs books and asked if he could read them since he wasn't able to play Reading Eggs on the computer.  Seemed like a good idea to me.  I thought all the books were made up of one word to each page along with a picture so he really could tell by the picture and that everything in the book started with the same letter so really not that challenging but confidence building none the less.  Next thing I know I am hearing "I am Sam, Sam p-a-t-s, PATS a cat"... what the???  there are short story books in the pack and he has picked one out to read.  He read all four of the stories to me and one of the alphabet books.  WOW.  He was so pleased with himself.  I was pretty darn pleased with him.  So now, just like I thought he would... My boy LOVES reading.

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We often find wildlife in our house.  Spiders are not at all  uncommon, Geckos are thriving around here and frogs are an all too familiar pest.  It used to be just little ones but something wasn't sealed properly when we got the aircons put in 15 months ago and now we regularly get large green tree frogs in the house.  These are TWO that Wolf caught the other night.  He wanted to take a photo with my phone so he brought them into our bedroom and held them over my head while he took this photo.  Thankfully I slept through the entire thing, I must have been tired because usually I wake up to their plop-plop-plop through the house and I'm the one that goes to hunt them down.

_____

Lion had his school production on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  He did GREAT!  He had a small speaking part as the dad in their pet shop play and had lots of fun but was so incredibly worn out by the end of their four performance "season".  I was glad they did it in the last week of school for this term so they told the kids from the production to have the last day off if they wanted (I'd say it was the teachers idea for a quiet day) and now they can have a chill for two weeks to recover from their very hectic schedule.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos of the performance and weren't allowed back stage so I have nothing to show you.  I am hoping someone took some photos for us proud mums and dads!  If they didn't then next time they do a production I might offer my skills as a photographer and take some photos that can be used as an extra fundraising avenue to cover the cost of their performance space etc.  I know there were a lot of people who assumed that because we weren't told otherwise before hand that photos would be fine.

_____

Now, for this weeks wowness... Our little Monkey has taken to skateboarding like a fish to water.  This was his first or second time on daddy's longboard and he was right into it.  He now wears shoes when he goes on it though.  He wasn't wearing any this day because we didn't think his little feet would need any protection because the plan was that he would stay on the grass and watch... not Monkey, he's in on all the action!

A day or two after this, we were standing chatting with a neighbour on the grass with Monkey sitting next to the board on the grass.  No one saw him do it but he managed to get on and pushed the board over to the sloped driveway and we looked up to see him push off and kneel (like in the video) on the board as he rode it down to the road.  Wolf caught him before he came to any problems and I sent Aunty Chimera a message to ask if we could have the baby helmet back now that Little Bear doesn't fit it anymore.