Mopping up the remains of my mind.

Mopping seems to be the most futile of domestic chores. At least I feel like making dinner and washing the dishes serves some useful purpose, but mopping feels like it is truly a waste of my time. Washing toddler clothes feels somewhat pointless when they are just going to wear all 17 different outfits again tomorrow and somehow get tomato sauce on all of them (even though they didn't have tomato sauce at all that day), but at least that keeps the tomato sauce stains from growing into some sentient being and taking over the earth. Cleaning a toilet that is mostly used by boys feels futile, but then I remember that if it keeps our indoor plumbing from smelling like a long drop then it's never futile. Mopping just tips me over the edge.

I harp on some nights about how I love to cook, I just don't like to HAVE to cook so the drudgery of preparing 3 2 meals (I don't serve up breakfast, they get their own while I sleep... it really is as wonderful as it sounds) and snacks for my family of 6 every day can feel like it's futile and leaves me trapped in a never ending cycle of cooking and then cleaning the dishes just to dirty them again.

But mopping. Mopping. Mopping the floor is a genuine waste of my time. Sweeping I can see the point to, but mopping, unless there is a large spill or an obvious large sticky patch, makes me want to cry.  It's not that it's hard, it's just that it's pointless!

I mopped the whole house, for the first time in a LONG time (I have done here or there as needed often enough to not have the white tiles turn grey) the other day as I was stress cleaning while trying to decide if Lion had a broken arm or not (he didn't). Within an hour, there were at least 3 patches that a more mop-loving mother than I would have re-mopped. I just used the wet rag that one of the kids had wiped up a spill with to then wipe over the bits that "needed" mopping. And this is precisely WHY it's so futile. I live with 4 mess making creatures. If you see a tea towel, rag or old cloth nappy on our floor it is because it is our current "mop". The kids spill so much water just pouring drinks that there is always a wet cloth somewhere nearby so if something sticky is spilled then I just grab that, wipe it over, and that's the cue for it to go in the wash and we wait for the next water spill to find out what our next "mop" will look like.

All of that aside, the real kick to my mop bucket (I don't use a mop bucket, I have a microfibre mop and a steam mop) came the next day when the kids who had been refusing for days to weed the side yard suddenly decided that now, while I have shiny clean floors, on the muddiest day of the year, is the time to get in and do the job they've been asked to do... but to walk inside 2984757 times while they are doing it spreading wet mucky garden junk through the house every time they did.

I love those kids.

But I think I need to teach them to mop.

Just kidding... cleaning up after a kid who has mopped is probably worse than mopping myself in the first place!

What's a chore you feel serves no purpose?
Or one that you feel the returns are hardly worth the amount of effort required.

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.

Ring my bell

Butterfly is a little hard to understand most of the time. Not because her words aren't clear... it's her meaning that we have trouble figuring out.

About an hour ago we were playing a game where we were throwing this small pink frisbee inside and then when it was my turn to throw it she would leave and I would throw it and then ring the bell for her to come and pick it up for me and bring it back. It really was quite a lovely lazy game for me.

Eventually she got distracted, I didn't ring the bell and she didn't notice.

Fastforward an hour and she is in the bathroom blowing bubbles and I'm messing around on my computer when I hear a command... "RING THE BELL!"

I'm exhausted and it's time for my afternoon coffee so I ignore her and hope for the best.

"YOU NEED TO RING THE BELL NOW!"

*sigh* I ring the bell.

She comes running back and starts looking around on the floor, then looks at me exasperated and says "Why did you need me to come and get mine Tinkerbell frisbee right now?"

"I didn't," I reply, "you told me to ring the bell"

"Yes, I told you to ring the bell so I would come and find mine Tinkerbell frisbee for you." She counters.

"Yes, but... I... you... oh never mind."

No Joke

Monkey read a 208 page joke book today, each double page spread had around 10 jokes on it. I'm his mother and his teacher and I am shocked by this... which I kind of feel bad about, you'd think I would know he could do this stuff.

He sounded out "Archeologist" and then struggled with a word further on and realised that because it was about an archeologist then the word must be tomb. Giraffe was the only one that really got him so stuck I had to help. Not bad for my little year one boy.

I was amazed, astounded, astonished. He even gave up some of his coveted internet time (where they get a bit of time on the weekend to watch their favourite you tubers play minecraft) to read.

But all of that aside... I'm not doing the maths right now but the number of mindless little kid jokes I heard today is somewhere between "That's a crazy lot of jokes" and "that's cruel and unusual punishment".

I'd burn that book tonight while he sleeps... except he's tucked it under his pillow.

No joke.

Older and wiser. I'm growing up.

It's true, I am growing up... well, growing older anyway.

I remember I had a few mums that, years ago, I would go to for help on things that I knew they had experienced because their family dynamic was similar to ours, just that little bit further ahead than ours. The conversation usually started like this... "I've got a problem and I'm wondering if you've been through this before... "

Honestly, I still feel out of my depth a lot of the time with this parenting thing, I think Ben does too. The problem is, nothing is static. The kids just keep growing and forcing us to learn new stuff and hitting new stages and doing things we haven't had any experience with before.

I still ask questions.

I ask my mum, my sister, my friends, the internet... it's still kind of a village experience going into raising a child, kind of, the village has just changed it's borders and looks a little different.

So it came as a surprise one day recently, when I was struggling to keep my head above water, when a friend came to me... "I've got a problem and I'm wondering if you've been through this before..."

How did I end up as the "older and wiser" one?

Well, I have had some fantastic godly examples of how to offer advice though I can only answer from my small research experience of my own 4 kids. I feel like I am far less coherent in my answers than they were in their answers to me... but that's just generally me, in everything. Sometimes when I'm writing I amaze myself with how coherent it is, my speech rarely comes out in a fluid sense making way. (yeah, that < right there, I'm all over this coherent sense making thing).

But of course, I'm still struggling with those new experiences too and will always be asking my "older and wiser" friends. I mean my kid just put a lion shaped castanet in my coffee... anyone experienced that before?

People Grow, People Change.

Warning: The more delicate reader may find this too much toilet related info.

Years ago I couldn't even wee if I knew there was someone waiting outside the toilet door. (Public toilets were a nightmare! The longer the cue, the more impossible the task.)

NOW I can change a small child out of their minion costume (including a skivvy/turtle neck) and never skip a beat, so to speak. Why the minion customer thing couldn't wait, I don't know. But I kind of dream of the day when I am one day afforded the luxury of having "stage fright" once again.

Aren't you glad I blogged again? (There will be more posts soon, I hope)

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.

I'm totally not making excuses here, but....

Do you ever have those days where you wake up and immediately think "I've got this"?

"Today I will get the kitchen sparkling, I'll vacuum so the carpets won't be coated in tissues that the little one tore up a few days ago, I'll scrub the floor so it won't feel kind of... I don't know, kind of sticky but kind of gritty as well and theres another feel to them that defies explanation, also I might whip up a batch of healthy treats made with beetroot and flax seeds and my kids will totally think they are delicious and chocolate and be completely fooled and while that's baking I'll blog a bit of what we've been up to."

Then the little one starts hollering over the baby monitor "Muuuuuuuumy".

Next the 4 year old comes racing into the room dobbing at world record speeds with the brother he was dobbing on hurtling in at break neck speeds behind him explaining why it totally wasn't his fault that he smashed the 4 year old in the face with his foot and it was really all because...

Then someone starts asking for breakfast and then for me to find them paddle-pop sticks and masking tape.

They all follow right at my heels as I go get the littlest from her overnight prison and check for poop before I hug her (that girl has Houdini poop, it escapes that nappy like nobody's business).

At this point, I'm still thinking "I've got this"... but my list is more along the lines of "I will feed them a decent meal for dinner... in 12 hours... if I survive that long... if THEY survive that long... it'll be bedtime just after that, I can make it... it's only 12 hours..."

So, uh, not making excuses or anything... but we are all still alive here, and that's about where things are up to at the moment.

Here's a cute photo of the kids from the start of January.

Butterfly 18mos, Monkey 4, Dragon 7, Lion 9

We tried and tried to get them all to look in the same direction at the same time.

Butterfly did NOT want to conform... which is totally her little personality.

You Give Me Fever...

Scarlet fever, not quite what the original artists had in mind when they wrote the song. Two weeks before school started back for the year we had the two big ones knocked out with Scarlet Fever. It was the first week of Wolf's holidays and we were quarantined. This was our big week, the week we had planned to do adventuring every day, maybe an overnight at the beach hut with a trip out to Mt Fox. To say I was upset was an understatement. I was cranky, frustrated, upset, annoyed... I'll stop short of pulling out my thesaurus.

This was our first chance since Butterfly was born where we had Wolf and the boys off school and work at the same time. I was sooooo looking forward to this, so were the kids. Wolf's usual lack of enthusiasm for anything that might be considered "social" or "adventure" was being ignored and we were going to go and make some fantastic memories and he was going to have fun once he was out there... I knew he was!

I may sound a little callous, my kids were kinda quite sick, after all. But they weren't acting it. Knowing that physically they were still up for all this stuff and within 24 hours of the antibiotics we were seeing improvements in their physical symptoms, but we were still on a 5 day quarantine and I would NEVER willingly put other people in danger. I knew that for my normally healthy kids with no other problems that scarlet fever is pretty much a non-event if caught quickly but for others it could easily be life threatening. There are so many other health issues that can cause dangerous complications so I was not going to break our quarantine, at home we stayed. Slowly but surely the state of the house and our moods went down hill.

One of our precious friends delivered us a meal one afternoon, along with it she brought some chocolates and treats for the kids and a book that made me cry and a gingerbread house kit! She had bought it on a whim when she saw it on sale post-Christmas and hoped that it would fill in some of our house-bound time. Well, wouldn't you know it, the boys reminded me I had completely forgotten that in our pre-Christmas craziness I had purchased a gingerbread house kit and it was still sitting somewhere in it's box. The weeks before Christmas were a little crazy... I cannot even remember why, I think the baby was sick, or I was... or someone was, we've had a lot of sickness lately.

So one afternoon we sat and we decorated. Lion and Dragon took one house and Monkey and I took the other. It was fantastic! I remember buying the house thinking "Boy, I'm going to regret this!" and "This is going to end in fights and arguments and this is such a mistake." DID NOT HAPPEN. Partly, I am sure, because we had two kits but mostly it was just good kid-friendly fun. So, without further prattling on, here are the photos...

Monkey turns into such a ham sometimes, it's rare for others to get to see it or for me to catch it on camera so I LOVE this photo. Monkey and I decorated this masterpiece.

These adorable boys melt my heart. They decorated this incredible masterpiece. I piped the loops on the roof shingles, they did the rest of the piping and decorating, I was amazed at how well they handled the piping bag and how they carefully selected each decoration using the box for inspiration then adding their own touches.

Monkeys and mine on the left, Lion and Dragon's on the right. 

This wall and roof section was all I was allowed to design, Monkey is quite the artistic director. From what I have heard from photographers he has a career in food styling ahead of him if he keeps his opinionated ways.

This was a gingerbread man. Monkey kept calling him his dude. "I am going to eat my dude first".

The boys were all better soon and we planned to move as many of our activities to the next week... but it poured down all week. Like flooding type rain, not the sort of thing you can brush off and go out anyway.  Oh well, we'll just do them all when it's cooler later in the year, I wasn't looking forward to the sweltering heat anyway. Lion did have a reoccurrence (or something similar) in the first week of school that required some stronger antibiotics to make sure we knocked it out but they are the picture of health now.

Lion King Giveaway

A loooong time ago in a lounge room far away, a package arrived.  That package was long anticipated... Mummy got VERY excited, very very excited.  Her boys could completely understand why... TNT!  Mummy had a box full of dynamite!... hang on, what?  No I didn't.

Rewind.

Way way back my Lion King obsessed Lion started asking questions... "Mum, when will I get my own Lion King DVD?"... "Mum, you said that I could have a Lion King DVD sometime when it got near my birthday, is that soon?"  So... since I have contacts, I emailed my insider at Porter Novelli who do the PR for Disney DVD.  "Soon," she said, "very soon."

I emailed her back to let her know that my kids back-flipped and somersaulted and did hand stands and danced a jig ON MY COUCH... FOR 10 MINUTES!!!  She thought that perhaps they might be interested in checking it out and having a little party to go with it.  Well, in the interest of making my furniture last a little longer I said they'd love that and decided not to tell the kids about it.  So, sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting and then the package arrived!  Y'know the one that I was writing about at the start?  Yeah, that one.    After I calmed them down and told them that TNT was the courier company and there is no way on earth that I would get a delivery of TNT and even if I did, they cannot use it to blow up the gully, try to start a landslide... or anything else for that matter.  I know, I might just be the meanest mum on earth!  Anyway, then I told them that it was FULL of Lion King stuff... including the DVD!

Well... we needed to organise a little party!  We had the Disney Singstar PS2 game to rock out to and no one to rock with.  After a few failed attempts, vomiting bugs, party guests leaving town, we FINALLY managed to pull together a little group of buddies to play the game and watch the movie... and have a heap of fun.

Dragon sings his little heart out!

The movie is just as you remember it... only better!  Really, I get sceptical about these movies being re-released that are supposed to be clearer and smoother and whatever... but it really is.  Having watched The Lion King over and over and over wherever we could track down a copy I had it well stored in my mind to be able to do a comparison.  The voices are sharper, the field of grass flicking in the breeze is clean and crisp, it's fantastic!

Cousin Wilbie is serious when it comes to Karaoke.

We had little competitions to win cute little baby Simba plush toys, we ate worms in dirt (lamingtons with gummy worms shoved in them), ostrich nuggets (that looked suspiciously like chicken nuggets), cheese, crackers, all sorts of yummy stuff.

It did occasionally get a little tricky to see what you were supposed to be singing while you were wearing a Simba mask!

Again, this Karaoke is serious business!

Musical statues and a dance-off... sounds like a good party to me!

We were very happy to have some special visitors with us, you haven't met them on this blog before.  They are this crew.  Dene, Rachel, used to be my youth group leaders a looong time ago and Dene was in our wedding party (and Rachel was indispensable to us that day as well, she took care of so many things we had forgotten to organise).  Together with their kids Eliott and Simeon, they are preparing to head off to Japan as missionaries.  They had a short stay in Townsville where we managed to fit in plenty of time to catch up and hang out and have Lion King themed parties.

Sooooo, here's the really exciting part...

The crew at Porter Novelli have let me have a fantastic Lion King prize pack to give away!  Soooo, if you would like to win this fantastic prize pack below then please leave a comment on this post telling me in 25 words or less, what your favourite kids move of all time is and why.  Mine is Mary Poppins... no, actually it's Anastasia... or um... well... I hope you can be more decisive than me!  So, go on, let me know!

I was not paid for this but I did receive a Disney DVD, The Lion King pack from Porter Novelli and Disney DVD along with a gift card to supply our party.  All opinions expressed are entirely my own... and my kids.

Competition runs until 7pm AEST, Friday Dec 23rd 2011 and is open to Australian residents only.  Please make sure you comment with a valid email address (if you are a noreply@blogger.com address please include an email in your comment), if I cannot get hold of you I will have to pick someone else.

My blogger account has not been notifying me by email of comments to my posts but I promise I will check regularly to make sure all comments are included!

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!

Burnt

It's our dry season here. There's a fire somewhere around every day and the smoke stays low on the horizon. All the hills are slowly turning black and then softening to a dark charcoal grey.  So many negatives about the fires around.  The kids worry terribly about the animals caught in the path of the slick moving flames.  Asthma sufferers are staying indoors on the worst afternoons.  It's rare for any properties or people to be caught in the bush fires around here, we are so thankful for that, but it has taken a while to convince the kids.  The hills that were still tinged with green from our fantastic wet season are looking depressing now.  But I know that for many plants this season of fire means they will have a chance to flourish.  As grey and dark as it is now, soon we will see shoot of green sprouting on the hills.  Seeds brought alive by the heat of the fire, fed by the ash on the ground, growing and sprouting ready for the next wet season.

For now though, we can enjoy the beautiful colours of the sunsets caused by all the smoke in the air.

These were taken on two afternoons recently.  The first one, I got home with the kids and saw the beautiful colours changing as I drove down the street.  I had just enough time to dash inside, throw my stuff down and grab the camera.  I got off very few shots before all the light was gone.  The second one was taken while we were playing with the kids out on the street, riding bikes and taking sunset photos.  Taking advantage of a slightly warmer afternoon than usual.  Our usual rule is that it's inside time once the streetlight at the bottom of our driveway comes on... I saw it flick on and prayed that the kids wouldn't notice because I wanted "just a few more minutes".  I'm glad they didn't notice it because I got this shot long after it came on.

Both photos taken on my lovely new camera that my wonderful family bought me for my birthday :-)

Sacrifice

Over the years, many people have tried to teach me about sacrifice.  Sacrifice in my Christian walk, sacrifice for my work, sacrifice for others, it's an endless list really.  But none have taught me quite so much about all these areas as my kids.  Mothers sacrifice so much, then we go and feel guilty that we haven't quite sacrificed enough, we would do anything for our kids.  Sometimes we need to make a call... is this sacrifice worth it?

I have put my body on the line, because lets face it, although plenty of people do it, giving birth isn't exactly safe... least of all for your figure. My abs resemble more "rolling hills" than "washboard".  My hips are kinda clicky and gumby, my feet are getting a little wider with each baby... and kinda hairier, I'll be a hobbit soon.  Don't even get me started on what three C-sections will do to a girl!  Sacrifice.

I have given up the chance for a bigger house, nicer clothes, more chocolate, all the things that a job providing more money could buy. Some women have to work so they can just keep the food on the table.  Sacrifice.

There are so many sacrifices that I make every day, little ones.  Four biscuits left in the packet so I go without, not getting that nice pair of pants I saw for me so that I can get a pair of jeans for Lion, giving up time out with a friend so that the kids can stay home and nap, sitting up at night with a child who can't sleep so that he doesn't have to be alone in the dark, being the last to sit down at the table and the first to get up again so that everyone can have a nice dinner, cooking dinner instead of watching the news, watching that kids movie that I can't stand over and over and over again because someone wants to sit and snuggle while they watch it again, missing out on time alone in the day so that a small child can feel like he's had some one on one time with me.

Then, one day, you are called to make a sacrifice that stops you.  It stops you in your tracks and you just don't know what to do, where do you go for advice? Who has been down this path before?  Who can help you make this decision?  The answer, if I'm honest, is that no one can.  You need to do what is right for your family, for your child.  Maybe it is time to let them grow up that bit more, spread their wings, assert their independence... maybe it's not.  If you let them do this one thing, your relationship may never be the same again, you may never be the same again.  Can your heart handle it?  Can you face that sacrifice so large that it will change who you are as a person?  Your fear realised and come to life?

For me, that time has come.  Far sooner than I thought.  I tried to talk him out of it.  He tried to talk me into it.  I tried to convince him that "maybe later" was a better option.  He did his best to convince me that he was ready.  I tried to tell him that it's just not what we do in our family.  He told me that maybe our family needs to change.  He presented some good arguments.  He didn't nag.  He accepted that I was not going to give in but he persisted in his pursuit.  I started to question myself a little more.  My motives.  My strength.  My sacrifice... was this one that I had to give in?  Where I had to go against my better judgement and make this sacrifice for my child?  This was something that I held to with everything in me, it was never going to happen... so how had it come to the point where I was actually considering the sacrifice?  Then, he did it... "It's okay mum, I know you don't like it so that's okay."  He was giving up his dream, for me.

So, I made the sacrifice for him.

I went ahead and let him buy a remote control Tarantula.

Sacrifice.

This hideous creature is sitting in my cupboard waiting for Dragon to earn the money for it.  He's been the tough one to teach to save.  I've been trying to get him to set goals to save for but he never makes it, he quits and settles for something else before he reaches his goal.  He's been wanting one of these for ages, he has not given in.  I've not been pleased with his determination.  They aren't often in the shops so when I decided he could have one I said I'd buy it and keep it aside until he earned the money for it... and he's getting there... a little too fast.  He is the one that takes the here and now over the sit and wait.  Something small in his hand RIGHT NOW will always win out over waiting for the small things to turn into something bigger.  He's changed.  For a spider.  Turning down the offer to purchase of a new matchbox car for the chance to add $2 more to his total savings.  Offering to help with cleaning for another 50c marked off his chart.  Suggesting jobs that I have never had any success in getting him to help with... not even for money... just so he can get his spider sooner.  Responsibility... Determination... Forward planning... not things that I would associate with my Dragon... until now.

I'm still regularly regretting my sacrifice... like every time I walk past his earning chart and see that he's almost half way there... but I can see what this has taught him.  The lessons he is learning from this are ones that he'll need to remember.  Lessons that will keep him in the future... like if you pull at Mum's heart strings hard enough she'll break like a twig.

Sacrifice.

Patient Notes: Dragon McTavish

Case Notes: 4 year old male patient presented well after bed time with severe Textatinge to the face, hands and feet.  Further examination also showed Textatinge to the torso with the most worrying symptom being the dark tint to the belly button.  The child's mother said he was supposed to be sleeping and she knew he was finding it hard to fall asleep but had no idea of his condition until he came to her while she sat enjoying the quiet of the house.  

Pay careful note to the back of the right hand.  The Textatinge seemed to only go to his wrist initially, but upon closer examination after the images were taken, it was discovered it was far more serious and ended closer to the elbow than the wrist.  Initial treatment was discussed and it was suggested that we let the Textatinge wear off with time and the child give the cause to all who ask, a common combined form of the treatments "Imasillydill" and "Embarrassment".  After further discussion that treatment seemed too strong for a first outbreak and another common treatment was decided upon with a topical application of dihydrogenmonoxide (H2O).  The Textatinge did not immediately clear up and certain areas responded better than others with the forehead showing the best (and most rapid) improvement.  Treatment will continue over the course of a few days with the added treatment of a liquid detergent at approximately 24 hours after the first symptoms appeared combined with a dihydrogenmonoxide bath.

Should the Textatinge return in the future we will discuss more severe treatments to deter further outbreaks.

Dr McTavish.

Did I ever tell you I loved working as a clinical photographer?  If only all my cases had been this cute (and non-infectious).

Random thoughts and a random winner...

My brain is a little random today.  So I am just going to dump it all out on here and hope that helps.  It also fits with the other need for this post... picking a random winner for the Walt Disney Studios Alice in Wonderland 60th Anniversary Special Edition giveaway... but I'm going to make you wait for that.

Monkey has FINALLY cut the missing tooth from his crooked little smile.  He has had 3 bottom teeth at the front for the last 6 months.  The fourth one just wouldn't come through.  FINALLY it has shown itself and is a sharp little fang, I think it may even be responsible for his cranky moods and upset nights of late.  Even if it's not, I'm going to blame it anyway because the other option is just that my child is a little feral.

I turned 30 last week.  I don't feel old but apparently I'm pretty much geriatric now.

I'm still getting pimples.  This is beyond a joke.  They were supposed to stop after puberty.  I guess officially this is still after puberty but I was kind of expecting something a little closer to the end of puberty, not still be going at 30.  I hate pimples.

I cleaned my lounge room at least 5 times over the weekend.  Is it any wonder I can't get the house clean if I have to keep re-cleaning the same rooms over and over and over?

Last night at 10pm I was scrubbing out the cupboards under the sink... I like to live on the wild side.  I spilt half a litre of milk under the dishwasher last week and I cleaned up the milk straight away but with the dishwasher pulled out I figured I'd better clean up all the other gunk that was collected under there.  So finally last night I got around to that and when we went to put the dishwasher back we realised that when Wolf pulled it out the spot where the drain hose connects to the drain under the sink had cracked and grotty drain water had been dripping under the sink all weekend... Thus, at 10pm I had just finished cleaning under the dishwasher when we conducted emergency repairs to the connection (the dishwasher was running before we realised so it was a race against the cycle) and then commenced pulling the cupboards apart and cleaning it all out.  Admit it, you are jealous of my exciting life.

I have made white sauce approximately 9349428490 times.  I know that you NEVER walk away from it, not even for 'just a second'.  It will, without fail, be that exact second that it starts to thicken and grab at the pot and because you aren't there to stir it you'll get a million lumps that you can't get rid of.  I KNOW THIS... yet I do it every time.  I walk away... I get lumps.  Oh well, no one complains... they know better than that.

There's still more random in my brain but this will do for now, I can't keep you waiting forever.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for...  The winner of the Walt Disney Studios Alice in Wonderland 60th Anniversary Special Edition is comment number...

The third eligible comment belonged to...

Kym from mumma's Mini Mes

Congratulations Kym, if you can email me at MummyMcTavish@gmail.com and let me know your mailing address I will pass the details on so you can be sent your copy of Alice in Wonderland.  

For the rest of you, I'm sorry but you'll have to go out and buy your own copy... or hunt down one of the other competitions running to win it ☺

It really is a wonderful family movie and we will be enjoying it over and over and over again!

'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*

I'm the princess around here.

It's hard to teach the boys how to treat girls/ladies when they really only have mummy to practice on.  Mums are just different.  You'd spit some food you don't like into your mums hand but you'd never do that to any other girl.  It's fine for your mum to help you blow your nose but you are expected to turn away if you need to blow your nose in front of any other girl.  Your mum washes your undies, cleans your school lunch box, picks your pyjamas up off the floor... not much is held back for mum.  So, it's nice that we have a small but very special supply of other princesses to help in this training.

My brother's little Ladybird was dedicated to the Lord a few weeks ago.  She's such a special little darling.  It meant that the boys got to spend some precious time with her and practice their princess care.

Ladybird is one well cared for princess.  Lion would do anything for her... he just doesn't really want that advertised.  Boys aren't supposed to get all gushy over babies... or something like that.  Dragon would love nothing more than to teach her everything she needs to know in life, especially about accessorising... he loves to see her wearing jewelry.  Monkey is her loyal protector... though we're still kind of ironing out the kinks with that one.  Currently he seems to have gone to the Slobbery Dog school of princess protection.  He'll keep any unwanted advances (or indeed any wanted ones too) away from you but he may drool all over you and possibly even crush you in his attempts to keep you safe.

Now we just need to teach them not to bow to the every whim of these princesses... Even a princess needs to be told "get your own drink" occasionally.  But thankfully Ladybird is too little for that yet.

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

A Very Happy Un-Birthday To ME!

Sadly I only get 6 un-birthdays this week but I do get 1 birthday to make up for it.  It's a big week for birthdays around here.  REALLY big.  My father-in-law's was on Sunday.  My sister-in-law's (Mum-me) is on this Sunday and mine is on Thursday.  You'd think that was enough excitement.  Then you go a little further out and you find out that my cousin was born on my 3rd birthday so his is also on Thursday and we were both born the day after our Grandad's birthday, so although he's not alive anymore we will still remember his birthday on Wednesday.  See what I mean it's a big week.  But we aren't the only ones celebrating this week.  Walt Disney Studios is having a little bit of a celebration too... they are releasing the 60th Anniversary Edition of Alice in Wonderland!!!

I LOVE this movie.  I loved it as a kid, I have loved it as an adult and I loved this new, remastered and fancified version too!  But before I start raving on about Alice let me tell you something...

When I was a kid we didn't have our own VCR.

I'll let that sink in for a minute...

What? What's a VCR?  Um, well, it was a big box thing that you plugged into your TV and you shoved these other boxes inside it that were kind of like a big cassette tape and... what's a cassette tape?  oh, uh, never mind.

Anyway, we had no way to see anything that wasn't on the 2 or 3 channels of free to air TV.  Now don't even get me started on the time when we only had a tiny black and white TV and the sound was shot so we had to watch ABC so we could tune in the radio to be able to hear it... talk about deprived childhoods!

So, on the holidays dad would borrow a VCR (remember, that's a movie player thingamabob) from whichever school he was teaching at at the time and we'd be able to go to the video shop and hire some movies.  We also got to watch movies at our Grandparents on the weekends.

Now, I'm not sure if it was at my grandparents or if we just always got the same movies from the video shop but we ALWAYS seemed to end up watching Disney's Alice in Wonderland.  LOVE IT.  But the thing about Videos was that once the tape got a little stretched everything on that section of tape got a little stretched too... so you can just imagine what the sound was like.  Hooooboy, I can not believe how beautiful this new 60th anniversary edition sounds!  I heard every word... when I could get the kids to stop talking over it "Shhhhh, mummy's reliving her deprived childhood".  Also, I'm not usually a fan of all the talkey talkey "bonus" stuff they put on DVDs but I was HOOKED.  I loved hearing about what Walt Disney went through to produce this movie, I especially loved hearing from the lady that was the voice of Alice... LOVED IT ALL!

They are releasing it as a DVD & Blu-Ray value pack!  We don't have a Blu-Ray player so I couldn't watch all the bonus stuff that was exclusive to the Blu-Ray version but if you do then you get to see even more exciting stuff.  If you want a taste of what it's like you can check out the official trailer...

But ya wanna know something?  It's not available yet.  Not until Wednesday June 8th.  So, how have I seen it?  Well, the lovely folk at Porter Novelli sent me a copy on behalf of Walt Disney Studios.  Sweet, aren't they?  But the even more exciting thing is that they want to send one of you a copy too!  How sweet is that?

So if you want to WIN your VERY OWN copy of Walt Disney Studios Alice in Wonderland 60th Anniversary Special Edition then you'd better enter my little competition.

It's easy to do, all you need to do is tell me in the comments who your favourite character is from Alice in Wonderland.  If you haven't seen it just tell me your favourite Disney character from any movie.

Mine is Alice, no, no, uh, actually it's the March Hare... or, uh, maybe it's the crazy White Rabbit... but sometimes I can really associate with the Queen of Hearts...

Well, I don't really know who mine is, but I'd love to know who your favourite is so get commenting.

*Official stuff that I need you to read starts here*

• One entry per person.
• Australian residents only.
• This requires no skill, the winner will be randomly selected from all valid entries.
• Please make sure I can find your email address easily either in your comment, on your blog, in your profile... just put it somewhere, please!
• Competition ends Midday Sunday June 12th.

  

Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of the DVD courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment via Digital Parents. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.