today was meant to be a work day. My daycare mum had to cancel.
So Miss M and I are hanging out (quite literally..cheeky monkey) as best we can. I've relocated my computer to the "outdoor studio!" to be closer to her....and i don't have to walk as far to every little drink/food/volume on TV/craft request.
I'm not really back yet from my blogging break. I'm still catching up on real life in so many ways. But I couldn't let this event skip by without a mention. Miss M turned four this week and we had a lovely day celebrating with her.
Last year she loved mermaids, and this year she loves ponies..you know those awful, plastic colourful cartoon ponies that make me want to be sick every time I see them on TV! How am I going to survive the Barbie years??
I cursed and complained as I made a cake for her. She really wanted a pony cake, but I would rather have chopped my hands off than attempt anything of the sort. I hate baking cakes!!! My mum who has been staying with us made the actual cake, and the night before the party, I worked up the stamina to decorate it as a rainbow. Note the extra ponies on the board.....that is as far as I could go! I think the expression on her face told me that it was a success, even if she only ate the icing and sugar from the top.
Happy birthday missy moo.
And thank you mum for all your help. Look at these lovely party bags she made.
Enjoying a very normal life this week before our trip. I'll miss my two little munchkins, silly, fluffy hats and all. Infact I'm trying really hard not to think about leaving them....
Whilst taking this pic, I noticed just how many toothbrushes my children have. I counted 9! Where are my other 7 children hiding? Why are there so many toothbrushes? And just throwing the extra manky and chewed brushes out isn't as easy as it seems. My children are attached to them, and I have no idea why! I'll have to sneak them out on bin night along with the mountains of old cereal boxes that have been turned into Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3 and 4 and cross my fingers they won't find out.
The perfect day ahead.
Sleeping in (until 7.45am..that is late in this household).
Watching the kids being overly happy (could be the chocolate)
Enjoying the sun move across the house
Cooking dinner for your sister
Hanging up works in progress in my studio and cleaning it up so I can actually walk from one side to the other.
i'll be cleaning. Not an overly exciting blog entry to write about. But these things have to be done. I've noticed that there is a shift in the sun. It enters my windows at different times now. It sits lower across the verandah and is a deeper golden colour. I like this light. Autumn must be on its way. It was a year ago now that we had some renovations done. I took a photo of the light this morning and then looked through some old photos to see how it looked before we had the work done.
I don't really feel comfortable blogging about this type and thing. The whole show and tell my house thing doesn't sit well with me, and yet here I am doing it. Why is that? I'm breaking down a barrier. Maybe it is the light entering the room that makes me feel happy to be here and wanting to share that feeling of warmth.
We went from yellow walls to white. We changed glass doors to windows as we could never really use them the way they were. Gutted a linen cupboard and made it into a TV/storage unit. Added a wide bifold so that the verandah is now like another room. And the kids love to play here all year long.
I still want to change and add. But for today I will just try to keep it toy free and appreciate being able to see the floorboards.
we have the coldest pool. It really is like swimming in ice. The kids often come out with blue lips and teeth chattering. Finally this summer we have had 3 continuous days of hot, sunny weather and there is plenty more to come.
so we are enjoying the weekend splashing around, even if we look like aliens from the planet 'Aqua'. Those eyes!!...spooky.
And all the recent rain has brought a fresh crop of limes...perfect for making special summer beverages like a caprioska....
Caprioska recipe...
Fresh lime or two, quartered and slightly sqeezed
teaspoon of sugar, white or brown
couple of splashes of vodka
plenty of crushed ice
wave soda water over the glass.
mix and serve!
My heavily pregnant friend is coming over to whale herself in the pool later today, so I bought some non alcoholic sparkling back from South Australia. Agggghhh, life is gooooood!
i'm fed up with having noooooo sleep. I feel like a mother of a newborn child again!! sorry i have to get this out. click away if you must.
Miss M just refuses to sleep reasonable hours. She wakes at 4am every morning and pays us a visit. I take her back every morning to her room Sometimes she doesn't go back to sleep.
She hasn't slept during the day on a regular basis since she was about 20 months old. AND....she doesn't fall asleep at night until 8.45pm at the earliest. I can hear her right now (8.26pm) arguing with Mr N about it. She is procrastinating by saying " i need something to eat. I need some energy' HELLO!!! You have more energy than an electrical storm. We have tried everything. We have always instilled a routine of bath, book and bed by 7.30pm. Never any TV. Mr A goes to sleep without a problem, unless he has had a sleep during the day and then he is just happy to read or play quietly in his room. We have tried music, lavender, herbal rescue remedy spray 'to comfort and reassure', soft toys, night lights, glow in the dark bangles, magic fairy dust, sitting with her, leaving the door open, telling stories, singing songs,letting her sleep on cushions on the floor etc etc etc. Everything backfires.
"Let her cry it out" I hear some of you say. But honestly she has enough energy to cry for 45 minutes at a time. Not something I really want to listen to at the end of a very looooong day.
And to think I have the teenage years to come!
I often find that as soon as I remark, complain, call it what you will, about something so openly, then it fixes itself. Crossing my fingers that we will see some changes very soon.
Advent day 8: a trip to the city to see the most 'hugangic' Christmas tree ever and the shop windows
Advent day 9: another humbug...not too much thought went into this one.
this is a purely self indulgent post about the pleasure that a singing and dancing 3 year old can give a mum whilst I cook dinner. Rock on Miss M! And don't be a sad little poppet when the music stops, because I can listen to Sheryl Crow's, Real Gone and The Wiggle's, Old Man Emu over and over and over and OVVVEERRER again if that's what makes you happy.
90 and not out is a term used in the game of cricket. This weekend we finished a week's worth of celebrations with a surprise 90th birthday for my grandfather. I've drunk too much champagne and eaten too many party plates of food this week. Now with the festive season around the corner, I am going to try and be good.
Here is a moment captured. And he sits proudly with his medal pinned to his chest. A Knight of France.
That would be a snake in my pool area. Now contrary to popular urban myth, snakes don't live in every Australian backyard. But they do like to visit some once in awhile. We live in the city, but on the edge of bush area so it isn't a great surprise to see this 3.5m (11 feet?) snake sliding its way through my garden. The kids were mesmorised, once they got beyond their fear. In order for me to be able to let Kransky the super dog into the bakyard again, I had to call someone to take her away. I'm hoping I won't see too many more of these as the weather heats up. Edition: And just to add some info about this lovely lady. She is a carpet snake (python). Non venomous. I wouldn't be that happy to have a death adder or brown snake in my back yard.....but my sister in law who lives on a property does!!!
