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Last Day of Winter Holidays

2010-07-20T12:56:00.001+10:00

Cooper couldn't believe the garbage trucks hadn't been to empty the bins by the time he had finished morning tea. Normally they have been by that time, he kept looking out the window to see if it was coming.

Jared also had the day off school, for a pupil free day, so mum brought him up to have a play with the boys. They rode down to the jump, played army games and also had a go on the Playstation, playing Ninja Turtles.

While the boys were playing army games Cooper got his bike out to practice his riding. He was so proud of himself as he rode all the way up the lane way and then managed the turn all by himself. I had to help him do the tight turn but he did about 6 laps, he even didn't want Nathan's help.

Mum wasn't feeling that well, I think she got the cold from us but I wasn't owning up, she came outside anyway but was really rugged up as there was a chilly wind blowing.

Week 2 Day 4 Winter Holidays

2010-07-15T22:35:00.000+10:00

Cooper loved helping me this morning load all of Darren's bike clothes into the machine, he wanted to do the powder but I wouldn't let him as I didn't fancy a mess.

After dropping Cooper off at pre-school we went to Harvey Norman to get my new point and shoot camera, a Canon S90. While the boys were playing the Playstation 3 I had a look at some Nikon DSLR's, mainly the D90 and D5000 after reading some reviews on the internet. I also had a look at the Canon's since I have a couple of nice lenses already. I am not sure which way to go when I upgrade my camera and so I will keep doing more research until I can decide but I don't think I should take so long as Darren has his eye on a new road bike.

My first photo with my new camera. It is so tiny I put the wrist strap on straight away.

I love that I can listen to my iPhone in my car, it is one of my favourite features.

After taking a little too long camera browsing we met up with Emma and the kids at Playmaze where the kids ran around crazy for 2 and a half hours and Emma and I enjoyed a coffee and scones. I tried taking some photos of the boys using my new camera and much to my horror the lens froze up. I ended up getting a replacement as even Shane couldn't get it working while the boys played over at Kial's.

I cooked up a batch of Anzac biscuits for Darren to take to work for morning tea. I used Nanny's recipe and Riley was hovering over them waiting for them to cool.

While I made the bisuits the boys played the Wii.

Darren picked up Cooper from school, had a biscuit or two then started browsing for bikes while I finished making dinner. He loves to dream about his next bike, especially since Harvo just bought himself a new one.

Week 2 Day 3 Winter Holidays

2010-07-14T20:14:00.000+10:00

I woke up tired and didn't want to get up this morning, I didn't get out of bed until around 8am, Cooper woke me up at 3:30am and I had to change his clothes before putting him back in Nathan's bed and because it was so windy it took me a while to get back to sleep.

We all enjoyed a quiet morning as Riley slept at mum's last night with Jared and two kids are always quieter than three. Nate enjoyed having the Wii all to himself while Cooper played garbage bins.
On Sunrise I was shocked to find out that our gas, water and electricity bills are to go up 64% in the next five years. It got me thinking how we can reduce our usage to keep our bills down.

Benson had been barking all morning at the wind and the electricity man, I think he barked non stop for around 3 hours, his bark actually sounded a little hoarse.

Cooper and I made a Apple and Almond cake for morning tea. I was careful but still managed to over cook it as I usually do with cakes.

After lunch I picked up Dylan and we met mum and the boys at Warrawong to see Shrek Fore. Cooper was jumping up and down with excitment as he was so excited. I have to say I really enjoyed the movie and had a few chuckles.

We didn't get home from Kay's until 5pm so I decided to make burritos for dinner, Riley was pleased as it is his favourite dinners. The boys also enjoyed a slinky apple and huge bowl of yoghurt for dessert.

Darren got home from work early tonight and inspected his bikes that had fallen off the wall during the night, I think they were all ok. I nearly had a heart attack when I went in the garage and found his bike on the floor next to my car, thankfully it didn't hit the car on the way down.

He went for a night ride to Appin with a mate from work, he was a little nervous as the last time he rode at night in Appin he had a big stack. He finally got around to packing his night lights into a new hard case especially designed for the lights. Luckily the lights are ok as they were on his rode bike that fell of the wall.

The boys enjoyed playing mummy and daddy's for an hour before bed as Darren got them in their PJ's before he left. Cooper was off to sleep pretty quickly but Riley and Nate were talking for ages, I think they missed each other.

I managed to get two loads of washing done and I also took Benson for a walk for even though it was windy it wasn't too cold to be outdoors.

Week 2 Day 2 Winter Holidays

2010-07-13T21:19:00.004+10:00

Once we got Cooper to preschool I had to get a load of undies and socks on, the boys didn't have any socks left in their drawers. They asked me if they could play with the textas since Cooper was at preschool and they would be careful.

I asked them to build their best gun so I could get a photo of them with it. Riley got the backpacks out so they could play Runescape, which involved packing their bags with drink bottles and some fruit.

I let the boys choose a treat each at the shops this morning, Riley chose a packet of Mentos chewing gum and Nathan chose toffee apples, they were surprised to find out there was an apple inside.

We had donuts for morning tea and pizza for lunch using some new shredded ham I bought.

Grandma called up and invited us down to Kay's for coffee. I went to Woolies to get a lasagna and a toffee apple for Jared while the boys played in the trees with Jared. Riley stayed with Grandma as he was staying at her house with Jared so they could go to Op Shop in the morning.

Mazda 2 Genki in silver please

2010-07-13T15:10:00.001+10:00

3 Jul 10, originally uploaded by bunnobear.

A new small car was not in our plans for at least the next 3 years. However the choice was taken away from me when I was hit in the side and the car was written off. We tried going with one car but after four weeks, cold and wet winter weather we decided to get a brand new Mazda 2 Genki. I went in for a test drive while Darren was at work and also to see if I could get a good deal. After taking it for a drive and negotiating a reasonable price Darren and I returned to leave a deposit while Kay looked after the boys. Finally after a few phone calls and waiting for almost three weeks we got the call that it was ready. After we picked up the car we went down to the harbour for a few photos and stopped at a service station to check the air pressure on the tyres. I love the car and am so happy with our choice, it has so much room and we all fit comfortably in it.

Week 2 Day 1 Winter Holidays

2010-07-12T21:39:00.003+10:00

Darren got up to give Cooper his breakfast so I got to have a little lie in. Cooper asked to have a shower so I was ready by 7:30am. He likes to have a shower in the morning with his little toy garbage bins. He was happy to be home for the red truck and waited patiently for it to empty each bin and waved to the driver as he drove past.

Adam came over about 10 so we all walked around to the top shop to replace Nathan's chewing gum that he shared out on the weekend. Nathan and Adam rode their bikes, Riley took his one roller blade and Cooper and I walked. The boys then went down to the jump and Cooper and I came home for some morning tea.

Grandma, Dylan and Jared came over for lunch with some hot chips and we all scoffed them down as it was after one and we were all starving. Dylan wanted some driving practice so we went to Kiama and they brought their fishing rods. We spent the afternoon on the jetty trying to catch a fish.

We named Nathan the "fish whisperer" as he was the first one to land two fish. He wasn't interested in keeping them and threw them back in the harbour when Jared unhooked each fish.

Dylan went on to catch three of his own. Jared forgot to take some bait so Nathan sweet talked a man cleaning some fish for a fish head for bait. They loved all the blood and guts and poking the eyes out with the scissors.

We all had a turn trying to get some bait off it with a pair of scissors. We also watched the pelicans go after the fish heads and a huge stingray (about 1.2m diameter) swim around trying to get the bait.

Riley and Nate managed to sit in a huge pile of dried pelican pooh while they were fishing.

On the way home Riley went with Dylan and Cooper and Nate enjoyed the back seat playing with their DS's.

The boys had a play at Dylan and Jared's while I came home to wash the car. It was covered in black soot from the rain last week and I ended up getting brake dust all over my hands.

A New Era

2010-05-18T16:51:00.001+10:00

I am sitting here in the grandstand watching the boys do their AFL training. Ihad to leave them to go and get Cooper as we only have one car at the moment. Cooper is happily playing on the stairs while I type this. No longer do I have tochase a toddler around. I get to sit and relax

First day of school 2010

2010-01-31T17:47:00.011+11:00

This is the first year the boys have all happily posed for their first day of school photos.

Riley has a new teacher Mr Connor and is in another composite class 3/4C. He was over the moon with his teacher as he is young and plays lots of fun games. Also he and Ethan are on the same class again, now 5 years in a row.

Nathan was hoping to get Mr Bennett after seeing him play the guitar after last years graduation ceremony. Lucky for him he got him and was so excited with his new teacher and his classmates. He was also pleased to be away from Ethan and Christian as he didn't make the best choices when playing with them. Mr Bennett has whooping cough at the moment so his wife Mrs Bennett is filling in for him. Nathan loved that she used a glue stick as a microphone and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him since his birthday was on Saturday.

Cooper actually had his first day on Wednesday after missing the first three days due to our camping holiday and Australia Day. Darren dropped him off since Jonathan was coming over early for a play. When it was time for Darren to leave he dropped on the floor crying as he didn't want Darren to leave. He is in the echidna class with Miss Emma and was excited to be back playing with his friends Anthony, Jayden, Callum and Riley. He asked me to pick him up on the first day with the boys and a chocolate. He loved the Mars Bars and thought they had honey inside them, it was the caramel.

My Favourite Summer Memory

2009-07-19T08:17:00.001+10:00

is swimming all day in our swimming pool and then my mum bringing my dinner to the edge of the pool so I can eat it while still in the water. Gosh I loved doing that.

New Background

2009-07-18T13:02:00.002+10:00

I have loved the look of the black background but after seeing Lisa's post I just knew that I wanted to change the look of my blog. I got the link from Simply Chic and it was pretty easy to do.

I am off to collect my new TV cabinet that I had custom made. I am a little nervous as to how it is going to look. Fingers crossed.

Riley this week you...

2009-07-17T09:22:00.003+10:00

1. Had 2 sick days off school due to a nagging cough
2. Finally got to sleep at 9:30pm after coughing constantly for two and a half hours.
3. Enjoyed some ANZAC food on your last day of school including condensed milk, corned beef, camp meat, ANZAC biscuits and SAO's and cheese.

4. Wore mufti day clothes for last day of term.
5. Walked mud through the house when we got back from school.
6. Played Bratz on your DS and asked me not to tell anyone.
7. Packed your own lunch for school when I was running late, which included a large box of tiny teddies.

8. Had honey and eucalyptus lollies to try and soothe your sore throat.
9. Walked to the car with Brooke.
10. Made a whole range of guns out of textas and put them on your display shelf.
11. Had a meltdown when Cooper broke your "bestest gun ever"

12. Enjoyed playing the Wii while Grandma looked after you at Dylan and Jared's house while I did reading with Nathan.
13. Brought home your school report. Mrs Bouvet thought you worked very hard and had a "flair for writing". We were very pleased with how hard you have been working at school.

14. Wanted McDonald's for your reward dinner and loved the Ice Age 3 toys that you got.
15. Told me that you thought Daddy was playful and smart and that he was a good dad.
16. Played Runescape on my computer while the TV repairman replaced the TV. You asked me later when we got a new TV.

Another late night

2009-06-23T18:36:00.003+10:00

I was doing some grocery shopping when I got a phone call from Darren "Mel you need to come home Cooper has split his head open in the shower" click.

So I race home to find Cooper with a clump of blood soaked hair and the other two boys crying. They were playing in the shower and Cooper got knocked onto the tile edge and had cut his head. After sweet talking Cooper we managed to lift his hair to see if he needed stitches and sure enough there was a big cut about 2cm long. When Riley heard us say that Cooper needed stitches he burst into another round of tears, he remembered his own experience of getting stitches a few years ago.

Darren and the boys took Cooper and I into casualty. We only had an hour wait til we got a bed, Cooper was happily walking around the pay area of the emergency department with a huge bandage on his head. He tried to rip off the tape holding it in place but it was over his hair so he gave up pretty quickly. Finally we got a bed in the children's section and it didn't take long for the doctor to come around and inspect his head. Cooper was so brave throughout the whole ordeal, the toughest part for him was removing the tape from his hair. We had to wait there for 4 hours after the incident to make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding. By 10:30pm Cooper was getting a little restless and we kept him entertained by reading books and playing with baby toys. Finally we got the all clear to come home by 10:45pm and Cooper was alseep within 5 minutes of getting into this carseat. Luckily Grandma came up to watch the boys so Darren could come in and keep us company.

The Good and The Bad

2009-06-08T09:55:00.002+10:00

The Good: I finally got a good shot of the little wrens that have moved into my garden. There is about 6-7 of them and they start out the front, eating bugs of my roses then they move out the back. I can hear their little tweet when they come into the garden and I love to watch them from the dining room window. They are also very shy so it is hard for me to sneak up on them.

The Bad: Since we have had two solid weeks of rain the weeds have multiplied in my garden. I have vowed to try and do two buckets of weeding each day to try and get some control on the weeds. The vegie garden is the big culprit and I am sure it is seeding the rest of the garden. At least my rhubarb is still growing, even after Cooper got to it with the scissors.

Butterflies

2009-03-18T20:29:00.002+11:00

Over the last few weeks I have noticed lots of butterflies flying around the backyard, really big and pretty ones. Today I noticed this one fluttering around so I grabbed my camera and went looking for it outside. It flew over the back fence then back again past me to the cumquat. I chased after it hoping to get a shot. After it flew off I noticed it had laid any egg on the tiny cumquat.

Melanie is

2009-03-13T22:22:00.002+11:00

is trying to think of something for dinner
uploading and editing photos
is smelling the delicious Thai red curry I made for Darren for dinner. It is nearly ready and I am starving.
Phew that was hot, my tonuge is burning and my ears are ringing. Maybe a little less curry paste next time.
Finally the boys are all in bed and Darren and I can watch So You Think You Can Dance together in peace and quiet
Reminiscing about my trip to Italy 2 years ago while doing some scrapping
is consoling Cooper as he missed the garbage truck when we were taking the boys to school.
is wondering how many dinners get burnt because of Facebook
is wondering how to use spellcheck on Facebook
is happy because Darren just booked 3 weeks holidays for April.
is drooling over the Harvey Norman bathroom catalogue that came in the mail today
hears the bike, Daddy's home :)
is enjoying a peaceful house with only the sound of the computer humming and the dogs barking.
finally made the bed at 2pm and put away the huge pile of washing that has been sitting on our chest of drawers for two days.
is relieved that she has been discharged from jury duty.

I just joined Facebook this week and it is so much fun.

I have been scrapping all week long and love having everything back in one central place.

Catching Up DYL Week 9

2009-03-10T11:49:00.003+11:00

I have been trying to finish up my layouts for Cathy's DYL class. These are my two assignments for Week 9, I am so hoping she does a follow up class.

Re-arranged again

2009-03-07T20:14:00.006+11:00

I got so sick of walking from the dining room to the laundry and back again every time I wanted to scrapbook that I decided to move my scrapping back into the laundry. This meant I had to get rid of my cheap printer so I could fit more on my desk. It wasn't working all that well so I am not that sorry to see it go. I will have be more economical with using the Epson for all of my printing needs as the ink refills are so expensive.

I brought the bookcase back out of the garage to hold all of my books and folders for family expenses and tax stuff. I like having my scrapping books back out where I can see them. I also rearranged the shelves on the wall and managed to fit most of the things I wanted on there and there is still empty boxes to fit more stuff in.

I feel, even for me that it is looking a little bland so I need to work out a way to add a little pop with all the white and pine.

I am not sure if I like the carousel on my desk as it is so big for the little amount it holds. I could easily fit three little IKEA pots on my desk, I will have to see how it works for me.

I still have to fill the white drawers under my desk but I can reach most things I use for my scrapping from my chair. I actually finnished a page today, from my DYL class. I only have a few more layouts to go but it was great ot finish it completely. Normally I leave the journalling and never get back to it.

It feels so good to get this page out of the way. I have been putting off assemblig the page for months.
I got another page done tonight, I love how my space is set up now.

Riley's 8th birthday sleepover

2009-03-02T16:53:00.011+11:00

Riley has been waiting to have a sleepover for his 8th birthday for what seems like forever. He invited three of his buddies to sleepover and since the weather was warm enough we took them down to the beach for a swim. We had to take two cars since we didn't all fit in one.

Every time they go to the beach they go for a swim and then come out for a session of digging in the sand. It was a pity we didn't get down til late because they were all having such a lovely time.

We had a drink and bag of chips back at the car park and of course a game of towel flicking. It was getting past dinner time and they were all starving.

I am surprised that it all went so well, I was a little nervous at having 6 boys in the house but they all got along great playing the Playstation. They had a system to take turns so noone was left out and those who weren't on the Playstation got to play a DS. Cooper was happy to watch all of the action.

They managed to eat 4 pizzas and a Freddo Frog ice cream cake and go through 12 poppers. They got to sleep at midnight, were up again by 6:30am, ate Rice Bubbles at 8:30 then got dressed at 10:00. Darren took them home a lunchtime while I had a snooze on the lounge.

They were all fast alseep by 7pm, even Riley and I went to bed at 9:30pm

I took a chance

2009-02-25T16:08:00.003+11:00

and it paid off, I tried a new hairdresser. My hair had been driving me nuts and I tried a new hairdresser near where I do my grocery shopping. I have been wanting to cut my hair up at the back for ages and finally I found a hairdresser I trusted enough to do it and I love how it looks. It is so easy to dry and it actually looks nice when I tuck it behind my ears.

He's back

2009-01-27T12:57:00.000+11:00

and boy is he exhausted but we are all so happy to see him and showered him with cuddles and kisses. A week with your older cousins, late nights, bike riding, walking and swimming all day will do that to a 5 year old boy. I asked him what his favourite part of the holiday was and he replied "all of it!"

Darren and I have been treating him with lots of patience and understanding because boy is he a cranky crane when he is tired. I am sure Riley will be happy when he wakes up in the morning because Daddy fixed the broken wheel on his F15 jet fighter :)

Towradgi Beach

2009-01-13T10:30:00.008+11:00

Mum has been taking the boys to Towradgi Beach in the school holidays for as long as she can remember. She even used to take me as a girl down there for a swim, we lived just a short walk from there. Now that Cooper is old enough to keep up he gets to some along as well. I couldn't believe but he walked the whole way, he even outlasted Nathan. Then when we got back to Kay and Glenn's house he went out in the backyard to pay with Daisy and the garbage bins while the others watched a DVD. They were all stuffed.

The boys all happily posed for a shot for Grandma, do you notice Dylan is even smiling.

Jared was always asking me to take pictures of all of the things he discovered.

Here they are looking for crabs. They found a dead one which Dylan threw at me, which he thought was really funny.

He has learnt that he can't go as deep as the others after nearly drowning last week. He happily plays on the edge only going up to his waist and enjoys running away from the waves. He loves the water so much that he sings Wiggles songs and he dances along the edge.

These 5 really enjoy each others company. There is no power struggles, they just enjoy playing and having a fun time. Dylan is great with Nathan and Cooper follows Nathan. Jared and Riley are always together with Jared showing Riley all of the little things he has found.

Nathan by this time was freezing and tired. They got wet on the way up the beach and this was taken when we were almost back at the car. I talked to Nathan about keeping dry and saving the swimming for the way back, not sure he will take any notice. Luckily I carried a towel to help warm him up a little bit. He absolutely screamed when it was time for a shower to wash off all of the sand.

Lesson learned: wash the sand out of the clothes before putting them in the washing machine.

Lazy Day

2009-01-10T20:14:00.010+11:00

I didn't get of of my PJ's until 3pm and that was only because our neighbour knocked on the front door. Darren took Cooper for most of the day, it was nice to have a rest from him as he has been such a handful during the past week.

Cooper really enjoyed following Darren around, he went with Darren for a new driver's license, cut the grass and then went out with Darren again to get some parts for the car. Darren has started serviceing the cars and we have been saving heaps of money on car maintenance. Here he wouldn't pose for a photo because he was too busy with Daddy. I was hoping to get a picture of him wearing his hat and glasses, just like Daddy.

Since I had the morning off I decided to label all of my albums again. Cooper pulled out the last lot so I made sure the tape them down. Hopefully he has forgotten the past and the albums will stay nicely labeled. It had been driving me nuts that I couldn't easily work out what was inside the albums.

Nate did a great job of helping me, he is always drawn to me when I am working at the craft table or doing some scrapbooking. He even wrote out a label for a future scrapbook page.

Finally guess who has found a new place to dig in my garden. "You rotten bugger" was my reply. He knew he was in trouble and made a quick getaway. I am forever sweeping up the dirt he has spread all over the concrete. I won't be too happy with him if he keeps digging up this garden, it is my favourite garden for flowers.

Darren and I have started watching Seinfeld from the very beginning and it still makes us both laugh.

Week 3 of the summer holidays

2009-01-09T20:25:00.000+11:00

My aim these holidays is to completely wear the boys out, however I didn't factor in myself and Cooper becoming completely exhausted. We usually do a full day activity one day and then a half day the next to have a bit of a rest

This week:
Monday - water fights with Dylan and Jared
Tuesday - Moona Moona Creek
Wednesday - Playstation and rest day - stinking hot so we stayed inside with the air conditioning
Thurdsday - Science Centre
Friday - scooter ride along Lake Illawarra and catching jelly fish from the jetty

I haven't been taking my camera along but really I wish I did. I could have got some great shots of the jellyfish today.

One day soon

2009-01-09T10:03:00.001+11:00

Entry, originally uploaded by sarahleeab.

Oh wow I love everything about this picture, this is the exact colour I want for my family room and I am totally drooling over the front door mat and all of the white trim. I was thinking about painting the inside of my front door and after looking at this I may give it a try.

At this moment

2009-01-08T19:23:00.000+11:00

Darren is watching TV in the front room
I am transferring all of my posts from Typepad to Blogger
Riley and Nathan are watching Scooby Doo
Cooper is playing outside with the garbage bins and chairs. He has stacked all the chairs upside down and is also pushing the washing cart around and having a chat to Benson. He heard me yell out to the boys and now wants to come inside, til he finds out it is bath time then he will run back outside again.

I am having a great time reading all of my old posts. Next is to work out how to add a banner. Lisa help!

2008-02-04T11:22:00.000+11:00

He's off to a great start to Year 2. The first thing he said to me when he was walking towards the car on his first day was"I'm in Hayden's class!". Well that obviously meant to me that he was in a composite class - great. He is over the moon about it, he has Mr Gunning and is in 2/3G, I thought he would love a male teacher but he is so excited about it. So far he thinks Mr Gunning talks a lot "you think I am a motor mouth, he is a speedy motor mouth, but don't tell him that, he even wore out his batteries". Mr Gunning talks about Science alot and they have watched a couple of Science shows on TV after lunch. I am worried about there only being 6 year 2's compared to 20 year 3's but I will monitor his progress. We have a meeting tomorrow on composite classes so hopefully we will find out more information about how the classes are going to be run. He is already friends with some of the year 3 boys, I saw Anthony tap him on the shoulder to play and they walked off to together. The year 2 and 3 boys are also playing soccer together so I don't think he will fall out of the loop. The 2/3G classroom is amongst the Year 3 rooms and they have to go along to the primary assembly in the mornings, something that should only start in Year 3. I am sure, knowing Riley, that he is loving every minute of it, I always loved to do things above my age so I understand his excitement.

Nathan's First Day

2008-02-02T01:00:00.000+11:00

"I can't believe I am going to big school"

Nathan was so terribly excited that his big day had finally come. He was ready early and let me take some photos of him, he just couldn't wipe the smile of his face. Darren and Grandma also came along to see him on his first day. His check-in time was 9:10 so we had a bit of time waiting around after dropping Riley at his new classroom. Mrs Matts is his teacher so he is in KM, altough they are going to be making another class so he may change yet. He enjoyed drawing and writing his name on the chalk board and wanted me to read him a few stories before it was time for me to leave. He was very anxious when it was time to leave as he didn't know any of the kids in his class.

I went to pick him up at 2:30 and I saw him lined up to come out to mee the parents. He had a huge smile for me so I know he had a good day. He was wearing a hat they had made and was keen to tell me about his day. "It was so much fun, you should come mum". He sat next to Matthew and Kiara at the red table and they sang somgs. He played tip with Barrett at luchtime and he didn't like the fact that they had to stay in teh Kindergarten play area at lunchtime. He got to play at the park afterwards and then had fun waiting to meet Riley and Brooke and Hayden.

my new blog

2008-01-21T11:55:00.000+11:00

so I haven't posted in a while and since I have been working on saving money I thought it would be a good idea to jump across to a free blog, so here I am. Now to work out if I can transfer all of my other posts over to here :)

Back to School

2007-10-16T23:00:00.000+10:00

Riley is back at school and Nathan had pre-school today so I had quite a productive and restful day. It was a hot and windy morning so Cooper and I spent the morning watering all of my flowers and vegies in the backyard. I thought it might be fun to get the little pool out since he was soaking wet anyway. He filled it up with the hose, I took off his shorts and nappy and plonked him in it. He hadn't been in the pool before because last summer he had his grommets in so he was never allowed near the water. At first he wasn't sure what to do, he didn't even want to sit down. I called out a few instructions for him, like sit down, and go and get it when he threw his toys out. After that he was in his element and wasn't too happy when it was time to come out.

Also Nathan got accepted for school next year, his orientation is on Nov 1 and 8. We had to apply becasue the school that Riley goes to is out of area for us. I didn't think there would be a problem but at least now I don't have to worry about it. So he is off to big school soon and I am sure it is going to be harder on me that it will be on him.

Cooper was having his sleep this afternoon and I was working on my holiday album when I heard the news on the TV. There was a bush fire close to where we live, then I realised I could hear the helicopters and planes flying overhead. I couldn't see any smoke but the planes were buzzing overhead all afternoon. I did manage to get a shot of one of them flying past.

Lastly I have been noticing the bottlebrushes in full bloom, they are everywhere on the streets at the moment. This one is from across the road, I am hoping to get a close up of some tomorrow.

Wants to be like them

2007-10-14T23:00:00.000+10:00

One thing I have noticed about Cooper since coming home from my holidays is how desparate he is to do the things the older two boys are doing. He is not yet 2, I really thought I had more time before it would start.

Here Riley is showing Cooper how to use their new toys they got, normally I would have only bought ones for the older two but I have learnt that Cooper wants exactly what they have.

Tonight I asked Darren to set up the portable chair so he could sit with Riley and Nate in the hope that he would see what they were eating and try to follow. It worked, he put a carrot to his mouth, didn't eat it but at least he didn't throw it, and he peeled and tasted a banana. Looks like it might work putting him at the table with his brothers. He sure did look tiny at the big table.

They had so much fun playing with their tents today. I got their pillows and blankets and they requested their teddies. Cooper walked inside and pointed to his room for me to follow. When we got to his room he pointed to his babies (teddies). He wanted his teddies outisde like his brothers.

Being Sunday morning I was allowed to use the hose, due to water restrictions. When I had finished watering I let Cooper water the lawn. It didn't take too long to turn into a water fight involving all three of them. They all got soaked but had so much fun. Cooper was devastated when I had to turn off the hose, it was 10am.

He went through four sets of clothes today.

Hear That

2007-10-14T04:12:00.000+10:00

me either, the house is quiet, I can even hear the birds outside and the hum of my computer. Darren has taken the boys to the park so he can do his resistance training while they play on the swings. I have been having a hard time adjusting back to the noise levels of four boys in the house. I have an hour and I am going to enjoy it by watching Prison Break with a coffee and my feet up.

Today

2007-10-12T15:06:00.000+10:00

Cooper learnt a new word "cold". Mum came up with the idea of making a fruit smoothie and freezing it to make an ice block to see if Cooper would eat some fruit that way. Well it worked, he ate the first one and learnt how to say cold as he was eating it that fast. He had another one and devoured it as quickly as the first. Cooper doesn't eat fruit or vegetables lately and we tricked him tonight into eating some banana, normally as soon as he smells it is banana he won't even put it to his mouth and runs off in the other direction.

Also it seems that Cooper and Riley have bonded this last week, since Riley has been on holidays from school. They have been having a great time playing chasings and bikes in the backyard and playing cars and swords inside. Nathan has been feeling a little left out as he has still had pre-school this week.

Back to Work

2007-10-07T14:31:00.000+10:00

So I made it home from my vacation in less than 24 hours, the trip over took it out of me. Thank goodness we came the quick way home, via Singapore and i had a spare seat next to me so I got a fair bit of sleep. I promised myself I wouldn't start blogging again until I had uploaded and back-up all of my 2414 photos that I took. Now that is all done I can start having some fun with my photos.

Man there are some beauties, this is one of my faves, eating a 4 euro gelato with Katharine in Florence

I will be uploading some photos to Flickr if you are interested.

Quick Update

2007-09-05T22:14:00.000+10:00

We arrive safe and sound in London after an epic journey across the Pacific and the US. We had a quick change over from Qantas to Air America and got into London 30 minutes early. Kay managed to jump the very long immigration queue so we had lots of time to catch our next flight. We waited very patiently at the baggage carousel but our bags didn't show. No bags. Great. My camera charging cables are in my bag.

Fast forward 36 hours and our bags show up at Ann's house. We have £200 to do some clothes shopping, from our travel insurance. I am like a zombie as I am so tired after our 41 hour travel time and all of the shopping we had to do

We spent the day today at Durham cathedral, will update some more photos.

Tomorrow we will be flying out to Italy. Very excited.

See you on the other side

2007-09-01T05:57:00.000+10:00

Well it is my last day at home, I fly out in the morning and I am totally stuffed. I have been very busy with P&C stuff I think I will sleep most of the day and a half we will spend travelling. We are having a pizza party to celebrate Father's Day tonight while watching the Ben 10 movie. I have packed everything including the kitchen sink, taken every piece of electrical device I own and emptied the bank accounts - I am ready to go :)

Benny's got the right idea, I am off for a lie down and a movie with Nate after he finishes Darren's drawing for Father's Day.

Chao

Things still to do

2007-08-27T08:06:00.001+10:00

* Pack camera bag - when it arrives, hopefully on Monday

* clean lenses

* charge all camera batteries and clear all cards

* decided whether I am taking video camera and change tapes

* pack back pack

* wrap presents for the boys

* write notes for the boys

* finish decorating travel journal

* copies of important documents for my case, Kay and Darren

* foreign cash

* update iPod and charge, pack cables in bag

Just about done

2007-08-27T07:59:00.000+10:00

packing my case. I washed all of my clothes over the weekend, we are having sunny, warm weather, I think the first really warm day since last Autumn. The boys are in shorts today and wearing their hats. Darren has taken the older two for a ride down the lake while I finsih getting things ready, Cooper is still asleep.

I am taking my small suitcase, the one I took to America fours year ago. It has been difficult to decide what to pack since we are going to both England and Italy. I looked up today's temps and found Geneoa to be min 20 and max 27 oC and Newcastle min 8 and max 18 oC. I am worried about getting too hot in Italy but luckily the north looks to be cooler than the south. I managed to fit all I wanted and it weighs around 15kgs, with just my toiletry bag to go in. That leaves me a few kilos for souvenirs and my day pack is empty so I have that to fill also.

I also got the thank you cards made for the people we will be staying with, Kay did the shopping for the presents. Next I have to wrap the presents I have bought the boys, I have a little something for each Saturday I am away. I also want to write them some little notes for Riley to read the Nathan each night before bed. I usually read Nate his bedtime story so that might be the time he misses me.

I also made the little album for Riley's soccer coach, I printed out some photos and wrote a little thank you in it, nothing fancy, nice and simle but done. Riley liked the look of it so I have to put his together. I was also putting together my little brag book to show relatives and the oys got theirs out and we added a few more photos to their books. They love having a little book of photos to get out and have a look at.

It was exciting getting out the travel box, the one with my passport, money belt and other things I need for my trip. I found a few US dollars to take, we have about 4 hours in New York airport so I will take this to buy a drink, I think I will get a little more changed. At least I should be able to update my blog while waiting for the connecting flights.

When the boys get back we are going to go for a bush walk and then to the Noodle bar for dinner, our last day together before I go.

Nothing much

2007-08-25T06:29:00.000+10:00

p>is happening around here today. Got my cashcard sorted out for my trip, got a good rate with low commission so I was happy. When I was out collecting the post I saw this guy sitting in the sun in the garden beside the driveway.

I got Nate and took some photos, after we spent some time getting closer and closer, Nate and I discussed the possibility that he might be dead. I was about to get a stick to poke him when Nate said he saw him blink. Then he turned, flashed his blue tongue and snuck under the driveway. Thank goodness I didn't touch him, I think I would have sprouted a bunch of new grey hairs.

Nate is having a Ninja day today. He saw me playing peek-a-boo with Cooper and claimed the headband for himself. He has been doing Ninja moves all morning and is now watching Power Rangers.

Cooper has developed a new habit (one of many new ones) that I am not particularly fond of, picking all of my flowers, and I mean all of them. I have a couple of pots of marigolds and a few filled with pansies and he picked the whole lot, didn't even save me one to admire. Luckily I have a basket of pansies up on the gate that he can't reach.

After seeing this girl's blog I have been trying my clothes in different combinations. I have two tops on that I haven't worn together before and I really like how they look together.

Got some cash

2007-08-23T07:03:00.000+10:00

Oh my goodness, the Aussie dollar doesn't buy much. I decided to get a small amount of pounds and most of my money for Italy. It doesn't look like much for 8 days in Italy, I am going to find it hard to keep to the 20 kilo luggage limit. I asked Nathan what he would like me to bring him back from Italy and he asked for a little car filled with lollies. I have also been practising the few words of Italian I know, I did Italian in Year 3, 30 years ago. Nathan also sang me an Italian song that he learnt at pre-school and I am looking forward to learning a few words from my cousin. I also got a new battery for my video camera, I was thinking of not taking it, then decided it would be great for me to show the boys when I got home. I also got my travel size skin care, Cooper decided he liked the taste of the perfume sample the lady gave us. The poor guy spent most of the morning strapped in either the car seat or the pram. I am going to get out my suitcase tonight and make myself a packing list, I think I have planned to take too much stuff, especially with the amount of room the cords and camera will take up and the fact that i am taking a small suitcase.

Itinery

2007-08-23T06:30:00.000+10:00

This is roughly what we have planned

1/9 - leave Sydney

2/9 - arrive Newcastle airport - stay with Ann

5/9 - fly to Pisa, Italy - stay with Deborah

12/9 - fly back to Newcastle - stay with Ann

17/9 - drive to Edinbrugh - stay night in B&B

18/9 - drive to Inverness - stay with Uncle Alan

20/9 - drive back to Durham - stay with Ann

23/9 - drive to Coventry - stay with Walter and Jane

25/9 - drive to London - stay in B&B, Buckingham Palace tour

26/9 - city tour of London

27/9 - free time in London

28/9 - leave London Heathrow

29/9 - arrive Sydney

Much better

2007-08-22T07:48:00.000+10:00

Well I am having a much better day today. I found some photos of Italy on Flickr and that got my pulse racing, Sue (my second cousin) posted a photo of mum and herself on her blog, that also got my pulse racing and I started sorting out the songs on my iPod and I ordered my camera bag, which was something I was stressed about so I just ordered it. I think I have gotten over the guilt of leaving the boys for so long and now I am starting to get excited. I will be in Italy in 15 days!

Nathan was with me when I bought the Star Wars II game for the playstation, he told Riley, guess he couldn't help himself, so now Riley is constantly asking me when am I leaving. I have bought a few presents for Darren to give to the boys while I am away. One thing Riley gets from me is that when he wants something he doesn't give in so I am guessing I will be hearing alot more questions about my departure date.

Cooper had a huge sleep today, he is still alseep, so i watched Shark and then Oprah. Bob Greene was on talking about the best life challenge and one of the contestants talked about not wanting to change her lifestyle and the diet must fit in with her lifestyle. That is the line of thinking that I have had in the past, I don't want to change any of my bad habits but I also want to fit in 5 visits to the gym each week. This is the reason I have been feeling so overwhelmed. They talked to another guy about having high expectations and going flat out and burning out, that is also something that I do, he had a negative opinion on every aspect of his life, ditto. I have to change my lifestyle and my thinking, I have even thought about taking the TV out of the lounge room when I get back so I cannot be tempted to sit in the recliner so often. What do you think Darren?

I've had enough

2007-08-21T07:53:00.000+10:00

I am not sure really what to write but I want to remember how bad I am feeling at this moment, I tend to only write on this topic when I am having a good day. I am just so tired and rundown, I haven't been exercising and I don't think I have eaten a vegetable in over a week and I am dehydrated. Not a great way for the boys to remember me before I leave for my four week holiday. Maybe I will use that as my motivation because nothing else has managed to work. I also guess I am missing mum more than I thought I would and I always miss my dad around birthdays.

ETA - Well I have had a good chat to Darren and he has calmed me down a bit and now I am working on my meal plan for the next four days, I do not want another repeat of today, it is a nice light salad for lunch not a white bread roll that causes my sugar levels to drop. I also found this quote from here that I need to keep in the back of my mind at all times.

Tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are

A bad few days

2007-08-20T14:39:00.000+10:00

Cooper and I have been sick, with different things but both sick. I went to the doctor's on Thursday and need to get my test results back tomorrow, I am on antibiotics. I am going to take Cooper to the doctor's as he has been feral for the last two days, constant whining, not like him at all. I thought it may be his ears again but I felt in his mouth tonight and thought I could feel a new tooth at the back. Maybe his 2 year old molars are coming through, he suffered badly when his eye teeth came through so I am hoping it is not his teeth that have him this upset.

I didn't get much done this weekend for my trip. I have a list a mile long of things I have to do. I am going to try and do the banking stuff tomorrow. Mum rang tonight and said it is quite warm over there so I will be packing a few lighter clothes. It hasn't sunk in that I am flying out in 13 more sleeps. I am actually a bit nervous about going away for so long but Darren assures me that he will be fine, I hope the boys will be OK and not miss me too much.

Ok back to watching "Meet the Fockers" - Darren and I are both in stitches :)

36

2007-08-16T15:06:00.000+10:00

well I am now on the side closer to 40!

I had a lovely day, the boys came in with the pictures they had made me. Nathan brought his Peter Rabbit book in and read it to me. Riley gave me the picture that he drew the day before, it had a butterfly, tulip and bird on it. Darren made me bacon and eggs for breakfast and got the boys ready for school. I had morning tea with Hel and she gave me a candle, all wrapped in pink. Katharine was down from Brisbane on her way to Europe so she came over for lunch. It was so nice to catch up with her, I really miss her. We were supposed to be going out for dinner but I wasn't feeling too well so Darren made the boys burritos and we had take away Thai from my favourite restaurant Hom Thai. Later on Darren and the boys gave me a book with a little reading light and some slippers to take away with me and they all made me one of the birthday cards that I love, Darren always thinks of clever things to do with the boys for my card.

Nathan and I made a pink marble cake, I decided since I am the only girl in the house I was having pink.

Mum had already left for England so she sent me a card with a gift voucher, I am going to spend it on iTunes to load up my iPod before I go and Darren's mum sent me a travel dairy. I am going to make a list of things I want to get done in the next year but that will be another post

Tonight

2007-08-15T13:25:00.000+10:00

as I was putting Riley to bed he looked at me with great excitement. I knew what he was thinking but I asked him anyway. He said "I hope you have a great birthday tomorrow mummy".

He worked on my drawing this afternoon, asking me not to peek. I prompted him with some questions but he did the drawing himself and hid it somewhere in the dining room. I cannot wait to see it, I love presents that are handmade.

A great year

2007-08-15T13:18:00.000+10:00

2007 has been a great year for my flowering plum. They are in flower all over the neighbourhood, such a pretty site in the way to/from school. I am always catching glimpses of our one out the front, usually the blooms last a day before the wind take them away.

Sunday morning

2007-08-13T03:04:00.000+10:00

We are having a lovely relaxing Sunday morning listening to some music

Darren is pottering around cleaning the kitchen after making cinnamon muffins for morning tea

I am scrapbooking in my PJ's, I love the sketch I used on my last layout and plan to do a few more like this.

Riley is working on his notebook, writing out the alphabet in bold capital letters, he is having a PJ today and is still in his PJ's

Nathan is making a card for Lachlan's party at playmaze this afternoon

Cooper is wondering around outside playing with Benson and eating a fruit stick. He is now wondering around with Darren's toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.

Decisions, decisions

2007-08-12T04:04:00.000+10:00

I just dropped Riley off for his first birthday party without me, Darren has taken the boys to Sydney to pick up his new bike exhaust, I have 45 minutes. Now do I:

1. Make the bed and put the washing away

2. Make myself a coffee and do some scrapbooking

I actually did think about it for a second

ETA: I made myself that coffee, checked out a few blogs then watched Property Ladder on Austar. I did the washing and tidying in the afternoon.

Getting busy

2007-08-11T14:16:00.000+10:00

I have been working on getting the dining table cleared and it is almost done which means I have room to scrap. After finding this sketch I knew that I had to get busy on a photo and memory that I wanted to scrap for a long time but just didn't have the inspiration to get it done. I worked on it this afternnon and got it finished. It is the first layout I have done in a long time and I and really happy with it. I love this new sketches site as it has a lot of sketches for single photo layouts.

Then when I went to put the layout away I saw some photos of Cooper that I had ready to scrap. I scrapped while Darren was watching the Bourne Identity on TV and checking some procedures. I love Courtney's work and scraplifted one of her layouts.

Relationships

2007-08-11T07:29:00.000+10:00

I found this the other day and it really inspired me.There are lots of relationships just in this household alone. I have always been good at getting photos of the boys with people, now I need to get pictures of Darren and I. Here are some featuring Cooper and his family, including mum and dad. Now to search for photos of our extended family.

Change to goals

2007-08-10T05:11:00.000+10:00

So it has become obvious that I am not going to reach my goal of 80kgs by September 2007. I am OK with that and I am not going to beat myself up over it. I am 6 kgs down from this time last year and take this as a good sign. I have changed the name of the category to "getting fit and fabulous" as a way to track my weight and fitness goals and since 40 is closing in on me I thought that was a great motivator and reminder.

It's here

2007-08-04T07:16:00.000+10:00

My birthday present arrived this morning and boy is she a beauty. It only took a couple of days to get here, no import tax and in perfect condition.

Nate was happy to be my model for the afternoon (for a small fee of 4 squares of chocolate)

I think it will take me a little while to get used to zooming again, after using the 85mm so much I went to walk in closer rather than zooming to get a tighter shot. Also it tends to shoot a little dark but I am very happy with it and think it will be worth lugging it around on my trip.

2007 done

2007-08-03T16:00:00.000+10:00

and 4 more to go. One thing I have to do when I back up to DVD is do a copy of the best photos, I spent ages doing this earlier on in the year but didn't burn a copy to DVD, now I am back to looking at over a 1000 photos per month. That is an average of 30 photos per day, I really need to delete some of the photos when I upload them. I also didn't make a back up of the tags I had set to alot of photos. I am going to use this new start to really think about how I am going to manage and organise my photos.

I was OK about losing my hard drive thinking I only lost two weeks of photos, until I realised I lost the photos of the Kitty Hawk. Now I have a 320 Gb external hard drive and a 4Gb compact flash card (so I don't have to empty the card when I run out of room anymore), now I should be able to have every photo backed up even though it is not the end of the month.

Hey Cool

2007-08-02T06:55:00.000+10:00

My thank you page is on Stacy's blog, scroll down to the second photo of the double pages and there I am on the left. I have been concentrating so much on our trip to Europe coming up that I forgot she is coming out to Australia in November. It will be so great to have a class by Stacy again, I can still remember the class I had with her in Provo 2003 and how touching it was. I am so happy she is writing another book, I have all of her other books and read them all the time. I haven't tried a photo album scrapbook but after seeing how easy it was to make the page I think I might give it a go.

This morning's outside activities

2007-08-01T05:39:00.000+10:00

I came out of the front room today to hear Cooper stomping his feet, I knew what that sound meant, I raced out to see Cooper standing on top of the outside table.

I had left him in his bedroom with the sliding door locked! I can still clearly remember when Riley learnt to open the back door, he would end up in the garden at 7 o'clock in the morning. This time of the morning means that he is not dressed, it is cold, the grass is wet and muddy and the most important two, the dog pooh hasn't been picked up and the dog water is still down on the ground waiting to be splashed in.

He does think he is clever though, notice the thumb lifting the lock, he can open the glass door lock too.

Cooper was trying to sweet talk Benson into playing ball but he wasn't interested, his back legs are getting too sore from the cold, even though he sleeps in the garage with two wollen blankets.

Cooper hepled me pick a bunch of chrysanthemums for my little posy vase on the kitchen window sill. I have never picked these before and I think they look really pretty.

I also cleaned the windows with methylated spirits and an old face washer and was pleased with how clean they look. Normally I use windex and paper towel but my new way will save some money and they are cleaner too.

A good day

2007-07-31T13:26:00.000+10:00

Riley has been having a run of awards given to him, all due to his hardwork and determination. Last week he received and award for the player of the week at soccer, his coach came up to him after the game and told him "Riley that was your best game ever, well done". What a way to make a 6 year old feel great, that made my heart smile for him.

Today he received:

1. Bluey from school for his best effort in his story writing, something he struggles with. I love it when a teacher recognises and rewards a child for working hard at something they need to improve.

2. Award from swimming for progressing up to the next level, something he has been working very hard with, he got to ring the bell and move into the Minnow class. Nate took his spot swimming with Lynda.

3. Bravery award from mummy for being so brave in the dentists chair for at least 15 minutes while the dentist put a cap on his damaged adult tooth, I am glad he couldn't see me squirming in the corner when the dentist was using the drill. His feet did tense up for a while and lift of the chair but the dentist was so great with him he relaxed and worked hard at keeping his tongue out of the way and his mouth wide open.

Way to go Riley, you deserve all of this recognition for the hard work and best effort you put into doing all the things that 6 year old do.

Darren would be proud

2007-07-31T05:29:00.000+10:00

We were in the car coming home from grandma's and I was listening to the ABC news. Next thing I know Nathan says, he must have heard the Dragons mentioned on the news

N: "Mark Gaznier is back on the team"

M: "who?"

N: "Mark Gaznier is back on the team, for the Drags"

M: groan

A beautiful night

2007-07-30T12:45:00.000+10:00

Tonight is the second night of the full moon, last night I got up at 11:30 to turn off the hose, I had left it dripping and it was like daylight outside, the moonlight had lit up the whole backyard, I didn't even turn on the outside light. I tried to get a shot of it tongiht with the clouds all around, I really need to get a tripod.

Today was such a busy day. I went shopping with mum and Kay to Miranda to buy a few more things for my trip. Got a new umbrella and clear raincoat, I also got Nathan some new undies and t-shirts. He has had such a growth spurt lately that he is grown out of size 4 t-shirts and is on to size 5. He could get away with wearing Riley's t-shirts. He is still wearing size 4 bottoms, tiny toosh that he has.

Darren took the stump out of the front garden, he says he is feeling sore from all of the digging but there is still more to do, there is a heap of roots to remove. It is a good job that we took it out when we did because the roots were pulling the downpipe off the wall. The boys had fun playing soccer and football with Holly, Darren made a footy kicking tee with a lemonade bottle cap, they also had fun using next door's trampoline, they were out so the boys had fun not having to share.

I got all of the washing put away tonight, there is nothing I hate more that starting off the week with 4 baskets of washing to be put away. I am going to reading with Riley tomorrow, I hope Cooper is well enough to go to mum's, he was pretty ferral today, his cold is quite bad, his nose is constantly running and he isn't eating much but he gets lots of cuddles of Grandma so I think he will enjoy himself, that and Grandma always walks them to the shops, buys them a donut and then they have a play on the swings at McDonalds.

I read a story or two to Nate every night, sometimes we lie down to read but most times we sit on the end of the bed. Tonight we read Doctor Maisy and Maisy's bathtime, he wanted to read the Maisy flapbook but it was getting late and he is still tired from being sick so it had to be a quick story as it was already past 7pm. He also likes me to tuck him in real tight, tucking his Nemo quilt under his body so he looks like a worm then his blankie on top, I tell him grandad used to tuck me in like that when I was a little girl and he asks to be tucked in like grandad most nights.

A nice family day

2007-07-29T13:00:00.000+10:00

p>Soccer was at 9:50 today so we all made it down, Cooper has been really sick and we haven't been taking him to the early games and he woke up at 5am this morning but went back to sleep after a drink of water. We all slept in til 8am which was great, we all needed that little extra sleep. I don't think I have slept a full night for at least 3 weeks with Darren working extra hours and the boys waking due to their illness.

Riley ended up playing both halves, we thought he might not make the whole game since he has been sick with tonsilitis all week. Shane asked if he wanted to play goal keeper and he wasn't interested, he loves the running and tackling too much to stand in the goals with nothing to do. They won their match by a long way again today, they are a pretty strong team and have only lost one game the whole season. Shane is a great coach and Riley is learning to tackle, he can kick the whole length of the field and has sent many kids off crying because he has hit them with the ball.

When he first started playing we had to force him to eat an orange, now he has one every week, although he still won't eat them at home.

After soccer I headed in to town to look for a bed, we have been needing one for a very long time and DJ's were having a sale. I found one and got it on 18 months interest free. It was so comfortable, we don't get it delivered til the middle of August since I got the floorstock model, saving $400. I also bought two new pairs of Birkenstocks, I was so happy to find them, I usually go in to Michael's every four months and they never have anything I like in my size. I am so relieved I found some to take to England with me, my old ones are a bit tatty and smelly.

Since the weather was gorgeous we spent the afternoon in the front garden pruning our shrubs that had grown too big and were taking over. Darren washed his bike, Nate of course was out there helping him and I took Cooper out to play and watch Darren and Nate. We all had a sit on the driveway enjoying the sun, I even ending up lying down on it for a minute as it was so warm. I then decided to get the pruning shears out as the side garden was looking very unloved. Next thing I know I have a huge pile of cuttings on the driveway and the bush is looking alot better. I went over to borrow Cathy's green bin and we quickly filled it and ours, Darren is such a sweetie, he always put the piles of clippings in the green bin for me, I am always happy to prune but hate that final step. I then decided to put the cuttings in the back of the car and take it to the tip. We piled the boys in the back and I left Darren weeding and headed to the tip knowing that it closed at 4pm. We got there at 3:59pm and the gates were already shut, guess they close early on a Saturday. Nate fell alseep on the way back, Riley played his gameboy for the trip and Cooper cried for a little while then found something to amuse him out the window. Cooper didn't have much of a sleep today as his runny nose really bothered him.

I think Darren enjoyed pruning the bush as he started on the other one near the garage. We have been fighting it for many years as it overhangs the path, well it is gone now. The cuttings are on the front lawn waiting for the trip to the tip tomorrow, I am hoping they let me in for free since it is green waste, it will be $8 otherwise.

I plan to move a rose from out the back to this spot and have some bulbs and annuals to try and pretty up the front garden. I am going to try and plant out this bed without having to buy any plants, using seeds and cutting from around the garden. I already have some bags of manure and there is plenty of bark to use.

Back to playgroup

2007-07-21T09:00:00.000+10:00

Things are back to normal now school is back this week so we had playgroup this morning.

Playgroup hasn't been so fun lately and we have missed quite a few Friday's due to illness. Cooper decided to hit on the head all of the kids that were younger than him, I spent the whole morning following him around and then trying to catch him before he slugged another one. At least most of the mums felt my anguish as they cuddled their little ones. I decided to strap him in his pram when he hit one of them, I think he went in there about three times and boy was it a struggle to get him in, he arches his back and goes as stiff as a board, I really have to fight to get him in. He settles down once I get him clipped in but boy he puts up a big fight twisting and turning one I get his bottom on the seat. Nate had fun playing handball with his friends, Logan and Ethan and after being taken home from climbing to the top of the slide a few weeks ago he has been as good as gold. I was also nervous about Cooper climbing on the play equipment after he had his big fall off the steps last term. I wouldn't even let him go on it today and took my post by the steps to stop him, he only tried twice then kept busy playing chasings and kicking the balls around.

After Cooper's sleep the two of them played outside, they had great fun playing chasing with the pegs. Cooper's boot came off so he ran round and round the table with me running after him trying to get his boot on. In the end he tripped over so I could catch him, he is getting too quick for me now and I am usually out of breath by the time I catch him.

Darren is working tomorrow so he picked Riley up from school so they got the play outside a little longer.

Here Nate is putting pegs on the tree, Cooper doesn't mind that he cannot climb up, he is just happy to be playing with one of the big boys.

How can I stay mad?

2007-07-20T05:00:00.000+10:00

We were out in the garden this morning as it was a little warmer today. I had just finished sweeping up all the leaves, he loved it when I lifted him up to put the leaves in the bin and when I came back from putting the bin away he had thrown dirt all over where I had just swept. We then went out the front to do some weeding a minute later he brought my garden lamp up to me, he had snapped the hook clean off so now it is useless. Good job they weren't that good anyway. I couldn't stay mad at him for long, especially at lunch when he wanted to play a game of boo.

PS I did try to wash his hands

20 months

2007-07-18T00:00:00.000+10:00

So my little guy is 20 months old today and what a little character he is. He is so full of emotions at the moment ranging from fits of laughter to tantrums that he doesn't know how to control and ends up in head butting something to showing us constantly how much he loves us. He constantly reminds me of Riley at the same age and this always beings a smile to my face. He loves to give cuddles and lots of them and he is getting better at saying goodbye to visitors, he waves frantically at them when they drive down the hill. He still has a sleep at lunchtime but his appetite has decreased since he has started feeding himself. He has lost alot of weight this month, sickness has plagued the house this month, and is only just starting to eat more now.

He is constanly on the go, rarely sits down unless strapped in, and the only way to get a photo with him is to grab on tight.

Lots of tears and tantrums, I know it is tough being the baby and not getting everything you want when you want it :)

Constantly wanting to do what I am doing. I had just tossed the scraps out to Benson so Cooper threw all of his food on the floor too. He loves to help me with the washing, sorting out the colthes and hanging them on the line.

He doesn't like to sit in the highchair anymore. I used to be able to leave him in there while I got my jobs done, not anymore. Now it is a race for me to get everything done in the mornings before he wants to get out. he has started to get out of his shoulder straps. He is the first one to attemp to climb out of this highchair.

Busy, busy, busy and more busy, busy, busy

It is a real workout to take all 3 boys to the park, the older two are pretty good at staying where they are told but all Cooper wants to do is chase after the birdies. He doesn't care where the birds take him, he just follows them with me chasing after him, he is getting pretty fast too.

More chasing after the birdies at the park, he nearly made it to the water and they were both covered in mud by the time they got back to the path.

I am attempting to cook dinner and he has realised he is starving. I have started giving him a late afternnon snack in his high chair so I can get dinner cooked. He is constantly at the pantry yelling for something to eat.

Not sure if he is upset by the noise from the vacuum cleaner or by the fact that it is my turn now. He also cries in the shower now, the whole time he is in it.

Visit to Nanny and Poppy

2007-07-13T00:00:00.000+10:00

Darren took a couple of days off work to make a four day weekend visit to Dubbo. I hadn't met baby Zoe yet and was dying for a cuddle. It was pretty cold and rainy but the boys still found things to keep them occupied and we took plenty of warm clothes.

Darren spent time working on the car, fixing the aerial and looking at the brakes

Cooper was a bit lost with all of the room to run around. We kept him well rugged up so he didn't get sick again

Nate had so much fun riding up and down the driveway. He did great riding without his training wheels.

Nanny's garden is just starting to bloom, it is going to be lovely in the spring.

The boys always love a cuddle with Nanny, especially when snakes are involved. Cooper didn't want anything to do with the snake until he saw his brother's eating them :)

Sniff, I cannot believe I forgot my inside lens, this was about the only shot I took of Zoe, next time. She was so gorgeous, such a pretty face and I am sure she smiled at me, I offered to swap her for one of the boys but Booba wasn't up for that :)

Back to business

2007-07-12T20:28:00.000+10:00

My fitness is getting better so I have increased my plan when at the gym.

Bike - Level 7 interval - 15 minutes - wow those few extra dots on the screen sure make a difference

Cross trainer - Level 3 - 10 minutes - this was fairly easy, will increase the level next time

Walker - Level 5 fat burner - 20 minutes - this was pretty tough

I am really enjoying my time at the gym and am planning to go three times, adding Saturday morning in. Natalie is back and I really like her style of training so I am not stressing over that. I bought a new pair of jeans to take to England with me and they are a bit tight at the moment so my motivation is high to have them loose when I go. Only 7 weeks til we fly out, and the excitment is starting build, also the panic at how many things I need to organise :)

Busy

2007-06-30T13:00:00.000+10:00

I have been busily preparing for my crop night at Jody's house tomorrow night. It has been 6 months since we had our last one and I cannot wait to catch up. I think I have about 10 pages prepped and ready to go, just working on the places we have gone in 2007, not very many really, something to work on. I also ordered Riley's albums, I have been waiting months for these to come in, well actually longer than that because I could never find anything I liked. I don't have the funds to order Nathan's and Cooper's, they will have to come later.

My legs are very sore tonight, I have made it to the gym two times this week and boy did I pay for missing the last month. All I could think to myself as I was trying to get through my bike routine was that I am not going to miss so many weeks again. I think I have lost all of my fitness that I gained since February. My normal PT is back next week so I am looking forward to getting back on track.

I have been having alot more fun with Cooper lately, playing games and tickling his ribs. I feel like all I ever do with him is tell him, chase him around the house and take away from what he is doing. Although he is enjoying the garbage bin and the toilet at the moment, hopefully this phase will pass. My hands cannot take the amount of cleaning these two items are getting, they are dry and cracked.

I'm back on track

2007-06-28T13:29:00.000+10:00

So now Darren spent all last night working on my computer I can finally upload photos and edit them without it having a heart attack. So hopefully I am back on line with my blog posting :)

Baby Zoe

2007-06-28T13:26:00.000+10:00

We have had a new addition to the family, Darren's sister had a little baby girl, Zoe Belinda, on 1st June. We are so excited for them to have a little bundle of pink and she is so gorgeous.

Notice Nate trying to get his hand in the picture :)

Trust me this little girl is going to get pink clothes for every birthday and Christmas off Aunty Mel

18 months

2007-05-18T04:04:00.000+10:00

So my little ~~trouble-maker~~ guy is 18 months today, he is such a gorgeous little guy, he now ~~gets into absolutely everything and is driving me crazy~~ gives us cuddles which of course melts our hearts. I thought it might be fun to list some of things he gets up to on a morning, so here we go:

18 things you did today before lunch

1. ate porridge for breakfast and two fingers of toast

2. threw the remaining 4 fingers of toast on the floor

3. called out "more" for the last bit of orange juice from my cup, I refilled it for you several times

4. took Riley to school and today you didn't buck in the car seat

5. came to Woolies with me and loved walking thru the carpark holding my hand

6. called out "more" when the fruit sticks went into the basket

7. ate two fruit sticks in the trolley and then asked for "more"

8. tried to help me get the 2L coke zero out of the trolley, you didn't lift it very far

9. ate two slices of turkey while I put the groceries in the car

10. threw your slice of turkey and whined for the little CD player and I asked if you wanted the "music?"

11. played boo, while you sat in the car seat and I unloaded the groceries from the car

12. had a slice of cheese while I unpacked the groceries, crumbled the last bit on the floor

13. turned the frnt TV on and the volume up really loud then run into the kitchen when the TV scared you

14 took the feather duster out of the hall cupboard and pulled all of the feathers out of it, my ostrich feather duster imported from the US, it is now put on a higher shelf

15 threw the pig against the wall after I changed your nappy

16 played outside and went looking for Benson, calling out "Beeee"

17 got into the pot containing the lemon tree and threw dirt all over yourself, it is still stuck in your hair

18 tried to climb up the kitchen cupboard door to get a fly that was on the microwave door

Back to business

2007-05-09T07:32:00.000+10:00

So the last two weeks for me have been really hard. Riley is back at school and the after school activites have started. As a result I have not been planning our meals and the WW diet has fallen by the wayside and my weightloss has stopped. I did go shopping this morning and stock the house full of good food, I seem to be able to cope with cooking every night if there is meat and vegetables in the house. Although I did forget to buy the salad ingredients so it might be steamed vegies every night this week.

First gumboots

2007-05-09T07:15:00.000+10:00

I bought Cooper his first pair of gumboots today, size 5, he had great fun outside walking around in them. He was a bit wobbly at first because they are loose but he was happy to put them on. He came to the back door calling me when one came off. When I went outside he walked over to the boot and pointed to it, he has a fondness for shoes at the moment. I tried to show him how to put them back on but I think that may take a while.

It also struck me while watching Cooper play with Benson how much the boys are going to miss him when he is gone. Benson's arthritis is getting bad now and will probably get worse as the weather gets cold. I can see Cooper demanding us for another dog when Nate and Riley are at school and Benson is gone. They have so much fun together, Benson is especailly fond of Cooper since Cooper loves to share his biscuits with him.

Balance

2007-05-07T05:42:00.000+10:00

I feel like I have a thousand balls up in the air at the moment. I have so many things racing around in my head I cannot seem to get anything done. I love that I do all of these things but I need to get some organization back into my day.

P&C obligations – Mother’s Day stall, Fashion Parade
Reading for Riley
Weight Watchers meetingsBirthday parties for the boys
Planning for England
3 visits gym/week
Swimming
Gymnastics
Soccer
Playgroup
Grocery planning/shopping
house cleaning (yeah right)
Cooper to get his shots
me to get my thyroid checked
Mother’s Day
Washing put away
Ironing
Back up digital photos to DVD
Update blog
Scrapbooking classes

Just looking at this list makes my head spin.

Getting closer

2007-04-27T06:39:00.000+10:00

I have to say I was pretty happy after I weighed in this week, I lost another 1.9kgs (total of 4.5kgs). I cannot believe how easily the weight is coming off, my clothes are starting to get loose and it has only been two weeks. Making it to the gym three times last week obviously paid off, and I actually don't mind going, getting really puffed is not so scary for me anymore and I enjoy listening to my iPod without any distractions. Although I did make the mistake of telling Natalie (my personal trainer) that I was over my cold, boy did she make me work hard, she increased my weights and I got to the point where I couldn't lift my arms higher than my ears. She is off to South Africa for 8 weeks, I am hoping she notices a big change in my weight when she comes back. My PT session will now be on a Wednesday so it will be interesting to see if that affects my weight loss as I weigh in on a Tuesday.

I actually wore my brown cords yesterday, it has been over a year since I have fit into them and they weren't tight around the waist either.

440

2007-04-23T02:56:00.000+10:00

that's how many calories I burnt off at the gym yesterday. I felt so strong doing my workout, even on the cross trainer. I have noticed that my heartrate seems to max out at around 174, whilst two weeks ago it was reaching 182, I hope that means I am getting fitter. This is also the first time I made it to the gym for my scheduled three times and guess what, I actually survived.

I want to post some pictures to progress my weight loss, so here is the first one

Yesterday I managed to collect all of the calendons off the tree. It was so heavy with fruit, I am hoping Grandma will make some marmalade out of it.

In other news Cooper now has a dose of conjunctivitis and Nathan has it in his other eye. The two of them has swollen eyes this morning and needed a shower to clean them out. This means that Nathan will be missing out on Brooke's 6th birthday party but I have promised him a big piece of birthday cake and lolly bag and Darren has promised to sit down with him and watch Ice Age 2. Nate seems pretty happy with that.

I feel good

2007-04-21T15:22:00.000+10:00

I lost 2.6kgs at my weigh in this week, a total shock because I let a few sweet snacks slip in but I did make it to the gym two times so I guess it is paying off. I have been sticking to the points plan for this week and haven't found it too difficult to resist the sweet things.

I felt very proud of myself last night, I was cooking dinner and two girls appeared at the door selling chocolates, Darren was out walking the boys so I was left to deal with the temptation on my own. I went to get the money and thought "I don't really want to eat this" so I gave the girls $2 and told them they could have a chocolate each as I didn't want them. I could hear them racing down the street laughing and yelling that they had scored a free chocolate.

3 hours sleep

2007-04-21T15:02:00.000+10:00

that is all I got last night.

The reason - look at that right eye

He got something in his eye at pre-school and then rubbed it all afternoon to get it out. When Darren picked him up his eye was an awful mess so he took Nate to the doctor's to get it checked out. The doctor gave us some eyedrops and couldn't find anything in his eye.

Nate woke around 10pm and his eye was completely swollen shut with lots of ooze coming out. We decided to take him to casualty so rang mum to come and watch the boys, we made the sofa bed up for her because we knew how long we would have to wait. We finally got to see a doctor at 1am after I threatened to take Nate home, the nurse bumped him up a place, I will have to remember that for next time. He got some dye in his eye and they found some small scratches but nothing too serious. Nate was so brave throughout the whole ordeal and loved playing with the toys until 1am. The eye was much less swollen when he woke this morning so we think it is on the mend.

As a reward for being so brave at the hospital and putting up with getting drops in his eyes every two hours I decided we would go and look for a toy. His choice - a blue light saber - was no contest really and a nice match to his green one. I haven't told him you can get a purple one, I might surprise him with that for Christmas.

First game of the season

2007-04-15T05:12:00.000+10:00

Riley has begun his second year of soccer and is in a team with two of his friends from last years team, he has to play in the Under 6's again. Most of the kids in the team go to his school and they are playing 7 a side this year.

I was so impressed by how fast he was running, he could easily keep up with the other team but he wasn't too confident about tackling the other player, a lot of times his kick was too late. He went really well with his kicking and even had a long shot at goal, no sight of any slide tackles yet. He hit two of his team members in the face due to his hard kicking and they both came off crying, he is pretty strong and has a mean kick, he is also the tallest in the team. Overall he enjoyed the game and the little packet of lollies given to them by the coach.

This is a picture of his first game last year, notice him at the back of the pack, red faced.

This is Riley in his first game this year, taller and stronger, the clothes don't swamp him as much. His soccer boots are now a size 2 (Nate enjoyed wearing his old pair and cannot wait to play next year) and he happily ran the length of the field to chase down the ball.

Royal Easter Show

2007-04-14T14:00:00.000+10:00

We made our annual visit to the Sydney Easter Show today and by the loud snoring coming from both bedrooms I think the boys had a great day. We had a bit of a whoopsy choosing train stations and ended up taking almost 21/2 hours to get to and from the show, at least we know for next year.

We started off doing the animal walk checking out the farm yard animals, cows, sheep, goats, pigs and horses. We didn't get to the chickens, ducks and geese and those are my favourite - oh well there is always next year.

The boys had been preparing for the show all week, ever since the showbag brochure came in last Sunday's paper. Riley picked out the Magic showbag and Nathan a Western one, I also let them choose a $2 lolly one as well. Riley was behaving so well all day that I let him get an extra bag - a Ninja one, I will let you know if this was a good decision, I have my doubts as there is a bow and arrow set in it and lots of plastic knives.

Cooper really enjoyed watching everything from the pram and having the occasional walk around with mum or dad. The other two liked having a break from all of the walking by taking turns sitting in the pram.

Nathan just couldn't contain his excitement to be at the show. We battled with him for most of the day to keep him close to us, but he did so well walking around all day. He crashed in the car on the way home and wasn't too happy about having to have a shower. I bet he will be excited by his showbags in the morning.

It's time to bite the bullet

2007-04-11T20:45:00.000+10:00

So after watching the Biggest Loser tonight and eating way too much chocolate over the weekend I have realised that I am not going to lose weight just writing and thinking about it. So I looked up the Weight Watchers website for meeting times and low and behold there is a meeting on Tuesday morning right next door to where I do my shopping on a Tuesday morning. So I am taking this as a sign (and I do believe in signs) that this is the way I need to go.

Meet Zac

2007-04-05T06:35:00.000+10:00

Riley's little grass hog friend that he brought home from school yesterday. He has eyes somewhere amongst all that grass and Riley is dying to give him a haircut.

He never stops

2007-04-05T06:27:00.000+10:00

Now that Cooper is walking he is constantly walking around the house looking for things to do. Very rarely he will sit in his room to play with his toys so I make him sit in his chair for 15 minutes watching The Wiggles after his morning tea so he gets a rest. He always has wet hair from sweat and by 11am he is getting pretty tired and cranky. He also has a few bruises on his head where he hasn't learnt to stop before crashing into something. The table is a bad area for him and he has manged a few injuries in the last week.

He hasn't learnt to stand up from the sitting position without hanging onto something. This means he walks on his knees til he finds something he can hang onto. No way is he going to crawl anymore.

Oh man that was bad

2007-04-05T06:11:00.000+10:00

Nate thought he would be kind and share his flu with everyone in the house, luckily Riley managed to escape it. I am only beginning to feel better today, once the flu gets into my sinuses I know I am history for at least two days. One good thing to come out of my being sick is that I have not had a coffee or coke zero for three days, let me repeat myself no coffee and no coke zero for three days. I am thinking that might have something to do with why I am feeling so nauseous all day long, that or the elephant size anitbiotics I am taking. I am feeling much better today so maybe I have already been through my detox and I am planning to keep off it, the lemon and ginger tea I am drinking tastes pretty good.

I took Cooper along to the doctor's as he was off his food and pretty upset most of the time. It turns out both of his ears were infected. He absolutely lost it when the doctor looked in his ears, I don't think she hurt him but just that his ears hurt so bad. She initially prescribed 5 ml of antibiotics and I pleaded with her for a more concentrated one, now I only have to give him 1.2ml 3 times/day. Cooper has perfected the art of using his tongue to catch any medicine that is put into his mouth so he can spit it right back out and I knew that I had no hope of getting a whopping 5 ml down his throat.

Beautiful blue skies

2007-03-29T06:35:00.000+10:00

We have been having the most beautiful blue skies over the last few days. Sometimes they are clear, other times they are full of dark stormy clouds. I don't mind hanging out the laundry when it is this nice out.

My camellia by the front door surprised me with a few flowers yesterday. This one nearly got the chop last year but it bloomed so well and so pretty that I let it stay.

Slowly, slowly

2007-03-29T05:56:00.000+10:00

So yesterday was a good day, I fit back into my favourite green shirt and I tried on my brown cords and they fit as well. I have a drawer of clothes that I want to fit back into and the brown cords moved out of it back into the wardrobe.

I had my personal training session on Monday night and survived it, although my poor stomach muscles are feeling sore. We have cut back on the walker to Level 3 as my left knee began to play up when the walker was on a really steep incline. I can now do 10 minutes on the cross trainer and it isn't so painful so I am going to start adding 30 seconds each time I go on it. I have been missing Friday afternoons at the gym as by the end of the week I can't be bothered. So Darren and I have worked out that he is going to meet me at the gym after work so I don't have any excuse to miss it.

I still need to work on my food choices. By morning tea I am starving and then I am on the lookout for anything sweet to go with my coffee, the rest of the day is OK as I am pretty busy. I like the idea of pre-packaged snacks to keep in my handbag when I am out so I don't get to the ravenous stage. This week I am focussing on drinking my water and eating my fruit. Bed time is easy after I have been to the gym, I am usually unconcious by 9:30pm.

I haven't dropped anymore weight so I am going to stop weighing myself every week as I get depressed when I haven't dropped down. I am going to weigh myself once a month as I can tell when my eating is going well and I am losing weight.

I think he likes getting dirty

2007-03-28T07:52:00.000+10:00

Darren cut the back lawn yesterday since it has been raining so much and the grass was getting really long. Cooper was outside while he was mowing, he used to be scared of the lawn mower and cry the whole time Darren was cutting the back lawn. Not anymore! He was out there with his brothers getting covered in grass and dirt. I heard Darren yelling at him for eating a handful of dirt, hence the grotty face I threw the face washer outside and locked the door - no inside until they had cleaned themselves off.

Notice my foxgloves in the foreground looking all green and lush. They are flowering and I am excited yet nervous as Nate loves to pick my flowers. I haven't made a big deal of them as that would make them a target for sure.

Time in the Garden

2007-03-25T10:25:00.001+10:00

I think yesterday might have been our last hot day for a while, the humidity has been up around 96%. We all woke up shivering this morning, the temperature was around 13oC, way too cold for summer PJ's.

Thank goodness for the air conditioning and that galvanised bucket I bought.

These boys are always hungry "mum can I have something to eat and not starting with fruit or crackers"

Riley is so helpful with Cooper, except when he tries to roar off at full speed and Cooper hangs on for dear life

I would classify him as a "walker" now - he doesn't drop down to crawl anymore. He looks so funny lifting his knees in front like he is marching with his hands up in the air

Almost fully open and they are pink. Nate was inspecting them this morning, I think he had plans to hit them with his monster truck.

Our First Welcome BBQ

2007-03-23T21:25:00.000+11:00

So tonight we all rocked on up to school for the annual Kindergarten welcome BBQ. It was our first one as Cooper was only a few months old last year and I was just too pooped to go back then. Riley could not stop bouncing from the moment I picked him up from school til the moment his head hit the pillow.

The boys all had a great time and had a go on all of the rides end enjoyed their sausage sandwich and ice cream for dinner. I pulled the pin early when they started to fight while waiting in line and Riley chucked a paddy when he realised we were going home. Only when I got him home and he had cried and screamed for 20 minutes did I realise that he had virtually had nothing to eat all day. I can count on one hand the number of times this boy has had a meltdown and each one has involved a hungry stomach.

Autumn is here

2007-03-20T21:28:00.000+11:00

It is so nice that the weather has started to cool - I have so many things I want to do around the garden. It is overcast today and a great day for taking photos outside and since Cooper is asleep, Nate is at pre-school and Riley is at school I decided to snap a few of my favourite things in the backyard at the moment.

This shoe and bowl were my mum's and are two of my favourite things in the garden. The bowl has travelled to Perth and back twice, it is superglued together after coming off second best with a scooter and Nathan has also used it as a commode. It is one tough little bowl.

The port wine magnoila is in flower at the moment and smells lovely everytime I walk past it or sit on the lounge by the window.

I saw this galvanised bucket at Big W on the weekend and had to have it, it is used for Benson's water at the moment. I think I may go and get a watering can too.

To do list

2007-03-20T20:33:00.001+11:00

Ok my mind is buzzing around with things that I want to get done:

1. Sort out an area to store groceries so I can do a fortnightly shop

2. Finish clearing the dining room table of the last remaining junk

3. Go to Bunnings in search of concrete pavers and gravel for the new BBQ area

4. Paint and hang new message board above computer table

5. Spray gardenias and feed camellias and gardenias

6. Replace pots by front door with samller pots of pansies

So...

2007-03-19T13:36:00.000+11:00

now that Cooper is getting into everything and annoying the boys by turning the TV off just in the middle of Tom & Jerry, they have learnt to pick him up and move him out of the way. Last week I heard Cooper crying in his room, I went to discover that he had turned the TV off so Riley had carried him into his room and pulled the gate across. Riley thought this was quite reasonable, Cooper was not too happy. Yesterday I came home to see the playpen surrounding the TV, Darren couldn't stand him turning off the motor race any longer.

Since I don't watch TV during the day this new thing for Cooper hasn't really bothered me. What does bother me is Cooper is reaching for the door handle and trying to turn it. I am not looking forward to the day he learns to open it, that means access to the front room and the garage!

ETA: Don't forget that he likes switches as well. He has learnt how to turn the computer on and off and Nathan's lamp. He has also got one leg up onto Nathan's bed (thanks Dazza)

Oh my

2007-03-14T06:46:00.000+11:00

I think I have died and gone to heaven!

My shipment of American Crafts paper has just arrived after taking 6 weeks to get here. Now I just have to clean off the dining room table so I can get some scrapping done!

I survived

2007-03-13T12:55:00.000+11:00

So after having made 10 visits to the gym I booked an appointment with a personal trainer to get some help. Natalie was great, although she started late and finished early, will have to keep a check on that one.

I thought I was going OK with what I was doing but boy was I taking it easy. The cardio workout she designed for me left me gasping for breathe and barely able to walk. I am feeling pretty good today so maybe I can keep going at that pace.

Bike : BEFORE: Level 4, rolling for 25 minutes NOW: Level 6, intervals, 15 minutes

Cross Trainer: BEFORE: Level 1, 5 minutes (if I was lucky) NOW: Level 4, 10 minutes (my target for next week)

Walker: BEFORE: Level 1, 6.0 km/hr for 30 minutes NOW: Level 6, 6.1 KM/hr for 20 minutes

OK the cross trainer is the one that is scaring me, I only managed 8 minutes last night, but I determined to get to 10 minutes the next time I see Natalie in 2 weeks.

My plan is 3 visits this week: Mon night, Wed night, Friday night (Body Balance)

Thank goodness for icy poles

2007-03-03T14:12:00.000+11:00

Cooper has had the vomiting bug over the last few days, Riley had it after his birthday last week. It is really awful to see Riley with it but even more so to see my little baby sick and not being able to eat or drink. I like to think they get the sick bug because they suck either their thumb (Riley) or their fingers (Cooper), I don't think Nathan has ever had the chuck bug, he only sucks his tongue.

Anyhow Cooper had a restful day (slept 5 hours), managed to keep down an icy pole, which he devoured pretty quickly and had some dinner and a drink of water tonight. Nathan was such a great help to me, trying to keep Coopey happy when he was so miserable. Nate didn't eat too much today and looked really tired, I hope he isn't coming down with it as well. I don't think my stomach can handle much more.

Week 2

2007-03-02T21:41:00.000+11:00

this counts as my official week 2 since starting at the gym, down 1 kg from last week

I love going to the gym and I am getting faster on the bike and treadmill, I cannot believe the difference a week has made, the bike does scare me a little though. However I am so totally exhausted by Friday that dinner for the last two weeks has been take away, I think I need to look at my gym schedule or plan the Friday dinner. Who am I kidding, I think I need to get to bed before 11pm.

Additional goals for this week are:

1. Lights out at 10pm, Sunday to Thursday

2. No more biscuits - going to throw them out of the house

3. Stick to the 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbs and 1/2 vegetables on the plate for dinner each night

Guess what Riley lost

2007-02-24T21:42:00.000+11:00

his first tooth, to say he was excited would be an understatement.

I noticed the adult tooth growing behind his baby tooth about two weeks ago and freaked out a little bit. I rang the dentist and was told to tell him to wiggle it really hard. Finally it came out while Riley was in the middle of his swimming lesson, even the instructor was excited for him. He put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy and got a gold coin for it. I let him take it to school the next day for news and he took such great care of it, I was worried he would lose it but he promised not to take it out into the playground. Riley asked if he could keep it to show his children :)

He had his first dentist appointment on Thursday and his teeth were in great condition, the dentist was very pleased with him for taking such great care of his teeth.

"No mummy I am six now"

2007-02-21T14:44:00.001+11:00

I told him he has to have 5 more spoonfuls of breakfast and that was my reply - woops!

He had a great day, got to take Fruit Tingles and balloons to school for his classmates. He brought home a card from his class and two birthday stickers. We bought him dinosaur lego, batman Hotwheels, Matchbox planes, Meccano (which needs Daddy's help) and some things for Playstation. He chose a green cake and I surprised him with silver sparkles, I thought they might be a bit girlie but he loved them, so did Nate who asked if they were metal. We had dinner down the beach, the boys couldn't go for a swim because of the blue bottles, they had fun walking over the rocks and having sand fights, Cooper enjoyed eating it.

Riley is such a beautiful boy, he has a heart of gold and tries his best at whatever he does. I am so proud of how he is going at school and his swimming and how great he is at making friends, he is loyal and is always so excited to see someone he knows. He is a wonderful example to the younger two, although sometimes I wish he didn't have so much energy! We love you Riley and hope the next 6 are as good as the first.

No Movement

2007-02-21T14:27:00.000+11:00

So the scales are still on the same spot the last time I checked. I worked out today that it is almost six months before I leave so I had better get my butt into gear if I want to reach my goal. I have been walking into school each day to pick up Riley so that has added about 20 minutes walking to my day. I really enjoy it and the boys love to have a play on the swings before we get to the car.

I am setting myself three goals for this week:

1. 3 times to the gym (wed night, sat morning, mon night) went 4 times, Thursday was extra

2. 2 pieces of fruit/day yep

3. 2 litres of water/day probably drank close to 3 litres

4 Years Old

2007-02-21T14:01:00.000+11:00

I have never done a shoot just for Nate before, usually he jumps in when I am taking photos of Cooper, although I haven't taken many shots with Cooper sitting still lately. I love how these turned out and am thinking of getting it printed for his room.

Finally

2007-02-20T12:47:00.000+11:00

Our birthday and Christmas season is over. The boys have all had their birthday's for the year and have lots of new toys to play with and are all happy because they are a year older, which means Nathan has to eat 4 more mouthfuls and Riley has to eat 6 more mouthfuls of their dinner, if they haven't eaten enough, before they are allowed dessert .

So now the job list begins, I have so many things to get done and hopefully we will have some free time on the weekends.

1. Photos edited and burned to disk to send out - this one is high priority because it is long overdue. Although I do contribute this lag to a certain little 15 month old who keeps pushing the off button on the computer. A laptop would be such a great addition to our family :)

2. Sorting out toys to put away new toys the boys got for their birthday, Christmas toys have been done. I also want to work on cleaning out under the bunk beds as it always looks so messy.

3. Sorting out Coopers clothes since he is getting too big for the size 0's and send some down to Gillian for little Sam

4. Work out my TV schedule as I am going to limit myself to (gasp) 10 hours per week. It may seem alot but in this household it is quite a reduction. I shouldn't really complain about how little time I have for the things I want to do when I spend so much time watching TV

5. Download photos from camera - DONE

Well I think 5 is enough, hopefully I will have this done by the end of next week.

Oh I forgot one

6. Get tax info together and make appointment (for you Dazza)

Good Buy for $2

2007-02-14T21:48:00.000+11:00

Riley and I were shopping in Spotlight for his party bag supplies when I spotted these planes for $2 each. Always a sucker for little gifts for the boys I bought them one each, along with a glow stick each and a little sticky blue dolphin for Nate and a yellow whale for Riley. They had so much fun playing with them, they especially loved the propellers turning as they flew.

Good job I have a handy supply of sticky tape cause they have been patched a few times but they are still going after two days.

Two funnies about my dad

2007-02-13T21:49:00.000+11:00

These are prabably the two funniest stories I have about my dad and when I think about them I still get a laugh

1. We had a golden labrador when I was a teenager and I used to search through his fur looking for and retrieving fleas. When I caught one I would put them in a glass of water to drown. I placed this glass of water next to the sink. Later that night I asked Dad where the glass of water had gone and he got this cranky look on his face. He had drunk it, fleas and all. Man that one still cracks me up

2. We had been living in our current house for about a year and new houses were still being built and new gardens were also being established. We went for a family walk one night and as we were walking up the path between two houses my dad says loudly (he was partly deaf so he always spoke loudly) "now that's a bloody awful garden, look at that pink flamingo". Darren and I began to wet our pants because the owners were working in the garden and we are convinced that they heard him. Dad got so cranky cause he had embarrassed himself and we had laughed about it. We never let him forget that one either.