Christmas Cheer!

Here is our little bit of Christmas Cheer,
for it has been a while since I was here,

The joy of the season has come and gone,
it did not last ~ all that long,

Long school holidays are now here,
Sunny Sydney it's skies are clear,

The sand and surf are now the way,
to spend a long, hot summers day.

So do drop by now and again
to have a look at where we've been!

On the fridge

Does your fridge gather JUNK? Mine does!
Sometimes I fear that it will topple right over with all of the stuff that collects on the doors.  As you can see from the little sample here .... {this is only half of it! ~ truly} Mine has a serious clutter issue ~ which directly reflects how busy our week is.
School notes, awards, reminder messages scrawled onto the magnetic whiteboard, the calendar, little artworks {self-hung at 5 year old height}, the weeks dinner menu....... etc etc.
Sometimes the notes become three deep, and the poor magnets can't cope ~ which results in the whole pile sliding down the door every time the door is opened or flying across the room if a breeze blows through!  Some days I wish for a bare fridge, one without notes and reminders, without little grimy hand prints or thousands of magnets ~ but then I remember that time is fleeting and one day  I will miss the clutter.



Enjoy the moment!!!

Beautiful Forster!

Well after a few hiccups, the boys have returned to the nest! 
The comedy of errors began when Dad was called into work at the last minute and had to miss out on the trip.  So I {armed with the trusty GPS} set off alone with the little guy on the four hour trip to Forster.  Within ten minutes of arriving though, the little guy had skewered himself on one of the beautiful scarlet roses that grow in Pops garden {while trying to sniff it}!  It was a bit nasty - but he quickly recovered and was running around {read: being a maniac} in no time.

Bed time was when the action really happened though, with boys bed - hopping and constant trips to the toilet {!} as well as a mysterious itching attack that had middle guy wriggling and jiggling for at least an hour.  Needless to say - Mummy didn't get much sleep!

After a very long five hour trip and only several hundred "are we there yet's", we finally made it home, Exhausted!

My poor camera unfortunately did not get let out of the bag, so the above image is borrowed.  The Boys LOVE the dolphins and this is always the highlight of the trip.  Hopefully next time I visit I will get to wriggle my toes in the warm sand though!

{Image}

Always a Daddy's girl!

 So, there I was waving goodbye to the precious cargo I had stowed into the backseat of my Dad's car {read: two big boys!}, wondering why I had thought that it was a good idea to send them off on their first big trip away from home {read: ME} alone, when I am SUCH a stress head with that sort of thing!
Then it occurred to me -{light bulb moment} that I was entrusting them to the only person I know who is just as more safety conscious than me - MY DAD.  And after-all he did manage to get me through childhood relatively unscathed!

My Dad is a bit pedantic - and I think quite truthfully he may have driven my Mother around the bend when we were little, ensuring that we were safe.  He put up a big TALL fence around the pool before they were required by law, he baby-proofed the house and he was the one who checked and double checked that we were wearing our seat belts before he started the car.

In truth - I was a bit of a Daddys' girl , being the youngest  - but I think I secretly loved that he treated me like precious cargo all of the time.  I think children feel loved and cared for when their parents are concerned for their well being and I don't think it really does any harm. {I am truly NOT a princess now -TRULY}......

My eldest son gets a little frustrated with me ... he is the explorer, the ground breaker, the thinker.  He thinks that I treat him like a baby ... when all of his friends are allowed to do this or that and he is still waiting to be allowed...... He grits his teeth and says "OK Mum".  I tell him that we have rules because we love him ... I know that deep down he knows this and that maybe one day he will look back and be grateful for the way that we are! Just as I have done {it only took me 36years and three kids!}

So, for today I will be grateful for the great start to life that I was given by my parents, I will trust that my boys will have a great time on their BIG trip away from home and I will hope that maybe they might come back with a little insight into how I became the Mum that I am!

Bon Voyage....

They're leaving me!!!! Tomorrow (or today cause I've stayed up so late packing) my two big boys are travelling 4.5 hours away to stay with their Grandfather at the beach.  There has been much anticipation about this holiday, counting the days until the big "Trip", planning the fishing equipment required and writing and re-writing the packing checklist.  Only thing is, now I think I'm going to miss them too much!  My little guy is staying ...thankfully ... but now I'm thinking,
 "what are the school holidays - without the school kids???"
Anyway ... I will have to take my own advice (~the advice you will often hear me uttering under my breath~) and {suck it up Princess!}.  They are going to have a ball {if the rain stops} and I'm sure that the little guy and I will find plenty to keep us entertained.  Have a safe trip my boys .. I'll miss your mess!

I want to bottle this!

It's September!!! Where did this year go? and last year, and the one before that????  I like having a five year old to chatter away to me all day, to bring me little bunches of flowers, to stand on a step ladder to hang the washing on the line, to ask for snacks all day ..... before long he will join the ranks of "full-time" school boy, just like his two brothers before him.  After 12 years of having a little person to fill my days .... I will be without a chatterbox!  So I want to bottle this moment, and every moment between now and February.

The three musketeers!

Just sharing one of our latest photos, they are all growing too quickly and when I thought about it - I hadn't taken any fun group photos for a while.  I received the phone call that I have been dreading today..... KINDERGARTEN INTERVIEWS !!! I'm not ready for my littlest man to be a a big school boy 5 days a week ...boo hoo ....4 months until THE day..... I think I will be taking lots of trips to the park between now and then!

And just a little glimpse of all the other photos ..... I took 297 in about half an hour!

The Weekend...

I dream of weekend escapes to far-away places, of beaches and above all S-I-L-E-N-C-E {nb:read child-free weekend}.  That is not how this weekend played out! Instead I decluttered the mess that masquerades as a child's bedroom, washed-folded-ironed about ten loads of laundry and refereed a gazillion brother-love squabbles. It is at times like this I like to remind myself that the time is fleeting and that I should treasure each moment {whatever that may be} .... this is the little piece of Zen that I have attached to my fridge door this week:
"This too shall pass"
This I have found helps me to keep perspective when I am counting to ten under my breath for the 50th time....1,2,3,4.........
Hope you enjoyed your weekend!