Aussie Aussie Aussie

I am sending you an early HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Australia Day rocks. I couldn't think of anything better than celebrating what a great country this is. I love Australia and I am a very proud Australian.

I will be up at 4.30am in the morning to shower so Mum and I can hit the road at 5am. We are heading to Crows Nest to pick up Sheree and zooming out to Roma. We will also drop in for a wee visit to Injune, to pay our respects to Uncle Fred (my Grandfather) who was buried there 20 years ago in February. In Roma we are visiting and paying our respects to Grandma and Aunty Di (Mum's Mum and sister). Grass should be pretty good out there after all the rain.

We are staying the night at a motel in Roma, then after a quick McD's breakfast we will hot foot it back to Crows Nest to drop Sheree home, pop into Telfer's in Toowoomba to pick up a parcel then zoom home to Brisbane. We have to have the hire car back by 3.30pm, there ain't no time for dilly-dallying.

My small bag is packed and ready. I will have an early night tonight cause didn't get a great deal of sleep last night, plus my kids driving me nuts today and need to chill out and read a magazine. It is so easy to pack for one. Taking the kids anywhere you bring the entire house including a portable kitchen sink. Travelling light is a very weird and unusual situation for me. I will enjoy while I can.

Have a bewt weekend, remember the suncream and hat and enjoy your days.

Love ya and love Australia!

Nice

Had a nice day. Zali went to kindy and Caleb and I walked down the end of the street to the park for playgroup. The weather was nice and it was great to chat to Liz and Shan.

Caleb fell asleep on the lounge when we walked home so I made myself comfortable in the study and started and finished a scrap page (yay!).

We went to visit Liz, having to come through the back tradesman entrance as she had *misplaced* her keys. (Side note: her husband found them in her car!) Caleb played with Zane and Sabrina while Liz and I talked scrap. It rocked!

Picked up Zali from kindy and we all played outside. Both kids start getting a bit tired and I start getting a little 'testy'. I wasn't impressed when I came to find them 'playing' with their dessert (custard only cause they didn't like the added tinned pears) which was dripped all over the floor, down their legs and mushed over the table. Not impressed at all. I only left them for a few minutes to get the latest information about Heath Ledger's passing. (Another side note: quite sad for a young bloke to pass away, but even sadder for his family and especially his 2 year old daughter).

That 70's Show gave me a few laughs and then I played with my scrapbooking - both things are good for improving my mood. Now I will have a nice cool drink of water and plan my next scrap page.

My thoughts are with Campbell and his family after a pretty rough day. Hope you mend soon little fella, big hugs and kisses.

Throat

That is what I am going to grab if I get my hands on any of the hundred small black flying buggie things in my kitchen. They are driving me NUTS!

They don't care about fly spray, they seem to get a little upset with orange spray freshner stuff, but they still don't leave! Grrrrrrr.

Have you tried the Sweet Almond and Custard bun or loaf from Bakers Delight? Oh. My. Lord. It totally is delicious and scrumptious and soft and yummy and, well, try it if you like custard.

Peace.

Rock On

Today we rocked! At the Hi-5 Travelling Circus Spectacular!

It was heaps of fun, I loved it a bit too much and sang to all the songs and wanted to be the one getting up and doing the moves. However when they said to join in, it was the kids who danced and the adults who stayed seated. I didn't want to block the view from the kids behind me. Considerate aren't I! (dammit!)

Caleb, Zali and I drove to the Convention Centre with Kerry and Riley behind us. We got a park beside each other which was great, then hot-footed it upstairs to join the crowd. We met up with Kerry and Dylan and our Hi-5 party was ready to start!

This will be a shock, but I forgot my camera. Gasp! Luckily Kerry bought hers and got a few shots. Will post some when she sends them over to me.

It was really cool seeing Hi-5 for real! Arrrgghhhhhhhhhhh! We had great seats and the door where we entered had was very short compared to others that snaked for miles - I suggested ours must have been the VIP entrance. The original Charlie, Nathan and Kellie plus Sun and the 'new Tim' was Stevie. Does Stevie sound manly to you? They all did a fabbo job. I loved the trapeze - they were swinging and flying around the stage - I was surprised by no safety harnesses - man, they live for danger!

I am pretty sure they all waved directly at me to say bye, I mean at the kids, I am sure they were *this* close to giving me their phone number and we would all become best friends.

The day was fun, the kids went to sleep on the way home. Caleb woke up 10minutes after we got home after being disturbed moving from the car to his bed. Dammit. I needed a nap so he had to build his own train track without me.

Toodles and have a spiffy day!

Happy Naming Day to my Goddaughter Amy Louise!

Janene and Jim had a little ceremony at the park near their house for Amy, which was sweet and meaningul and loving. The dress Amy wore was worn by Janene and Jim (Janene's Dad), so it had family sentiments entwined in the threads.

Amy was a good girl and slowly nodded off to sleep. Thankfully it was when I was holding her she nodded off, wouldn't have looked too flash if she burst into tears when I held her!

Janene looked beautiful and happy and loves her family to pieces. Jim look relaxed and happy and loves his family to pieces (and tried to hide in the corner - I saw you Jim!) I know I smile awful, I am hoping to fix that in the next few months.

The proud Mummy and Daddy, sleeping Amy and the Godparents - Nicholas, Brenda and myself. Nich is Jim's best mate and best man at their wedding. Brenda is Jim's sister. Good looking bunch hey?

Amy changed into her party frock and cut her cake. She was very interested in the flowers on top - not sure that they were actually edible!

Drat, I got sunburnt, Caleb got sunburnt, Adrian got sunburnt and not sure if Zali has any sunburn but she has spent the entire day with a nasty mozzie bite taking over half her calf. Poor us, life is tough! Before you ask, no, I don't think any of us had suncream on. We were running late and well, my bad.


Big hugs to Amy on her special day.

Thomas

After we dropped Zali off to kindy, Kerry and Riley came to our house and packed Caleb and I into their Rav 4 to take a drive out to the Workshops Rail Museum. Caleb and Riley had their official Thomas shirts on! It was fun!

The Fat Controller visited Thomas the Tank Engine and was happy for photos.
There was a huge display of tiny trains. It is so tiny and perfect, you could stare at it all day and spot new details. Just brilliant. Had this cute chairlift.
This is cool. Three trains were shooting around this end display. Thomas had Annie and Clarabel plus two long trains zipping through tunnels and slowly through the stations. People are playing tennis at the bottom left, top left has a house and family with swings and a cubby and the soccer pitch at the front is funny. Look closely, the crowd at the front are starting a Mexican wave!
This was the mountains full of tunnels and a bridges and chairlifts. Very nice.
The red truck was parked in the crops and the train travelling all around it. Colourful and cute.

There were displays of diesel engines and an electric engine. See? Caleb and Riley obligingly posed (with bribes!).
Train driving game on computers. I won't point out that I was the clever one and could get the train moving. When we finished I let the little boy on the next computer use ours cause his mother couldn't get it to work either.
There were heaps of activity stations where you press a button and things move or change or interact, the boys loved it. Heck, we all loved it.

This was another activity station, pressing the button would make this train twiddle around the track.
There was a large open (undercover) playground set up like a train station. There was the station, with pretend office to buy tickets. A train. A small train track with a wagon to push. Cars to drive over the roads. Colouring in stations. A fishing boat. A truck. All sorts of fun, interactive things. There were a few tables with Thomas tracks set up which were a hit.
The play pit was a large room full of wooden tables with Thomas sets. Both wooden sets and plastic sets. There were some pretty cool train sets in here. I picked up a balloon each for Caleb and Riley (unfortunately Riley's balloon came to a sudden end when it hit a spoke of grass walking to the car, oops.). The boys had a great time, Kerry and I were happy with the whole setup and we all left happy (and tired!). There was also a shop with all Thomas things you could purchase.
Overall, the day rocked. Thanks to Kerry and Riley for the adventures. You rock.

Great day

You know how a lot of the time we take things for granted. (Ok, sure, not everyone and not all the time yadda yadda). Normal things we can do we don't even think about. Using your two hands, at the same time. Seeing through your beautiful eyes. Running, jumping, peddaling, climbing a ladder. Everyday things. Sure, I don't run every day, ok, I don't run. Probably don't do much ladder climbing either, but work with me here!

This morning at an occupational therapy appointment, I saw Caleb open his right hand up and reach to grab a yellow wooden ladybug. It is the first time he has opened and closed his hand for an object with no assistance. I fought it as I sat there watching, I still am fighting it now, but I am nearly about to crumble in happiness and sob tears of pure joy and love for my little boy. It is a huge leap forward with his progress. Such a simple task, something we take for granted.

I don't know how to fully explain these feelings. But today is a good day. I hope he knows how special and wonderful he is, now and always.

Why don't you leave me a comment today? Share the love baby.

Bruises

This photo makes me laugh. Both my kids love to dance. To anything. Even to the Woolworths jingle. Here we were watching Sunrise, and they had a choir from Africa (part of the best of 2007 Sunrise episodes). The kids went off!


Zali is improving with her moves. She using more arm action and is feeeeeeling the music.

There are times when I don't like listening to music. Like when I am singing along and Caleb says 'no singing Mum!' Whatever. I am sure his father tells him to say that. Hmpf.

The kids went outside this afternoon to play in the rain. They loved it. Zali loved the mud and dirt and splashing in the water. Caleb loved filling his watering can with water and transporting to the shell pool. Zali loved putting the bucket on her head.

At the end of the play session out the back, Caleb found delight in running up and down the cement splashing through the puddles. Zali had sort of given up and was pulling our clean clothes of the clothes airer and rubbing past them with her dirty grassy little self. You gotta laugh, she did a small wee approximately 37 seconds after I took off her nappy, then took off the peg holding a pair of Grandma's undies, which proceeded to fall into the puddle of wee. It is making me laugh again.

Anyway, back to Caleb. I told him to be careful. Yes Mum, he said. Need to be careful, don't fall over or we hit our head. That was his words. You don't have to be a genius to guess he did slip, a real good one. The thud of his scone hitting the cement was loud and he immediately screamed out in pain. The egg on the back of his head would go into the Extra Large egg carton. I wonder if this has been an educational experience, or he will go straight back to his puddle running. I won't mention the water tap on the back wall that he walked straight in to, his poor bruised and battered noggin.

Have you said I love you to someone today?

Growing Up

This week has been huge for Miss Zali. She turned 17 months and is now doing 'big girl' things. It doesn't seem like that long ago she was a tiny baby in my arms, cripes. All too fast.

We put away her highchair and she has claimed her new booster seat very proudly. She was sitting in it when I pulled it out of the box onto the floor. She had climbed up on it before I had finished tying the straps to the seat. She climbs up and sits on her royal behind and waits for her meals. She loves it.

She had a great time eating her weetbix. She asked 'is there anything on my face?' (Work with me, people! Of course she can speakly clearly and concisely, would I put words in her mouth? Moi?) The booster seat, well, all I can say is it had a quick and messy christening.

The next move up to 'big girl-ness' was to a single bed. This little beauty set us back $10. Good starter bed, and it bounces well so both Zali and Caleb are impressed. Her new linen was part of her Christmas parcel. I would like to make a doona cover and a patchwork quilt for her also. These will be a first for me, but I am keen and determined. Will show you when I have finished. If they can be seen in public, that is.

Her first sleep in her new bed. She is sharing with Piglet and Piggie. Caleb was keen to share also, but he is asleep in his bed in the diagonal corner of the room.

Zali is loving the double swing at the moment. A while ago when I loaded her on it, she didn't like it and got cross at me. These days she climbs up and shakes it, waiting for someone to push her. Of course Caleb doesn't want to miss out on any fun, so he is a very willing participant in the 'it takes two' swing. Bless little Mel, pushing them while I syphon oxygen and count to 10 (this was on Friday while they were driving me nuts!).

This is a cute photo. Zali really swings herself when she walks and this pic captures that very nicely. Not quite sure if Mel was urging her over this way or hamming it up. Love it.

Stay Awake

Friday was a challenging day. By the end I took myself off to scrapbook and tried to chill. Some days it is *very* nice when the kids go to bed. Mel kept me company in the afternoon and thankfully somewhat sane, thank you! Briefly saw my old 'training' buddies at ex-work at lunchtime, looking fab and happy and working hard as usual.

I went to the movies this morning after the groceries were done. I rarely go to the movies. Saw 27 Dresses. I liked it, my type of flick (chick-flick!). Parts of it were frustrating, I wanted to grab her and .... well, I don't want to ruin it for anyone. The movie and ending is very nice and it is one that would be nice in my DVD collection. Will start my 'Dear Santa' list.

Have started packing away some baby items around the house. Bouncer being taken apart (waiting for a tool - instrument, not my husband!), the walking pram that sits quietly out the back I totally dismantled this afternoon. Who'd a thunk it would come apart so easy. It is great, I am scrubbing it all down and half is hanging on the line to dry. Have one more large piece to scrub and will wrap in large bags to put in the shed out the back. The space that is becoming available rocks. Not that I want to fill it again, just the space is nice. As long as the kids don't claim it to spread more toys around the house.

I got a new phone on Thursday, I am really liking it. It is cool. We look out of place together, but I have promised to give it a good, caring and warm home. When the screen goes turns off, the phone is a little mirror! That is scary, I don't need to see this ugly mug every time I use it! I will update you on it's handiness when I utilise that feature to re-apply my makeup. Tee-hee.

This post is boring me, so I will move on before you fall asleep. Want to do a bit more stuff in here before bedtime and the clock is ticking. Take care and make sure you tell someone you love them. Maybe they need a hug too!