Monday, January 30, 2012

a whole new school year

This week our local kids all start back at school for 2012. 
For our household our eldest munchkin starts Pre Primary which means full time schooling from now until at least 2027. She doesn't start until Thursday so this week will be easy.
 Next week however I am sure that I will be crying my eyes out by midweek.
 I am really looking forward to spending my days getting to know Flynn better. But I have spent the last 5 years with Lucy with me majority of the time and I will miss her terribly. 

Another challenge will be school lunches. So rather than see them as a chore, I thought I could see them as a challenge. The challenge is that every Monday I will post a "What's in that kids lunchbox" series. Because I will be showing the world, I'm hoping it will keep me motivated to make sure I load her lunchbox with good stuff and no junk. Last year was easy as she only attended Kindy 2 days and I had and least 2 days off in between so I could shop if I needed to. This year I will need to be organised and imaginative. 
Hopefully I can inspire others to share too. Or maybe just give some inspiration for your kids lunches or family picnics. If I make anything "out there" I'll try to make sure I let you know the recipes. Plus I'll let you know what is a hit and what is a failure. 




Saturday, January 28, 2012

gift for a cheeky girl

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Inspired by Pinterest, I spent a few days collecting supplies and then a few days creating.
The little girl who I was making this for is most definitely too cool for standard type 3year old girl gifts. And I have no doubt she already has a good collection of accessories. So I just added a few new ones for her. And this was her reaction.
She has perfect present opening style - Rip into that little sucker!
What a cutie pop


Her birthday is in the height of summer and this year Mother nature put on a show of over 40degrees again. But that didn't seem to phase the kids at all. And the best party tip that I learnt from this party was that no matter what, we NEED to get a bubble machine. It was honestly like a snake charmer for kids. They couldn't get enough of it.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

40degrees celsius and still learning'

Today is another hot hot hot day in Perth. 
Even though I have been air-con hopping (house to car to shopping centre to car to house) so that we spend no more than 2 minutes enduring it, I have managed to learn some simple life things.

1. Araldite is not my friend. I am not saying that it is not good, just that it is not good with me at the controls.

2. Sometimes happiness can come from a pair of shoes. Especially when you have been hunting all over for them and the last shop you try has them in your exact size and on SALE! This then turns into double happiness because your little girl also gets a new pair of shoes with the money you saved. And that turns into triple happiness because your little boy gets a rubber snake toy so that he doesn't feel left out. Which isn't a complete waste because it will also be used to scare birds away from our vegie patch.

3. It is not always the best idea to waste time straightening your hair on hot and sweaty days.

4. the local cats must be very hungry and if you forget to put your esky out for the milko you will not only get spoilt milk, but your loaf of wholemeal bread with be mauled also!

Hope everyone had a lovely Australia Day yesterday and an awesome weekend to top it off.
We are attending a 3year olds Disco party so will hopefully have some great tales and party ideas to share next week.

Monday, January 23, 2012

biggest loser australia 2012

Even though only the first episode has aired, I am already addicted and excited. All of the networks baiting and teasers have worked (you know leaks about romances and people being kicked off for boozing) I spent last night choked up at the contestants stories and hopes for love and companionship. They are so brave admitting it to the world.


In the past I have watched and followed each series of B/Loser with good intentions of getting healthier myself. But each year I can admit to watching most nights with a big bowl of carb loaded pasta etc and loading it down my throat oblivious that I was doing the exact opposite!
This year I am not using the program as inspiration or a reason to start. I thankfully found that in myself last year  and now realize that no tv program can be responsible for that. Watching this year I am excited to watch their journeys to self respect and confidence.


And on the topic of healthy living, my new lifestyle is flowing on to my kids. They have always been good eaters - in the sense that they will eat most things and they don't poo-pooh veggies or salads or even unsweetened natural yoghurt's. But I did fail them with white bread and pasta. I haven't completely given away with white pasta's, although they probably only feature about once a month round here. Now though we eat mostly quinoa in place of rice, cous cous, potatoes and pasta. It's just so easy to cook and they love it. Also I have been using only wholemeal bread for them and this morning they had wholemeal pancakes as a treat for breaky and didn't notice anything different. I do wonder how they will cope with the extreme sugar high which is sure to come from Lucy's party in a few weeks. But you are only a kid once right? And who wants a party with no cake an only carrot sticks! NOT ME.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Girls days and 1 on 1 kid times

Once a week our boy child goes to Daycare. I have no doubt that many people "pooh-pooh" the idea of the child of a stay at home mum attending daycare. Honestly I could care less about those opinions. For our family it works for many reasons. Some of those being that it gives him a chance to interact with other kids his age without me or his big sister interfering; he gets to play and learn with messy things that we don't do at home; I can clean the house and do the grocery shopping and have appointments without dragging him along and him getting extremely bored; etc; etc; etc.
During the school term I get the whole day child free. However right now is school holidays so Lucy is home with me and we have embraced this time and dubbed it the official "Girl Day" of our household.
This weeks GD consisted of sushi. Okay so we did other things too, but all Lucy wanted to do was have sushi for lunch. She is very easily pleased, so I thought I'd up the anti and took her to Sushi Bento that had a sushi train. She was brave enough to try a pork bun, but didn't really like it so stuck with chicken nori rolls. I promised next time we would take her Dad and dare him to eat something funny like chickens feet. HAHAHA I love that she just wants to prank him.


Life can sometimes get in the way, but mostly we try to make sure we make the effort to spend time with each of the kids separately and make a fuss about it. It's too easy to compare them to each other all the time and when they are on their own their individual personalities are so adorable. And it rarely costs much. Last week we had an afternoon with Flynn when Lucy was on a play date. We needed to go to Big W so we just let him spend as much time as he wanted in the toy isle. He didn't care that he wasn't going to take anything home. He was just happy that he wasn't rushed or told off and he could push every button on all the transformers to his hearts content.

It's these little things that have made these school holidays fairly painless. YES my house is a mess. YES they go to bed too late because we don't have to rush off to school in the mornings. I didn't say we were perfect!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Finding reasons to dress up

I am generally a very casual kinda girl. I think in all honesty I find not only comfort in a pair of jeans and tee, but also a little bit of security. The funny thing though is that inside my head, my personality and the way I see myself is not a jeans and tee person at all. 
I am most certainly not all glitter and sparkle or over the top, but I do like to look pretty and dress up. So lately at every given opportunity I have tried to do it - get dressed up that is!
Last night we attended a cousins engagement party so heels and a dress were not out of place and I loved every minute of it. And even though this morning - the morning after - I am feeling tired and cranky at Clint for being hungover, I find myself going through my diary checking for the next event I can get tarted up for. 
The next time I think will be a 3 year old's birthday party! Stuff it if the kids are getting dressed up so am I!
Interesting how only now in my 30's I am embracing my girlyness.

Anyone else feel like this too?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

More holiday snapshots

We had such a fantastic time down south last week that I just have to share more photo's. Our accommodation was great - the best bit of course was the heated pool and the fact that we were right in town so we could walk to the shops and restaurants.
 Our view from the balcony. The kids could barely wait to get in the pool every morning
Water fun
 Kings of the castles and dirty rascals
More "bomby" fun

 Pretty birdies at the Berry farm
Awesome sunsets at Prevelly

Hello 2012. We are pleased to meet you

Happy new year everyone. I hope this is everyone's best year yet. Our family got a very special chance to go away to Margaret River in the first week of the year and it was a great trip. Here is some photo's of the adventures we had. (Also we have hidden a tiger in some of the pics so see if you can spot him!)
On our way 
 To yummy to drive past. Their chorizo is the best I have ever had
The official driver (because I was the official drinker!)
The ashy landscape after the fires in Prevelly. It was quite eery and yet beautiful at the same time.
 Cool sculptures at the hedge maze place
Ready to be challenged by the hedge maze. This place was so much fun. Can't wait to go back there on our next trip. The maze itself was a good test too - definitely not too easy. 
Having a rest in the maze. We were lost!
A play at the icecreamery
Plus milking the fake cows. So cute and funny.

I have some more photos but will put them in another post.
Did you spot Mr tiger in the photo's?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

the rest of December and 2011

Phew we finally made it. I had planned to post a blog every couple of days over December, but the month was out of control. So here are some pics of our December
the boys did some "boating"

Some cool off swims at a friends house

Passing out sitting upright

Putting reindeer food out on Christmas Eve

All the magic of Santa

Fancy feasts with cousins
Awesome Christmas day fun

Followed by more present madness
Passed out in the car before we made home

Getting dressed up for more celebrations

Such a pretty petal.


Cooling off in the paddle pool
falling asleep mid action man play
Finishing off the year with Camping-our-way. Also known as pitching the tent in airconditioned loveliness!