Awwww

she loves her "Oi-saac" :-)

Uh Oh

Me (spelling to Steve): I think I'll just make some C-U-P-C-A-K-E-S for him to take with us to S-E-A-W-O-R-L-D next week cause it'll be easier and I'll make the actual B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y C-A-K-E for him to share at K-I-N-D-Y.

Isaac: What was the last bit you said mum?

Me (smug in my I-can-spell-and-you-can't mode): K-I-N-D-Y.

Isaac: That spells kindy.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO................

I'm going to have to talk to the kindy about teaching him to spell...I won't have it!!

The Cake Concensus

Isaac turns five next Wednesday. I've realised that five is the year that you can't escape the whole birthday party thing. Party invites flow thick and fast at kindy, and for the first time, Isaac's realised that this party business is a good thing to be into :-)

So, as soon as his birthday was getting closer and we started talking about it, he was onto the whole "party" thing. At first we were going to brave the whole 15-20 kids at a local park (eeek) but it's okay..I came to my senses just in time :-) and had a brainwave.

SEAWORLD!!

Dad and Michelle gave us year passes to Seaworld for the kids birthday presents this year and we haven't yet had the chance to go. Isaac asks when we're going to go whenever he thinks of it so I reckon this is as good a time as any.

So it's all set - we let him pick one friend to take and he's chosen Ebony his "chick" :-) at kindy (so extremely cute they are, it's been "going on" since they were in Wombats together last year, so it's serious!!)

So the only hitch remaining is that along with knowing about parties, he also has lots of ideas for his cake. The first option he gave me was "a helicopter with guns on the sides and special landers cause you know they have to have special landing leg things mum so they don't crash".

Hmmm.

For those that know me, you know I love me a bit of cake decorating (see pic, one I made for Em's birthday one year) but the whole helicopter idea sorta makes my brain shut down from overload.

"Any other options mate?"

"Well.... (looking at me as if to say how hard is it to make a helicopter) what about a rocket, a blue one, with the triangle things on it (fins I think) and lots of fire shooting out from underneath so its ready to blast off".

What is it with boys, they're not happy unless there's guns or some sort of explosion involved.

Well I aim to please...will let you know how it turns out :-)

My Two

They were being loonies in the hallway this morning...I'm not really sure how I ended up with this soothing shot! I think I will look at it next time I'm ready to sell them to the gypsies.

Sassidy

I think the best word to describe Cassidy is sassy. It sort of covers it. She is cheeky, manipulative, charming and sneaky all at the same time. The last couple of weeks she has kept us on our toes to say the least. I swear she came out of me talking, as I seriously can't remember a time that she wasn't offering me advice in some way shape or form. I often say to her "how on earth did mummy manage until you came along?" and I think she has the same thoughts :-)

Some samples of our conversations over the past couple of weeks...

Me: Right you kids, into the lounge room and keep a low profile cause it's nearly bed time.

Cassidy: No, I'm going to keep a rock and roll profile!

---

Me (about to lose it as she is driving me nuts while I'm trying to get ready to go out): Cassidy, quick go and look out the front window, I think I hear a truck.

Cassidy(look of complete disdain): No mum. We're girls. We don't look at trucks.

---

Scene - Cassidy was supposed to be tidying up the playroom after she emptied a cupboard onto the floor for no reason. I told her not to come out till it was tidy.

Me (hearing her start to come back upstairs): Well I guess that means the playroom is tidy.

Cassidy(stomping on the stairs, attitude clearly audible by me on the 2nd floor): No I just can't do it yet because I'm still very angry.

Me: Well I guess you better get back in there till you're not angry and the room's tidy!

---

Scene - Cassidy had tried to snatch a chair off Isaac but he got on there first. Steve walked up behind her just as she was going to blow her lid...

Cassidy: I was almost on there first!

Steve: No you weren't. Isaac was on there and I saw you try to take his chair.

Casssidy(to Steve): Don't look at me. It's not your problem!

Steve: I will look at you anytime I want and I'm about to make it my problem.

---

Do you get the drift? It's like this with her every.single.day. She is like a little beetle you want to squash to stop her talking but I have a feeling she'd talk under wet concrete.

And don't get me started on what she and Annaliese did on the weekend when we visited the Taylors'....let's just say Heidi's bathroom towels and makeup will never be the same. Picture Aborigines ready for a corroboree wearing Revlon and you have the mental picture of what she looked like. We would have taken pictures but the devastation was too shocking at the time and we didn't think. Besides, it's forever etched in my memory.

All I can say is thank you God for Napisan in wash stain remover :-)

And just one from Isaac that I thought was hilarious...

Steve fell off the ladder yesterday washing the roof of the car (not the funny bit!!) and Isaac said to him afterwards he saw a picture of a man falling off a ladder. Steve asked him where he saw the picture and Isaac said on the sticker on the side of the ladder!

Every time I think of that I get the giggles. Steve spends most of his working life up ladders....you'd think he would ready the safety stickers properly :-) :-)

Maxing out at Neurem Creek

taken by Isaac...I look like I'm on drugs so I made it black and
white to kid myself that it makes me look better :-)

Thought his one was funny...looks like Em is reading a top shelf men's mag by the back cover but it's only a Woman's Day..I mean really, putting that ugly woman on a woman's mag.. :-) :-)

Cassidy spent most spare moments strangling Lucy, Nonna and Father's (her great grandparents) new puppy

Hanging out in the hammock with Uncle Steve and Aunty Em

My modest daughter...love the titles, Woman's Day, Where is the Green Sheep and Steve's Matthew Reilly :-)

Snooze time...Cassidy is always very generous with her babies and lends you one for rest time. She loves the tags on the side of them and is always careful to show you where it is and how to hold it "just right".

Steve and Isaac having a smoodge

the hammock-minders :-)

We're back!

Great time had by all...especially the kidlets. If you're into camping, Neurum Creek is a great place to go if you're close to Brisbane and don't feel like a long drive. It only takes about 45 minutes from our place (Deception Bay on the northside) and is about 15 minutes past Woodford. Great facilities for the kids - Isaac loves the BMX track - and at least at the moment, the creek is flowing and great for a paddle. Free hot showers as well!

Must admit, I think I am a winter camper at heart! It was a bit hot for our liking, the weather was steamy and with not much of a breeze. So, as you can see by the pics, we spet most of the time impersonating lounge lizards :-) Luckily Pa had packed the hammock which is where we spent a lot of out time.

I didn't take many pics (shock, horror, I can hear you all gasp) as sweaty people lying around don't usually make for the most willing subjects. In fact, my big cahoona camera never made it out of the bag as I had bought a snap-happy camera for such occaisions and for once, I was determined to use it.

I don't know what it is about me and little cameras - they hate me. Anyone who thinks big cameras are more complicated - THINK AGAIN. These powershot thingies have evil minds of their own.....

We're Off!

It doesn't happen often, but we're taking a week off!

Nothing really exciting- just camping - but it's good for us cause you can't do ANYTHING. We just eat, sleep and eat some more. If we go anywhere else, we do stuff. So this is for the best :-)

If anyone need to get a hold of us, I will be checking emails/messages daily on my phone and I'll get back to you on the next check-in!

Off to pack some more marshmallows and I'll "see" everyone in a week :-) :-)

Isaac Percy

Isaac's middle name is Thomas. Recently he seemed to come up with the assumption that we called him Isaac Thomas because of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Sadly and somewhat suprisingly - we did not!

Well Isaac was obviously quite disappointed in our choice of his middle name as he announced he would now like to be known as Isaac Percy.

Who knows why Percy, he has a thing for all things green and Percy is green (for those out of the Thomas the Tank Engine loop!)..but I try not to delve too deeply into the inner workings of my son's mind....

so here's Isaac Percy...being cheeky on the pier the other day :-)

Searching through the Archives

back rubs with Aunty Em...

smoodging with Father (Cassidy's great-grandfather, universally known as "Father" :-)




birthday cuddles with Daddy

Mummy getting carried away doing a vintage-y effect :-)

There were so many photos from Cassidy's birthday I didn't have time to look through them all at the time. But sitting here tonight, Steve working on something (yes mum, I should have gone to bed!) but I had a look through them and there were a few I wanted to add...

Austin Photo Booth

my personal favourite...I asked them to touch cheeks (ie put their faces close together) and Isaac did this. That's what you get when your son has a smart arse for a father....

I rarely take shots of the kids in the studio...for one, I'm in there all the time so I do feel a bit "over it" when I'm not working. But also, my two just go nutty in there. Well, they're nutty most of the time anyway but something in there seems to set them off. Maybe it's like the way little insects react to bright lights...they just go mental. I see some similarities :-)

I had to do a bit of product photography and the kids of course had to be in there with me. Cassidy was trying on the jewellery and Isaac was making silly faces and trying to get in on all the pictures.

So I said I would take some of them when I was finished...and here they are. My mad pair in the Austin Photo Booth :-)

Something Fishy...

I'm not sure when or how she got them (I think I bought them for her) but for as long as I can remember, Cassidy has had two dollies that she calls her "babies". No names, just "baby". People often ask her their names, and no, thanks very much for your suggestions but her name is "baby" and that's that. There's two and they are both called baby.

These dollies are nothing special unlike some of the choices out there. For example, last Christmas I got her Baby Annabelle, which as most mums know, is one of those nightmare-ish dolls that cries, spookily opens and shuts its eyes and eats etc. I was willing to take the risk as I thought she would be so excited by its abilities :-) But no, Annabelle is lovely and she has a place and a time, but when it comes down to it "baby", the $40 special for two from Target is all she wants.

So as you can imagine, these two dolls have got rather feral since Cassidy gained ownership. I have washed, bleached, napi-saned and soaked but nothing takes away from their grottiness. I have searched for ages to try to find the same set of twin dolls and to no avail. One would think I could just go down the shops and grab any two dolls but NO. These ones had special characteristics available in a suprisingly few amount of dolls. They have a soft cuddly body and a tag on their side...a very important feature. Cassidy holds her baby with one arm and uses the fingers to fiddle with the tag and keeps one finger in her mouth as well. I have watched and believe me, its a very involved process!

So finally the other day, when I had given up any hope of ever finding her new babies, there they were. I restrained myself from buying three boxes of them in joy (one would hope she'll be over this by the times she hits her teens after all) and headed home to plot the Great Switcheroo.

Luckily she was in kindy that day, and as always, had left one of her babies strapped into her carseat ready for when I picked her up. I put one of the imposters in her place and went to get the kids.

She hopped up into the car, already saying as usual "Is my baby here?" She saw it and stopped. I tell you, of all the times I needed a camera in hand, this was it. The face she made as she stared this new one down - it was incredible. She looked at me and said with a scowl,

"Her face is different".

Okay so it is. I couldn't find ones with the exact same expressions - the bloody dolls she likes have all different expressions (do these doll makers not think of desperate mothers anymore?! I ask you!!)

"The tag is different".

It is, its new and not soft and threadbare.

I said, " Yes, mummy washed her today - didn't she come out beautiful!!"

She looked at me sideways, picked up the baby and said, "oh baby, you smell lovely".

The new baby also obviously has a fresh dose of the ingrained-plastic baby smell too but I quickly read that casual comment as a carefully laid trap for mummy.

I said, "Yes, I gave her a really good wash with nice smelly stuff".

She smiled and got into her carseat cuddling baby and fiddling with the tag.

I exhaled deeply and said a quiet prayer of thanks. There has been continuing moments of suspicion, more so when she got home and saw the other imposter baby, but she hasn't mentioned it again and neither have I. Let's just say that for now the baby originals are safely in the top cupboard just in case she calls my bluffs :-) :-)

Help Needed!

The Herald let me know today that they're coming over on Monday morning to get a photo of me for a story they're running about the Tiny Tots project :-)

They think it would be good for a couple of bubbas to be in the shot too...so basically I need some volunteers! Anyone with a baby aged from birth to twelve months that is available for about 20 minutes from 9.30am on Monday the 15th of October. I will be holding the bubbas for the photo and you will get to see your baby featured in the local rags if that helps :-) :-)

Call me on 0417 606 490 or send me an email if you want to be involved or know someone that would!

Thanks heaps :-)

Copping an Eyeful

I have heard and used that phrase before but today it almost took on a whole new meaning!

As usual, I was in a rush getting the kids ready for kindy. Cassidy slept in so I did the mad dash getting ready and realised there were no bras in my drawer. As I dashed downstairs to pack the lunches and give the kids breakfast I thought to myself that I would grab one from the laundry on the way out.

That next time that simple but very sensible thought came to me was when we were halfway to kindy.

Okay you're thinking, no big deal - besides those that know me know I have no boobs worth worrying about anyway (the last time I bought a bra I swear the sales girl looked at me with a "I think you would be happier in a My Little Pony training bra" expression).

But wait, my story gets more complicated.

This morning, it was raining and I don't mean just a pitter patter. I mean thunder-lightening-rain-coming-in-sideways sort of rain. And I just so happened to be wearing a thin white blouse. Grasping my panic now, ladies?!

Needless to say once we got there and I transferred the kids one by one from the car, I did my best not to turn drop-off time at kindy into a wet t-shirt competition. I have never been so grateful for the extra large Spiderman and Princess backpacks I bought for the kids as they did a great job of protecting my dare-to-bare bosoms!

My Little Pony sized they may be, but I'd still prefer to keep that knowledge to myself and not broadcast it to all the dads dropping off their pre-schoolers :-) :-)

And no, there are definately no photos to go along with this post!!!

My Chicken(s) Little

completely puzzled, examining the hail with suspicion!

once convinced it was safe :-) the kids went ice collecting

the sky out front just after the "onslaught"

Today when the hail started coming down - I had two chicken littles' on my hands.

In all fairness, the noise hail makes on our colourbond roof in the lounge room with no ceiling to absorb the noise (we have exposed rafters) - well it really does sound like the sky is falling.

After I ran round like a lunatic shutting windows (it really did come out of no-where) and putting the car in the garage, it was just about over. But boy for those ten minutes was it LOUD! Not sure of most of the noise was from the hail or two hysterical children though. When the roof in the lounge room started to drip a bit when the gutters filled up with ice, Isaac looked at me in absolute terror and said, "but what will HAPPEN to us mummy?!" It was Isaac at his melodramatic best :-) :-)

More of the usual suspects :-)

the face of a boy that's been having a damn good time!

Cassidy and "Branna" (Brianna to most people!)

cute cousins

Pete giving me his best James Bond impression - shaken, not stirred :-)

Grandma

Isn't she lovely? :-)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

she stole the hat...
she wouldn't give the hat back....
she threatened the hat....

she turned on mummy when mummy saved the hat from certain death!

Down at the Pier

The kids and I met Katrina and her brood of four for the day down at Sandgate Pier this afternoon.

I've barely touched on most of the pics, just picked out a few that stood out to me. The light was beautiful, first so clear off the water and then went into that beautful orange glow as the sun went down. After Katrina and the kids headed off, Isaac and Cassidy and I went for a walk along the pier...absolutely beautiful at that time of the afternoon. I think I'm going to have to make more use of it for some sessions soon :-)

I especially love the ones of Isaac..he's just so hard to get a picture of at the moment that's not with him doing what he calls his Mr Incredible expression...I prefer to call it his just plain dreadful expression :-)

Oh and the one of Cassidy wearing the cap...she snatched it off Isaac and just after that shot took off laughing hysterically, dangling it over the edge of the jetty - you could see her thinking "bring it on, cause the hat is going to get it!". I was trying to go crook at her but it was so hard not to laugh - her blatant cheekiness is just amazing! She lays the bait and Isaac goes for it hook line and sinker every time...