Bad blogger

I just love this image...it's so her (she had just collected the eggs from the hen house)

captain Isaac rowed everyone around in the canoe

snuggles with "Mallorin" in daddy's shirt :-)

you go to the farm....you get dirty.

According to one of my "friends" :-) Apparently one week is too long not to have posted.

Life just gets away on me.

This whole school thing has thrown us into some sort of alternate universe. The one where you actually need to be somewhere at a certain time. The one where everyone is required to be dressed. The one where at least two members of our family need to be fed by 7.30am. The one where I barely get home and the morning disaray un-disarayed and it's time to leave to go pick him up.

Days are flying by like seconds at the moment and during some of those days I'm sure I haven't been to the loo. On one of those days I left the house in a fairly light weight top with no bra (the old "I'll grab one from the laundry on the way out" mistake) and did the school run. Luckily it wasn't cold.

So it's not a pretty picture, but I take comfort in the fact that I arrive at school with a whole gaggle of other half-dressed, rushed, making the scary mum NRMA ad face at their children that refuse toget out of the car. It's like a whole new family :-)

Throw in a few appointments and proofing for me, a birthday party for a school friend, Steve and I using a voucher that was about to expire for a night at Montville, grocery shopping, Steve's yearly checkup for his back op and garden work on the weekend and there you have it. The world's most boring and uneventful week. Look no further, you saw it here first folks.

:-)

Pics are from the weekend before last...beautiful afternoon at Harry and Merrilyn's.

Lazy Days

sunday morning at our place :-)

An uneventful and relaxing weekend. The best type.

Saturday:

I am having a temporary loss of memory but I remember the afternoon involved a lovely time out at Harry and "Mellorin's" (I don't think Merrilyn has ever got that one beofre) with swimming in the dam with the dogs and paddling round in the canoe. Isaac was rather disapointed that the Argo (very cool car/boat thing) had been returned to it's owner since last time. He at first dejectedy took to giving people "joyrides" around the little island in the dam in the canoe, but by the end had really got into the swing of it and had taken a sort of captain role in a vessel that would have been about 6 foot long :-)

And no I did not swim. Merrilyn would not guarantee that there were no eels and said they would hang around the bottom which was much deeper than I could reach. Seeing as they had no actual evidence or study in which to prove this point about the bottom-dweeling habits of eels, I sat quite happily on the bank. I don't much care for eels and I care even less for the chance of eels touching me in any way shape or form. Em has all the photos of this blessed event on her camera....must get some off her.

Sunday:

Lay in bed with Spiderman, a cranky daughter that doesn't care much for waking up in the morning and Steve who refused to get up even when sat on by said Spiderman and cranky daughter.

At lunchtime we took off up the coast and had the afternoon with Rod and Heid and the fam and boogie boarded down at the spit. Lovely afternoon, no photos. Sometimes I just feel like a day off :-)

Beautiful day. Beautiful girl.

a common view when I look down :-)

I envisioned a seventies-ish look so please excuse the crocs which she refused to remove. I really must find a more agreeable muse...

"mummy is there a ducky inside your camera?" :-)

I get this look a lot.

We had such a nice day together. Shopping this morning with Grandad and Aunty Em and Uncle Steve, home for a sleep and hanging at home this afternoon.

It had stopped raining for a while so we went for a walk outside while daddy continued to wreak havoc with the gurney (I think the place is clean already but he has a thing for high powered machinery that shoot water).

I just said to Steve tonight that Cassidy holds life in a perfect balance - sass followed by perfectly timed and executed sweetness.

Example from this morning while I was getting dressed:

c: mummy I don't like those jeans. I like your skirts.

me: well, I feel like wearing jeans and...

c (cutting me off): mummy your hair looks bood-iful today.

These exchanges often leave me staring blankly at myself in the mirror while she skips off down the hallway to organise another member of the houshold's life.

Cassidy loves school

No, they haven't let her go.

She's just decided it has other definate advantages.

This morning Steve dropped Isaac to school so I made breakfast and brought it upstairs where Cassidy was just getting up. I sat her beside me at my desk while I did my morning blogroll and forum stickybeak and we ate our nutra grain, had a cup of tea, she watched ABC kids and I let her loose with the hole punch and some paper.

Needless to say, this went over quite well with the miss.

I'm sure she thinks we got the birth order completely awry and this was the way it was supposed to be - just us and her. Check out the toothy little I'm-not-going-to-put-a-foot-wrong-in-case-this-ends grin...

Share the vision...

So it doesn't look like much yet...

but this is going to be my new studio! I included the pic of the bricks and rafters because I know my photog. friends will understand.....bricks....rafters....high ceiling....huge canvas prints...YUM.

The garage has been cleaned out for a few weeks but my husband who I am convinced must love me a lot :-) got in there yesterday with the gurney and blasted the thing clean. Not a brick or patch of concrete was left unturned :-)

We bought our flooring off ebay over the weekend so that's a good start in the right direction! We now have to remove one of the poles that holds up our bedroom above (you know, not a very important pole) and replace it with some sort of beam thing that will support the roof. Not really sure what this entails, but whenever blokes are here and Steve tells them about it they start talking in the way blokes do when there's something blokey to be done. I for one am quite happy to know nothing about this part of the process and let Steve play Bob the Builder to his heart's content :-)

I will post pictures on our progress but don't hold your breath..this is going to be another one of our weekend and 1am projects for sure!

How long?

Is one expected to keep a bug in a jar?

Okay, so it's not really a bug. It's a cicada shell. But if it looks like a bug, feels like a bug (even if it doesn't move like a bug) it's a bug in my book.

Isaac found it while cleaning up outside with daddy. Perfectly intact with only the split up the back where the cicada obviously vacated to upgrade to the latest model of cicada epidermis. Isaac has been wandering around with it ever since looking at it in wonder and saying "ohhhh..its so awesome".

Hmm, I can think of another word.

He has just the place for it, too. He has one of those bug viewer things (that yes, admittedly I bought for him!) so at least it's now encased in there. It's one of the ones with a magnifying glass on top so before I was sitting at my desk and he came in saying "hey mum, look at this" and before I had a chance to realise what was happening he shoved the thing right up to my eye.

Needless to say, seeing this 'thing' magnified 100 times nearly made me give birth to a litter of kittens right on the spot. I mean, the thing has all it's claws and everything - it's damn freaky. I thought the plastic spider that came with his bug viewer was bad enough.

So, if you have boys - how long is the acceptable time before these things magically disappear into bug heaven? Like, a day or so, right?

RIGHT?!

My prep star

I sat down to read through the prep newsletter for this week and there was a pic of my boy!

He is one of the prep stars for this week for "being a good friend and always using his manners".

How does a tiny little photocopied black and white photo and a comment like that make me want to go pick up up early from school and give him big smooshy hugs? This morning he blushed and went coy when I called out "I love you" after he had walked away. I hope this isn't the start of me becoming "un-cool", I don't think I'm ready for that.

I am so proud of him, it makes my stomach ache.

On a side note, on the way to school one day this week Isaac and Cassidy were discussing school in the back of the car.

Cassidy: I go to school.

Isaac (always ready to shoot her down in flames): No you don't. You just go to kindy.

Cassidy: Well I would go to school if they let me. I'm just not big enough yet and I don't have a uniform.

I'd reccommend the unifrom shop goes into lockdown mode when Cassidy's around or there'll be no stopping her.

A sweet Seventieth

a typical Nonna pose :-)

the girls try to find their ladylike side....

the beautiful Morgan (forever Moogie to me!)

our Nonna

my rather allright looking mum and sister :-)

Em was obviously entertaining...

My view of Em through our tiers

something yummy

Mia, Nonna and Morgan

choices, choices....

the food was amazing...

Nonna and her two girls

some beautiful decor...

my stunning sister...



we're far less demure than we look...



Nonna and the always lovely Jan

doing the birthday girl thing...

Mum and Rett check out the pressies

My beautiful Nonna turned seventy today. I'm biased, but I think she's one of the cutest seventy olds around.

The girls got together to play ladies at one of our local tea rooms and had a whale of a time! I think you're supposed to have decorum to go to one of these places, but that's just not us :-) so luckily we had the place to ourselves.

The tea and coffe was bottomless alas our stomachs were not and we simply couldn't finish all the tiny scrummy things to eat. What is it about tiny finger food on three tiers that fills you up so fast? Luckily we all got tiny white take home boxes so I think all our kids and boys thanked us this afternoon :-)

Nonna looked beautiful in her dress she made herself specially for her party and of course didn't have any trouble nattering away a couple of hours with family and close friends.

We missed Rissy who's big mean boss made her work :-( and I thought it may be a bit too long and boring for Cassidy but I know she'll love it when we go one day.

Happy birthday Nonna, loveyoubiglot xxoo

A big concern

Sassidy has been out in full force the past couple of days.

When I asked her on the weekend what suspicious act she was up to at the time she told me it was "none of my concern".

As echos of my own voice saying those same words to her rang in my ears, I informed her swiftly I was about to make it my concern and she was the one who had better be concerned.

Tonight she called me into her bedroom after she had been tucked in and said "mummy I just wanted to tell you that you forgot to buy butter and milkies (what the kids call yakults) today so you better do that tomorrow. I will remind you".

I have no doubt that she will. I think Cassidy spends her days looking dispairingly after me as I walk past, shaking her head and thinking how on earth did her mother stumble through the confusion that must have been her life until she came along.

Please excuse the "old" pic (from last month!). Dodgy weather, busy starting school and a daughter that sends me closer to the loony bin every day does not a picture taker make.

But I was sitting here tonight and decided I was determined to give the vintage look a go. The world is filled with talented photogaphers that are rocking the vintage thing (ahem, Sheye) and I thought it was about time I got over my fear, and started slapping some texture around. Those who are photographers may be shocked to know - I am a texture virgin :-)

I picked this one because it reminds me of all the crumpled photos there are floating around of me as a three or so year old, half dressed and in pigtails.

I'm sure my attitude was much better though.

Mum, I heard you choke, laugh and spill your tea from here :-)

There were five ready for bed...

Last weekend we looked after Brianna, Nicholas and Daniel.

We were a tad too busy to take photos during our day of entertaining, feeding, trying to get to sleeping then feeding before sleeping again but I got this one right before bed (it was almost dark so excuse the grainy pic).

Five kids in their pj's, on their best behaviour cause it's nearly bed time. How cute is that.

I think I know where the phrase party of five came from.... :-)

Heaven's Super Princess

"You left a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal" - source unknown

One year ago today she flew to heaven.

Sheye, Crayton, Luca, Mason and Ivy when words are never right and never enough, we can only offer our prayers and all our love xxoo

We're going to lie down...

..but just for a minute.

After several "just for a minutes" had passed, I went into our room to find this.

My favourite type of Sundays :-)

and some with mummy..

because when I looked at the photos from his first day - you wouldn't even know that I had been there :-)

So on day two Steve took some of my boy in silly school mode and I.

oh and his world is at peace - he and Ebony are in the same class :-) :-)