Childhood.

It means nothing without children, and as I watch my children playing at the park this afternoon, I wonder why we are always thinking about our future. There are times I wish we did not have to look ahead and plan for what is coming because we are having so much fun. And other days I feel guilty for stopping and having fun because reality is a b#@(h and there is always another bill or basket of laundry to tend to.

I am at home now, kids in bed, Hubby off to work, and I am left to my own devices.

I am really over tv, computer games, and housework. Can't play with the kids and am not currently reading anything, so the only thing left for me to do is clean or cook. How boring. But it needs to be done. I guess this is just one of the joys of getting older. The future. You HAVE to do your own housekeeping cause you no longer live with your Mum (or Dad, whomever was your main housekeeper).

Some pictures of our adventures last weekend. We went into an underground sapphire mine, fossicked for sapphires out of purchased buckets of dirt , and fossicked in a creek behind our campsite.

I had a great childhood (in my opinion), and no matter how much money, time, and location may affect us, I want my children to have a great childhood also. I think we are doing a pretty good job so far!

As I re-read what I have just typed, I awaken to the realisation that we are off camping again tomorrow. I am hoping this time there is a tree to string up my hammock (and that I actually get a decent amount of time to relax in it)! So I had better go, ideally to find my camera and its charger so I may be able to take some decent pics this weekend.

Pictures!

They always come at once cause that is how I roll!

Birthday brekkie, dutch rusk with strawberries, sugar and cream!

Having fun at her party.



My birthday pressie.

Slime-ing fun with friends.

Somehow we got a pirate looking wink at the rodeo!

The sunflower seed was planted in the kids digging garden and has slowly grown for a while, to peak just around my birthday, it is about 150cm high. The native bees are indulging in all the pollen the sunflower has to offer. And I just had to take the shot of my girl taking the shot of the sunflower. She still has not got the hang of taking her finger away from the 'lense' so all her pictures at just shots of fingers, not that she can see her finger in the viewfinder!

Brave and scary all at once!

The wonderful event of Little Miss 3 becoming Little Miss 4 has brought on a new task - 4year old needles :-(

I have Little Miss 4 booked in tomorrow for this glorious occasion, and am a little anxious. I want to tell you what Little Miss 4 said to me tonight, but you need some background to start.

A few months back, Master 5 had a splinter. Oh dear, what a drama it is for him to get splinters out. I mean, he watches his father donate blood at red cross, he watched the nurse stick the needle in him during a blood test earlier in the year, and his 4yo needles were no problem at all, but the moment you need to get a splinter out, it is amusing to know all this and the sobs he still gets out! Not just a don't do it sob either, a great big girly wail and it does not stop until you do (ie. give up or get the splinter out).

So, during one such occasion, I convinced Master 5 if I hurt him while attempting to get his splinter out, he could pinch me back. It worked as a distraction for a second, but that is it.

Tonight while Little Miss 4 and I were discussing her predicament tomorrow, she starts telling me how brave she will be, growling at me and putting up scary hands etc, then she gets real serious and says 'can I pinch the doctor?'.

I had to stop a second to remember why on earth she would want to pinch the doctor, then it dawned on me and I told her we would have to see! What a funny little monkey she is.

Love!

The weekend just gone has sparked some controversey with my local friendships.

I have not said anything to anyone as I am sure everyone already knows what has happened, and they are entitled to form their own opinions.

All things aside, what has prompted me to write about this is another blog I follow 'Teacher Tom'. He is a male preschool teacher somewhere in America and has some fantastic 'kindy' ideas which I have previously implemented with my children. I read one of his recent blogs and it goes on about gender differences.

It talks about love in all of its forms, but the one that really hit a button was the 'love' boys have for each other even from such a young age (more mateship type love, where they don't give a toss about the little things and get over them or even better, don't make a fuss about them at all).

As a teenager I tended to hang around the boys more often, they were great company and there was never an issue which could not be resolved. After I finished school, I spent a lot of time hanging out with my brothers friends. When my Husband and I started dating, we hung out with 'the Boys'  (his mates), and eventually made friends with more family oriented people, thus hanging out with other couples. Since having kids of our own, and being a stay at home Mum, I have found a few good friends in our local town and really appreciate their company, and hope to be friends for many years to come.

But, after this one particular incident, it has made me wonder about my life before kids where I just hung out with the boys. Why can't everyone be as forgiving as the boys I used to know?

After chatting with my DH today, we are both happy to move on from this 'incident'. No matter what happens around town (or in life), the only friend I really need is my Husband!

I will leave you with this from Teacher Tom
(http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/the-boy-im-supposed-to-be.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TeacherTom+(Teacher+Tom)

Love is way bigger and way more complicated, and also way simpler, than most of us imagine. It's nurturing and roaring and soft and hard; it flexes and reposes; it whispers and it shouts. Love is that thing that fills us up with not just ourselves, but with everything and everyone around us. It's a sigh and it's an explosion.

Happy Birthday!

Wow, what a weekend! We celebrated Little Miss 3's birthday on saturday to much success with all her little friends. She had a blast, and it was so nice having a good bunch of kids play together.

So, tomorrow is her actual birthday and when I put her to bed tonight, she held up 5 fingers saying she will be this many tomorrow! Whoops, the party message obviously did not get through to her, and she thinks she is 4 already, with tomorrows festivities giving her a whole extra year in just 2 days! Very cute, but it must just have been the way it was said as my Nephew, who is here for the party too, had a really confused look on his face when he was told about tomorrow! Oh well, they learn eventually.

I am so fortunate to have my family around this weekend. My brother and his girlfriend helped me out this evening, eating cupcake tops and helping me assemble presents. I have really appreciated the help.

This evening once the kids were in bed, I set about getting everything ready for tomorrow. First step was a cake. We had leftover princess muffin cases so I decided a red velvet recipe would be perfect. As I took the beautifully coloured cakes out the oven, I re-read over the recipe and noticed the cocoa powder was not mentioned in the method! Oh well, they are vanilla flavoured red velvet cupcakes now! Not that I think anyone will notice in the morning.

My next step was to wrap the persents (after tidying up the kitchen for the millionth time this weekend). Firstly we assembled the few items, and next it was wrapping. The gifts turned out better than I had hoped and are all now sitting nicely in Little Miss 3 nearly 4's room. Lets hope she comes and wakes us up in the morning before opening her gifts!

My final objective of the evening was to tackle the mounting laundry pile which needs folding. Well, that can wait until everyone leaves tomorrow!

Sorry, I have no pictures of the party, but am hoping I get some sent to me. My camera battery was flat and I had misplaced my phone during the party, so I am relying upon my guests to provide me with their snaps of the day!

My boys best friend.

Master 5 has grown up with our dog Tiger. Tiger is a dobermann cross and a decent sized dog, but Master 5 has never had any fear of getting close and personal with him.

They have such a relationship that Master 5 sits on the dog bed and tells Tiger stories and secrets. I think I will have to bug the dogs collar just so I can keep up with what is happening!

So, the other day when I was under the house and I saw my boy with his dog, I just had to take a picture. Very cute is all I have to say.

Poor chicken.

The other day we noticed one of our chooks not looking/walking too well. After a day she was looking no better so I decided to do some research into what could be happening. It turns out she was egg bound (had an egg stuck in her cavity).

A very amusing phone call to my DFIL who is a farmer, led me to the conclusion the chook should be put down, but not wanting to dig that hole (DH was not home at the time), other methods of relieving the chook were researched. The most effective I read about was a bath. So, once DH had come home, we set about relieving the poor chicken.

 

After the first bath we let her run about the yard, but an hour later her bum was still sagging to the ground, so another bath was had. After this bath, she started heading for the chook pen, but having trouble getting over the garden beds I decided to help her up. I locked her in the pen, and 20minutes later there was an egg!

 

Yay, but the next day she was walking funny again. My DFIL warned this is usually a recurring problem. Will see how she turns out (I don't plan on holding a chook in a hot bath for 20minutes every day).

 

Much to my DFIL's disappointment, the above is the only picture I took of the situation, I did not have the opportunity to get any happy snaps of the probing which took place thanks to my DH!