Porgress!

Wow! I am impressed. DH needed to sleep this arvo in preparation for his 1am start, so I took the kids to the park after school.

The past few weeks have been a little hectic, and I have not found much time to study, but I usually have my resources on me just in case an opportunity arises, and this afternoon at the park was one of those opportune moments!

Usually someone pops in to join you down at the local park, but today I had it all to myself (asides from a few other older school children whom managed to keep my kids entertained for me, the local children are great at interacting and including the 'little kids'!). And today, I got in an hour and a half of study, getting most of my module answers I had been looking for.

Don't get me wrong, if someone had rocked up, I would have been more than happy to chat, but as it so happens that was not on the books today, and I managed to make that absentminded progress with my studies!

And, this morning I went for a jog, but as DH was busy, Little Miss 4 joined me and I pushed the jogging pram. Now, the pram is lightweight and all, and I did not realise until I was pushing the pram and my 15kg daughter up 'boot hill' how hard that specific task would be! Wow! That was a workout in itself, I will aim to do my jogs in the future when DH is home! But if that is not the case, it will be good practice for our Tough Mudder event in just over 8 weeks!

Photo Blog!!

Time to just show you what we have been up to lately!

Practicing penmanship.

Balloon fun, the pump means Mummy gets a little break!

Facepaintings, at a local outing.

Dancing at the school disco!

Homemade snow fun in the sun!



Hhhmmm, I think the dog might like to eat some of that snow!
 

Just a few of our endeavours. We are very busy doing lots of things lately, it will be good to have school holidays and some time to take it a little slower, although slowly and kids, in my opinion is a bit of a contradiction!

Feeling a little slow.

We have just had the school sports day, and the other week I got an email from Little Miss 4's eKindy teacher saying they are having one too, so I put the date in my diary.

Last week, we packed up and travelled the hour to go to her sports day. When we got there, I went to the admin to find out where to go, and embarrassingly discovered I had the wrong day. Wow I felt silly! I had misread my diary, and the sports day was for Master 6's school for the 'regional' type competitions (which the junior school does not attend).

So after getting over my embarrassment, I now had an opportunity to do some 'window' shopping, with Little Miss 4 in tow! We ended up having a nice relaxing time, and even discovered a new coffee shop had opened up in the new shopping complex (a welcomed break after walking around for a while). And my stress of doing what we needed to do in town, before having to leave for the school pick up was totally alleviated! But that did not stop me feeling a little silly!

So, her sports day is this week (Thursday to be precise!), and we are still looking forward to attending, albeit a little more informed about where to go!

Emotions.

After my Opa passed away, Little Miss 4 understood what had happened but it still made her extremely upset. He is a very treasured man for many people in many different ways, and for her to have been so emotionally distraught really upset me.
My children and I lived with my Mum when the Little Miss 4 was only a few months old, and at the same time my Grandparents were staying on holiday, so we lived with them too, all in the one cosy little house. We stayed for a few months until we found our own house.
The following year (or so, but not much further away than that) my Grandparents were up at Mums' place for the warm queensland winter (trust me, it is sooooo much better than Victoria, in my opinion!), and this time we only lived a few kilometers away so we did get to spend a LOT of time with them again.
Now, I am not sure why Little Miss 4's emotions about Opa are so strong, or what her memories are of him, because she was only (and still is) so little, but she sure as hell remembers him. That was the kind of love he shared with you - everlasting.

Since we got back from the funeral, Little Miss 4 still got emotional, until wednesday. I am so proud of her, because talking about Opa was done at her emotional peril.
We were driving home from town and it began raining. In the car she spoke up and was concerned for Opa Out that he would get wet in heaven! Explaining he would be ok, we got through our conversation without any tears (nearly, mine were tears of joy that we could move past the sad part of grieving, kinda). That afternoon she mentioned Opa Out one more time, again maintaining her composure and walking away from the conversation with a smile.

And here I was worried a few days ago as to how long a 4year old would grieve for. The answer to that is simple - as long as they need to.

Her next emotional hurdle is dealing with separation from her Oma! Whenever she gets in trouble and cries, she ALWAYS asks for her Oma. I must say, Mum, you have the same warm hearted spirit as your Father (my Opa) did. Love you Mum.

Cold, and sleep deprived? All in a weeks work!

Wow, what a week!
The ride (all 4 of them), was an absolute hit with the kids. Though, the last plane on the way home had some ears hurting from the pressure. I think the colds we had coming home did not help either. But the kids were very well behaved the whole (mostly) way.

It was fantastic to catch up with some of my cousins, my kids thought they were lots of fun (even Great Horrible Uncle Frank was a hit!).

I enjoyed introducing my children to my Aunties and Uncles, and everyone else. I know the kids were a little active most of the time, but when you are couped up indoors and your usual passtimes involve spending time outside (they are at this point in time outside doing paintings, and have not been upstairs for about an hour!), I think they survived pretty well.

The other night, I asked both children if they enjoyed visiting everyone, they asked me if we could move there! Master 6 mentioned that it would be too cold for his dog and his beloved hound would die, so we would have to leave them with friends in Brisbane! (Little Miss 4 spoke up and said next door to Milla's house, whom she speaks of so often at the moment, think it might be time to plan a visit soon!).

We have been home for most of the week, and it has been a struggle getting back into the swing of things (you spoilt me Rachel!). I have to remember to cook dinner, and get started on my studies I signed up for a few days before we flew out.

Finally, I am soooo tired. Yes, I am allowed to have a whinge, this is my blog! While we were away, given the reason behind going, the kids didn't want to sleep in a separate bedroom, so I ended up sharing a queen bed with one child while the other slept on a mattress at the foot of my bed. I slept??? 2 nights with Master6 then kicked him out cause he kept kicking me, and Little Miss 4 occupied my bed the rest of the time, but was just as disruptive with her talking and rolling in her sleep, so it is safe to say I have not had much sleep lately!

BTW, I booked our accomodation for Tough Mudder last night, getting excitedly scared!

We're going on a jet plane!

Yup, and the kids are very excited!

Like, SUPER EXCITED!!

They can't wait, so while I sit here finishing off my coffee before I get back to cleaning and packing, and procrastinating, I thought I would let you know what we are up to.

The details still make me sad, so the quick of it is my Grandfather passed away, and he lived in Victoria, so we are heading down to see the family.

Did I tell you how excited the kids are?

Well, usually any trips from here involve us departing pretty early in the day. So Little Miss 4 told me last night to wake her up early so she could get dressed before we go (we are not leaving until after lunch), and Master 6 did not really want to go to school today (don't blame him), in fear of missing the flight.

When I asked Little Miss 4 if she was excited to see her Oma tomorrow, she said no, I am excited to go on the aeroplane! I sure do hope the trip lives up to their expectations.

I have already changed from a smaller bag to my big suitcase, so I do hope I have packed everything we may need, and given the climate we are going to for the next week, I am sure I don't have enough 'warm' clothes. Oh well, opportunities!!

The things Kids say!

Today DH mentioned going skydiving whilst we are on the coast for the Tough Mudder event in August. While this is something I do want to do in my lifetime, and I was prepared for about 7+ years ago, I don't have the confidence to attempt it at this stage in my life.

So, in our discussion this evening, with Master 6 participating (we told him he had to be 18 to go), I had walked out of the room to do something. In the background I hear DH say, 'I will just buy Mummy the ticket and then she will have to do it'. (To make things clear, this is how DH got me to go bunjy jumping when we were younger - a non-refundable ticket!). As I walk back into the room, DH is laughing, and he explains to me that Master 6's response to buying the ticket was:

Puffed up chest, 'you can just give me the ticket and Dad can tell them I am 18, then I can go skydiving!'

Oh my, I am definately in for a few heart attacks with this one!