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!

Going on.......

Wow, I can't believe it has only been a week since my last blog, it feels like so much has happened!

Well, to start, things are always busy, it just feels like we got a whole lot busier this past week! I attended a P&C meeting, and I actually committed to being the secretary, better practice my penmanship skills! I did state specifically if I couldn't handle it though, I would resign, but I am hoping I enjoy my new position as it is another job/skill I can add to my list.

The kids have gotten fully back into sport (well, kinda) since the new term began. Master 5 does tennis which only began again last week, and he also does touch footy which he loves, and both children attempt golf. I got them all ready to go to golf on saturday morning, and then had a feeling it may not be on due to the mass number of activities happening on the weekend. Luckily I have a friend taking her boy too, so I sent her a message to confirm. My suspicion was correct, which gave me a couple of hours to clean house, before heading out the the may day fair held the same day. We spent a couple of hours there before the kids threw yet another tantrum at each other and we quickly left missing out on numerous rides.

That night was a local game of footy, in which we are involved with the club (hubby trains with the team, and I do the 'partner' thing and help out with whatever the girls need done). We were asked to tend to the gate this game, and it was a different way to spend some quality time with my Man. We watched the rest of the game, DH won some money in the footy doubles competition, we had a few drinks, our team won the match, and we went home.

The previous night (sorry to do things about face!), there was a rodeo on in town. We do enjoy a good rodeo, as do the kids, and so we went and had some family time out. DH had to work all weekend too, so he did miss out on some events.

 



The kids found some of their friends at the rodeo, and all the kids enjoyed the evening, from what I could tell!

Moving on, I am starting into a new field of study. Will fill you in with more details in the not too distant future. But a lot of my time has been occupied doing research for study and an upcoming venture I am sure will keep me busy when Little Miss 4 starts school next year!

I am also helping out at the school on a rostered basis on friday mornings with the preps and 1's doing rotation work. Not sure what that entails yet, but I am looking forward to it!

We have all been recovering to some degree or another from varying ailments. So, we have been avoiding the intimate social situations lately. And just when I thought things were looking up, Master 5 has come down with a cold. The poor sod keeps telling me his nose is sick cause snot keeps falling out of it! I must say he does make me smile.

Last night I was packing away some stuff in our dining room pantry. I opened the top door and a tall glass fell out. I didn't realise it was there, and it landed rim down on my middle toe, and grazed the skin open on the next toe near my toenail. It hurt so much I had to contain myself from letting out any profanities in front of my children. Instead, I nearly ended up in tears. The kids felt so bad for me, Master 5 even gave me his favourite teddy (he always sleeps with), to keep me company until Daddy came home!
Needless to say, I did my workout this morning then went for a walk (which I was hoping to speed up to a jog), but ended up almost limping home cause my toe was hurting. I just hope that it heals quickly so I can fully get back to serious workouts! Only 16 weeks to go until the big event -_-

I mentioned earlier, the kids attitudes towards each other has been less than desirable lately. Well, it got to the point, I am forcing them to co-operate. Master 5 now has to share Little Miss 4's bedroom until thursday, with no access to his own room. This means they have no place to get time out from each other, no place to banish each other from and thus forcing them to co-operate. Tonight is the first night they are sharing, and I just hope they go to sleep soon, they are getting along like they used to and it is nice to hear, instead of the angry little sods they had become. I do think it is due to Master 5 being jealous of his little sister getting to spend those long school days at home, by herself, with me.

Well, I am sure that is enough for now, there is always more laundry to be done so I had better go do it! Stay safe everyone.

The view from up here!

There is some magnificent country out here. For some time now I have wanted to take a picture of the mountains on the other side of the highway from our town. It is a rather nice sight to see.
Today, DH and I went for a run/walk up what is locally known as 'boot hill'. Aptly named, the tree at the top of the hill holds memories of shoes lost (or mabey worn out!). On our way back down, I made DH stop so I could take this picture.

What a beautiful day to go for a run!

ANZAC Day

What a day!

DH manages proceedings in our little town for the ANZAC dawn ceremony and morning service. I must say, I am very proud of him and the effort he puts in to this day.

Last year was his first try at this, and things went rather well, except the fact he spent most of the day back and forth to our closest town to march in their proceedings, and to attend the breakfast and lunch  the RSL our here put on. Unfortunately in our little town, there were no lunches or anything, so this year we changed that.

So, instead of heading back to town, we organised (with the help of some very special people) a 'rum brekkie', as it is called, for the locals to attend. This seemed to be a big hit, and we very much enjoyed our long and busy morning.

Now that all the ceremonies and services have finished for the day, DH is enjoying a few more drinks down the pub, with Master 6 in tow, while I have a rest with Little Miss 4. You see, there are a few tummy bugs going round, and for some reason last night, while we were out to dinner, Little Miss 4 began throwing up. Once I cleaned her up, we waited for out meals, but she threw up again so we got our dinner to take away (luckily we live in a mining town, and this is common practice for the venues to do this kind of thing).

Now, it did not stop there, she had another go in her sleep on our way home, and then several times throughout the night (into a bucket thank goodness), making it one very long and restless night. She even woke once at midnight and after she settled, asked me if it was morning already! I don't think I got more than 3 hours sleep before the alarm sounded to go get ready for the dawn service :-(

I am so thankful for this hours sleep I have not long woken from, while Little Miss 4 is still down for the count. Soon it is time to go have a celebratory drink with DH for ANZAC day, because I didn't have the stomach to have one at 6am this morning over brekkie with him! So I leave you with this picture of my DH with our proud children.