Found!

Master 6's name is spelt in a unique manner, though it is not outrageous or one of those names you have trouble pronouncing.

For a little while he has been asking me if we could find out how he could become a contestant on a particular kids show. So, this evening we had a look, unfortunately for Master 6, he is about 7years too young, but in researching the information we found something I thought we would never see.

One of the hosts of the show has the exact same spelling for his name, as Master 6!

Visiting (another photo blog).

Well, it is holiday time, so I thought we should start visiting people. So the other night I asked the kids if they wanted to go and see Opa, they agreed so here is what we got up to in the past 36hours!
It was a little under a 5hour drive to get there, so a lot of our time was spent travelling and sleeping. But it was great to spend a little bit of time with my Dad. We looked out over the ocean, used some binoculars to try and spot some whales, played a little on the beach (the cold water was a bit of a shock!), and met Opa's bird.

Cold?

Apparently not! I already have 3 layers on and they say it is going to get colder yet, I guess they are right cause winter has only just begun!

I couldn't tell you the temperature, all I know is I am cold. I had organised a tennis morning with some friends but it rained last night, and drizzled on and off this morning so tennis was off, thank goodness cause I don't think my fingers would have been able to hold onto the racket!

Luckily I had that unexpected trip down to Victoria a few weeks ago and purchased new winter coats for us whilst there, so hopefully my three layers and the coat will see me through.

And I do have to say, where has the day gone?? It feels like we only just got home from school pick up and it is already dinner time! Just because it is the shortest day of the year does not mean the clock ticks slower!??

Enjoy your winter everyone, I wish you well to survive it! (or you could wish me well, come visit my comfortably heated home where there is always something baking in the oven - no wonder people put on more weight over winter!).

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.