Lightening Online

* image courtesy of www.jumpingpillows.com.au “I’m taking Trailer Boy on the jumping pillow“, I said to my older two children through the car window. I had promised earlier that day that I would come for a jump with them. Both faces lit up and they quickly put away their gameboy and nintendo and jumped out of the car to follow us.When we arrived the playground area was empty. It seemed that word spread like wildfire around the caravan park that “an adult was on the jumping pillow” because kids started to roll in within minutes of my arrival (yeah, I’ve just got an overinflated sense of importance ).

One girl in particular seemed to stick quite close to me and peppered me with questions and information about herself.

It started with “do you know how old I am?” and continued from there. Thankfully, while she told me her age, she didn’t ask mine!!!!

Before long, Farmboy decided that we were having too much fun on the jumping pillow and joined the rest of us. Plenty of laughter (and puffing) ensued.

Farmboy started some kind of game on the pillow and more children arrived asking “can we play too?”

Things continued along for some time, with Tami* sticking close to my side. Wanting to play and yet mostly unsure of herself to some degree.

Eventually Farmboy collapsed on the nearby grass only to end up with a pile of kids jumping all over him. That wasn’t too bad when it was OUR children. But other people’s children?

This is where things can get really sticky.

I spent half the night lying there thinking about Tami. She lived in the town where we were staying. It was a “holiday” to come and stay in a cabin at the local caravan park. With a carer. Her mother lives some 400km away. No mention of a father. My understanding was that she also lives with a carer (as in foster care).

Farmboy really struggled. She was making comments to him like “I’m ticklish too” when he was tickling our kids.

It just seems so unfair. Unfair because it was all innocent fun and yet in the back of Farmboys mind constantly was “I can’t touch this girl or it might get misinterpreted”. Unfair because what she really wanted (needed?) was a bit of attention and to feel like she was part of the fun.

When it was time for us to head off for tea. This little girl (she told me she was 9) ran up and threw her arms around Farmboy. He graciously put an arm around her in a brief embrace. She then gave me a huge hug.

Part of me wanted to pack her up and take her home with us. The other part of me was kind of relieved I didn’t have to. She was a rather draining child. I imagine she was trying to cram what might amount to a number of years of adult attention into those few minutes we gave her.

I guess it brought home to me how IMPORTANT it is that children are given attention from adults. Adults that they can TRUST.

I don’t know what this child’s future holds. I hope that the love we showed to her might somehow warm her heart. I pray that she won’t go looking for love from the wrong people in life but fear that she might.

I must admit that I learnt a lot from that 30-minute episode in my life.

The look on my own children’s face brought home to me how much they value me doing things with them. Something as simple as jumping on the jumping pillow with them meant a great deal to them (and it wasn’t a bad workout for me either).

I was stunned at how the children gravitated to the pillow with adults on there. I’m not sure if it was a novelty factor or what the reason was.

I was concerned with how quickly a young girl latched on to a complete stranger simply because they gave her a few moments of their time.

* Not her real name.

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You may have guessed from the above post (and maybe my lack of response to comments???) that we’ve been away for a couple of days. We didn’t go far but we took our camper trailer and it was a FABULOUS couple of days “off”.The kids were really well behaved and seemed to have a GREAT time. And they didn’t fight!!! Well, not much anyway.

Naturally though, it’s nice to be home!

We had a lovely weekend away.

Trailerboy was concerned as we drove down to the campsite. We were towing a trailer but NOT the camper trailer. He doesn’t understand the difference between “camp” and “camping”. It was beyond him to understand rooms full of beds instead of sleeping in the camper trailer.

He was very excited to sleep next to one of his buddies. Even more so that they were wearing IDENTICAL pj’s. They looked so cute!!!! And I didn’t take a photo???? *sob*

In fact, I took the camera (and even remembered to recharge the batteries). But didn’t take one. single. photo.

I had my own little cabin next to the main campsite. Not quite up to a complete weekend of people with no breaks in between yet. Plus I need lots of sleep. Not really conducive to a campsite environment. So it was nice that I could go and be a part of the camp but have my “respite” as required.

Friday night we began the camp with some excitement. The kind a mother can do without. Trailerboy (who is 4) decided to chase a boogie board that was floating out to sea and got out of his depth. He ended up being fine but was most upset about the boogie board so Farmboy went for a swim to try and recover it. Not an easy feat given how quickly the wind was blowing it out to sea.

Saturday was overcast which was great for being on the beach throughout the day. We had a number of canoes as well as a boat with a biscuit (okay, I don’t know if you spell the ski “biscuit” the same way you spell the eating “biscuit).

For those who don’t know what that is, it looks something like this and gets towed behind the boat.

It was a lovely relaxing weekend of being together as families and enjoying the warm weather at the beach. And of course, eating too much food!!!!

We seemed to avoid too much sunburn other than a few of the kids getting sunburnt right under their eyes (the part where you can’t really put cream).

Coming home wasn’t much fun as it’s about 10 degrees hotter here than where we were staying.

Although it WAS lovely to come home to all the lovely comments and participants in this week’s Smiley Saturday. Thank you everyone!

It’s no surprise really that Singstar Princess is a lot like her mother when it comes to getting easily overwhelmed by organisational tasks. I often feel quite stressed when I take a glance into her bedroom. If the thought of having to tidy it up makes me feel ill, is it any wonder she feels the same way?

We have quite a dilemma when it comes to her “stuff”. On the one hand, her room gets out of hand because she has TOO MUCH stuff. On the other hand, the fact that she actually PLAYS with all that she has is a big contributing factor also.

Leighton’s room has always been a lot easier to keep under control (either by me OR him). That has a LOT to do with the fact that his toys tend to stay in his cupboard because he doesn’t USE them.

So it somehow feels wrong to take away toys that Singstar Princess is constantly making use of.

Part of her problem is also procrastination. She seems to always leave stuff out. Or she’ll dump something on the floor NEXT to her clothes hamper instead of putting it INTO the hamper (sound familiar??? ).

Keeping kids bedrooms tidy is a dilemma faced by many parents. *sigh* I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to my children’s bedrooms (heck, I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to MY bedroom). But I can’t STAND to walk past and not be able to see the floor. I don’t think it makes for a happy environment for anyone in the family.

At this stage, we only insist that they tidy them up once a week - Saturday mornings. They have to be tidy enough to give them a decent vacuum. Princess Singstar is a bad asthmatic so it’s kind of important.

And you can SEE in their demeanour how much better they feel once their bedrooms are tidy.

This is something that used to be overseen by me. And I would often get into their rooms during the week to make sure they didn’t get *too* out of control in between.

But since my nervous breakdown, Farmboy has had to oversee the kids bedrooms. Which makes life harder on everyone.

1. He’s not quite as soft tolerant as me.

2. He doesn’t seem to understand the “overwhelmed” feeling - he’s a “get in there and get the job done” kind of bloke (but he’s learning).

3. He doesn’t have the time to get in there during the week to keep things under control.

Plus, the kids are getting older now so we expect a little more of them.

Anyway, after months of tears and trying to get Singstar Princess to do her bedroom in 15 minute stints with a break in between, I finally got my brain back into gear and wrote her a nice long list to follow - breaking the whole “tidy your room” down into tiny babysteps.

It would appear that it worked. Farmboy was most impressed this Saturday just passed to see Singstar Princess get stuck into her bedroom without any tears. There were a few by the end of the task but it was a vast improvement.

Basically I broke the room down into 10 steps, although each step has some mini instructions.

So it went something like this:

1. Clothing

* put dirty clothes in the hamper

* put clean clothes in the drawer

* anything you’re not sure of, hang on the end of your bed for mum to check

2. Barbies

* put all barbie things into barbie box

* check there is nothing in the box that doesn’t belong

* put lid on and slide under bed

…. and so on.

I was actually worried the finished length of the list might be overwhelming but she seems to be working her way through it reasonably happily. One of these days I will get in there and do a proper sort out and cull and hopefully that will help too.

It’s not easy being a “part time mother”. But at least we’re making progress on that front.

Wonder if I should write myself a “10 Step List” for cleaning up my bedroom????

Overheard Conversation…..

The Bomb: My foot is blood

Farmboy: Perhaps you’d better stop riding your car down the slide

The Bomb: But it’s FUN!!!!

Farmboy (to me): You do realise if it weren’t for the blog, you’d be freaking out right now instead of telling him to do it again so you can take a photo….

Lightening: But it’s FUNNY!!!!

Note to Child Protection Agencies Worldwide: The “blood” was the tiniest graze on his foot from hitting the grass at the rate of knots. We did ensure a “safe” environment by moving the slide from the stones to the grass. We’re not totally HEARTLESS parents you know!!!

He’s a smart child. He’d enlisted the help of Leighton to hold onto the car while he climbed aboard. He seems to know his limits well. Let’s hope it stays that way!!!

My baby (aka The Bomb) put his teeth through his tongue on Sunday evening.

It bled for ages and every time I saw it I thought I’d throw up.

It doesn’t look so bad today.

Wanna see?

This photo doesn’t really do it justice but he wouldn’t let me take a photo the day it happened.

He was so brave too! Okay, he cried. But he still managed to eat dinner etc.

According to the hospital (Farmboy did call them), there wasn’t really anything they could do.

Apparently tongues heal themselves quite well.

I can already see that. This looked MUCH worse just after he’d done it.

How cute is he holding his tongue out for me so I can take a photo!

Do you think there’ll be a support organisation for kids of blogging mothers one day??? To help them recover from mother’s saying “Oh cool, that’ll make a great picture for my blog. Just wait there while I grab the camera”.

No, I didn’t really say that. I wasn’t even there when it first happened. I did wish I had my camera on hand when I did rock up though. After I’d given him some sympathy and almost lost my lunch that is.

One whole decade ago today.

A mother was born.

It was 10 o’clock at night.

I’d had an ante-natal check up in the morning and the midwife had said that my blood pressure was up so I should go home and rest.

I was cross.

It was only 10am and I’d been having such a good morning that morning. The floors were washed and I was looking forward to a very productive day at home. I didn’t want to rest.

I was scared.

High blood pressure was a bad sign. Wasn’t it?

They introduced me to the new doctor. A young guy. Just here for a few months to get some experience working with our regular doctor. The doctor that I had seen about 3 times the whole pregnancy. My care had been almost all midwife based.

He commented on how blue my eyes were. The midwife pointed out that was because I was upset over the high blood pressure. He seemed nice. He seemed very young.

I phoned my DH when I got home and he came home. To be with me while I rested. Even though I felt like doing housework. For the first time in my life.

We were half way through watching a video. I had what I thought was a show. I rang my mum. We’d already had false labour once. I wanted to be sure this time. No contractions. Just a show. She thought it was time. This time.

During ante-natal classes we were told that if we went into labour in the evening, we should ring the hospital so the midwife on call could head to bed and get some sleep before she was needed. Small country town. Not many midwives.

I rang. They told me to come in. I didn’t want to come in. I wanted to stay home and watch the end of the video we had started. They said they wanted to give me a sleeping tablet so I could get some sleep before labour kicked in in earnest.

What did we know? We figured we’d better go in. Even though I wanted to stay home. I rang my mum. They were all packed and ready to leave. They were sure this was the real thing. With a 5+ hour drive they were coming regardless.

The doctor came in. The guy. The new guy. Not the female I had known for a while. The male I had just met. I thought I would care. I thought I would want the female. But I wasn’t allowed a choice. It didn’t matter. I thought it would matter. It didn’t.

The midwife told him to go home and get some sleep.

They put the most painful thing in my wrist. To give me drugs if I needed. I took the sleeping tablet they gave me. DH was given a fold up bed. I think.

I slept. I woke up with each contraction to find the midwife on one side and my DH on the other. Then I went straight back to sleep. I got more sleep than my DH that night. He didn’t get any. I couldn’t stay awake.

They gave me Pethidine. The midwife called all the shots. I didn’t have a clue what was happening a lot of the time. I didn’t really care all that much.

I hope the doctor enjoyed his sleep. They sent him home at 11pm and called him back at 1am. The long labour they were expecting with a first child seemed to be progressing much faster than expected.

I wanted to push. They told me “NO”. Like I can NOT push???? An examination revealled I was 8cm dilated. They figured perhaps they should move me to the labour ward. No broken waters yet but they’d move me just in case.

My parents arrived. Did I want to see them? Sure. Stood Up. Another contraction. Maybe not.

Gas. No good. The gas made me want to push more so they took it away. Don’t push? Why don’t you just stop breathing? That’s about how hard the command seemed to me.

I pushed. My waters broke. The head engaged. They let me push. The baby was on it’s way.

A boy. A tiny little boy. We didn’t know the sex in advance. Couldn’t have known even if we wanted to. The company that did our ultrasound refused to speculate. They’d gotten it wrong in the past.

A BOY!!!!! Our boy! I thought maybe I wanted a girl first. Not because I didn’t want a boy. But because for some reason I *knew* I’d have a boy. I wasn’t sure if I’d have a girl. Did I care? No. Did I feel like I would love him more if he were a girl? My heart was so full of love I couldn’t imagine there being any room for more love.

I wanted to cry. But I was too tired. Too emotional to even cry. He was sleepy. Very sleepy. A tiny little sleeping bundle. So totally dependent on us for his every need and desire.

A baby was born. A mother was born.

This week’s Smiley Saturday post was going to be about my Singstar Princess turning 7. Kids birthdays are usually a great time for smiling and laughter. Well, it still is about her birthday. But not quite in the same way I had originally planned.

Something happened yesterday morning that almost made me cry. Happy tears though. Leighton, who is soon to be 10, asked if he could give his sister his gift first. I had some idea of what his gift might have entailed as he’d asked me where his wallet was first thing this morning.

What I wasn’t prepared for though, was him handing her a $5 note. To put this into perspective, he basically gets $7.50 a month which is his to spend in whichever way he would choose (there is another $7.50 a month but that is allocated to various other projects - like his untouchable bank balance etc). So he gave her nearly a month’s worth of his spending money!

It kind of blew my mind and part of me wanted to say “no, don’t do that, it’s too much”. The other part of me was just sitting in awe of how wonderful and generous my son is. We’ve seen signs of it before and yet he still manages to leave me speechless at times. The world needs more people like him. I hope it’s a trait he continues to show his whole life. It certainly was what I’d call a “proud mummy moment”.

Now, back to the birthday girl. She got a new bike for her birthday. It’s a Disney Princess bike. You can’t see it in great detail here but it is a beautiful bike. It actually has pictures of Disney Princesses along the main frame!!! And a gold bell!!! (And does her mummy wish she had a bike just like this when she was a little girl? ABSOLUTELY!!!!! )

I really wanted to give you a larger picture this time around but I’m still learning when it comes to editing in this program. Please click on the picture and it will take you to a larger view. Doesn’t the look on her face just make you smile???? The bike came with the tiara that she’s wearing. Oh, and she’s just about to leave for swimming lessons which is why she’s wearing her bathers!

Friday night we had a family birthday tea together (just the immediate family). My children get the choice of what they’d like to have for tea and they generally choose to have a “party tea” which involved party pies, fairy bread, salad platter, chips and whatever else I come up with at the time. I remember as a child if my Grandma asked me what I’d like for a special birthday tea I’d always choose the same! I’m a HUGE fan of fairy bread!!!! We had a lovely time together in the afternoon baking her love heart shaped birthday cake. She then went on and iced and decorated it herself.

Come tea time, she wanted to set the table and was very busy throughout the meal serving others and making sure everyone had what they needed and wanted. It was so special to watch. Not “wait on me, I’m the birthday girl” but “I want to make sure you have a nice meal”.

Not to be outdone by his older siblings, our 4 year old has been very kind and thoughtful lately, sharing some lollies he had leftover from Christmas. Tonight when I complimented him on his good use of manners he says to me in the most grown up voice “you’re welcome mum”. It was very cute. Then after tea he informed me that he and his sister had made sure they’d left some chips for “the boys” (meaning his father and older brother) and for me. I was awed by his thoughtfulness.

I am a very blessed mother indeed. I sure have a LOT to smile about! Some days my kids have me tearing my hair out. Then you get days like yesterday where your heart could just burst with pride at the way they behave and treat one another. It was certainly a day worth remembering!

If you wish to participate in Smiley Saturday, feel free to leave a link to your post below. And as always, link back here so your readers can see what others are smiling about this week.

This is my second attempt to write this post.  The first appears to have disappeared into the great wide blogosphere - perhaps never to be seen again.  If you see something similar to this, let me know!

Anyway, I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while now and figured a new year was a good time to finally get “roundtoit”.  I’ve decided to “name” my family members so that I’m not constantly referring to them as DH, DS….. etc.

Farmboy - this is my DH who most of you are probably aware is a farmer.  My DH looks like he was born to be a farmer.  It’s hard to explain why, he just does (he also looks HOT in a blue bonds singlet but don’t tell him I told you that ).  If you’d like to know more about my marrying a farmer (and how I had determined NOT to marry a farmer, you might be interested in reading my guest post on Snoskred’s Life in the Country).

Leighton - my firstborn is very passionate about sport of any description.  But it would seem that he is quite a whizz when it comes to tennis.  Not that I’d know - I don’t even know what the rules are let alone how to play!  He’s tiny, likes wearing his hat in all kinds of strange angles (including backwards) and would LOVE to one day be some kind of Leighton Hewitt.  So it seems fitting.  Oh, and he turns 10 in January.  But please don’t tell anyone I’m old enough to have a child in double figures!!!!   Sometimes I lovingly refer to him as my “absent minded professor”.  He’s quite bright but can lack some simple common sense at times.  Apparently that’s quite “normal”.

Singstar Princess - our only daughter turns 7 in a couple of weeks.  She is VERY passionate about singing and given any opportunity will perform.  She’s also my little princess.  We were able to purchase a Singstar for the playstation the kids got for Christmas so now she’s able to be a real “Singstar Princess” - and LOVING IT!!!!

The Bomb - my 4 year old son has been rather a shock to the system after having 2 reasonably quiet children.  He attacks life at a flat out pace!  It amazes me how observant he is though.  He picks up the tiniest of details when you don’t even know he’s watching!!!  He LOVES anything that moves (cars, boats, planes etc) but his real passion seems to be trucks - especially road trains - and anything with a trailer.

Lightening - well that’s me (obviously).  I’m passionate about my husband and kids and of course, blogging (in case you hadn’t noticed! ).

So that’s us.  Assuming I don’t lose this post as well, when I return, I will add a page with descriptions that can be referred to as needed.  I’ll possibly add to the characters if I find there are others I refer to often on the blog.

Here is the first birthday cake I made for DS’s 4th birthday. He chose what colour I put in the icing (yellow seems to be a favourite at the moment). The lollies on the top are little lolly cars. (Yeah, I know, they look like frogs don’t they? At least, that’s what DS thought they were lol). Chucking a few lollies on a number cake is my idea of a birthday cake - nice and simple!

I had to include this photo as well (carefully edited to remove as much of my “first thing Saturday morning hairdo” as I could manage lol). Doesn’t he look so excited when he sees the Lightning McQueen Beach Towel?

I love kids birthdays - they’re so much fun!!!! I’ll be back tomorrow with some photo’s from the party.

The BIG day has arrived. Today my baby turns 4!!!! It sounds so BIG, doesn’t it? Last week I was talking with a friend of mine who also happens to be one of the staff members at my son’s kindy (preschool) and she was sharing about a conference she went to which taught them to remember that the 4 year olds in their care were just 48 months old. When you put it like that, it doesn’t really sound so old after all does it? I think it was just what I needed to hear at the time.

My boy is SO proud of how big he is! It really is very sweet.

This year Lightning McQueen is featuring very heavily. For those of you not familiar with Lightning McQueen, he is a red racecar and the lead character in the movie “Cars”. I LOVE the storyline as he learns what it truly means to be a friend and to have friends. And that “winning isn’t everything”.

We gave him a Lightning McQueen beach towel and wallet (he FINALLY has his own wallet!!!! A fact he is very proud of. We tend to start teaching money management to our children from 4 years onwards - that’s probably a subject for another post). We also gave him a Leapster that included a Lightning McQueen game. Being the youngest, he is being introduced to computer games a little younger than the other two. DD now has a gameboy and our other DS has a Nintendo DS so this is TJ’s very own “gameboy”. They work out fantastic for travelling in the car - we drive quite a few km’s a week living so far from everything.

His grandparents gave him his very own tool set (with REAL tools) - it came with a hat, goggles and toolbelt and he is ecstatic. So in many ways turning 4 has become a significant milestone for him becoming a “big boy”.

On Monday he’s having a few little friends over for a “Cars” Birthday party. To the left is a copy of the invitation we used as a base for our invitations. Gotta love the internet for being able to find HEAPS of great party ideas. The children who have been invited are all quite EXCITED at the thought of a “Lightning McQueen” party.

The plan is for each child to make their very own Lightning McQueen car out of a cardboard box (the kind you stand inside of). I’ve printed off some Lightning McQueen faces to stick to the front of the box and there’s a red piece of paper with a “95″ on it to go on the sides. Then of course the paper plate wheels and steering wheel. DH is going to mark out a track on the back lawn so they can “drive” around it

I think it’ll be lots of fun. The cardboard cars will take care of most of the activity for the morning and also become part of the “take home” gift for each child. I have bought “Cars” party bags as well and in them will go a few lollies, a small packet of chips and a couple of “cars” colouring sheets I printed off the internet.

I’m hoping that by the time they arrive and settle in, make their car and race around in their car, there won’t be a need for too much other organised activity. We also have a blow up tunnel type thing my parents gave our children for Christmas which DH will set up and the sand-pit. I do have some blow up egg and spoons they can play with and if need be we’ll do an egg and spoon race or two and play a few games like Duck, Duck, Goose. I find the whole “winning/losing” issue with party games and prizes a hard one at this age so I simply solve that dilemma by avoiding those kinds of games.

We have a little boy coming who is allergic to eggs, milk, nuts and a few other things so I’ve worked on party food that he can have (usually his mum brings food for him but they’re close friends and it’ll be nice for him to be able to come to a party and just be “one of the kids” instead of being different). I feel very honoured (and a tad nervous) that I am one of the few people she will trust with the life of her child. His first sleep-over away from home was here.

Party Food will be:

* fruit platter
* popcorn with icing sugar
* iced biscuits with lolly faces (I know which biscuits he can have)
* plain potato chips (he can have Home Brand salt & vinegar but DH accidentally ate them)
* toobs
* pretzels
* jelly cups with jelly frogs in them (if I get around to making them lol)
* cordial (plus tea & coffee for the mums)

He can also have my Chocolate Fudge Cake so I’ll make that for the birthday cake. I prefer to keep things pretty simple all up. There’s nothing worse than spending hours making party food only to end up throwing a heap in the rubbish.

Today I have to make 2 birthday cakes. One for his family birthday tea tonight and one ready for the party on Monday. I’m planning on making a number 4 cake for tonight. The cake for the party is pretty simple (photo’s Monday night hopefully). I’ve bought a toy Lightning McQueen to go on it rather than attempt to actually make and ice a Lightning McQueen (like I said, I like simple ).

I don’t think it takes too much to put on a simple little kids party that can be lots of fun without being TOO much work. If I make things too complicated for myself I tend not to want to go through all of that again. LOL. This way, we all have fun and I don’t end up in a heap. Having it during the school day means I only have the 6 kids who are coming plus 5 mums (2 kids are siblings) and DS and myself to cater for.

Our family tradition is to have a kind of party tea on the day of each child’s birthday. Generally I let the kids choose what meal they’d like and so far they’ve always chosen a “party tea”. LOL. Just like their mother really - that’s what I used to ask my Grandmother to do when she would do a special birthday tea for my birthday. So naturally, I’m happy to oblige. No party pies this time though (I don’t have any at the moment!!!). But we will have “little boys” (cocktail sausages), fairy bread (an absolute must), cheese & bacon fingers (some people call them “toasties”), potato chips, salad platter and slices of watermelon. I’ve also bought some brandy snaps and cream as a bit of a treat. And of course, the birthday cake. I *might* make a few mini quiches if I get really energetic today while the oven is on - we’ll see.

I think I’d best go write myself a “what needs doing when” list. More details and photo’s will follow over the next couple of days.

My DS has been busy this week playing with items that I’ve bought in preparation for his 4th birthday party. The party is still about a month away and the items are just sitting in the box waiting. That might sound very organised to some but with shops so far away from us, I HAVE to be prepared ahead of time.

Watching him playing with this stuff has been quite interesting and thought provoking. We’re not talking mega exciting items here. A tablecloth, some party hats, loot bags, a box of tissues, a couple of bags of lollies (okay they are exciting)… He keeps getting them out of the box and looking at them, *knowing* that they’re for his party. *Knowing* that he has a party to look forward to.

Now he has started to create games using these items. Yesterday he got them all out and used them to build himself a “cubby” by lining them up next to each other in a circle around himself (amazing imagination and creativity that kids have). What really struck me though was the extra VALUE I was getting out of these items. Not only were they going to serve their purpose at his actual birthday party, but they’ve already provided hours of entertainment for him (I’m keeping my fingers crossed he doesn’t damage them in the meantime lol). It’s almost like getting “2 for the price of 1″. LOL.

I think that delayed gratification can work like that too. There is value in the “looking forward” to something that we miss out on when we purchase what we want straight away. We live in a “want it and want it right now” world and I think we’re missing out on something when we are like that. We miss out on the enjoyment of thinking, planning, saving and looking forward to an event or purchase. Those things ADD value to how we’re spending our money.

In contrast, to have it NOW we not only miss out on the added value, we also SUBTRACT value from the purchase. It’s not a lot of fun having to pay for something AFTER the event. So that begins to become a burden and SUBTRACTS value from our purchase. Add onto that any interest payments and the overall cost has risen - again reducing the value/fulfilment vs $$ spent equation.

I’m the kind of person that likes to get as much value for my $$ as possible. So I’m actually feeling quite chuffed that DS is getting so much value out of my small purchases. Each time he gets these things out to play with (which are still in their packets by the way), he’s actually increasing the value per $$ I’ve spent.

My DH and I have days where we tear our hair out at the state of our 6 year old daughter’s bedroom. Admittedly it is nice that she plays with so many of her toys. It’s just a pity she seems to need to have them ALL out at once. And a pity she doesn’t seem to be capable of packing them away when she’s finished with them.

Saturday mornings the kids are supposed to tidy up their bedrooms and do a couple of other small jobs around the house. It doesn’t happen *every* Saturday morning but most weeks it does.

This morning she got her room all tidied up to a passable level. We don’t “insist” on it being immaculate but it is nice to be able to get further than the door.

Now that they’ve finished doing their “Saturday jobs”, the kids are back into the business of playing. DD says to her younger brother, “come into my room”. The 2 of them play really well together *most* of the time.

As they both walk into her room, DD has a look around and then announces “well, this is BORING!” LOL. When we walk into her room, we see a huge mess. Obviously when she walks into her room, she sees an ongoing game. Perhaps that is why she doesn’t seem to pack things away when her game is finished. The game is NEVER finished.

So, is her room a *mess* or is it simply *in use*? It’s all a matter of perspective really. LOL.

From: Mum
To: My Children
Date: Tuesday 30th October 2007

Re: Taking Sick Days on a Tuesday

This memo is a request to my school aged children that you pleeeeaaaassseee do not choose Tuesdays as a sick day.

My reasons are as follows:

* If you are sick on a Tuesday (this applies only if you are BOTH sick) then my little baby has to take the bus to kindy all on his own. And 3 is MUCH too young to be going on a school bus on your own. I know he’s almost 4 BUT that’s still too young!!!! Okay, I know he had a huge smile on his face and didn’t seem the least bit perturbed at the idea….. BUT HE’S MY BABY!!!!!! Waaaaahhhhhh……..

* Tuesday is my “home alone” day. I figure if I have to suffer through the torment of waving goodbye to my BABY then I should at least have a nice quiet morning to look forward to. You know I love having you around but well, the thing is, the point of being home alone is to be, well….home. ALONE.

* I’ve paid good money for those music lessons and if you miss them well…. I still have to PAY. For NOTHING…. And well, no one likes paying for something they don’t get.

* You miss library day and the library will send me nasty notices about those books you found under your bed that you borrowed last TERM…… plus we’ll get to tomorrow and you’ll be saying “we need to BUY more books mum cos there’s nothing to read”.

If you really *have* to fall sick on a Tuesday, could you please:

* Choose a Tuesday when your father isn’t about to disappear into the vortex of harvest, leaving me as a single mother for who knows how many weeks.

* Choose a Tuesday on which your mother has actually had some SLEEP on the Monday night prior to.

* Co-ordinate with one another so that there is only 1 of you home at a time. At least that way there’ll be half the whining and zero fighting (unless you’ve actually figured out a way to fight with yourselves - which is entirely probable).

* Learn to drive so that you can make yourselves useful by picking your father up from the paddock. At least that way I wouldn’t have to do it!!!

* Make sure you’re sick enough to lie on the couch SLEEPING.

* Not knock 65 times on the bathroom door while I’m trying to shower in PEACE. Sheesh…. how much can really go wrong in a teeny, tiny few minutes?????

* Not ask me every 5 minutes when the computer will be free. There is only room for 1 internet addict in this family and the position has been TAKEN!!!!!

Failure to adhere to the guidelines set out in this memo may result in wages pocket money being docked. Yes I know that half the time I forget to even give you pocket money but you do realise that only makes it EASIER to remember not to pay you?????? That doesn’t make sense? It doesn’t HAVE to make sense! Why? Cos I’m the MUM, that’s why!!!!

Love you heaps,

Love Mum xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooo (yes, you really do have to give me that many kisses and hugs. After all, I am your MOTHER!!!!!)

I received this in an email yesterday. I must admit that I’m not one to generally forward on these kinds of emails. Simply because I’m too lazy. But you do find some interesting and heart-warming things circulating the world-wide web. I have no idea if it’s fiction or non-fiction but it does make for a nice read regardless. My apologies to the author. Since I don’t know who you are I can’t give proper credit. Thanks to Jodie F who forwarded this to my inbox. Hope you don’t mind me posting it here.

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
Rebecca- age 8

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
Billy - age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
Karl - age 5

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”
Chrissy - age 6

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”
Terri - age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.”
Danny - age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss”
Emily - age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,”
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”
Noelle - age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”
Tommy - age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”
Cindy - age 8

“My mommy loves me more than anybody . You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”
Clare - age 6

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”
Elaine-age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.”
Chris - age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
Mary Ann - age 4

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”
Lauren - age 4

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image)
Karen - age 7

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”
Jessica - age 8

And the final one — Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
“Nothing, I just helped him cry”

I have cut out the “forward this on to X friends……” but the rest is as I received it.

Not what I had originally planned on blogging about today but that’ll keep for another day (or later today depending on my mood…..) Hope it made you smile. I sure do love seeing the world through a child’s eyes.

Well DS had a very good first day at kindy. When he got home, he peeked his little head around the corner and gave me this cute little smile. I got up and held my arms out and he just ran into them. So we had a HUGE cuddle which was really nice.

Apparently now that he’s been to kindy, he can go to school “tomorrow”. LOL. I think we might have told him he has to go to kindy before he can start school so he’s figuring now he’s been to kindy, it’s time for school. At this rate he’ll be finished year 12 by Christmas!!!

He couldn’t stop talking about the day and all the things he’d been doing with his friends (a stark contrast to my firstborn son who’d always answer “nothing” or “I don’t know”).

And he tells me that going on the bus was “really fun”.

Biggest laugh of the day though was when I asked him whether he’d used the kindy toilets. Naturally mum’s worried about him not knowing where the toilet is or not getting there in time. He quite matter of factly shakes his head and tells me he just went “outside on the grass”. ROFLOL. Oh dear. Yes, mum was also worried that he might do that too!

Last thing before he went to sleep tonight, he informs us that he will be going to kindy on the school bus “tomorrow”. It’s going to be a loooonnnnggg week until kindy day rolls around again.

….and I’m all a-lo-one………oooh. I’ve got the “my baby started kindy today and insisted on going on the school bus even though it’s his first day bloo-oos”.

Ya don’t have to be able to sing in tune with the blues do you? No? Oh good!

Actually, I’m not feeling all that sad. Does that make me a bad mummy? I should feel sad shouldn’t I?

Okay, well he only goes half a day a week this term (it’s kind of a transition term to kindy and kindy is the year they do pre-school here for those not familiar with our system - which is most of you since Australia doesn’t have a common system across the states). So maybe that’s part of the reason I’m not feeling sadder.

And it has been almost 10 years of having kids at home. I think I’m ready for a change. I’d better not get too used to it though. He’ll be home at lunch time! LOL. And I imagine all I’ll get for the next week is “is it kindy day yet?”

The house is kinda quiet though. It’s almost a “first day of term” here day today. Even though school went back yesterday, we had to take DD to an appointment out of town so only DS went to school yesterday. Now, all of sudden, they’re all gone!!!! After having them ALL home for the past 2 weeks.

Today I need to start searching for my house underneath all our stuff!!!!

Look at all those babies!!! One of them even cries. My youngest two had a great time playing together today. They made a HUGE mess but at least the “feralness” seemed to settle down a bit after a rough start to the day.

Oh yeah, the “Old Woman” bit isn’t me either. LOL. At least I hope not!

This afternoon they were playing “hairdressers”. I cut both the boys hair this week so it would seem “haircutting” is a bit of a theme at the moment. I was a bit concerned about this game but they assured me that it was only pretend and they wouldn’t really cut hair. They used a red castanet (2 round circles joined at one point that clack together as a percussion instrument) as the clippers which I thought was quite inventive of them.

So far today I’m having a tough one. Going out still takes a lot out of me and I went out last night to the kids school festival. I actually coped really well being out. Then I had a night full of nightmares. They seem to come when I’ve used up my emotional energy by being out.

This morning the kids are feral after being all sugared up last night (and before breakfast this morning - oops). I’m hiding in the office but it’s not working - they keep finding me!

My 9 year old just stuck his head in the door and I almost lost it so he left again. Only to return a minute ago and quietly hand me a soft red ball (I think he may have won it last night). It’s a stress ball. It made me laugh and he said “see, it’s working already”.

Now I’m crying. Cos I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve a kid like that.

Our backyard is really starting to take shape now. Yesterday DH and the kids went into town and got a trailer load of bark chips to put under the swing. Hopefully that will help to keep the weeds down, as well as providing a softer fall surface. We’ve recently changed our swing set from the toddler swing in the centre to the roman rings so the kids are doing all kinds of fancy tricks (along with having a few more spills).

Here are DH and the boys unloading the trailer of bark chips. My kids are blessed with a wonderful father and I hope someday they come to realise and appreciate that. I love it when they do things like this together. It’s so much easier now that DH isn’t working quite as much too. No amount of money can replace these times together. DD was going to help but was too involved in watching the latest Barbie movie on TV and decided she would rather be doing that. LOL.

If you look carefully you can see my pea plants in the background of the photo. They have outgrown their frame and seem to be preferring to hold onto one another rather than getting a good grip on the support that is there. Which is fine until they get a battering from the winds we’ve been getting lately. Still, we’re getting some peas from them which is great.

DH also got the site for our garden shed semi-levelled yesterday. He had to shift some dirt to build it up level with the backyard. Over tea last night I asked him who he was going to get to help him put the shed up. He informed me that he and I were going to do it. LOL. Apparently it’s not heavy or anything - he just needs a hand steadying it. DD piped up and said that perhaps we could have a family day putting up the shed. Isn’t she sweet? So it looks like the 5 of us will be putting up the shed together which will be a nice project. And nice to be able to look at the shed and remember putting it up together.

I have my times when I mourn the fact that I no longer have a baby (now that the children are getting older). Part of me would love to have another one. But days like yesterday remind me that there are some wonderful parts to children growing older - like being able to do things together.

In the afternoon we had a bit of a baking spree. I baked a banana cake and some chocolate chip biscuits. Then DS decided he wanted to make some peanut butter sweets that are in a recipe book he got for Christmas a couple of years ago. DD wanted to make some honey biscuits that she had a recipe for from school (they’ve been learning all about bees and honey). As we were finishing off I was talking to them about how it’s a good skill to learn how to cook. DS is something of a perfectionist and wanted me to finish off what he was making. I told him it didn’t matter how it looked but it was more important that he practise the skill as that was the only way he’d get better.

I’m thankful for the fact that my MIL had a similar idea with her boys and made sure they knew how to cook. I was all “cooked out” come tea time so DH made dinner. He does have a limited range when it comes to his culinary abilities but I’m sure not complaining.

Our youngest sure loves his trailers and couldn’t resist the opportunity to hook our trailer onto his tractor while it was still in the backyard. LOL. Then he enlisted the help of his older brother and sister to see if they could in fact “tow it”. When I went out to take the photo they tried to enlist my help but I politely declined. The older 2 are pretty obliging to DS’s scheme’s most of the time. At least there were no jumps in sight! Which reminds me, guess who ate his broccoli last night. LOL. So there are some health benefits to taking him to see motorbikes jumping off ramps!

This shows how he has attached the trailer to his tractor. It has a pin at the back where a trailer can be attached but because this was a freebie there wasn’t a trailer with it and we can’t order them individually. DH is *planning* on making something for DS to attach to his tractor - we’ll see if he gets around to it before DS outgrows it. It doesn’t actually *need* it but he is so trailer crazy that we know he’d LOVE it. There is a practical aspect to it as well though. DH was watching DS reversing his tractor yesterday. The steering apparently works the same way as a vehicle and DH thinks if he had a trailer on behind, he’d not only know how to reverse a vehicle when it comes to driving but also how to reverse a vehicle with a trailer. Skills like that in a farm kid can come in VERY handy when dad needs something put away etc.

Unfortunately DH and I have come down with a vomitting bug today. We thought we’d missed it when the kids had it a couple of weeks ago. It makes me doubly glad that we took the time to do things with the kids yesterday. Today MIL has driven out and picked them up as DH and I aren’t really in a great way to be looking after them (especially getting food for them). It just brings home to me that fact that we really don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring and we have to seize each day that we have. Not out of fear of the future, but in appreciation for what that day brings. I won’t go into detail of what my day today has brought so far though. LOL.

Last night we took our children to “Crossing the Gap” which is a group of motorcyclists that do jumps and fancy stuff with their bikes etc. On the way home at around 9pm we expected our 3 year old to fall asleep fairly quickly. However, he was full of beans and couldn’t stop talking about the bikes and making the noises and talking about how he could do all of that. LOL. Mum (that being me) is sitting in the front seat wondering about the wisdom of having taking him to see such stunts. This conversation follows:

DS: I will do that with my bike.
Mum: Will you? Maybe when you’re bigger. (I’m imagining him riding his bike off the end of our sheep loading ramp).
DS: I will do that tomorrow. (I was thinking maybe like in 20 years or more) When I’m bigger.
Mum: I think you should wait until you’re a bit bigger.
DS: Broccoli will make me bigger. Tomorrow.

At this point I’m trying hard not to laugh too loudly. I’m not sure even broccoli can make him big enough by tomorrow. And at the rate he eats broccoli (like never) it’s going to take a long time before that’ll help make him bigger. Perhaps he means he’s going to start eating broccoli tomorrow - the kind of tomorrow that never comes.

Can I be fussy and want the broccoli tomorrow to come but not the tomorrow where he starts jumping bikes (with or without a motor) into the air off a high ramp?

Just after this conversation, all went quiet in the backseat of the car and I turned around to look at him and he’s fast asleep!!! Must have taken him all of 20 seconds after his last sentence to fall asleep. I love how kids can just drop off so quickly. Wish I had that knack!

And while we’re on the subject of kids making us laugh. DH has just appeared at the doorway to the office. The vacuum cleaner has been running in DS’s room for a few minutes now. DH appears holding the end to the vacuum cleaner wondering how DS is going vacuuming his room. ???? It’s going to take him quite a while to cover his floor with just the hose end of the vacuum. LOL. I guess it was too much bother for him to find the end to the vacuum cleaner. So instead of taking a few seconds to look for it, he takes MUCH longer to vacuum the floor instead. Gotta love a 9 year olds logic. LOL.

I just had to share this. My 2 school age children did the MS Readathon during June and before tea tonight we were adding up the number of books they had read and how much sponsorship needed to be collected. As with a lot of fundraisers for kids these days, there are certain prizes that can be won if sponsorship reaches particular levels. DS had just reached the $35 level which is the minimum for getting a prize. DD was $4 under. Mostly the kids have been good at understanding the importance of why they’re raising money and enjoying the reading challenge, but naturally they’re aware of the prizes as well.

Anyway, DS disappears and comes back a moment later carrying $4 he’d pulled from his own money box. “Here, I’ll sponsor you $4″, he told his younger sister. He’s 9 years old and gave up his own money (more than a weeks pocket money at that) so she wouldn’t miss out on the prize (a cardboard castle or some such). I came so close to bursting into tears. DH just whispers to me “these are the moments as a parent you don’t want to forget”.

I’m just so proud of him!

DD then decided that since he sponsored her, she’d like to sponsor him as well. It was a very close brother-sister moment that I was so grateful to witness.

It just floors me at times how giving my children are. I hope it’s a trait that continues into their adult life.

My 9 year old DS has been asking for chocolate crackles for a few weeks now. This past week I finally bought some copha and suggested to him that he could make them. He was stoked at that idea (quite enjoys being handy in the kitchen - must train him up a bit more, might make my life a little easier :-)).

Of course the younger 2 wanted to get in on the action too. Ordinarily I let them help me when I cook but since this was DS’s project, they had to be content with just watching.

DD has a Barbie cooking book and was asking to make something from that. We found a really simple but effective idea that all the kids could get involved in (I wasn’t keen to start any project that involved too much effort - Sunday afternoon’s are usually a quiet time in this household).

APPLE AND CHEESE SAILBOATS

Cut apple into 8 sections. Remove the core from each section. Cut triangle shapes from any block cheese (we used matured cheddar as that’s what was in the fridge). Then you use a toothpick to attach the cheese “sail” to your apple “boat”.

They looked quite effective, the kids had fun putting the pieces together (and counting that they had 8 of each item). At the end they had a nice healthy snack to munch on.

I’ll have to remember that for during the school holidays when they just need a bit of a distraction.

And I still had enough energy (just) to make some sausage rolls for tea. I’ve been meaning to make them for a while now and it kept getting put off. I think resting yesterday has probably paid off in the energy stakes. I can smell them now - must be about ready to come out of the oven. Mmmmmm….gotta love homemade sausage rolls.

I can remember my grandmother playing that game with my brothers when they were still in the highchair. Trying to entice them to eat their dinner so that they were allowed to have dessert. She’s a sweetie my grandma.

I’m not sure I resorted to it much when my children were younger. I was of the “if they’re really hungry they’ll eat” brigade. Tough mum hey? I guess grandmothers get the chance to do a bit more spoiling than mothers do anyway. I remember my MIL feeding my 7 year old one day. My eyes nearly fell out of my head. LOL. Granny can get away with it though.

Anyway, I was reminded of this little eating game, watching my 3 year old at tea tonight. He’s concocted his own little version. The fork is a front end loader and various vegetables become things to be lifted (like hay, sheep etc). He’s so good at making realistic sounds too. So cute to watch. One of those moments you’d dearly love to capture on video and preserve for all time but you know if you leave the room to get the camera you’ll miss the moment for all time.

One of those moments that reminds me why I love being a mum.

My 3 year old is so precious. He’s quite verbal but can’t pronounce all of his sounds yet. Friends of ours recently put in a swimming pool and we’ve been to have a swim a couple of times this summer. Unfortunately his word for “swim” sounds more like “wee”. So we head off for a swim and he says “I’m going to wee in the pool”. LOL. Even funnier is when he says “mummy going to wee in the pool”. Moments like this you just love having kids. They never fail to bring a smile to your face over something. Naturally I’m very quick to point out that “wee” is his word for “swim”.