Reading...

Tahlia and Liam are getting ready to start the "Premier's Reading Challenge" next week. They have to read 20-30 books in a set amount of time. In Liam's case he can either read them or experience a book...i.e. have a book read to him. Tahlia however, has to do all the reading herself. Luckily this is not a challenge at all for the smarty-pants!!!

Ethan is also getting in on the act. That's fine with me. Apparently new statistics suggest, that for a child to have a love of reading throughout their lifetime, it starts with experiencing approximately 3000 books before they even get to school! We're well and truly on the road with only two years remaining before Ethan reaches that milestone.

So...here's a photo of me and the boys enjoying story time...and yes, I am wearing my Oscar the Grouch, "Get Lost" pj's!!!! Very flattering!

Create...

The kids have been sick this week, but I've still miraculously managed to create this...

"Earth boy"

Another one of Ethan. I just wanted to get down on paper how much he adores being outside. I suppose really, that being outside, is every little boys' quest! It sure is his!!! Thanks for looking.

Scissors and paper...

Guess who likes to SNIP!!! SNIP, SNIP, SNIP!

That's right. He does. Thanks mostly to the play-doh experiences we have had. Because in the new set of red and blue (play-doh), it includes a pair specifically for cutting up the soft dough. That little pair of blue scissors he has in his hands, has done some serious mileage of late. And now he has a thirst for using the sharper pair...Thanks Liam for showing him the finer details of cutting paper!

Lately I will often hear Ethan asking "Paper Mummy? Just ONE more?" Then I know I have to look for the scissors he's probably opening and closing behind his back... (the same ones that have been left down within his easy reach, by the other kids!). Well, maybe he'll be a scrapbooker too!! Got to love that paper and scissors thing! Just wish he'd leave the unopened mail alone!!!

Golf practice...

Tomorrow Mark is off to play in his work's Corporate Golf Day. Team building exercise I suppose, but in reality I suspect it's an "any excuse will do" type of thing!!! I'm sure he'll have a good time but come back with a myriad of aches, pains and excuses for why the ball went one way, when it surely should have went the other! No matter. So today we went to a local driving range so he can get the bugs out of his system (and of course his golf bag!).

We took the kids along just to get them out of the house and from under our feet. The lady behind the counter asked if the kids wanted to have a little hit as well. They had several putters and clubs that had been cut down to size. Some of the other patrons were hitting the ball quite haphazardly, so frankly I wasn't sure where the safest place to be was. (Probably directly in front of them, but still not the best place...)

In the end I set them free on the putting green.

Liam didn't quite get the idea about using a putter. He wanted to use the heaviest club he could find, an insisted on dribbling it towards the hole. I guess he's really getting into hockey!

To Tom...

Here's hoping Tahlia's pen pal in England has a fantastic 8th birthday!!! Congratulations Tom, we wish we could be there to give you our best wishes in person! Have a wonderful day!!

Thanks for the beautiful ballerina card Tom and Grandma Elaine. It was a nice surprise! Thanks also Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Rick for the gorgeous beaded headband and little purse! (Tahlia is wearing the headband in the photo above). Just what a girl needs!

Create...

A little bit of what I've been working on this week...

"Chocolate" (Easter LO)

Ethan enjoying the taste and feel of chocolate!

Jac(K), short for Jacaranda, maybe...

Meet our dog Jac(k). He has been with us since November 2006. Hence the confusion about his name...Huh? Well, since we bought him home to live with us in November, we decided to name him after all the beautiful jacaranda trees that flower at this time of year.

"Yeah!" shouted all the kids. But then Tahlia asks, "Mummy, is Jac a boy or a girl dog?" And of course he is indeed a boy dog.
"Well, Mummy," said Liam, "That name is too girly!"
Okay, we'll try again.
"What about Jack?" said Tahlia.
"Sorry?" I asked very confused. I mean didn't we just rule that name out?
"You know," she said, "After Captain Jack Sparrow!"
And so our dog is named after a pirate. And I must add, quite aptly named.

Sure he was very cute as a puppy...but we are still waiting for his puppy habits to disappear!

Some days after he has a good time totally destroying something in the back yard, I just want to leave the gate open and shout, "Be free Jack! Be free!" At least he loves the kids very much, and they adore him too.

So he is a member of our family, for better or worse!

Cool pic...

Check out this photo of Liam riding his scooter! I just love the effects! He tells me he was riding so fast on the scooter I almost missed getting him on film!

After all, he is a super fast scooter rider!

Update...

Okay, it's Friday again and we have just come home from hockey. This time no gentle persuasion was needed for Liam to be out there on the field hitting that ball! It's fantastic to see him out there with confidence. He really is quite good at it...(I don't want to sound negative but being sporty isn't his kind of thing *grin*). Maybe he's just a natural with a hockey stick...

Tahlia has had today off from school. Sore tummy. Something is going around. (Mark's home sick too). She feels that the exams went quite well. The first one was so easy she asked her teacher if she could do it again...It was SO much fun?!!! The second test was based on reading...no problems there. And the last one was maths. She's not as confident with that one but still doesn't think it was too bad. We won't find out result for a little while yet, but when we do, I will post it here.

Bye for now.

Create...

Today I finished this...

"Eight" (Tahlia LO)

and the detail...

Tahlia having just turned eight and I am really having a hard time fathoming where all the years have gone!

National Benchmarking...

Today, tomorrow and Thursday, Tahlia will be sitting for a nation wide benchmarking test for Grade 3s. She has been anxious about it all weekend, to the point where I had to go and speak to her teacher. The testing indicates where she sits as an individual, how the school ranks against other schools across Australia and possibly State against State. (The teachers don't know yet as this is the first year the Queensland Test has become Nationwide.)

Tahlia's teacher has assured her, that she will have nothing to worry about. In fact her teacher told me that Tahlia tends to over think things through, which is a good thing. It's the other kids that are not bothered about it, who will struggle.

So...dropping her off at school this morning, Tahlia is in a much better frame of mind. She even went as far to reassure me (not needed-I'm sure she will have no issues) that she is ready for her "first ever big test in her life!!!" =)

Good Luck Kiddo!

My Mother's Day...

Happy Mother's Day to all Mums reading this blog. I know I'm a day late but I had such a good time yesterday with my kids, hubby and extended family, that I was savouring every last moment!

I had a wonderful breakfast in bed at the third wake up call! My first mum's day greeting came at 4am!!! Ethan had decided he wanted to go to the toilet. (Just quietly, that's a great sign of progress with the toilet training :D ). He had taken off his pj bottoms, his undies and then his nappy as he travelled down the hallway to visit me. I'm not sure if he made a pit stop to the toilet first. He woke me up wanting a cuddle and then promptly told me his bottom was cold! I was a bit confused until I picked him up! Anyway, I should have elbowed Mark, it was Mother's Day after all, but left him in bed to sort Ethan out and put him back in bed.

The second wake up call was at 6am. Apparently Mark had told the kids it was okay for them to wake me at this time! How often do I legitimately get to stay in bed without feeling guilty! NOT THAT OFTEN!!! So I asked them very sweetly if they would mind letting Mummy have an extra half an hour in bed. After conferring among themselves it was decided that my request would be granted! Thanks guys!

So third time lucky and I probably wasn't going to get any more chances to rest! The kids brought me a swagful of hand made gifts that they had secretly done at school! Got to love that! One notable gift was one from Liam. It read :

MY GREAT MUM

My Mummy is 200 years old.
She weighs 0kg and is 123cm tall.
Her hair is blonde and her eyes are blue.
My Mum loves to relax by lay (sic) down and she likes to wear skirts.


She loves to cook scrambled eggs and toast.
Her favourite household chore is laundry.
Her favourite TV show is "Biggest Loser" and her favourite song is - she doesn't like any songs, she has a headache.


Mummy always tells me - she never says anything to me except, "Liam, it's breakfast time".
It makes her happy when I help her.
When my Mum shops she loves to buy groceries.
If she could go on a trip, she would go to a hotel and take us kids.


I really love it when my Mum helps me.
The best thing about my Mum is that I love her.
She's the best! I love you Mum!


Liam.

What can I say... No still I have nothing... I can only laugh at his ridiculous sense of humour!!!

After a yummy breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup we started to get ready for our lunchtime picnic in the park! There we played on the swings, climbed the play equipment and even climbed a few trees!

It was nice just having quality time with the kids and watching their antics. Liam got stuck in a yellow bucket type, spinning playground toy, Ethan was happy to just wander around aimlessly and Tahlia left her new shoes all over the place and had to keep running back to where she last saw them *sigh*.

Mum, Great-Grandma and Auntie Fara were all wished Happy Mother's Day and we sat down to our picnic.

We came home around mid afternoon and Mark prepared a lovely roast dinner. And the best part about that was, I didn't have to do the dishes!!!

Happy Mother's Day...

Okay, so I haven't posted off your card in time, and I haven't sent your gift either *yikes*!! The next best thing I can do is this...

I hope you like it. Happy Mother's Day Mum. We love you and wish we could be spending the day with you. Talk to you soon. xxx.

Hockey practise...

This week we finally got around to going to hockey...and I am really glad we did. Mark came home early enough to pick the kids up from school, then go with us all to watch Liam try out the sport that is HOCKEY. Liam was naturally quite nervous and didn't want to join in at first, even though two of his Prep class mates were in the team. So...guess what Mum had to do! Yes that's right, go out to the field, with hockey stick in hand and pretend to know what I was doing!!! One of the other parents who was there watching his daughters, asked me how long I had been playing. I told him that he had just seen my entire hockey career!!! He on the other hand, plays at representative level and been involved in the game since 1985! Ha! I guess he wins!!! :D

Anyway, here are some photos of LIAM *the name stressed slightly* having a great time!

After all, he only needed a little bit of encouragement to get started...(I'll let you know if I have to repeat the process next week!)

And then of course, some of us just waited until the practise was done.

A BIG step for me...

Today I thought I would be brave and show some scrapbooking pages. They are nothing fancy but I might as well put them out there....So here goes.

The first is one I did of Ethan. This was a story I wanted to tell about the music he has playing in his head. I wanted to get it down on paper before this little stage he was in, finished. It was so clear, watching him, that he had some musical tune playing over and over in his thoughts (and don't we all have that!), because every now and then he would just stop and then suddenly start dancing, even though there was no music playing in the house.

"musical"

The next one is of Tahlia. I loved this photo of her and at the time she was practising being a model!!! Of course, America's Next Top Model was also a favourite show that we both sat down together to watch! Hence the title Fierce Beauty...

"Fierce Beauty"

And a close up ...

And finally this layout is about the relationship Liam and Ethan have together. I wanted to document the bond they had before Liam started school.

"You + Me" (Liam + Ethan LO)

So...Thanks for looking!

Slowing down...

After the weekend's events it's nice to just sit down and relax. Except I have a mountain load of washing waiting to be folded and ironed, and a two year old who doesn't know when to stop!!! So I'm going to blog instead :P !

Anyway, there's not a lot to report at the moment. Liam walked into school this morning without me having to be within arms length. He walked calmly through the school gates and up to his classroom with only Tahlia to guide him and I waited and watched beside the car. That's a big step for him. He's not as independent as Tahlia but I am pleased to see him give it a go at his own suggestion.

He wants to walk out to the car in the afternoon as well, but I might wait and see how the morning routine goes first.

Tahlia was quite tired after her slumber party but that's not a surprise there. I heard from the other girls mums' that it was the same situation in their households as well. Well, I did give plenty of warning when they left our home the following morning! Hehehe.

And finally, if you don't like seeing kids being messy, or eating without utensils, look away now.

It wasn't a pretty site and it left quite a few stains!

Sleepless nights and wild parties...

This weekend we celebrated Tahlia's 8th birthday. (Wow! This happened way too quickly!) And it started (as usual) sometime before the actual event-Saturday.

On Friday afternoon after school we sat making party favour bags and bracelets for her friends. Just to be specific, the bracelets had to have her friends names on them. Cute but fiddly and sore on the finger tips!

On her birthday she woke to find her new bike! (Mark had only opened the box and assembled it the night before - always last minute.) After opening gifts and eating a requested breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, we headed off to the shops to retrieve her lay-by that had been put aside by Nanny and Grandad Jim.

Lunch was at McDonald's and then home for an afternoon movie before going to the park to play with her brothers and cousins.

Great Grandma even got in on some action! Hehehe...

Later that night she had a special dinner prepared for her and shared her yummy birthday cake!

On Sunday, she hosted a SLUMBER party instead of the usual 2-3 hour chaos of a normal birthday party. Yes, she had more cake...but it had to be in miniature form.

"Mummy"

"Yes Tahlia."

"Can I have an English Tea Party? You know, the kind where all the food is small and cute."

"*Yikes!* Sure Honey, we will give it a go."

She had invited six friends from school and they ALL excepted! So after loads of sugar (big mistake!), pizza for dinner and mini pavlovas for dessert we settled down to watch High School Musical 2. The movie finished just in time for us to then go outside and watch the fireworks that were just down the road! I'm sure they all had heaps of fun when they weren't sleeping...and they didn't do much of that!

Anyway, she still has more to come. On Wednesday next week, her Uncle Ian is taking her out to dinner as a special treat...I'm not sure he thinks she has had enough already! The girl sure has been spoilt.

It's all about her...

Guess which beautiful, sweet, absolutely adorable, witty, charming, extremely clever girl is turning EIGHT today!

Yes. I can hardly believe it as well!

C-c-c-cold!!!!!

Suddenly we've had a cold snap. It's not too bad today, but the kids are feeling it. They are at least wearing jumpers to school this week and those westerly winds do like to make it feel fresh!

Starting to feel like Winter...maybe not an icicles hanging off your nose, English weather situation but still quite cool for Queensland. At least we think so!