The road less travelled.............

Well what do you know 2 posts in the same week! It's a miracle :-)

I thought I'd share one of my favourite days over the school holidays so far, a day on the river.

After our trip to Adelaide for Christmas, we headed down to Batemans Bay to have a relax, enjoy our "beach house" and let the kids enjoy the sun and the surf! As anyone from Canberra or the bay would know the road at that time of year is ridiculous, as the trip from bungendore to braidwood was bumper to bumper, I took a slight detour through Araluen and headed down the coast the long way round. It did take 3 hours, a little longer than the kids expected, and it was a windy dirt/gravel road but it was a great drive and I was very proud of myself for doing it (as I had never driven very far on a dirt road before).

Anyway after a week on the coast it was sadly time to come home, so we decided to have a detour on the way. We stopped at Moruya markets (which is huge compared to last time I was there) and grabbed some yummy fresh food, sourdough bread, tomatoes basil and olive oil. Sat down and had some milkshakes at the health food shop and cafe before heading off to the national park.

The kids loved it, they always do. Getting the chance to be free, run around, explore, climb, jump, swim it's fantastic. It always amazes me that not matter when we go, (which is as often as we should) that it's always quiet.

I mean it's a beautiful spot, and it was early January, peak season and yet there was only a few other cars there.

The kids favourite thing to do is to jump off this rock! They love it, that's all they talk about the whole way there and the whole way home. This time Kayden even managed to jump off, after a little (or a lot) of hesitation.



The little kids enjoyed it to, Michaela kept trying to *wash* Eli, and Eli just kept trying to eat the sand!

This would have to be one of my favourite photos! Seeing that cute little bottom just hanging around - I can't wait to scrap that!

And this, seeing them having so much fun together makes me smile. It makes me appreciate things a little more and also makes realise that we *need* to make this happen more often.

Things get so busy, so caught up that we forget to slow down and take the road less travelled..........Night all!

At last.............

Well where does the time go? I know it's been months since I wrote, and in all honesty part of the reason I haven't written in the last month or so was because I'd felt guilty for taking so long to write! I know that really makes sense!

Anyway I thought I'd share a few things that have been happy over the last few months, as they have been rather busy.

So I finally finished uni for the year which was fantastic! (Pretty pleased with myself actually) We had all the usual commotion leading up to Christmas, frantically making presents right up till a few days before Christmas. We also had a couple of boys birthdays, (which always make me feel old!) A trip to Sydney to meet Uncle Nick, visiting from Canada/South America, end of the school year and than a trip to Adelaide for Christmas! We always seem to be busy, and even though I constantly feel exhausted I wouldn't have it any other way!

I thought I'd share a few random photos from the last couple of months.

(I hope you enjoy the Santa photo, it took 8 trips to visit Santa to get it!)

Curtis cooking up a storm - making his speciality Pavlova!

The kids at the coast setting up Nanny's and Grandpa's tree.

Collecting vegies out of Grandpa's Garden - THE BEST VEGIES EVER according to Kayden!

Our amazing view from the apartments we stayed at in Sydney, unfortunately it was the same weekend as Oprah visited so it was a bit crazier than usual.

Ash crashed out after Christmas lunch and a couple of hours in the pool! Soooo cute :-)

Eli and Michaela having lunch in a gorgeous vegetarian cafe somewhere in the hills around Adelaide.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and new year and that your managing to enjoy the school holidays, Back soon....................hopefully.

Oops!

Okay so I've been very slack in updating this blog lately, actually since the start of September, and some how we're already into October! I know that in my last post I said I would post more often and I haven't but this time when I say that I'm going to post more often I really mean right? Right.

So I thought I'd share a few of the reasons that I haven't been blogging, apart from the regular chaos that is my life. Newest reason is that I have no computer, :-( I didn't realise how dependent I had become on until it died. So alas there are no photos in this post. I have also been a little busy with Uni, I just finished writing up an assessment (for the 2nd time as the computer took the first one with it when it died) and had an exam a couple of weeks ago. Add to this that my baby girl miss Michaela turned 2, which meant cute little lady bug invitations HAD to be made, with a get together in the park and a lady bug cake. The kids also finished term 3 at school and had lots of things on including a performance at floriade and Curtis participated in a debate at a nearby school. We also took a quick weekend trip to Brisbane and caught up with some great friends and had a look around, trying to get a feel for the area and where we might like to live when we move up!

Ok so now I have written it down it does look like as much as I thought. I should also mention that the big kids have been on holidays for the last 2 weeks. I love school holidays, no rushing around of a morning, no trying to cram things in between 9 and 3, no need to wake up sleeping babies at pick up time. Not to mention the extra time spent enjoying my 3 big kids that seem to grow up way to fast! We didn't do alot these holidays, we spent some time down in Batemans Bay with Nanny and Grandpa, and than I came home with only 1 child which was a rather strange experience! The kids had a ball down there though, going to the movies, enjoying the beach (even though the water is still freezing!) and riding scooters. Whilst they spent time down there having fun I started ripping up tiles in the bathroom. I will upload some photos later (when I have a computer!).

So that's about it, there has also been lots of creating happening as well, but I will save that for tomorrow!

Have a great week!
Rachel

From the mouths of babes.....................

Well obviously I haven't been posting as often as I would of liked but I aim to get better! We'll see :-)

The last few days I've been thinking a lot about what the kids say, they often say the funniest things and often at not the best times! Recently with Michaela talking more and more, (she is almost 2, just ask her!) she has me laughing all the time and I have to admit that I've never taken the time to write down some of the things that the kids have said. So I thought I'd share a couple of them on here, so you might have a laugh and I have a record of them.
Friday night we were watching the football when Michaela tells us that they all "hug and fall down", we tried to explain it was a game but to her it was hilarious that all these men hug and then fall down on the ground! On Sunday night when I was getting the bath ready for Michaela and Eli she informs me that she is a "pretty girl" (She had been dressed up for the day and had on her fancy boots) I asked her who told her that and she said "dad me pretty girl, not mum, mum me dag!" Oops what a great mother I am, Dad tells her she's pretty and I call her a dag! Which she now calls anyone that falls, slips, does something silly or makes a mess. I do have to say that although she makes me laugh frequently the older kids still get me giggling on a regular basis. On Tuesday morning we were at the kids school for a BBQ family breakfast, Curtis was having a warm milo when he sat down and spilt it on his leg. His first reaction was to yell rather loudly "TAXI". What a fine example in front of his teachers. In my defence although I often say it when someone spills a drink or breaks a glass alcohol is rarely involved, to the point that I had to explain to the kids why you would say taxi if someone spills a drink. However I think the worst was a few years ago when Kayden was about 3, I often say crap, I don't swear but that is my frequently used word when something goes wrong, and Kayden had started saying it. I told him it wasn't a nice word and that I'll try and stop saying it as well. A couple of days later in a shopping centre full of people I dropped something and said 'crap' Kayden in all his wisdom and at the top of his lungs shouts out " Mum you said the C word, your not allowed to say the C word" Needless to say I got numerous bad looks.

Well I better go, I'm currently working on miss michaela's birthday party invites, she is having a lady bug party! Hopefully I'll get them done and be able to share tomorrow night!

To follow up .............

Just a quick note about my last post. After posting that on Monday night, I went to uni yesterday and during my promoting positive learning environments lecture, we discussed the science of giving. Here is a quote from the lecture,

"Giving reduces mortality signifcantly, even when you start late. Dough Oman of UCB followed almost 2000 individuals over the age of 55 for 5 years. Those who volunteered for 2 or more organisations had 44% lower likelihood of dying. This is a stronger predicitor than exercising 4 times a week (30%)."

So apart from making me feel like I'm giving back to my community, now I don't need to exercise! Have a great Wednesday!

This and That

So this is another random post, and although I've uploaded photos, I'm not sure they will match my random thoughts!

So these photos were taken on Sunday just near Canberra, my husband took the 3 big kids to have a look for some snow. This is what they found!

The children haven't really seen snow before (other than a few years ago on the side of the road) and they were excited to go and find some. They have been promised that next year they will get to go to a snow field and hire gear and do the whole thing properly. That being said they did have fun, and really enjoyed the snowball fight, making sure each person got hit in the head at least once! (as you do)

Love this shot of Kayden, the look of concentration!

Curtis shaping his snowball



One of the reasons for not visiting the snow earlier is Ash's fingers, she suffers from chill blains and it can cause her real problems.



These photos don't really show the full extent of the problem but basically her fingers are red and purple and a bout twice the size they should be. Also rather painful and hot to touch - not fun!


Also following on from my last post, my sister was over on the weekend and was left alone with Eli for all of 5 minutes, this is what I came back to:


Not just a kilt, but bagpipes to complete the outfit - I guess it's a look!

As an aside I wanted to have a little rant about volunteering. Last week and this week I'm madly trying to do everything I normally have to do (kids, house, study etc) but am also trying to do numerous school P&C things as well. Don't get me wrong, I love helping out - I wouldn't do it otherwise but I do wonder why it's always the same people? In the last few days we've had to arrange morning tea and a ceremonial cake for the hall opening, organise things for a BBQ breakfast in the morning (yes I have to be at school by about 7.45) and than get organised for the father's day stall, which isn't to bad as a few people are wrapping gifts so I'm only wrapping about 80 gifts and then manning the stall for 2 mornings. Like I said I do enjoy it, and I love the feeling of giving back to the school or community. I think this also has a positive influence on my children and their role in the community and the notion of volunteering and community spirit.
You see the reason I thought about this was that today I was asked why am I doing all the stuff at school? Actually I had decided to step back this year with Uni starting and Eli being born, so I stepped down from the P&C and from my Women's group and thought I'd help out here and there but didn't want to commit to anything more. But I seem to be taking on more and more somehow! I guess I put my hand up, but it's only because no one else seems to. Is it just me or are there fewer and fewer people doing volunteer work? Is it that people are too busy? Or is that an excuse because they don't see why they should donate their time and effort if someone else is willing to do it? I don't really understand. I guess I see what I do on the school P&C as a way of contributing to my children's education, in the form of providing additional resources and supporting activities that couldn't happen without added helpers. I also see it as a chance to meet no only other like minded parents but also build relationships with the teachers and staff at their school - who at the end of the day have a huge influence over my child. I think my lack of understanding steams from this point - why wouldn't you want to be actively involved in your child's education? why wouldn't you want to be aware of what is happening in the school and who these people are that are influencing your child? Food for thought I guess.

Okay time for bed, if you got through all that you must be pretty fantastic, that or really bored. Anyway night!

Wee Bairns!

I just wanted to share some photos with you as i haven't really had much time to do anything creative and I haven't really done anything interesting to write about. So this post is very photo heavy! Firstly the title, well I'm guessing that a lot of you won't actually understand it but it's a Scottish term, you may have picked up on that from the photo! So why you ask, well my sister just got back from Scotland a week or so ago. Why had she gone, well my Grandmother is Scottish and came to Australia when she was in her twenties and has never been back. Earlier this year my Aunt moved over there and my Grandmother was very keen to visit. Unfortunately my grandmother was a little nervous travelling by herself so my sister escorted her over, stayed for a couple of weeks and then flew back just in time for uni this semester (yes, we are both at uni which is great!). She flew in late on the Sunday night, after the children had gone to bed. So you can imagine their surprise when they got up Monday morning! In her usual style she HAD to get them some gifts, and trusting her not your everyday kind! She got the girls Kilts and the boys mini bagpipes. Plus Eli a 'highland cow' bib and some assorted scottish books including 'Oor Wullie'. Now I know that I said that she gave the girls kilts, and in the photo Curtis is wearing a kilt that is because he insisted on wearing a kilt to play the bagpipes. Needless to say we have now asked for my grandma to bring back 2 more kilts (for the boys) and another set of bagpipes (for Ash). I'm sure you can imagine the noise in the house at the moment, as none of the children actually know how to play, they just blow and make as much noise as possible!

Curtis Filling up the bag.

Look at his style! He had no idea how to hold it.

Miss Michaela, a gorgeous look - kilt over pyjamas


Eli's also got a heap of clothes - exhibit A Superbaby outfit!


Here are a few random shots from the last few days:


The kids wrestling on Miss Michaela's bed! They love wrestling.



And a few shots from the book parade yesterday:



Kayden as Peter from the chronicles of Narnia



Ashley as Sapphire from the Pearlie series


Curtis as Gregory from Diary of a wimpy kid

Well I should stop now, have lots on over the next few weeks with the kids school. Add to that my uni tutor has advised us that for 1 subject we actually need to do 30 hours a weeks worth of work, I'm going to be stretched to get time to do anything creative - although I have a couple of ideas that I really need to play with so I can see that I'll have a few late nights trying to cram everything in! Hope you have a great week, Bye!