Wednesday 21 September 2011

Tuesday 20 September 2011

The Gold Coast holiday. part 1

We have been looking froward to this trip for many weeks. Our biggest stress was which way to travel up there as it's about a 8-9 hour drive....and with 2 out of 3 bad travelling children that feels like 90 hours.The next stress was what car to take. Initially it was always the Trajet but as it has been playing up it was safer to take Dh's Holden rodeo. We decided this a Day before we left so DH had to prepare the ute by putting car seat bolts in and a tarp on the tray to cover our luggage. Despite being a noisy and hot trip it was good in that i could reach the kids to give them food etc.
 So the trip up was to be inland and stop at a motel for the night.....mistake number 1. the trip in itself wasn't bad as we were able to stop at 2 different towns within 1 or so hours of each other and visit friends. So the kids got the chance to go and play, eat, what ever they wanted really. Get to our motel and i straight away thought oh crap why did we do this. It was so small. For the price we paid i expected a bit bigger. don't ask me why. My anxiety crept in when i noticed the door handle was one of those round ones that locks by pushing the button in and to unlock it all you do is turn the handle. Really childproof....not!!DH didn't think it was a drama but i had visions of little man sneaking out and walking onto the highway or something. To make matters worse...both rooms had that door (we had a 2 bedroom room). So I pushed the double bed up against one door and the single bed against the other. DH slept in one room with little man, i slept in the other with miss 4 and bub.
The town itself (Goondiwindi) wasn't too bad. Had a great park for the kids to play in.



I had all intention to give the kids a proper meal that night but we ended up with Red Rooster. Dh went to buy it while i fed bub her rafferty's garden sachet and showered her. Bub went to sleep really well that night, the other 2 took a while which was ok as we allowed them to stay up and play lego etc. I'm not sure if it was the anxiety, stress, or food i ate but i woke up sometime during the night feeling so sick with cramps and ended up vomiting. I freaked out it was a bug but luckily came good after that.
The next morning we put the beds back in their proper place and headed for the Gold Coast. We stopped at a park with this play helicopter. The kids loved it. We had our 2nd lot of fast food already. Back in the car we go, and endured bub screaming most of the way until she finally fell asleep. Before we reached our destination we stopped at Coles to go shopping. I tried to think of a weekly menu at the top of my head and buy things accordingly. Again...i was attempting to feed the kids normal food and not too much take away etc. The kids were beside themself excited. And couldn't wait to get to our place.

Within minutes we rocked up to Harborside Resort. For $80 per night for 2 bedrooms i was quite impressed. The biggest downfall was the noise of other residents and no private balcony.....oh and the door handle. It was exactly the same as at the motel. So every night the big lounge was pushed up against the door to prevent any children escaping.
 
linking for flashback friday with learning to play and playing to learn


Saturday 10 September 2011

five question friday 9/9/11

1. What ringtone do you have on your cell phone?
we call them mobile phones here in Australia hehe. my ring tone is some celtic tune. can't hear it though.



2. What is your favorite memory from this summer?

summer for us was 6 months ago, but my favourite memory was driving to my sister in laws house with my sister. dh took her car and the 3 old kids, her and i took my car with the little kids. we had a ball driving down listening to bon jovi, singing and taking hilarious photo's of ourselves 


3. Paper books or ebooks?

definately paper. if its the newspaper and i only want to see a particular article i don't mind online. but there's something about holding an actual book in your hands and turning the pages.

4. If you could have one home upgrade what would it be and why?
the bathroom. ours is about 50 yrs old, the bath is yellow, the shower is in the bath. the tiles are as old as anything....not to mention ugly. there's nothing modern about it



5. When was your first serious boyfriend/girlfriend?

first actual real serious one where i knew we'd be together forever was my current dh. had relationships before that but i never felt comfortable with them at all. there was something about dh where we just connected.

Play five question Friday with My Little Life

Friday 9 September 2011

Who leaves their phone in their esky outside....overnight !!


My Dh, that's who!!
I was already annoyed about this phone. Now I'm really annoyed.
Here's the story.....

i had a nokia 6200, which wasn't a bad phone but it started playing up so i asked for a new phone. I wanted a smartphone so i could access facebook on it easily etc but didn't want to pay alot as my plan can be renewed in December. I researched for a week as i felt so guilty requesting a new phone, and came across the LG GT540 for $150. I said make it my birthday/mothers day present as they fell on the same day, and just to get a pair of slippers. Why is it when we say this to our dh they take it literally.

So that's all i got. Breakfast was made, yes, but i just didn't feel special at all. In fact i felt very unimportant. To have the 2 days combined one would think the other half would make a double effort. To make me feel even less important i didn't even get a cake. Two weeks after the day dh and chatterbox  (step daughter)decided to make one. I knew it was in the oven, they got it out of the oven and i said we won't be able to eat it til tomorrow as you know i have to go to play in the musical now......3 hours later i arrive home to find it had been iced and more than half had been eaten. Nice. Thanks for waiting.

Anyway....a month later dh decides he wants a smartphone also as he was jealous that chatterbox and i could download music onto ours. He has a phone provided by his work that is just an average phone. So what does he do....goes and buys one just because he felt he could. Was i pissed?? bloody oath. i made mine a present, while he just buys one. Did he ever use it??hardly!! so that was my even bigger gripe. Buy this expensive phone and don't even use it. I'd get confused not knowing which phone to text as he'd tell me to text the new one but then never answered it, so then I'd text the work one...lo and behold he replied. So I'd pull him up on that all the time and he knew i was annoyed ( i also rub the no cake story in alot too).

So come this morning and he brings his esky in that was outside over night, in the pouring rain. What he couldn't figure out was how the rain got in the esky. what i couldn't figure out was why his $100 phone was sitting outside all night. He justifies it by saying it was in the esky. lol. So it swam in about 3 inches of water, we've had it sitting in a bowl of rice all day..but to no avail. I think it's officially fooked!! I told him to not even think about getting another one as he didn't even use that one ...which is obvious as he leaves it outside.
 joining in for Flashback Friday with Learning to Play and Playing to LEarn

Things I know 9/9/11

Play along with Shae@yay for home and add your link about things you know

This week I know

- Dh ruined his new phone

- We go on holidays in 2 more sleeps

- it annoys me that all of summerbay people are in the diner at the same time all the time

- magpies scare the crap out of me, especially when they swoop

- I want to bottle bub because she is at the most adorable age

- I"m really tired and need an early night..but any bet i'll stay reading other peoples things i know lol

My little karate people

My sisters older 2 kids do karate, so she found out about a class for the little kids. Miss 4 was very excited to do karate with her little boy cousin mr b, even though she had no idea what karate was. The fact her favourite cousin and best friend was doing it was enough for her. The class is from 4-430 on Thursdays.
my sister does family day care so the deal is that i take mr b and leave bub with her. One of her bigger kids usually come with me to which is lovely. Little man is at day care himself til 430 so I thought I'd wait til next year for him. He's quite introverted too so i didn't think he'd participate.
Yesterday his day carer had to finish early so she dropped him to me at 3. I tossed up about leaving him with my sister, or taking him to have a trial at karate. He wanted to do karate (or crown as he called it). he was so excited. So off we went, 3 little kids and one big kid to help me. I watched on with anticipation expecting little man to run off and hide, or bow his head with embarrassment as he does when he's nervous. But he was such a little trooper. He did everything, and with all his might too. i was so proud. Miss 4 and mr b helped and guided him.
So now the decision is....do i let him continue as it may help with his "boyness", or wait til next year as i was going to originally? the problem being that with family day care we have to pay for 8 hours regardless of the booked times. I'd have to pick him up at 3 (which means waking bub ) in order to collect miss 4 from preschool on time. Hmmmm decisions!!!

Thursday 8 September 2011

Planning the trip

We are going to the Gold coast on Sunday. Bloody long drive from here. I looked up on travelmate for the best directions. I just put our town and our destination, not state or country. The result was...it would take 56 days and 8 hours. The directions told me to kayak across the pacific ocean and enter japan. I cracked up laughing...where the heck would I get a kayak that would fit all of us in?!! The real answer was 7 hours lol.

So i read up in Planning for Kids  blog who wrote about car travel with kids. I looooved her ideas. I won't do individual backpacks as ours are a bit young and i know they'd just abuse it not use it properly. however i will pack special snacks, i even bought snap lock bags especially for the trip. i went to the library today to find some audio books which hopefully will distract the kids. I've never borrowed one before, and I was in a rush as bub was getting restless in her ERGO , she didn't like me crouching down but i had no choice. So i borrowed 4 audio books. The librarian said bye bye to us as we finished and bub looked and waved and said in an ever so gorgeous voice...bu bye. I looked back at the librarian to see her reaction at my gorgeous baby saying this to her but she'd already walked away. Little did she know how important it was to me as it was bub's first time EVER saying that.

I plan to stop as often as we can and let the kids run around as Planning for Kids suggests. I feel there's nothing worse than driving and sitting then stopping at a fast food place and making your child sit still. So far we've lined up 2 stops at friends houses on the way.

I still have to think of reasonably healthy non chokeable food to pack for the kids....
and i also have to think of the best seating/luggage arrangement for the car....

wordless wednesday 8/9/11

Join int wordless wednesday with My Little Drummer Boy
 
linking with crazy mama for flashback friday

What do I hoard?

Following writing prompt #2....if you were a hoarder, based on your personality, what would you hoard?(better yet as someone who knows you well)...with MAMA KAT"S WRITERS WORKSHOP

So I'm stuck already as I don't hoard, can't stand clutter actually. Even when mum passed away i kept a few little things, because they were hers. One day I asked myself, why on earth do I have this stuff? I don't like it, it's ugly, dust collector, so out they went.
I throw stuff out daily, just because i can't stand it. Hate random items floating around doing nothing. Even kids toys, if it's missing a part, it goes in the bin. If it's a McDonalds toy...bin (when kids can't see of course).

I asked DH and even he was stumped. He said jewellery. I laughed and said what?? you're just saying that to have something to answer me with lol. yes I have jewellery but it's in one place in the house, and i could get rid of most of them as over the years they've gone yuck or the kids have snapped them. But because it's out of the way I'm too lazy to bother.
His next reply was kids clothes. I disagree again..yes i keep the outfits they were brought home in from the hospital, and a couple of favourites, but that's it. I love going through actually and doing a clothes cull. Nothing better than acquiring more cupboard space!!Have to admit....i do looove buying clothes for the kids.

So I ask my sister....her reply was diet books. Years ago I was anorexic so I did collect books on diets, calories etc. Now I have about 3 books on food and behaviours...such as Sue Dengate FAILSAFE diet. I"m fascinated with anything that includes food and behaviour etc.

So I sat here thinking and busting my brain...i collect diary's, photo's, I'm quite anal about ensuring I have double copies of photo discs(and also take them whenever I go on holidays), letters and cards, and most things the kids have done. I feel guilty throwing stuff out. I panic if i can't find a photo disc. I have to sort through the kids art/craft to cull but hate doing it. I loooove memories. I've even started diary's for each child which i write special things in every few nights a week because i never want to forget. I started this blog so I could write things about the kids, or take photos of what they do/make.

So there you have it...I'm a hoarder of memories :)

I would never have figured that out if it weren't for writing on here.

Monday 5 September 2011

Unschool monday 5/9/11, playdough

 link up with owlet for unschool monday

I , like YAY for Home get stuck in the I just want to clean this, or read that, type this sentence etc rather than focus on something fun to do with the kids.

I was keen to join this so I 'm putting some photos on from last month






The playdough was home made and nice and warm (still have it today actually)

Saturday 3 September 2011

things i am grateful for 3/9/11

Link up with maxabella loves in

This week I am grateful for -

* that the 2 children i babysat for the first time ever yesterday were so well behaved and all the kids got on well

* fun times feeding the ducks in the park

* bubs transitioning easily to 1 day sleep

Friday 2 September 2011

things i know 2/9/11

Join in with

This week....
 - i know I'm not cut out to have more than 3 children

- i know I'm addicted to blogging

- i know i love my miss 4 to bits but wish she wouldn't whinge as much as she did

- i know i hold a grudge about mothers day but still got dh many presents from the kids

- i know i have to go through the toy catalogues and do a wish list and hopefully buy list lol

Thursday 1 September 2011

writers workshop

Join in the fun of writing with mama kats losin it
This week the prompt i am using is to write about a childhood memory from the perspective of being a child...

I was only trying to help. She's the new girl in the class and she didn't know where to put her stencils when she was finished. i want to be her friend so I help her.
Miss F is talking, I can hear her. Then I hear.."(insert my name) you are not listening. come to the mat now and listen". "But Miss F, i start to say, i was trying to help.....".and Miss F cuts me off mid sentence. I go red in the face. She is really cranky at me for talking back at her i think.
Not Miss F though, surely no, i love her and only the other day she told me I'm one of her favourite pupils even though she can't have favourites. I want the carpet to swallow me up. I feel so embarrassed. AS a result of my not listening she said I can't go to violin lessons. Now I'm not just embarrassed, I'm angry, angry that she is stopping me do something all because i was trying to help the new girl in year 2. " I hate you" i tell Miss F. Uh oh, I shouldn't have said that, i knew it straight away. She told me she will be talking to my mother. The rest of the day I feel awful. I didn't mean to say I hate you it just came out. I"m normally such a quiet student and I loved Miss F.
Mum is here now to pick me up from school and Miss F has a word to her about me. I'm still angry and embarrassed and try to explain that I didn't really hate her I was mad because I couldn't go to violin lessons. Lucky for me Mum was on my side about the violin lessons as she paid for them so she was annoyed Miss F stopped me. But she wasn't happy that I was rude to Miss F and made me apologise. Miss F gave me a hug and I feel so much better.

Now that was written about 27yrs after the incident so my memory is fuzzy but I do remember I got into trouble for helping, and she stopped me having violin lessons because i back chatted