Oh My Giddy Aunt!

Well, in the words of Samuel's Prep teacher, Oh my giddy Aunt it has been a long time since I have written, thought about or even contemplated this blog! How has the spark been rekindled you may ask? Simply by a dear friend who is now a fellow blogger. We caught up today in a park, were judged by more diligent and militant mothers, and somehow ended up chatting about writing, blogs etc and she challenged me to post away again. Such fun!
(Just to digress slightly, this dear friend of mine has four lovely children and is a super parent. However, eight years and decades of swing pushes later, I feel we have both earned the right to monitor our children from behind a thermos and do not need to march around the playground telling off other kids. We still brave the heat, dust and first time mothers to take the children to a child friendly environment so we can have some much needed adult conversation - honestly, if we were as neglectful as insinuated, we would have taken them to the local wine bar and sat them in the corner playing iPad. Hmm.. that's not a bad idea...)
Anyway! Digressions aside, since my last post, two of my little darlings have started school and the youngest has braved her first fortnight at kindergarten. I have a casual job, am returning to Uni, and I have given up housework and cooking (slight exaggeration of course - I do chuck a bit of toilet duck in the loo occasionally, and my new dinner specialty is 'Freezer Surprise'). I have also banned painting, vacuum up Lego ruthlessly and have been known to claim "I speeka no Englash" while running to the other side of the house when the kids decide to argue over remote controls, the computer, my little pony, who looked a who first, if Pluto is/is not a planet, the point of the United Nations..you get the idea. In other words, we are out of baby land and into Kid Land aka crazy, irrational, verbally masterful, fun, exciting, constantly on your toes Land. Its fantastic, enjoyable, entertaining, exhausting, self-esteem crushing and everything else in between. I love my older kids. Life is super busy, and there is always something challenging the peace, but I have to admit that I love seeing these little people grow less-little people.
A few little antidotes:

Why I Banned Painting (Dedicated to my Dear Friend)

About six months ago, I was suffering from SMS (Shocking Mum Syndrome - otherwise known as S**t Mum Syndrome). The TV had been on for what felt like years, the kids had not eaten a veggie in days and I felt like I was the worse Mum ever. Instead of crying into my cup of tea for yet another day, I wiped my hand on my saggy leggings and decided to get the kids painting. Note to self: if you are not having a good week parenting wise, it is very ill advised to go from TV vedge land to painting - probably the most hard core task for a parent EVER. Anyway, as I was trying to score some serious Mum points, I set up the three kids outside with easels and little pots of paint and water. For a good three minutes  I swanned around knowing I was probably going to go straight to Mum heaven for this act of awesome Mum-ness. Then one of my little darlings needed more water, one paint and one a clean brush. So I nipped inside for TWO MINUTES to sort them out, thinking at the time how I could somehow let it get around school/kinda/Australia that I was such a caring earth mother. Upon sashaying back outside with more supplies, I have to say all motherly love evaporated.
The two eldest had stripped the youngest bare and had painted her head to toe GREEN. All in her hair, eye brows, bottom - everywhere. She then ran inside and jumped all over our 'grown up' couch.
All I can say is that I might have cracked the absolute poos and chucked every bit of paint paraphernalia into the bin, and declared our house a paint free zone for life.

Youngest Stands up to a Bully

Early childhood programs tend to all have a similar approach to kids picking on others. The kid being picked on is meant to say "Stop it! I don't like it!" to the other child, and if the child is question does not stop the offending behavior, they are then encouraged to tell a teacher.
Being the youngest, Bek is well versed in this particular doctrine.
The other day I asked her how Kinda was. She said that Charlie was poking her. I said "What did you do?"
She replied "I said 'Stop it! I Don't like it!" I asked her if he stopped. She said that he didn't. I asked her what she did next, expecting that she went and told the teacher (Old Hat that she is).
She replied " I kicked him, and I punched him and I tried to bite him. Then he stopped."
Needless to say, I was speechless.

YAAAAWN ... tis late. Will super try to write more soon! Ta-ta  

Back on Deck

Officially starting to blog again. Many apologies for taking to long! Here is a picture of our three little darlings eating ice cream in their tree house.

A few quick stories:

Maria is so tall, so grown up and so excited to start school! She plays for hours with Sam - they make up long and elaborate games involving astronauts, deep sea diving, horses and Spiderman. She is full of smiles, stories and questions!

Yesterday she asked me how the English people came to Australia. She asked if England was overcrowded and all the people that were overflowing got on a boat and came to Australia. I explained briefly about explorers and discovering Australia. She responded enthusiastically, asking if all the white-skinned people made friends with the Aboriginals and shared everything. I had to tell her that sadly, some of the English people were mean to the Aboriginal people.

Maria asked in a hushed whisper if some of them were killed. I said yes, and she responded with an aggressive "Well that was the olden days and everyone is friends now!" I

had to say that some people about the world are still mean to people with di

fferent coloured skin. She replied, "Well, when I grow up I'm going to be an explorer and find all the people that don't like black-skinned people and teach them to be kind to everyone."

My heart swelled and I felt so

proud of my grown up daughter with such a compassionate and kind heart. She then continued, "And if the people still won't be nice to the black-skinned people, I will get them all together and dig a big hole...." I had to butt in there and say "Maria! You can't bury people!!" She replied very matte

r-of-factly, "Oh no mum, I would only bury them their necks." I burst out lau

ghing and had to pull over in the car as I couldn't see through my tears!!

I am going to miss her dreadfully when she goes to school. She's our Maria - her own little entity - nothing alters her trajectory. I am so privileged to have been her primary carer during her preschool years. It goes too quickly! Mark does an amazing job working so hard for the five of us and enabling me to be at ground zero while our darlings are so little. He deserves a medal!!

My other man, dear Samuel, is the sweetest, most caring boy. He still think's he's a superhero and asks frequently for a rocket pack for his birthday. Sadly, his little 'baby Queen's' (the toy Lightning McQueen car he carried around for years) now sits in his toy box, usually at the bottom. I still smile fondly at it. It's bittersweet this growing up business. He now sports a cape and karate moves, and spends a lot of time saving us all from baddies and doing tricks on his swing (a water ski rope and handle suspended high from our tree.

He is also the king of random com

ments. The other day he wondered up to me while I was doing the dishes. He looked up at

me very seriously and said, "You can't put a remote control in the fish tank. I

t would kill the fish." I had to choke back a giggle (he is mortified whenever I laugh in his seriousness) and respond with a careful "Yes Sam Sam, I think you're right." He nodded sagely and said "Yes, the fish would die." He gave me a grave look, turned and walked off.I quickly looked to make sure our fish tank was remote control free. It was, although the half eaten apricot bobbing around and the 15 fridge magnets were another story.

He is very mentally quick is our Samuel. Not much goes past him! When I was vacuuming his room, I lifted up his Thomas couch and found a huge stash of Christmas chocolates stashed under there. I turned to him and raised my eyebrows. He looked at me i

nnocently, gave me a huge grin and said "The fairies came!" He's a cracker.

Today we dressed his little toy sheep called ...Timmy? (He was Fluffy for ages

but Sam came to the conclusion that Fluffy is a girls name, and has changed his name to

Timmy.) I've included pics of Timmy...Super Timmy?

The littlest one is growing up. She is incredibly opinionated, and is already dictating

what she will wear, play with and eat. She is very cute, with a definite air of 'impish' about her.

She started climbing out of her cot at about 15 months, using the chair arm next to the cot as a step. So we moved her chair and put the tall boy chest of draws next to it. At 18 months she had figured out how to use the tall boy to climb out. So we moved the tall boy. Then at 19 months she was out, so we had to move her into a big girl

bed. She loves it! However, last night Mark had to take her light bulb out because she gets up in the night, turns on her light and has a loud play. Her noise is quite out of joint - every time anyone goes into her room she frowns and says "Daddy. Light."

Most days she wants to wear 'Angelina Ballerina' dresses. Here is a picture of Boo in one of her Angelina Ballerina dresses and her Angelina Ballerina shoes.

Bekah is also really into making tea. Tonight she has gone to bed with a little tea pot, tea cup and saucer. Most days she makes us tea for at

least an hour.

The other day, I had her on my hip looking into the pantry and I asked her what we should have for lunch. She tilted her head on the side, put her hand on her chin and said "

Hmmm..." Then she put both her fingers pointing up into the air and said "I know!" It was so funny! She does it all the time now!

Ahh I think thats all for today. Keep checking! Hope to update much more regularly!!

Tantrums and TuTu's

Just a quick update -
Maria is really into ballet, and wears her 'tutu' everywhere with her leggings and 'ballet' shoes (little pink flats with hearts on them). She twirls and whirls and looks lovey! I have some pictures I will upload hopefully this afternoon. Just finished my summer uni subject so I have remnants of free time again! Very exciting. Maria is loving kinda and is doing really well. We went to the pool yesterday and she is such a fish! There is a slide at this particular pool, and I couldn't believe how big she looked lining up and taking turns with the big kids to go on the slide. My baby is growing up!!

Samuel was put to bed early and without a story the other day because he had been hurting Bekah all day, and sitting on her was the last straw. He chucked a huge wobbly about going to bed, so in the end we took his Lightning McQueen off him. Well, that sent him into a huge rage, and after about 5 mins of listening to his scream, Mark went in to tell him off. There was silence then Mark told me to come and see something. There was Sam, in the middle of his bed completely naked, will all his sheets, doonas and clothes on the floor. He was sitting there, arms crossed, glaring at us. We burst out laughing at him, which defused the situation. He laughed back and after we got him dressed and put his bed back together he went off to sleep quite happily.

I've just started playing netball on a Thursday morning, and while I play the kids go into the creche there for the 50 mins while I play. They are all in a big room with tons of toys and 3 lovely carers that just let them go wild. After my game, I went to pick them up and asked the lady how Bekah was (she can be VERY clingy to mummy). The lady laughed and said that Bekah ruled the room and spent her time dancing to the music, laughing at the big kids and talking to all the inanimate objects she could get her hands on. I can well imagine Bekah calling the shots!!

Beach Babes

Today we decided on a whim to go to the beach. The kids had a ball!
Maria is a water baby and wants to spend the whole time swimming. She loves duck diving and splashing around. She also likes finding beach treasures in the water or on the sand. Today she found a few different types of seaweed, a star fish, some crabs, and some ooh-ie goo-ie long strings of jelly fish. There were only two other kids anywhere in sight, and of course with in the hour Maria had befriended them and was initiating crab hunting, pier exploring, and lying together in the rock pools. Sammy tagged along and was soon in the thick of it all with them. They are such social butterflies!!
Sam likes to roll around in the water nearer the shallows and commando crawl in the warm pools. We got him a little swimming vest, which has really helped his confidence and also takes the pressure off him going too deep for his ability. He's really good and doesn't go far, but he still is not happy putting his head under and the vest helps him to bob around. He really likes it - it's orange. He also likes finding treasures, although his treasure of choice today was a long bit of driftwood that he spent ages throwing it into the water and retrieving with great commentry to go along with it.
Bekah today was the surprise bundle! On the previous occasions when we have gone to the beach she has really enjoyed herself, but today she was over the top crazy in love! As soon as she saw the sand and water she started waving and flapping in my arms and getting really excited. As soon as I put her down she was playing in the sand and telling us all about it. We then followed the other two into the water and she was in heaven. She was crawling all through the little waves and splashing around like her siblings. If I wasn't there to grab her she would have quite happily crawled out to sea - the waves and water in her face only egged her on and she was laughing with excitement. She loves Maria and Sam so much - the whole time she was giggling at their antics and trying to follow them. She crawled everywhere saying "Reeee-a! Reee-a!" (Maria/Ria) and only wanted to be with them. Sam crawled around with her and she was climbing all over him shrieking with delight.
We had such a lovely time. We are going to have to make the beach a regular expedition!

Gloria the Feral

A few Sunday's ago, the door bell went at 7:50 in the morning. Mark was having a sleep in (we take it in turns - I had a lovely 4 hr sleep in the day before) and my first thought was that the door to door salesmen were getting a bit too keen.
I opened the door to our very apologetic neighbour who asked if we owned a little grey bunny. I said we do, and he proceeded to explain that there was a very happy rabbit chewing on his petunias with gusto, and that she wasn't a problem except that she might run on to the road if he left his garage door open. I told him to give me two minutes and I'd be right over.
I stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. I thought it unfair to interrupt Mark's glorious sleep in, so I whipped the kids out of their pj's into their day clothes quicker then a hare out of a burrow.
I then told them that we had to go on a mission (I might have called them 'troops' - although this might be too embarrassing to mention on a public post). We marched over to the neighbours with Maria and Sam armed with nets on poles, Bekah in her stroller, and my charming self in a jumper, pj bottoms, with gorgeous ugg boot completing my outfit. Hot stuff.
Our neighbour must have heard us 'one-two, forward march' -ing over and met us at the door. He looked a little bit confused - I think it was the uggs...too overdressed? - but he let us in anyway. I couldn't help but feel a bit out of place as we trooped through his house to his back yard, but I quickly overcame the uncomfortable feeling as I spied Gloria dearest sunbathing on his patio.
We decided the simple round up was the way to go, and prepared for a long battle. However it was over pretty quickly - yours truly managed to do a running dive and catch the little pet in one of the nets. I though it was pretty impressive, but the puzzled look was back on my neighbours face so I decided to get out pretty quickly before he started asking about where I get my style.
However, there was a slight problem with getting the rabbit home. Gloria has turned slightly feral after the last escape (she was finally caught by Mark after nearly half an hour of blocking up holes that lead to under the house and cunning outdoor furniture barricades around the garden, complete with a similar running tackle by my dear husband. He wasn't amused with the incident, however I reackon that his deep thought into the catch proved otherwise).
Anyway our slightly feral darling pet has taken to biting whoever tried to hold her. When I say biting, I actually mean attacking and trying to decapitate the person trying to touch her. Needless to say I am quite frightened to touch her. I said this to our neighbour and asked him if he would mind picking her up and taking to back to her cage. The puzzled look deepened, and so he pinned the bunny down by her neck and picked her up quite easily. We all walked back through his house - the kids delighted by the early morning adventures. He asked me how the rabbit had managed to escape. I explained that she had been planning a coup, and seized freedom when I was trying to fill her water up. He seemed unsatisfied with my testimony, and was rather quiet. Mark met us as we came back into our front garden and was greeted with elated pratter by the kids. Mark took Gloria off our neighbour, who made a quick retreat. Mark put Gloria back in her cage, turned to me and asked how she managed to escape after his great efforts last time, and long lectures about how she was never allowed out of her cage again full stop. I told him my story, however he quizzed me a little too closely. Silly questions like how long was the top of the cage open while I was doing this alleged change of the water? And are you sure she was planning a coup, or did you leave the top open so that the rabbit that you were complaining was depressed by capture could be liberated by freedom again?
Like I said, silly questions.

Kinda Kid!

Yesterday was Maria's very first day of kindergarten! She was so excited and ready to go long before we had to leave. She picked out a very pink outfit - she has something to say about the mater (she's sitting here on my knee dictating to me what to write).
"Um - the other day there is going to be more kids on the next day I go to kinda. I gave my teacher (what's their names?) Bree and Marina some biscuits I made all by self, Maria Clare. Some 'Maria's Munchies'. I loved everybody. I played in the dolls house after morning tea - I goed outside and then...and then...what about you...doll house after morning tea time." "Are you finished?" I just asked. "No yet yet..stop your typing for a minute. Then we went outside, I play with the..there was a little house and there were people and it had lots of different things"
What was your favourite thing at your new kinda? Playing with the houses and the cubby house and the house that they made out of 1 sheet. Guess what there was some toys in the cubby house.
What did not like at kinda? The tent with the bookshelves. I didn't play with that one because no one wanted to play with me in there.
What are you looking forward to next time you go? Playing play-dough. Next time at kinda there are going to be so many kids - lots of children and they have forgotten their names and we have to tell them. It has white walls inside.
I love you everybody - love Maria

Funny Farm

Yesterday we took a trip to a children's farm to entertain the troops. We drove up and I have to say I was initially disappointed. It looked slightly dilapidated and there didn't seem to be much around. However, after we had bought the kids some bags of animal food, we put on our enthusiastic faces and went to find the animals.
Simply put, we all had a ball. There was a 'nursery' barn with pens of baby animals that the kids got to hold and cuddle, a long walk around the property through the paddocks of different animals that the kids got to feed, tractor rides and lovely grounds for a picnic. We had the best time - Maria befriended an alpaca, Sam chased a deer, and Bekah laughed at the bunnies. Mark rode the tractor with the kids and I helped Maria milk a cow.
Our picnic was really peaceful. Maria and Sam harassed the nearby turtles while Bekah snoozed in her stroller. Mark and I were sitting at the table when a harassed looking lady dragged two young kids past kicking and screaming. We looked at her slightly bemused (usually it is us with the disruptive kids). She caught our eyes and said "I'm so sorry - you are both probably having a serene and tranquil picnic and here we are ruining it!" We both laughed and I said "Oh no we have two more they are over there chasing a duck!" She looked over to see Maria and Sam running at a full sprint trying to catch a big, fat rooster. Maria was adding flapping wings and a waddle for effect.
Just as the lady left, we lost sight of our angels. Just as I was beginning to wonder where they had gone we heard Sam let out a loud yell. I jumped up and found him clutching his finger, saying "The duckie pecked me!" I was concerned until he burst out laughing and said "The funny birdie bit me it was so funny!"
Maria had a great time with the baby animals - she fell in love with a little white chick and wouldn't put it down. However when it was time for us to go, she accidentally let all the baby chickens out of the cage, so all the visitors in the barn were chasing them back into their cage.

Ps. Sam at the moment is hilarious - he only answers questions or replies to statements in full sentences. For example, if you ask him if he had a nice sleep he replies "Yes I did." If you ask him if he is handsome, he will reply "Yes I am." Common conversations:
"Sam, do you like tomatoes?" "No I don't."
"Do you know where you put your hat?" "No I don't. It is lost."

Opps gotta go baby just woke up but Ill post this and finish it later!!