joseph's 100 days of learning

this has got to be one of my favourite things at school. they certainly didn't do it when i went to school, but it is so fun. part of the work the year ones and twos complete includes learning about "olden times" and the changes that have been made in technology over the years. soooo on day 100 of school (a little late this year due to some of the covid shut down) we celebrate one hundred days of learning, by dressing up as though we are...

100 years old!

and i swear, it is the funniest thing ever. all these little kids, racing around with grey wigs and talcum powder in their hair (we personally went for white hair spray), slippers, dressing gowns, cardigans... glasses and of course walking sticks and frames. it is hilarious.

joseph was so chuffed to be dressed up and ready to go but freaked out with a few tears when we got to school, because he was worried that no one else would be dressed up! poor love. he does worry about fitting in. we came to a compromise though, i carried his cane and he walked behind me until he was convinced that everyone else was dressed up, (just in case i had to take him home to change haha) then happily grabbed it off me and raced into class with a "bye mum!"

he looked so cute as a little old man and said he had a great day. thank goodness.

joseph, congratulations on being 100 days smarter! 

back to normal

the older kids went back to school today and mine and alexanders lives went back to normal. we walked, we had breakfast, we did the washing (and alex had a picnic on the ground while i hung it out) watched some hey duggee, had a decent nap with no interruptions from noisy older kids and made mess. well, one of us made mess and spoiler alert, it wasn't me. 

alex did look a little confused when maddie and joseph had to go off to school, but when he had me all to himself, he wasn't complaining. after all, his life was back to normal. ❤

so loved

we often stop by to visit stephen's grave, so oli can say hello and spend a little time chatting to him. i love the way she speaks as though he is there with us and tells him all about what's been going on. it was especially cute when she asked me to show him a photo of doug's new car. that was gold. 

i know he watches out for us and has had a hand in things... there is no way his estate could have been settled in that short an amount of time without some form of divine intervention!

but it's nice to spend a little time in the quiet with him and let him know how much he is loved and missed ❤

trybike

let me tell you a story about online childrens boutiques and the drama they cause people when all we want is just to buy a simple item for our kids. doug and i decided that we wanted to buy this cute little bike for alex for his birthday (in october, but i wholeheartedly believe in being prepared!) that starts as a three wheeler and then turns into a balance bike as you remove one of the back wheels. the idea is that kids will never need their training wheels as they should have already mastered the balance, you just add pedals.

so. i went to order it from a local childrens boutique here in perth. she apologised and said she didn't have the all black and didn't know if she was able to get more... so we bought one online elsewhere. worst. idea. ever. after 4 days with no follow up from the shop and no shipping confirmation, i contacted the owner, who dithered about, gave me every excuse under the sun about why she hadn't gotten to my order, then said i would have to wait until monday for her to find out if there was stock available from the distributor. meanwhile, the lovely girl in perth that i hadn't even ordered from, sent me a follow up message to let me know that she had followed it up and not only were there none available, but that it had actually been discontinued. gah.

this wasn't good enough for someone i had actually paid money to and i had to wait longer, after contacting her on the monday as agreed - she then made me wait while she ran her personal errands before she could call them and confirm (what i already knew) before she would refund my flipping money. most annoying bit about that was, she didn't want to refund me my full purchase, she tried to insist on shipping the bath crayons i had bought to get free shipping, until she realised she would have to pay to ship them. oh my word. she was a piece of work. no apologies, nothing. just got annoyed with me, for following up and inconveniencing her - when she was literally selling something that she couldn't even provide. what a dork.

long(er) story short, i had to email a bunch more places at the hopes of finding someone who had physical stock. we found one, which seems as though we may have gotten the last one in australia - and it came in from adelaide a few days ago. mind you, because of the run around we got (nearly a whole week between my initial purchase and finally getting my refund) we missed out on getting it at the same price from another place that also had one left and had to fork out another $40 for it.

moral of the story.

being prepared is not a bad thing. can you imagine if i had have tried to buy one closer to his birthday? that would have been a nightmare. 

if you are a business owner, treat your customers with a bit of respect, actually care about running your business and don't advertise things you don't have and can't get hold of.

that's it crew, rant over.

clackline stay

there's no place like my parents farm in clackline. the kids and i came up yesterday (after a false start with a flat battery i might add, an hour and a visit from the rac later we were on out way) for a late lunch with the family, to celebrate mums birthday that was a few days ago. i was even allowed to make the birthday cake - so i busted out yet another one of these delicious chocolate wonders, this has fast become my favourite recipe, it just comes out perfect every time!

we finally got to have a good look around the "she-shed" (also nicknamed the bitch barn by my dad) which they have put so much work into over the last few months. as long i can remember, this shed has been a web of junk (all useful things according to my dad of course) car parts, paint, tools, etc... but they have all been cleared, the roof and walls have been insulated and lined, windows and doors installed, the floor painted, a sink put in and even an old stove! it looks amazing! mum is going to use it as a studio, run classes (honestly, i am yet to find something my mother isn't good at) make her millions of projects and just potter about in. i love it!

you could even really live in it, except for the fact it doesn't have a bathroom, but one could easily be added at the back. all in time mum says.

i just can't believe that they've managed to make it into something so cool and all of us kids are completely amazed at the results.

mum and dad, you've done it again. wow.

we spent the night and went opshopping this morning in york and got some amazing bargains before rushing back to perth in time for madeline's dance class. we had 52 items all up between mum and i and the lovely old guy there only charged us $20. honestly, that's 38c a piece. i really believe he gets sick of counting after a while. 

a few weeks ago, maddie asked me what i used to do when i lived at nannas house. i said that uncle isaac and i used to climb onto the woodshed and sit on the roof, then climb up onto the roof of the chookshed. of course she had to tell her big cousins about it yesterday and next thing i know they are all up there. i couldn't help but laugh until i saw madeline with a plank, trying to put it across to walk over, at which time i put an end to it quick smart. ugh kids. 

i do love seeing them in my old places though. i just love visiting mum and dads house so much and seeing it bring them the same joy makes it all the better.

madi and maddie

maddie was dying to hang out with her friend madi (madison) from dancing before the holidays ended so today we organised for morning tea with her and her mother at maison st honore, our favourite cafe. 

i think madi's mum is just wonderful, when alex was just a few weeks old, madeline had her first dance concert and i was not at all clued in on how to be a dance mum. she was so lovely to me at the dress rehearsal while i was juggling a new born and a tutu, gave me all the tips and was just so kind and i have never forgotten it. so many of the dance mums have no time for anyone else and she was just such a breath of fresh air.

the following year and then again this year i have gotten to know them better again as our girls have danced together in the competition lyrical troupe and it's been so fun to watch the girls together, they laugh so much, dance about and just really enjoy being around each other. i'm hoping it continues as it's a wonderful thing in life to have good friends.

bowling with our besties

school holidays just wouldn't be complete without a date with our besties, the niupalau girls. bowling was the order of the day this time around and off we went to give it a whirl.

these kids are more than happy to do absolutely nothing together, but they loved bowling... other than the multiple balls we managed to wedge into the gutters around us. kids mate.

we had debated booking multiple games, but are so glad we only did one, because that took so long as it was. 

i love these people. best there is! we re very blessed to have the friends we do.

hungry jacks for lunch, bowling and a kmart trip to finish.

best day ever!

holiday cookie decorating

my favourite little mates did some hard core cookie decorating as part of their holiday hang out. hannah and hayley unfortunately couldn't make it to madeline's birthday party on the weekend, so we organised a little holiday catch up with cookie decorating. i don't know who was more excited, the kids or us mums. probably us. haha.

i baked up some cookies this morning and then julia turned up with some too so we had plenty to decorate and oh did we have a good time.

jen left the last of the icing bags she had used to make the cookies and cake for madeline's birthday behind and we sure put them to good use.

they giggled, they talked non stop and they made one heck of a mess

but ended up with some pretty amazing creations.

us mums were allowed to participate when they realised how many cookies they actually had and these are mine on the left haha.

this was the aftermath. it took quite some time to clean all the icing off of the bench.

highly recommend cookie decorating for a holiday activity. we had a ball and have enough cookies to last for weeks!

doug's new car

oli was not the only one to get a new car this week... doug got one too! her car was finally ready to be picked up late friday afternoon... but this clown decided that he would go and buy himself one too! augh. as if i didn't have enough stress with oli's being written off and getting her new one sorted. he has been looking for one for a while but just hasn't found the right one, when all of a sudden this green ss ute popped up and when he went to look he decided it was the one. sooooo we bought it!

look at him! he's so happy with it and i am so happy for him that he's found the one he wanted. he's waited so long for it too. 

perfect new addition to the front of our place!

alexander - twenty-one months

how is it possible that alexander is now twenty-one months old? are you for real? he will be two before we even know it.

this past month he has:

-become obsessed with dogs. he always wants to see them and pat them and is never frightenedof them. he cracks us up, because he always says ooof oof when he hears them barking.

-makes car noises as he drives all his things with wheels around

-ran towards his nanna calling nan nan nan

-he says hiiiiiii to people and bye bye. bye! bye! bye! bye! over and over while waving

until he can’t see anyone.

-he has started to ride his dinky bike properly

-keeps trying any abandoned shoes on and walking around the house in them

baby boy, you make us laugh so much!

mermaideline is nine

today our bombshell of a little girl turned nine and i can't even believe it. she is so funny, loves to make jokes and laugh with her brothers and dances alllll the damn time.

soooo happy birthday to my teeny best friend. so grateful that you joined us all those years ago,to put me in my place and make sure that all those annoying things i did as a kid are being done back to me. i love you more than i ever thought was possible and miss you like crazy when you're not around. keep dancing your way through life.

madeline currently lives for mermaids so we organised a mermaid party for her. i can't decide whether it was crazy or the best thing ever to have it on her actual birthday.

at her request, we had a magical cave in the theatre room made with pastel "seaweed" fronds by dad before everyone arrived. it was her favourite bit of her moana party a few years ago so she asked us to do it again.

her dress and crown were made by nanna and i was so impressed. she never, ever disappoints.

and this incredddddddible cake was made by aunty jenny. i am constantly amazed at her talent. i gave her a few rough ideas of what we liked and she nailed it with this beauty. madeline loved it and said it was "the best cake ever"

how on earth do you entertain 12 little girls? (cousin emma was yet to arrive in this photo)

jewellery making! we got mermaid coloured beads from our local art store and some pieces of shell and got to work.

the girls made some gorgeous necklaces and i heard from some of the mums later how much they loved making them. it was awesome to give them something to take home that would last too!

my absolute favourite bit of the party though was having my friend jess there to be our face painter. oh my gosh she is amazing. she came along with a bunch of sea and mermaid options which the girls loved! she is an absolute treasure, so clever at everything arty she does and really made the party complete.

i mean seriously! look. at. this!

mads with her friends emily and ella from school. all done up by jess.

we did our usual and had plenty of food on hand for the girls to snack on, ending with the cake. 

happy birthday miss madeline!

i hope all your wishes come true.

she could not wait to cut into it, but was more than happy to leave it for me to cut up. it worked out so well, they all wanted to go and play at the park with about 15 minutes to go, so off they all ran and i bagged up pieces of cake to send home with them. will totally be remembering that for next time, no pieces of cake being found around the house afterwards. 

last but not least, we had these epic mermaid cookies for the girls to take home, also courtesy of aunty jenny. so lucky to have a best friend like her. 

mum and dad with the birthday girl.

and a family selfie before bed. we love you maddie! we hope your birthday was amazing. ❤