Go kart time!

So. When I was a kid we had a go kart, which very occasionally we would ride down Connor Road at breakneck speeds while someone waited at the bottom to make sure that no cars would hit the riders. I have very fond memories of being held tightly between Jared's knees on multiple occasions as we flew down the road. It was the absolute best. You'd use the rope to steer from the cross bar and eventually pull to go one way at the bottom of the hill. Fun times.

I feel like my kids miss out on a lot of that by being city kids, but to my absolute delight, a few months back, I found a wooden crashed and abandoned at the bottom of Peppa Pig Hill (the top end of Thomby Avenue, the street between the new house and our current house.) with one wheel broken and one missing. We drove past it for at least two weeks (I said it was to make sure no one claimed it, but let's be honest, it was cause I kept forgetting to go back when it was dark so no one could see me!) before I actually stopped and loaded it into the back of my car (grateful once again for the Outlander!) and handed it off to Grandad Neil for repairs. 

My dad is the flipping best. Next time we were up in Clackline, it was set and ready to roll. Fully repaired and then some... Maddie was out and doing runs before I could properly explain to her how to do it. Oh for a life in the country! It's not my turn as an adult yet, but one day!

And this dude? Ladybug boots stolen from Nannas laundry, new (to him, from the opshop, but still actually brand new!) lunchbag (that we are calling "my lunchbox!") in hand, filled with plastic fruit and vegetables, also from the opshop.

What a life.

 

A spot of golf

This morning we popped down to the Bakers Hill golf club for a round of kiddy golf coaching. Jen and Mat's kids go each Saturday morning and because we are staying at mums this weekend due to the painters doing the doors and frames with the strong smelling paint... we decided to tag along too.

My kids were surprisingly good at it! Who knew. I remember playing once when I was realllllly young (at Bakers Hill too! haha) and it took me like shots to get the ball into the damn hole, but my kids were incredible. Got it in, in under 6 shots and had the golfing coach suggest to them both that they should be playing more regularly. Especially Joseph who was thrilled to pieces. Honestly struggling with finding a sport that's a good fit for him, so we may have to follow that up.

The kids all had the best time though. Lots of fun and laughs as we made our way around the bush course. Big apology to the people behind us as it certainly was not in a short amount of time.

Maddie was loving her cuddles with baby Sophie.

Alex was only interested in drinking the hot chocolate that Uncle Mat had picked up for me from the bakery.

Joseph our champion for the day, teeing off on the final hole. 

Then having a little chat about technique to the coach.

Nearly there and time for some fun at Uncle Mat and Aunty Jen's house.

Can't beat all the fun to be had in the bush! ❤

 

Back to school 2022

Back to school today for these nuggets! After a long hot summer, with covid finally cracking the WA markey, it's masks galore and school time for everyone. They were so keen to go and I am so happy for them.

I love that they are so close. It's nice to know that they will always have each other if something goes wrong at school.

Madeline is off to year 5 this year and is absolutely thrilled to pieces as she managed to score the teacher she really, really wanted. She has had a lot to do with Ms. Berman in the past and is super excited as her dog Sasha also comes to school a lot, she is a therapy dog!

Joseph is really calm about school (this is wonderful for me!) as he has Mrs Southee, who was his spelling mastery teacher last year. He copes a lot better with people who are familiar to him, so that's an all round win.

Maddie is also playing flute this year which she is really excited about. I can't wait to see what's in store for the two of them. 

2022 - Let's do this!

Sing 2

For months, Alex has been obsessed with the movie Sing. He loves it. He is always singing along to the movie when it's playing, asking to watch "Johnny" (the gorilla) and laughing his little head off at all the jokes. We are talking head thrown back, mouth open laughing. he loves it.

For a while now, we've been debating whether or not he's old enough to take to a movie and whether or not he would sit through it or try and run about the place. Knowing how much he loved the first one, we thought Sing 2 would be an excellent test and oh was it a success... He loved it and we did too! 

What a wonderful movie. I couldn't even imagine how they were going to top the first one, but they did. It was amazing. It was bright and fun and kept everyone, toddler to us adults engaged from start to finish. Lots more fun songs and dancing. Highly recommend you watch it, I know we will be watching it time and time again!

 

New years eve - at home

2021 is over - hello 2022!

It's been a rough year for our little family, losing Doug's mum, but we have made it through and we are ready to give 2022 a go. My absolute favourite part of Instagram is making the best nine collage at the end of the year and this one is no exception. My farewell post to Doug's mum, my parents 50th wedding anniversary, Madeline's birthday, Easter and other wonderful family moments all made an appearance.

The day after Christmas, gastro hit our house with a vengeance. I was out for the count for the entire day and most of the next. I actually cannot remember the last time I was that sick. We had to miss my family's Christmas celebration because I couldn't move. Then Madeline had a turn, and New Year's Eve ended with Doug. It was not a good week. So, we spent the night at home... put Alex to bed and then enjoyed this little platter with my two older babes before going to bed well before midnight.

Joseph woke us up in the morning having a spew, which terrified me, thinking it was beginning again, but as he told me later, "Oh it's okay mum, I just had too many biscuits." Classic Joseph. 

Let's hope 2022 is better to our family than the last few years have been... I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.

 

father's day cookie decorating

is there a better way to entertain a bunch of kids during sharing time in primary on father's day than by pepping them all up on a ridiculous amount of sugar and then sending them home to their parents? i think not. we wanted to make something fun for the primary dads, so cookie decorating it was. i spent some time yesterday baking sugar cookies (no fail ones here which i have been using since madeline was 5, so can vouch for their success!) then mixed up icing and got to the sugar-ing.

joseph was so excited - and may have eaten a bunch of the decorating items hhahaha.

while madeline took her job very seriously and made her dad! it looked adorable. doug's little red headed self on a cookie.

rosy cheeks and all. she can be so creative sometimes! then pondering what to do with her second cookie. it was so funny, she ended up using the icing to glue four freddo frogs on their side and then stuck a lid on and glued another on the top. doug loved it cause all he really wanted was the chocolate anyway!

it's a sugar fest!

like in all honesty, i don't know if he could have gotten any more on there if he tried!

the finished product was pretty impressive and i know all our primary kids had a lot of fun. definitely a success!

bookweek 2021

it's bookweek time!!!!! i absolutely loved seeing these two dressed up and ready to go out the door yesterday and i was low key squealing on the inside a little when i saw maddie in her costume that i made myself. 

joseph however is my hero of the day - as when i asked him what he wanted to be, he went and got his iron man costume out of the wardrobe and his helmet out of the toybox and threw it at me. yessss son. no more sewing for mum.

what a cutie! 

he was so happy in his costume and it really showed, he couldn't wait to get to school and show it off

❤

costume looking a little creepy set out the night before

but not as creepy as this. i nearly died laughing when i saw how this shot looked on my camera roll. i snapped it after school when he got out of the car and slumped on my bonnet.

maddie was thrilled beyond words with her costume. she kept saying how much she loved it which made me so happy.

complete with her mermaid crown, left over jewels i bought for dancing concerts years ago (they were too big!) and seahorse earrings from pip and pepper.

and we even chalked her hair in some cute pastel shades for that extra mermaid vibe.

seriously, look how chuffed she is!

i think this mum did okay this year huh? ❤

pro baller

this little nugget started basketball boot camp (okay maybe it's u10 basketball skills) at a nearby rec centre a few weeks ago. oh my gosh does he love it! he is freaking ruthless and is always out to get that ball and get it in the hoop. he's actually not done too badly with it either, with a lot of his shots making it in. it's so nice to see him running and moving and being into sport. bball was always on the cards, because his dad loves it and the most important person in the world, his precious aunty dom loves it. lol. i'm hoping that by doing the rest of the term, he'll like it enough to play in the summer season as it arrives around again in term 4. funers crossed we have another sports mad child in the house. haha.

 

matching pjs

oh dear. i have become that mum. that mum that bought her kids matching pjs - and i'm not even sad about it cause they love them so much. they've worn them multiple days in a row and keep playing games in them and it's adorable.

see? pretty much the cutest thing ever. let's hope they fit for a while!

 

festive free dress day

i love that for the past few years at our kids school, the last day of school has been what they call a "festive free dress" day. our kids love dressing up in christmas shirts and wearing christmas hats (which i am certain last about 4 minutes once they are at school in the aussie summer heat haha) but they look so cute!

maddie is stoked with this cute as sleeping beauty t-shirt i got her after christmas last year on clearance (yep, always after the bargains) for like $5 from big w and doug and i think it's hilarious because at one stage (long ago) we had considered the name aurora for a girl. when we first got together, i somehow contracted viral pneumonia and was sleeping all the time, so he would refer to me as sleeping beauty as a joke.

our little star wars lover (thank you to weeks of the stay at home orders, where we covered many many movies including all 11 of the star wars movies (rogue one and solo included here)) was stoked with his star ward christmas t from kmart and never wants to take it off.

the three merriest and cutest kids i know. 

and just like that - schools over for another year. 

as alice cooper once said: school's out for summer!