Tonight I opted for an easy dinner as the children and I ate out for lunch and when I'm not hungry, I don't feel like cooking a big meal (I don't know how chefs do it. I really don't enjoy cooking on a full stomach!). Three of us opted for leftover pumpkin soup, one for bacon and scrambled eggs on toast, and one for french toast. While it is all easy, I probably spent just as much time in the kitchen as I would have if I'd cooked a proper meal! Still sometimes it's nice for everyone to be able to choose what they want.
x
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Monday, 6 January 2014
New Year's Eve Bash
I guess I'm being a little bit of a smart@ss with this title. I didn't see New Year's Eve in, and the 'bash' referred to is not actually a party, but rather that my youngest brother (35) was bashed on New Year's Eve. He rode his bicycle home from a mate's place and only a few houses from where his mate waved him off at the front gate, a couple of guys out the front of a house called out to him to stop. This was just after midnight. He stopped, they then punched him off his bike and beat him around the head while he lay on the ground. He remembers putting his arms up to try to protect his head and yelling for them to stop. He can't really remember how or why it stopped but from what his partner has said (she wasn't there), apparently someone said something like 'Hey you can't do that' and he remembers someone handing him his glasses.
He then RODE HOME and woke his partner to the news that he'd been assaulted. Katherine called an ambulance (because their children were home asleep so she couldn't drive him to the hospital) and the police. This was about 1am. The police came and John then went in the ambulance to hospital, returning home at about 5am with an eye starting to bruise up and stitches to two places on his face. We didn't see him that day as he stayed home to try to sleep. When we saw him the next day, his other eye had started to bruise also and the worst eye looked pretty shocking to be honest - a big ring of purple around the whole eye and when he rolled his eye to the side, the white part was all red.
I'm really hoping the fools get caught. John seems to have a philosophical approach to it in that he said it "doesn't matter because they will eventually get what's coming to them". I guess this is the karmic approach, however my way of thinking is that next time they try something like that, they might kill the person. My brother said he feels embarrassed that it happened. But to me, HE has absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. He's a tall guy but when you're pretty much sucker punched out of the blue and you're knocked off your bike... well it's not like he ever really stood a chance of defending himself. Unfortunately I assume the guys who attacked him, who SHOULD be embarrassed about their behaviour, probably couldn't care less.
The fact that they were only a few doors down from where John was, means hopefully they were at the party that was going on at that house and that someone can identify them and will be brave enough to speak up.
There's a big campaign in Australia along the lines of 'One punch can kill' and 'Real Heroes walk away', however the problem with that is, it doesn't account for idiots, and there will always be idiots out there.
My brother lives in a pretty sleep seaside town, he wasn't out partying at a club where you'd probably be more likely to find trouble, and yet trouble found him anyway.
I'm just thankful he is okay. The younger children have been told that John fell off his bike and hurt himself. However I did later tell Jack and Henry the truth. They know there are no excuses for that sort of behaviour, and were of course as shocked as I expected they would be. We did have a good discussion about it all though.
Ayla
x
He then RODE HOME and woke his partner to the news that he'd been assaulted. Katherine called an ambulance (because their children were home asleep so she couldn't drive him to the hospital) and the police. This was about 1am. The police came and John then went in the ambulance to hospital, returning home at about 5am with an eye starting to bruise up and stitches to two places on his face. We didn't see him that day as he stayed home to try to sleep. When we saw him the next day, his other eye had started to bruise also and the worst eye looked pretty shocking to be honest - a big ring of purple around the whole eye and when he rolled his eye to the side, the white part was all red.
I'm really hoping the fools get caught. John seems to have a philosophical approach to it in that he said it "doesn't matter because they will eventually get what's coming to them". I guess this is the karmic approach, however my way of thinking is that next time they try something like that, they might kill the person. My brother said he feels embarrassed that it happened. But to me, HE has absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. He's a tall guy but when you're pretty much sucker punched out of the blue and you're knocked off your bike... well it's not like he ever really stood a chance of defending himself. Unfortunately I assume the guys who attacked him, who SHOULD be embarrassed about their behaviour, probably couldn't care less.
The fact that they were only a few doors down from where John was, means hopefully they were at the party that was going on at that house and that someone can identify them and will be brave enough to speak up.
There's a big campaign in Australia along the lines of 'One punch can kill' and 'Real Heroes walk away', however the problem with that is, it doesn't account for idiots, and there will always be idiots out there.
My brother lives in a pretty sleep seaside town, he wasn't out partying at a club where you'd probably be more likely to find trouble, and yet trouble found him anyway.
I'm just thankful he is okay. The younger children have been told that John fell off his bike and hurt himself. However I did later tell Jack and Henry the truth. They know there are no excuses for that sort of behaviour, and were of course as shocked as I expected they would be. We did have a good discussion about it all though.
Ayla
x
Merry Christmas!
January 6th 2013
I didn't realise it had been so long between posts! I look to see the last post of Henry in August, having lost his first tooth. He still hasn't lost a second, but that post did remind me that on Christmas Eve, Henry (6) told me that he didn't believe that Santa was real. He thought that I was really the person who brought the presents.
When I asked why he would think that, he said it was because he had seen me the night he lost his first tooth and knew that "I" was the tooth fairy. Wow, I really suck at being tooth fairy because Jack (8) also sprung me being tooth fairy one night! I suppose that's what you get for telling them to put their tooth under their pillow and then trying to retrieve it in the middle of the night.
I had a think and decided that seeing as he had given me good reasoning (not just, "someone in class told me"), it was time to 'fess up. I told him the truth and he, just as Jack before him (!) had to swear to secrecy. That is, I'm more than happy for them to talk about Santa or the Tooth Fairy not being real to me or to Dad, but they're not allowed to say it at school, or to older children as I know a lot of older children who do still believe and whose parents want to keep that magic going as long as possible! And obviously, not to younger children either. I know Jack's been okay with not spreading the word so hopefully Henry can keep up the charade too.
We are in the middle of school holidays now. We just spent two weeks away in Hervey Bay with my Mum & Dad, my husband's dad and cousin from England, my cousin and her family and also my brother and his partner and children.
It was such a lovely time away. A lot of people packed into one house but all was merry! We really did a lot this Christmas. We did a day tour of Fraser Island, then mostly smaller events for the children like going to a water slide, a pool with some small slides and another covered pool which kept the kids out of the hot sun, the movies, ten pin bowling, 'Wet Side' which is a water park, an indoor skate/scooter centre called 'Rock Off' in Hervey Bay, loads of beach cricket, playing in parks, BBQs, skateboarding, rollerblading, looking for crabs under rocks, fondue one night (that might not see like an event but ask my children, they'll remember it!), fire twirling (another random thing we stumbled across one night), slip'n'slide and I'm sure I've missed a few things!
We all had a great time and for me, as always when I go there, it is just wonderful to have 'the village' around. Such an old catch phrase (It takes a village to raise a child) but my life is so much easier when I have family around that it really rings true for me. The kids absolutely love having their cousins and my cousin's children around to play with and sure, my kids still fight sometimes but the majority of the time they just go and find something to do with another child and have fun! Even if it's hiding in a shed making up an impromptu dance routine that they didn't actually perform for anyone! And for the adults, just ducking out to the shops without having to take whining children (and in fact, the children aren't whining because they get to stay home instead of reluctantly shop!).
We've been back home for four days and that's been nice too. The hectic pace was wonderful but it's also really nice to slow down a bit.
I didn't see the New Year in but here's to a good one!
Ayla
x
Unfortunately my brother and his partner and children weren't there at the time, but this is at least a pic of everyone who stayed in the house at Hervey Bay (albeit two stayed in sheds outside with a key each to access the house late at night if need be!). I'm in the blue shirt with the hat on.
A photo of the children after they'd been up on their first joy flight on Fraser Island. The plane takes off and lands on the beach. I'm not a huge flying fan, particularly not of small aircraft so I have to admit that I felt a bit sick at the thought that my kids were up in a light aircraft. Probably silly but the sort of thing that goes through a head like mine is that, I have no idea about the credibility of their joy flight business, I really don't want them up there. My father-in-law was shouting my husband to go up and he's a grown man so that's his choice. Did I rather the kids stayed firmly on the ground.. absolutely! But I also know I can't let my fears control their lives, at least not all the time! The boys were really keen to go and Florence decided at the last minute that she wanted to go too. I just had to walk away from the plane as they were hopping in because I could hardly stand it. Apparently as soon as the engine started up Florence started crying and didn't let up until just before landing, which was when Henry started getting worried because of turbulence. (Henry in the front)
I didn't realise it had been so long between posts! I look to see the last post of Henry in August, having lost his first tooth. He still hasn't lost a second, but that post did remind me that on Christmas Eve, Henry (6) told me that he didn't believe that Santa was real. He thought that I was really the person who brought the presents.
When I asked why he would think that, he said it was because he had seen me the night he lost his first tooth and knew that "I" was the tooth fairy. Wow, I really suck at being tooth fairy because Jack (8) also sprung me being tooth fairy one night! I suppose that's what you get for telling them to put their tooth under their pillow and then trying to retrieve it in the middle of the night.
I had a think and decided that seeing as he had given me good reasoning (not just, "someone in class told me"), it was time to 'fess up. I told him the truth and he, just as Jack before him (!) had to swear to secrecy. That is, I'm more than happy for them to talk about Santa or the Tooth Fairy not being real to me or to Dad, but they're not allowed to say it at school, or to older children as I know a lot of older children who do still believe and whose parents want to keep that magic going as long as possible! And obviously, not to younger children either. I know Jack's been okay with not spreading the word so hopefully Henry can keep up the charade too.
We are in the middle of school holidays now. We just spent two weeks away in Hervey Bay with my Mum & Dad, my husband's dad and cousin from England, my cousin and her family and also my brother and his partner and children.
It was such a lovely time away. A lot of people packed into one house but all was merry! We really did a lot this Christmas. We did a day tour of Fraser Island, then mostly smaller events for the children like going to a water slide, a pool with some small slides and another covered pool which kept the kids out of the hot sun, the movies, ten pin bowling, 'Wet Side' which is a water park, an indoor skate/scooter centre called 'Rock Off' in Hervey Bay, loads of beach cricket, playing in parks, BBQs, skateboarding, rollerblading, looking for crabs under rocks, fondue one night (that might not see like an event but ask my children, they'll remember it!), fire twirling (another random thing we stumbled across one night), slip'n'slide and I'm sure I've missed a few things!
We all had a great time and for me, as always when I go there, it is just wonderful to have 'the village' around. Such an old catch phrase (It takes a village to raise a child) but my life is so much easier when I have family around that it really rings true for me. The kids absolutely love having their cousins and my cousin's children around to play with and sure, my kids still fight sometimes but the majority of the time they just go and find something to do with another child and have fun! Even if it's hiding in a shed making up an impromptu dance routine that they didn't actually perform for anyone! And for the adults, just ducking out to the shops without having to take whining children (and in fact, the children aren't whining because they get to stay home instead of reluctantly shop!).
We've been back home for four days and that's been nice too. The hectic pace was wonderful but it's also really nice to slow down a bit.
I didn't see the New Year in but here's to a good one!
Ayla
x
Unfortunately my brother and his partner and children weren't there at the time, but this is at least a pic of everyone who stayed in the house at Hervey Bay (albeit two stayed in sheds outside with a key each to access the house late at night if need be!). I'm in the blue shirt with the hat on.
A photo of the children after they'd been up on their first joy flight on Fraser Island. The plane takes off and lands on the beach. I'm not a huge flying fan, particularly not of small aircraft so I have to admit that I felt a bit sick at the thought that my kids were up in a light aircraft. Probably silly but the sort of thing that goes through a head like mine is that, I have no idea about the credibility of their joy flight business, I really don't want them up there. My father-in-law was shouting my husband to go up and he's a grown man so that's his choice. Did I rather the kids stayed firmly on the ground.. absolutely! But I also know I can't let my fears control their lives, at least not all the time! The boys were really keen to go and Florence decided at the last minute that she wanted to go too. I just had to walk away from the plane as they were hopping in because I could hardly stand it. Apparently as soon as the engine started up Florence started crying and didn't let up until just before landing, which was when Henry started getting worried because of turbulence. (Henry in the front)
Thursday, 22 August 2013
First tooth lost!
Henry, aged 6yrs 5mths lost his first tooth at school today! His teacher messaged me and said she had never seen him more excited.
I just snuck the tooth (encased in a ziploc bag) from under his pillow and am replacing it with a $2 coin and a certificate, thanks to the wonders of the world wide web.
http://printable.tipjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Lost_Tooth_Certificate.pdf
He has been excited about his wobbly tooth for weeks, however I told him that he couldn't start losing teeth because I wasn't ready for him to! He always had a good laugh about that and just made him even more excited I think.
He's one of the younger ones in his class so I guess he has had to watch most of his classmates lose at least one tooth, mostly more and is happy it's his turn now. My gorgeous boy!
I just snuck the tooth (encased in a ziploc bag) from under his pillow and am replacing it with a $2 coin and a certificate, thanks to the wonders of the world wide web.
http://printable.tipjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Lost_Tooth_Certificate.pdf
He has been excited about his wobbly tooth for weeks, however I told him that he couldn't start losing teeth because I wasn't ready for him to! He always had a good laugh about that and just made him even more excited I think.
He's one of the younger ones in his class so I guess he has had to watch most of his classmates lose at least one tooth, mostly more and is happy it's his turn now. My gorgeous boy!
Friday, 9 August 2013
Juggling...
It seems I'm not very good with keeping up with this blogging business! Things that I'd like to write about come to me often but then the time to sit and do it is not at hand and then I forget. But this is something I'd like to remember for my eldest son (Jack was 8 in July).
Last night Jack's soccer club held a juggling competition. Jack has been practising a little and if he's been bored we've been reminding him he could get out and practise his juggling (occasionally he would, more often not!). Anyway each child had three turns each to do as many juggles as they could.
They had a practise area and I counted Jack do about 14 off to the side which I thought was impressive (his best is 17 he tells me).
The last touch of the ball as it gets away from him!
For the 'real deal' his best score was 9 :). He had a few mates from his team that had come along but they didn't want to go in the competition so I think there were only four or five Under 8s who participated.
At the end of the night they had prizes for the winner of each age group. Jack was so excited to win his for his age group! I realised after watching his group that he had probably won it. But previous to that I had assumed that there would be a lot of kids out there who could juggle more than Jack... but not on this night!
Jack received a little trophy, a $20 voucher to Amart All-sports and a small club bag... I think its purpose is to hold soccer shoes, socks, shin pads etc. He was thrilled. An under 11 boy kept the ball up for 260 juggles! An under 14 boy stopped voluntarily at 300 but can apparently do over 3000 - wow.
A team mate of Jack's won the 'Hit the crossbar' competition and it was lovely to see how proud his Mum and Dad were and how excited he was too. I wish I was going to be there to see them play their soccer match this morning but today it clashes with Henry's acrobatics.
I should do a post about Henry's acro next, though we're not usually allowed to take photos.
Ayla
xxx
Last night Jack's soccer club held a juggling competition. Jack has been practising a little and if he's been bored we've been reminding him he could get out and practise his juggling (occasionally he would, more often not!). Anyway each child had three turns each to do as many juggles as they could.
They had a practise area and I counted Jack do about 14 off to the side which I thought was impressive (his best is 17 he tells me).
The last touch of the ball as it gets away from him!
For the 'real deal' his best score was 9 :). He had a few mates from his team that had come along but they didn't want to go in the competition so I think there were only four or five Under 8s who participated.
At the end of the night they had prizes for the winner of each age group. Jack was so excited to win his for his age group! I realised after watching his group that he had probably won it. But previous to that I had assumed that there would be a lot of kids out there who could juggle more than Jack... but not on this night!
Jack received a little trophy, a $20 voucher to Amart All-sports and a small club bag... I think its purpose is to hold soccer shoes, socks, shin pads etc. He was thrilled. An under 11 boy kept the ball up for 260 juggles! An under 14 boy stopped voluntarily at 300 but can apparently do over 3000 - wow.
A team mate of Jack's won the 'Hit the crossbar' competition and it was lovely to see how proud his Mum and Dad were and how excited he was too. I wish I was going to be there to see them play their soccer match this morning but today it clashes with Henry's acrobatics.
I should do a post about Henry's acro next, though we're not usually allowed to take photos.
Ayla
xxx
Monday, 15 July 2013
Hard@ss
Wow, I'm feeling a bit emotionally wrung out right now!
I have just gone through dinner with the two younger children not wanting to eat it. Recently we (or really I should say I, as I've always been the soft touch) decided that I could no longer keep letting the children just have something else to eat if they didn't want dinner. I guess I remembered disliking meals in my own childhood and didn't want to force them to eat something they didn't like (for me it was mashed pumpkin nearly every night of the week and seriously, it really did make me nearly vomit! I used to have to mix it with some potato and wash it down with milk after each bite).
But, having been lenient as turned into a nightmare. While the eldest has come through for me the last few months and pretty much tried everything that's been put on the table, Henry (6) and Florence (3) have been getting worse and worse.
I spoke to dh last night about not yelling at the table anymore. (You can refer back to a previous post about me giving up yelling - obviously that's a personal decision and not one my dh feels inclined to also do... I can't force him to make that choice!). But, family dinner instead of being a nice thing, was becoming tense for everyone with dh getting angry at Henry for not eating. I can understand the frustration, particularly as he feels that I give in too easily.
Anyway, dh and Jack are out at soccer training tonight so it enabled me to do things my way without having to worry about dh getting home from work and having to listen to the kids going on and on and him trying to help end it (by yelling). We had enchiladas (YUM!) with both Henry and Florence declaring before it had even been put on the table that they didn't like it and wanted something else.
To give Henry credit, I think he did have the decency to grin a little sheepishly when Florence started up the chant of "I want something else. I WANT SOMETHING ELSE!" because he KNEW she was copying it from him.
I had explained that this was all the dinner there was - nothing else was on offer if this meal was not eaten. Henry said he didn't like the corn tortilla bit. "No worries," I said. "Just eat the mince with the melted cheese and sour cream."
I finished my dinner while they carried on (screaming that is, not eating). They went to have showers, yelling still for that elusive 'something else'.
I let Jonah know once he was in his pyjamas, that after ten more minutes, even eating enchiladas was off the table and he'd be going to bed. He carried on crying and after a few minutes I told said okay, you can go to bed. His reply, "OKAY, I"ll eat the enchiladas."
I just said okay, that'd be good. I heated them up and offered him sour cream and he ate it. He listened to Florence in her room crying and even mentioned that "Wow, she's going to be really hungry". Kids crack me up! I said, "Yes Henry, you're right. She is going to be very hungry."
I'm not a good hard@ss and when Florence went to bed hungry, I had to keep reminding myself that no child ever died from skipping one meal. I was quite ready to let her come out and eat her enchiladas but she is stubborn. I guess that has what has gotten us to this point though. Previously I would let her have a banana, toast etc, because I didn't want her to go to bed hungry.
She sobbed her heart out and I ended up giving her a long cuddle in her room and then patting her while she lay down. She was also overtired after a huge day with no day sleep, so after all the crying it only took a minute of patting and she was calm and asleep.
Hard@ss 101 - I might get a pass mark yet.
I have just gone through dinner with the two younger children not wanting to eat it. Recently we (or really I should say I, as I've always been the soft touch) decided that I could no longer keep letting the children just have something else to eat if they didn't want dinner. I guess I remembered disliking meals in my own childhood and didn't want to force them to eat something they didn't like (for me it was mashed pumpkin nearly every night of the week and seriously, it really did make me nearly vomit! I used to have to mix it with some potato and wash it down with milk after each bite).
But, having been lenient as turned into a nightmare. While the eldest has come through for me the last few months and pretty much tried everything that's been put on the table, Henry (6) and Florence (3) have been getting worse and worse.
I spoke to dh last night about not yelling at the table anymore. (You can refer back to a previous post about me giving up yelling - obviously that's a personal decision and not one my dh feels inclined to also do... I can't force him to make that choice!). But, family dinner instead of being a nice thing, was becoming tense for everyone with dh getting angry at Henry for not eating. I can understand the frustration, particularly as he feels that I give in too easily.
Anyway, dh and Jack are out at soccer training tonight so it enabled me to do things my way without having to worry about dh getting home from work and having to listen to the kids going on and on and him trying to help end it (by yelling). We had enchiladas (YUM!) with both Henry and Florence declaring before it had even been put on the table that they didn't like it and wanted something else.
To give Henry credit, I think he did have the decency to grin a little sheepishly when Florence started up the chant of "I want something else. I WANT SOMETHING ELSE!" because he KNEW she was copying it from him.
I had explained that this was all the dinner there was - nothing else was on offer if this meal was not eaten. Henry said he didn't like the corn tortilla bit. "No worries," I said. "Just eat the mince with the melted cheese and sour cream."
I finished my dinner while they carried on (screaming that is, not eating). They went to have showers, yelling still for that elusive 'something else'.
I let Jonah know once he was in his pyjamas, that after ten more minutes, even eating enchiladas was off the table and he'd be going to bed. He carried on crying and after a few minutes I told said okay, you can go to bed. His reply, "OKAY, I"ll eat the enchiladas."
I just said okay, that'd be good. I heated them up and offered him sour cream and he ate it. He listened to Florence in her room crying and even mentioned that "Wow, she's going to be really hungry". Kids crack me up! I said, "Yes Henry, you're right. She is going to be very hungry."
I'm not a good hard@ss and when Florence went to bed hungry, I had to keep reminding myself that no child ever died from skipping one meal. I was quite ready to let her come out and eat her enchiladas but she is stubborn. I guess that has what has gotten us to this point though. Previously I would let her have a banana, toast etc, because I didn't want her to go to bed hungry.
She sobbed her heart out and I ended up giving her a long cuddle in her room and then patting her while she lay down. She was also overtired after a huge day with no day sleep, so after all the crying it only took a minute of patting and she was calm and asleep.
Hard@ss 101 - I might get a pass mark yet.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
I said, she said..
Tonight my three year old went to the fridge and came out with a yoghurt. The following conversation went something like this:
Florence: "Mum, can I have a yoghurt?"
Me: (What, you mean that one you've already got in your hand Florence?) "Yes of course you can."
F: "Can you get me a spoon?"
Me: "You can get your own spoon."
F: "No, I don't want to!"
Me: "Okay I'll get you a spoon." (Cause I couldn't be bothered arguing the point.)
As I'm walking over to the table with the spoon...
F: "NO Mum. I want to get my own spoon. NOOOOO!"
Me: Sigh...
Hysterical crying ensues as my spoon is placed on table and I walk away, leaving her to the tantrum and going off to get her own spoon from the drawer.
Three year olds are hard work! But still, I'll keep her.
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