Kingdom of Kisses

In the wars

2011-08-11T09:21:00.001+08:00

Miss Nikita is having a sick day today.

Last night after dinner she started complaining of a sore throat. Then at 2am she woke me up because of it. I gave her some soluble kids panadol - she only drank half because her throat was so sore. Then she proceeded to burp up pretty much all she'd swallowed. I gave her a cepacol which has a numbing agent & antibacterials as well & then she came & 'slept' with me. Not sure how much sleep either of us got though.

Anyway I hoped she would be better by this morning, got her ready for school & she was quite upset. She thought she'd be crying for most of the day & was worried about making her friends sick.

I have to say that I feel so torn between my responsibilities. I'm supposed to be at work today. I've got things I should be doing. I can't do them from home as our Microsoft Office is too old & it'll cost us over $500 to upgrade.

But at the end of the day, I know that if I was a SAHM, I'd have no hesitation in keeping her home from school today. So maybe it's the right decision.

Yesterday at ice skating, she was complaining of a sore shin. I thought she was just being a bit of a drama queen, & she only had about 5 mins of her lesson left. I was shocked when I took her skate off to find this on her shin. Her stocking had rolled down & was rubbing underneath the front of her boot. Poor baby.

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Processing the Treasure Boxes

2011-08-08T10:49:00.001+08:00

All the creations the kids bring home from school get put into a Treasure Box under their beds. At the end of each semester they give them to me to sort through & decide what to chuck & what to keep. Whatever gets kept is glued into a scrapbook & kept in their Big Box of Treasures in the shed.

It's a big job for me. Made worse by my procrastination (hi!!!! :-D). And sometimes it's very difficult to decide what's trash & what's treasure.

This is Nikita's box getting emptied. She's much more prolific with her production. Maybe that's an age thing though. I'm sure I won't always have this pleasure, so enjoy it while I can!!
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Reactivating....

2011-08-07T22:45:00.001+08:00

Will have to see if this works. I've downloaded a new app that will allow me to post from my iPhone.

I recently happened to revisit my much neglected blog & wished that I hadn't let it go. Then I found this app (blogpress) so will see if this & the fact that I can easily upload photos on the run gets me back to posting more frequently!!

Look forward to lots of 'huh???' moments as Apple helps me along with autocorrect. LOL

Welcome back to any of my old readers!!

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Medical Emergency!!

2009-10-13T22:11:00.003+08:00

Today saw the return to school & kindy for Sasha & Nikita. However, yesterday (Monday) Nikita still had her dance lesson in the morning. David had a training course to attend, so he took the car & Sasha, Nikita & I planned to walk to dancing as the weather has finally turned spring-like.

So anyway, David headed off nice & early, and Sasha, Nikita & I were making good progress to being ready with plenty of time to walk to dancing. We were down to our last 10 minutes where I was doing up their hair. I did Sasha's hair & then asked Nikita to come & stand in front of me. And she didn't, and she wouldn't. We have ongoing issues where she just doesn't do what she's told, for whatever ingenious excuse she manages to come up with. It gets REALLY irritating, I can tell you.

Anyway, as I turned to her in exasperation, and again told her to get OFF THE COUCH and COME & STAND IN FRONT OF ME!!!! I noticed her eyes welling up with tears, and a bit of a blocked up, choked up look on her face. With little more clue than having seen her playing with a craft puppet (that she'd made a day earlier) about half an hour ago, I asked her "did you put one of those eyes up your nose?". She nodded - it was one of those jiggly, boggly craft eyes. I have no idea how I knew what she'd done. I have even less idea WHY she'd do it.

But anyway, it was up there, so far gone you couldn't even see it. I got Sasha to get her some tissues & went about blocking the other nostril & trying to get her to blow it out. We tried this for about 5 minutes. Still no sign of it apart from a bit of blood, and a whole lotta tears & distress from Nikita.

So I hummed & haaa-ed in my head about the best possible solution. The walk to the doctor's surgery (right across the road from dancing) was a good 20 minutes, probably even more with a craft eye stuck up your right nostril. I didn't really think the exercise was a good option as it may have caused it to get sucked further in.

In the end I rang a friend (thanks Sam!!) to see if she could help out with a lift to the Doctor's, which she could. She had to get someone to come & look after her kids as we wouldn't all fit in the car. In the meantime I rang the Doctor's surgery to see if they would be happy to have a go at retrieving it - they put me on hold to talk to the doctor.

Whilst I was on hold, Nikita started sneezing and sneezing and sneezing. I thought this is our chance, and blocked her other nostril again & got her to BLOW!!!! and out popped the eye. The receptionist came back on the phone & I told her it was okay, it was out. Then I rang Sam back. Did Nikita's hair & walked to dancing. We were only a couple of minutes late.

Once again I'm thankful that, thus far in life, I'm pretty level-headed when it comes to emergencies. There's been numerous relatively severe choking incidents with the girls. And this is not the first time one of the girls has stuck something up their nose. The last memorable time was on the freeway & I think it was a bead that time.

But, really, I just don't understand... ...WHY?????

Tooth Fairy

2009-08-20T22:38:00.003+08:00

On Tuesday, 18 August, at nearly 6 yrs 2mths old Sasha first baby tooth wobbled its last wobble. It's been a loooong time coming as that tooth got wobbly almost 2 months ago - just a few short days after her birthday in fact.

Since her birthday she has had one adult molar erupt & one of her adult incisors at the bottom is coming through behind her loosest baby tooth. Two more of her incisors are loose & one of them is probably on it's last week.

She was very brave with it coming out. During the weeks it was getting looser, there were a few tears when she'd bite something funny & get hurt. But on the night it finally came out, she came out of her room. I was a bit cranky (as I tend to be when they get up after bedtime) & asked her why she was up. She needed a tissue & showed me one with blood on it. I thought she must have been picking her face again. But no, she'd been fiddling with her loose tooth & hooked it underneath from the back. So it was really loose now. I told her to just pull it out, but she wasn't ready to do that. So I told her to go back to bed & maybe it would come out in the morning. So she headed off to her bedroom. Next thing I hear "Oh my gosh!" in a loud, excited whisper & she came down with her tiny little toothy peg in her hand & a big, gappy grin on her face.

The Tooth Fairy came that night & dutifully left $2 in a swirl of fairy dust (glitter), so an early morning ensued.

I can't believe we're up to this already. It seems like such a short time ago that she was just a little toddler who had just learnt to walk in her cute sneakers with lights on them. I remember her oooh-ing and aaah-ing as she turned in circles trying to look at the lights on the sides of her shoes. So cute!! And yet, I can hardly remember life before her - it seemed to happen to someone else.

Tech Support - The Response

2009-07-23T19:22:00.000+08:00

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind; Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Try entering the command

C:// I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME

and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0. If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will create Snoring Loudly.wav files.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider additional software to improve memory and
performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 6.9.

Good Luck,
Joyce at Tech Support

Tech Support

2009-07-23T08:03:00.000+08:00

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slowdown in the overall performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as AFL 5.0 and Cricket 3.0. And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate

Amended

2009-07-22T09:06:00.003+08:00

David headed offshore this morning at 5.00am or some such time. The girls got into bed with me after waving him off at the front door - this is becoming something of a tradition.

After I got out the shower a bit later on, I was greeted with an excited Nikita who had found a love note from Daddy. Sasha couldn't find one (I think she hadn't vacated her bedroom in time for him to hide one), so she was a bit down in the mouth.

Nikita, being the amazing sharing kind person she is suggested that they change the letter to add Sasha's name. ♥♥♥ How sweet!!

This is what I found on my desk....

Now the grammar isn't fantastic, but the thought behind it is. It made me smile this morning.

testing testing testing

2009-07-21T21:45:00.001+08:00

just trying this out - ignore me (for now! lol)

Linking up blog with FB

2009-07-21T21:25:00.002+08:00

This might get me posting more often.

Got a link from Tiff Firth & have now set up my blog to update my FB status, sooooo here goes!!

Back to tennis

2009-05-02T20:46:00.003+08:00

We found out that Sasha hadn't wanted to continue tennis after last term, however that was because she doesn't like to have too many after-school activities. It was pretty overwhelming last term & it wasn't something we'd intentionally done. However we've now got it down to just two activities - dancing/acrobatics on Wednesdays & swimming on Thursdays. Both of which she thoroughly enjoys.

However, after finding out that it wasn't that she didn't want to do tennis, just that she didn't want to do it after school, David suggested we see about a weekend class. So today, she & Nikita went back to Tiny Tots Tennis at 9am. So no sleep-in. But then, we were awake from 4/4.30am when David left anyway. ***yawn*** !!!!

It was so lovely down there at Anning Park this morning. We had a max temp of 28oC today. Unseasonally warm temps all this week & next - fine, fine, fine & between 27-29oC. It seems so strange. However on a Saturday morning at tennis, I sure as heck ain't gonna complain about it!!! The class is HUGE, with lots of smaller kids 3-4 year olds. However, with Sasha being such a shortie, she doesn't really stand out too much. You can tell she's older, just be her overall body shape - she doesn't look like she's just grown out of toddlerhood.

We spent the rest of the day at home, kids playing & me trying to catch up on some neglected housework duties.

It's all silent in the house now, so I'm going to work on some photos before heading off for an earlyish night. Really need to get some of these photo's finished & published & archived and my PC HDD is full!!!

Twiddleybitz comp!

2009-04-30T20:53:00.001+08:00

Just thought that any scrappers who might read my blog would be interested to see that Twiddleybitz has a comp on for some freebies. Check out this post & get all the goss!!

ANZAC Day 2009

2009-04-25T20:54:00.002+08:00

Lest we forget.

We had planned to go to the Dawn Service at Kings Park, followed by breakfast in the city & then watch the parade. David was supposed to be home on holidays. However that all changed when his work roster got thrown out the window & now he's back to the go when needed, and come home when he's not needed.

So I decided against the Dawn Service at Kings Park. Instead we caught the train to the city & watched the parade. It was HUGE!! So much bigger than the Rockingham one. We got streetside vantage point, albeit a very crowded one. And we only had to wait about 1/2 hour before the parade came past. The girls were a bit antsy waiting, but enjoyed munching out on the home-made ANZAC biscuits that we made yesterday. They thoroughly enjoyed the start of the parade with the horses, the Navy, the bands, the old fire truck & waving their flags & clapping to the Old Diggers who went past. However the parade took almost 2 hours all up, and I think their patience ran out at about 1.5hrs. My hands were so sore from all that clapping. But I am grateful & it's but a small way to say thank you.

We caught the train back home again & it was totally packed out.

I can't upload any photo's as my computer is chocka block on the memory side of things. So my next job for tonight is to try to sort that little problem out!!

7am

2009-04-24T19:24:00.003+08:00

At 7am today, I was woken by my radio alarm. How cool is that!!! Well it is kinda cool considering I've been woken lately, earlier & earlier by ***someone*** wanting a cuddle. Just to clarify, David is actually offshore, so it's been the two most gorgeous girls of this house wanting some attention. But at "earlier & earlier", it aint always so gorgeous.

So anyway, to do the right thing by them, because I feel it's reasonable to expect that they stay in their own rooms & quietly entertain themselves until 7am, but it's a bit unreasonable to expect them to stay in there forever so that I can get a sleep in, so I got up & went down to their rooms. Sasha was already awake & playing quietly in her room with her room closed. Nikita was still asleep, cuddling her teddy & sucking her thumb. I climbed into her bed & gave her a cuddle to wake up to instead. :) So sweet. And the first thing she told me was about what she'd been dreaming. She'd dreamt that her finger was a paint brush & she was painting a picture of Daddy with spikey hair. Kinda cool to see her imagination hard at work as she slumbers on.

Had kind of a sucky day with them as they were both pretty whingey, whiney & niggling each other. By 1pm I'd had enough & put them both into bed for an afternoon sleep. They really needed it. At 3pm I went to wake them both up & things were much better in the late afternoon. Somehow I doubt I'll get to sleep until 7am tomorrow though.

AJ came over to mow the lawns late in the day. Both the girls helped me to move the swingset. I love getting them to help me with real things. Sasha paid him his $40 & Nikita went to great lengths to get him a beer and a stubby holder because the glass was cold. LOL She's seen David have a beer with him a couple of times & seems to think that he should get paid a beer every time.

The other bit of cool imaginitive play I saw today was when they sat at their red IKEA table & Nikita loudly pronounced "Let's play Governments" and Sasha replied "I'll be Kevin Rudd because he's my favourite Government" and then they played. Most of which I couldn't make head or tail of - nothing unusual when it comes to Governments anyway. There was a fair bit of dolly smacking, which I found a bit disturbing. And then Kevin Rudd apologised to the dolly. Make of that what you will.

On a side note, I've given up Pepsi Max about 3 weeks ago now. At Sasha's request. My weight's been on the increase. I think this is partly due to the dropping of the Pepsi Max, and also partly due to Easter/Camping and general crap diet. So tonight I'm getting back on the cross trainer & hopefully going to make some changes. Gotta stop the late night snacking for a start - that usually what causes the most problems for my weight I think. So unnecessary.

I just wanted to say....

2009-04-23T20:40:00.002+08:00

Hi Belinda!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Feeling guilty for not doing much in here. I seem to have dropped off in my internet activities somewhat over the past 6 months or so. Not too sure why. I tend to just lurk around instead of actually posting something.

Not going to make any unlikely-to-be-fulfilled promises about changing that either. Just gotta say that Bloglines Rules. No more wasting time visiting un-updated blogs. ;)

Sasha's First Day of Year 1

2009-02-02T23:17:00.004+09:00

Well the summer holidays have come & gone in the blink of an eye. I'm not even going to attempt to start to outline what we got up to - it was busy & that's all I'm going to say on the matter at this stage. Maybe *sometime* I'll make a little list of what we did.

For now though, I just wanted to celebrate a milestone. It's Sasha's milestone. Today she started her first day of full-time, COMPULSORY schooling in Year 1. Her classroom is LA3 & her Pre-Primary classmates & teacher have all come forward into Year 1 together which is just wonderful. She has a fab class and a great teacher. Methinks she's in for a fun year!

Kindy & Pre-Primary have been fun, and interesting & a great grounding for what will hopefully be a wonderful academic adventure. Last night Sasha was just about jumping out of her skin in excitement to be starting Year 1. It's so cool that's she's excited, rather than negative or even apprehensive.

So today, we as family, took her in to her new classroom & helped her to find her desk. She put all her supplies on her desk & sat down. All the parents hung around the classroom for a bit as if waiting in case Miss Pollini had any news/information for us, but she just dismissed us all & we left her to it.

When I picked Sasha up, she was still full of excitement & enthusiasm. She told me she'd been learning some rules about being in Year 1, and had been to her music lesson just before the end of the day - I'd seen her coming back from the library direction. How exciting!! I hadn't even contemplated that she'd have 'music lessons'.

I'm really looking forward to taking her in in the morning & having her show me her drawer & pencil pot & any other interesting things she wants to let me in on. I love been a school mum. :D

He smiled

2008-12-28T21:32:00.004+09:00

Right up to the end.
(Photo taken 23 December, prior to vet trip that I thought would be his last - isn't he just a beautiful dog!!).

Today was the day when we had to put Diggitty to sleep at 4.30pm. I'm oscillating between devastation & denial.

David & I had been out celebrating Christiian's 40th last night & were feeling a bit under par today, so I had a sleep on the couch in the afternoon. David had an afternoon sleep & so did Nikita. Sasha entertained herself with her new Nintendo DS & also played some lego.

I dreamt that I had to put Digs down as his stomach was bloated & had a dark red rash like the blood poisoning thing. Anyway I watched as he tried to do a wee & his back legs got lower & lower & eventually he slumped down right after he'd been to do a wee. He rested for a minute & then tried to get up & did a funny waddle to the swings & tried to wee on the leg of the swings. Then he waddled away over to the shady area of the grass near the patio. And rested again for a minute or two. And again, walking a little better, to the shady grass near the trampoline. He lay there, the upright lying, with his head up & a big grin on his face as if he was pleased with his effort.

But I knew this was it. Next he'd be unable to poo properly. He'd been a bit incontinent (wees) since going on the pain killers. But geez it was hard - he was still so happy. He wouldn't drink any water either. Sasha & I put water on our fingers & he licked them to get some moisture. He gave Sasha a kiss on her cheek too.

He smiled all the way to the vet's & even when David took him for once last pee patrol on the bushes outside the vet's. Even though he couldn't stand up. So amazing. He was happy, despite his pain, because he knew he was loved as much as he loved us.

His appetite had really wained in the last 24 hours though. From eating half a chicken for lunch yesterday to refusing dinner & late supper when we got home last night. Today all he ate was a packet of ham & some bacon which David had cooked for breakfast. The rest of the roast chicken has now been thrown away.

Anyway, at the vet's it was a bit frustrating as they were waiting for us, all ready to go & knock off for the day. The girl at reception wasted all my time that I could have spent with Digs by fluffing around instead of getting the payment organised & the consent form signed. I actually had to ask for the consent form before the vet headed outside without me!

We had him attended to in the back of the car as that was a familiar place for him. The first injection didn't go well - it seemed quite painful for him - his leg tensed up & he tried to pull away & then the vein collapsed. He did get a little anaesthetic in that leg which meant he lay down & rested his head. Then the vet had to shave his other leg & try again, and that was it, he was gone in less than a minute. It was peaceful, and like Angel, he didn't shudder or sigh. He did look a bit more 'dead' than Angel did. But I think that's because I looked for it this time. Angel only looked asleep or unconscious. But still he didn't look different. We all gave him one last kiss & cuddle, to last forever.

The girls, Sasha in particular, were a lot more emotional this time. Clinging to my leg & wanting to be there with him too. And crying all the way home. David was strong & patted my back throughout the procedure

I also cut some fur from his mane & it's here in front of me in a zip lock bag. And that's all I have left of my darling Diggitty. I'll miss him so much. Just his presence. His licks & kisses. His beautiful soft fur. His love. He really was a wonderful fellow. So beautiful, gentle, loving, intelligent & calm. A good natured dog. His only vice was his fear aggression for other dogs, and in that I was his protector. It doesn't give me a sense of relief to wonder where he is now, because if he's surrounded by other dogs, I imagine that he's probably not very happy to be there without me to make him feel safe. I hope he's okay. It was an inevitable situation though, & I'd told him last week he needed to be brave & he would be okay.

I knew this week was it for him. The weather's going to be HOT, unbearably hot - 39oC & then thunderstorms. But it's such a shame as well. His 13th birthday is on Wednesday. At least his last day was a happy one, and a lot more comfortable than it would have been later this week.

So that's it. We're now a dog-less family with a big empty backyard. It's going to take a loooong time to recover from this I fear. I felt I'd finally turned a corner with the loss of Angel just a few weeks ago. It's been a very emotionally draining few weeks, yet also a time filled with give the boy back just a little of what he's given us over the past 13 years.

We are going to have a big clean up over the next few weeks & get rid of our dog things. All the good quality stuff will be donated to Shenton Park Dog Home. When we eventually get another dog, quite a few years down the track, we'll get new things.

RIP Diggitty. I hope you are feeling safe & I know that you know how much we love you. Thank you for being my companion.

Counting down the days.

2008-12-21T20:14:00.002+09:00

Not only are we counting down the days until Christmas & enjoying all the fun that goes along with the season of giving & good will, we're unfortunately counting down the days that we'll have Diggitty with us.

Unfortunately he's in bad shape & is on palliative care with us at the moment. It seems he has two large masses in his tummy which appear to be on his liver & probably his spleen. I've known his health has been in decline for the past 12 months & especially in the last 6 months. He's dropped a lot of muscle tone on his hips & lost weight - his ribs & backbone are sticking out & you can feel them when you pat him, however he has a distended belly further back.

We took him to the vet on Friday arvo & determined all of this. The vet explained that what often happens is a dog will develop a tumour on the spleen & this will have bleeds occasionally which cause the dog to exhibit the types of symptoms that our Diggitty is having - weak, listless, nauseous, shallow breathing, etc. If it is a minor bleed, it may repair & the dog will recover - this must be what happened in September when we were camping. Eventually, without intervention, the dog will suffer a major bleed which will kill it.

We could ultrasound & biopsy to see if the tumours are benign or malignant. If they're malignant, chances are they've already spread. If they're benign, they could be surgically removed, however they're large & he's almost 13 so the stress on his body would probably be too much for him to survive the operation anyway.

Aside from that his hips are weak & painful, and he has a nasty cough which is indicative of a cardio/pulmonary disease.

So palliative care it is. If he recovers in the next few days, well & good, & we'll have him around to love a bit longer. But so far he's not much improved, despite the painkillers, so chances are we'll be taking him in for a gentle release between now & Christmas. It's very hard to know if we're being selfish in keeping him here, or if we are not giving him enough opportunity to recover. This is all made more difficult with the public holidays upon us & knowing that veterinary assistance is not readily available throughout.

He's being spoilt rotten with lots of hugs, kisses, pats, chicken breast, ham, cuddles and generally given a lot more attention than he's used to over the last few years. He even slept inside last night, which turned out to be a mistake as I woke every 2 hours to see if he was okay & then he had a wee accident because he can't stand up on our floors unless he's on a mat as they're too slippery. But he did love being inside & slept right next to my side of the bed.

This end of pet ownership truly sucks. It's the hardest thing ever. However, I know I can be strong for him when the time comes. I'll release him from his pain with peace, dignity, love & security.

Oh Yay!!!

2008-12-14T20:22:00.003+09:00

Sasha & Nikita are such little legends!!! They both did a fabulous job! I was so proud of them & they looked so cute & gorgeous & lovely. Nikita was in the 3rd dance of the day & I was a sobbing mess just as she was coming on stage, you could hear them all tapping into position. lol And then they were into it.

Nikita got a bit distracted looking at the pretty stage lights, but kept up with her steps. Sasha did an awesome job with her tap routine.

At intermission we all had a chance to have a chat about how fabulous the girls were. NannaJay, Nanna Carol, Grandad Doug, Andrew, Marisa, Larissa & Grace had all come along to watch the show & Daddy was still here (even though he's actually due to be on the rig at the moment). So we felt very special that so many special people had taken time out of their busy lives, at a busy time of year, to come & watch our girls in their performance.

I was actually quite blown away at the magnitude of the work that went into the whole production. The costumes, choreography, lighting, music, not to mention all the business side & post-production - can't wait to see the video when it's available!!! And to think that the majority of this is done by 3 members of a family, with a few dress-makers & parent helpers thrown in. Just amazing stuff. Granted that they must be making some good money from the whole business, but it's money well-earnt too.

I'm so relieved that it's over & just so proud of Sasha & Nikita's performances. They weren't perfect by any means, but they tried & they had the guts to get up on stage in front of about 2000 people & give it a shot. And aside from that they've had an education in all things girly too.

I should also make a special mention of a little boy called Daniel. He absolutely stole the show whenever he was on stage. He's the same age as Sasha and dancing with the older kids quite proficiently. Seeing how much learning goes into dancing for the average kid, his natural ability is astonishing. I felt quite privileged to have the experience of seeing him dance when he was young, because if he keeps his dedication, he's an absolute superstar in the making.

Dance Concert

2008-12-13T22:35:00.002+09:00

Well it's been an age since I last wrote. I guess life (& death!) getting in the way of things in the meantime. Felt a bit unmotivated to write since the last entry - obviously!! It was kinda hard to follow on from too though.

So anyway, heaps of things have happened since & I won't even bother to try to catch up. I just wanted to do a quick post to say that Sasha & Nikita have their dance concert tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it, yet nervous at the same time. Their costumes look amazing & I hope I remember when I get off here to pack some tissues in my bag because I KNOW I'm going to need them.

I've packed & repacked their bags a gazillion times, written lists, laid out their clothes for tomorrow morning. And now I really should get to bed because it's going to be an early start for the day & I need to make time to make myself respectable as their mum too - don't want to let the side down. lol

One week later

2008-10-27T11:21:00.003+09:00

So, a week has passed already since we lost Angel. I knew it would go quick, and here it has flashed past already.

I cried quite a bit for the first few days. I felt physically sick and sore at the thought that she's gone & still now when I really think about how completely she's gone, the ache is still there. I find it hard to accept the permanency that I can never again feel her soft fur or smell her Angel smell (even though it was hardly a floral scent IYKWIM). But I have moved forward.

David says he finds it hard going outside for his smokes & coffee. The patio seems so empty to him & he's lonely out there without Angel. It's harder for him. She was his dog. Also he hasn't really had the emotional release like I've had, he keeps trying to bottle it up. Saturday was a difficult day for him.

So anyway, that's not what this post is all about. I've made a big start to the kids' Christmas Cards for their classmates. This is the last year I'm doing it for Sasha. I think next year, she can just choose which friends she wants to send to & we'll buy some cards for that. Nikita has Kindy & Pre-Primary to go after this year. Anyhow, the cards I'm doing are quite simple, so I'm going to get through them quite quickly. The longest part will be getting the kids to write their names on the bottom of each one.

Sometimes things just seem to happen for a reason

2008-10-19T22:20:00.007+08:00

Last week Diggitty was apparently gravely ill & I truly though he'd have to be put to sleep. My post, on reading back is somewhat embarassing, but it had to be written to get the thoughts out so that I could sleep that night. But I think that my experience with him & my thoughts that I put on here that night helped me really think through what I wanted for my dog, and in doing that, I have been able to help David with his own thought processes & emotions.

And now, tonight, I feel compelled to write again, in order that I might sleep peacefully tonight.

Today we took our beloved dog to the vet to be put to sleep. Only it wasn't Diggitty. He has made a miraculous, complete recovery.

Today we took our beloved dog Angel to the vet to be put to sleep. Below are the details of what we've experienced since last night. It will probably be long, and somewhat boring, but I feel compelled to write it, to not forget it, and to 'get it out', so that I can sleep tonight.

Last night just before 11pm, whilst watching Heroes DVD, David & I heard scrabbling on the paving outside & thought Angel must be having a really good back rub on the door mat. And we looked outside to see her having a fit. I immediately went to her & patted her & spoke calmly to her & told her she was safe & loved. As soon as David saw how I was handling her, he followed suit. She could hear us & responded. After the seizure had passed she got up & started walking, pacing, around the patio & futher around the backyard. We stayed up with her for another hour or so, and there was no change. We thought she may have had a stroke as she started to drag her left back paw. She did not seem too distressed, aside from the pacing, which we assumed was because of her brain maybe short-circuiting. We did a little googling to see about canine seizures & decided that we would just continue to monitor her over the next 24 hours. At 13 years of age, there's really not a lot of practical & realistic solutions to a dog that is having major seizures/strokes. However, it was a possibility that it was a one-off seizure, like an epileptic fit. We went to bed at about 12.30/1am & I told David about what I'd learnt from my recent experience with Diggitty - giving your pet the honour & dignity to be allowed to die feeling safe & loved is the best gift you can give them for their years of faithful, unconditional love. Before I went to bed I told Angel four things - I love her, I forgive her, I'm sorry and Thank You. I figured she would either be dead by the morning, or she would be in a better state.

David woke at 5.30am & I woke at the same time. He got out of bed & went straight outside. He came back & asked me to come out too. Angel was having another seizure. Again with the calming voice & stroking. We sat with her after this had passed & we found she'd dragged her paw until it was bleeding with her pacing at night. We also found another site or two, possibly, where she'd had other seizures. It seemed she'd lost the ability to stand up. We discussed what to do, from every possible angle. David truly is one of the world's biggest softies - he really has difficulty hurting any living being, especially to contemplate ending the life of his very own, dedicated & beloved pet dog. He tried every possible angle to escape the reality of the situation.

Throughout the morning we spent time with Angel, helping her through seizures. The girls knew what was going on & both showered Angel with affection in their own small ways. It was difficult as we knew that she may be disoriented & possibly dangerous to them, or distressed by them. As a result the girls were a bit cautious & had to hold back a little with what they did - pats, stroking & a little bit of brushing.

Come 8am, we started trying to get hold of an out of hours vet that would come to us. David wanted a home consult, acknowledging the likelihood of her being euthanised. We didn't want to have to take her to a scarey vet clinic as her last awareness of life. This proved impossible - no-one seems to offer out-of-hours anything, let alone home visits these days.

I took some photos of her. I thought David might think that was silly, however I realised that I don't have any photos of Diggitty since about 4 January this year & that had made me so sad to think I might have missed my last chance with him. I wasn't going to miss this opportunity with Angel. David also gave her a brushing & took out some of her favourite toys to have in the photo with her. I don't think my shots are very good - it was try to take them from ground level. I hope I have a couple of ones in good focus. I also took a little bit of video because of how the breeze played through her coat - I've always loved to just watch that - so pretty.

By 9am, Angel had managed to start to walk around on her own!! She wasn't even dragging her paws. It just amazed me. She even managed to jump up the retaining wall & do all of her own toiletting. Still, she was doing a lot of walking in circles - again a symptom of stroke & tracking along walls, fences, etc. She drank loads & loads of water - she was drinking from the side of the water bowl - stroke symptom. Then she started to find dog bikkies in the grass from dinner last night & eating them up. So David went & got her some ham, then some salami. She enjoyed them. David put the sprinkler on for a little while so she could play under it - & she did go in & out & have a drink as well. She got to do so many of her favourite things just one last time.

10am and she was lying down on the patio again & the convulsions started again. Her poor face - her mouth pulled back into a snarl that wasn't real, her eyes bulging with pain & fear, and her body twisting & turning, fighting every impulse. We knew our answers. David was still holding out for someone to come here, but there just wasn't anyone. He kept saying that once we take her, that's the end. But he knew it was already the end for Angel, he just wanted someone to tell him it wasn't so. I left him outside with her, & organised the kids into clothes & then into the car, locked up the house. Whilst doing this, I saw him sitting on the ground with his dog & Diggitty came over & gave Angel a little sniff & a poke, just like they used to when they'd play together. And then I helped David put her into the car. We had to use a tarpaulin as a stretcher as he couldn't carry her - if she had a seizure, he would have dropped - too dangerous. So we got her safely into the car - she had another seizure. We got one of the dog cushions & put that in to protect her from hurting herself against the cargo barrier.

I drove to the vet slowly. She had no balance & I didn't want her getting hurt going around corners, or when I started/stopped. We made it there safely & I went in to tell the receptionist we were there to have our dog put to sleep. I signed the consent form, she told me our options regarding disposal of her body & I asked if we could have it done in the car. That wasn't a problem. There was one consult ahead of ours & then the vet would come & see us. I paid the money. I did cry a little, but did my best to be strong.

David had moved the car to a shady spot of the carpark. Sasha & Nikita hopped out & we all spent time together with Angel. The girls kissed her again. The vet & nurse came out with their equipment - clippers, a HUGE green needle & maybe a smaller one. We talked about options - just to confirm really that there were no viable options. Sasha & Nikita said goodbye, then David said goodbye. The vet asked me if they should wait for David, but I knew he'd said his goodbyes and trusted me to be with her - his heart was too broken. I told her to go ahead. I saw the needle go in & I wanted to say "WAIT!!!! NO!!", but I didn't. I sat with Angel whilst the vet & nurse gave her her injection. The girls came & looked at one point & then went back to their Dad. Angel was so good. I told her I loved her, we all did. She didn't shudder, she didn't sigh, she just stopped. The vet listened for a heartbeat & then said "she's gone, I'm sorry", which just sounded so stupid & stereotyped - but what else do you say? It was 10.50am - nearly exactly 12 hours since her first seizure.

The vet & nurse went & collected a stretcher to take her away on. We all gave her one last, final & forever cuddle & kiss & they took her away.

On the way home, we stopped at the traffic lights to pass over the freeway & the car ahead of us had rego "1bye ***" & the bus ahead of it had a huge dog advert with the slogan "you want some of this". Talk about ironic.

We spent the rest of the day at home. I still think that I've cried more than anyone else. Every time I come to the computer I leave the office crying. I posted status updates on Facebook since last night & today the responses leave me in tears. I don't feel like talking to anyone about what happened today - maybe because it makes it real. I don't know. Maybe because I can't - I just choke up.

It feels like a bad dream & maybe tomorrow I'll wake up to find Diggitty still has his companion. I wonder how he feels lying out there in the dark on his own. I hope he's not scared.

I don't know what happens to us after we die, but I hope whatever it is, that Angel knows we love her and forgive her her mistakes & can forgive us for our mistakes in return.

The girls seem remarkably unscathed by today's events. I don't think they understand the permanency of Angel's death. It may take a while for them to realise. I can't quite get my head around it!! However they passed the rest of the day by playing tennis in the backyard - something they have not been able to do with Angel here because she is the master ball fiend. Then David filled up the paddling pool & they played for a good few hours in that.

When the pool was emptied, we ran the water onto the patio & David swept up Angel's bloodstains from her paw.

It's amazing how different it feels out there now with only one dog. It just feels emptier. She's left a hole in our family that will never be filled.

Sasha & Nikita were given fairy wishing jars at their respective birthday parties & they've been nagging me forever to leave them out by the light of the moon so that their wishes could come true. I haven't done. "Don't waste your wishes" is one of David's catchcries. Tonight we took David out to a makeshift table in the backyard. David read the story of the Rainbow Bridge & then the girls opened their jars & made their wishes in to the jars. Sasha's wish was that Angel was relaxed and safe. Nikita's wish was that Angel would always know how much we love her. And by the light of the moon, and the strength of the hearts that made those wishes, they must come true.

I took a photo of the sunset. I think it's probably a crap photo. The sun setting on Angel's last day of life. I don't want today to end. After today, Angel died yesterday, then it'll be the day before yesterday, then it'll be 3 days ago, a week, a fortnight, a month, a year. We once had a dog called Angel...etc. People will meet us who never knew Angel. But, as so many things in life are, it is inevitable. We move on, because we cannot stop time. Tonight I relish my pain, my aching heart.

Tomorrow, I will remember the happy times of Angel's life & hopefully the nightmare of her seizures more or less fade to insignificance in comparison to the wonderful times we've all had together.

Rest in peace sweet Angel, you will always be missed by all of us.

He's getting better

2008-10-15T22:07:00.002+08:00

Just a quick post to say that he is a bit better than yesterday, so maybe he'll be okay. He's eaten ham, chicken wings, & some gourmet dog food. He's drunk & done some wees. He's still a bit weak, but he's got a bit of a spark back into his eyes. He's not out of the woods yet, I think a trip to the vet is in order still, but more to see what they recommend to aid his recovery.

Maybe he got bitten by something, maybe he ate something (I'm thinking chocolate) that he shouldn't have, or maybe David is right & he was depressed that we went away.

Whatever it is, I'm willing to give him some more time & see if he continues to improve. So I'm still hoping & wishing he'll be okay.

My heart is breaking

2008-10-14T22:00:00.002+08:00

for my poor old Diggitty Dog. I think tonight may well be his last in our loving home.

We went away camping on Saturday & returned today (Tuesday) to find him vomitting all over the back yard & in a very bad way. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't get up & walk (except to go & spew up somewhere) & didn't drink until late tonight. He seems very thin & frail. He's 12 years old (13 at the very end of this year), so he's getting on.

I know that if he's not greatly improved by tomorrow I will have to make that fateful call to the vet.

In the meantime I've cried & cried & cried, and crying again now. Sasha & Nikita know what's going on & what may have to happen tomorrow, and they've cried too. David seems to think it will all just go away & he'll be fine again by tomorrow. I know there's a very slim chance of that, but considering his age, it seems very unlikely to me.

I'm sad that he's spent the weekend alone & this state, although the lady across the road who was feeding the dogs said that her daughter fell in love with both of the dogs, so maybe he was fine up until today. I don't know. David says he gets depressed when I go away so maybe he's just depressed.

So that's the guts of it. He's old and sick. And tomorrow, if I have to, I will repay him his years of unconditional love by making the hardest of decisions & stay with him and love him one last time as he slips peacefully into oblivion. Give me strength to do what I must & be strong to show him love, not sadness & fear as his last moments on Earth. There's time enough for grieving after he's gone.

Our holiday at Mandalay seems like forever ago, already. We've only been home for 7 hours. Since finding Diggitty in such a bad way, it's been like seeing his life passing again before my eyes. Reliving his life from when he was a sweet little puppy, his fear/aggression towards other dogs, his loving nature to everyone but most especially his family. He adopted Sasha & Nikita so naturally & has always been so patient to their demands. His kisses. His love for Angel - they would play. They had a racetrack at Rockingham & Munster where they would run along the back fencelines, chasing each other & other things. He has such a big dopey grin - his face really smiles when he's happy. He would 'wiggy wag' his tail on command & he learnt to sit, drop, roll over. There's so many memories, it's impossible to recall them all at one moment in time. And then over the past 5 years, since having Sasha & Nikita, he has had to deal with being relegated to pet status & I feel guilty & sad for those lost years with him. He is a true dog though, with his unconditional, undying love. And while he lost so much of my attention in these years, he's since gained two more playmates who adore him dearly, although they largely take him for granted too.

I hope for a miracle tonight & that you are better by the morning & my fears will seem silly. I have hope. If you are still sick & weak & I have to make that impossible decision, I hope that you have had a good & happy life Diggitty, and I hope that you have always felt loved by us. I am sorry for the ways that I have let you down or made you sad. I feel so lucky to have had you for my pet, and I am wealthy beyond measure for the love you have given to me & our family. You have taught me so many things about love & loyalty, and given me many laughs through the years. I will see you in the morning & tonight I will be wishing for a miracle.

Her mother's daughter

2008-10-02T22:16:00.003+08:00

She is her mother's daughter that Sasha-girl of mine. :) And sometimes she relives my past in such an uncanny way, it just amazes me. I love her with all my heart.

Today we went to see a movie called Wall-E - myself, Sasha, Nikita & Sasha's school friend Lauren. The movie is about a little robot left behind on Earth. Without going into too much detail he's a very lovable robot with more than a little, albeit mechanical, resemblance to ET. Anyway, the movie went for quite a long time, and once the popcorn, lollies & drinks had run out, Sasha sat quite quietly and became engrossed by the film.

The end of the movie was nearly very sad, but turned out happy. The lights came on and we all filed out of the cinema. As we had almost reached the door, Sasha was clinging onto one of my legs, making it difficult for me to walk, let alone keep track of three kids in the dark & ensure I didn't lose anyone. However, it soon became clear that she was holding onto me as she was overcome with emotion & she sobbed that she was going to miss Wall-E. The poor girl brought back memories of how I felt at the end of a wonderful film or book - that stabbing sense of loss. We found a seat & she sat on my lap for a big, long cuddle. Nikita & Lauren were very patient & kind. It was heartbreaking to see her so sad, but at the same time, it showed me yet another reason for loving her. I hope I remember this time forever, it was a special moment. :)

Happy Birthday

2008-09-30T21:22:00.004+08:00

Cinnamon! If you're still around (which you certainly were earlier this year), you'll have just turned 33. I never imagined you'd have such a long, loved life when I sold you back in 1994. I hope you are still healthy & loved (I'm sure the latter is true) and that we can come & visit you soon.

Today's craft

2008-09-30T21:04:00.002+08:00

We spent the day at home today, as per the girls' request. I asked them yesterday arvo what they wanted to do today & they said they wanted to stay home. Mind you they didn't know that I'd been wondering if we'd go to the movies. I'm sure if they'd known that was a possibility, I'd have had a different answer.

Anyway, they had a lovely time playing with the dress-ups boxes. You can't see the floor of the games room due to all the dress-ups ALL OVER the floor!

At some stage during the day I had a bright idea to make some matchbook notepads with the kids. I did most of the making, but let them help out. They punched the circles out, and inked the letters, and die-cut the letters, and they stuck the embellishment together onto the fronts. I did most of the cutting & folding. They turned out kind of cute. Here's Sasha's one.

I SAID!!!!

2008-09-30T16:15:00.002+08:00

I'm doing zig zags Mum!!!!!

Ahhh, the sweet words of Nikita in a huff. I only asked her to hurry up & finish off her bikkies. She was having some rice crackers for afternoon tea, and doing a jigsaw puzzle at the same time. I asked her once to hurry up & she said she was doing zig zags. 10 minutes later & I asked her to hurry up again & she yelled the above at me.

Can anyone decipher the meaning of her response?

The Wish

2008-09-27T18:28:00.003+08:00

Wow, I'm really stoked with how my entry has gone for this week's SYTYCS competition at Scraptacular. This round's scrap-eography was hosted by Clair Bremner, who has long been a favourite scrapper of mine. This week the final week of 'heats', so I wonder what's in store after judging & results on Tuesday night (?)/Wednesday? I wonder if it will be relevant to me? I'm hopeful, but not confident - there's still another 15 LO (or thereabouts) still to be posted & I'll probably be even more blown away by the quality of the entries this round (again!!!).

In other news, well school holidays started as of 3pm yesterday afternoon & I've got a few things lined up to do with the kidlets. Hopefully tomorrow though we can have a 'home day' to get a few housework things done. Beds need some attention, as do bedrooms. Just for a start!

Today we went to Larissa & Christiian's in the morning to celebrate them being together for 20years. Wowee - I feel so OLD!!! It was lovely to see some of the pics from years ago. They had loads of friends staying on for the AFL Grand Final. The kids & I headed down to Karlene & Leo's for Grand Final though as it was Geelong v's Hawthorn. Like many of their guests, we went to see Leo as much as to watch the game - he's such great entertainment value watching the footy, and today was certainly no exception. I took some video footage, so hopefully I'll be able to put it onto DVD so they'll have a keepsake from how they celebrated their victory. Just another thing to add to my ever growing list of things 'to do'. I really need to invest in a HUGE external hard drive & some good video editting software & then download all my footage & start processing it into DVD format! I've got years worth of stuff to do. But for now, bedtime!!! I'm soooo tired!!!

Legend #2

2008-09-23T22:49:00.002+08:00

My Braveheart Sasha. She had a marvellous day today at the sports carnival. She tried her best & had loads of fun. And once again made me so proud to see her give things her best shot & not be dismayed if she's not 'the best' at something. Our team had an extra person for the team games, so consequently whoever was last in line for the competitions, would appear to be the 'loser' and Miss Sasha had that honour a couple of times. However she didn't get rattled by it, but rather seemed to revel in the cheers and encouragement from all the supportive parents.

I'm so glad she had a fun day. I did a crap job of the photography. The sun was out which meant harsh light - bad for photography. Plus I was juggling video v's camera v's cheering & encouraging and participating, so I have mediocre photos and I haven't even bothered to look at the video yet.

Maybe tomorrow night I'll get myself organised enough to PP the photo's & post the best one or two.

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SYTYCS Round 3 - I made it through! Yay!!! This next round is a Clair Bremner scrap-eography. I just KNOW that I can't do her style justice (much as I would like to), so I won't be surprised to see this as my final Round. There's only 4 rounds of heats, so I would really like to have survived the heats, just to see what lies beyond from a participant's point of view, but I'm certainly not holding my breath. I have no idea how much I'M going to love/like/not like my creation, let alone what anyone else will think of it. I have no idea even WHAT I'm going to create!!

Legend #1

2008-09-23T14:09:00.003+08:00

I have just got back from the Doctor's where I took Nikita to get her 4 year old injections. She had to have one in each arm & the nurse & doctor gave them at the same time. I got the vibe that both were slightly nervous as I imagine the 4 year old ones have the potential to be the worst.

Nikita & I'd talked about her having to get her needles once she was four a few weeks ago. She'd also come with me when I'd gone for a blood test about a month ago, so she'd seen how 'brave' I'd been & that it only stings a bit. And today after picking her up from NannaJay's I'd told her we were going to the doctor's for a check up now that she was four, but didn't mention her having needles. She suggested we take Teddy too, so they could be brave together. Good idea!!! (Why didn't I think of it first??). We had time, so I nipped home & collected him & headed off to the doc's.

So, back to sitting on the chair with her on my lap. Arms folded across her lap holding her teddy, & me holding each forearm so she couldn't really move. Both needles in & out within a few short seconds. No flinching, no tensing, no "ouch", no tears, NOTHING!!! Amazing Nikita, once again AMAZING!!!

She just never ceases to amaze me. I asked her afterwards if it hurt & she said "nup. Can I have a special treat?". I just hope now that she doesn't have as big a reaction as Sasha had to hers - big swollen upper arm for weeks afterwards.

And now my precious, brave 4 year old is tucked up in bed having her afternoon sleep.

Round 3 - Rare Footage

2008-09-21T21:58:00.004+08:00

Here is my entry for this week for Scraptacular's So You Think You Can Scrap competition. There's heaps of great entries this week, so I won't be at all surprised to be eliminated, however I'm really stoked with how this LO turned out - probably my favourite LO (of mine) so far for the comp.

Survived the busy week! Hardly had time to post any pics of the various costumes. They're downloaded onto the pc, but I haven't done my post-processing. Might get onto that tomorrow night...! We'll see.

This week I have Sasha's sport carnival to look forward to (got postponed from last week due to bad weather) & a little footy game on Saturday - the AFL Grand Final which is Geelong (David's team) v's Hawthorn (Leo's team). Hopefully it'll be an awesome game & the girls will play happily with Harrison so I can enjoy the party at Leo & Karlene's!!! I'm actually quite excited - it's nice to be able to relax & enjoy the game without worrying if your team's going to win (because they're not even playing! lol). Looking forward to Friday - Sasha gets to wear her footy team's guernsey to school - she'll be wearing the Navy Blues proudly FOR REAL!!

Woot!!!

2008-09-16T22:02:00.000+08:00

I made it through Round 2 of SYTYCS!!! *happy dance* Gotta go make a card for Miss Nikita who will be FOUR tomorrow!!!

Busy busy busy!!!

2008-09-15T22:16:00.002+08:00

Wow this week is a busy one!!! Aside from our weekly schooling, dancing, swimming, working stuff we have two parent meetings, dinner at NannaJay's, Nikita's birthday, Sasha going to a friend's party, sports carnival, dress-up day for Nikita & dress-up day for Sasha! And that's just Monday to Friday this week!!! Jeepers!!

Nikita's going to PreKindy on Thursday as "Snoinksy" - the third little pig from The Three Little Pigs nursery rhyme as she has to dress up as a nursery rhyme character or fairy tale character. That's an easy one as we have a pig costume & she can take a mini wheel barrow with some blocks in it for the bricks to build her house.

Sasha is going to PrePrimary on Friday as a butterfly. She needs to go as either a Minibeast or an Australian Animal. Last night I free-hand drew a butterfly wing on some card paper & cut it out. There's two layers of card paper & there's some holes cut in it where I've put some cellophane. Tonight I'm just going to add some foil/prismatic type paper shapes (can't think of the right name) - something to bling it up a little. So far it's looking really good - I'm quite proud of my efforts - just hope I don't stuff it up when I add the elastic so that it goes on okay!!!

Aside from that I've been busy making a little pressie for her student teacher. She's had a student teacher for all of this term and she is finishing up teaching the kids this Friday, hence the party. So I've made a little paper handbag using my Cricut Expression & I'm going to fill it with M&Ms which I'm slowly munching my way through as I type this post. So in the interests of reserving some M&M's for the little handbag, I'd better make a move!!!

SYTYCS 2008 - Round 2

2008-09-14T22:47:00.002+08:00

Here's my entry for Scraptac's So You Think You Can Scrap Competition. This week's Scrap-eography was by Dee Molina. Dee has a very bold, vibrant scrapping style which is in stark contrast to my own style (whatever that actually is!!!). Luckily me being a scrapping technician, as in I love to try out different techniques, I was familiar with some of Dee's trademark techniques & I'm really impressed with the LO I created! Don't know if it's enough to get through another week, there's some really cool work in the gallery - go check it out!

Tomorrow is a day of celebration

2008-09-10T20:00:00.002+08:00

according to Miss Nikita. Daddy & I are going in to Pre-Kindy for parent roster & we're taking with us her Honey Joys which is what she has requested for her birthday cake for her school friends. She & I whipped them up this arvo whilst Sasha & Daddy were at dancing.

Nikita's very excited about the start of her birthday celebrations which will take almost a full week to play out. She has PreK celebration tomorrow, then her actual party on Saturday. Her birthday is on Wednesday, which also happens to be family dinner night for September, so she'll have another cake then. Talk about spoilt. But it's so hard not to spoil her - she's just too gorgeous for words!!

Yesterday she & I were in the car going to the shops (as we do! lol) & she was talking about butterflies. I asked her if she knew what the person who looks after & learns about butterflies is called - she didn't. I told her it was a Lepidopterist. She pipes up with "oh, I saw a Lepidopterist on tv last week!" It was yet another of those Far Out!!! moments that she gives me. She understood the whole context of the conversation, she pronounced it perfectly, she remembered seeing someone on TV from a week or two ago - I vaguely recall her seeing someone in a butterfly enclosure on Totally Wild or something like that - so she definitely knew what I was on about. Geez she just amazes me so often!

Round 1!!!

2008-09-09T23:02:00.003+08:00

I'm stoked to say that I've made it through Round 1 of the So You Think You Can Scrap comp at Scraptacular!! :D I really didn't think my entry was that fabbo. Hopefully the next round will see me with a better piece.

Also a few weeks ago I got the girls a baking set each, so we made some choccie cake! Here's the young chefs in action - they look so cute. Such a shame they forced me to turf the cake out of the tin early & it all crumbled up! The flavour was spot on though!

Scallops

2008-08-27T23:01:00.001+08:00

Just putting this here so that I can hopefully find it again someday if I need it. Plus you never know, someone might find it useful!!

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There is a formula for working out the brush size v’s brush spacing to get the perfect ‘holes’ in a scallop shape.

To give that scallop shape perfectly centred holes, you simply use the same path (new layer is a good idea). You decrease your brush size, eg to ½ of the original, then you conversely increase your spacing by multiplying it by 2. If you decrease your brush size to 1/3 of the original, them you increase you spacing by multiplying it by 3.

Eg. If an oval has 216px circle shaped brush, spaced at 93% to get a perfect scallop. Punchout holes using a 108px circle shaped brush, spaced at 186%, using the same original path.

I’ve tried this on circles, squares, & ovals & have had success. The tricky part is getting the right sized & spaced circle brush to fit your path in the first place!!

Scuppers the Sailor Dog

2008-08-25T20:10:00.004+08:00

Here's Sasha in her Book Week dress-up for last Wednesday. A bit of a better effort than the previous spider attempt. I was up nice & early that day to get the face painting done. I was relatively happy with how that turned out - I thought she looked soooo cute, even though she refused to smile & just getting her to look at the camera was a task & a half. NannaJay came along to watch the parade as well.

That was an eye-opener on it's own. Seeing how they packed about 900 kids into one undercover area - oh boy!! It was amazing to see how extroverted some of the older kids are when they were doing their parade. They were hand-slapping the younger kids as if they were movie-stars/sports stars. Some of the boys were dressed as fairies or other females. I don't remember kids being that extroverted when we were growing up.

Anyway Sasha had a fabulous day, although I'm sure the reason for it was lost in the excitement of having a dress-up day for school. This Friday, the she has her first school excursion to the zoo. She's been to a couple of other places for excursions, but somehow those classic excursions to the zoo & museum are the classic 'real' excursions for me. I must go & read up what food, etc I need to organise for her.

Olympic Games

2008-08-24T21:48:00.002+08:00

Well, once again, I missed most of the Olympic Games. I missed the last ones pretty much too. Such is my focus on children & stuff that I don't get a lot of TV time (that's not ABC kids or some such anyway).

But I did my ironing tonight, which took slightly more time than the Closing Ceremony & am actually looking forward to London 2012. How cool is that going to be. I keep thinking of Belinda & her gorgeous family living right there in London & the excitement they're going to experience over the next four years. It's going to be such a wonderful time for them. :D

***********

We had a quiet day at home today. Started off with me waking to find the girls had taken almost a full box of tissues & shredded them in Nikita's bedroom and were sticky-taping 'costumes' onto her teddy & whatever other toys they could find. I was not impressed. No wonder I insist that they stay in their own bedrooms until I come & tell them it's time to get up. Short of locking their doors, which I'm not going to do (fire hazard & we don't have locks on their doors anyway), all I can do is remind, insist, get cross, coerce, reward. They missed out on their special Sunday breakfast of Fruit Loops & had to tidy up the whole mess.

They did play together loads today & most of it was happy, kind, creative play, so that was great. I got through all my washing, folding, ironing, etc. Man that's a neverending cycle. This past 2 weeks has been incredible just how much washing I've done!!!

And now that I've finally caught up on most of my chores, I'm going to spend a quick 1/2 hr at my scrap table to do some more work on Larissa's Mini Album. It's been put to one side whilst I went on the scrap retreat, so now I need to get it done & handed over as I have numerous other jobs lining themselves up already!

Couple of LOs from the retreat

2008-08-23T21:33:00.004+08:00

A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to go away to Jarrahdale for a scrapbooking retreat with Just Scrapbooking - one of my LSS. David was home with the girls and they all had a lovely time. It's the first time I've been away from my kids overnight since 20 June 2003!! (Well I had one night away from Sasha - 17 Sept 2004, but I had a very fresh Nikita with me then .)

Anyway I quite enjoyed the weekend away, although it wasn't terribly exciting. I was kind of hoping for a bit more fun, frivolity & laughter - it can happen on retreats, I know because I've heard of them. lol It was however quite productive. I made a single layout before the retreat for a challenge. And then whilst on retreat I made 4 single layouts, 2 double layouts & 2 cards!! Some of the layouts I'm not entirely happy with so I'll have to tweak them a bit. But for now, I thought I'd share two that I have finished & am really happy with.

Earth Angel

and Pieces of You

House guest

2008-08-19T20:47:00.003+08:00

Sasha got to bring Dreamy Dog home from school last Thursday for an overnight stay. She's been waiting for so long to have a turn of bringing him home & felt very special. In his bag he had a scrapbook, pencils & textas & the children were encouraged to draw pictures, have photos & write about his stay. Sasha was more than happy to come out to the trampoline & pose with him.

David didn't quite get the purpose of his visit. To me, I think it was just a means of encouraging the kids to write about things and also as a reward/incentive at school.

Just a test post

2008-08-04T21:09:00.001+08:00

I've started an account with Bloglines & now I'm going to see what happens when I do a new post. Nothing exciting to see here peeps. :D

Now, surely, I've seen EVERYTHING!

2008-07-31T22:57:00.002+08:00

This is a Pet Stroller. You too can put your favourite pampered pooch or puddy-tat in one of these lil rippers & take them for a stroll around the block. There's no substitute for safety & control when you keep your lil darlin' confined to the safety of your pet stroller. PMSL The world really is getting quite ridiculous!

School Holidays - Day 5 to 7?

2008-07-12T22:26:00.002+08:00

I think??? It's becoming a blur!!!

Thursday - we caught the train to Joondalup & watched the free Care Bears show that was on there. The train station is actually below the entrance to the shopping centre, so very convenient! We then watched a movie - Kung Fu Panda. It was okay. Not as much fun as Ice Age or Monsters Inc. but the girls seemed to enjoy it. I'll be looking forward to the day when Nikita can sit down through an entire movie!! She's up & down out of her seat constantly. At least however we didn't need to interrupt the show with a trip to the loo. The train trip both ways were certainly a bit 'entertaining' with 'interesting' passengers - glad David was home to join us on our journey.

Friday - we went to Playzone in the morning. The girls had a fab time running, climbing, swinging, & playing with the other kids there. It's about 7 months since we last went there & it's amazing how much more age appropriate it is already. I remember going on school holidays sometime last year & the bigger kids were just too rough around the girls I had to keep a really close eye on them. Not these days. And I'm so grateful that they're good players & I don't have to be worried about them playing rough or unfairly with other kids - they usually save that honour up for each other. Met up with Jacqui there, & her mum & grandmother, plus the kids. Ruby's first birthday too! It was lovely to have a chat & see how much the kids have grown! Matt's taller & more grown up. Josh is blonder & Sir Chatalot. Ruby's gorgeous & pulls the cutest facial expressions - she's got a very appraising eye. :D

Today - we went to Kardinya Park Shopping Centre so that Sasha could spend her birthday money. She topped up the $20 she got from Nanna & Grandad King with some saved pocket money & bought herself a long-awaited fairy flier. Nikita was "so sad she wasn't getting a fairy flier too"! :( The pout was definitely on as only Nikita can pout. lol Instead she was told she could use her pocket money to buy some jewellery. As an aside I mentioned to David that we should sneak in & get a fairy flier for Nikita as a birthday present from Sasha before the sale is over & they run out of stock, so we'll do that next week. Then just as we were leaving KMart there was a free show - Drippy the Dragon. So the girls sat on the floor with about 30 other kids & watched the free 1/2 show & seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

After that we headed up to the Hyde Park Hotel to check out a craft market that was on. It was really cool - all new/comtemporary art pieces & I had a lovely, but quick, look around at the stalls whilst David took the girls to a park for a swing. He had been hoping to go to the pub to watch the footy with the Geelong supporters, but as luck would have it, they usually meet at the Hyde Park Hotel & had to cancel today's meet because of the craft market. We than had lunch & headed home for afternoon sleeps & Sasha had a lovely time playing with her fairy flier, outside on the swings, with Daddy's Scalextric race cars, etc. Movie night - Jafar Returns, featuring Nikita's favourite princess Jasmine & home made nachos in front of the TV.

Tomorrow we're off to Karlene & Leo's for lunch, so I'd better head to bed!!

School Holidays - Day 1 to 4

2008-07-08T21:40:00.002+08:00

Firstly HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARLENE!!!! I hope you've had a lovely day & I'm glad I got a chance to speak with you today. We're looking forward to seeing you & your beautiful family on Sunday & I might just get my act into gear & whip up a card between now & then - if I think of it!!

Okay, so I thought I'd keep a little record of what we've been up to for the holidays in the hopes that I'll remember what we did with our time & to keep me motivated to keep doing things with the kids during the winter break. So here it is....

Saturday - went to shops & then NannaJays to work out how to use her brand new SatNav systems she's bought for her car. We then took a drive around to see if it would tell us where to go & how to get home to her place again.

Sunday - the girls & I went to Success Park for a play in the morning. Then home for lunch & a ride around the High School carpark. Then the girls played on the road (under my watchful eye for traffic) & had a chat with some of the kids in the street. Shortly after we'd gone inside to get ready for dinner the young girl from a few doors up came & knocked & asked if she could come & play. So in she came & played with Sasha & Nikita for about 20mins or so. Was really nice as I think S & N have wanted to play with her forever. Her name's Kirra & she's 7 & in Grade 2, so there's a school year between her & Sasha. I think she's been waiting for some girls in the street to play with too & although she's so grown up in comparison to my two, they still play dollies & skipping happily together. :D

Monday - Sasha, Nikita & I took the train to Perth & went to visit the Museum. Much of it was amazing - the dinosaur exhibit took Nikita's breath away - she was very nervous about the largest mdoel. The butterfly room was just spectacular. I don't remember seeing that last time we went a few years ago. The colours, patterns, sizes & shapes are just incredible. Sasha's learning about 'minibeasts' next term at school, so I dare say we'll go back to the museum again these holidays for another look. (Plus David couldn't believe that we went to the museum without him :rolleyes:). And both girls amazed me with their recognition of various animals - Nikita knew what a bison & a moose were & I have no idea how. Sasha correctly identified a skeleton of a hippopotamus. She also didn't mind any of the skeletons except for the human skeleton - that was scarey. lol After that was all done we had lunch in the city & caught the train home for afternoon sleeps. Then we picked Daddy up at the airport at 6pm.

Today we went to Malaga for David to drop off his paperwork. Then we went to Burswood & had a picnic lunch & a ride along the river in both directions. Being the last fine day for a while we thought this would be a good idea to make the most of the sun. Was good fun & quite peaceful down there. There weren't too many professional cyclists racing past which was a good thing as Sasha & Nikita haven't quite got the 'keep left' thing down pat yet, especially if they're not looking where they're going!!! Then we came home for afternoon sleeps & I did some mundane housework tasks too.

So that's the holidays so far!! I've got a few more things on the list - will have to see how the budget copes too.

School Holidays are here!!

2008-07-04T19:45:00.004+08:00

I can't believe we are already half-way through PrePrimary & PreKindy!! Faaar out!!! Nothing like having kids to make the world spin faster!!

So far both girls have had a great year at 'school'.

Sasha
She's made a few solid friendships independent of us ie. not children of family friends. This is a first for her & wonderful to see. The friendships are quite symbiotic too - she contributes positively to the friends & the friends contribute positively to her development. Her writing & drawing just blows me away - the improvement in this first semester is amazing. She can actually draw recognisable stuff!! I will attempt to scan some things from her portfolio. She's certainly grown into a little girl - her demeanor around her classmates is so grown-up & has an aura of 'importance'. ROFL She's growing up so fast!
So I got her portfolio home on Wednesday & looked through it late at night. It's a much more comprehensive 'report' of her progress that what she received in Kindy & overall she's doing very well. The report sections have a sliding scale ranging from 'developing' to 'developed'. Her social & physical abilities are all 'developed', while her reading & writing (which were assessed fairly early in the semester) were all closer to the 'developing' side of things. And most importantly to me - her Values & Work Habits are all 'developed'. She certainly is a hard worker in a student situation, I hope that she continues to apply herself like this because regardless of her other results, I'll always be proud to see her just try her best.

Nikita
Different kettle of fish. Of course! Do I sound like a broken record?? PMSL. She too has made me proud, for entirely different reasons. She had to work through a difficult period of PreKindy where she was upset when we left her there, but she seems to have come out the other side of that for now. I spoke with Tracey (the teacher & owner) a few weeks ago & she said that Nikita, along with one or two other kids in the class, was one that she relied on to help prompt & motivate the other children to participate. She knows it ALL. So yesterday at PreK pickup she brought home her portfolio. Her work is beautiful too. And she looks through her book with great pride, so that's a fabulous thing to see. At the end of her Semester, there's also an assessment page.
Nikita has 'achieved' everything on the page, some things it's noted she's exceed the achivement eg. count to 10 notes she can count to 14 (she can actually count to about 29, except she misses 15 for some reason), and she knows her shapes circle, square, triangle + rectangle. There was only one item that was not achieved yet, 'developing' again being the PC term - & that was "help to pack away". Of course she doesn't help to pack away - I could have told them that!! PMSL I just had a wry smile when I saw that.
I'm so glad that we've put her in PreKindy this year. It's been a great thing for her - loads of stimulation, interaction with other children, & learning to operate in a structured environment, and obviously by her results & teacher feedback she's more than ready for it all. I just wonder if the Semester 2 assessment is on the same things, seeing as she's already achieved most of what's there.

So, hopefully later in the weekend I'll scan some stuff from their books to share. In the meantime, I'll just share this beautiful photo. We finally received the school photos back & I'm so pleased with Sasha's. In fact all of the ones I've seen so far are gorgeous - the photographer the school used was very good in my opinion.

Disco diva!

2008-07-02T21:26:00.003+08:00

Nikki had her PreKindy disco today from 1 - 2.30pm. It was good fun! We took Sasha to school & then we came home & I did a few odd jobs around the place. Then, whilst Play School was on TV I had Nikki sit at the end of the coffee table with her feet up on a step. I painted her freshly clipped toe & finger nails. She then sat as still as stone for the rest of Play School whilst it dried. She didn't quite realise that it wasn't going to wash off at the end of the day - she was concerned it would come off in the bath - doesn't everything??!?

Anyway after our lunch on the wall out the back in the glorious sunshine, we got dressed. I put some glitter in her hair and on her cheeks & nose - you can see it sparkling in the close-up shot (click on the thumbnail to see larger image - hope it's not too big!!), and we headed down. OMG it was HOT in the room - can't imagine how uncomfortable they must get in the middle of summer! (we'll find that out when Sasha is dancing in the arvo's in Term 4!). Nikita joined in with the dancing. They played musical bops, limbo & we all danced the Hokey Pokey. There was also LOADS of party food. We'd taken 18 cups of jelly. Nikita ate about 15 truffle-sized Honey Joys - she just couldn't get enough of them.

Towards the end, I rang one of the PrePrimary mums & asked if she'd bring Sasha down to dancing (at the same community centre), as her daughter is in the same dancing class. That meant that we didn't have to rush off to collect her & we stayed to help clean up.

Hmmmm interesting!

2008-07-01T21:00:00.003+08:00

My discovery for tonight is that if you pour a small amount of liquid Mango jelly into a clear plastic cup, it looks like a urine sample. 5 urine samples sitting in the fridge tonight - along with 15 other samples of different coloured fluids. Nikita has her Pre-Kindy disco tomorrow & I thought I'd take some jelly cups. I hope I can do a better job for her preparations tomorrow than what I did for Sasha today with her spider outfit. (yes photos will pop up later on tonight, just gotta pp them).

Anyway, Miss S seemed to enjoy her day. She said the kids did tease her, & then she said they didn't, so who knows. She was happy enough at the end of the day & when I asked if she liked her costume she was quite definitely happy with it. At dinner tonight I had a conversation with her about how proud I am that she will always give things a go, even if she can't do it. And she tries stuff that other kids won't attempt for fear of failure or embarassment. I told her that I have a special word for her & that's Braveheart. She is my Braveheart. I've been thinking it for ages, but couldn't find the right description. Anyway, her chest puffed up with pride, so at the end of the day it all worked out fine.

So worried

2008-07-01T09:30:00.003+08:00

Just dropped Sasha at school. She did wear her spider outfit (aka the shirt of 1000 turds, lol). And having seen what the other kids were wearing, there were so many very professional looking costumes there! Poor bugger I could see she was feeling uncomfortable & I think by the end of the day she's going to be very self-conscious, which is a totally unfamiliar feeling for her. I think I've made a mistake letting her be in that situation, and I hope her self-esteem isn't dented by the end of the day. She already said she didn't want the kids to tease her. And her best friend isn't there today either. :( Poor chicken - I think we'll be going out for icecream later today.

Of course I think she looks cute!! Not very realistic, but still cute. And she rode her bike to school with all her legs too, so she certainly gutsy. But I know that, I hope she finds it in herself.

Will put some photo's up later that I took this morning & you can judge for yourself. Right now I'm off to City Farmers & Target to get coats for the dogs & something disco-y for Nikita for tomorrow!! Better make a move as the dogs are getting hydrobathed in 3hrs!

Incy Wincy?

2008-06-29T23:25:00.002+08:00

Sasha has a dress-up day for school on Tuesday. They've been learning nursery rhymes & some fairy tales at school this term so she needs to go dressed as something in those themes. Of course her first choice was to go as Humpty Dumpty (there was a picture of good old Humpty on the newsletter :rolleyes: ).

Now we were only informed of this requirement last Tuesday, so that's given me one week to get something organised. I wracked my brains trying to come up with ideas. I thought we had a cow dress-up & I could have cut out a piece of yellow cardstock in the shape of a moon - nope, no cow dress-up. We have a pig dress-up - she could go as one of the three little pigs!! Nope, no go from Miss S. We don't want to be a fairy or a princess - that's too easy. We finally settled on Incy Wincy. So late last week I trailed around numerous shops trying to find a cheap, quality (ie. not too thin) black long-sleeve t-shirt. Got that, two pairs of stockings (one was extra large) & some fibre fill. This weekend, in fact less than 1/2 hour ago finished stuffing & sewing on the stockings to the t-shirt. It feels quite full & heavy & I don't think it looks that fab at all. So we'll see what the verdict is tomorrow. Of course about 10mins before I finished I thought again about the 3 Little Pigs - she could just go as pig # 3 - just need a kid sized wheel barrow & some 'bricks' - I'm sure with the right props I could sell the idea to her. But after all my effort, I think we'll see just how bad Incy Wincy looks first.

Full marks to S though for going with a 'different' idea instead of your run of the mill damsel in distress, she's not scared to be different this kid.

Paid Off

2008-06-27T20:14:00.002+08:00

Yesterday we paid off our Visa card & requested to have the account shut down. Not such exciting stuff on the surface, but in reality it's a great achievement! We were cycling through $1000+ each month on the Visa, paying fees, paying interest. Every month we'd pay off the Visa & then run short & clock it up again. This time we've bitten the bullet & asked to close it. It still appears on my internet banking so I wonder how long it will take for them to finish processing its closure. The phone call yesterday took a good 5+ minutes of David trying to convince them that we really did want to close it - he even had to ask me again for confirmation that that is what we really want to do when they offered to permanently reduce the interest rate to 14%pa. :rolleyes:!!!

And then today I received my brand spanking new gold Visa DEBIT card in the mail. That's the way we're going. And due to David's income we qualify for gold customers & get no fees for any atms, internet banking, phone banking, etc & the monthly account keeping fee is waived also. :D Win win really. Funny how I found this info out by my own investigation instead of our Personal Banker contacting us to organise it. So now, all we have left to pay off is $1500 for the girls' bedroom furniture, oh & the house itself!! rofl. But things are definitely starting to look better. All the budget work I've been doing is starting to pay off, and the extra days David did last month definitely helped.

Sasha's 5th Birthday - the wrap up

2008-06-23T13:57:00.003+08:00

Friday - Sasha opened her presents before school & had Fruit Loops for brekkie.
Went to school in her new lace-up sneakers & Daddy stayed to be on parent roster. Nikita & I stayed to see a surprise assembly that they had where a representative from the West Coast Eagles Football Club came down & did a motivational speech. Then the WCE mascot came over - Nikita did not like him one bit & just about strangled me with her headlock vice grip.
When I picked up Sasha from school there were about 6 cupcakes left - so glad there was more than enough to go around!! I gave a couple away to some of the parent's group kids from the other pre-primary class & had one myself. Then Sasha & I rode home.

Gorgeous weather, but cold! Had left over 4 cupcakes with candles & Happy Birthday to Sasha. Then we all got glammed up to go to Cicerello's for Fish & Chips. Just shy of $85 for the four of us - not cheap as chips these days!! Luckily we'd sold the old trundle bed & furniture during the day so we were cashed up for dinner. Sasha looked absolutely gorgeous in her new Pumpkin Patch outfit we'd given her.

Nikita was a fabulous birthday girl's sister & was very graceful in her excitement for Sasha's celebration. I only hope & wish that her sentiments will be reflected in Sasha come September.

Saturday came around & we headed off to Fairies Forever to Sasha's birthday party. It was very well organised. I'm so glad that I had a fully catered & organised party as only 1 other non-family parent stayed! I think the girls were suitably entranced by all the fairy magic & their take-home bags had some nice surprises in them too. Sasha got to keep her birthday cake fairy (which she has now covered with make-up from one of her other presents - looks a bit spooky like a Chucky doll now, lol), and also a small bottle with wishing stones in it from the other guests.

We then went to the Wild Rose Restaurant for lunch with just the family, including Andrew & Marisa. Lunch took absolutely aaages to arrive - about 1.5hrs after we sat down was our meals finally served I think. Anyway it was a good chat & the kids were soooo well behaved too.

We then came home with masses more presents for Sasha to open. David went to the footy with his BIL & stayed home with some very over-tired, over-stimulated, sugared up children. It was a great relief to finally have them in bed by the end of the day!

The cupcakes are iced

2008-06-19T22:05:00.002+08:00

The presents are wrapped. And tomorrow morning there is going to be very spoilt, but happy, birthday girl. Sasha's 5th birthday tomorrow.

Hard to imagine that already 5 years have passed since I was sitting in hospital waiting to be induced the next day. And yet it's hard to remember life pre-children too - it seemed to happen to someone else, not me.

She has school tomorrow, and Daddy is going in for parent roster. Then after school we're going to Fremantle for Fish & Chips at Cicerello's.

She's having a fairy party at Fairies Forever in Armadale on Saturday & she has 5 school friends coming along, and her younger cousins & sister. Everything is organised for us & we don't need to actually make any preparations at all. It feels a bit odd, but it is what she wanted! Nikita's having the same thing - she'd asked for it in the first place. We did try to go somewhere else for Sasha's, but it was already booked out.

So, anyway, Mother of the Birthday Girl must go & catch some ZZZzzz's before the big day tomorrow!

Mighty Blues

2008-06-17T14:08:00.002+08:00

Started this LO on Friday night when Rose & Pam came to play. Finished it (already!!) on Sunday whilst watching Carlton win against Collingwood. We're in the 8!! Yeah!! It's been a much better year than we've had for quite some time. Anyway, this LO is to go into my BOM (Book of Me), as being a blue girl is part of who I am, so a BOM would not be complete without a LO dedicated to my dedication. :)

Just love how the page turned out! Mini book on bottom LHS contains pictures from when Rose & I went to Perth airport in 2001 & met some of the players. I had no idea where to go from that point. I knew I was going to use th Carlton Blues chippie, but then couldn't work out how to construct the page. I found a book which Karlene & Leo had given me & on the back was this painting of the Team of the Century. I scanned it, put it into Photoshop, added the text & then printed onto transparency. And I couldn't be happier with the end result. It's a footy page, it's a scrapped page & it all worked together perfectly. :D TFL

Winter Already!!!

2008-06-03T21:58:00.002+08:00

OMG where has this year gone already???

I've been slack, and yet oh so busy.

May was filled with school, swimming, dancing, birthday parties, going to the doctor with my mum (which is having excitingly promising results), having my dad come to visit (which was wonderful fun), and David was home for all but 4 or 5 days - and STILL here!!! Oh and it was also filled with throat infections, illness & NITS!! :O Our first dose of nits. Poor Sasha missed Mon-Wed of school in the middle of the month with a strep throat infection, went to school on Thursday & when I was doing her hair on Friday morning, found nits, so she missed again. Poor chooky was so upset!! She just loves going to school and two weeks of holidays sees her missing her teachers & friends so much.

June looks like it will be filled with more of the same - hopefully minus the illness & nits, lol. Sasha & David's birthdays are coming up. Sasha's party is all booked - Fairies Forever in Armadale. And her presents are all purchased already, although David now says HE needs to get her something himself, lol. David has had nothing bought for him as yet.

Tonight I've been working on the budget, right up to September pay. By then we should have paid off the kids' furniture & started saving some $$$ - if we manage to stick to it, don't have any unexpected expenses, and I haven't forgotten anything. Time will tell. We do slowly seem to be digging ourselves out of our hole at the moment, which is a good thing.

Maybe by the end of the year we can really start to consider investing... ... I really wish!!! The $50M powerball sometimes looks more attainable. lol

At the moment I'm loving Gordon Ramsay, in a kind of a perverse way. And House, but I can't believe this 'season' has only lasted 5 weeks or so!! What a joke!! Looking forward to tomorrow night's 2 hr end of season. Wishing Hero's would finish Season 2 so I can watch it all on video - haven't seen any of it yet!

Scrapping - I've hardly done anything lately. Must get into shuffling some papers around. Need to get some new photo's. I'm booked to go on Just Scrapbooking retreat in August, so if nothing else, I should start prepping some stuff to take to that so that when I come home I look like I've been productive, and so that I can blow ppl away with my extraordinary talents whilst I'm there too. :p lol

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-11T23:33:00.003+08:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there!! :D

I was reminded once again, how blessed I am to have my two gorgeous girls. They have made me feel totally spoilt and totaly specially & totally important these past few days. Starting with Nikita's Pre-Kindy Mum's Pamper. I had a crown to wear & she called me Princess Mummy & sang songs. I had a manicure, pedicure, hair styling, foot spa, massage, make-up, mock-tails & chocolate balls. :D Hilarious & yet so special. Nikita was just so proud to have me there & that was what made me feel the most special!

Then I got to do it all again on Friday arvo with Sasha at PrePrimary for the Atwell Pre-Primary Day Spa. lol Again I was pampered and waited upon.

This morning, with David away for Mother's Day once again, Sasha was determined to give me breakfast in bed. I don't eat cereals generally, she can't cook yet as she's only 4 so she told me to stay in bed & wait for her. She came back with a mandarin & a can of Pepsi Max. lol How cute is that!!! I'd give her full marks for thinking. (Nikita, not to be outdone, came back with an orange.)

Poor girl she's not well & going by the size of what I'm guessing is her tonsils, we'll be going to the doctor's tomorrow, not to school.

3 years, 7 months, 2 weeks & 3 days...

2008-05-04T21:11:00.004+08:00

...ago Nikita was born. Today she can ride a bike without training wheels!!

(bare with me, this is the last time, I promise, lol - no more kids to teach to ride bikes anyway, lol).

Yay!! Another proud parent moment!!

Of course having seen Sasha & knowing the abilities required, I've known for a while now that Nikita was capable, she just lacked the confidence.

She's picked it up really well, although it may take her a while longer to gain the proficiency that Sasha has. Well she is younger after all. Despite them being very close in size, Sasha's arms & legs are longer, so technically Nikita's little bike isn't 'undersized' for her. This makes the learning process a bit more challenging for her. But true to form, she continues to amaze.

Will of course be spending a few days in carparks helping her to gain confidence & solidify the learning process.

Locked Out

2008-04-27T08:51:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, as we were heading out to the park for a play, the kids were arguing & misbehaving in the car. I'd just, for once, love to see them get into their seats & sit there. Instead of always having to mess with the rear-view mirror, lights, wipers, etc. Arrrgh!!

Anyway, I got them in their seats, went in to get some hair ties as their hair was messy. Came out with everything... ...except the house keys! And the door was locked behind me. Whoops!

Luckily I remembered back in the early days when our house was still being built, David taught me how to break in using a credit card. It worked!! So I went in, got the house keys and then came out & locked the door - including the dead bolt we'd had installed shortly after David had shown me how easy it is to break in using a normal lock!!! Thankfully the dead bolt cannot be activated without the keys, so impossible to lock out through that door.

The girls had a lovely long play at the park. It was chilly but they would NOT have jackets/jumpers on. I sat on the wall & read a scrapping mag, huddled in my coat. Have woken up today to a sore throat, and rain outside. So I'm glad we made the effort to go out to play yesterday, because today's going to be inside entertainment all the way.

4 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, 2 days...

2008-04-13T17:14:00.003+08:00

And Sasha has learnt to ride a bike with no training wheels!!! Yesterday Daddy gave S a turn on the Dora bike which is not freewheeling & she went about 5 meters. He then took the training wheels off Nikki's bike & she's been getting better & better.

Today, after a full day out at a picnic, she slept in the car on the way home. We then went over to the high school car park & showed her how to put her feet on the ground when she stops. A pretty important skill to master when your bike only has two wheels!! And away she went! Loads & loads of laps of the carpark. Some practice stops, etc.

When we got home she just wanted to keep going around the backyard. The tiredness is kicking in, so there's been loads of frustrated tears & giving ups, etc. But she keeps going back to it. And she's starting to master it in the more confined spaces too now.

I'm just so amazed & proud. She's really quite young to have mastered the skill, esp as a first child & no close cousins to help her along.

Nikki's got it a little too. But she hasn't the confidence to keep pedalling though. We'll keep working on her as I think she has the ability. She can go 5-10mtrs already.

So proud parent moments today.

And then this evening Daddy was showing me how Nikita was able to swing herself. She's just started to master it & get the rhythm. So wonderful to see these big achievements, amongst a day filled with tears & tantrums otherwise. :)

Movin' Right Along

2008-04-09T22:39:00.002+08:00

Well that dreary old post was up for quite a while. We're all better here - still got a little cough & getting energy levels back. But definitely better than we were!!!

Back to enjoying taking Sasha to school & home again. Getting as much walking in as possible. It's one of my favourite times of day generally - a great opportunity to have a chat & spend some quality time together. Especially when it's just the two of us & we're not running late so I don't have to spend the entire trip nagging to hurry up.

Her commonsense on the scooter is exceptional. She knows to stick to the edge of the road. If she sees a car she hops off onto the grass & waits for it to pass. She will go a little way ahead, or a long way if she's on a footpath, but she always stops & waits for me at the roads, etc. She just blows me away with her natural commonsense!! Of course I know exactly where she gets it from! lol

Nikita's been a little naughty lately. Making messes & refusing to tidy up after herself. I see a bit of a pattern here - she gets sick & has no energy, then when she's starting to feel better & her energy returns, she gets naughty. Drives me bonkers!! And *sometimes* makes me laugh. She's off to PreKindy tomorrow. Shes not enjoying it any more which is a shame. "It's too long" :( It's a fairly common thing for kids to start to get upset some time into the term when they realise that it's a permanent thing. Apparently she's fine once we leave, so fairly typical separation anxiety. I think she amazes her teachers a bit too. She IS amazing - always amazing me & I know her so well!!

It's the last week of Term 1 already. So we've got a couple of weeks to fill in and DB's away for the holidays. Already we have a trip to Caversham Wildlife Park (again - went there a few weeks ago too!), AQWA and an ice-skating outing. Also I need to make some time to get the paint organised for the girls' rooms before we get the call to arrange delivery of their furniture.

Anyway, I'd best be off. Parent Roster for PrePrimary tomorrow for the first time this year. I'm a little nervous, I found it quite daunting last year trying to keep the kids doing what they were supposed to!! And DB has a post-it note with my available dates for PreKindy parent roster Term 2 - Nikki's just hanging out to see what it's like to have one of us stay with her!

Sick of sickness

2008-03-31T20:16:00.002+08:00

Just an indulgent feeling sorry for myself kinda post - feel free to skip!!

I'm just so sick & tired of sick kids & me being sick!!! I'm tired and crappy. The girls are just completely disregarding me when I ask them to tidy up, or do anything. They say it's too hard, there's too much mess. "But you made the mess (FFS)!!!!".

This afternoon I asked them to tidy up their bedrooms whilst I made dinner. They didn't. They played. So I ended up yelling at them all evening to get it done, and threatening to take away their bedtime toys, in addition to all their other toys which weren't put away. Nikita just sat in her room crying and coughing & not packing up and ended up spewing up into her toy box. OMFG!!!!!

So they've had a stack of stuff taken away into a rubbish bag which I'm seriously thinking about giving away to kids who need & appreciate toys.

I did relent & give them their bedtime toys. If I didn't I'd not see the end of them tonight & have no opportunity for peace & time out.

So now I'm just feeling sad, guilty, tired & generally like a crappy person & a crappy parent.

C'mon good health!!!! - time to visit this home again.

Sweetest comment ever

2008-03-28T22:14:00.002+09:00

Poor old Nikita has had it pretty tough this week. Starting the week with gastro on Monday. Tuesday, she was just tired, but 'healthy'. Wednesday arvo/night she starts with the coughing. By about 10pm she's croupy, and has remained so ever since.

Poor bugger!! It's that real dagger in your chest agonising bark that she gets, and then the tears follow. :( She's also been quite wheezy & just about lost her voice. Which then gets me teasing her, asking her to "speak up!!!"

Yesterday she put herself to bed for her afternoon nap!! At 12.15pm!!! So cute. She'd been playing "baby Bear" where she puts Teddy to bed & reads him a story. At some point she must have decided to strip off & hop in with him. I found her snuggled up to him, fast asleep.

Anyway, she's been quieter than usual - a lot quieter - because talking is such an effort. Everyone's noticed Little Miss Chatterbox is a not so talkative!! Today as we were driving home from our morning's errands, she gave me this little pearl:

Nikki - When I grow up, I want to be a Mummy.
My heart skipped a beat. I felt so special. She wants to be like me when she grows up.
Me - What!!?! You want to be a Mummy??? Why???
Nikki - Because then I can go shopping.
Oh the deflation of it all. lol

Always learning something new!

2008-03-24T08:05:00.002+09:00

As noted in previous post, Sasha's been sick with gastro bug on Good Friday & Easter Saturday. Her last 'gastric incident' was 10am on Saturday.

Now I always thought that waiting 24hrs after last gastric incident before socialising is ample. Larissa said that she waits 48hrs, and then looking online, seems to be the same - 48hrs.

So by 10am Easter Monday, we're in the clear to go socialising again.

Bad night last night - 3am Nikita comes in saying she's sick. I'm thinking she sounds snuffly, must be getting a cold. She tossed & turned & I ended up turfing her out to go back to her own bed. An hour later she comes down crying saying that she'd been sick & Teddy was "all wet" - ewwww.

Went down & sorted out her bed. Not too bad - just on her pillow & Teddy was easily wiped up. Towels laid & she went back to sleep.

This morning - 7.15am - Nikita standing in my doorway & threw up a load of water she'd just drunk. So I guess we're still in the throes of gastro in this house-hold.

So close to 48hrs!!! If I'd listened to my own thoughts of 24hrs, we'd have gone out yesterday & passed the bug to who knows how many others. So, I have a new rule for gastro - 48hrs!!!

Hope I don't get it. I cope much better looking after sick kids, than having to let them look after themselves when I'm on death's door. I guess I'll find out within the next 48+ hours...

Easter Sunday 2008

2008-03-23T22:36:00.003+09:00

Well I didn't sleep well. For some reason I spent most of the night worrying about getting busted as the Easter Bunny! I know that the day will eventually come, but I think 4.5 & 3.5 is just a little too young to lose that precious innocence.

Anyway, I was out the front in the dark strewing the chocolate eggs about at 5am. I also had a bunny footprint cut out of A4 copy paper (next time I'll use card!!) and flour and sifter to make bunny footprints on the lawn. I reckon the paper delivery person who drove past would have been talking about me (& maybe a few other loonies) when s/he got home. lol

Anyway, the hunt went well. I didn't get busted. The girls got up at the respectable hour of about 7.30 (after I'd told them to go back to bed earlier & they'd forgotten about the impending excitement).

They are so sweet. They both used the mini baskets that they'd made at school/library during the week prior to Easter & then offloaded their scoops into a larger, communal bowl. OMG there is so much chocolate in this house it is NOT FUNNY!!!

Nikita is just the most naturally generous child! Whilst hunting for eggs, she kept coming of to give me one. "Here Mum, this silver one's for you!!" As soon as she is given something, one of the first things she suggests is who she can share it with. So Sweet!! I know it's not going to last forever, but it's one of those things I wish would never change about her.

Sasha's had gastro since Good Friday. But today she is much better!! So she was back in good spirits & enjoyed some chocolate. She's quite good and doesn't each loads at each sitting. I can see she'll prob still have some Easter chocolate left by her birthday (if DB & I don't sneak some of it first!!). She had a little sleep this afternoon too as I thought that she prob needed it after being sick. Gastro takes it out of you!

David rang this afternoon. They're having communication problems on the rig so he hasn't had email/phones. Anyway, he wanted to call to tell me to look in the bottom drawer of my bedside table & there was a box of luscious gourmet chocolates. What a sweetie!! Little surprises like that are just the best & make me feel so special!! Thank you H!

On a side note, I'm really not happy with the quality of images I'm getting these days from my camera. I'm not sure if I've lost technique or if there's a technical problem with my camera/lenses. Just not getting good focus about 95% of the time. Very frustrated and unhappy with my pictures lately. Also loads of noise, even at ISO200. I think I need to take it in & get it looked at, but not too sure where to go. Place I took it to get it cleaned didn't really impress me as this has been an ongoing issue since then really - not happy that it's really clean. :(

But anyway, this strikes me as a cute shot. Oh, and despite my photographic challenges, I'm still LOVING Photoshop CS3 that my sweet husband bought me for our 10th wedding anniversary present!!

Wow, the questions are getting harder!!

2008-03-21T20:47:00.002+09:00

The girls are getting very inquisitive! For a while now I've been getting lots of definition questions "what does driven mean", etc.

Today as we drove over the bridge towards the city, omg it was such a beautiful day!! I was commenting on how gorgeous the weather is and how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. The view across the river was fantastic - water skiers, yachts, just magnificent. Then the girls were asking why we were making the city move, and I had to try to explain the it wasn't moving, but because we were it made it appear the the city was moving - all to do with perspective.

Next, why aren't we making the sky move? Well it's too big to appear to move when we do - we're really tiny in comparison to the sky.

And finally, why are we making the sun move? Hmm, I think because the sun's really far away, it seems really small and because of that, when we move, it appears the sun moves too.

Listen, these questions are really tricky. I might have to find out and get back to you!!! But basically it's all to do with perspectives, ummmm I think.... *unsure*.

********************

Apart from the tricky questions, all our Easter plans, including birthday lunch for NannaJay tomorrow, have now gone pear shaped as Sasha is unwell. Spewin', temps, sore tummy, achey hips. So, I'm off to bed for an early night as I fear I will be called upon during the night to change bedding.

Roll on May!!!

2008-03-19T22:53:00.003+09:00

I can't wait till May!! The girls are getting new bedrooms like these.

They're getting the bed, bedside table, tallboy, a 3-shelf bookcase & a desk - each!!

I've got all these idealistic fantasies of repainting their room, new linen, bedside lights, a nice fluffy rug on the floor, storage boxes for their desk hutch, book ends, wall decorations, etc.....

Ha ha!! But anyway, I still can't wait till May. They're not going to know themselves. In the meantime, we've got a whole lotta debt to pay off.

Actually one of the best things is this option is setting us back less than 1/2 of what the last many, many options we've looked at.

In retrospect, it was kinda a big day in our house

2008-03-16T23:22:00.002+09:00

Amongst the Easter Craft (hopefully pics to follow soon!) and the first use of the slow cooker Sasha asked the age-old question of how does the baby get out of the tummy?

We were outside - her on the swing, as usual, - me working on the Easter Craft activity. I felt a bit self-conscious trying to give her the appropriate answer within hearing of our neighbours, so I stalled a bit and then when we were inside I discussed it with her.

We also watched a video diagram on the net (thank you Mr Google). And after all that, Sasha has now decided that she doesn't want to have a baby anymore (this is after days of Mummy I'm Pregnant!! ) - she wants to "be a Policeman" instead. Of course the two are mutually exclusive, aren't they.

Anyway, she gets how it all works, so that's one of those tricky questions I won't really have to go through again with her. Hope I can remember how I've phrased it so that it makes as much sense to Nikki when the time comes.

Now the clock's probably ticking for the slightly more dreaded question of "how does the baby get INTO Mummy's tummy".......................................

Couple of scraps - again

2008-03-14T21:11:00.003+09:00

Just a couple of pages I've completed in the last week. Neither are particularly faves of mine, but I'm going with the theory that if I just keep plugging away, I'm learning, creating, exploring and finding my scrapping style. LOL. Sounds like a load of BS, but I've seen it work for others.

And really with the pile of stuff I have sitting here, I need to pull my finger out & get using it up!!

OMG there's a whole 'other' world out there!!

2008-03-10T23:21:00.002+09:00

And I didn't even know about it.

Once again EB has shown me the light, that I do not know EVERYTHING! lol

I've just discovered that there are some people who believe that salt goes in the shaker with more holes, and pepper goes in the shaker with less holes. I mean, they think they're right!! Far out I've never heard of such a thing in my life! It just rattles the foundations of my whole salt & pepper ideals to the core.

On a side note, the whole argument of which holes for which will be irrelevant after David's birthday as I'll most like get an electric grinder for salt & and seperate electric grinder for pepper. I know he covets them after visiting Karlene & Leo's beautiful new home. Lord help me if there's specific grinders for salt v's pepper!

Yippee - my first voter!!

2008-03-10T22:59:00.006+09:00

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo----->
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo |
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ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo |
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo |
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo |
Thanks to whoever voted in my Easter quiz over _____|

I'm so excited.

After the bogus spammer, I've only just discovered where comments are awaiting my moderation. :blush: Thanks ppl! :D

Three Months

2008-03-09T15:58:00.002+09:00

Gosh I'm on a roll with scrapping at the moment!! :D

Started this one last night & finished it throughout today. It helped that the girls played happily together for quite a while today. Geez there really is no sweeter sound than listening to them playing nicely & happily. :D

Anyway this page may be the start of something - I'd been meaning to do a page for each month of the girls' first twelve months, so hopefully I can continue!! I'm also thinking about doing a scrappy present for NannaJay for her birthday - I hope that it will be a 'good' present to give her. Seems a bit wierd giving a hand-made gift - just not something that we tend to do within our family.

Journalling on this page:
At 3.5 months of age you have already celebrated your first Christmas. You enjoy playing under your baby gym, and have just about finished going in the electric rocker - too big already!! You are still so sweet and happy with us, but you don't like people you don't know. 7450gm 67cm long 45.2 HC

Blog Spammer Alert

2008-03-08T14:20:00.002+09:00

My last entry attracted a blog spammer, so I've had to delete the comments from that post.

I've now enabled comment moderation which basically means that to post a comment on my blog, I have to approve it before it will appear.

If you did see the spammer's comment, I would recommend NOT clicking the link - those types of things often link to viruses.

So Special

2008-03-08T10:13:00.004+09:00

So Special
It's basically about how I felt to be Sasha's special guest for Mother's Day Morning Tea at Kindy last year. She was so excited & proud to have me there, which made me feel So Special. It felt like my first real Mother's Day now that they're getting older and want to make me feel good.

Beautiful, Me?

2008-03-07T22:44:00.002+09:00

I don't see myself as beautiful, by any stretch. This is a nice photo of me though (thanks Photoshop!!). It's amazing though that when my beautiful DD's look at me, they see me as beautiful. It's just one of those amazing things about being a mother isn't it!

I've finished another LO tonight which I'll try to upload in the next couple of days. I'm just waiting for the Dimensional Magic to dry.

Not much of excitement to report. DB has been home for almost 2 weeks already, with another week to go! He came home a week early due to lack of space on the rig! So we've been taking it a bit easy sharing the duties at home, etc. It's a bit harder to maintain routines when he's here. But so many positives too! I just think we're so lucky in the lifestyle that we have - it has many negatives, but soooo many positives too.

The girls are both enjoying school (N only 1 day a week, but always looking forward to it!!). I'm really enjoying the routine and structure brought about with schooling. Afternoons revolve around get home, debrief on how their day/s were, unpack, prep for dinner, prep for bed. Mornings revolve around getting brekkie, lunches, dressed & out the door. Then we have a few short hours in between to do 'other stuff' before Nikki has her afternoon sleep before school pick-up time.

Sasha's changed friends again. She's now playing with someone called Jordan from PP5. I hope she'll settle down with a lovely good friend to really bond with sometime soonish. I'm a little scared that she'll get lonely, or get 'stuck' with one of the less desirable friends. I know that sounds awful, but I'd not be happy for her to bond with someone whose parents are complete dero's (& from the way some of them talk you can tell that their lifestyle is incompatible with ours). Anyway, time will tell I'm sure. She's doing really well and learning just so much it's amazing. She's drew a really cool picture of our family which is hanging up in the classroom - I hope it makes it into her portfolio. I'm enjoying walking to/from school as much as possible too.

Wonder if/when the novelty of schooling will wear off for me - considering we'll be doing this for 8 years!! I hope it doesn't wear off, I'm sure it will just change. I get excited walking past the classrooms for Yr 1 - with all the little tables & chairs & how they have a set seat. Pre-primary has a couple of table stations, but it's not set up like a classroom.

Anyway, I'm just rambling. Will have to come back & post about Nikita & her Pre-Kindy another day as that's a whole other story. Full of amazement for me, again, too!!

Some things never change!

2008-02-28T19:55:00.002+09:00

I reckon it would be almost 4.5 years, maybe longer, since David & I did the grocery shopping together, on our own, just the two of us.

And yet today's expedition brought back memories - nothing's really changed. David still can't drive a trolley, he still parks it in the middle of aisle, he still spends ages deliberating on what brand/size/flavour of something to buy, & he still puts a stack of "non list" items in the trolley. I still nag & harangue him all the way around the shop. :blush:

It's amazing to see that after all this time, some things just don't change. lol

Natural Beauty

2008-02-26T11:46:00.005+09:00

Couple of scraps

2008-01-31T23:33:00.001+09:00

Here's one I did on Saturday night.

And one I just finished tonight - Bramble Rose Lovin' how this one turned out. :D

Queen of Chaos

2008-01-28T22:32:00.000+09:00

I truly believe that Nikita is the Queen of Chaos reincarnate. lol The kid is just a wild child at heart. She drives me bonkers and makes me laugh all the time. I've never come across anyone like her in my life - so completely free-spirited.

Yesterday she learnt to swing. Proud Mummy moment? No! Wry smile moment more like. No mainstream backwards-forwards motion for Nikki. She'd much rather go side-to-side, side-to-side to freak out her poor, creature-of-habit, routine-loving sister. Ahhh, the days of watching Sasha happily & peacefully swinging have passed in the blink of a summer's eye.

"NO Nikki!! That's WRONG!! MUUUUUUM!!! WAAAAHHHHH"

rolleyes.

Anyway, no comment will pass my lips within her hearing (hopefully) regarding this as the sooner she gets over it the better for all.

Australia Day 2008

2008-01-26T23:54:00.000+09:00

We stayed home. Daddy is off-shore. Nikita was sick yesterday. So we stayed home.

OMG this video has taken ALL NIGHT to upload!! 'scuse Nikita and her silly singing, she can do it better, but is a little show-off. Sasha can't wait to see herself on the camera. I'll have to show them tomorrow that they're on the internet (again!). Quite proud that they know Advance Australia Fair at such a young age. Will have to get them started on Waltzing Matila next (just have to refresh my memory!! :o )

10 years ago today

2007-12-27T22:33:00.000+09:00

This time 10 years ago, I was wearing a white dress and David was dressed in a suit, with waistcoat & tails. We had probably just finished our bridal waltz and Uncle Brian had done a superb job of MCing our Wedding Reception.

This time 17 years ago, David & I were probably just watching the credits to a Paul Hogan movie - our first date together.

The rest is, as they say, history. So much water under the bridge. So many laughs it is amazing. Loads of tears too - you get that with love I guess - when something matters, it really matters.

I can barely remember life before Sasha & Nikita came along, but what I can remember of our life together as "DINKS" are pretty much all good memories. David is one of the funniest, cheeriest, happiest people I have ever met and for me, that's a good thing. He brings so much positivity and perspective to my life.

Today, our 10th wedding anniversary, he was up at 4am and out of the house by 4.30am to go offshore to earn money to support our family. Somewhere along the line, we grew up, became responsible, became successful - became a family.

He left the house with tears sparkling in his eyes. To use words from my previous post - bittersweet.

Bittersweet

2007-12-11T22:13:00.000+09:00

Today was a special day in the life of our little family. Our biggest girl graduated from Kindy. I can’t believe a whole Kindy Year has come & gone.

It’s been so much fun. The things she’s learnt this year are mind-blowing. Most of it I seem to take for granted, but sometimes she’ll say or do something & it just brings it all home just how much she’s grown.

Like all endings, it’s bittersweet. It seems like another chapter of her innocence is drawing to a close as she is now ‘too big for kindy’. Yet her uniform still swims on her and she’s still just a tiny kid in the class.

It’s sad to know that we’ll probably never see Mrs Bramley again. Mrs Carlyon lives nearby, so chances are we’ll see her again sometime, and Mrs Wayne is moving up to Pre-Primary, so we’ll see her next year, even if we’re not in her class. But these people have been such a powerful and positive influence on Sasha that I really don’t see how she could possibly have enjoyed her first year of school more.

Needless to say we’re looking forward to Pre-Primary because it will be more than double the fun as it’s 5 days a week, instead of just 2. I’ll miss having my little munchkin at home, but she’s ready to spread her wings that bit more & eager to learn. So it’s all good.

Our smaller butterfly is raring to go. It’s so hard for her being the smaller sister. I’m sure after Christmas has finished, she’ll be counting her sleeps until she starts pre-kindy.

So, today’s events started with a mad rush of me organising party food, teacher gifts, reindeer food for the kids, photography/video stuff. We got to Kindy on time – I still don’t know how.

Then Nikita & I waited outside whilst the students were organised for their concert. I recorded the whole concert on video & took loads of photos. They did three dances – so cute.

After the concert was finished, we went inside for a couple of Christmas songs, then the kids were individually presented with their portfolios & bag of goodies and officially graduated. Kisses & cuddles with their teachers.

Then we had party food & headed home. I think Sasha’s got a lot of conflicting emotions. She’s sad to know that she’ll miss her teachers. She realises what’s happened there. But she’s also happy because it’s Christmas season, and Daddy got home tonight. It’s a lot for a little girl to take in.

I managed to restrain myself. I thought I’d fall in a heap today. As I say it is so bittersweet to see your kids grow up.

Phew - the kids are in bed - just!!!

2007-12-08T22:40:00.000+09:00

Yep, 10.30pm & just finished getting the girls into bed. :o Well, see we have this thing now where Saturday night is movie night. The deal is the girls need to have a decent afternoon sleep & if they do that, then we watch a movie after dinner on Saturday night. Tonight's movie of choice was Madasgcar.

Then after the movie finished at about 8pm, we went for a drive to look at Christmas lights. Only there was still too much daylight, so we went further & further afield. We ended up driving through Hamilton Hill past the back of Andrew & Marisa's & saw that they had a visitor. So we drove past the front of their house & they were having a party it turned out. I had a little think & realised it could be Marisa's birthday, I know it's in December. We decided to stop in to say hello/hola & maybe wish Marisa a Happy Birthday. It turned out to be a joint celebration for Andrew & Marisa's birthday. We stayed for a quick drink & then continued on our way.

I must say that there are still some amazing Christmas light displays, but not nearly so many as there have been in previous years. Anyway, when we finally got home, we went for a little walk down the road to look at Josh’s lights (one of Sasha’s kindy friends who lives down the street from us). Then back home again, toilet, teeth, story, bed, 5 mins, GOOD NIGHT!!

And now, at 10.53, I will post this & head to bed myself.

I’m so very tired from so many late nights & I am still on Christmas overdrive. Soooo many things to do, so little time & confusion over priorities reigns supreme.

Tomorrow may hold a trip to Gateways which is open for extended shopping hours up until Christmas Eve (yay!!). I need to get Sasha (read : both girls) a Christmas T-shirt in red, green or white for her Kindy concert. Also Santa will be arriving at the centre. Usually he comes in on a sled pulled by Alaskan Malamutes, so lots of fun & lots of crowds. This year his throne is set up next to the new food court, so due to health regulations, he may be walking in. I guess we’ll see tomorrow….

Cute find

2007-12-01T15:39:00.000+09:00

I'm processing all my RAW photo files at the moment so that I can burn a copy of images to CD for Larissa. I've got a truck load of images on my PC, many of which she hasn't seen and are images of her own kids.

In the process of getting there, it's been interesting to see the pictures which I'd forgotten I'd taken, so in the name of procrastination, here's one I just felt like sharing.

I've had a kinda 'do nothing' day. I have a list of things to do, but it's all just taking so looong, that I really think I'll be lucky to knock off even one thing on that list. I'm a bit air-headed & confused about which thing is the most important. I guess it's just pre-Christmas priorities getting the better of me. Not helped by the fact that I want to do so many scrappy things for presents & for Christmas Day. It's so hard to know where to start.

I need to tell myself, just do one thing & don't start anything else until that thing's finished.

I should add that the idea for the polaroid was taken from Amanda Hall, my scrappy EB mate. :) Thanks Amanda.

Toot for me!!

2007-11-26T07:19:00.000+09:00

Weigh-in today - total loss to date 5.6kg. Next goal will be 10% body weight loss - then I should really be feeling some difference in my clothing!!

Finding the Cross Trainer hard work at the moment. I guess the novelty has worn off. The last 5 minutes can be really tough as my toes go numb & it's really uncomfortable. It's heaps easier to do if there's something interesting on TV, so taped the Kath & Kim movie last night so I should be set for the rest of the week pretty much.

Started painting skirting boards again yesterday. I had refused to paint any more until David finished attaching the ones that I'd last done. He was so slow. Only took him about 3.5 YEARS!! lol So now I'd like to get the ones done in the entry/lounge/dining area so he can attach them when he gets home this stint. He has been busy though with a couple of other things lately around the house, so I can't complain too much.

Anyway, must be off to shower. Then taking Sasha swimming. Nikita will have to watch from the sidelines as she has a nasty cough/cold. Then home again for weed spraying and skirting board painting. And maybe if I'm lucky & organised, I might even get started on washing the windows & blinds. It's all in a good cause - we're having Christmas lunch here. So looking forward to it!

Feel like a laugh - this is just too cute!!

2007-11-25T23:08:00.000+09:00

WW - 4 weeks in

2007-11-19T20:08:00.000+09:00

Wow, I was so surprised to see that I'd lost another 1.3kg this week when I stepped on the scales. I'm so just waiting to see a gain at some stage. I feel it's almost inevitable. All up I've lost 4.7kg in 4 weeks, so I'm really stoked with that. May there be many many more kilos lost this year!!!

In particular to have lost that amount at this time of year with a few social events has made it all the more encouraging. I think I'll be making an effort to use my X-Trainer every day this week though to make up for the truffles & other goodies consumed at Larissa's yesterday.

David's so funny. Everytime we go to Larissa's for an event, he always comments on how she knows how to put on a good Do. (despite getting home at 3am from a school reunion!!).

Dad's coming to visit in a week's time. I'm a bit nervous about hosting him at my house for a couple of nights - so different to the plush hotels, etc. But hopefully will give a chance for a better catch-up - if the girls let me get a word in edgeways.

David's heading offshore in the morning for three weeks. He arrives home on the evening of Sasha's last day of Kindy. It's a shame really as her class is doing a concert on that last day, and it will be a really special day, that he's going to miss. But I'll have the DVC charged up ready to record her performance. Hopefully he'll be home in time to go out for a special celebration dinner, and he'll definitely be here for Christmas.

We put our decorations up yesterday as we didn't want to wait until 11 Dec to put them up. So we're all set. Now I just have a truck-load of extra special house cleaning that I'd like to get done. (cleaning blinds & windows in particular!!)

The girls visited Santa at Myers in Garden City yesterday. His first day in the store, so nice & fresh & happy to have a chat. Just as well as the girls just wanted to talk & talk & talk some more. Really funny when Santa asked Sasha her name & she said "My name is Sasha. You've met me before!!"

We're hoping that the new train line is open before Christmas & we'll catch the train to the City so the girls can have another talk with Santa at Myers in the City. I just love the magic of Christmas!!

Hot & Busy!

2007-11-12T21:26:00.000+09:00

'Twas a stinker today - 39.something. I've been baking - made a cake and also some cheesies for Sasha's teacher who is finishing tomorrow. She's having her 1st baby next Wednesday via c-sect. Anyway over the past few weeks I've made up this mini-album for her as a thank you. Finally got it wrapped and Sasha & I made a card this afternoon, amongst all the other jobs for today.

I've still got a pile of washing, ironing and dishes to sort out, but maybe they'll wait until tomorrow.

Here's the mini-album. The song might sound a bit funny to have with the album, but it's current and funnily enough it's what the girls were singing in the bath tonight.

WW has been going okay. I've been having trouble sticking to it of late. And today my ankle has started filling up again with fluid - I can see it & feel it, so despite another loss of 900gm (3.4kg total to date), I'm sure a gain is just around the corner if I don't get back on top of things again.

Oh, and whilst I remember, Sasha is going to give the mini-album to her teacher as her news item tomorrow. We've rehearsed it a bit. Along the lines of "Today I've got a present. It's for Mrs Bramley. Here you go. It's to say thank you for teaching me" *insert teacher crying here* lol.

Okay, off to finish decorating the cake & tidy up a little before heading to bed. Hopefully with a good night's sleep I'll get back on the X-Trainer. I think the exercise if key to keep the fluid draining from my ankle.

I'm watching my weight

2007-11-01T20:51:00.000+09:00

About bloody time!! I want to lose 30kg. OMG imagine the difference in my life if/when I achieve that. I need to really believe that I can, because at the moment, I have to keep doing the if/when thing.

Anyway I joined WW on Tuesday last week and had my first weigh-in on Monday gone. I've lost 1kg & it came straight off my ankles lol. Seriously the difference is completely visible. I keep staring at them in wonder.

I've been really good and used my x-trainer every single day (except today - I'm waiting for DB to finish watching his movie). I joined WW online because it's too difficult (ie impossible) for me to get to regular meetings. I'll continue with it for as long as I'm continuing to see results. If I get to the stage where I'm struggling, I'll seriously have to look at options to go to meetings. And my intention is to commit to WW for 12 months, or reach my goal weight - whichever comes last.

God I'm stressed!

2007-10-27T22:47:00.000+08:00

Tis AGM-Eve and all through the house is a clicking and tapping of Danielle's keyboard as I madly try to be as organised as possible. The weather is dodgy as for tomorrow's family day & AGM, so I'll prob end up spending the majority of the morning on the telephone reassuring people that it's still on.

Well, I think I'm organised. I've got a truckload of stuff to take. Wow, just think, another couple of weeks, and it will be all over. I'll have time to do stuff for meeee!! I'll be able to scrap, make christmas presents for Sasha's teachers, and catch up on photos/video. Oooh, speaking of which I must recharge my camera and DVC for tomorrow.

Wonder what else I've forgotten....!

Diggity's Twin?

2007-10-25T22:36:00.000+08:00

Every time I go food shopping I am amazed at the likeness between the dog on the Woolworths Select Branded Dog food, and our dog Diggitty. In fact if it weren't for the fact that I know he didn't have his photo taken for the dog food, I'd swear it was the same dog!

Here's a pic of the dog food. Unfortunately I can't find an image that shows his looking like this, but this is so one of his facial expressions!! It just amazes me.

6 more sleeps!!

2007-10-22T23:39:00.000+08:00

Until I am no longer Secretary of the Atwell Playgroup Inc. I am looking forward to handing over the responsibility. I've really outstayed my enthusiasm unfortunately, which makes it harder for the other committee members too. The attitude gets contagious I think.

Anyway, I've been asked a few times what I will do with my time & I jokingly said, go to sleep earlier!!! Most of my paperwork gets completed late at night. However, I'm sure I'll still find excuses for staying up late.

My priority with my new-found 'spare time' will be spent getting our family photographs and video up-to-date. The video stuff has never been up-to-date. But the photos I used to print and put into albums every 3 months. I'm about 18mths behind now!! I think I need to get organised & have certain nights of the week to do certain tasks ie. ironing/housework, photos, scrapbooking, video, tv, early night, etc.

Gee, the list just goes on and on doesn't it. There seriously isn't enough hours in the day to fit everything in.

And now I have another thing to fit in. Health & fitness!! I must make this an important priority in my life as I owe it to myself and to my kids. I want to be around a lot longer that what my body's going to give me if I don't make some BIG changes. I need to change my lifestyle, reassess my priorities, and get my fat ass moving!! lol

So today, I bought a X-Trainer!! Can't wait to get it started. I built it this afternoon. Took me about 2.5-3hrs, it was a major constructacon. Unfortunately the computer part is faulty and doesn't have a DC socket to plug the plug bit into. So I can't control the resistence, use the programs, use the pulse monitor, etc. I am waiting to hear back from KMart re fixing/replacing the computer part. I sure don't want to take the whole thing back as it took so long to build in the first place!! Spewin' it isn't ready to go straight away. Anyway, I hope it isn't going to take too long to fix/replace the broken part.

Now, I'm considering joining WW too. I think I really should!! Off to have a quick looksee, before a little more APG stuff & then bedtime!!

Are you feeling shy???

2007-10-18T23:52:00.000+08:00

Here's a simple remedy - watch the attached clip.

New Comp for me

2007-10-16T22:17:00.000+08:00

I heard about this competition on EB today & after checking it out, decided that I just *have to* enter. I know I have Buckleys of winning, or even getting short-listed. But just thought what the heck, I'll give it a go. Will be interesting to see what I come up with.

The prize looks freakin' awesome!!

School Holidays - Term 3/4 2007

2007-10-16T22:02:00.000+08:00

Well it's been ages since I've updated. Slacko!!

Probably no readers left!! Where there ever very many??

Anyway, Geelong won the GF. David was very happy, along with a great many other dedicated supporters who have waited a loooong time (a lifetime!!) to see a premiership.

Carlton scored Chris Judd in trading week, so things are looking a little more hopeful for us. Hopefully if Nick Stevens is fit for start of the season, we might win a few more games! Theres a few exciting young players on the squad. I hope I find time to get into it a bit more again. It's been a long time since I've actively followed the footy.

School holidays were fun. Busy though!! Our feet barely touched the ground. David got home on the 2nd day (tuesday), and then we were busy getting organised to go camping. Then we went camping to Cowaramup & stayed 4 (?) nights. We cut our stay short as we simply got rained out. The Tuesday afternoon was phenomenal. A few tents actually got flooded with approx 300mm just sitting in their tents & had to get bailed out. Our tent & Karlene & Leo's tents had a river running under them. Karlene was sitting in her chair having a glass of wine with her feet up & her jeans were still getting wet.

Our new camp bed is soooo comfy. It's off the ground, easy to set up/pack away. And as a precaution, I'd put the kids' bedding on top of our bed, and then teddys & clothes. Just to keep that stuff safe. Our tent only leaked a little, which considering how cheap it is, is quite impressive. We did have a good time, despite the weather - I say that now that I'm home, clean & dry.

Anyway, we came home & had Stef stay with us Wed, Thur, Fri night. It was so lovely to have her over. She's so kind, helpful & mature. I have to remind myself that she's only 14. It was so sad to see her go home again. :(

Then back onto cleaning & unpacking, etc. David went back offshore this morning - the two weeks over just like that.

I've come to the conclusion that camping is good fun, and is a vacation. But it's definitely not a put your feet up & relax do nothing type holiday - it's an active holiday that is proceeded & followed by a lot of work. However the kids just love it, and benefit from it hugely, & it is loads of fun and good reality check too.

It's Grand Final Day 2007

2007-09-29T08:31:00.000+08:00

The house is quiet. No Grand Final party happening here. No Grand Final party to go to either. Seems strange really. I'm going to head out with the girls this morning and grab some supplies for a BBQ lunch, and we'll have the TV on all day watching all the tributes and has-beens.

There's a few certainties on Grand Final day for me;-

I cry at the tributes and life stories to football legends (from all teams)
I always stand and sing the National Anthem - and the girls stand too. One day they'll learn the words and I think they'll always associate it with football as one of our national icons.
I love watching the pre-game entertainment.

This year there's a few special things to note. The first of which is GO GEELONG!!!! I hope they bring home the flag, especially for their dedicated supporters. I'm so disappointed that David is offshore & going to miss celebrating it at home with his family & friends, but I think he's going to have a larger crowd to share & enjoy it with on the rig anyway.

So anyway off to get organised for the day - fabulous weather for a Grand Final!!

Introducing our boys!!

2007-09-22T23:30:00.000+08:00

Aren't they just adorable. Greg Gnome (pronounced ger-nome) is proudly named after Greg Williams, and Garry Gnome (pronounced ger-nome too lol) is proudly named after Garry Ablett.

The girls think they're the best thing since sliced bread and often go outside to play with the gernomes.

David keeps joking about someone coming and harming my gernome because he's in the front garden. But so long as I don't tell anyone his name and who his namesake is, he should be safe enough. Right???

We are Geelong...

2007-09-21T23:05:00.000+08:00

Yeeha! David's footy team's into the Grand Final for 2007. So exciting. I'm so sad that David's actually offshore as otherwise we'd be putting on a huge GF party for our friends to enjoy. Instead, I'm more ho-hum, and feeling bad that he's away and going to miss it. This is the year, for sure!! All I can hope is that he's not actually working & gets to watch the game & has a good gang of people to enjoy watching it with.

The fat lady has sung

2007-09-14T23:16:00.000+08:00

I'm officially out of the running for the Embellished Idol 2007 competition. I'm disappointed as I thought this week's entry was the most talented of the lot that I'd entered, but I'm so not surprised. I knew sooner or later it would boil down to the overall most talented and popular members of the forum. Just commonsense really. I'll call it now, and I've known since about Round 2 or 3 that Binxcat will be the eventual winner. She's hugely popular, but that's not enough, she's hugely talented too. Her work throughout has been amazing, as has many other ladies' work. And I'm glad that I entered because I have now got 6 great LO's to add to my albums.

Forget Idol though, David's getting excited about football. Geelong's doing really well this year and are favourites to take out the Premiership. What a bugger DB is going to be offshore on Grand Final Day - still that's a real Murphyism to ensure victory. He's pulled all his shirts, stubby holders, etc out of storage and is wearing them with pride. :)

I'm still using my Carlton stubby holders with pride. No matter where we finish on the ladder I'll ALWAYS be a blue girl!!

Callin' It

2007-09-12T22:43:00.000+08:00

Okay, I'm calling it. I'm SURE this week I'll be out on Embellished Idol. Funny how things can change so much in just a few days. A couple of days ago I was really pumped because I was so pleased with how my LO turned out, and very proud of my digi-art. And now, I can see I'm just not getting as many comments as others, so I really think I won't get the votes to stay in either. Kinda spewing as I don't think they really get just how much effort went into making something as technical as my digi-piece. But I'm also kinda okay about it too, because it was really only a matter of time before my time was up anyway. I could have told you the winner by about Round 2 or 3 - far and away the favourite, and very talented too - no denying it.

Anyway, this week's challenge is to create a LO using a piece of packaging from scrapbooking products. So not up my alley, in comparison to last week. I'll prob give it a go even though I don't expect to go through to Round 7.

Sasha's Kindy sports carnival tomorrow. Weather's looking really dodgy. Can't believe I've only just realised that dodgy weather probably = overcast = great photo weather!! Camera's on charge, DVC already charged up. David's in charge of the video, I'm in charge of the photos, and Nikita's in charge of mayhem.

On a good note, Nikita's pretty much day trained with the toilet thing. She still has occasional accidents (as does Sasha - just today!! *mad*), but most times we don't have problems. Yee-ha - life just gets better and better!! Keep going Nikki & we'll give night training another try soon!!

Anyway, it's 20 past bedtime & we've all got a BIG day tomorrow. We're lovin' the Kindy Life!!