Far out MD, are you OK? :hug:
Cass, our school did the mathletics thing for a while, but never as the main thing, just as an extra thing that kids could do if they want kwim?
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Far out MD, are you OK? :hug:
Cass, our school did the mathletics thing for a while, but never as the main thing, just as an extra thing that kids could do if they want kwim?
Is Mathletics like homework? We get readers next term (none in Term 1) and any other homework doesn't happen until Term 3, so we'll see what that is.
Cally, mathletics is an online maths program - where the kids can do exercises and play games. H did Mathletics in grade 5 - she loved it - you can compete against students in the same class or around the world. Our school used to set it as homework and the kids were quite happy to do it. I don't know what grade it starts though? I would've thought it would be to most advantage in the middle-upper primary, not with the littlies. But that's because our school really concentrates on concrete maths representations at this age. Apparently there's a spelling version too (spellodrome or something).
Cally, we've had readers since week 2 - they send FIVE home every week (!!). And I realised at the end of the term we've been doing it wrong. We're supposed to read 1 on the first day, then introduce another on the second day (ie read 2), and then so on until on the 5th day you're reading all 5. Le SIGH. We've just been reading 1-3 each night in no particular order.
Trill, yep all ok here. Sorry didn't mean to alarm you. I just thought it was pretty amazing that your brain could respond to something like 45 minutes of LIGHT in such a noticeable way. Anyway, I've cut back on the intensity and length and it seems to be improving my sense of wakefulness. I reckon it will be an AWESOME lifestyle tool, especially in winter.
Cass - what did the architect say? BTW your cake sounds YUMMMM. I have heard of lemon and olive oil cakes before - people always rave about them being legendary!! BTW I have friends who live in Woll (mother's an academic there) and it's kind of a strange place perched along the escarpment, but a lot of people love it with a passion... provided you are in the right burb, area near the uni's good.
Re the "life nourishing" concept - you should make a list - the things that you *know* stimulate wellbeing, and then mind-map out all the millions of permutations of ways that you can connect with those energies/things (like, actual, real do-able ways). TBH I think our urban environments are all fundamentally "broken" - but it's how we adapt and fill those broken spaces that makes the difference in the quality of life lived there. (Just my own rambly thoughts...)
Arte, I've been to Albury. Can't say it made a huge impression, except it's prolly a bit closer to civilisation than where you are now. I LOL'd just a tiny bit about your ungraceful moment, it's not the first arse-up story you've told us. I hope you're not too sore now. :hug:
AFM - school hols pottering along here - have farmed miss E out for a couple of days of vacation care, which she is loving. They went iceskating yesterday and it's a zoo excursion next week (which is great value because it costs a bomb to go as a family). DH thinks he might be home a couple of days early, which is just as well because they have turned the showers off as a $$$ saving measure :wall:. Did I mention he's in northern qld where you might expect you would need to pay higher-than-normal attention to your personal hygiene?
ETA - I found the photos - that's gorgeous!!
I TOTALLY LOVE THE HOUSE IN WOODEND.
it *might* also of been heavily influenced by the fact that it was/is a home of two writers...and their son is that aussie actor, noah someone...yes, i know, crap with recalling names...he is the tall dude, big nose dark hair sorta lispy voice...argh! why can i NEVER remember names...gosh. anyway, the house was just adorable. no mansion (that's ok) but set on a beautiful acre with gorgeous cottage gardens a small vegie patch out the back door (for convenience lol) and then the grounds beyond are already tilled and ready for more patches and comes with a huge coop for chooks. I LOVED it. the fireplace in the lounge was just delectable. it was even prettier in real life....
MD: we have to totally do a mind map. we will sit down in a couple of days and really discuss it all. we saw 3 houses today all were beautiful but also different...so really need to now sit down and begin to see what it is that we really want to achieve for our family happiness and emotional growth IYKWIM. i love the urban city and what it can offer, but i do resent the lack of real community (great neighbours, great cafe culture and some friendly family held businesses etc). but i do feel that the dynamics are necessarily changing...as are we. urgh. so much to think about. but it totally felt right to be in 2 out of the three houses....(one was pretty but already i could see not for us).
sorry for hijacking the thread PMSL.
Cally: we have had readers every day from day one :o making slaves of us down here lol.
Sherie: yeah i am thinking that it is not crucial for them to do...but they do give 'certificates' to the kids that complete and Miss L is hanging out for that...
Nothing beats a certificate!!
Miss K is hanging out for readers and I must say we are too. I'm just amazed at how much she's learnt just after the first 10 weeks, she's just picking up so many things.
DD has headed up to Canberra for some special time with Granny and her cousins.
Noah Taylor??!
Right that's it. You are buying that house.
MD: YES! that's him lol! his mum was some big time publisher or something...she also looked vaguely familiar....i felt bad though as the husband was mid writing his novel and was on a good streak and had to leave lol. i was more than happy for him to stay in his studio and write...i love that in his mad dash he left his glass of wine by the door for his return :D
I need that house lol.
Cally: oh wow! DH is so not brave enough to have DD1 go up to visit my mum yet....i am working on it lol. but there would be a plane ride involved in our case. hope she has a fabulous time :)
Sorry ladies, missed that whole house convo - I had some serious t.v marathon work to do.
Can't say much, houses around here would have to be a freaking mansion to reach anywhere near the prices you pay. The house we are living in is probably one of the bigger houses in town and it sold a few years back for low 300's. (4 bed, double garage, 1/4 acre etc). I used to walk past this house when we first moved here, I wanted to buy it when it was for sale. Funny how things work out sometimes.
MD, lol, do I fall down often? I don't recall but it doesn't surprise me. Luckily my trip onto the scoria rock was softened by the cushioning effect of landing on the baby lol. She was fine, her face was about 1cm from the rock.
Nothing much happening here. Last day of school before holidays. Trill, we do have four terms but someone has decided to make this one extra long. I am assuming that we will have two shorter terms later in the year. They have offered to put W up into a Y1/Y2 composite class but I really like his teacher and she agrees he isn't socially ready so he is staying where he is for now.
what have you been watching Arte?? I need inspiration lol. we have been doing the game of thrones (s2) lately...it's ok...just finished breaking bad (s4)...i could do a re-run of 30 rock...
MD: you must do the yoghurt lemon olive oil cake. sooo easy and so yummy om nom nom.
Veronica Mars. We have been watching both Continuum and Revolution which are good, but both in that first season limbo land where you don't know how long it will last.
totally obsessed with 'top of the lake' if you girls can get your hands on it. filmed in nz too arte. it is incredibly good.
buy the woodend house!
top of the lake?? must google it :)
have to still get through all of walking dead...
Cass - having the plane trip makes it hard. We just meet them halfway and hand her over, works really well and she has a ball up there. Yesterday they had craft, stories and a walk through the arboretum (coincidentally with one of my friends from school and her kids, organised by someone who was in my sister's class - yes, Canberra is like a small country town. How are you going working on your mind map?
cass - the house looks gorgeous and the grounds OMG! I don't even want to talk about house prices in my area. It's insane! I'd love to live somewhere like woodend - the issue for me is all our community is here... It's the pros nd cons of having a cultural/religious/ethnic community I guess.. You have it all there but you don't want to leave. I'd spend my whole life driving in for parties, kids stuff, school etc. so we will stay put...
noah is doing so well at school - really enjoying it. I am loving where he is at, he is starting to really enjoy things I like! So gets a lot of my attention doing rummitiles, hangman rtc. Auskick started today... S it is mummy and JAKEY time on Saturday mornings and we had a lovey bike ride today. J is being quite challenging at the moment so I think this special time is good for him. I think it's bc n is changing a lot, suddenly doesn't want j hanging around all the time etc.
cally - love the sound of those school holiday adventures.. Reminds me of when I was a kid... Firstly the Canberra stuff and also I used to come nf stay in Melbourne w my grandparents... Was wowonderful
Cass, we have the last 3 episodes of The Walking Dead to go.
We went to town today and I spent up large on kids clothes for the winter. So so good to be able to buy W clothes and know he will actually wear them! All his clothing issues have disappeared since he started school and he now wears whatever. Makes life so much easier not having to fight about freaking pants every single day!
Is The Walking Dead scary? Could I watch it late at night or would it be a repeat of the Dr Who-induced nightmares?? Anyway, I'm so going to the movies to see that zombie love-story comedy (!)
Cass - don't know if you like movies, but I watched Moonrise Kingdom the other night and loved it.
Ginger, thanks for the Lakey tv show tip off. Will send DH to hunt it down when he gets home. We're currently (well, when DH gets home because he loves watching the girly shows with me) watching season 1 of Call the Midwife and also Downtown Abbey (though the plot lines got mashed up in my head because I was watching The Paradise with DD1 at the same time and so the stories were a little more convoluted than they really were LOL).
MP - good to hear N is doing so well. Sat mornings sound like they will be lovely, so nice to have 1 on 1 time. :)
Cally - I bet K will have an awesome time with her grands! DD1 is staying with my parents for a couple of days but my dad is a bit small-kid-o-phobic so I don't think E will get a sleeping-over invitation for a few more years :rolleyes:.
Arte - that's great to hear W is over the clothing thing. I popped into Target on a whim yesterday and glad I did because they had 30% off all girl clothes in sizes 1-7. Not that they had hardly any size 6-7s though (dont' get my started that's a rant for another day that includes the words demographic statistics) but OMG what is with the shortage of flannelette pyjamas right now??! Anyway, we managed to find some nice bits and pieces which I have layby'ed because it's school holidays so I'm dirt-poor until payday LOL.
Double post. Because one serve of Marydean is never enough.
LOL MD, we can never get enough of you :)
MP, I'm sure J's tetchy-ness will pass soon. It's a tricky age for them. They want to be like the big kids but they just can't. It's especially harder if they have older siblings too I reckon. How did N like Auskick? It's rego day here on saturday and A is busting to get signed up finally. How is your work going? has it settled down yet?
Arte, that would be a huge relief that he's not fussing over clothes like he used to.
MD, I hate that my kids are 'average' size because it makes it so hard to get clothes unless you buy them as soon as they come out. I haven't looked specifically for flannie pj's yet though - the kids are making do with what they have from last year.
There are miles of flannelette pyjamas here. I have ordered the girls some at $10 a pop. Cheap as this year.
It is hard finding clothing that is suitable. I hate (HATE) the trampy small girls clothing. It is an effort to find skirts that are a decent length and I have given up on finding decent shorts and now just buy boys shorts for the girls because I don't like knickers showing. I ended up getting E a boys dinosaur jersey because the girls ones were all white/light pink and have full stain potential. She loves dinosaurs anyway.
Day one of holidays and we are surviving. As predicted, the never ending summer ended right on the last day of term lol.
MD, if Dr Who gives you nightmares then you definitely don't want to watch The Walking Dead. But if you do, it helps to have a zombie escape scenario firmly planned. I would suggest Veronica Mars (obsession hangover lol). It is teen drama with a girl private investigator setting. Not really suitable for H though.
Arte you won't hear me disagreeing with your girls clothing diatribe. I've come to the conclusion that layers are the only solution - we stock up on basic tees and tanks and leggings/bike shorts and the other clothes go on top of those. It's more money but honestly, it will save your sanity. I used to buy DD1 boys clothes and shoes all the time (I got away with it until she was about 8 or 9 LOL) but DD2 is on to me. Funny how she has such a well developed sense of what to wear that looks nice when DD1 still has not a clue.
Trill, yeah I had that moment about 3 weeks ago when I said to DH - we *must* go shopping for some winter clothes or the window will shut - but we had a few crazy busy weeks in a row. At least now she's wearing school uniforms for most of the week so that reduces the number of sets of clothes she needs. Plus the messy play/spilling food on self/toilet accidents factor means we don't need a constant supply of spares like when she was younger. Easier all round. :)
I feel like it's nearly the weekend because DH is coming home tonight. It's a big surprise, neither of the kids know. I'll send him in to wake E up in the morning :D.
Oh wow MD, she's going to freak out with excitement! You will have to let us know how it all goes down! Luckily my girls are happy to wear L's old jeans etc around home and I did actually buy a pair of boys denim shorts for E - makes it so much easier when so much of the boys stuff over summer was brightly coloured LOL. they were a nice pale blue. I'm sick to death of girls shorts being too short too so they have been wearing boys shorts for ages. But in target I did manage to find them nice black dress shorts that sit just above the knee, so I brought extra pairs in the next sizes up just in case they don't have them next summer. Winter is easier though because it's just jeans, trackies and tops/shirts.
I love handmedowns!! Sadly the gap between my two girls is a little too big, so their cousin gets DD1s handmedowns. I'm hoping the karmic effects of this arrangement will kick in soon so that E starts getting her cuzzy's handmies now that they are back in ADL.
Good trick re the shorts, Trill. I'm loving the coloured denim thing right now (... until I go shopping for myself, that is. :p)
I'm loving the fact that she'll be in uniforms most of the time so don't have to buy as many clothes. Seriously need pj's though, will have to hit the Canberra shops at the end of the week when we're up there. Last years are halfway up her calves, plus have holes in the top.
Roast lamb tonight - so looking forward to it!
there's loads of flannie pjs about here ATM. pity because i dont need them this year as we scored BIG on neighbours hand me downs. lovely warm fleecy numbers and flannies. love it!
I hear you on the trampy shorts! it is so hard to pick it right! i never used to bother trying them on the girls but now i am never too sure if they are the bum cheek ones or not :( and i dont mean to sound prudish, but for me it really is an issue of why they are making them for little girls IYKWIM. i am sure that the girls look lovely and all but it aint about the shorts making them look lovely, it's because they are gorgeous wee girls. I do get worried about the normalisation of 'sexualisation' of little girls' clothes (ie if its in target/kmart then it really has become AOK ITMS).
MP: that must be a bit hard on Mr J with Mr N starting to want to play separately. it is kinda a fear of mine for when/if it happens between Marta and Leila.
I hear you on the pull of the community. we dont have even half the sort of tight knit community (I wish we did) and even still i am finding it really hard to realise that a move to the country will mean losing my awesome neighbours etc. i guess though that for us, with no family etc around i know that we would make new friends quite quickly etc.
I don't like it either Cass. Now that E is starting to develop, clothes are a big issue for me atm. She has visible (though small) breasts when wearing clothes and her shape is starting to get more curves :/ so what she wears needs to be (IMO) something that looks nice, but also make it clear that she's still only 10, not 16 kwim? Although I think it's going to be P that has the problem. Since she's started filling out a bit, I think she is going to be physically more like me - she's not even 9 and already she has breast buds whereas E was well over 9, closer to 10. I don't want my girls to be wearing B-C cup bras in year 6 and have to deal with the stigma that goes along with that.
Hi ladies, how are we all? I went clothes shopping with DD1 today, so I feel like my soul has been minced up into small pieces then drained out painfully through my nostrils. Please g*d let miss E be more pleasant to shop with by this age(!).
lol, why md? what was so bad?
Higirls just popping in quickly - been so upset for hayley (isadora) - wanted to know if anyone has her adress and also if anyone would want to contribute to sone flowers from her belly buddies?
Would definitely contribute to flowers. Don't know her address, but maybe Oz does? I will ask her. She has been in my thoughts :(
ETA, Oz has it or can get it.
That's a lovely idea MP. Yep I'll be in for flowers. Most definitely.
i'll be up for that...poor poppet :(
I have been thinking of her alot these last 2 days.
MP, have pm'd you her address.
These are the longest holidays ever. Stuck at home with E's HF&M. No playdates etc, just us and our daily trip to the park (weather dependent). Going crazy. W is bored beyond belief and is having meltdowns again. Sigh. On the bright side, so many kids have it atm there is joking but kinda serious talk of running playgroup next week for the infected kids lol
we had conjunctivitis go through the street so all the kids played regardless hahahaha
Think I PMd everyone re the flowers - all arranged and will arrive today
x
Thanks very much MP. xxx
thank you so much mp.
you are awesome MP. thank you so much for organising this for us :)
I just love our wee little group, you girls mean so much to me for many reasons. so glad that i found BB and you lot :D
I was gushing about how awesome our group is and how lucky i have been to find you guys at a BB meet today!
Thanks MP, that's a lovely gesture.
have PMd you Cally
Thanks MP xx