Baby Born ~ September 2007 # 73

I"m having one of those "cyberspace ate my homework" moments. I'm sure I posted yesterday!! Gah.

Arte - tell us more about your beach house. When's settlement. Is it far from your place?

You're a brave, brave lady, Trill. I'm still scared of those kinds of girls. LOL. Awww, so nice to have your biggest baby at home on the weekends again. :)

Yep the writer's session was fantastic. I actually had a whole day last week at a forum for writers, a couple of big names were there (Isobelle Carmody, for eg). Amazing when you hear someone like that talking and you realise that your own brain works just like theirs does and suddenly you're not the only weird person in the room, there's a whole room full of weird and it's a good quality to have.

Payback day wasn't too bad. I worked a shorter day for starters and then I was doing the bit of my job that I really like. So all good there. Long weekend here. Girls are going to their aunty's tonight so that we can have some mummy & daddy time. woohoooo! It's a bit overdue, really.

Speaking of long weekends, Easter's starting to loom ahead of us. I'm feeling like getting crafty with it. E is at that age now where she's loving the arty stuff. We've decorated blown eggs in years gone by but they are so impermanent. So I found some papier mache eggs at Lincraft, I'll put a couple of base coats of paint on them, then we can decorate those.

MD, the little darlings are both girls AND boys LOL. kids who just do not want to be at school mostly. They aren't dumb by a long shot, but they sure are good at pretending they are.

that sounds like an awesome workshop. Isobelle Carmody is E's fave author atm - she's ploughing her way through the Obernewtyn series. Dh and I are long overdue for a night together too. We had the Australia day thing, but that's different to spending time alone together. There is an indian restaurant we want to go to so we're aiming for that during the school holidays.

Easter, totally not ready for it. I hate early easters. Not sure if we'll attempt anything fun or not yet but A is a lot more interested in that sort of thing now since he's been at school so I'll see how we go.

Easter - that means Easter hat parades. I hope they make them at school, I'm so not good at crafty things.

I have never in my life heard of an Easter hat parade! Is that a thing? lol, I have no idea about tradition - my mum didn't roll that way.

MD, beach house is little, very little lol. It is at the beach that we always stay at, two hours from here but close to my family and a reasonable city. Settlement should be just before easter all going well.

So obviously if all goes to plan, we will be at the beach house for Easter. Might not happen by then though, the bank is being a PITA.

Don't know what I will do with the kids for easter. I saw Spotlight had a whole heap of baskets and eggs for decorating but that is more clutter as far as I can see. I have some easter themed lollipop molds so we might melt some chocolate and make those. A couple of years back I did them wrapped in cellophane and did a hunt with them. Actually that might be fun with the cousins if we are down there….

Apparently it's a thing. I dunno what that's about. Maybe it started way back when getting a new hat to wear to church on Sunday was the highlight of the social year (and pretty much the lofty heights to which a young girl might hope to aspire)?? But dang it's cute. When I worked at the call centre, the creche kiddies paraded around the building wearing their hats - awwwww!

The plan with our papier mache eggs is to lacquer them when we're finished and they can become the ones that get hidden and found (over and over and over again) LOL. The lollipop moulds sound like a great idea.

Arte, I hope the bank behaves itself and it all settles before Easter, that would be great to get down there that soon!

Trill, that's an awful lot of reading! The new book is due out later this year.

I'm ready for it to be autumn now. It's been a stinker here this week - not helped by having an out-and-about weekend - seemed like every second place we stepped into either didn't have aircon or the aircon wasn't working. What is with that??!

oh arte....you havent really done 'easter' without an easter hat parade pmsl!!

bbl...just got back from camping so have the inglorious task of cleaning out sand from all the bags etc for the next few days...

Our school does the easter hat parade with the infants grades (kinder to year 2) but they make their hats at school. It's really cute. |they make a big thing of it and have a picnic and easter egg hunt in the park near the school.

Cass, I do not envy you that job at all!

yeah MD, they are her 'holiday books' that she reads during the holidays because they slow her right down, which was kinda the idea LOL. I just cannot keep books up to these kids atm.

OMG Trill that is awesome (not being able to keep up the book supply)! LOL. I have the opposite problem with DD1, she starts umpteen different books and doesn't really persist with any of them :wall:. Despite raving about how good they are or how highly recommended they are :wall:. Not a trait inherited from her mother, that's for sure.

Cass, you have just identified the very reason we are not a regular camping family. Too much admin. LOL

LOl MD on the camping admin. It's usually a holiday for everyone BUT me, and somehow my workload mysteriously triples...

I'm not big on the whole load up/unload aspect of camping. Or the crappy bed and communal toilet situation. I half expected to break out in weird foot and bum diseases after our caravan trip after using all the public toilets and showers. One of the toilets was a long drop that smelt so bad I nearly passed out from holding my breath rather than inhaling the foul stench. It was so gross it was actually better to pee in the bushes :(

I went to pick W up today and had a chat to his teacher. They haven't done much maths yet but for the unit they are doing atm he is on Level 4, which is the level expected at the end of Year 2. The teacher seems to be handling him well and he is happy. While I was talking to the teacher, W went to get his bike and must have been on autopilot and rode home, then realised we were still at school so he came biking back - no shoes, no helmet and right past the principal lmao.

I won a guess the jellybean competition. I will go and pick up my prize tomorrow :)

Is it the whole jar of jellybeans? I hope they're good ones, I remember my Dad coming home with a tin of paint and a tin of jellybeans once (some promotion the paint company was doing) and they were absolutely disgusting ones.

Camping is so not me. Absolutely no appeal. I have enough trouble sleeping on my fancy mattress in my room, I'd have no hope on a air bed thing. DD and DH go camping in the backyard - I like those nights, bed to myself and he's in with her from before 8:00 so I get to watch my shows on TV.

I won a drink bottle, a piggy bank and a packet of (brand name) jelly beans.

Cally, you have made me feel better about one of those things that hang around and irk you for ages - years ago I bought some paint and the next day I realised if I had got the other brand I would have got a couple of tins of jellybeans. It has always bothered me that I missed out lol, but if they were the gross ones then I can probably let it go.

Swimming sports today and now swimming is over!! Yay!! With school swimming 4 days a week as well as swim club 2x evenings it added up to a crap load of wet towels.

Hi girls just your slack buddy checking in. It's been the usual craziness for me but I am on annual leave. Tomorrow I fly to meet dh in Phuket for a week of child free luxury. I can't believe it. Can't wait but nervous re leaving the boys. It's our 10 ye anniversary.

All is well - have been having a pretty rough time at work - politics, old boys network, industrial action, bad press.... I REALLY need a break!

Boys are fab. Had parent teachers for n tonight and he's doing really well. J is loving kinder and teachers say he is wonderful. Never a tear at drop off so that's great. I did cooking w their class last week and it's a lovely group.

I can't believe it's nearly school hols. Quickest term ever.

Arte - glad to have satisfied that feeling.

MP - Have a wonderful time. Sounds like it will be an amazing holiday and hopefully the crappy work stuff will be all over on your return!

MP, I hope you are having a wonderful relaxing time and have managed to completely shut off all the work stuff in your head.

Good weekend here. We had a bbq with some of DH's work people on Saturday and went out to the river on Sunday. The kids are just so awesome at the moment.

Hello gorgeous ladies!

Sorry that i havent been posting much. too emotionally drained :( nothing in particular, just really really tired from Miss E waking several times a night lately...poor poppet is not coping with Melbourne's crazy as weather changes!

MD: i had to LOL at your 'admin' remark! it is so apt...we have decided to go for a longer camping trip next time as really all the packing and unpacking is not worth it for just one night. so am planning a minimum 2 night stay somewhere a little more remote. i actually look forward to it..actually what i look forward to is hot cocoa and toasted marshmallows pmsl.

MP: bon voyage!! i can imagine that your work would have a bit of a boys club feel to it :( pretty crap, i hope that you get to put 'em back in place after your lovely holiday :hug:

Arte: how are the JBs??

Easter is sorted in our house :D i am so awesome :lol: i saw that lincraft had 50% off all easter stuff so scored some cute-as felt flower/basket-y thingies and bought some papier mache bunnies and chicks that the girls will get to paint. i then kept to the bunny-in-the-garden theme and bought a packet of those lindt carrots and bugs chocolates to scatter in the basket. i also bought from lincraft some totally fun looking sticker sets of little girls with dress-ups that you stick on. they will love it.

Cass, your easter plans sound fun. We have those Lindt carrots at the supermarket here and I am tempted to buy some just because we are the carrot capital of NZ.

The JB's are o.k, but OMG- Whittaker's 50% cocoa chocolate, where have you been all my life!! Totally worth the near constant gallstones ache :)

Arte, glad to see you're off the chocolate wagon. LOL. I was just thinking the other day - carrots made of chocolate: so wrong, but so right. In the same category as fish made out of chocolate. Fish - WTF??! Hey take it easy on the ole GB. :hug:

I've bought up on the boxes with the Lindt bugs & beetles - just because they're cute.

Cass, agree 100%. You are awesome!

MP - you must be wallowing in child-free, job-free luxury right now. Enjoy!!

Cally, are you sleeping a bit better now? I :heart: your DH&DD camping in backyard idea! :)

I'm feeling a bit like Grumpy Cat right now. DH has just advised another trip - this time two weeks - OVER THE ENTIRE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS. :wall:. I am so over this ****. It comes right on top of fresh speculation about being posted, too. :rolleyes: It's times like these that I have to remind myself that the man wears bathing trunks covered in FLAMINGOS because that's the only way I can extract my secret revenge.