Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Second toothy peg gone...

Jack has had a wiggly tooth for weeks now and it fell out yesterday at school when he was having lunch and he swallowed it!!  He was a  bit puzzled when I asked how the tooth fairy was going to get the tooth.  We left her/he a note.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

I am now the mother of a 6 year old!!

So my beautiful little guy turned 6 on Sunday.  Sometimes it feels like time just flies by.  A big 6 year old already!! and some days with a  big attitude to match but he is just awesome, a truly gorgeous little hunk of human.  He was pretty excited about this birthday now that he knows all that a birthday brings and can understand the countdown to a birthday.  
He had a little bit of a sleep in on Sunday but as soon as he woke up he remembered that it was his birthday and wanted to open his gifts.  It was a whole family affair, Jack, Owen & I and Kitti and Bella all sitting around on the floor of his room to see what he got.  O & I got two kisses for the 2 things that he liked the most which were some Lego and a Wii game.


He and Owen then headed off to one of his school friends parties for the morning while I finished up the prep for his Spongebob Pool Party.


I love this smile, so adorable and so joyful.

Speaking of adorable, how cute is little Sofie's swimming costume.  I want one!!

We had all sorts of yummy food but I really loved the way these turned out, Krabby Patty Cupcakes.  I had seen them on Flickr while I was researching cake ideas.  They are vanilla cupcakes with a brownie disc for the patty and some icing to represent the lettuce, mustard and tomato sauce.  The others are just chocolate cupcakes with bright blue buttercream.


To go with the Spongebob theme I had yellow cups with cute little cocktail straws and seahorse swizzle sticks which I got from a local wholesale place that were pretty economical and added a little extra to the decor.  I bought a couple of inflatable palm trees and had Jack's Spongebob toys leaned against them and a few posters printed off the net and yellow & blue balloons for decorations and with the help of JG made some "jellyfish" from pink balloons and streamers.  It looked nice and festive.  I wish I had a little more time to add some streamers and things but as normal I bit off a little more than I could chew.


For games we had Pass the Parcel, a treasure hunt, a shark pinata, Pin the Square Pants on Spongebob and a Krabby Patty Relay Race which was great.  For the relay the kids had to race up and back the patio carrying a split bun on a spatula held in one hand that had an oven mit on.  They did really well.  There are so many great free printable things around on the internet and some great bargains on eBay as well.  I bought some little Spongebob badges on eBay for little prizes and to go in the loot bags.

Here's Jack posing happily in front of his gift stash...

I was so glad that so many of our family and friends could come along to celebrate and grateful to have so many generations together too.  I was also thankful for the help both getting ready and packing up as well, great family and friends are such a blessing.

Everyone gathered around the cake... 


All the kids wanted to eat the pineapple part but I had actually iced some shaped Styrofoam on top of a slab cake so they had to settle for a pineapple leaf and a slice of cake.


Jack had a great day, I was very pleased that he enjoyed himself so much.  I was left a little frazzled by the end of the afternoon but that's nothing new, time management is not one of my strong points, lol.

In other news...

The school Disco was on Friday night.  It was Bob the Builder/Construction themed so I whipped Jack up some paint splattered painters overalls from and old sheet.  Note to self: ensure fabric is strong enough to withstand crazy dancing.  LOL!!  Luckily I had told Jack to wear shorts under the overalls because although I had triple stitched the crotch he managed to split his pants by the end of the night.  He is a wild crazy dancer, it actually looks just like this photo...


And then today was the school sports carnival.  Owen and I are both sunburnt, Jack is fine however.  He must have listened when told to re-apply sunscreen.

He did really well this year.  He came third in his sprint race.


Here is Jack and his friend Mitchell showing off their winners ribbons.

 The kids get to do everything which is great so they did a few ball games and then the long jump...
 and the high jump...

It's a long day but great to see the kids getting out there and giving everything a go.  The younger grades are so cute to watch.
Well I'd better go and put some more cream on my sunburn.  Ciao :)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

This sweet adorable face...

Being a Mum can be a tough job.  Jack has had a little difficulty adjusting to school this year and we have had lots of tears.  Having to peel his little arms from around my waist in the morning at school is hard.  We've also had some instances where he has been pushing his boundaries which I know is a normal way for a child of his age to act but he has always been such a well behaved little guy that I have found dealing with these circumstances quite difficult.  As much as I know he doesn't mean it, it breaks my heart when he tells me that I'm the worst Mum ever and that I'm mean.  Oh my does it hurt but this face, this cheeky little guy with those adorable freckles makes my heart feel so joyous.   
I just love this photo even though he's munging out on a dixie drumstick at the time I just think it's adorable.

It was my Grandma's birthday last week and we had a lovely family dinner at Rob & Marie's to celebrate.  I love to see Jack have so much fun playing with his second cousins.  It brings back great memories of all the family time I spent with my cousins.
It's so funny how kids know that there's no way you can blow out a sparkler but they always have to have a go at it.


Blow kids, blow...


It's hard to get time for family get together s with the time pressures of life in modern times and so it's hard to get photos of family together too.  I was so happy with these next to photos of my Mum with my brother and then with my niece Rasharna.  I think they are both such lovely shots.  I just love phots, lol.



This is Jack's cousin Ally.  They go to school together and were in the same class last year.  He thinks she's pretty cool.  He was so cute when I took the photo, he put his little arm around her.  Adorable.


This cute little fella just hung out all night at the party.  There was also a little possum visitor to the party too but I only managed to get a photo of it's butt.


We've had a jet-ski for years now and Owen used to go out pretty regularly before Jack was born but it hasn't been used in ages so Owen and one of his mates rosters coincided and the opportunity arose so they went down to the river on Sunday.  Jack has been pretty eager to get out there too.  I thought (sort of hoped) he'd be turned off by the murky water in the river but alas no, he jumped on.


I thought they'd just putter around near the jetty but they headed out right down the river and around the corner.  I should have taken binoculars so I could tell who was on which ski.


When he came back to shore he was so excited to tell me that they'd gone  a 5 and a 7!  57 MILES PER HOUR!! What a little speed demon!  It is fun out on the ski.  I much prefer it at the beach though where the water isn't so murky and there's not a sign telling you not to swim because of the crocodiles in the area.  I think I'll be pretty hard pressed getting a turn now though, now that Jack's had his first taste.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Ticked off a few of the 7 sins this weekend...

...starting with my favorite, sloth!  I did actually move, even had a swim this morning but the majority of my Sunday was spent lying in the air con surfing the net.  In my defense it was too bloody hot here today and I was researching for Jack's upcoming birthday so it wasn't as if I did nothing and I did bake...


...which brings me to the next sin, gluttony!  Oh my lordy I have eaten some food this weekend!!  This afternoon we went over to our friends, Kim & David's, for a sausage sizzle and desert feast!!  Yum, yum, yum!!  Freshly cooked waffles with ice cream, a delicious chocolate caramel macadamia pie, triple chocolate pie, cointreau chocolate mousse & macaroons!!  I'm pretty sure any moment now I may in fact lull into a sugar induced coma but it was worth it, delicious!  Yesterday we ended up at Sizzler for lunch as well so two days in a row I've way overdone it.

Anyhoo, the kids had a great play this afternoon.  Jack has been super hyper all weekend actually so it was great that he got to have a good run around this afternoon.

Here's Hunter 'playing' Twister.  How stunning are those blue eyes!?



Charlotte having a swing...

 and Hayley mid swing too...
 Jack on the monkey bars, the tongue must help I think, he made it all the way across.
 Lauren in the cubby...
 And Jared & Jack running for the frisbee

You may as well add envy to that list of sins too. We went to the home & leisure show this weekend.  There wasn't all that much there but there were a few things to be envious of like a beautifully organised wardrobe from Howard's Storage World amongst other things.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

The Tooth Fairy!!

 Looks like we'll be having our first visit from the tooth fairy tonight.  Jack's tooth has been wobbly for months now and today when he came down the school stairs he was very excitedly holding an envelope labelled "Jack's Tooth".  Our little man is growing so fast!!



Monday, January 24, 2011

Jack's first day in Grade 1!!

Today was Jack's first day in Grade 1!!  I thought we may have had to drag him kicking and screaming to school but he went ok.  I've been talking about it all week and he was adamant that he didn't want to go but the flow of the morning went ok and I didn't end up having much of a fight on my hands at all which I'm very grateful for.  
I missed him today though.  I'm sure he probably didn't miss me with the excitement of a new class, his own desk, own pencils and pencil case, new kids to meet, new teacher etc. 


That smile, oh my, I don't know where he gets that from, well actually he gets it from his Dad, see below, lol.


The family photo...


And homework on the first day!!


I had a nice day today though.  My friend Charlene came over this morning for morning tea which was nice to have a catch up.  Life gets so busy some times that it's hard to make the time to catch up with friends as much as I'd like to.  This afternoon we had a swim and afternoon tea play-date with some of Jack's friends.  It is absolutely lovely in pool in the afternoon at the moment, the temperature is just perfect.  Ahhh, life in beautiful Queensland.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A lovely weekend...

Well I have had just a lovely weekend.  It actually started on Friday really with the day at the pool from my last post and then Friday was finished off with coffee and a chat at my good friend Kim's house in the afternoon.
Saturday Jack and I headed up to the Botanic Gardens for a birthday party for Jack's second cousin, Patrick.  The party started off with a hidden treasure hunt where the kids had to sift through the sand looking for pirate coins.

The next game was the piñata.  Kids just love piñata's don't they.  Jasmine had made some great props for the party, I think her Mum helped as well.  The treasure chest piñata, a big ship replica and another chest that contained the pass the parcel prizes and the sword cake were all fantastic.  I love themed parties.


This is Patrick, the Birthday Boy, showing off his loot from the piñata.


 There are a couple of new playground pieces at the gardens.  Jack loved this flying fox thing.


I couldn't find his old pirate costume (I don't think it'd fit anyway) so I just painted Jack's face for the party.  Arr, me hearties!!


After the party Jack and I went and checked out the zoo before heading off to do a spot of shopping.
Today we headed to Upper Stony Creek with the William's family for a swim and lunch and a bit of relaxing.  Here's Jack just kicking back on his camping chair.


It's a very pretty place there.  It's in the Byfield National Park.  Apparently this is the best time to go because there's been rain and it's running and nice and clear.  Oliver told me that he and his Dad saw a turtle when they were there the other day.  It only took about 50 minutes to get there from Rocky so it's not very far away.  


Jason had bought his inflatable boat so the kids all piled in and Tricia & Jason took them for a paddle up the creek.


After they came back we all went for a little swim (well at least a stand in the water).  It was a wee bit fresh in the water but when you got used to it it wasn't so bad.  Jason tells us that it is like the fountain of youth with all the minerals etc. in the water.  I havn't noticed any changes yet however.


After the swim we had some sandwiches for lunch and then just chilled for awhile while the kids had a bit of a run around and play and then Jack and I headed back home.  It's always so nice to do something different.  This week coming is the last before Jack heads back to school so I'll have to think of some fun things to do.  O is off Wednesday and Thursday which will be nice to have some family time too.

Ahhhh, life is good!!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Our day...

So today we met up with some friends at the Rock Pool Water Park.  Jack had a blast and it was a great day for swimming with the weather.  


Jack even braved the big water slide.  He's not much of a thrill seeker my boy but after he got warmed up there was no stopping him.  He wanted to keep going back on over and over.


There are a few different slides there.  The one we went on is a standard twisty sort of open topped slide which does get up a bit of speed in the swirly part.  They also have two straight slides and this massive inflatable dragon slide which looked a wee bit too steep of a drop for me.


This is Jack's grumpy face because he didn't want his photo taken.


We stayed and had pizza for lunch.


And Jack had a slushie.  Can you tell which colour?


 And then we headed off to play mini-golf.  Their set up is really good.  I really like themed places, it makes it all the more fun.


Their's is obviously a pirate theme and some of the areas although they could use a little bit of a touch up are so well done like the giant octopus.


And this huge skull and crossbones feature is pretty cool.


There are murals painted everywhere and a ship in a lagoon that is one of the actual course holes.  It's really fun.  It doesn't seem to be very popular which I was very surprised by.  It's definitely the best one in town although I think there might only be one other.  The whole day was really good.  It's nice to be able to spend time doing something as a family as we don't often get to with work rosters.  We actually have an area in our backyard that isn't often used which we were thinking of building our own little mini-golf couse.  We can only fit 2 or 3 holes but it would be something fun that would put that area to good use.


I'm sure everyone has seen and heard of the massive flooding going on in Queensland, I know it's even been getting international coverage.  If anyone is interested in donating to the relief fund the link is HERE.  Although there is flooding in our town, which is devastating for those effected, the magnitude of what has occurred down south is just heart breaking.  My thoughts are with all those that have lost loved ones and their homes and possessions.

Memory Journal

 So I decided to start a memory journal this year inspired by the amazing Heidi Swapp.  She is so talented, I just love her style.  I'm ...