The important things

The Month of Visiting Country People has begun! Maybe a little late, but it has begun. Last weekend I headed out to visit my very pregnant primary school BFF solo. (The girls had gone camping with DB). That was the first of four weekends when I am heading down country roads.

Holidaying can be expensive. I was trying to teach the girls the cost of life ...

Me: I hope none of you have any major expenses this moth. Between four new tyres on Paris, and paying for the hotel for Bali, I am feeling pretty broke.
Pixie *sternly to her sisters*: And she's had to buy me birthday presents.

See! I didn't forget!

You have to love a very subtle reminder that her birthday is up there on the important things that need to be included in the budget!

I had to laugh though. Pixie requested stuff for her bedroom. She had given me some suggestions after we went to Ikea a few weeks ago. She especially wanted "coke hangers". She specifically mentioned that it would be a good present for me to get her. How could you refuse a request like that? She was so excited. She insisted that her "coke hangers" be included in a picture!

(Pixie absolutely refuses to call them anything other that "coke hangers". Even now. I have given up on that fight.)

"Mummy! My coke hangers!"

Yesterday Pixie turned 12. I had been mentally preparing for another big party. Pixie had previously said she wanted to have her big "teenager" party this year, but she has since decided to wait until next year when she turns 13. After having Buglet's 16th a few weeks ago, I have to admit I won't be sorry to wait another year. I want them all to feel that their big events are special in their own right. I do try very hard to make sure they all feel they are their own separate individuals as well as being part of a family, especially since they are so close in age.

Part of this decision, included a last minute request to have her squad (the new word for group of people you hang out with at school, apparently, do you feel like you've learnt something new today), sleepover. This felt reasonable. To have the sleepover, Pixie also said that she would work super hard getting the house nice and clean. this also felt reasonable.

Wednesday ended up being a bitch of a day a work. There is no other way to describe it. I am pretty lucky with my job. I do work long days, and some days I work super long days, but I work in an area of law where it is unusual for to unexpectedly need to be in the office until awful hours of the night. Wednesday ended up being one of those days. Luckily KK picked up the girls for Guides, Apple drove them home, and Team Awesome Guide Leaders said they could manage without me (it was lovely of them to imply that they could cope rather than pointing out that they don't really need me, which is the actual case). I got home at 11pm to a sleepy Pixie who made me promise to wake her up at 5am on Thursday so she could finish cleaning.

Late night work supper. My colleagues are awesome.

I woke up at 5am to help clean. And then my darling child asked me if I was just procrastinating when we went on an early morning drive to get bread! I did point out that while I am brilliant at procrastinating, I do not get up at 5am to clean and then procrastinate. Turns out she just thought of the word. Seriously! Children these days!

It was worth it though. Pixie had a lovely sleepover last night.

Luckily the cleaning was done early. All three of her friends ended up arriving before I got home from work. I had said drop off at 6.30pm if they wanted me to be there, but turned out all the parents were fine with me not being home for the first bit. I walked into a house with music rocking and a cry of "I can't believe you have a stripper pole! You are so cool! I like you already!".

Did I mention I hadn't met one of Pixie's friends before? And that her older sister is friends with Tink, so she came for a sleepover too? Pixie has learnt something from her sisters; if you let them have their own friend they will leave your celebrations alone! Hopefully they will mention the law degree along with the stripper pole or they may never be allowed to sleepover again.

Just for the record, I don't call it a stripper pole. Just a dance pole. And the girls know I do pole dancing because I am too uncoordinated for real dancing. I like to have something to hang on to so I don't fall over.

Happy Birthday Pixie!
(The garden fairies from across the road put on the candles)

Today we are heading on our next country adventure. We are driving up to Boddington to have dinner with DB for the Pixie's birthday.

I asked the Pixie if she would like to go up to have dinner with Daddy on her birthday weekend. Her response: "I think he should like that. I get to pick where we have dinner though. Out of the two  places".

We are planning on doing an alphabet photo scavenger hunt on the way. Check out #alphabetadventures and #krisangels  on Twitter or Instagram if you want to see our pictures!

Disclaimer:

• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I have nothing against strippers, but not sure if it the girls' friends' parents would be thrilled b the image.
• I have no idea how I raised children who want coat hangers as birthday presents.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

The Magnificent Seven

My name is Catherine, and it has been 7 days since my last blog post.

Last weekend I was busy enjoying the fabulousness of life. This week I have just been busy.

As it has been seven days of not blogging, I thought I would share seven lovely things from the last week.

Lovely thing 1

My baby sister turned 21! And even though I say my baby sister she is the third youngest. All three of the little ones are referred to as my "baby sisters" to distinguish them from my "adult" sisters, plus I am their big sister so I can call them that if I want to.

... 21 ...

21. It still doesn't seem possible that the baby I carried around, and played with like a living doll, and taught her colours using M&Ms, and the little girl who took her baby nieces to school for news, is a a total grown up.

My next youngest sister turns 18 in December. This is even freakier because the next 18th in the family will be Buglet (she is older than my youngest sister by 10 months).

But back to Miss 21. She is kind. She is fun. She is beautiful. She has grown up to be a thoroughly gorgeous woman and I am so very proud of her.

To me she is also my measure of pure happiness. When I think about how happy something makes me, I compare it to the look on her face when I used to hold her upside down as a toddler. It was pure joy. I am smiling just thinking about it. If you ever find anything in life that makes you this happy, hang on to it! Interesting she's grown up to be a gymnast, and a teaches little kids. Happiness should last a life time, and I think this is where it all started ....

Cos this is how all the cool kids hang out :)

Her party was fun. She very cleverly had the family from 5pm - 8pm, and then her friends from 7pm. Just enough overlap to share cake. She is smart too. She gets that from me. Pixie thought this was sensible too. She was worried our family was a bit intimidating to others. We do sort of have the force of a small(ish) tornado when we are all together.

Lovely thing 2
I love catching up with people. I also love breakfast. Going out for breakfast is one of my most favourite things to do. When you get to combine the two and it is with super awesome friends who you haven't seen in forever it is even better. Plus I came home with beautiful artwork.

Collective artistic effort

Parenting tip: While you don't need to keep every picture they give you, value every picture they draw you, they stop drawing them way too quickly.

Lovely thing 3
The Princess Bride if you have not seen this movie you are either a totally different generation to me, or you as oblivious as my sister. She insisted she had never seen it. I know she had seen it. She is only 3 years younger than me and I know we used to watch it. Before you are too concerned about this obvious amnesia, I bought her the dvd and gave it to my niece and nephew last Easter. Tink has informed me it is one of my nephew's favourite movies now. Go Auntie Cath! Who said I wasn't useful?

I randomly bought a copy for us on a late night emergency trip to the IGA. It was a perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

As a side note, this is one of the few books I have found where the movie is better than the book. I do own the book though! I was given it as a 30th birthday present!

Lovely thing 4
I had a dentist appointment on Monday, (this is not the lovely thing), so I was home mid-afternoon and managed to get some gardening done. I am plodding along slowly, and I am totally talking myself up about every single little thing in the hope that I actually keep myself motivated.

Unfortunately it lead to this:

Me: I am really sorry I was late. I was gardening and I thought it would be dark by six. The sun isn't going down as early as it used to.
Pixie: I think we should name the sun. He shall be called David. Then Buglet can tell [the dance teacher] that she is late because David wouldn't go down.
Me (praying I didn't hear giggles from the backseat): Don't ever say that again!
Pixie: Why?
Me: Just don't, ok? It is not good for my emotional health and well-being.

When I told the dance teacher later there was so much laughing (waves at her!).

It was worth being late to pick up the girl, and the few hours work that evening to know that I had actually got something done in the afternoon. I had scheduled in a gardening afternoon on Sunday but storms changed that plan. The girls were not disappointed.

This weekend .... I mulch!

Lovely thing 5
End of term at Guides. We had a party with party games. These included Pass the Parcel with challenges in each layer; one of which was to list three things you have learnt at Guides this term. Massive fuzzy feeling that they have actually learnt something.

We also had "egg" on spoon relays. I was on Pixie's team. She named our egg aka a malteaser "Stanley". She is not normal. It was very funny watching her freak out every time she dropped him though. At one point he was officially declared dead which considering how often he was dropped was probably a fair assessment.

I also got a message from one of our Guide parents saying thank you for what we have done for the girls this term. It made a massive difference to how I felt.

Warm fuzzies all around, and go Team Guide Leaders!

Awesome people tip: Saying thank you and acknowledging the work people do really does make them feel good.

Lovely thing 6
I have been going on a bit of a re-reading binge. For those of you read my post on my favourite books you would have noted that I struggled to find favourites. This week I have re-read Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth (a story about an Amish girl accused of infanticide), and The Storyteller (a story about forgiveness, the Holocaust, and perceptions on oneself with some interesting Polish folklore for an added bonus). I think these two are my favourite Jodie Picoult books along with Nineteen Minutes. If you ask me again in a few months this may have changed, so I am not being held to this.

Lovely thing 7
I have a new nephew!! I saved the best for last! I haven't seen him in person yet, but he is gorgeous and we are very much looking forward to meeting him.

My brother-in-law is Danish so we won't find out his name until this christening. Pixie is absolutely adamant that he is going to be called "Simon, because it is a good Danish name." This Little One's mind works in mysterious ways. My official guess is Kayden. No reason except I am expecting something a little less common. If either of us are right I will be buying a lotto ticket!

For those of you keeping count ... yes this is four new nieflings in four months, the loveliest of lovely things.

So they were the lovely bits of my week. There have been some not-so-lovely bits with all three girls being sick with man-flu (definitely man-flu based on the bickering, and the whinging. Is it really bad that it is making me a lot less sad that they are going away with DB this weekend?), and Flip-Flop who has decided sleeping is not on the agenda this week, and a super busy ... but overall it is has been a pretty lovely week!

There will be no blog posts this weekend. This weekend is dedicated to domestic goddessing. If I blog, this means I am distracting myself and this is not allowed. There will be a brag post early next week, with pictures. You all have to be impressed.

Happy Friday everyone xx

When I count my blessings ....

This has felt like the longest week ever.

Yesterday I had to text Tink's soccer coach and say the reason she wasn't at training was partly because I forgot it was Tuesday. I blame Pixie for telling me it was Wednesday. This excuse is a lot flimsier when you realise I was at work, in front of a computer, with emails telling me what day it was, but I am sticking to it.

But I am in the final countdown of my course (3 weeks and 2 days to go), it is mid-year, and I am just tired. I would like to say that as a long-time uni student I am very much used to 13 teaching weeks at most. This 30 week course business is killing me.

Then today, when it I was just over it all, I was reminded in no uncertain terms how wonderful life is:

1. My sister-in-law made her facebook announcement that my beautiful new niece has been born, so I got to tell the world too (and have a cupcake). I messaged my sisters to brag that I have a new niece, and one sister messages back and ....
2. Tells me I have a new nephew too. She acquired a new (foster) son today! How often do you get to announce you're an auntie again twice over on the same day unless it is twins?!
3. I had two cupcakes. I had already had one in celebration of my new niece, so I had to have one in honour of my new nephew too. You can't play favourites.
4. One of my gorgeous friends checked in to see if the girls were well enough for her to have yet. I don't feel guilty about abandoning my babies on people if they offer. (Tink is still sick so I am keeping her, and Buglet hasn't been 100% and wants to go to the movies with a friend tomorrow. Mother-guilt also removed now I don't need her to babysit the Pixie. I try very hard not to exploit the big two).
5. One of the Pixie's God-fathers (aka the abovementioned friend's husband) picked her up so I got to have a coffee with him. Massive bonus because I haven't seen him in ages ...
6. ... and he fixed some random stuff on my computer which have been bugging me.
7. I have a wonderful work place ...
8. ... some clever person invented template letters which has made my life sooooo much easier today.
9. Another wonderful friend has had two job interviews, which makes me so happy.
10. Chocolate.
11. Text messages.
12. Winter nights that were made for pasta and a red wine and snuggly pyjamas (and my awesome new  pyjamas - I don't care that I have mentioned them before. I love them).



Random picture from the farm, because going to the farm just makes me happy.
I always come home relaxed and refreshed :)

However I would like to point out that it was a bit neglectful of my sister to wait until I tell her I have a new niece before she tells me I had a new nephew ... and then not give me any details for another couple of hours. Sisters!

Counting my blessings today, and some of them I am counting twice xx

Hot 'n' cold

"Mama, mama, I went to town, inside, outside upside down!". Does anyone else remember this line from the Berenstain Bears' book Inside, Outside, Upside Down? I adore that line! It always pops into my head in the middle of the chaos when I am balancing a million emotions all at once.

Pixie is very into singing at the moment. Yesterday she declared the theme song was in Hot 'n' Cold in honour of Buglet. She is such a caring sister sometimes.

I had a horrible scare with Buglet. She came in before I was even out of bed crying and telling me her legs weren't working and she was burning up on the inside.

I panicked.

My first instinct was to throw her in the car (possibly even literally even though she is almost my size), and take her to the hospital.

Buglet said no.

Alternative panic plan I called my mum. Lesson here is it doesn't matter how old your children are, or how old their children are, you are still their mother. I really need to remember this!

Mum very sensibly told me to call Health Direct, who were lovely as usual. After a trip to the doctor, I am happy to let you know she is ok.

I stayed home with her yesterday. I was supposed to be keeping an eye on Buglet, but instead I slept on the couch, admittedly with her, for three hours. She may not have been the only one who was sick. While I was sleeping Buglet amused herself at one point by taking pictures of me when I was asleep. I have taught them well! Very politely she asked me prior to putting them on facebook. I told you I have taught them well.

The bonus to being at home was that I was here to get the letter saying that Pixie has been accepted into the academic extension program at the big girls' high school.

If you missed the post about Pixie's application click here. You will see why I was a bit worried.

Pixie wasn't worried. She has kept asking about when the letter telling her she was going to high school would arrived.

I have also been a bit concerned about how high school will cope with Pixie. When I asked her what they were going to do with her, she very calmly told me that "They will put me in a room by myself and lock the door". Um ... I suppose that would be one method!

It has been stressing me out a bit because we don't live in that high school zone anymore, and I didn't really have a Plan B yet. Yes I do realise I keep saying there is always a Plan B ... and I know there would have been, but I hadn't worked it out yet.

Pixie's only concern has been that I expect her to be like Tink.

"It's not fair Mama. Everyone will expect me to be like Tink. I am only going to do the academic program. And music. I am not going to do soccer and be on the student council as well. I am lazy and that is too much for Pixies".

There is only one Pixie and there is only one Tink, and thank goodness for both these things!

But they are all wonderful. My random happy moment was Tink and Pixie both being super excited and insisting on taking pictures when we saw a double rainbow on the way home from school.

Have I mentioned recently that I love rainbows?

And to round out tonight's post nicely and evenly. A Buglet quote on Pixie's singing.

"I keep thinking that Pixie will just one day start singing like Daddy. But I think she has your voice Mum, and that is a shame".

Harsh, but true.

But long may all my babies continue to sing like no-one is listening, and long may it keep us all happy when everything else is inside and outside, hot and cold, and up and down.

Soccer sleepovers

I am not exactly sure how I became the sort of person who lets her children get up in the middle of the night to watch the World Cup. I never thought I would consider sport this important!

But I have become that person.

8 years ago I only knew the World Cup was on because one of my colleagues had an Italian husband.

4 years ago the only reason I remember the World Cup was because of those annoying horn things that featured (This is different to my facebook status, but I only had this realisation in the middle of last night).

Thanks to Tink, how things have changed this year! I am pretty sure I get "Mummy points" for caring!

It started because, as a supportive mother, I am taking an interest in it this year. Tink is in the soccer academy of excellence at her school so it feels important to support her interest in the World Cup. In particular she is being encouraged to watch the games Germany plays as that is the country she drew for the project they are working on at school.

Yesterday she negotiated being allowed to wake up in the middle of the night to watch a game.

Pixie convinced Tink to wake up and watch the French game with her. Pixie may not like soccer particularly but she does love all things French.

Pixie: Can I get up and watch too?
Me: But you don't like soccer.
Pixie: Oh yeah I forgot. But I don't like to be left out!
Goes running out of the room.
Pixie: Buglet!!! Are you going to get up at 2am and watch the French play soccer?
Buglet: You are kidding right?

That was last night. Apparently they missed the first bit, but watched the rest until the end.

This morning they were full of enthusiasm for what they saw. Tink was busily explaining to me how the whole thing works. I still don't understand, but she seemed to have her head around it. The World Cup I mean, not the actual game. She is going to draw me a diagram later; she thinks it will help.

Pixie is very enthusiastic about the number of yellow and red cards that were given out. Although, I don't know if she has any idea what they mean!

They came home and slept all afternoon, woke up for dinner, and are back in bed ready to watch the next game tonight. This will not be an every night think, but tonight is the German game Tink had originally wanted to watch. Buglet said they were amazingly ungrumpy this afternoon, I am pretty sure she would have told me if they were unbearable.

This how I watch soccer when the weather is nice. I am a bit more rugged up when the weather is cold ... but I must be developing some enthusiasm for the game in it's own right, and not just when Tink is playing, because I found myself watching the game that was on when I woke up with some interest.

Pixie is definitely a rat any time of the day though. One of the reasons I let them wake up last night was because I had an exam this morning so I could drop them off at school. This was her car chatter today ...

Pixie: Did you find my World Cup selfies?
Me: No?
Pixie: They're on your phone.
Me: I don't usually wake up and check my phone for random selfies.
Pixie: You should. I know your password.

As an added bonus, I have realised that the pile of washing I have to fold now today's exam is over will  have to wait another day. My babies have claimed the lounge for a soccer sleepover, and it is all in there. I would hate to wake them. Oh what a shame ;)

Bribery and corruption

Tomorrow I have two assessable practice hearings and that are worth a large percentage of my grades.

This is how I spent my day.

Morning was Tink's soccer. I only very rarely miss a game and that is either when I am away or I am driving another child somewhere. I figure if all I can do is be there, that is what I can do. I will learn the rules at some point so I know what is going on. Not until August though. Sometimes the games are for catching up with friends or family. Sometimes I study. Sometimes it is quiet time for me to read beforehand and during the breaks. It is always a chance to get some fresh air and often some sunshine.

Today the plan was to drop off Tink, then vacuum the car out and walk the dog while she warmed up.

In reality, I got there and realised we were early. Tink came with me to vacuum the car which was lucky because I forgot that Flip-Flop doesn't like vacuum cleaners. (In case you are wondering how I forgot, I never do the vacuuming. The girls tend to do that). Flip-Flop then got her walk, and I got a bacon and egg burger (another bonus to soccer days). Tink's team won 5-2. This is slightly awkward because I thought they drew 2 all. I was watching! I don't know how I missed that one. I do know what a goal is.

The other two don't always come with me. Pixie has to come if it is an away game, but usually the deal with Buglet is that if she doesn't come and watch her sister play if she does the dishes or something else that needs doing while I am out. I figure this is fair.

Pixie wasn't feeling well this morning so I left her at home with Buglet. This meant she slept in. She also had a nap with me when I came home from soccer. This meant she was feral this afternoon.

There is a fine line with our Pixie; too much sleep and she is impossible, and too little sleep and she is impossible.

That is how the following story occurred.

I had a naggy, whiny, annoying, bored child. I don't deal well with bored children especially when I am trying to study. I don't believe in being bored (except in exceptional circumstances) so they get very little sympathy from me.

The Pixie comes creeping up behind me, while I was trying to write submissions.

Me: You need to get out the house don't you?
Pixie: Flip-Flop just threw up.
Me: What?!
Pixie *sings*: Hush my Mama, don't you cry, Pixie's gonna make you feel better with pie. Not really but it rhymed. Pixie doesn't want Mama to be a stressaling.
Me: What happened?
Pixie: She just threw up. Grass and pancakes and stuff. Should puppies eat pancakes?

I bribed her with the rest of my study Twisties to leave me alone and be good for another hour, and clean up the vomit.

Pixie cleaned up the mess then proceeded to use some of the Twisties to try and bribe Tink to take her for a bike ride.

Tink: You just had to teach her about bribing didn't you.
Pixie *sternly*: Don't stressel Mama out or her assignment will go horribly wrong. Are you stresselled Mama?
Tink: If we walk to the shops can we pick out something for dinner all by ourselves? And then you can pick us up.

Tink took pity on me at this point. They walked to the shops so they could pick what they wanted and I met them there forty minutes later. I am not sure how they convinced Buglet to do it, but she is now cooking the dinner, and may I say it smells great.

Some days, this is how I do it: bribery and corruption, extreme sugar (for me) and whatever it takes to get me through.

Luckily I received a delivery package of emergency study supplies!

I know I keep saying it, but I am so, so, so thankful for the family and friends who are there to support me and keep me sane.

For those of you who are worried about my parenting, I am telling myself it is all about teaching them negotiation skills. I don't give in to whining. We also had a big conversation in the car about which vegies to get for snacks.

For those of you who are worried about my sugar levels, these are extreme study exceptions! I am not usually this bad.

For those of you who are worried about my lack of attention to concentrate on study, this is reasonable. Please keep your fingers crossed for me! 

Let them eat cake!

Today we finally had the Buglet's birthday party with her friends.

We went and saw Maleficent, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

There were some important life lessons learned though:

1. Organising a party is hard work when you can't pronounce the name of the movie. Even writing in the blog posts because I struggle so much it was hard to even copy it.
2. The Buglet has inherited her father's love of puns. So many "maligcifent" jokes. (If you don't get this, try pronouncing both words out loud. If you are still struggling refer to point 1 and know I am sympathising).

My proud moment of the day was predicting the end of the movie (clearly to myself in my head). I never get this right. This was also made even sweeter because DB had told the Pixie what he thought was going to happen and he was wrong. He is usually really good at not only predicting them, but also telling me just to make me mad. When he told me afterwards he'd picked the ending too, he was severely squashed by a Pixie pointing out that he'd been wrong. I will be claiming bragging rights about this one for a very long time.

Flashback moments
I had been looking forward to this movie a little bit more than usual, because Sleeping Beauty was the first movie I ever saw at the cinemas. Part of the reason I remember so clearly is because at the time we were living on a sheep station and Mum had given us the day of school so we could drive to the closest town to see it. Unfortunately she got her days mixed up and it wasn't showing that day. The story ends happily, we ended up seeing it in Adelaide when we went on a holiday. We sat in the front row and I still remember clutching my cousin's hand very tightly during the scary bits.

The girls were more interested in their first cinema experiences.

Dad took Buglet and Tink to their first movie. I am pretty sure it was to see Lilo and Stitch. They were 3.5 and 2 at the time and he took them with two of my sisters who were 9 and 6. I was little bit anxious about his ability to cope. I spent a lot of time reminding Buglet to tell her aunt if she needed to go to the toilet, and reminding Miss 9 to take her before they went into the theatre. I must have forgotten to explain what the movies were because Buglet's first comment when she got home was "Mummy! Did you know there is a big tv at the movies?!". Oops. I guess you can't cover everything.

Pixie's first real movie experience was Ice Age 2. The big two were going to their end of term excursion with Guides so DB and I decided to take Pixie too. Half way through the movies there was  a very loud exclamation of "Mama! Mama! Mama! There are two eflants!!!". There was lots of laughter. She was so excited. She loved elephants, but apparently hadn't really been following the story line! The rest of the cinema had realised there was two elephants about 10 minutes into the movie; if not before the movie started from seeing previews.

Facebook link in
Just in case you missed the Pixie's quote of the day, here it is .....

Pixie *big eyes*: I think Buglet is sad.
Me: Why is she sad?
Pixie: Because she didn't have a birthday cake.
Me: She did have a birthday cake.
Pixie *even sadder eyes*: Not with her friends.
Me: You wanting cake is not the same thing as Buglet being sad.

And just to be very clear, she has had cake! Miss 9 is now Miss (almost) 21 and made her a super yummy cake which we had at my parents' place. She requested icecream cake for at home on her actual birthday. Buglet also made cupcakes to take to dancing to celebrate.

Never let it be said that we don't take cake or birthday celebrations seriously. Now if you will excuse me, I am off to reminisce some more about my memories of my children and my sisters where they were little and cute.