three's a crowd...

Friday Favourite 7.12.12

"this is our rainbow house Mummy"

Sun Sea Crab and Me

Austin also had stage time last week at his schools end of year concert. 

His class and another kindy class combined to put on a skit based on a book they had read called 'Sun Sea Crab and Me'. They have been practising hard all term and Austin was one of the narrators so he had a LOT of lines to learn. When the night finally arrived he was so excited to perform, there was no fear or nerves in sight, he just wanted to get up there, do his thing and have fun with his friends - which he did.

his school doesn't have a big enough hall to fit all the parents in so they have their concerts at the local high school,  I made him pose for a picture outside the sign of course

Austin leading the lifeguards (narrators) as they march onto stage

we were in the front row and he sees us at this stage (most probably blinded by my flash)

dancing to Rock Lobster at the end

Friday Favourite 30.11.12

summer nights in the city

Chinese Doll

Lily had her first ballet concert last Sunday. And boy what an eye opener it was for me with my non-dancing background. Extra practice EVERY Saturday morning for 5 weeks, dress rehearsals, stage make up, hairnets, lots of hairspray, special beige underwear and a huge crowd of parents, dancers and helpers all doing their bit. I couldn't believe how professional it was - and how much hard work the dancers and teachers all put in! 

Lily had an absolute ball, she loves being on stage and especially loved being around the older dancers - even Austin was in awe when he saw one in a proper tutu, he whispered "Look mum, it's a real ballerina". 

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the actual performance yet because we weren't allowed to take any, so these were taken outside and on the dress rehearsal day. The performance was adorable, imagine 20 of these little cuties all on stage together, completely uncoordinated of course.

my first attempt at make-up, not so easy with a 3 year old. I quickly decided we would have to skip the eyeliner

backstage preparations

Friday Favourite 23.11.12

for you Michelle . . .

Since I haven't blogged in ages I thought I'd take up my cousin on her challenge to post a favourite photo each week, surely I can manage one photo a week, even if it isn't technically Friday.

So here's my photo of the week

I love the expression on Lily's face here, it captures her crazy little personality perfectly. One of Lily and Austin's favourite little games at the moment is to take turns racing down the path at speed, wobbling and squealing away on purpose - then they crash into the hedge at the end. Fun hey???

more soccer

Austin started summer soccer on Thursday. It's a really fun and festive short comp which is played in the late afternoon which I love - it means it doesn't take over our weekends. He's playing in under 7's which was a big step up in terms of the speed of the game and it was the first time he's played with goalies and proper markings on the field. It was so go go go that I got tired just watching them. In the end they drew the game 3-3, he was shattered afterwards but he absolutely loved it, and as an added bonus he went to bed early without complaint . . . bliss.

cooking lessons

Lately Lily has taken a real interest in what I do in the kitchen and wants to help (or hinder) all the time. The other day I started another one of my numerous health kicks and decided to make a big batch of this Mexican style coleslaw which is really yummy - and I'm not normally a big fan of cabbage or regular coleslaw. So the food processor came out and Lily was all over it, giggling and saying to the vegetables "you go down you".

best cousins

Since we moved from Bundeena Austin and Alex (and Lily and Erin) don't get to see each other as much as they used to. But when they do get together they slip straight back into the old days - their special bond is as strong as ever no matter how far apart they are which is lovely to see.
So when Alex came over to our house the other day for a sleepover you could not wipe the smile from Austin's face - he was so happy! Alex was pretty excited himself and kept going on about going to Pirate Mini Golf, (which we'd gone to last time he slept over), so of course we had to go...                                                                                                                                                                                              

enjoying a healthy breakfast of milkshakes and banana bread - sorry Linda...

Concentration

Woohoo!!!!

we take our mini golf very seriously...

mini golf in true Lily style...

Ice Creams after all their hard work on the course ( I promise he didn't eat junk the whole weekend Linda...)

our little MVP

Austin had his end of year soccer presentation yesterday. He was so excited to go, from the time he woke up it was "is it time to go yet, how much longer Mum?? (and the presentation only started at 3pm) - because he knew he was going to get his first ever trophy. At under 6's, the first year of soccer, they all get a plaque with space on it to add a badge for every year afterwards they play (very clever - so you don't end up with heaps of trophies collecting dust). 

We eventually got there and he lined up with his team to wait. When it was their turn to go up he was super excited to get his plaque and would have been quite happy with just that. But then they announced his name as the most valuable player - he seemed a bit shocked at first but his smile just said it all, he was the happiest boy in the world. 

Just as they announced his name "Yes that's me..."

checking out his trophies

Happy boy

And on the way home all he could talk about was how he couldn't wait to get to school and show his trophies to his classmates for news....

if you go down to the woods today...make sure you wear your sports uniform

Austin had a Teddy Bears Picnic at school on Tuesday, it's something they do every year for the Kindergarten's and causes much excitement. They each take a plate of food to share, a blanket and their favourite teddy and go across the road to the park for a few hours of teddy fun and games.

After Austin's birthday and party I was a little jaded, so I was just going to send him with a box of tiny teddys but at the last minute I decided I couldn't do that so I rushed off to the shops at 7pm the night before to buy the milky way bars, smarties and chocolate to make these cute little teddy cars I'd googled. They were easy to make but took way longer than I thought they would because I had to keep re-melting the chocolate as I could only make 6 before it went hard   (I had to make 24). It was another late night for me...

...but it was worth it to see his face the next morning when he spotted them, is there anyone who loves sweet stuff more than my boy???

I put this note in so I can remember this story in my old age but the note says they must wear their school uniform. Now Austin has sport on a Tuesday which means sports uniform which I thought would be fine, but Austin was adamant that "Mrs Parker told us Mum" that they must wear their proper uniform. He wasn't to be convinced otherwise and in the end who am I to argue with Mrs Parker??? I was going to bring the sports uniform just in case but in the last minute rush out the door (ok trying to get him to pose for the above photo) I left it behind.

So as we are walking into school we pass one of his classmates wearing sports uniform and I can feel Austin stiffen slightly, and as we get closer to his classroom and we see more of his friends all wearing sports uniform he becomes more anxious until he eventually comes to a complete stop and bursts into tears. My poor little rule-abiding boy, he can't handle the thought of doing the wrong thing, having the wrong thing or being in the wrong uniform. I tried to calm him down and tell him I'd go home and bring his sports uniform back but he wasn't having that, by this stage the bell had gone and his teacher came over to see what was wrong. I told her and asked if I could take him home and get him changed which she agreed with straight away - I'm sure the last thing she wanted to deal with was a hysterical child.  

So we went home, got him changed and dropped him back at school - and all was right in Austin's world again...

Father's Day

Fathers Day!!! It's like Mothers Day, a silly money making day and I don't really see the point but hey if anything it's a nice excuse to get together with family. We met up with Mum, Dad, Linda and the kids (Shaun was in the UK) in Marrickville to take Dad out for an early dinner. Dad likes what he likes and doesn't cope well with weird, unusual or 'foreign' food. So it was back to the local Chinese (not that weird Thai or Vietnamese food girls) for Short Soup, San Choy Bow, Curried Prawns and Beef and Black Bean. And surprisingly it was a great meal, as much as we mock my Dad there is definitely something comforting about those dishes we grew up with. Plus the kids behaved themselves which is always a bonus - thanks to Linda who came well prepared with snacks and colouring in.

Happy Fathers Day Dad - you are the most loving, gentle, generous and hard working man I know - thanks for everything you do for us and thanks for just for being you - love you so much. xo

The gorgeous Zack looking pleased with himself - first time in a highchair

Dad with all his grandkids

first freckles...

...two weeks of Bali sunshine and swimming and this was the result - look at all of her freckles....

...and two days of being back to a Sydney winter and this was the result - red, chaffed lips and chin. 

Time to give up the dummy I know, but I just can't bring myself to do it, she still loves it so so much.

fire...

We bought one of those cheap fire pits at Aldi a few weeks back and have had such fun with it. The kids love it of course and Austin takes great interest in the whole set up and tending to the fire, probably just making sure its perfect for his marshmallows later on...

There's nothing like a fire, red wine, marshmallows and some stargazing on a cold crisp night - it makes winter just a little bit bearable... 

ballet 'concert'

Lily started baby ballet a couple of months ago but as they don't allow the parents to watch (they say they get too distracted) we had no idea what she had been learning or how she was doing. But on the last day of term they let the parents sit in to watch a little 'performance'. 

It was sooooo funny and cute...

Trying to do the splits like 'Miss Melissa'

In typical lily fashion she was swinging from the barre about 10seconds before this and got told to stop, hence the sheepish look on her face.

Warning: this is 4min long and a 'grandparents only' kind of video

Winter???

Anyone that knows me well enough will attest to me being quite the whinger when it comes to winter and cold weather!!! But not even I could find anything to complain about the last few days, it's been so beautiful, warm and sunny. Yesterday the kids even got the paddling pools and hose out and had a great old time spraying eachother and pretending it was raining...

Schoolboy

So we've come to the end of another term already, and it's time for some more firsts...first school photos and first reports...

Ahh the smile that's not really a smile...was gutted when I opened this, I really wanted to see that gorgeous gap!!!

KJP

I was so disappointed with the report, not because of its content because he did really well, but it's all just so impersonal and politically correct, and sounds like a computer program has written it. I know it's showing my age but I prefer the old-school style reports, where teachers told you if you were hopeless or if you were brilliant and what you needed to work on.

The only thing he is hopeless at - using a computer  - I had to laugh, sorry Brian!!!

Excellent efforts for PE and Art - surprise surprise - not!!!

Well done Scubba, we are so proud of you and the way you've taken school life completely in your stride. You have made so many new friends, you love your teachers and you absolutely love going to school. You work so hard and we are amazed by how much you have grown and learnt in the last few months. xo