July 20 -26

The school holiday fun continued with a nice week at home.

m- A sleep in and a PJ day!!! Who does not love PJ days. We played some games, watched some TV and played cars. We stayed in them ALL DAY!!!! We enjoyed a "special milk" (strawberry smoothie) and a toasted sandwich together too.

t- A very warm July day meant we went out to the park. You enjoyed riding your bike as you were becoming better at learning how to use the brake. You still managed to have 2 falls. One you went flying over the top into the muddy grass as your wheel clipped the gutter and the second a boy crashed into you and knocked you backwards. I am happy that you own a helmet. You also loved playing on the swings and flying fox. We ate hot chips at home in front of the TV...we were so relaxed.

w- Another sleep in followed by PJs to midday. It was another warm day so i did lots of washing and cleaning and we went for another bike ride in the afternoon. You were funny as you were worried we lost your house as we went a long way from home. We also got the oven fixed.

t- A morning of doing nothing except dancing in front of the TV and building lego houses. I cleaned and ironed. A visit to Dr Fulcher and a shop at IKEA and scraploot.

f- A sleep in of course!!!! then to the shops for some toysale items for presents. We bought Toy Story snap and playing it was difficult as you wanted to KEEP all the cards with your fav characters on them. We were in bed by 9am

s- I panicked as nothing was done on my holiday list of things to do. I cleaned a bit more and then we played out the front with dad. A nice BBQ for dinner. I did school work to the early hours of the morning.

s- Alanah's 9th birthday. A fun afternoon playing with all the kids and eating yummy food.
Sadly the holidays are over and we face 10 more weeks of routine!!!!!!!!! minus the week we will be on the Gold Coast.

3.5 exactly today

Today was Alanah's birthday and I know it is the day I can start saying your age plus the half.
Going with usual tradition i took lots of photos of our day today.

You at 3.5

You are a little superhero in training. You love to pretend to save people. You love Spiderman and Ben 10!!!!

You have learnt to quickly follow up anything naughty you do with a "sorry i am sooo soooorrryyy"to try and redeem yourself. If I don't see you do it and then I ask you about it you say "don't be cranky mummy don't be cranky".

You like to play memory and are very good at it. Snap is hard work as we play with Toy Story cards and you just want to keep your favourites.

You love to use my camera and have taken some great shots.

You are a charmer with phrases such as "I was sooo worried about you". "I am sooo glad you are back". "You are my best friend".

You have been known to growl at people??!!!! Sometimes your mood is very hard to predict.

You carry your Roary bag packed with your favourite toys around with you. You still sleep with lots of toys in your bed and have a quick play and chat with them before you fall asleep each night.

I love how you are affectionate to toys. You picked up Woody and said "Hi Woody did you have a good sleep?" "Penny I love you sooo much you are my favourite puppy."

Your hair is getting darker.

You are always saying "We need to buy that one" if you see something you like. There is always something being ASKED for or added to the Santa list!!! You try very hard to negotiate.

Everyone says they love your laugh.

You are not tooo excited or talkative about the baby on the way. You want a scooter not a brother or a sister.

You are funny and exaggerate any story.

You long for Christmas. You will watch a Santa DVD and ask "when will it be Christmas time again".

You are 95cm tall and weigh 16kg.

Today was a cold July day so we lazed around the house until we needed to get ready for Alanah's birthday party. We took some Russell shots before we left and then it was party time. All the kids had a ball in the back of Uncle Mark's boat, the big kids were pretending to water ski and you were the driver and also loved pulling in the ropes. It was a great afternoon. You ate your sausage on a roll plus some of mine and then enjoyed a massive piece of chocolate cake. All you wanted to do was join in the big kids games and followed them all over the house. You were tired towards the end and easily frustrated. Tyler and you enjoyed a few testy NO I am boss moments". You crashed as soon as we got in the car but as I tried to put you in to bed you decided 15 minutes sleep was enough and insisted on catching up with some TV! tantrum city...brushing your teeth was messy and an anger out burst saw a cup of water thrown over the floor. Off to bed at 9.30.....I wonder how you will wake as the school holidays are OVER and it is back to routine this week!!!!!!!

my story teller

my little exaggerator. What comes out of your mouth sometimes makes me want to have a paper and pen handy constantly.
Today we were on top of the hill in our street on your bike and I said if you used the brake you could slowly go down the (smaller) hill. You suddenly jumped off and said
"No way, if I fall I will hit my head and blood will go on the ground.....then I will hurt my arms too and they will fall off and then I will cry and I wont be able to eat my dinner".

Speaking of dinner you eat most things and are rarely fussy but when it comes to dinner unless it is meat you don't eat it. I served lasagna tonight and when you saw it it screamed loudly and ran the other way.


love you Max you are one in a million.xxxxxx

July 13 - 19

Adding 2 more things to my LIST - photography homework and school work...wow with 4 days left i might never get through the first few going on the lazy day I have had today!!!!!

The holidays are HERE...YIPPPEEEEE

m- food shopping and a good house tidy. Max got his dream toy today for doing big arms at swimming and fantastic backstroke, so he spent the day with his beloved "Roary apart".

t-A PJ day and I cleaned the laundry from top to bottom. the dryer had left marks on the wall and DUST was THICK in places so a good scrub down left it NICE!!!! Karen and Mark came over with the kids after dinner and the kids played while we had dessert. Max was funny as he ran into the kitchen screaming "Guys guys...there is something wrong with Alananh" we all were ready to RUN to her aid when he finished with "she has stopped playing with me".

w- Shopping, medicare, clothes shopping, chores and lots of relaxing in front of the TV on a cold winters day.

t- a nice lunch with Alison, Narelle and the kids.

f- Karen's wedding, a great play and photography session in the park and a great night out at the wedding partying with the bonnyrigg crew. I was exhausted by the time I crawled into bed at 12.30.

s- a sleep in, picked up Max and I had a bad headache so we had a nap that lasted from 2-6pm!!!!! We Both stayed up to 1am!!!!

s- Watched Tayla play soccer, visited Gill, Bren and baby Cooper and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Mark and Karen's.

a page and a list

this is the ONE 12x12 I managed at the retreat...I will photograph the 8.5x11s soon.
Since I have been sleeping in and not getting much done these holidays I NEED to get a wriggle on as time is sadly slipping away.
Ten things I need to achieve after getting a few things done today, including booking our Gold Coast holiday and applying for long service leave.

organise DVD preschool fundraiser
pay all bills and start tax organisation
clean out the drawers downstairs
get as much as possible done on Max's quilt
sort and print photos
shop and find some new shoes for me
start cleaning out Max's old room
have some time out at the park and seeing friends
clean and iron the usual daily grind I have to keep on top off
buy and install a new oven

july 6 to 12

A 5 day working week...........tough !!!! but I needed to be there for planning days and it saved me a sick day.
I had no internet and then Telstra failed to keep their booking and then stuffed me around on the phone.
Brendon and Gill had a baby boy - Cooper.
We said goodbye to Robyn at BPS...a sad assembly!!!!! the hunt was on for new staff and the process consumed a lot of my time.
Max had a ball at A's 5th birthday.
We got Foxtel hooked up and SO begins my addiction to reality TV.
We went to visit baby Hayley and Max and Nathan played really well. Then a nice dinner at Charlotte's house ended a good weekend

A much needed catch up

it is DUE but I have tooo much to do.

I have just taken a break from a major toy cleaning and sorting rampage and as I WORK I am getting frustrated with myself as I think of more things I need to do. I have 14 days OFF, lots of housework, lots of school work and a need for some R and R too.

Some random things I want to say right now

I am LOVING my camera at the moment thanks to fabulous Janine Kaye, and the BEST news is I will be upgrading as a combined birthday, Christmas, 10th wedding anniversary pressie this oct/Nov, soooooo can't wait. I will post more on my fab weekend with Janine soon.

I had a great time away with 29 scrappers last weekend. I organised a weekend away and we had a ball by the open fire and Alison would truely do well on Survivor if she could take her ipod and running shoes. I am now addicted to glimmermist, an addiction I DON'T NEED. thanks girls for a fab weekend. More about that too. lol

I took some great shots today at a 5th birthday party, can't really share without parents permission, but I got some of the best indoor McDonalds party room shots with NO flash.

i am 16 weeks pregnant and need to start thinking of names other than Frederick, which I adore but no one else does. lol

my son OWNS toooooo many toys. And if he does not learn to start putting them away using my organisation system they will start to find the otto quick smart.

I get foxtel tomorrow thanks to EOFYS.

ok back to cleaning, then I am going to make a list and get stuck into the millions of things I need to DO.

june 29 to July 5

Max loves to wear socks on his hands to keep his fingers warm.
I had a terrible back ache and woke up feeling horrible on Monday so I rang in sick. I went off for a massage and while I waited got some photos printed for the upcoming scrap weekend away.
Happy EOFYS!!!!
At 12.01am on Thursday I took myself off to the BIG W toysale and had a very relaxed shop compared to years gone by. I got all things "hidden" and was in bed by 2am. Which meant i slept in on my day off to 9.30am!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then on Friday I packed up the car and we headed off to a scrapping weekend away at Long Point. It was a fantastic group of ladies new and old friends had a great time together. I stayed up way to late and did barely nothing.....4 months of Max's 07 album and i LO!!!!! i adore my scrapping buddies and I am a bit sad I only took one photo. A massive thanks to the girls who came along and I cant wait to do it next year.
I got home to NO INTERNET as Milly chewed the box and cables off the wall!!!

june 22 - 28

Ironically I do a photography course and have no time to practice. Max took 6 photos this week...lots of me looking shocking in my PJs. We had a Russell photo shoot and that is it. It was a week consumed by reports. I went to my OB and all was OK. I have been getting headaches and my back/neck are killing me. All that report marking. On Friday night I went to bed at 8.50pm and woke at 8.50am...report avoidance I call it....all that rest did not help my aching body..I was still very sore.

June 09

• You growled at the preschool photographer and made the teachers giggle!
• You love to count in all crazy ways 1-3-7-8-9 “I do it fast mum”.
• When we were in the line at Woolworths you wanted a chocolate milkshake. I had to wait in line and you kept asking. I told you that you could go and buy it yourself (I could see Donut King from where I was standing)….I thought you would not do it but you took the money and shocked me. The lady behind me was shocked too and watched our trolley while I followed you. I watched as you just pushed in front of the crowd and called out “excuse me I want a chocolate milkshake” trying to throw the money at the man behind the counter. You were sooooo cute.
• You are so loving and I adore how you say sweet things to me – “mum I was so worried about you”, “Mum can you be my best friend” and “I love you and I want to eat you up”.
• When asked if you want a brother or sister you say “I want a scooter”.
• You love licorice and ask for it all the time.
• You take an interest in monsters and ask if there are any around. You whisper alot when you talk about them and say "mum, look a monster is downstairs, go get it"
• You have developed a love for toy guns... I have no idea where but rough play is a new interest of yours. You are always asking for gun.
• For 3 months you have only worn your black VANS, you love your "black shoes" and freak out if I suggest you wear any other shoes.
  

june 15 -21

one of those weeks when you just say "I must have killed a **%*###*" over and over again.

My wonderful day care lady was ripped away...it left me with stress, questions and anger at the law that someone not related to you CAN'T look after your child. All in all it will be worked out and things will at SOME point get back to routine. We love Linda and I have just over 20 weeks left at work, it is flu season, all the good long day cares are full so the knowledge that ONE DAY things will get back to normal is worth it as I am not putting my child in a crappy long day care for 20 weeks.

My oven then blew up - ever tried grilling nuggets - man I never thought I could miss an oven sooooo much.

I pulled all my stomach muscles and was in a lot of pain for 3 days too, still dragged myself to school when I really should have rested.

I spent hours on the phone to DOCS and my solicitor trying to argue points. waste of time. My solicitor told them to go and fight real crime and help the kids in REAL need.....sooooo true.

Some good things did happen this week. Max finally washed his own hair and did not scream the house down when we rinsed it. When we went to Aldi he INSISTED on a chocolate cake for afternoon tea. He then wanted a candle for his "birthday cake" and he proceeded to sing happy birthday to himself. TOOO cute.

THEN my weekend was mine, off to Janine's for a 2 day photography workshop. LOVED LOVED LOVED it. When I got home I was sad I had no time to practise and needed to make lunches and iron. thanks Janine, what a great way to end a crappy start to the week.

June 8-14

• A public holiday (gotta love them). Rest and ironing!!!
• PINK in concert......a great night...... shame it was a school night!
• The coldest day of the year so far...a chilly 13degrees all day.
• A 2 day Aboriginal conference for school which was great fun.
• Friday off school because I went in on my day off. I should have rested for a big weekend ahead but NO I decided to go into the stitches and craft show to get some fabric for a quilt I WANT to make.
• Karen's fantastic jewellery party.
• Karen G's kitchen tea.
• Max had a 4th birthday party
  
  

PINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was told how FANTASTIC she was live but WOW WOW WOW. I think my feelings could be summed up the following day when a male friend said to me "I would marry her, leave my wife for her" and I said "I would marry her she was that HOT"..........in everyway this lady has it. I had a great night with the girls, it took me hours to unwind and stop singing her songs in my head before I slept that night. Look at the photo she sings while falling, swinging and spinning . A total pocket-rocket who put on a fantastic 2 hour show.

June 1-7

• Max still very sick on Monday and Tuesday ......lucky I could get my mum to come and stay ((very upset with people that take their children to family day car sick for at least 2 weeks running)).
• Preschool committee meeting - I am organising a pie drive....yum!!!!
• Planning week at school......tooo much to do but I was allowed to swap my days to suit the planning timetable so I got Friday off.....a four day long weekend.
• Max and I walked many blocks as he wanted to find the home ice cream man.....when he found him he even insisted on carrying the boxes up the steep hill home.
• Darren went out with 10 mates from high school, crawled home at 4am. I did not sleep well and had some horrible dreams that I had food poisoning.
• Max and I went to Sophie's princess/pirate party.....yummy food and a gorgeous cake!!!!
• Darren cooked us another nice roast for the 3rd week in a row....love ya honey.SOOO much planned to do on my 4 day long weekend but not much at all done except washing and ironing.
  Max is getting so hard to capture on film, he moves too quick!!!! We missed another month of Russell shots due to illness and a massive mosquito attack on his face and arms.....grrrrrr!!!!!

can you believe it is June already ????

where did all the time go??

On Sunday Max saw this trailer on Sunrise and he was sad I could not "make it happen again" so here you go little buddy. WOW in a year I am going to be very excited about this movie, i have become a toy story nut like my son..........but lets not wish the next 12 months away shall we!!!! lol Oh and he did not notice his FAV Weezy was not there, his voice died in a car crash.....I hope they bring Weezy back or how will I EVER get Max a Weezy toy as it is the only one he does not own in triplicate.



I will be catching up on all my posts when this 4 day working week is over as I have Friday off for 2 weeks YAY, WHAT a cool long weekend this week!!!!!!

May 25 to 31

Education day. BBQs. Teaching. Rain. Max had his preschool photos. We went to Dr Fulcher for my first check-up.

It was tooooo cold and rainy, brrrrrrr. A sleep deprived night on Thursday as Max had fevers. I was going to call in sick but I had to go in as I needed to open up as bossman was away sick.....after a long drive to get school keys, I arrived at school flustered and ready for a nap, nothing I had planned got done and I drove some children home that missed the bus ...happy to get away as the day had not been easy.


Max was at home with my mum all day and was feeling very sick. After a trip to the doctor we found out he had an infection in each ear and a throat infection. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday inside. We had a nice roast pork dinner with Karen, Mark and the kids and then it was off to mark my schools Maths programs, I went to bed way tooo late for a Sunday night.

SCRAPLOOT CYBERCROP

Tomorrow night I REALLY should be marking programs and starting my report checking...i really, really, really SHOULD but will I???

When all I want to do is cybercrop and chat at scraploot. DON'T tell on me please!!!!!

Check out the Scraploot blog for the details.

May 18 to 24

• Up early for school photos, nothing NICE to wear, grrrr.
• Darren attacked at work.
• SICK day just needed for rest, I was feeling off.
• Shopped lots and got a new pandora bead and it cleaned....yummy!!!!!
• 9 weeks pregnant and to bed at 9pm on a friday night.
• Lucas' 3rd birthday at the play centre, WHAT a cool cake. Poor Max spent the day chasing Lucas around as he had tooo much to do, left the place crying as he wanted to see his friend more and see his pressies.
• A nice afternoon bike riding around Poppy's street. A proud moment as Max rode up and down a footpath for the first time.

things you say

Yes you talk a lot and make me laugh LOTS

Last week you were devastated when the pedal fell off your bike and you asked me to fix it, I said I couldn't and you would have to wait for daddy. You persisted and did it. I was proud of you and told you that you were clever. You nodded and screamed
"Yes I did it, I am a tool like daddy!!!! YAY"

Yesterday you told me "I am going to crack you like an egg and eat you up"

You always ask about Christmas and last week said
"Mum get all the Christmas stuff down and make it Christmas again. I like Christmas, no I LOVE it and I want it NOW".

a catch up

thanks to all my wonderful blog friends for your congrats and kind words....


A layout....done a few weeks ago YES, but I plan on getting back into scrapbooking as soon as I have to stop going to bed at 9.30 pm.

My buddy Kylie and I have been busy organising a retreat at the beautiful Long Point, I have been meaning to post here about it forever....our small retreat of 15 mates grew and grew and we had to find a bigger venue......there are about 2-3 spaces left. Roll on July 3-5 when 30 ladies take over the hall and party (and scrap too) with the roar of the open fire and over 500 songs on the ipod....so if you want to join us be quick......I will email you more details. (belindamax@hotmail.com).

off to catch some more z's