School holidays. yay

Including weekends, I have 10days off for these holidays (broken in 2 5day blocks).

So far we have planned a play date with a beloved old friend, a trip to see a play at the Sydney Children's Festival and a pyjama day.

I think we shall also squish in a visit to the Maritime Museum and some ten-pin bowling.

Hmm, really must actually sit down and plan out the fun stuff.

Ohai!

I was again reminded that I had been neglectful about keeping this blog updated.

So, since Easter, we have;

• Melted from cute at Oliver presenting at the school assembly (the 4 presenters did such a good job. Squee)

• Enjoyed Festival (camping with capes as it's referred to) but in a 'it was completely fine but not super duper wonderful' kinda way. The kids all dressed in their matching-but-different outfits was very cool I may have a natural abhorrence for matchy outfits, but I do like the effect when kids do it :) It has made me extra glad we'd already decided to not go to Festival next year though. Will be really nice to have a break and get a bit of SCA mojo back.

• Having said that, we have been to one or two SCA events and they have been fun.

• Continued on quest of minor house improvements. Small things like putting some hooks in the bathroom and re-jigging the backyard slightly.

• Had many delightful chats and moments and dinners and drinks with friends.

• Been glad that friends have returned from overseas.

• Been sad that friends have moved or returned overseas.

• Enjoyed the community that is our street and the marvellous people who live in on it. I feel grateful that we live here.

• Enjoyed the community that is our group of friends and the many and varied people that that involves. I feel very grateful that I am a part of it.

• MrNw has had his birthday and we've celebrated being married for 9 years. Yay.

• Stampy has gotten thinner despite eating 3times what she used to. Still isn't dead yet though. I think she just likes making us fret and costing us money.

• Seen shows, done school holiday activities, been to birthday parties and school events and generally enjoyed ourselves. Have also had crappy days and been bored and sad and cranky and meh and all that other stuff that goes with life, but it's more than completely balanced out by the good stuff.

• Oh and bought a real camera so there is some hope of me remembering to put photos onto flickr, rather than going straight from my phone to facebook because I'm lazy.

mmmlazy.

Awww. Oliver is one if the presenters at the Easter assembly at school tomorrow morning.

I suspect I shall melt from the cute.

Newsy news news

So, it's been, ummm, a while

Torbyboy is still loving school. He has thrived and is learning stuff and making friends and is usually exhausted at the the end of each day but a snack when we get home and a bit of quiet time with his lego or something, fixes all that.

After-school care seems a bit hit and miss for him. Some days he loves it and doesn't want to leave and others not so much. It's the same people all week and it's at school and there's lots of kids to play with etc so I'm not sure why he changes his mind. Maybe the different activities they do? Maybe it's the fact that being at home with me and the tv and the lego and the computer (no, not all at once) is more fun as far as he's concerned? Who knows. Thankfully he doesn't hate it and always seems happyish when I pick him up so I don't have to feel super bad about it.

His reading will be tested again this week and he may go up another level. He's currently 5 or 6 levels above what they say most kids start at but how real is that?. Is this normal? Is it completely abnormal? Is it neither? I wish it wasn't rude to ask other parents what level their kid is at. It's not a judging or a competition thing, I just want to know what's standard. His teacher and I have spoken about the fact that he needs to work on his writing and slowing down when he reads aloud (that's certainly gotten a lot better).

I love that he will often go play with the other street kids when we get home (well, I get home and he has already stopped at someone's house or on the street) or makes up games with other kids in the school yard. Yay for conquering the shy!

Other than meltdowns every now and again because he's ratted after school (Not! Tired!) I've been enjoying our afternoons of him lounging on the floor playing Lego (he lurves building a thing, ripping it apart and building it again. Precious precious instructions must be followed) and making up stories and generally being cute and clever and cheeky. Although I do wish he wouldn't answer any question about what he did at school with 'I don't remember'

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Am going on a girly adventure to Melbourne with MissJimmy. Squee! The reason for the adventure is to see 'Mary Poppins' and hang out. Extra squee. Is a bit sad how much I suspect I'll miss my boys though (see above for how cute Oliver is being at the moment). I shall valiantly distract myself with good company and food and maybe a beverage or two and reminders that it's less than 36 hours away. I'm a big sook sometimes.

I had a birthday that was lots of fun despite me being too useless to organise anything.
Thankfully Megzz n Smurg and M&J organised stuff for me and I didn't spend my birthday weekend moping because I was too useless to organise anything. No, not being useles wasn't an option apparently. Thankfully am less useless at the moment. The fact that people (especially the lovely husband) didn't stab me during my period of feebleness is a minor miracle.

Torbyboy was wrecked yesterday when I picked him up from after-school care. Burst into tears upon seeing me and the clung like a limpet for about 5 minutes kind of wrecked.

We walked home to the whines and moans of protest as I suggested that he was too tired to play on computer when we got home and that a movie and a bath and early bed was the plan.

We got home, I denied him something and again suggested that he was a bit over-tired so he flounced off to his room and slammed the door. I marveled that he was being quiet instead of howling about the injustice of it all.
A few minutes passed and I went in to see how he was and give hugs and kisses and lure him out, only to discover that he'd fallen asleep on the floor.

Not
Tired
!

I took his shoes and shorts off and put him into bed (to the muttered sleepy cries 'I don't need sleep') and left him there with the hopes that he would sleep through.

Nope.

Woke up at 7:00, had some dinner, had a bath and then back to bed at 8:30.

He's now awake (I knew the sleep-in was too much to hope for) but his eyes are no longer red with black circles so I count it as a victory of sorts.

So..

So, I have had a minor headache for the last few days because I have been living in air conditioning and artificial light
However, I am so very very grateful that we have aircon in the house and can block out enough of that nasty nasty sunlight that it makes a difference and that my work involves sitting at a desk in a temperature controlled office. Oh and not living in FNQ or, indeed, any part of the world that is being cycloned or flooded.

So, I stood up for the bulk of today and my back and feet really hurt and I'm oh so ratted because of it.
However, the end product was a not overly stressful or heat inducing dinner for guests (or me). Oh how I love a dinner that is mostly done in advance (dumplings from cunning asian shop, summer rolls w/ prawns - ahah! flavoring the vermicelli ala Nigela 'forever summer' makes for extra tastiness - , sesame soba noodles with prawns and saladiness with duck {from the duck shop} and Etonesque mess for dessert) and thusly, more time spent chatting with people.Yay!

So, I am a smidge squiffy and may regret this squiffiness in the morning when the munchkins wake up at oh-god-kill-me o'clock.
However, I have had a lovely night and my brain is restored for another week and I cooked stuff and I have an airconditioned living room to sleep in and all is good with the world/

Torbyboy is all growned up and off to big school now

well, the first day of school went really well.
He's all excited by being a big boy and getting to learn stuff, I didn't cry too much and he came out of the classroom very happy and wanting to come back. He even got a sticker for his efforts in tidying up.
Victory!

There's a few photos and video on Flickr for those that have access.

The walking down and back to get pick him up was fairly brutal in this heat. I really am so very grateful that we have aircon.

Adventurerers R us

Yesterday, the munchkin and I had adventures.
We went to see The Charlie and Lola Best bestest Play at the Opera House. He loved it and so did I. They had puppets of C&L and SorenLorenson that had that very flat look from the show and 4 actors manipulating the puppets as well as generally acting and being part of the show. There was enough going on to keep the kids (and adults) entranced for the hour and it was very well done,.
Because we got there early, we did a loop around the Opera House and admired the water and the view in general and noted how sweltering it would get later.
Afterwards we went up to the info desk so Torby could get his Kids Adventure Passport stamped. The passport is an initiative by the NSW Govt to get kids to go see stuff. There are 17things included for Sydney and you can get a stamp at each one. Get 3 stamps and you get a certificate etc. So, the Opera House was one and there's the Art gallery and Old Govt. House and The Powerhouse etc etc etc. I read about it and ordered one for Torby. He gets to pick a place for us to go on the weekend or on Monday.

I'd heard cool stuff about the installation in the Opera House forecourt called 'Mirazozo' and the line was quite short after the play finished so we decided to go in. Oh so very very cool. I could have spent a lot longer in there but it was hard to convince the munchkin of the joy of lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. He did like it though.

After exiting that, he decided to walk through the Botanic Gardens. Hot, sweltery but quite lovely. Loved seeing the groups of picnickers all huddled about in the shade of the big trees.

I decided that a gelato and getting the train home from Circular Quay Station was the best thing to do (being in an underground station would have resembled a circle of hell I suspected) and I was right. Cooling gelato, nice breezes off the harbour as we waited. Perfect!

Home involved having a nap on the couch in the aircon while Torby watched new Charlie & Lola DVD and Nw (who had sensibly returned home after dropping us in town) played computer games. Mmmmmm aircon.

The afternoon saw us meeting at M&J's house to then all trot down together to the Australia Day Festivities at Enmore Park (aka KT's party).
Shade was found to set-up camp in and the children ran around, went on rides, visited the police (water guns to cool the kids off and a car to clamber through) and the SES (sunscreen for people to use and a truck for the kids to muck about in as a reward for getting sunscreen on.) and got giiiiinormous icy drinks in strange bottles to drink and generally had a hoot. They were all bright red (mostly from the heat rather than the sun) and grotty by the end. Yay!

Despite the steeeeeenky heat , it was a pretty good way to spend a day if you ask me.



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Lucky Nw

Pretty much every morning since he could walk and talk, Torby has woken one of us up (usually Nw on a weekday) by running down the hallway, leaping onto the bed, delivering a kiss and a hug and then shouting 'wake up dad/ mum'.
Pulling the covers off the lucky person is also a big favourite.
It's a pretty entertaining way to start the day (especially now that we've taught him that it can only happen after 7am)

Poor poor neglected blog

Christmas happened and was awesome.
New Years happened and it was awesome.
The week in between was ...wait for it .. awesome. Lots of seeing people and hanging about with friends and family.
I think I've just about recovered from the food, drink and social overload.

Torby has a month of preschool before big school starts and we're all very excited. Well, I'm excited, Nw's kinda excited and munchkin ranges between excited and not wanting to go, but mostly the former.

I'm doing work out at Parramatta for a few weeks...Yay more money and having enough work to do and Boo for the extra travel time and switching of trains and not being at my own desk etc.

Have applied for a job in *gasp* private sector. Really want it but am trying to not think about it too much as my head will explode if I do.

Now, to haul myself off to work to be useful so they'll keep paying me. Dammit!

1 sleep to go, 1 sleep to go

Wheeee! 1 sleep to go!
aaand I only have to be at work for half the day today.
aaaaand I'm just waiting for the munchkin to wake up to open the last box on the advent calender. His excitement over it all is the bestest part of the morning.

Now, the chanaces that I will blog again (I know, I know, I've been so very prolific this year) before Christmas are very slim, soooo......

Have a very very very lovely Christmas and I hope you get to spend it with whoever makes you happiest.

Mwah!

Last week was lurgy week. Like shark week, but with less amphibious mammals.

Home for the week with a throat full of razors and wondering how I got hit by a truck without noticing.
However, the week also contained Torby's birthday and associated dinner and celebrations (sooo many cupcakes were made) and a lovely dinner with the daycarer of awesomeness and the amazing friend we have made through that connection.
Was deelightful to have such nice reasons to drag my sorry arse off the couch.

The weekend was all about The Annual Chrissie Pissie (hurrah)and taking the munchkin and the nieces in to have their photos taken with Santy Claus (joyous chaos except for the bits where I could have strangled the kids and everyone else in that line).
Oh and naps, lots and lots of naps.

So, this is my first day back at work and it really is nice to be out of the house and engaging my workbrain again and having access to the shops and the nommy Japanese lunch place and hearing random snatches of music and decent christmas carols
Although now that I've had my soothing and slippery and comforting noodley lunch, I'm ready for a nap.
Please?
Pretty please?

shhh secret!

Due to weird people (weird as in, I don't know them rather than the weird people I do know) trying to become my contact on flickr, I've become paranoid and made everything private.
If you do want to see photos of mine, let me know and I can add you to the list of people who don't weird me out with their randomness.

It's just like having your name at the door of a nightclub, only involving less loud music.

Happy Birthday Little Man

In the last 5 years you've done so much.
You've learnt to breathe and eat and talk and walk and run and skip and read and reason and do puzzles and play games and write and do maths and sleep and tell bad jokes and laugh and sing and dance and hop and give the most amazing hugs.
You are a constant source of wonder and amusement and love for your parents and our world is better for having you in it.

Only mildly speechless with rage

So, a chum on facebook announced that she'd had an awesome week. Her long term partner had asked her to marry him and they'd recieved the call to say that an offer they'd made on a house had been accepted.
Yay!
Right?
Well, apparently not.
Apparently she was to be punished for having good news and sharing it with the world.
Apparently this was considered rude and uncaring of others.
Apparently her having happiness and joy in her life was selfish.
Apparently others are struggling with singledom and increasing house prices and illness and and and and she should just take a moment to think about that before celebrating.
Apparently she had to be reminded of this.

Luckily she has someone in her life who helpfully pointed this out to her and she'll know better next time.

I mean, how dare she be happy when others in the world aren't? How dare she celebrate that things are going right? How dare she be well and prosperous and loved?

The nerve of some people!

Yay for having a pool just a few minutes walk away.
That is all

10 things about my weekend

1. I looked after the munchkin and the nieces for Saturday night/Sunday morning/afternoon. Thankfully Spyd & AJ came down and stayed over and Megzz n Smurg visited for ninner (mmm chinese take-away). Made me feel not so bad about not going to the cocktail party.

2. Sunday mornings = the markets and gozleme and fruit and veg from the cold comfort farm people and the kids romping about and face-painting and pleasantness.

3. Yeast is tricksy and frustrating when it doesn't do it's rising thing.

4. Cinnamon Rolls (ala Pioneer Woman) make the house smell really really good

5. I really like my house. Spent 24hours at M&J's with the kiddlings and whilst they have a great house (no, really, it's awesome), it's not my house.

6. Home delivered pizza and flooping on the couch with the freshly-returned-from-Canberra husband is a delightful way to spend a Sunday evening.

7. Birthday parties for Torby's friends are great. He gets to play with his chum/s (at a bowling party in this case - oh the glee) and I get to chat with the grown-ups (I really like this mum, she's awesome) and I have a not-so-secret love for wrapping pressies.

8. Torby is quite good at bowling. Well, Nw (and me on one occasion) are quite good at positioning the ramp that he rolls the ball down. He won the game? match? set? thingy on Saturday. Probably all that practise with Wii bowling.

9. I watched far too much lifestyle/food pron programs on Sunday. There is a reason i want Foxtel and it's the same reason it's probably for the best that we don't.

10. I (in my entirely unbiased opinion) think that Torby and the cousins are a pretty awesome bunch of kids.

Fud

despite being oh-so-tired and grumpy (sorry Nw) because of it, I managed to make nummy food last night.

Roast beetroot and sweet potato (they needed cooking) sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika and umm rosemary. bung in oven...wait until husband comes home with protein.

Chicken Thigh fillets that were smeared on the inside with pesto, sprinkled with salami and a teensy bit of cheese, then folded over with some ham on top.
Bake in oven until done (20-30mins?)
They kinda deep fried themselves in the oil that oozed from everything, but were really quite good.
Oh and serve with leftover pasta and peas that the kids didn't eat.

(I've omitted all steps involving stomping around the kitchen and growling at everyone- they aen't nescessaryand in fact, not recommended)


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I..I...I...dropped my ice-cream

Torby woke up screaming last night (well, very early this mornig I guess)
I rushed into his room ready to collect him off the floor where he'd broken his arm or something
But, no.
He'd had a bad dream.
A bad dream where he had a lovely ice-cream and dropped it.
It's hard to comfort you child when you're trying really hard not to laugh.
Just sayin'

nomnomburpnom

My fridge is evil.
It contains little carrot cakes made from the fabulous St Stephanie recipe (replace walnuts with crystallised ginger)
They all have a delicious layer of lemony cream cheese icing.
They are sitting there on a plate taunting me with their deliciousness and whilst I tell myself they're healthy with the carrots and the..umm....ginger? lemon ?...healthsome stuff, I'm not sure I can convince myself they're a substitute for dinner.
THIS IS WHY I DON"T BAKE!!!