Each and every moment

Our camera broke, my phone camera broke when we where on holidays in Fiji and then my computer would not start when we got back. I have just managed to download some of shots and videos we DID manage to get.

The fijians welcome and say goodbye to all their guest and it was something we enjoyed sitting and watching. I do miss the Island, it was an unforgettable holiday.

Dylan has not actually done a practice soccer match yet because the first week he went early to the session, had a few kicks with some other boys and fell. He was so upset both Marty and I was not able to convince him to join training. So we just went home. This week we got an sms that the grounds are closed with all the rain we have been getting.

Lachlan has done one training session but I was not there to witness it. Marty said it went well and Lachlan enjoyed it. 

Isabelle has started netball, she trains this afternoon. I decided to go and watch her first session. At first I was a little worried as she really did not move much, had her hand in the air for the ball but stood there like a statue. In netball, it requires so much dodging people, intercepting, ball throwing and running. Hopefully today she was do some of that.

There are moments as a mother which I will cherish forever.

I hope to remember moments when 6 year old Dylan holds my hand from the car to the bus stop and does not mind that everyone can see.

My 4 year old Lachlan who just comes to my lap unexpectantly and grabs my arms and wraps it around him. He then sways his head to my lips gesturing that he wants me to give him kisses all over and cuddles. In return I get smiles of delight.

My almost 2 year old son who holds on to my skirt as I drop him of to pre-school and moments later he let’s go and says “Bye, mum …. I wuvvv you” and again when you reach the half way point from the sand pit to the car.

When your 8 year old daughter huddles into bed with you in the morning and reaches her fingers to my back and gives me a back scratch.

I am loving how they show me how much they love me.

I was so tired on the weekend, fell asleep whenever I could. I felt so sorry for the kids because they just wanted to do fun things with mum. Even this morning after a full 7 hours of sleep I was so sleepy. I fell asleep after I dropped of the older 2 at the bus stop.

Just a update on things … tomorrow is an exciting day for Dylan and Lachlan

It’s SOCCER training. It will be in the afternoon and dad will be coming along to cheer them on. Dylan is very excited about soccer. Lachlan is excited as well but I am unsure whether he realises he will be in a team with other kids competing!. I have to admit I am excited to, I never thought I would be a van driving soccer mum. Time to freeze those oranges!

Dylan finished ALL his homework today in one afternoon. All his English work and his maths work with such ease. You are meant to only finish a section for each day but he just prefers to get it all over with I guess in the beginning of the week!. As for our Isabelle she if improving a lot in completing her homework and can sit for a lot longer than she ever could even from last year.

Ethan is a handful and a half at the moment. I forgot how much almost 2 year olds get into (just about EVERYTHING). The other day he did number 2’s in his nappy and decided to take it off and put it in the bin in the bathroom, wipe himself with a pad (woman’s liner) and come and sit on the kitchen table and try and help prepare dinner!. I am thankful that I have learnt “patience” over the years :-).

With that said, time to go and have some sleep.

I just like to say that I ..... passed my first assessment. In the comment box the teacher asked that I revised the question that I guessed ;-). Does not matter I passed so now I can get onto my next assessment. I am happy, a real confidence booster for me!

I have sent off my first assessment via online. I checked it twice and await a pass or fail grade. I can’t do my next assessment until I get the result for this assessment. The good thing is I have covered the next assessment information so I am good to do that one and send it off too.

I am pretty sure everything is right in the one I sent off. But there was 1 question I was unsure about (they did not cover this study material given to me), so I made it up. So that might give me a fail grade.

I almost threw in the towel again yesterday, but patience and perseverance won.

Ethan loves saying goodbye and loves giving people a warm welcome.

At the moment when friends or family arrive at the door, he runs to them, puts on a big front teeth smile, gives the warmest cuddle and says hiii….

Also, he does his queen goodbyes when people are leaving. Ethan is finally settling into routine and is understanding routine. Today, when I went to drive the older 2 to the bus stop he said goodbye and closed the door. As I recall just last week he would come screaming to the car and wanting to be brought along.

Also, today we had NO tears at pre-school and a very happy queen wave and goodbye to his mother. It’s a good feeling.

I did not realise that it has been a week since my last post. It has been such as busy week that I guess I must have blogged what I did in my head but not on my blog.

First of all, menu planning has been fantastic, I never thought that menu planning would work or save me money. I have a confession to make, I have kept ALL my Good taste and weight watchers magazine in this box in my clothes cupboard for the last 10 years.

I really needed to make room in my cupboard to store some presents I found discounted. So I decided that I should let go of these. But there is just no way I would let these mags go without keeping articles or recipes that I may use later on. I only got through 7 mags and the rest are still sitting in the corner of my room. I have a recipe box now which stores all my recipes. So I have been busy writing all the recipes I have collected over the years.

It certainly is  much neater and easier to find. I decided to choose a couple of main meals, snacks and desserts to make for the next couple of weeks and wrote down ALL the ingredients I needed to do so. When I went to Coles it was actually easier to stroll down the aisles and find the ingredients I needed and NOT to grab all the specials that are staring at me. I could not get all the ingredients in one spot, but at least with the ingredients list I just bought the other bits and pieces at the food market (fruit shop, butcher, seafood etc) over the next few days without impulse buying. I certainly will stick to this method of menu planning and shopping. It has eliminated the waste, the thought process in what to cook, saves money, saves time and most of all there is always leftovers in the freezer so I don’t get tempted to go out to eat.

We (the older 2 kids and I) made home made ice cream!  It was made with cream, condensed milk and home made cookies. Woala Cookies and Cream Ice cream. It sure is delicious. Without all those funny numbers on commercial ice cream.

It seems that I can always talk about food and I am so glad that some of my food tech in me has come back and ignited some life and passion back into my life.

What else happened in the last week?

I got rid of a WHOLE jar of lollies which I collected from birthday parties etc.

I flooded my kitchen, never put washing liquid in the dishwasher!. It now does not work.

My princess had her 8th birthday at the Sydney Olympic pool with some friends.

My baby is growing up and sings. Will upload these later.

Lachlan is becoming more of a character. He is seeing the speech therapist every week and the therapist and I can see improvement. There is still a long way to go before I will feel comfortable sending him to school. After the first year with Isabelle, I know now what to expect for Lachlan. It will not be about how old he is which will determine when he goes to school, it will be about how ready he is. So I guess I am not sure whether we will enrol him for next year as yet.

It’s late and lack of sleep is common in my life at the moment. Need to go and make lunches, clean up my always messy kitchen (cause I have been cooking :-)). With petrol prices on the rise, I need to have everything ready for the older 2 to get them to the bus early so I don’t have to drive them.

Goodnight.