Busy as usual...

Well life has been a bit hectic as usual.. so where to start...

The kids..

Connor is trying very hard at the moment.. We have started a new reward system here where if the boys behave they get to pick a card from the reward box and they earn things such as bubble baths, Stories with Mum and Dad, Getting to choose dinner... etc... and it has been working fairly well..  They still have their moments.. but at least life isn't a misery as it was getting to..

He also hurt his ankle at school on Friday afternoon.. It isn't swollen or bruised that I can see but he is enjoying pushing himself around the house on an office chair..lol.. We will see just how bad it is when we go to a birthday party this afternoon.. If anything is gonna get him walking sitting down at a party all arvo will..lol..

Declan is absolutely loving Prep at the moment.. He is getting so involved and is settled in really well..

He took a couple of Rhino Beetles in to show his classmates and they are now residing in a small tank in class and Mr Carrington has even decided that they can study the life cycle of the Rhino Beetle rather than the butterflies they normally do..lol

We still have 3 at home and Declan and I are going to clean out his tank and set it all up properly with plants etc this weekend.. He has decided now, after 2 years of wanting to be an archiologist that he now wants to be an entomologist.. lol.. Boys and bugs.. Will put a pic of the tank up when it is finished..

Brodie is his usual active self.. I think he kinda likes the fact that he has Mummy to himself now though he does miss his brothers when they are at school.. We haven't been to playgroup much as he is prefering to go to friends place's on a Thursday morning where he get to play with just friends his own age. He can be such a good boy when it is just me and him.. But the devil does emerge after we pick the boys up from school..lol..

Greg as usual is flat out between work, home and study.. He has been going out of town a lot which the boys hate but I keep crossing my fingers that it will settle down! And he has been doing really well at uni so that is good.. he has also been getting a game or two of golf in on the occasional weekend which he is slowly improving..lol.. He is no longer on the lowest handicap you can get!! rofl! 

And me.. well.. I am my usual hectic self.. Slowly working my way through this house decluttering, and organising and the girls have been wonderful in helping me to do my Craft room/study.. Will put some before and after pics up when it is finally done..lol. It is great having Julie and Carien over on a Wed to scrap and chat.. and organise..lol. And I think we have convinced Tanya to join us as well.. I love my little bit of me time with my friends.. keeps me sane. And I have booked my flights down to Brissie for the June long weekend to go to the papercraft show!! woohoo.. get to catch up with my gorgeous Boxx friends and Tori as well.. I can see lots of shopping, chatting and fun coming up.. so looking forward to it!

Next weekend I am also organising a girls night.. We are having a tupperware party then a few drinkies and breaking out the singstar etc..lol.. I soo can't wait.. Adrian and the kids are coming to stay here with Greg and we are having it at Rach's and I am sleeping over.. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends here.. They keep me sane.. kinda..lmao..

Last weekend we went off to Brissie to see ACDC! We dropped the kids of at Mum's and stayed in a motel with Nettie and Gil.. It was a great night.. they still have it!! The boys behaved quite well for Mum which is good as she isn't feeling 100% at the moment. Even Col didn't get grumpy at them.. lmao.. I offered to sell me ticket and stay with the boys but Mum wouldn't let me.. Ain't she lubbly!!

Ok.. think I have caught up on the general news for now..lol.. Sorry for the long post.. but hey .. you used to that by now hey..lmao..

Love to all!!

Hehehe.. What a week..

Well I had a great week last week... On Thursday Julie, Rach, Carien, Nettie and I all went to 'Puppetry of the Penis'.. OMG.. it was hysterical.. even the opening act 'Granny Flaps' had me laughing so hard my jaws ached! It was a great girls night out and we had a blast!

Then on Sat Connor had a training session with the Broncos in the morning, while his little brothers watched and then they went to the Shopping centre to get a heap of stuff signed by some of the players. Then that night Greg took the boys to see the Bronco's play the Storm here..

So we girls decided to have another girls night..lol.. and OMG Singstar was involved.. it was hysterical.. at one point I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks.. I have even got Tanya, Julie, Carien and Maddie recorded on my Iphone.. I just wish I could figure out how to upload it.. lmao..

It was sooo just what I needed.. Honestly I have a great bunch of friends up here..lol.. Even if they did force me to put up pics of myself as well..pmsl..

On another note we are working on Connor at the moment.. He has been better behaved at school so lets hope we get whatever is going on figured out and get him back on track..

Greg has been away a fair bit for work and the boys are missing him badly..

Was hoping to get to Brissie in March but I cannot find any cheap flights.. so now I am thinking I may head down in June for the Scrapbook Expo.. actually got some reasonably priced flights.. so cross fingers for me..

Hope all is well..

x

I give up!!

Well it didn't last.. I got called to the Principal's office this arvo.. Connor got sent there after hitting 4 kids.. yep 4.. OMFG.. where did I go wrong! He is now officially 2 steps away from possible expulsion.. in grade 2.. What am I gonna do.. I am just so over it at the moment..

Greg and I explained the seriousness of it all to him today.. so I have to just hope it has got through.. We are also gonna get him to see the school councillor.. maybe he can get out of him why he is being such a horror.. I have tried and when I ask him why he is behaving the way he is I got 'I really don't know Mummy'.

They are really cracking down on these things at school.. which is a good thing... but I sure don't want to be on the receiving end!

Oh I wish someone would give me a manual on these kids.. cause nothing I have tried seems to work.. If anyone knows a secret I would love to know it!! grrrrrrrrrrr

Australia day and the first day of school

We had a lovely day on Australia day.. Rach, Adrian, Julie, Steve, and Nettie and Gill all came over with the tribes.. And As usual.. the whip came out.. lol.. starting to become an Aussie day tradition around here. The kids all had a good time.. though Maddie wasn't too impressed when she managed to whip herself in the back..lol.. poor kid.. but she was very brave and came back for another go..lol.. And Rach reckons she has found a new love.. so watch out Adrian..lol..

Then the next day was the boys first day back at school.. Declan was very excited as it was his first day at prep.. He looks like such a big boy now.. Of course trying to take photos of my 3 boys together is asking for trouble..lol

They have all settled in really well and so far have really attached to their teachers.. but Declan managed to break Connor's record and was sent to the principal's office on day 4.. Oh I am sooo proud.. sigh.. He tells me someone told him to hit another boy in the face.. no excuse.. he got the big lecture on not doing the wrong thing no matter who tells him too.. so lets hope that is the first and last time Mr Barker has to deal with him.. Oh I dooo hope so..



Connor is settling in well and so far has not been in too much trouble.. I was very pleased when his teacher told me he actually got up and moved away from someone who was trying to distract him.. so I do hope that continues as well..



And Brodie is settling in well to his new room at Daycare.. He gets to play with his mate Lachlan all day and is really having fun..

The rest of our Hols...

Well I am finally trying to catch up on this blog..

We had quite a relaxing time for the rest of our hols.. Greg got in the habit of taking the boys to the Beach first thing in the morning.. home for some quiet time and an afternoon rest and then into the pool for the afternoon..

We also had a couple of other visitors while we were there.. and Chrissie, Jane and the boys also came down for a couple of days.. that worked out very well.. We let Greg go off fishing by himself for the morning and then he looked after the kids and one arvo we went shopping and the next we went to see Avatar at the movies.. It was a great movie and it was wonderful just to spend time with Chrissie again. I really miss seeing her.

We also had David & Hayley and come to visit with their four girls too.. The boys loved catching up with everyone and we loved the distraction it provided..lol.. Got to relax and have a few drinks..yeah..

We ended up getting the boys a boogie board and didn't they love it... Connor and Declan did really well but when Greg first Brodie on it he started him too far out and let him go.. so he ended up head first in the sand.. Got the pics below but I didn't get one of his final dump.. legs in the air as I was too busy screaming at Greg to get him.. After that I had to take him to the park as he was soo not into the ocean.. luckily he got over it the next day and was happy to go swimming but there was no way he was getting back on that boogie board.. lol poor kid..

We also took the boys to Underwater World.. and they had a great time.. checking out all the sharks and stingrays and they absolutely loooved the Seal show.. We went downstairs to the seal viewing area and 'Portia' the star of the seal show took a liking to the boys.. She kept coming to them and copying what they were doing.. it was soo funny.. She was just so gorgeous..

Chrissie and the boys come to visit!

At the beach..

and the park..

Brodie's one and only Boogie Board attempt..

Underwater World..

So over all we had a great time.. and have already prebooked to go back in the Sept Hols.. we have decided that that will be our yearly hol from now on..

The start of our Holidays..

Well it is the start of the New Year and hopefully our holiday will renew and revitalise our energy for the year..(she says as Greg and Declan are yelling and screaming in the background)..lol

It was a verrrryy Long trip down on Saturday.. Traffic was busy and slooow and the boys have just started the 'are we there yet' monotone.. Ah the joys. But we got here ok and got settled into our unit, did some shopping and Greg took the boys for a swim.. An early night for all was definately in order!

Greg took the boys off to the beach early on Sunday morning.. They have decided that seeing it is holidays they have to be up by 6am.. grrr. I stayed home and finished unpacking and organising. They had a great time finding crabs and swimming.

Marnie and Pa came on Sunday morning to stay with us for the night, so of course the boys were very excited. They went for a swim with Daddy and Pa that afternoon and had a great time shooting everyone with water pistols another family had and swimming around with the noodles and Kickboard.

Monday morning we headed off to Australia Zoo. The boys loved it.. all the animals to look at.. Declan was in his element.

We got to feed the Elephant 'Siam' and for once I didn't worry about the camera and got to feed her too.. So unfortunately we didn't get any very good pics.. Connor and Declan both fed her on their own and I helped Brodie.. He got a little frightened and threw it at her..lol.. They are such beautiful creatures.

They also dug in the fossil pits they had there.. and there was a cave to explore..I do wish I had my camera ready then though cause Declan went around a corner in the cave and it started roaring at him.. He took off out of there like a scared rabbit..pmsl.. the look on his face was priceless.

We were very lucky that the Irwin's were there for the show at the Crocoseum. So the boys got to see Bindi perform and Terri and the kids were in feeding the crocs etc.. It was good fun.

When we got the boys to sit on the statue of the Tortoise there was about 4 Water Dragons sunning themselves around it.. Brodie gave me a heartattack as he walked over not watching where he was going and proceeded to stand on the largest one..lol.. I was sure it was gonna turn around and bite him or he had hurt it.. luckily both survived the encounter but Brodie was a little more wary of where he was walking after that..lol.

The boys were very tired and we left at about 2pm.. Marnie and Pa headed off home and we came back to the unit.. Unbelievable the boys still had enough energy to have a swim with Greg when we got home.. I soo wish I had their energy!

Yesterday we had a relaxing day.. Greg took the boys for their early morning play at the beach then we went up to the shops to pick up the boys some more pool and beach toys.. and got to stop in and see Alliese, Greg's cousin that lives down here.. hopefully we will get to catch up with her and her kids next week.

This morning Greg and the boys went off fishing early.. Declan caught two little fish, and Connor and Brodie caught one each. Unfortunately Greg didn't get any pics. But the boys had a great time and I loooved the peace and quiet at home alone..lol. The Unit was cleaned the washing done and I was relaxing by 9am.. I soo need to get better organised at home so I can do more of this relaxing bit..lol..

Anyway nearly time for our lunch and Nanna nap..lol.. Gotta love holidays..

Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of 2010..

Luv Donna xx

New Year's Eve and Leon's Baptism

We had a lovely New Year's Eve.. Nice and quiet.. Rach, Adrian and the kids came over for dinner as they were pretty stuffed from their Xmas hols and we had Carien, Dylan, Julie and Steven and all the kids..

We had a lovely dinner with everyone bringing a dish.. including a traditional South African dish that Carien brought. As usual there was food everywhere..lol.. but not as much as if Dad was there. I do miss him heaps..

Anyway.. Joshua and Ethan went to bed early and Ry crashed at about 11 so I missed out on getting pics of them having fun at midnight..But the rest of them had a ball with poppers and sparklers and even some fireworks we could see off in the distance. Then it was time for kiddies to go to bed.. yeah.

Now my terrible friends then kept me up until 4.30 am chatting and drinking.. I mean who needs friends like that..lol. And poor Julie and Steve got stuck on our couch as Greg fell asleep without putting up the stretchers..lol.. and we were all too tired to work out how to do it..pmsl. Luckily that only lasted an hour or two before the kids woke up and they stole their beds.. But of course I had to take a pic first! hehehe..

Well New Years Day was verrry quiet at our house.. everyone left about lunch time and we went for a nap.. Man I was tired.. and didn't do much but play wii with the boys and fold up some clothes after that.

Luckily I recovered enough to make it to Leon's Baptism on Sunday. It was a lovely service and he was such a good boy.. and promptly fell asleep as soon as I tried to take some family pics..lol

Then back to Tanya's and Paul's for a little party. It was great to catch up with everyone and get to cuddle my little man. He had a ball helping open the pressies and I was so glad that they liked the Snugglepot and Cuddlepie Book we got him. It was my fav as a kid and Connor actually picked it.. taste must run in the family..

The pic of the funny look on Tanya's face as she opened Carien's Pressie was not one of horror..lol.. but surprise. I snuck a pic Rach had took of Tanya and Leon and she put it in the frame and wrapped it. It was gorgeous to see how much she liked it... and such a great idea Carien.

Anyway.. that's it for here.. I finally took down the Chrissie decos today and tomorrow the plan is to finish cleaning the house and put them away..Lots to do this week.. busy busy busy as usual.

We hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve too.. and I hope to catch ya on here in 2010. Would love some comments.. starting to echo on this blog..lol..

Night all ♥ ♥