Invitations

I LOVE creating invitations on the computer!

You might recall my Ticketek invites to the Little Big Fella's 3rd birthday?

OMG!!!!  I just looked and discovered that I didn't post a picture of it!!!  Let's see if I can find a copy somewhere.

I was particularly proud of it because it looks so similar to a real Ticketek ticket, and it took me a bit of time to make it work properly.

This year, the Little Big Fella has decided that he wants a Superhero party (again!).  So I needed a good superhero invite.  Unfortunately I no longer have the program I used for the Ticketek invite, so I've had to fiddle around a bit to create this one:

For a quick, throw-together, I'm pretty happy with that!

Blogger's block

I feel like I need to apologise, but I've no doubt you'll all forgive me anyway.  I have a bunch of excuses (starting work, trying to keep my house somewhat clean and orderly, computer dying and it's trickier on the laptop or tablet, Christmas, New Year....) but really, they're just excuses.

Reality is that I have "blogger's block".

I don't feel like I have anything to say that anyone would want to read, and when I do, I don't have the time or energy to put it together (hopefully coherently).

So, let's see if we can break the block by writing this little apology.  Actually, it's not really an apology, given that it's my blog and I can write whenever I want.  But I guess it is an apology in the sense that I know that when I read a blog regularly, I miss it when they take a break, so I apologise if you've missed me.

Okay, let's see if we can break the block by giving a quick recap of what's been happening around here then.

I finally started work at one of the big Australian banks and finally, after two full weeks, managed to balance at the end of the day without having to re-count and re-check all of my work.  I literally did a dance!

Working full-time for two weeks was great and really hard.  It was awesome to be working again - spending so much time around adults, learning, and using my head all the time.  And it was hard not being around my Little Big Fella, trying to keep my house up to scratch, trying to fulfill the commitments I'd made as a non-worker, sitting almost all day, trying to get plenty of sleep and keep up with my workout program.

There were Christmas parties and birthday parties, often on the same day!

And, of course, there was Christmas!

My grandparents were going to join us this year but unfortunately that didn't work out.  But we had a great day!  The Little Big Fella got way too many presents, again!  And we had a fun time playing with all of them :-D

The Big Fella had a sleep in the afternoon (he'd done a string of night shifts with very little sleep in between) and I got a little down, I think because I'm used to Christmas day being full of people.

In the evening we visited some friends.  They'd gotten together with others in their street to hire a blow up waterslide and the Little Big Fella had a good go on it.  There were a few drinks and lots of laughs.  It was a great, relaxing way to end the day.

Boxing Day saw us follow a tradition that began early in our marriage, with Lord of the Rings, actually.  The Big Fella, the Little Big Fella and I went and saw the Hobbit at the cinema, 2 hours away.  It was expensive, and mildly frustrating a couple of times, but I think it's definitely a tradition we'll continue whenever possible.

The days between then and now have been very quiet and homely.  We've caught up with a couple of friends who've remained in town, been to the local pool, avoided the few shops that are near (and all of the ones further away!), practiced on my scooter and the Little Big Fella on his little motorbike, put up our pool and hidden away in the airconditioning from the high 30s to 45 degree days, and slept our way into the New Year.

Do you remember last New Year where I mentioned that I don't like it?  Here's the link if you want to look it up.  I actually happened to wake up 15 minutes before midnight this year and during that time I remembered some of the really bad New Year's Eve "parties" I've been to.

One included being at church (not the bad part - I loved going to church and spending time with the people around me who I considered my family), where the guest speaker actually continued speaking through the countdown to the New Year!

Then there were others (probably most of them really) where, possibly because there was no alcohol involved, we were trying to stay awake until midnight so we could count down, yell "Happy New Year" and go home to bed.

But this year I've added another reason to not like New Year.  And I suspect there will be plenty of people who disagree with me, which is absolutely your prerogative.

Many people seem to think that just because we've changed the number that we write to designate the year, their life will change... without them doing anything differently.  Then they whinge their way through the year, get to the other end and complain about what a horrible year it was and how they can't wait for the new year to begin.

Ummmm, sorry folks, that's not the way it works!

If you want your life to change in any way, big or small, you have to make a change!  Whether it's a new year or not!  And change is hard!  Which is why you haven't done it yet.  And, not only change for a minute or a day, but consistently!  And that sometimes feels impossible!!!

Anyway, I guess I'm off on a tangent, but I guess that means I'm cured of "blogger's block"!

I had a quick look back through my 2013 posts, just to see what I've recorded about our year for you.

• We've had chickens,
• been flooded in,
• the Little Big Fella started kindy and turned 4,
• our house has been painted and we have new furniture,
• we've played with friends,
• the Little Big Fella has spent a lot of time in superhero costumes,
• I joined the CWA and was Treasurer for our playgroup,
• the Easter Bunny and Santa visited, as did my brother, and the Big Fella's parents,
• we visited our old town a few times,
• I rolled our car and we got a brand new one,
• the Little Big Fella and I flew to Melbourne,
• I went to my first "real" concert and P!nk was AWESOME!
• I got a 2nd and 3rd in the state CWA photo competition,
• we went to the local race day,
• I've (possibly excessively) considered various aspects of parenting,
• I cut my hair short (again),
• the Big Fella and I exchanged rings in a private (and moving) ceremony... in our car,
• I've gotten back into papercrafts with some of my friends,
• the Little Big Fella played his first sport (soccer),
• we went to the May Day Fair, and the school fair,
• we've been fishing and swimming and backyard camping,
• we've attempted a sleepover with the Little Big Fella's best friend,
• the Little Big Fella finally worked out how to ride his motorbike by himself,
• I've raised the concept of letting men be manly,
• the Little Big Fella gave some of his face-skin to the concrete, and shared his hand with a knife (thankfully not needing stitches),
• I had some bad days and some bad weeks,
• the Little Big Fella had his first visit to the dentist,
• we had backyard fires and front yard fires, and fires at friends' houses,
• the Little Big Fella played with (manufactured) snow for the first time ever,
• we got airconditioning in our living area!
• the Big Fella turned 40,
• we got a shipping container/workshop,
• the Little Big Fella learned how to teatowel fight,
• we did Halloween again, and ate too many sweets,
• I had a girl's night in,
• I re-learned how to tie balloons and got to do it at two different events,
• the Big Fella and I lost weight, and the Big Fella's kidney health has moved back to the "normal" range,
• we've been to local footy games,
• I ran my first ever fundraiser, and it was a success!
• I've found a million reasons throughout the year to be thankful for my friends and family,
• I totally got into the Christmas spirit in the lead up to Christmas,
• we've had LOTS of fun times with friends at the park, at playgroup, at their houses, at our house,
• we've laughed, a lot,
• the Little Big Fella had his Prep Transition days, and loved them,
• we've spent plenty of time splashing around in water,
• the Little Big Fella and I have done a fair bit of cooking,
• and I've returned to being ScooterShell.

No wonder I've felt so tired these last few weeks!!!!  That was a really big year, with lots of fun times.

Now take a deep breath because 2014 is going to have lots of big moments in it too!  The Little Big Fella is starting real school, we're going to Melbourne in March (as a family), in May (possibly just me) and September (just the Big Fella), I'll be getting my full motorbike license, there'll be birthdays and parties and playtimes and homework and events and competitions and Halloween and Christmas and work and love.  Put that together with whatever "deep" thoughts I dump on y'all, as well as all the random things that you never expect or plan for...

Can I go to sleep now?

In too deep?

One of the things that's kind of awesome about being an at-home mum is that you have a lot of time.

Sure!  It gets filled with the needs of a child, the messes of a child, the friends and activities of a child, but as the parent of only 1 child I recognise that I have a lot of control over what happens and when in our house.

You may have noticed in reading my blog over the nearly two years I've been writing, that I tend to have periods of intense activity, followed by periods of totally boring domesticity.

With the development of Pinterest and the on-coming Christmas season, now is not a period of totally boring domesticity!

I have a few things on my plate right now and I'm starting to wonder if I'm in a little deep.

I've been Treasurer of our playgroup this year, which is a really easy job.  But we're planning the end-of-year party and there's a few bits and pieces that need doing for that.

The Little Big Fella is starting Prep next year, so he's having Transition afternoons at school over these three weeks.  And after meeting his teacher last week, we've been convinced that the more he knows in terms of letters and numbers, and the more independent he is, the easier starting school will be for him.

So he and the Big Fella have decided that the Little Big Fella can learn to spell his name (and then all the other words Daddy wants to teach him - he already knows the names of the letters but can only write 3 of them), and tie his shoelaces.

Which, of course, means that I'll be involved in support and supplementary teaching ;-)

Christmas is coming and I've been busily making cards, tree decorations, indoor decorations, outdoor decorations, trashing my house in a creative frenzy...

I joined the CWA this year as well and recently found out that our local supermarket offers the facilities to run fundraising BBQs.  After seeing the effects of Typhoon Haiyan on TV, and my family having various connections with the Philippines, I suggested that we run a BBQ to raise funds to send for their recovery.  You guessed it!  I get to organise it.

Just to make it clear, I'm excited about it, and I'm hoping to get a decent turnout so we can make a reasonable donation, but it's another thing on my list.  And, of course, I decided to make it slightly more intense by adding a cake stall, so I have to do a little cooking for it (as well as all the awesome people who've offered to contribute as well.

Then there are the various parties, events and Christmas gatherings over the next five weeks.  And the housework and feeding and entertaining of my Fellas.

Then we need to add a final, and potentially apple-cart upsetting element.  Last week I received an e-mail containing a letter of offer!

Back in March I applied for a 4-day-a-week position as a teller at one of the banks.  I didn't receive it, but was contacted in May, I think, for an alternative position.  Over the past months I've been waiting and going through various processes and have been offered a position as a casual relief teller, both in our closest town, and our closest large town.

Funnily enough, I spoke to the branch manager the next day and she hadn't heard from the Human Resources Department yet.  But once all of those processes have been completed, I will be required for two weeks of full-time training.

Most likely before Christmas.

No doubt at some point in the very near future I will feel completely overwhelmed by all of this, but at this point, I'm actually feeling exhilarated!  I have lots to do and I'm interested in what I'm doing.

All these crafty activities are encouraging to me because I'm good at them and I'm very satisfied with the results.

The organising tasks are exhilarating because I'm pretty good at that too!  Hopefully I keep remembering to delegate - not only to keep from overwhelm, but also to allow others to participate and enjoy these activities, which are often the kinds of things that strengthen friendships.

Oh!  And I finally caught up with the ironing tonight and have relocated the ironing board to the cupboard for the first time all week!

Am I in too deep?  Probably!  But all this activity, right now, makes for a pretty happy stay-at-home mum.

Now to reclaim my dining table from my frenzied craft activities, finish the stockings for the fence, put up the Christmas lights, finish the Christmas cards, make that wreath out of roadside weeds... and make sure I clean my oven before my grandparents get here for Christmas :-D

Planning for Christmas

Yep, it's started!  There's Christmas music in my head and I've spent way too long on Pinterest already!!!

I am preparing for Christmas.

I've started making the cards (there were photos here), I've got my card list and my list of what I need to do and when (I love lists, remember?).

I'm also on a bit of a budget, which probably means it's not a good year for completely changing my decorations!  But I really wanted to, so I'm going with a natural/vintage style.

Today we were going to spend most of the day at the shooting range with the Big Fella for their big, annual shoot.  But the Big Fella ended up getting called in to work, so we were home alone for the afternoon.

But, of course, it's smack-bang in the middle of my most hormonal days so I ate lots of junk, lounged on the couch and started feeling rather sorry for myself.

Cue Pinterest!

After fluffing around for a while, playing Candy Crush and whatever else, I started looking on Pinterest (again).  And I came across paper snowflakes!  Now, I remember doing them in school, and they were kind of fun, but when I saw these, I was inspired!

So I spent an hour or so folding and cutting paper into cool shapes :-)  Now I'm thinking of adding some glitter, and making some out of coloured paper and then turning them into a garland or something.

And tonight I'm hoping to try out a star made of sticks.  Sounds pretty easy, but usually these things are harder than they look :-}

So besides the rest of the cards and decorations, all I have to do is buy presents for the family, make the presents for the friends, decide on what we'll be eating and make up my shopping lists for that, possibly try to talk the Big Fella into a Christmas photo shoot and relax and enjoy all the festivities!  Sounds potentially stressful and lots of fun!

Crafty Capers

At last!!!  The promised post with all the creative stuff!!!

One of the reasons I love Halloween is the opportunity to make stuff!  This year I made paper mache pumpkins, tin can luminaries  a silhouette for our single front window, and body part cookies.  Let me show you!

Paper mache pumpkins

Okay, I found these on Pinterest and they looked so cute and easy!  Turns out they're really not!  In the end I was happy with the results, but it took a lot more effort than I'd expected.

Here's the basic idea of what to do:  You blow up a balloon with string around it so that it bulges out in a pumpkin shape.  Paper mache a couple of layers.  Ta da!  All done!

Ha!

First of all, getting the string around the balloon took a bit more working out than I'd thought.  I ended up with a slow and careful process of blowing up the balloon, measuring the string around it, letting all the air out, tying the string, half blowing up the balloon and putting the strings around it (while not letting the air out of the balloon), blowing up the balloon a bit more, moving the strings so that they were a bit more even around the balloon, blowing up the balloon some more, moving the strings so they didn't slide around to one side of the balloon, blowing the balloon to bulging point, and finally attempting to tie off the balloon without the strings sliding around or the balloon popping.

It was great fun.

Anyway, I eventually got three done.  Because there's no stores nearby that have paper mache glue, I made the glue from plain flour and water.  I did about three layers of white and one layer of orange tissue paper (using watered down PVA glue so that I didn't end up with white flour glue spots all over the finished product).

I learned that the Little Big Fella really likes to eat flour, even when it's in the form of a glue paste.  Doing this project with a child around is fun but messy.

Oh!  And by the way, if you attempt this, I highly recommend having a nice big end on the string tie point.  Hanging them on the washing line to dry was slightly tricky with my little ones.  They all fell several times and ended up with a few dents.

My pumpkins sat on my buffet for a couple of weeks and I wasn't quite happy with them.  So at about 4pm, before our 6pm departure for the Halloween walk, I decided to paint vines and leaves on them.  Probably not a good time to do it, but I was finally happy with the results.

Pity it was too dark for everyone to see them when they came trick or treating!!!

Tin Can Luminaries

Another Pinterest find, this is just a bunch of tin cans, washed and with the labels removed.  Fill with water and freeze, then punch holes in patterns with a hammer and nail.  If I did these again, I'd draw my designs on with a black marker before freezing the cans.  This time I made do with a pencil, but it really would have been easier the other way.  Let the ice melt and the tins dry, and if you need to, hammer the base back in so that it'll stand up straight.  Spray paint (so they look nice during the day) and pop a candle in.  Ta da!

Window silhouette

Pinterest is definitely my friend for these kinds of things.  I get to find easy and effective ideas, and also be inspired by other peoples' efforts on the not-so-easy stuff.  This one was pretty simple: Draw a shape on cardboard, cut it out, pin it on the sheer curtain.  I had to add an extra step of spray-painting the cardboard because I made mine using two different, light colours and it would have driven me nuts.  And it looks much more effective in black.

Body part cookies

Again, thanks to Pinterest I came across witches finger biscuits.  I didn't look at the recipe though - just used my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  At the last minute the Little Big Fella and I decided to make them green, which meant a lot of really hard mixing to try to get the green to spread evenly through the dough.  Next time, I'd add the colour at the liquid stage!

The other thing I didn't really take into consideration is that my cookie recipe spreads.

So we tried a few more, making them skinnier and they were better.  But I got sick of making fingers so we switched to eyeballs.

In the end we made little bags with a finger and an eyeball for about 50.  I tried to make the "eyeballs" bloodshot, but they just looked like weird starfish on the biscuits.  Luckily they tasted alright though!

So that's my Halloween creativeness done and dusted.  I also tried these spooky eyes, but they weren't as effective as I hoped - the glow sticks didn't glow enough to give the full effect.

I've also been doing a few Christmas cards ready for the upcoming season.  Here's a sneak peek!

So now it's on to Christmas!  Two months of creativity, carols and celebrations!!!  Woo hoo!!!!!!

While the cat's away...

I've had lots of things to tell you all, but I've had no time to tell it!!!

The Big Fella was away fishing for a week.  So, to keep myself from getting sad and lonely, I planned a few things to do.

I've cleaned almost as if I was moving house (we're not, by the way) including exhaust fans (bleuch!) and windows (double bleuch!).

I've woken up my (very sleepy) craft bug.  I think it's the time of year.  Halloween is a little bit of a deal here in our little town, so I've made some paper mache pumpkins, I'm still working on some luminieres made from tin cans, and I need to paint my window silhouettes.  I'm also working on a costume for the school fair/ladies' pink night/Halloween walk.  And all of that gets me excited about Christmas so I've been planning and buying stuff for that too.  But there'll be more about my crafty capers in another post (possibly next week).

And what else should you do to fill in time without your husband, but hang out with friends???

We've had playdates and craft sessions and buy-at-home parties.  And I had a few of the girls around for an evening on Friday.  No, there'll be no telling!  But I think it's okay to say that none of us has had a late night drinking and laughing with the girls in a while, and it hit us a little hard the next day.

I have to say that I have some brilliant friends, too!  I love that we talk about a wide range of things and we can say some pretty outrageous stuff and not be shot to pieces for it.

And laughing!  Oh my goodness I love laughing!!!

But I often get so caught up in the busy-ness and stress of daily life that I forget to see the funny stuff.  Life shouldn't be so serious!  Keep reminding me about that, okay?

It was my nephew's 5th birthday the other day!  I got to talk to him on the phone and I miss him (and his brother, my sister and brother-in-law) so much!  That's definitely one of the sucky things about living away from family, and friends too.

The school is running a fair this Friday and I've offered to do balloon animals for them.  I was trying to get my juggling skills back in time, but it just hasn't happened.  I think I stress out about it too much and end up throwing the balls all over the place!

I'm excited to do some kid-based stuff again, though.  It's been quite a while!  I'm hoping to get half an hour to practice some of the trickier ones before then.  Or at least jump online and look at a few!  I think my very basic repertoire of a dog/giraffe/monkey/elephant and a sword won't quite cut it.

We're off to the big town 2 hours away tomorrow.  The Big Fella has a specialist appointment for the first time since we moved here.  It's been very exciting lately, because his most recent pathology says that his weight loss and exercise are improving his kidney health, significantly reducing his potential need for intervention.  I just about did a happy dance in the doctor's office when he said that!

While we're over there, we're going to be doing a spot of shopping (hello Spotlight (fabric/craft store) and Bunnings (hardware store)).  Just a tad excited about that one.

Anyway, I need to go finish the dishes and get to bed.  The Big Fella is working tonight so there's a decent possibility that I'll be driving tomorrow.

Okay, side note:  I want to kill my dogs!  Obviously not literally.  But when that stinking cat comes by every, single, night, and they bark like there's no tomorrow every, single, night and it doesn't matter what I do they do it EVERY, SINGLE, NIGHT.  Sheesh.

Right.  Time to post this (sorry, it's been a while and this really hasn't been a very exciting post) and get to bed!

An introvert's paradox

I am an introvert.

And I love hanging out with people.

I love playdates, and girl's nights out, and dinner parties, and BBQs, and events, and movies, and restaurants, and just being with people.

But when things get busy, or tough, or overwhelming, or confusing or whatever, I need time to myself to refresh and regroup.  To re-set myself to take on life and the world.

Which is kind of how I'm feeling at the moment.  Life has been busy these past few weeks.  Full of fun stuff like playdates with water-based jumping castles and slides!

We've been to parties for birthdays and footy finals.  We've spent plenty of awesome time hanging out with friends.  Being the school holidays, the Little Big Fella has been home so we've had a sleepover and friends over.

It's all been absolutely awesome and fun.

And because of all this awesome fun-ness, my normal routines haven't been working for me and my most productive time of day has been filled with other things.  Which leaves me feeling overwhelmed by the mess in my house (particularly the dust!) and the long list of things that need doing that I just don't seem to be getting to!

Which, of course, has me mildly stressing because I'm supposed to start working soon and I'm wondering how that's going to work out.

The Big Fella is about to go off on a Northern fishing adventure for a week.  I'll miss him heaps, but at the same time, I'm kind of looking forward to having the chance to catch up with myself.

It's kind of funny though.  Time by myself, refreshing and re-setting normally includes a whole new bunch of "to-do's".  But because they're often craft or organising, and I can set my own schedule and pace, it works for me.

I'm working on some Halloween paper mache pumpkins, and I have some sewing to do, and a costume to create, and some balloon sculpting to practice...

Hmmm, maybe I need a holiday! ;-D

Random ramblings

I'm quite tired so I'm just going to put a few random thoughts together tonight.  I wouldn't be surprised if you don't want to read them, but I'll enjoy writing them and reviewing my day anyway.

I watched the final of The Voice Australia last night.  Most of it was pretty average for me.  But I quite enjoyed the top 16's rendition of John Farnham's, "The Voice".  And I absolutely LOVED Ricky and Luke's "Roxanne"!  What a brilliant performance!  And wonderful voices!!!  I've had that song in my head all day and I'm really enjoying it :-D

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I've discovered that I have several interesting parts in my emotional cycle.  There's the grumpy, keep-away-from-me-or-I'll-rip-your-head-off part, and the I'm-going-to-eat-everything-in-the-house part, and sometimes the bawling-my-eyes-out-because-someone-ate-the-last-of-the-mushrooms part.  But my favourite part, which I only realised existed in cyclical form yesterday, is the creative-and-excited part!  That's the couple of hours (or sometimes days) where I get all interested in a project and think up all the variations and possibilities.  I normally start planning and making lists (and lists of lists - I am a list girl, remember?) and setting timelines.  Ah!  It makes me happy :-)

And yes, you guessed it!  I had a creative day yesterday.  See, I just realised that this is the last week before school (read: kindy) holidays.  That's two weeks with the Little Big Fella at home with me 24/7.  No friends, no planned activities, no brain food!

Well, that just won't do, will it?!?

So we're going to have a mini vacation school at home.  With a jungle theme! The idea is to make jungle animals (masks, finger puppets, pictures etc.), decorate his room a little (kind of like our Under the Sea adventure a little while back), and maybe learn another letter or two in the process.  I'm also planning to have friends over (when the Big Fella is at work), and meet them at the park or whatever as well.  I suspect there might even be some cooking involved.

Today it sounds like a lot of work.  But last night it was true inspiration!  And meant I didn't get to bed until well after midnight.  Which probably explains why I'm so tired now (and why it took me several attempts to write each word in this sentence!).

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It's starting to get cold here!  I know you southerners won't believe me, but we've had to start using the heaters!!!  And wearing long-sleeved clothing!  And multiple layers of clothing!!!!  I'm seriously in shock ;-)

Unfortunately, it's also introduced a bout of pants and bed wetting by the Little Big Fella :-(  I guess he's learning the important lesson that, even in winter, we still need to get to the toilet and yes, face the cold seat.

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The Little Big Fella had photos taken at kindy this week.  Given the prices of having childrens' photos taken these days, I was surprised at how low the price was.  And I'm keen to see what photos they ended up taking of my boy (and if he did a nice smile or a super-cheesy one).

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I don't think I've mentioned that the Little Big Fella and I are going to be flying down South in a few weeks.  I'm going to the P!nk concert with my brother and sister (excited much?????) and we'll visit with family and friends as much as we can while we're there.  The Little Big Fella is SO excited about finally going on an aeroplane, after all our visits to the airport and watching everyone else coming and going.

Okay.  This is probably one of the least interesting blog posts I've written in a while.  Sorry.  I'll try to be more awake and interesting next time ;-D

Gettin' our creativity on!

Because of our little accident, we didn't get to meet up with my parents in our old town.  They live two states away so we only get to see them a couple of times a year.  We were all really disappointed about it!

But then the other day the Little Big Fella received a parcel in the mail from my Mum!  In it was a gorgeous letter to him and a couple of books - one all about various motorbikes, where "Farting Freddie" wins a bike race, and the other from my parents' friends who were really keen to meet us as well.  It was about a robot with no bottom.

Needless to say, bedtime included a few giggles that night!

Well, in the letter Mum hinted that she'd love to get some more of the Little Big Fella's paintings (we've sent a few of his kindy paintings to each of the grandparents throughout the year).  So rather than grab one or two out of the drawer, I decided we'd do some painting at home.

Now, as much as I love arts and crafts, we don't tend to do an awful lot of it at home.  Mostly because I find it kind of stressful trying to keep the mess contained, so I need to be in a pretty good mood before we attempt it :-}

On went the painting shirt (my old Kidzone t-shirt, Brad!), down went the spill mat, out came the old kid-sized table and chairs, and the paper was blu-tacked onto the table.

Then, and only then, were we ready to bring out the paints!

The bottom photo is the Little Big Fella's "Hulk smash" painting.  He's SO into superheroes at the moment and when he was painting he just started saying "Hulk smash" and plopping the paintbrush down all over the place (with some force, might I add).

Since starting kindy, the Little Big Fella has also started to grow an interest in  letters and numbers.  So I've been trying to take the opportunities he presents to expand his understanding.

For example, I've taught him a rhyme to spell out his name, so now he knows the names of the letters in his name, even though he doesn't understand what that means.

I've taught him how to write the first letter of his name, and other words that start with the same sound.  For example, "d, d, dog" or "c, c, cat" (saying the sounds, not the letter names).  Through that (and I suspect they've been doing it at kindy too) he's started asking me for the names of letters and recognising the starting sounds in words.

At lunch yesterday he asked, "what's the name of w, w, waterbottle?"  Then we went through a bunch of other words as well.  No, he doesn't understand what a "W" is, but he's starting to grasp the basic idea that sounds are associated with letters and words.

So, as well as his "Hulk smash" painting, the Little Big Fella did one covered with the first letter of his name.  He's really got that one down pat, by the way!  So I started teaching him the second letter, but he wasn't really interested at that time.  I did, however, discover that he can draw an "O" no worries, and a heart!

Sometimes it's a bit fun being the mum of a pre-schooler :-D

Re-styling the office

When the Big Fella and I were discussing what we'd like to do this year, we decided we'd like to replace a lot of our furniture.  We had realised when we moved here that a lot of it was kind of cheap and wasn't surviving well in the sub-tropical humidity.

So we started with the Little Big Fella's room, replacing his $10 bed with a king single, and getting matching bedside and drawers.

The Little Big Fella wanted me to put this one in for you today as well :-D

While we were back at our old town, we had the chance to look at some office furniture and decided on a very smart looking set.  I was very tempted by a $2000 desk, but in the end couldn't justify it and wouldn't have been able to match any shelving with it, which is where I'll be keeping my crafty bits and pieces.  We actually found a set of drawers for some of those crafty bits that's a little different to the desk set, but still works and looks great.

Hmmm, let's see if I have a pic of the way the office was.

Okay, this one is from when we first moved in.  I'd moved things around a little but basically this is it.  This room has no built-in storage, which has made it practically impossible to keep it tidy.  I've had to keep some things in their moving boxes, and there's just not enough room to get to them all.  It's been a source of constant frustration for me.

Well, this is what I see as I walk down my hallway now!

Isn't that gorgeous and cheery?  One of the large drawers is where I've started putting the Little Big Fella's kindy paintings, which is SO much better than having them all around the place.  And a friend suggested using them as wrapping paper for gifts to family, so they're easy to get to for that too!

The desk and drawers came in boxes and I got to put most of it together.  It wasn't difficult, but it was really complicated!

Alright.  Are you ready?  Are you sure?  Okay, here's the new desk and drawers!

I think I'm going to tweak it a little bit more, and I still need to stick my calendar up on the wall, but I'm loving having a real desk again!

When we moved from Victoria, we got rid of our big, heavy desk that we'd been using to study.  We haven't had a real one since then.  That's seven years ago!  Seriously, put this lovely desk with my new double sink and I'm just about in heaven!  :-)

Okay, and just so you know that I'm completely human, here's the rest of the office at the moment:

We still need to put together a bookshelf with filing drawers at the bottom and then see how much of this fits in it.  I'm thinking I might need to buy another bookshelf, but we'll wait and see!  I'll let you know how it goes, of course ;-)

Visits and shopping

As promised, here is another "catch-up" post from all that we've been up to this month.

The week after my brother was here, the Fellas and I drove back to our old town to visit family, for the Big Fella to get a root canal, and to collect the last of our belongings that had been stored in my Poppy's shed.

My grandparents moved interstate when I was four or five years old.  As we were growing up, I only got to see them about once a year, and I felt that I'd missed out on something really special because of it.

Then, when the Big Fella and I first moved to Queensland, we ended up living with my grandparents for two or three months.  It was hard for everyone initially, but we got to know each other well and became great friends.  It is an absolute pleasure to me to now watch my son having the opportunity to know and love his great-grandparents!

Anyway, when we first arrived at my grandparents' place, I had quite a shock.  Poppy has just recently had a knee reconstruction and managed to get blood poisoning in the hospital.  They didn't pick it up and sent him home.  Thankfully he had a checkup with his surgeon a couple of days later, and was readmitted immediately.  By the time we got there, Poppy had been back home for a few days and was on the mend.

But walking in and seeing him was a shock!  His skin was grey and he looked 10 years older than when I'd seen him in December.  Talk about confronting!!!

Thankfully within a few hours he was looking more like himself.  I think that the Big Fella had a lot to do with that - they're great friends, which is kind of amazing given that they didn't like each other when they met!

Over the next three days, I noticed that Poppy's knee was less swollen and he was able to do more.  So he's definitely mending, which is such a relief.

Okay, lets move on to other things.

The Little Big Fella had such a good time playing with his cousins!  He misses them so much, and that really is the thing I feel worst about with our move here.  I've no doubt they'll be great friends, but I guess when we lived closer they were almost like siblings.

I've been reflecting a little over the past few months that it would have been wonderful for the Little Big Fella to have a sibling.  Unfortunately I wasn't mentally capable and now that he's just about to start school I'm not willing to go back to the baby and nappies stage.

Oh my goodness, this post is getting rather dreary, isn't it???

Let me tell you about the very fun part of our visit!  We went shopping!

Now, when I say "we went shopping" I don't mean a little bit here and there.  I mean we. went. shopping!!!!

We finally found office furniture that we like (I've been looking for months!!!), and a dining setting/buffet/entertainment unit that we both like.  I ordered the office furniture as soon as we got home and it arrived the other day.  I'll show it to you when I've got it all together :-)  The other stuff will be ordered in a few weeks I think.

We went to the sports store and ended up with two pairs of shoes each, a footy for the Little Big Fella, some extra dumbells and weight plates... I think there was something else too.

The Big Fella went to our old butcher and ended up buying, literally, a deep freezer full of meat!  Here comes the jerky :-D

I bought some black beans, which are a little difficult to get here and are expensive to buy online.

Okay, I bought a lot of black beans.

I'd never used them until recently, but I have a recipe from the Dessert Angel for "Belly Fat Burning Brownies".  They have no flour and no sugar but are high in fibre and protein, and they taste FANTASTIC!!!  Even the Fellas love them!  And everywhere I've taken them people have loved them too, and asked for the recipe.

So, I bought a massive bag of black beans :-)

The Little Big Fella and I went to Bunnings.  I love that store!!!  Apparently there's a little one opening in our closest large town sometime this year.  Guess that'll make it heaven :-D

From Bunnings I bought new fittings for the bathroom.  I know, we're in a company house!  But I wanted fittings that suited our lifestyle and matched the rest of the room so I bought some.

I also got some paint.  Our playgroup was getting rid of a few bits and pieces when we moved to the CWA hall at the start of the year, and I decided to keep a stand/rack for hanging up costumes and hats.  It needs a bit of cleaning up, so I decided to buy some bright, dark blue paint, which will go really nicely with the Little Big Fella's new bed, and the freshly painted walls. Don't worry, I'll show you pics when it's done :-)

So, obviously, as well as all this shopping we spent time with my family and everyone had a great time.  I absolutely love that spending time with my family is fun, not a stress.  I feel particularly lucky!

Okay, that's the end of this update!  But don't worry, there'll be more!!!  :-D

Oh my goodness!!!  I totally forgot to put in the photos from our visit!!!  I ended up taking my camera, specifically with the CWA photo competition in mind - not because I think I'll win anything, but because it's another way to support what's happening in our local community.  I took a bunch of pics of the Little Big Fella playing in the playground, and had a go at some more abstract-style photos.

Anyway, here you go!

This is my youngest nephew when we were op-shopping.  He really didn't want to get out of there when it was time to go, either!

Oh!  This is at home.  My brother gave the Little Big Fella his birthday present and he's played with it for hours!

 

There you go!  Hope you enjoyed it :-D

Scrap me happy!

This morning I got the chance to do something I haven't done in AGES!  I got to sit around a table with a bunch of friends and do some scrapbooking/paper craft.  And it was awesome!

Getting to chat with friends, while your kids are happily entertained (mostly outside), eating and drinking and being creative... what more could a girl want?

And the best thing is... we're going to do it again!  I don't know when, but it will definitely happen, possibly even regularly.  Yay!

And speaking of creative things, last night I decided on my outdoor theme for Christmas next year.  Yes, you read that correctly... next year.  The plan is too big to put together for this year!  I've even done a little plan on my computer, overlaying what I want to do on a photo of our house and yard.

No, you can't see it!  That would ruin the surprise!

I'm looking forward to Christmas this year (although I still have no idea what we're actually doing!).  Apparently there are quite a few people (my neighbours included) who go all out with Christmas lights and decorations.  Have I mentioned that I love Christmas lights?

On another note, I finally got around to making a bunch of appointments and phone calls yesterday.  You know how sometimes you just keep putting something off, even though it's only small and wouldn't take much time?  Phone calls are like that for me.

Speaking of phone calls, the Little Big Fella wanted to call his Nanna tonight when it was bed time.  He doesn't often ask to do that so I agreed.  Boy!  Can that kid talk!!!  And he gets so focused on one topic at a time that he doesn't even hear you respond or ask questions!  It was very entertaining listening to him telling Nanna all about giants and how big they are, and wondering if Daddy's gun would shoot them, and trying to figure out if they are inside books and so on and so on.  Nanna and Grandad enjoyed it (thankfully).  I think it's probably the longest conversation he's had with them!

The Big Fella has a couple of days off coming up so we're planning to go and discover another new swimming spot "nearby".  Hopefully it'll be wonderful and I'll get to tell you all about it and post some photos for you :-D

Under the Sea - Part 2

A little while ago we started turning the Little Big Fella's room into an under the sea world.  We've been reading fishy books, singing fishy songs, watching Nemo and the Octonauts and playing fishy games.

I thought it was about time we did another sea craft and put some more stuff in his room (because it's never messy ;-)).  So yesterday we made an octopus, a couple of crabs, and a couple of jellyfish.  We counted the octopus' legs when we cut them, then when we stapled them on, and then when we were done!

The octopus is the green plate with pink tentacles.  The Little Big Fella even drew eyes, nose and mouth on it :-)  And the crabs are the egg cups with sparkly pipe cleaner legs.

After all that creativity, the Little Big Fella needed to get destructive!  So it was obviously time to cut something up!  The plastic plate ended up in little pieces less than 1cm square.  Thankfully, the Little Big Fella likes cleaning up if I do it with him, so I held the pan and he brushed all the bits into it.

I put a couple of 3M removable hooks up in his room and strung a line for hanging creatures from and voila!

The octopus is in the middle (I know, they're normally on the ground) and the jellyfish are either side

Here's the crabs and some of our earlier work

And a bit more of the crabs (that really look more like 6-legged spiders but my 3 year old doesn't know that!)

I'm considering making some balloon fish, handprint fish and maybe a couple of other bits and pieces before we change themes.  We'll see what we come up with :-D