School Time Coming

2 weeks to go until Alex finally gets to go to school.
This term has gone by really slowly as far as he is concerned.
He has been desperate to go for weeks now.

Hope

There is hope in the world of study. Go check out the latest here
I think things have just turned for the good

Swimming

Ben and Alex had their last swimming lesson yesterday.
Unfortunately it got too difficult to organise a lesson that fitted in with life.
I currently have Wednesdays off work, and I will be keeping this day off when Alex starts school. (fits in with my study that I am about to start, go check here for more details)
So therefore swimming has to be on a Wednesday, but they could only give Alex a lesson at 4.30pm.
This is way too late in the day for a little boy who has just turned 5 and has started school.
With finishing school at 3pm and then having to wait until 4.30pm for a lesson, I know that by that time he will be past it, will not pay attention and therefore the lesson will be a waste of time and money.

So with much sadness for Alex's lesson, because he was the one who was enjoying the lessons the most, we said goodbye to the lovely teacher he has had for the last year.
I am not worried about their ability to swim. I feel that they have learnt some very good basics and will be fine. They will go swimming in the pool at the caravan and will one day pick up lessons again.

School Time

Alex had his meeting with the Principle today at school.
We decided that even though he knows the school very well, and has met a lot of the teachers, that we would still do everything special for him.
So mum, dad and Alex all sat in the office, in a very nice manner, and answered all the questions the Principle asked us.
He asked Alex when he was going to be 5?
Where he went to Daycare?
What he liked doing? Alex told him all about Judo, which consequently the Principle has a soft spot for because his big boy use to do Judo when he was little.
He asked him if he knew any numbers? Alex just randomly threw some numbers out there, so the Principle asked him which came first 200 or 400? Alex's answer was that 100 came before 200 or 400. The Principle just smiled.
He asked him about letters? Alex again randomly threw some letters out in the air, but then followed it with LMNOP. The Principle noted that Alex knew his letters!

He asked him which class he wanted to be in and then informed Alex which class he would be in.
We are very happy with the selection. He has the teacher that Ben had last year, who Alex knows very well.
So then we trotted off to the class room to met everyone, well Alex thought this was awesome and disappeared to a spare chair at one of the tables and stayed there for the next 45 minutes until school ended.
He even asked if he could go back again tomorrow?

That was the heart breaking part, because of course he can not go until he turns 5, in 2 weeks time.
He has the next 2 Wednesday mornings to go to school and spend a few hours in the classroom so he is more aware of the room before he starts, but he would love to put that little uniform on and go tomorrow if he could!
So when we got home, we made a count down chart for him to cross off the sleeps until school starts. I made sure that all his activities are on the chart so he can see all the other fun stuff he has coming up before he goes to school.
Like going to Auckland to see a show, going to the caravan for a night with just daddy, when Judo is on and also when his birthday is and when the party is.
I think that has settled him for the moment.

Productive Weekend Again

This weekend turned into a very productive time again.
We have some very busy weekends ahead of us coming up so this one was our last at home for a while.

Steve had mubbled several times about wanting to sort out the insulation in the house.
We have a 2 storey house, but as it is a sort of A frame house, then everything is downstairs apart from 2 bedrooms that are slap bang in the middle of the roof. (Imagine a triangle and then draw a square in the middle of it, you then have lots of space either side of the square, this is our roof space, dead space, empty area, what ever you wish to name it!)
Anyway, that means all the bedroom walls are surrounded by roof space and we loose a lot of heat out into the roof, so Steve wanted to insulate the walls with wool insulation, as they hadn't been done.
So I managed to get him to the builders shop on Saturday and got the stuff required.
So he has spent the whole weekend insulating the roof. We still have a little area to go but at least a start has been made as the cold weather starts to close in.

My mission for the weekend has been the lounge.
It is small, and until we have enough money to be able to afford to knock down a very big load bearing wall, then it will stay small.
Now it was not helped by the fact that our tv etc was standing on a very large entertainment unit.

This unit was perfect for our last house, nice big open planned lounge, dining and kitchen. But not for a house with everything in its own area and lots of walls.

Seeing as we are not knocking down walls anytime soon, I mentioned that I wanted to change the unit for something smaller that would not take up half the room!

So we also looked around for tv units.

We managed to find one, but I could tell from Steve's manner that we would not be getting one this weekend. Unfortunately I had other ideas, once my mind is set on something, nothing or no one is going to stand in my way. I think maybe deep down he knew this, because he never stood in my way or created any resistance when I set on my mission today!

So our lounge has gone from this..

to this

to this

and finally this

I love it now, so much more space and definitely lighter.

The other issue we have is that there are 4 of us in the family. When Steve brought the lounge furniture, there was just him and he lived in a small town house. So 1chair and a 2 seater sofa was sufficient. As the boys have come along, the suite has still been suitable but it is slowly getting a little cramped when everyone wants to watch tv as there are really only 3 seats, and as for when Grandma is visiting, well there just isn't enough space for everyone to sit down.

Whilst looking at the tv units, I spied a cute little kids sofa for 2. I did kinda think our 2 were a little large for it, but when they sat on it it was perfect. When Ben and I went to the shop today to get the tv unit, I thought about it some more and decided to buy it.

We need a new suite for the lounge but again it is not top of the priority list, the one we have , although lacking in enough seats, is actually fine and needs no need of replacing. So the cheaper option was to buy this little kids sofa that the boys will happily use for the next year or so and then we can look at replacing the suite.

You can see it just tucked in the corner just perfect for the boys to use.

So all in all a very productive weekend for us.

How was yours?

Bac to Skool Update

Talked to the Head of Health Dept today with regards to doing my degree through them.
Will not be a happening thing!
Find out more here.

Daycare

A couple of times a week, we have what we call a 'Family Circle'.
Now this is not just for family, we have done them when friends are visiting at dinner time as well.
It entales us sitting at the table after we have finished dinner and talking about how our day has gone, or what ever question we decide to throw out there for everyone to answer.
The main one at present is 'tell us 1 good thing and 1 bad thing that you liked about today'
This then makes the boys think about their day and have to decide what they thought was a good thing and what was a bad thing.

Unfortunately Alex is now coming up with no good things and just bad things about his days!
Alex has all of 3 weeks left at Daycare and this is the problem, because he is BORED.
Simple put, he has out grown the place, he no longer gets enjoyment from hanging around with 2 & 3yr olds.
He is ready to move on to the next chapter in his little life and it just can't seem to happen soon enough for him.
If the Principle had said he could have started 3 weeks ago, when the term started, he would have been there with bells on, running through the gate in his little uniform carrying his large school bag, but because he can't officially start until he is 5, then he has to wait 3 more weeks.
Alex has been playing up at home quite a bit in the last week or 2 and I have now come to realise that it all stems down to shear boredom and lack of challenges.
When he does activities at Daycare, then there is no challenge because he is by far the oldest and most coordinated. There is no sense of competition.

So for the next 3 weeks we will just tenderly take stepping stone paces around Alex as we try to deal with his frustration of boredom and look forward to the next wonderful chapter in his life that is about to start, real soon.

Frustration

Had heard back about my ongoing quest to become a Teacher.
Go check it all out here.

Lets just say, things are a little frustrating at present!

Mother's Day

We are alarm clocks, personnal dressers, cooks, chauffeurs, counselors, doctors, teachers, maids and many other things but most of all we are mum's.
We are awesome at what we do and we give it 100% at all times.

Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous mum's out there wherever you may be.

This has been around a long time, but I love it.
It sums up this special day to mum's so well.

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:


WHY GOD MADE MUMS ?

1. She's the only one who knows where the sticky tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mum just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's' bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mum?

1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's Mums like me.

What kind of little girl was your Mum?

1. My Mum has always been my Mum and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mum need to know about Dad before she married him?

1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mum marry your Dad?

1. My Dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mum eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My Grandma says that Mum didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?

1. Mum doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because Dad's such an idiot.
2. Mum. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed
3. I guess Mum is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.

What's the difference between Mums & Dads?

1. Mums work at work and work at home and Dads just go to work at work
2. Mums know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Mums have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Mums have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mum do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don't have spare time.
2. To hear her talk, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mum perfect?

1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. You know, her hair. I'd die it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mum, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mum smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Happy Mother's Day to you all

Judo

The boys have decided that thye would like to learn Judo.
We happily went along to the 1st 3 nights so they could get a feel for it.
They loved it, so it is now a permanent fixture on their calendar.

Last week Alex even won the Trophy of the week for 'best improvement' he was so please with himself and we were so proud of our little Judo Boys.

School Countdown

5 weeks to go until my baby starts school.
What ever will I do with myself for my one day off from work?

Suggestions on a postcard please........

Do You Smell Something....?

The weather has changed, for winter.
We had the most glorious day, clear blue skies and hot sunshine. The type were it is actually warmer outside than in!
So we got all the washing done (except the towels which I have just remembered are in the machine!) and we got the garden winterized, table and umbrella put away etc.

By the evening though, the temp had dropped drastically.
So during one of the ad breaks I casually mentioned to Steve that maybe we could do with our warm winter blanket for the bed?
He agreed and went into the loft space to find it.
He found the blanket but also smelt gas!

Now we have a gas meter, on the outside of the house. It only services the hot water and the gas stove in the kitchen, no reason for the gas to be in the roof 2 stories up.
So he said no reason to call now at 9.30pm, it can wait till tomorrow.
My answer was a little un writable and said that the insurance company would love that "oh I am sorry we smelt gas last week but didn't think it was important!" after the house has blown up or caught fire!

So he found the number and called the company, who you can imagine were thrilled with being called out at 10pm on a Sunday evening.
The man begrudingly came out and said he couldn't smell gas!
But got out his meter and checked the roof for us where he did actually find gas.
Went back to the meter and found gas there too, although only a low reading but enough to cause concern that it needs something looking into.
We still can not understand how, with such a low reading showing from the meter, it is rising to the roof above and staying there?

Anyway, he is not too concerned as we have been able to smell gas as you walk past the meter on and off for ages now, nothing ever too strong but enough that you can smell it.
They dug up the driveway last year and looks like they will be doing the same again, sometime this week.
I can tell you, he was none too impressed with having found something, cause now it means he has more work to do, and especially as he was the one who came out last year when there was a problem and we still have a problem now!

Will keep you posted with what they decide to do and when....?

Just Gotta Tell You....

As you are aware my bathroom is a work in progress.....!
Well Steve decided that he would put the mirror up this weekend.
So here is what my bathroom looks like now...

I love it