Butterflies, cakes and play dates

The big kids had a sleep over at grandmas house last night. It was the first time I've slept at home without them. And it was very very quiet. Despite the HUGE storm which was raging outside. (The massive grumpyline aka trampoline, was blown across the yard and stopped only 30 from smashing through George's window). They've stayed at Gandy's before, but I was in hospital with Arthur.
The kids had an absolute ball, but needless to say I was very pleased to have them home!! Needless to say, the kids were extremely excited to have been fed dessert.....
When they got home George decided to do some drawing. He wrote butterfly (& his name) all by himself - no prompting at all. This is HUGE for George and I am very proud of him. So I decided to bake a butterfly cake to take for afternoon tea to Lucy & Alexander's house for afternoon tea. (Ingrid took great pride in her job to feed Arthur his yoghurt while the cake was baking, though I'm not sure how much actually made in....)

The cake was such a hit that we were invited to stay for dinner (ooooh, yes please say the kids - and more dessert - I'll have to lift my game!!).
Arthur had a ball with Alexander - poor 3rd child meets so few of his own type. I'm sure that's why he loves playing with Ingrid's dolls "hey - baby - play with me!!" (He then usually pounces on the doll and enthusiastically 'greets' read as kisses poor Megan to within an inch of her life!!). No need for that tonight though.

Windy days

Today was a very very windy autumn school holiday day. With Arthur still feeling pretty awful it just wasn't a day for the outdoors. The big kids and I had a lovely day anyway. We made some more ANZACS, had some very labour intensive dolls who just wouldn't stop crying, built some leggo and played some board games.

Sorry.....back on deck....

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long. Had a bit going on...Arthur had another hospital stay. Ingrid had her tonsils out. Yes that is a picture of Princess Ingrid who wore her Tiara to hospital (meanwhile George, Arthur and Sammy bear had a boys night). She also took a life sized unicorn in to surgery. Apparently Dr Irani nearly took sparkles tonsils by accident. I've been kept fairly busy keeping the patient entertained as she had had to have 2 weeks off school, ballet everything. Sam, forgetting Dr I's daughter was in the class thought we may be able to sneak Ingrid back to school a little early. Til I reminded him about Dr I's spies...it's not all bad for the patient. She has had free access to mummy bears scarves!! And lots and lots of baking...everything has had to have sprinkles!!!!
And finally as the weather has turned (though our tomatoes are STILL going) the soccer season has begun. Phew. And through a haze of morning er all day sickness which doesn't seem to be going away despite being 17 weeks now. Ughh.

Rock Cakes & Parent Teacher Interviews

Today was baking day. Wednesdays always are as it is a home day for Ingrid. Fridays are home days too but ballet takes some of the sting out if that one.
So the little sous chef and I made rock cakes today. Rather yummy too. We took a little parcel of rock cakes in for Mrs G and Mrs B as we had parent teacher student interviews after school.
You will notice I used the word student in there. This is because the meetings are meant to be student led. In Ingrid's case she was too busy socialising with the passing crowd outside as everyone made their way home for the day.
Either way both of them had glowing reports from their teachers. George in particular has been applying himself to all those less favoured activities, and has really found his confidence.
Tomorrow Ingrid is having her tonsils out so I'm going to bed shortly to stock up on zzz!!

Head of the River

On Saturday we packed a picnic and headed off to the beautiful Lake Barrington for the Head of the River. The weather was beautiful, the water great (as always) and we had a really fantastic day.
Scotch had their own pint sized cheer squad as the kids got right into the spirit of things!! Things got a little confusing at one point when I couldn't help but let out a 'go Collegiate', so Sam thought what he hell, 'go Grammar' and the chorus of 'go Scotch go Scotch' got louder. For the record Collegiate won - in my old boat which bought back lots of lovely memories!!! It didn't stop several other spectators looking our way and wondering what was going on!
I ran into several old coaches, fellow crew members and old friends. I did find picnicking by the lake a bit of a luxury though as I'm used to being a lot more busy on the day!! I must admit I did have trouble staying put.

Easter Round Up

Ok so it's taken nearly a week to get round to it but I thought I'd let you know what we got up to over Easter. This is the short version as after a day at Head of the River today (more about that another time) I'm a little bit tired...
We started Easter Sunday by discovering what the Easter Bilby had left for us. Yummy. Chocolate. And fair trade too- what a very P.C. bilby the E.B is!!! Then we had a breakfast of home made hot cross buns which the kids and I had made the day before. We put craisens in and they were very very yummy. Then we packed up and went to Swanwick to spend the night with Gandy and Pa Pa. I ended up sewing the bilbies on the way. However sewing with Sam behind the wheel while going over Lake Leake resulted in several needle injuries (at one point Ingrid got quite cross with me for bleeding on her bilby). I decided to postpone the sewing til we got there.
Once we arrived we ate more of our hot cross buns and yet more chocolate (we did have a very fun Easter egg hunt). Next it was time to take the kids for a run on the beach (ready for the next round of chocolate). They promptly removed their clothrs and had a wow of a time. Just a hyperthermia set in we went home where the smell of Mandy's lamb roast greeted us.
Old friends of Gandy's Max and Bev came for dinner. They have led such interesting lives - Max was a patrol officer in PNG, set up national parks in the territory, was a crocodile re-homer (George was VERY impressed) and more recently a world expert on the crabs on Christmas Island (Ingrid was impressed by this one as she thought maybe it was Christmas every day on Christmas Island. We had some lovely chats about the island as this was the first place I had been to school. I had made a lemkn meringue pie which was nearly as good as the roast Gandy had made.
What a lovely Easter!!
Oh and the fishing party set out Monday morning but alas we are still fish less.

Easter Bilby

We had a lovely crafty day today. This morning we decided to make some an Easter Bilby or two. The kids got right into it. Firstly we looked at what they looked like, and the kids did some preliminary drawings. Then we made a pattern and then George and Ingrid chose their fabric (and Arthur's). A friend called and because I wanted to talk to her I I thought I'd hand stitch so that I could hear her. A good idea at the time.
Anyway, while I stitched the kids built, drew and played to their hearts content. Only thing is now I am still stitching away....