Gravy

Ben realises that the only reason you have meat...

Is to hold the gravy!

No Mistake Like Bacon!

Macca's has a lot to answer for....

Byeeee Maatthewww!

Well it has taken 8 weeks but it has happened. Leaving preschool yesterday the chorus of girls began with the "Byeeee Maatthewww!" I'm sure i will be hearing it a lot over the next 15 years or so!
Still on the subject of girls, we walked around the lake today. With Ben in the front of the stroller and Ryan in the back. Now as Canberra is a very friendly place you must greet all of the people you pass. So we were streaking along (we are doing these walks all for my benefit!) all you could hear from the front seat when people were approaching was "Hello!" However when a young attractive woman was approaching the hello's AND the waves AND the legs kicking started about 10 meters before we reached them! And I am sure this will be the story of my life!

Juice

Benny surprises me daily with his ability to talk. ALL of my children can talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles (wonder where they get that from!) But Ben is extraordinary. Most toddlers make noises but Benny has never done that. He says words. If he cant say the word he says nothing at all! He does however, speak junior Rickard language, which is a language only understood by Matthew, Ryan and Ben (and does unfortunately gain strange looks from people being referred to as "boobies" while apparently has nothing to do with ladies boobies!)

Today for example we were listening to the radio and "Soul to Squeeze" (red hot chilli peppers) comes on and all i hear from the back seat is squeeze, squeeze! He repeats everything that Ryan says. If Ryan is talking to me about horsies we get horsies. If we are talking about diggers we get digger or bobcat or backhoe! In fact all of the boys knowledge on digging equipment has surpassed their mothers!

Any way check out the video of Benny saying some of his favourite words. And wait for the goodbye!

Go Go Go Uncle Brenty

Here are some piccies of our soon to be Olympian and our boys and the in laws!

So thats how they make sultanas!

This morning the laundry was a hive of activity as it should be when you have 4 messy boys. (Yes Daddy is the messiest!) And my assistant (Ben) was hard at work when i left him to get yet another load of washing. When i returned my assistant was attempting to make sultanas.......by putting his bowl of grapes (bowl included) into the dryer! Somehow he managed to press the right combination of buttons and was watching with great delight at his soon to be sultanas going around and around and around!

A very expensive gold medal!

We went to see Brenton at his hotel this morning to congratulate him and check out his medal. It has proven to be a expensive visit as when Ryan was admiring the medal he has managed to chip his front tooth! As only Ryan could. So Ryan is off to his first dentist visit!

Congratulations Uncle Brenty!

Yesterday Nathan's brother, Brenton, booked his berth to the Beijing Olympics. My brother in law will be an Olympian! It was very exciting to watch him swim last night. It was very exciting to watch him realise that he had achieved what he has been working toward for so many years. It's exciting to see the realisation of a dream that was inspired by his big brother and my husband! It is exciting to watch the inspiration that Brenty has given my children. They adore their uncle and for him to be the winner was the ultimate excitement. Matthew spent the hours after uncle Brenty's race telling all that would listen "My uncle Brenty was the winner and he won because I cheered for him and made him a go go go Uncle Brenty sign!" I could see how proud Matthew was of him and that me proud of ALL of the Rickard boys!

The Easter Bunny has been!

We rose at around 6.30 this morning and began the frantic search for Easter eggs. Actually an hour later we are still in a frantic search for Easter Eggs. There are random shouts of "He might have been in the bathroom! Lets go check there!" Then the pitter pattering of 3 sets of little feet. And as they race of to see if there are any eggs in the bathroom they run past 4 eggs left on the floor! Those boys are as blind as bats! They chose to look in the bath when their toy shelves are full of eggs. I asked Ryan to look out the window to see if the dogs had been visited by the Easter bunny (i had put eggs on the window sill). There was great disappointment as they hadn't received anything. I then had to ask him to open the window before he saw it!
I have been pleasantly surprised by the sharing and helping each other! I remember as a child the frantic rush to get the most eggs and to share...over my dead body! But Matthew has helped Ben and Ryan find the eggs then if he felt he had too many, gave one to the others. He even asked me if i would like an egg! Moments like these make me feel so much pride in my boys. They are capable of so much more than I was, at an even younger age. One thing hasn't changed though...all of the little eggs the Easter Bunny left for the "treasure hunt" have all disappeared.
Happy Easter everyone!

Sweet, sweet silence!

Ahhh! How great is Easter Sunday eve. The boys were threatened with "There will be no Easter Bunny if you do not go straight to sleep! I've got his mobile number in my phone, it's right next to Santa's and you know i called him at Christmas to tell him about your behaviour. So you had better go straight to sleep!" And they did! If only it worked every night!

Say EXACTLY what you mean, Mummy!

So my day started badly after the consumption of around 600g of chocolate. (Not by me as that is not a bad start just usual!) But by Ryan, apparently. However, Matthew has so far failed to convince me that he was an innocent bystander in all of this mornings shenanigans. However I digress. Ben likes to entertain himself when i am in the shower by making stacks of toilet paper. This morning he bolted from the bathroom with 4 rolls and was intercepted by his brothers who decided it would be rather fun to unravel all 4 rolls. When I was dry and dressed therefore ready to deal with them i asked Ryan to take all of the toilet paper and put it in the toilet. What i should have said was : "Ryan could you please re-roll all of this toilet paper onto their rolls and then place the rolls beside the toilet in the bathroom." Because if you do NOT say it in this way you end up with 4 rolls of toilet paper stuffed into the toilet with three boys trying to push the mound of paper into the toilet because it doesn't all fit and mummy specifically said "Put ALL of this toilet paper in the toilet!" What makes it even worse was that Matthew was unable to assist in the picking up of the toilet paper as he was on the toilet doing what he called "a VERY stinky poo." And you know what? I didn't hear a toilet flush in between the toilet stop and the stuffing of the toilet! And Nathan isn't here so guess who's job it was to suit up (In rubber gloves and breathing apparatus) and go fishing through the toilet with tongs and a bucket! MINE! I'm going to eat 600gms of chocolate now! I've earned it!

Ryan IS my son!

This morning I awoke to the pitter patter of tiny footsteps in the hall way. I thought it was the boys waking for the morning and as it was just 6am and still pitch black i put them all back into bed saying it was the middle of the night. I managed to keep them in bed for another half an hour. When we all got up I found out what had REALLY been happening this morning. The pitter patter of tiny feet was actually tiny feet RETURNING to their bed after they had been up earlier eating all of the Easter Eggs that had been purchased on behalf of Nanna Bev. Now not only did the culprit eat his own eggs he also ate ALL of his brothers eggs too! I wonder who's child he is!

Mummy is that Jesus?

We were at the fruit market today picking up some apples when Matthew piped up with "Mummy is that Jesus?" I looked up to see an gentleman of middle Eastern appearance with a dark beard wearing I would assume traditional Muslim dress (long dress, with pants underneath, sandal and a hat). This question was asked at full volume, of course. So what do you say in that situation? Well if you are a very mature, responsible and worldly mother you dissolve into fits of laughter. And apparently if you are a mature, responsible and worldly father you ask if Elvis was with him!

Is my hair red?

So many people have commented on Benny's red hair recently! Do you think it red? I really don't think it is Letitia red but I am wondering if it is my dad's reddishness? Although it has been soooo long since Dad had hair maybe his wasn't red at all!

And here are some piccies of the blondies.

Hungry

For the last few mornings Ben has been waking me up between 4am and 5.50am. This is very unusual for him. But this morning i figured out why! He is hungry. Really hungry! This morning he ate 2 weetbix(every skerik) and then 2 pieces of toast. My baby must be growing. How am I going to be able to keep up feeding my boys? Thank goodness i have never had them eat their way through a growth spurt at the same time. But I'm sure that is to come in the near future and then all the way through their teenage years!

Footy Widow

Tonight I mourn my husband. I have lost him until October when he will recover from his case of finals fever. I can only feel jealousy that these stupid games (as the AFL starts soon) are more of an attraction to my husband than I! He no longer wants to watch better homes and gardens with me on Friday. Sundays afternoon walks are gone. I will have to find something else for me to occupy my time. As I just can't compete with football or the V8 and i certainly don't come close to the Formula 1! But at least I know my place in the scheme of things and at least he is too preoccupied with his sport to notice the credit card bills!

My hero.

Nathan and his helpers!

Nathan and most of his family spent their summer holidays making our entertaining area at the side of our house. I just can't thank them enough! It has been HOT in Canberra the last few days and it is such a pleasure to sit out there and have our dinner. It is something that I truly enjoy. When we are sitting out there I can't help but think how clever my husband is! He (and his helpers, can't forget them!) did everything himself, from the leveling to the laying to the building of the retaining wall. He is really worth his weight in gold, my husband!

Pre School

Today was my turn to be the "parent helper" at pre school. I had deliberately put it off until now because I wanted the class to be settled before I walked in with two rowdy "extras". But I have been dying to go to see how my little buddy was coping without me. I was so excited to see what Matthew was like when we weren't around. We all know what Matthew is like with his family but we have never seen him in a different setting, like school. So, this morning I was busting with excitement. I wasn't the only one. I had three little boys with three backpacks raring to go from 7am! I had no arguments with anyone to put on shoes, eat breakfast or make their beds! Do you think they will be like this in 10 years time?
So what is Matthew like in the company of his class mates? Pretty much the same. Although he helps out a lot more there than at home! He packed up all the toys. Infact, all of the children packed up the toys and you know what else, there wasn't one raised voice. I did actually ask Debbie if she could move in to assist with toy tiding in our house and she laughed and said there was probably more yelling in her own house than any of her students' houses! Matthew is so enthusiastic. He is the first to help with any task. The teachers had put out rakes and wheelbarrows for the children (really clever way of tidying autumn leaves, disguise it as fun!) Matthew was the first child to offer assistance. Then he drummed up the others to help out as well! I was worried he would demand Debbie's attention constantly and yet he doesn't. He is more than happy for others to take centre stage.
Something else I noticed is he is exceptionally polite and Debbie is constantly praising him for it. I have endeavoured to teach manners and as a parent it is a thankless task but I was rewarded for MY hard work today!
So the result is Matthew is very much the same beautiful little boy. He did get into trouble once but I wasn't surprised by it. He did something silly that he would have done at home. And it was probably just as well that he did do it otherwise I may have left him at school where his perfectness is guaranteed!

Autumn is coming!

I was doing the dishes on the weekend when i looked out of my kitchen window to realise that the trees were all turning their autumn colours. Our tree out the front has turned so quickly. This means that winter is coming and I'm not ready for winter. I'm not prepared to have another $900 heating bill this winter. I'm not ready to wear 4 layers of clothing. I'm not ready to break the 2cm layer of ice off the dogs water bowl. I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer. Infact, I dont think we even said hello to it this year! So Im going to enjoy our week of predicted high temperatures because i know that after this week it will be all down hill.

And this is what the boys are looking like this autumn morning!

Bad Mummy

I failed this morning my first pre school test. I have known for at least a week that today is the teddy bear picnic. I even paid for it the day after the note came home. However, this morning i forgot and i sent Matthew (sorry Matt ew!) off to school without his beloved puppy AND a mummy made play lunch. (Not the play lunch to be specially made at pre school for the picnic!) I forgot that it was today, well i remembered last night before bed. But in my defence it was quite easy to forget as Ben and i spent the morning spewing on each other. He would be sick then i couldn't contain myself and he got back 200% what he gave me!
But the moral of this story is i will not ever do the Bad Mummy walk of shame (when you have to return 5 mins later when every one else is leaving and you are just arriving, puppy tucked under your arm!) ever again

Matt ew

Matthew has been at pre school for 5 weeks now and they have been pushing the children to write their own names. Matthew has been cursing having such a long name, for a start it doesn't fit in the box when he signs into school. Additionally there are a lot of letters to remember. This has resulted in Matthew declaring he no longer requires "h". It isn't apparently useful to his name. The good news for "w" is that it is no longer "an upside down m w". (As it has previously been referred too.)

Ben loves chocolate mousse

Needs no words does it!

Mummy's sick leave

Yesterday I was sick. I had a tummy virus that is going around Canberra and that Nathan has passed on to me! The day was a disaster. Nathan was in Adelaide so he couldn't offer any assistance. Thank goodness for Cleon, Michelle and Uncle Brenton because without them the day would have been an even bigger disaster. I had spent all night being sick and was woken early, as usual, by three very energetic boys. My first thought was Matthew couldn't go to pre school as how was i going to get him there. I couldn't get out of my pj's let alone the house. After about 30 second of three rambunctious boys i thought "I'm getting him there if it kills me. At least it will only leave me 2 ratbags to contain." So i sent Matthew over to ask if Cleon and Michelle could take him and thankfully they could alter their plans to do so. Then I roped Brenton into picking Matthew up from school and Nathan asked him to cook dinner for the boys. Thanks Brenty for your lasagna! So you would like to think it would be relatively easy to look after a 3 year old and 18 month old. Ha! I had Ryan ransacking the place. First he played with every toy i have ever forbidden him to play with, there is play doe in EVERYTHING and where there is no playdoe there is paint, in some places there is paint on playdoe. Then he proceeded to eat everything! There is one bite out of everything in the cupboard. But i will give him credit he was very quiet whilst causing all of this mayhem. Meanwhile i had my head down the toilet bowl and Ben was very sweetly patting my head then shoving what ever was in his hand down the toilet bowl.
The good news is we made it through our rough day with all people fully accounted for. I said people not house as it will take a long time to recover!

Swimming Lessons

Ryan and Matthew now attend swimming lesson on a Tuesday morning. I have fought Nathan for years about teaching our children to swim. Poor Nathan is terrified that his children would turn out to be, heaven forbid, talented swimmers! Unfortunately, for Nathan, I think he is going to have his worst fears realised because his children LOVE swimming. And whats more, they are good at it! Having quite a bit of experience at teaching children to swim, i can see they have all the makings of great swimmers. Ryan has had 5 "proper" lesson and he can float, submerge and blow bubbles. These are skills that i have seen some children take years to master. But sitting back and watching the interaction between student and teacher it struck me like lightning that we, the parents, will have little to do with guiding them into a swimming career. The teachers and then coaches will take one look at the natural ability and the love of the water that I insisted my children have and it will be all over red rover. The coach will say "Rickard boys would you like to come and try club night. Its lots of fun!" And they will be hooked. I think the genetics in those boys is highly conducive to competitive sport. I bags not taking them to morning swimming training, Nath and i bags it first! And if that should be the case i am sure Nathan and I will find some way not to become the pushy sporty parents we have all seen at any sporting venue, anywhere in Australia. And we will sit in the uncomfortable bleachers at Chandler Pool cheering on our boys, proud as punch!

Happy Birthday Aunty Teesh!

Enjoy the video! It's quite funny, Ben has no idea whats going on but it looks like fun and the camera is out so he is loving it! And i dont think any of them will be singers!

Literally

Children are so very literal. This morning I had organised Matthew to be looked after by the neighbours, as we had a working bee to go to and he had been ill. However, when he woke in the morning he was feeling much better and wanted to come with us. So i told him he had to eat his breakfast and get dressed then he could go over and tell Cleon and Michelle he was feeling better. I expected the usual fussing and fighting. Nathan and i later noticed it was awfully quiet. Then the dreadful thought "Where is Matthew". Then click! Next door. Matthew had his breakfast and gotten dressed in record time and promptly let himself out the front door. I was expecting us to take our time getting ready then present ourselves on our neighbours door step at a respectable hour. But not my son. I had asked him to do something and he had done it! Sorry to Cleon and Michelle who were dragged out of their bed and shower to be told "I'm better now!"