And now for the flowers

We love going to Floriade to take photos of the flowers. We now have 4 folders full of flowers. They are probably the same as last years but because you probably cant remember them...... here are this years flowers!

The workaholic eager for me to stop taking photos so he can go back to work!

A magnolia. One of my fav trees. We have just planted one in my garden!

A music player thing (Kind of like a massively over grown pianola). Very pretty.
What we look like from the flower application thingy on our camera!

Floriade

It is that beautiful time of the year again. Floriade. It is such a beautiful time of year. This year is even better because we had a such cold wet winter it is making the spring appear so much sweeter. It's funny to think back to all of the Floriade's since we have been here. The first Ben was only weeks old.
The second only just walking.

And now he is a big garden gnome. Just like his brothers.

Monster Trucks

My boys are monster truck mad. So when we heard that the monster truck spectacular was coming to town we couldn't miss it. And so glad we didn't. I had a ball! I wasn't expecting to like it. I thought i would really enjoy watching my boys love it BUT I really loved it! It was exciting and noisy and powerful! And they boys are even more monster mad than they were before! Here are some pictures Scooby Doo. This truck at one stage sprung a leak of fuel, Nathans comment was that it couldn't even raise a tyre to leak!
Outback Thunder. My fav.
The jet van, I wasn't a huge fan. A bit scary all that fire so close to us. They burnt a car using the jet fire. Nath was impressed. Me, not so much. The boys not at all!
Bit too close for comfort.
Huge fireworks display. Nath got some great shots.

Pacific rage Monster truck (apparently the one Grant Denyer had his accident in!)
Did you see that Ryan!
Its too loud and he has hearing protection in!
Still too noisy!

Batman. Nathan's favourite.

Transzilla. The fire breathing (and farting for that matter!) dragon

A family of Rev Heads apparently!

More jet engines, Chad

The boys in their speedway chairs

Monster truck rides. We didn't have one. They weren't quite brave enough!

The Boss. Matthew's Favourite

This big!

They could fit inside the wheel

The jet engine van. Thought Uncle Chad would be impressed with these!

AFL Grand Final

My Grandad and I shared a love of the AFL. My team is the Carlton Blues and his team is Hawthorn. So today with Hawthorn in the Grand Final, Grandad hasn't been far in my thoughts. I have missed him dreadfully today and i have also felt his presence today. I can hear him singing our song. So in an attempt to get him to shut up i will publish the song for all to see.

Poor old Carltons' dead

They died with a bonk on the head

They put em in a coffin and they fell through the bottom

Poor old Carltons' dead!

There you go Grandad. Hawthorn are the winners but I will never change teams! Love Jen

Unwed!

I am feeling REALLY uncomfortable today. Nathan is having my engagement ring remade. Did you know i lost it? When i was weeks pregnant with Ben i went on a cleaning spree (i think the Rickard's were coming to visit!) Anyway i had put my engagement ring in a snap lock bag on top of the fridge as a diamond had fallen out. And during cleaning spree i put all of the bags in the bin. Funny thing was as i was cleaning up all the bags i remember thinking "Bloody Nathan, why can't he just put his bags straight in the bin!" So Nathan is having an exact replica made but to do that the jeweler needed my wedding band so they could match it. Which means it is the first time my wedding ring has ever come off my finger. And it isn't even in my possession so i am feeling very vulnerable. Please, please, please don't loose my wedding ring!
(Oh and yay for my new engagement ring! Can't wait to have it back!)

Welcome Home Parade

Brenty flew down yesterday to do the Canberra welcome home parade. We really need to thank him because he dragged himself out of his death bed to do it! Thanks! The boys loved it.They always love seeing their Uncle but they like to see him doing special things too. They also loved the massive balloon courtesy of Bankwest. One of which we were given but they were so massive they wouldn't fit in the car. So Daddy did what any boy would do and consumed the helium until the balloon COULD fit in the car. And then had the boys in hysteric all the way back to his work!

Ben's favourite bit was the Chinese dragons. He was awe struck. He couldn't take his eyes off them. He showed anyone who was interested the dragons. Until one came up to us and shook it's head at him. He peed his pants! He was trying to crawl over my shoulder to get away. But then again the boxing kangaroo and sunflower flower pot had the same reaction!

Brenty looking ill during the speeches!

The team!

My Tulips!

I love tulips. It probable comes from visiting Floriade when i was younger. But now that I am older and don't mind gardening (hated being forced to do it as a child!) I have planted tulips. They are expensive but i had to have some this years. Last spring was our first spring in this house so when all the bulbs came up and flowered i was so excited i had to plant more this year! Anyway here is some piccies of MY tulips. I have two purple one the other two bulbs haven't flowered yet but have buds! Jackie and Jodie, please note that yes that IS the duck in the background!

School Photos

I am going to use my previous post as my defence for what i am about to write!

This morning was busy as usual with the added task of getting Brenty to the airport. On a school day we are usually flat chat until we walk out the door at 8.50. This morning we had to be out the door at 7.50 to pick up Brenty. Which meant short cuts. So it was no hair brush, washed faces or brushed teeth. (Mostly because Matthew can spend half an hour standing in front of the mirror. He gets it from his Dad!) We dropped Brenty off and we were thinking it was great because the boys got to see all the diggers where they are building the new airport and roads PLUS the monster trucks were parked on the roadside near the airport. (The boys nearly wet themselves because they are monster truck mad and as a result i am going to the monster truck spectacular on Saturday! Lucky me!) Anyway we made it back to school just as the bell was ringing. I though "Job well done Jen!" Until.....I walked into the class room to be greeted by the photographer! It is school photo day. And in pre school the photographer stays a couple of hours to take random shots of the kids playing and a class photo. Anyway, remember the short cuts I took earlier in the morning, it gets worse! Yesterday was the welcome home parade for the Olympians. And Brenty came down specially for it. So i put tattoos of the Aussie flags on the boys cheeks. They take a couple of days to wash off! So.......school piccies will be interesting this year!

Busy, Busy

Life is hectic currently! I have been the secretary fro the pre school since the beginning of the year and i have just taken on President for the community centre which is about to be renovated. So that is a big task. We have pre school, playschool, playgroup as well as play dates. And when Matthew has a play date, Ryan wants one and now so does Ben. So last week i had two playdates back to back, a committee meeting and a visit to Floriade. The weekend was jam packed with doing up the gardens (Yay, spring has sprung!) This week i have had a card making party, a birthday party (a friend of Ben's), Dora Concert, Welcome home parade for Brenty as well as a trip to the lifeline book fair. ( i am taking Margie who has a serious book addiction, she is bring a trolley!) All this with our usual activities. Which means less blogging but i will try to catch you up!

More Friends

My friend Nicole commented on my previous post that i have friends all over Australia and she is correct. I am very lucky to have so many friends. But I guess i am so excited to be settling in to Canberra because i think this is going to be our permanent home. Which is kind of sad. Because in our hearts, Brisbane is our home. We have some family there, it is where Nathan and I met and fell in love and it has some wonderful memories. I always thought my sister Jackie and I would raise our children together but our nomadic army upbringing has left us in different states and not having the cousins growing up together is what i miss the most. But our life is now in Canberra. There aren't many career options for Nath in Qld (he could work for Boeing in aircraft structures but he hates structures apparently!) And Nath is a very ambitious person so will will stay in Canberra to further his career. But our hearts will always belong to Qld. And we will settle in to Canberra and make it our home. Who know maybe when our children are older we may feel like we are Canberrites!

Friends

We are obviously well and truly settled here in Canberra. I have friends. Lovely, lovely friends. Cid a lady from playgroup came over today so we could do some paperwork for the committee and I must have mentioned that I didn't have the car today and I was thinking of riding to the shops to get a coke. Anyway the day turned dark and stormy so no ride. However Cid returned later in the day to get her phone which she had left behind and she came baring gifts. She brought me some Coke! Thanks you so much Cid. You have made my day!

And now a post NOT about bodily functions!

This is my beautiful family. The preschool had a family portrait fundraiser and this was the result as well as $800 for the preschool to spend on resources!

Toilet Training

We have commenced toilet training Benny! And we got off to a racing start yesterday. I took Ben's nappy off in the morning and no less than a minute after I had dressed him a poo came out. Well he shit (literally) himself! He thought he was falling apart! I told him that was a poo the exact thing that he had been yelling "Get it off me, get it off me!" Every time i have changed his nappy for the last few weeks. So anyway, it fell out and i popped him on the potty and explained to him what he needed to do and...... he had success! So far (and we are only 30 seconds into the whole shebang!) Ben looks like he is going to be my easiest to train. And i think I deserve it! Can anyone remember the infamous Rye Rye poo train of 06? Well here is a photo to jog your memory!

Oh Shit!

I was making breakfast and a loud noise came from the microwave. The noise that came from behind me was Ben going "Shit!" He didn't think he had the pronunciation quite right so he repeated "Shit!" this time enunciated perfectly! What did i do..... ignored it and made a mental note not to say THAT word the next time something goes wrong!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words after my last post. I do know that I'm NOT a pushy parent and that i do have my children's best interest at heart. And I am sure Matty's teacher didn't mean to offend me and I don't think she REALLY thinks I am a pushy parent. Probably just more involved than most that she experiences! I do worry about my children's education, mostly because they are all brighter than I ever was! I mean Ben can count to 12, Ryan can build anything out of lego (he figured out if you made a large square it made a picture frame and he is always trying to frame me!) and Matthew can differentiate between an airbus and a Boeing aircraft! (Well between the red jets and the ones with red tails and kangaroos that Uncle Chad drives and he can tell you that Uncle Chad drives a Dash 8 and that that is a twin prop plane!) Poor Uncle Chad is the busiest pilot in all of Qantas link because he is control of every Dash 8 that we see!
Anyway! Thank you all for your advice! We have already been doing everything already! My kids love books and pretending to read so we will just keep doing what we are doing.

Pushy Parents!

I think Matthew's teacher thinks I am a pushy parent! Earlier this year some parents and i were talking about a new learn to read program. The teacher had never head of it so yesterday when i received my package of readers from this program I took them in for her to have a look at and I received a 45 minute lecture on not pushing your child to read! (We weren't planning on using them now but we wanted to have some books at his level to read next year as he is learning. Matthew is so looking forward to reading his reader when Nathan reads the night time stories, so that is why we got them) Any way back to lecture! Sweden don't teach their children to read until they are 7! She left me quite flabbergasted! Matthew is champing at the bit to read. He spends hour reciting the books that we have, he isn't reading them but he has memorised the story lines from us reading them to him so often. As Nathan said the teacher hasn't seen the hours of reading that we have done to our children. The preschool program is purely play based so Debbie has no idea how academically minded Matthew innately is.
When I rang Nath to tell him I was a pushy parent it started a huge discussion in his office and it turns out one of the fathers has been attending seminars to assist him in teaching his child to read because at 8 his child is having huge difficulties. He advised Nathan to watch and teach Matthew when he was showing enthusiasm for reading. Which he is showing signs of exhibiting now! So we are expecting that we will have no problems when it comes to learning to read in Kindy next year despite the whole lecture from the teacher. It was very interesting to note though, the teacher is highly regarded, the school is highly regarded and they are the reason we chose the school. However, the teacher obviously specialises in special needs children and i can see those that have the special needs are flourishing where those not so needy aren't flourishing in the same proportions. (But still flourishing and having a great time. They think the sun rises and sets in her!) Which I don't think is such a problem but I do hope that as Matthew goes through the school he will be encouraged to learn at his pace and not held back with the lowest common denominator. (how is that for a pushy parent comment!)
It is a daunting journey sending your children off to school. We have decisions to make that our parents didn't have. I don't think they put alot of thought into it. I went to the local school, it never occured to them that they could send me to another school out of area that might satisfy my needs. The options are huge these days. Our school is next door to the catholic school. The catholic school is a little more expensive but not out of our financial reach. We plan on giving our children a private high school education so Nathan and I have spent hours looking into which school we would send our kids to. It was not an easy decision. But we chose Miles Franklin for the things that it offered (I hope they deliver!), the fact they have smaller class sizes than catholic schools and the program that they use to teach reading (more intense than others but with better outcomes).
So now we have to work hard at getting our children safely through their education with positive outcomes that satisfy us (the pushy parents!) and Matthew. Wish us luck!