Monster Truck Show

Matthew, Ryan and Ben have been talking about this day for the last year! And finally it was THE day.... Monster Truck Day! Just a refresher of what last year was like.........

This year....completely different!

We froze! It was raining and sleeting! The temp was in the single figures! So we layered up and still we froze! But we couldn't get the boys to leave. Matthew insisted on staying to the end even thought he was an icicle.

The boys were so well behaved! Ryan and Benny are just kicking back watching here!Benny's Favourite Outback Thunder

The new truck, Taz. Benny has struggled to remember his name all week. And has asked 4 trillion times "Mummy whats the guy with the teeth?!"

Wet, wet, wet!

The new Monster Motorbike wheel is as wide as Matthew!

It is an interesting machine

Ben meeting Outbacks driver. He was just a little bit excited!

Batman's driver!

The one with the teeth!

8 long years at Uni and all I got was this.......

Ben was admiring the two photos of Daddy graduating from his Engineering degree and Masters Degree. He spoke of how he looked the same in both pictures. And in both photos he is holding ....... a treasure map!

Quiet as.......

We were driving to our appointment with our accountant this morning telling Ryan and Ben how important it was to be quiet during our meeting. Ryan piped up with "I'm going to be as quiet as a cockroach! They don't have mouths to be able to make noise." Ben replies with "I'm going to be as quiet a cockatoo!" Those of you who know him well know a truer word has never been spoken!

Whoops!

Recently I have been having issues with my email. It appears that i have been spamming my whole address book. The last spam msg was a blank email with just my signature and a link to my blog. Which meant that most people that got it opened the link and read my blog! The feedback i have gotten in the last few weeks has been heart warming! But the best was receiving a call from the playschool teacher (who hasn't had any of my kids in her class so far this year!) saying I was doing a lovely job with my kids and to keep it up and how much she enjoyed reading it!
So spamming all of my address book my just have been a clever ploy to advertise my blog!

The school drop off

We are in our last week of term 3. Meaning it is only one more term and then i will have two little boys to drop off at different classrooms at the same time. So we have been talking to Matthew about being responsible and going to his class by himself. Well this morning I let him walk himself down from the carpark. He jumped over the front seat, grabbed his bag, gave me a kiss and hopped out. He then skipped away...... and then turned back and blew me a kiss!!!!! My heart nearly exploded! It just goes to show that when you release them just a little they respond by showing more love! I walk him to his classroom door daily and barely receive a second glance. But when i loosen my grasp on him just a little, he thrives!
I think this will need to be a lesson to be remembered!

So much excitement!

After such a huge Saturday all I wanted to do on Sunday was veg! However that was not the case. Just after lunch we decided to go and have a look at a few cars for sale. We are currently looking to up size our car as we are rapidly out growing it! Nathan does NOT want to sit in front of Ben all the way to Qld being kicked in the head coz he has no room for his legs! So we are looking at 7 seater Ford Territories. Anyway we had a look at a few. Benny decided we should probably get a truck as that would be big enough! He had even picked out one. I asked him where he planned to sit and he replied up the front. I explained that Mummies and Daddies sat in the front and the truck he was very taken with had no tray so he would have to hold onto the meatl bit at the back. He was quite please with that as he would be able to see at close range the wheels going around!!! After the car shopping we had to meet Cleon and Michelle at the Bus Depot Markets. On the way to the markets we found we were near the oval where the monster truck show will be this weekend so we decided to drive in to show the boys and the monster truck had just arrived. Well we had three boys nearly spontaneously combust in the back seat! Ben was shaking with excitement! So we got out and had a bit of a look at them. Then it was back into the car and off to the markets and a bit of a look at he Canberra Glassworks. It was so fascinating. The boys (and me!) sat transfixed! So for my birthday I am going to do a glass blowing course! I can wait! Only 5 months to go!!!

Thank God that it is done!

Well what an exhausting experience that was......the Giralang community centre open day. But so rewarding! My biggest worry was that no one would show up and guess what? Hundred came!!!! We had market stalls, jumping castle, community groups, cake stall and Sausage sizzle. And they were all a success! I got to talk to people about expanding the centre. A craft group is interested and a toy library is interested. These are two things we have been trying to get started. I just wished i had remembered the camera! But seriously the night before my head was absolutely overloaded with things I needed to remember and there was much more important stuff than the camera.
But on top of the day being a success I have learnt sooooo much! I think everyone who has been involved has learnt so much. One of the husbands of one of the ladies helping said to me that he didn't think his wife had it in her to approach businesses to ask for donations. But she did! Numerous times! And she did an awesome job!
The day could have been as successful if it hadn't have been for a few special ladies! Cid worked just as hard as i did. I'm not sure she had as much fun as I did! But she kept at it even when she didn't enjoy it! The biggest cheer should be for Cate who is sooo pregnant and yet there she was on all fours digging out weeds at the working bee we had beforehand! And she walked the streets of Giralang doing letterbox drops! A huge thank you goes to a lady called Kathy. She came to the committee to say she really couldn't cook to contribute to the cake stall (not being able to cook certainly didn't stop some people making cakes for the stall however!) but what else could she do?! She was out walking the street doing box drops too! She also dropped a stack of money at the prize auction, much to her husband shock! But i am sure he will enjoy the holiday she won! Thanks also to Clare and her husband Jason. They were in charge of putting signs along the road ways. Now our budget was tiny so I had laminated A4 sheets that Nathan printed at work. Clare stuck them up with tomato stake but the wind kept blowing them down. So Clare and Jason went out EVERY day and put them back up!!! Above and beyond don't you think? Then there was Ellen who went crazy in the days before ringing every cousin and friend with a business putting the squeeze on them for a donation!
So thank you to you guys for making it the roaring success that it was! However our hard work just increased the profile of the centre which will in turn increase our job of managing the centre! So i look forward to seeing where it will take us!

Giralang Community Centre Open Day

I am the president of the Giralang Community Centre and a little while ago someone gave us the idea of having a community festival at the centre. So I ran with the idea. And now the Open day is only 5 days away! Me and the girls who are orgainsising it are up to our eyebrows in community centre issues! We have working bee'd, we have stuffed show bags, we have printed and delivered thousands of flyers! We have worked our arses off.
BUT we have given ourselves a huge buzz. Doing something that benefits something other than yourself ends up benefitting you in the end. I am getting a huge buzz from knowing I am about to make a differnece in the community. I have loved how the organising committee has rallied each other. We have worked together and we have created something that is going to be great for the community. Something that the Giralang community REALLY needs.
So bring on Saturday. Please make it sunny and let the people of Giralang come and join in with their local community and make a difference!

I am so talented!

Ben has just mastered the skill of hopping. This morning on the way to preschool he just had to show me how well he can do it. He then enquired if I could hop too. I replied that I could and he demanded to see it. So I hopped down the middle of the school corridor. Ben squealed in delight "Mummy you are SUCH a good hopper!" He was so proud of my hopping ability and amazed that i was so good at it. I am going to accept the praise gratefully because in a few short years I wont know anything and wont be able to do anything properly! So I will enjoy it while I can!

Bird Poo

Mummy gets in car and remarks to Daddy "I'm so over all the bird shit on the car!"
Matthew exclaims "Bird ship! Whats that?" Gets no response. Matthew repeats "Bird ship?????"
Mummy dissovles into fits of giggles!
Ryan responds dryly "Matthew, she means bird poo!"
Daddy and Mummy burst out into fits of laughter.
Mummy puts IOU for $100 into swear jar!

When Ryan grows up

He is apparently going to be............ an architect. Dorothy, the teachers aid a preschool gave me a long talking to the other day telling me she had never seen a child with such symmetry and balance........in their box constructions! And she believes becoming an architect is Ryan's calling in life. Kata will be so proud! I wonder what her box constructions looked like when she was 4?

Here comes lunch

Matthew and I were having a conversation about wastage today....... food wastage. It sounded like this:
Matthew: "Mummy I'm just going to do a poo now so I've gotten rid of dinner."
Mummy: "That great buddy but it takes a little while for your food to get down there. If you were to do a poo now it would be from what you ate for lunch."
Matthew: (*grunts*) "Here comes lunch!"

A GREAT looking family even if I do say so myself!

Gorgeous boys! Even the Mummy and Daddy scrub up alright!
Beautiful!

The preschool does a fundraiser every year. You pay a $15 sitting fee and get a free photo. You can then choose to purchase a package of the above photos. And when they look that good how can you so no thanks?!

Heaven

Our poor neighbours have had a really bad week. It has been bad news after bad news for them finishing with their beloved old dog dying. I explained what had happened to the boys saying that their dog would now be in heaven and feel much better and not be in pain. We then went to the shops to buy the girls some flowers to cheer them up. (The girls are 12 and 9). When we got home the neighbours weren't home. Matthew knew why they weren't home. They were still taking their dog to heaven!

Murphy's Law

It is always the way. Nathan is away and I get a call from the school. Matthew fell off the monkey bars. Thank goodness he wasn't injured but they have to notify parents when there has been a head injury. He had a minor egg on his head and he had even forgotten about it by the time I picked him up after school. (I hadn't, I was imagining an egg the size of an emus'!)
Then... i found my bedroom window has been smashed! (Well it's got a big X cracked through it) I think a flying remote control that belongs to a fire truck was the culprits. Just as I am sure it will be the first of many smashed windows in a house of three boisterous boys!
But on a good note, we had the Miles Magnificent Maths Night at school tonight. This week is National Literacy and Numeracy week. So the school put on a maths games night and reading picnic later in the week. So I dragged Cleon with us to play maths games all evening. Maths is no longer counting those cube roddy things. Matthew's maths lesson consist of dice and spinners and domino's and animal shaped counter and the occasional worksheet. I really think it is going to produce more enthusiastic maths students. Because my three boys (and Cleon) had a ball playing. They didn't want to come home!