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!"