Grand Final, anyone?

It's that time of year again, the last Saturday in September, and two small boys have footy on the brain.

Now, being a Kiwi by birth and upbringing, I could care less about tomorrow's big game, but I am somewhat outnumbered when it comes to gender in this house and my hubby has done a grand brainwashing on the kids.

A successful brainwashing, I should add. Helped along by football day at pre-school, the very recent discovery of football cards and a plethora of other small boys similarly entranced.

So, this is what was happening at my house today.

See, I have this ball, I know it's not an actual footy ball...

Ok, little bro, you stand here like this...

Then you do this...

Make sure you run round lots...

Phew, half time...

Ok, blogger is erking me tonight, it's taking forever to get my photos the right way round, for some reason it wants to put them up sideways, upside down, anyway but the right way.

That's it for now, footy fans!

Thanks to everyone for your concern regarding my last post.

I'm not freaking out too much right now, maybe because I've gotten used to Mr 5 rolling his eyes back, but also I think the .....intensity, for lack of a better word, may have decreased just a little.

The eye rolling was at first being accompanied by a very slight head movement too, which I think is partly why it seemd so odd and scary. Now, as far as I can tell, the head movement is not there. I think. And he's had two pre-school sessions since it started, and they've noticed nothing. I told them specifically what to look out for, and asked them to be aware of any other behaviour changes, but nothing.

I am again thinking it may be just one of the ocd-type little things he sometimes does, perhaps not an involuntary movement, maybe one he feels compelled to do.

We'll keep to the appointments and I'll post any updates.

Thanks to all you lovely people out there in bloggyland!

Ok, this is a weird one.

On Tuesday evening my husband pointed out that our five year old was regularly rolling his eyes right back in his head and off to the left. I think it came on suddenly because pre-school had not mentioned anything and I had not really noticed. I'd seen him do it once and hadn't thought anything of it.

It increased in frequency until his bedtime, eyes flicking up and to the left once, more usually twice, in quick succession . At least once every 10 seconds or so. Very freaky to watch. And it appeared to be involuntary.

Wednesday started off with much less frequency but it was noticeably worse when he watched tv and increased in frequency towards the end of the day. And when we read stories. But not when he played a bit of X-box with hubby.

Took him to the Dr this morning, received a referral to a pediatrician. The Dr bandied around a suggestion of Autism. Hello?!

Took him to our beloved chiro later that morning. She worked on him for about half an hour, straightened him up, his neck and back were out a bit. Yes, that will happen if you dive onto the couch, balance on your head, then flip your legs up and over the back of the couch. And wrestle your mates to the ground after pre-school every day. And and and....

She suggested a neurologist and a ct scan. She couldn't find a particular reason for what's happening but he has another appt with her early next week.

Managed to get an appointment with a pediatrician for two weeks hence. Gee, glad it does not appear to be a real emergency, but the pediatrician did say I can call them if I have reason to believe it's becoming more urgent.

Took him to an optomotrist today just for kicks, they said he's tracking fine etc etc and gave us a referral to a pediatric opthamologist.

Dr Google turns up Tourette's syndrome, magnesium deficiency, epilepsy and autism, and those are the less frightening ones of the list.

I still can't figure out whether it's involuntary or otherwise, but now I sometimes see him rolling his eyes to top left then straight away to bottom right, before coming back to centre. And it's done very fast, flick, flick.

He's rubbing his eyes a lot, and the areas around his eyes, he presses on the areas around his eyes, as if that would make his eyes keep still.

All very freaky. Life goes on though.

Life is keeping me busy...

Here it is in pictures:

Making butter with Spiderman and sidekick...

Water balloons when its 12 degrees C out... 

Lunch in a tree...

A much bigger tree..

The coolest gloves in the world...
(ask my sis for the pattern)

Adventures in paint...

Scootering sans helmets...
(the lack of helmets has since been remedied)

And two little monsters monkeying around.

Add to that lot losing my 2 year old at the farmer's market.
I turned around and he wasn't there.
Surely he's here? Behind that person? Hiding behind the pram? Gone to look at the miniature ponies?
Nope.
I sent my brother in one direction and I went in the other.

We both came back having not found him. Huh? Where could he have gone?
The car park the market is held in is in a straight line, so really he could only have headed left or right.
Both directions eventually head to really busy roads.

Sent my brother into the building they leave open for the facilities and I went back to the end I'd already been to.
Could not see him. Starting to panic now.
One of the stallholders told me to grab a staff member and get on the PA.
I was just doing this when the cupcake lady walked up leading him by the hand.
She told me he was just wandering, she knew I'd lost him so she nabbed him.

Little bugger wasn't even upset. Though if he had been standing in the middle bawling loudly he would have been found much faster. He has now been schooled to stand right where he is and loudly call for mummy if he can't see me.

Phew.

I don't think he purposely wandered off, he's not the type to do a runner. However, I was wearing a different coat than I have before, so I think he looked away, then didn't recognise the back view of me

amongst the other folks at that stall when he turned back.

 Then today, at the public pool we go to for lessons for Mr 5.
Do I even need to tell you what he did there?
Lets just say they had to drain the hydrotherapy pool, raise the floor and put out the 'closed for cleaning' sign.

Oh yeah. 'Nuff said.

Life with kids. Gotta love it.
(And I do, really, just gotta poke fun at it too :0)

Here they are

This was the weather, accompanied by thunder, lightening and a black-out....

And here are my little streakers enjoying the conditions.....as only kids can.
Or maybe I should have been out there too.....

Yes world, I am here!

I've been taking a short, unintentional hiatus from this blog, as I try to enact my New Years resolution of organisation. Organisation is going to mean NOT wiling away so many hours on the net, so I have been staying away from my computer in an effort to get some small unfinished projects finished.

Well, Christmas was crazy and fun, the crazy part was thinking we should drive from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast in 2 days, with 2 small children. And then drive back again.

Not my brilliant idea and preferably NEVER to be repeated.

The fun part was swimming and hanging out with my family and swimming and watching all the kids have fun together and swimming and cooking and swimming and eating and swimming and...you're getting the picture, right?

Now we're back in the real world and this year we're gearing up for 4 year old kinder (even though Master H will be 5 in April), swimming lessons for Master H, gymnastics for both boys and one day of daycare for both thrown in for good measure and for my sanity.

We've started house hunting again, though it appears prices have crept up ever so slightly more, darn it. I'd been hoping that a couple of interest rate rises coupled with the government winding back the grants would see prices begin to level off a bit. Apparently not so.

And, I've been playing with my new gadget...

I was given a food dehydrator by my delightful Mother-in-law, which is something I'd been wanting for while. I wanted it for drying out soaked almonds and peanuts but have since gathered a huge bag of plums off a friends tree and have run those through it also.
The plums come out very tiny and wrinkled, but extremely flavoursome.

I've also been making kefir, sauerkraut and sourdough, all of which means I've been spending way too much time in the kitchen on 40+ degree days! Madness!

These are my boys, all shaven and shorn...

Gee, I let hubby out into the back yard to shave his head.....he gives himself a no' 4 in the summer (I DO NOT cut his hair, scarred from the one and only time I DID do it...)

And this is what happens:

Ok, Mr 4 was due for his buzz cut, but my blonde fluffy haired baby!!! Check out his hair in my previous playdough post, (20 months old but still my baby...)

Oh my gosh, he does look cute, his sqidgy baby cheeks are showing up again, but still, hubby cut my baby's hair WITHOUT TELLING ME!

Oh well, easy for summer, right?

The above photo was taken just a short while after this one...

I thought 4 1/2 year olds didn't get eggs on their heads any more. Well, when they're spinning round in the kitchen and slam their head in to the corner of the cupboard, they still do.

Gee, it has been a busy, busy day, so nice to sit down in front of my pc and catch up with the world :)

A bit of this, a bit of that.......lots of everything

Life is busy. Busy busy.


Adding to my usual routine I worked three afternoon/evening nanny shifts with my kids in tow.....that included the school run to a VERY swanky school......but I have been driving their (the family I sometimes nanny for) Range rover so didn't feel as out of place as I would have pulling up outside that swanky school in my paint peeling ford........

It's a great job, I've known the family for 10 years and am happy to help out.
My kids love their kids and their kids look after my kids (their kids are older).
So it's almost like a non-job.

Except cooking dinner while helping a 10 year old with homework, trying to get the attention of the 7 year old to feed the dogs that are tripping me up in the kitchen, keeping tabs on a 13 year old boy and his phone, the laptop and homework supposed to be getting done, eating the pretend food my 19 month old is cooking for me in the playroom and trying to locate the drumsticks so my 4 year old can have a bash on the drum kit.........is just a tad stressful.

Meanwhile nothing gets done at my house.


'Nuff said on that.



So in between all that I've done a bit of this



Made a few of these for Cup Day



Put the lil fella to work



Weathered a few hot days



Talked this one down from the brink



And found out Master H is NOT allergic to bee stings




Phew. It was quite a week.

Spring is in full swing

We had some hail yesterday, real live freezing cold hail. Good 'ole Melbourne, throwing her best spring weather at us.



Yes, our minuscule backyard has fake grass as well as hail, you can probably tell what hubby's turned it into, do the golf balls give it away?

When I first arrived in Australia (following my hunky snowboarding Aussie boyfriend, now hubby, oh how long ago THAT seems!) I was under the mistaken impression that Australia was HOT.

All of it.

But that's not the case as I soon found out, seeing as I arrived at the very beginning of spring.
A spring that was one of the coldest, wettest I can remember, it nearly chased me back across the Tasman.
But seeing as we have the same weather across the Tasman, the lure of aforementioned hunky snowboarding boyfriend was enough to keep me here. (Oh lucky Australia, you get to keep me!)

Now here I am ensconced in domesticity..

training the next generation of food critics...

the next Booker Prize winners...

the next animal rights activists...



and squeezing in a bit of sewing in between.

I made this little lady one evening after hand drafting the oh so complicated pattern. She is now stuffed and awaiting a baby for her pocket, before she wings her way to somewhere...

Ahh, domesticity, I love you! Usually.

We've got the sickies, bleck

The lil' fella is under the weather, waaay under it seems, eyes running, nose running and an awful sounding chesty cough.

But I have to share these photos from a couple of days ago when he was definitely feeling more like his usual self.

From the child who eats chalk, crayons (though not since I found out crayons have petroleum in them) and anything else he can pick up off the floor and out of the garden that will fit in his mouth.....when IS that stage supposed to be past, I'm pretty sure at 17 months he's meant to beyond that....

We have, mmm mmmmmmm, sand!

And just so you know I didn't actually force my own child to eat sand and that he did it of his own free will, here are three pictures:

In case you're wondering, I do feed this child actual, real food.

Really good chocolate cupcakes - finally!

I think I have finally found a really good chocolate cupcake recipe. I have tried quite a few but never found just the right mix of flavour, texture and perfect dome-ness....and this recipe has all three.

See? They're chocolaty....

And perfectly domed.

Un-iced as yet, I'm thinking maybe some chocolate ganache will top them off nicely. They don't have any actual chocolate in them as they are flavoured with cocoa, so a rich topping will bring them to just the right level of gorgeous chocolate-ness.

Now, if you want to try the recipe out, may I suggest you add the sour cream into the wet mixture before you add the flour. (The recipe does not state when to add it.)

And a stick of butter is about 113.5 grams, so for 3 sticks of butter I used 340 grams.

Wednesday is my serious baking day because that is the day I have both boys in daycare, as a leftover from when I was working out of home. 

It's my recharge day, my sanity day, the day that as much as I love my kiddies, I REALLY look forward to. The house is filled with silence. Things stay where I put them. I can pee in peace. I don't need to wipe noses and butts and break up fights. Or haul the baby up from sitting on his older brother. Again. 
It's also my clean the house day and my 'important things that require concentration so no kids around' day.

The rest of the time my life is filled with this...



and this...



and quite a lot of this lately too...



And this, if the ladder is left anywhere accessible after fixing the sliding doors that have been slid too enthusiastically one too many times...



I'll stop there shall I?

They're always on the go, my little munchkins, and they wear mummy out. Especially after the all-nighters my lil guy has been pulling lately.....but that's another story.

Let just say, I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO WEDNESDAYS!

Story stones

I came across this little tutorial on Red Bird Crafts for story stones. A very sweet idea and fairly flexible I thought, so H and I have been working on some of our own.

You will need these....

And some of these...

The tutorial used Mod Podge which we don't have here, so I used good old PVA glue.

We made the alphabet, here's some of it...



The glue goes on white as per below but dries clear.



I also managed to produce good old Wendell and Clunk (not quite finished here)

and the possibilities are limitless.

Now H is collecting rocks whenever we venture from the house, with an eye as to what he can turn them into. I love it, as I am a rock collector from waaaay back, and we have geologist relatives on both sides. 

Our collecting ground has a finite and not very diversified supply though, it is the street side rock garden of a local block of units.


Oh and remember how I said the lil guy loves to sit on top of his older brother every opportunity he gets? Here is evidence:

With his wispy blonde hair and innocent expression I sometimes think a halo and wings would not look out of place, but in reality a tail and horns might be more apt. 

They would go very well with his raising-the-dead screech....

You can't see me....

Who needs toys when you've got a laundry hamper?

My lil guy is going through a phase of sitting in things.

The laundry hamper, buckets, shoe boxes, frypans, the potato heads plastic tub, any and all random cardboard boxes.

And he will sit on his brother whenever his brother lies on the floor. 

Actually it's more like a body slam than a sit, just as well H is the robust type.

Are all boys as physical and LOUD as mine? 

Is it just boys or are girls the same way? 
I admit to heaving an enormous sigh of relief when my two are in bed asleep, it gives my head a chance to stop ringing from the constant onslaught of noise and activity.

So a quiet game of hiding in the laundry hamper is very welcome.

Life in my kitchen

My life seems to be lived in the kitchen at the moment.

If I'm not actually cooking, I am fixing a snack or making a packed lunch.
Or packing and unpacking the dishwasher, hand washing the things that to my husbands utter disgust can't go in the dishwasher.
Or fixing snacks for when I take the kids out, because as any parent of small children knows you don't go ANYWHERE without a stash.
Putting away the groceries.
CLEANING the kitchen....yes that does happen, occasionally.

And with my recent decision to make the family's bread instead of buy it, as well as all the other from-scratch cooking I plan on keeping in my repertoire, my hours in the most used room in our house seem to be ever increasing.

And of course my ongoing quest to become a master cupcake maker is not helping matters.

All of which mean the kids come looking for me in there more often.
And if I am doing anything remotely interesting they want to get stuck in too.
And I don't have the heart to refuse them, also, I'm sure it's good for their development and their future wives will thank me when they find out their hubby's are not afraid to get down and dirty in the kitchen. Ahem.

And they should be able to ice a mean cupcake too.

Unsurprisingly, they both needed a bath after this one, but the resulting mess was delicious!

Having fun on a rainy day

How much fun is a rainy day?
Well, if you give up the notion of curling up under a blanket with a good book and a hot drink, which of course if you have young kids is not at ALL possible, you can rediscover your love of puddles.

Or at least stand close by while the kids rediscover theirs, hehehe

Oh yeah, gotta love a Melbourne winter, sigh....