Things Milly says #11

On Monday Milly is getting an award at the big assembly at school.  It's a Bronze Award and signifies that she has received a total of 100 merit cards acknowledging her good work and behaviour.

Milly:  Dadda, I'm getting a big award at school on Monday.  Can you come to my coronation?

Blocks

 

The most played with toy in our house are these Lego Quatro blocks.  Recommended age on the box is 1-3, which is way outside our current age grouping of 4-9.  The creative play these blocks deliver in our household is priceless.  I'm sure these were a gift to Henry for his first Christmas or his first birthday.  Either way they really are the gift that keeps on giving.

 

The kids aren't allowed to watch TV in the morning on school days, so we often find them playing blocks together while breakfast is being made.  I've noticed they don't individually play with the blocks, they always play as a group.  They make people out of their blocks, and the blocks go to school or have sleepovers and parties.  Play is largely dictated by Milly, which generally works as Henry is happy to play along.  However, Buster is more like his sister and likes to do his own thing, so doesn't like to be directed in what to do with his blocks.  This quite often sees him excluded by Milly and results in pouts and tears.  After some intervention they are all back playing blocks together.

 

 

Brotherly love

There is so much love between these two.

The entrepreneurs

 



During the school holidays Henry and Milly set up a little shop on our driveway selling products they had made.  There were bracelets, rings, pretend food, and animals all made from loom bands.  They even made some signs to promote their little business.

 

We live next door to a preschool and decided pick-up time would give them the best flow of people traffic so they could spruik.  Henry was doing all of the sales pitches and selling.  Milly sat in the background telling him to sell harder but too shy to engage with customers herself. 

 

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly (I mean who can really resist buying something from a child in their own homemade stall) they sold a few loom bands and made $13.00 which they split between them.

 



 

Egg-cellent dress ups

 

 

Another failed adventure

School holidays seem to come around so quickly.  We have been lucky these winter holidays that there has been no rain and plenty of sun.  Despite all these great conditions for enjoying oneself, I think Michael and I would both file this blog post under "Why do we bother?" or "Why do we still bother?".

Because of the glorious weather, we suggested to the kids that we take the bikes out, head down to the beach and go for a ride along the breakwall.  They were excited and busily cleaned up their bikes in readiness.  Helmets, water bottles and snacks packed.

We even managed to get a great parking spot, but once we stepped out of the car we were hit with wind blowing about in all directions.  It was going to be a very windy walk/ride to the end of the breakwall.  Don't be fooled by the beautiful clear blue sky in the photos.  This wind was gusty and cold.  Even Henry was starting to question his clothing choices of shorts and a t-shirt.

With bikes out of the car, we set off for the breakwall.  It was Nobby's Beach on the right and Newcastle harbour on the left.  Container ships a plenty, lots of other people out walking or jogging, and a few dogs on leads.

Henry and Milly had taken off on their bikes with Michael, while I was at the back of the pack helping Buster pedal against the wind. We were falling further behind and Buster's little legs had had enough and he didn't want to ride his bike anymore, and he certainly wasn't interested in pushing it the rest of the way.  I called the others to come back and someone declared their unhappiness (guess who) and wanted to go home.  The rest of us were still keen to continue, as we hadn't even been gone five minutes.  Michael then carried both Buster's and Henry's bikes back to the car and took Milly with him.  Buster, Henry and I would keep going.

 

There were patches along the way that were less windy, but once we were past the headland and actually on the breakwall the wind was punishing.  I was worried if Buster didn't hold my hand he would be blown out to sea.

 



 

The boys and I almost made it to the end of the walk when Buster said he needed to go to the toilet.  There was no where.  With it being so windy I couldn't get him on the breakwall rocks to wee out to sea, so I picked him up and ran back to the headland where he tried to be discreet about it.

Much to Henry's disappointment, we didn't return to try and make it back to the end of the breakwall.  It was a real battle against the wind, so I promised Henry he could do it with just me or Michael one day soon. 

Back to the safety and warmth of the car, it was almost lunch time.  The kids all love nori rolls and sushi and have never been to a Japanese sushi bar before, so we thought we would surprise them as a special school holiday treat and end our outing on a high note. 

They were pretty impressed by the rotating food and the variety of small plates passing us.  Well, almost everyone was impressed.  Henry embraced the whole experience and was keen to try lots of different things.  Buster was a little suspicious of anything that wasn't an avocado and tuna roll but was willing to try a few things, despite not really liking them.  Milly......well what can I say.  She refused to enjoy herself or eat more than a crumb, and just basically wanted to go home.

 

 

With our intended high note not reached, we officially called it a day and went home.  We hadn't been home long when Henry came up to me, gave me a hug and said thank you for the outing and the lunch.  He is just a great kid and so grateful.  High note reached.

 



Free at last

We have finally said goodbye to nappies.  Yes, we are now happily proclaiming ourselves a nappy free household.  Buster has been reluctant to give up his night time nappies for some time, but all of a sudden he said "no more" and we haven't looked back and we haven't had an incident (yet).

After a little more than nine years of buying and storing nappies, it is a relief to not have to worry about running out of them anymore.

Three cheers to Buster.  Hip hip hooray!  Hip hip hooray!  Hip hip hooray!

Sunflower update

Behold the sunflower.  Yes, just the one.  After planting a whole bunch of seeds, then another whole bunch of seeds after the first seedlings were munched on by possums, we have one lonely and very fragile looking sunflower.  I did reread the packet of seeds and this is certainly meant to be a giant sunflower, not a miniature.  It barely even looks like a sunflower.  But it is trying to survive and damn it, I'm doing my best to keep it alive. 

As for the rest of my vegetable garden, it is now on hold until I can put up some fencing to keep the possums out.  My poking up sticks (or as my brother calls them "the Blair Witch Project") helped to keep the possums out, but unfortunately they had already done the damage and my beetroots never recovered and my snow peas didn't flourish. 

There is however, some good gardening news.  Buster gave me a tiny pot plant with some seeds for Mother's Day.  He picked the gift out himself from his preschool's stall.  He was very excited to give it to me and even more excited when we planted the seeds together.  He's had a keen interest in keeping the soil moist and watching the seeds grow.  This little pot is kept on the windowsill in the kitchen (away from possums).  They are pansies and when I look at them everyday, I smile.

Life giving us lemons

Our lemon tree is laden with fruit.  But what to do with all these lemons?  With one child unable to eat citrus foods that pretty much rules out baking anything lemony and delicious for the rest of the family to enjoy.  Believe me, there is no enjoyment when one child can't partake and our ears bleed from hearing about it in a loud, crying "it's not fair" screaming voice.  Besides, most yummy puddings or slices don't really use more than one lemon, so it's not going to help us.

With my number one helper in the kitchen by my side, we endeavoured to use up our first bucket of lemons by preserving them in jars with cumin seeds and cinnamon sticks, and juicing them and popping them in the freezer for when you have a recipe that requires lemon juice and you don't have any lemons.

Now if only we knew what to do with the second and third buckets of lemons.  Maybe we could set up a little table on the front lawn and get the kids to sell the lemons to people driving or walking by. I can't see it paying off the mortgage, but it could teach the kids some business basics.

What's a Boo to do?

When his big brother and sister are at school our little Buster Boo loves spending time at home.  In fact, he very rarely likes to leave the house claiming he "hates going anywhere".  As a result, we spend our days snuggled up reading books (Dewey Readmore Books, a story about a library cat is his current favourite) or other activities.



 

 

 

As always, clothes are optional. 
He likes to proclaim "It's an underpants day!".

He loves helping in the garden, especially snipping followed by unraking a pile of leaves Michael has done.

We love baking together.

Sometimes he just falls asleep.  It's not easy being a Boo.

Nice selfie!
He loves taking photos and has even picked out a digital camera he'd like for his birthday from the JB Hi-Fi catalogue.

He took this picture of me on the weekend.

Mind the gap

Grandparents day

Just before school broke for the holidays the infants classes (Kindergarten to Year 2) held a Grandparents Day.  It's a day where a grandparent or carer can visit the classroom, watch some performances and have a morning tea.  With only one grandparent within cooee, Nanoo was delighted to visit Milly at school.

 

Nanoo got to sit with Milly at her desk and help her work on an Easter craft activity.  It was pretty full in the classroom as many grandparents, parents and family friends squished in together. 

 

After a little while we were led outside to find a seat to watch the choir and some of the classes perform.  Milly is in the Year 1 choir and they sang a beautiful song about the rain.

 

 

Then it was time for the kids to have recess and us visitors to enjoy a cuppa and something sweet.  It was a lovely little morning and would have ended perfectly for Nanoo had Milly agreed to have her photo taken with her.

A little bush adventure

We are almost at the end of the school holidays and keeping the kids amused and occupied for two weeks has been relatively easy this time round.  We have been to the movies, had a playdate, family visits and birthdays, but mostly the kids have just played together quite nicely.  Henry and Milly have played harmoniously in a little Lego world they have created with Lego people and Sylvanian families.  Buster has even joined in on occasion, unless he's been kicked out of the group because he's pulled apart any Lego creations.

 

However, one day last week Milly said she would like to go on a bush walk.  It was a beautiful, warm autumn day and we were all keen.  We are fortunate to live near a nature reserve that has a number of walks through it, so we decided to go on a little bush adventure.  With water bottles packed, mosquito repellent applied, and our hats on, we set off.

 

 

 

We hadn't gotten far on our walk, when we realised one member of our family was lagging behind due to his legs being a little bit little.  The all important walking stick he had found earlier was weighing him down and he was getting tired.  Plus, let's face it, he just likes to be carried around every where.  So it was Michael to the rescue.

 

 

Further down the bush track we heard a rustling of leaves and for a second worried it might be a snake or lizard.  Instead we saw a small dark lump toddling through the bush and moved in closer to see what it was.  It was an echidna, and it was burrowing itself in the leaves under a tree.  We have never seen an echidna outside a zoo or animal exhibit, so to see one "in the wild" was the highlight of our walk.

 

 

 

But not everyone was happy.  Someone didn't want to be on the bush walk anymore, and we hadn't been walking more than 15 minutes.  Someone said their legs were tired and they refused to keep going.

 

After some gentle persuading, we managed to get everyone moving again and continued on.  Suddenly, Milly recognised one of the paths we had chosen to take, as she had been on a school excursion to this reserve late last year.  She became re-energised and excited because it was all feeling familiar again and she thought there might be an end to the walk in sight.

Our nature boy Henry was leading the way and spotting tiny insects everywhere he looked.  It was such a peaceful walk and we didn't see or hear another sole on our track.

And all it took was finding a colourful feather to bring a smile back to her face.