Mother's Day

A couple of weeks ago it was Mother's Day.  Not quite the sleep-in day you might want as a mum, breakfast in bed, taking it easy etc etc.  My morning was largely rushed because I had a soccer game to play at 9.00am.  Made less wonderful by the 0-9 thrashing my team got from a team of 19 year olds who had been playing together since they were 13.  Seeing as my team is made up of a bunch of 40 something mums, it was not the Mother's Day we were all hoping for.

Nonetheless, it was still a lovely day.  I have to say my favourite Mother's Day moment actually occurred a few days before the big day.  I knew at both school and preschool Henry and Milly would be working on special Mother's Day cards and each school had arranged stalls for the kids to purchase gifts that in turn raised money for the school.  As it turns out both Henry and Milly picked out drinks bottles for me, Milly's had a small packet of Malteasers attached to hers, and Buster gave me a packet of lolly snakes.  The kids ate my Malteasers when I was playing soccer and ate half my packet of snakes too at the same time.  Thanks kids!

Milly had made me a placemat.  There is a table and chairs with a cupcake to share.  We each have our own swing, and a castle with with lots of stairs leading up to a bed.  Plus the usual sparkles and love hearts which is Milly's art trademark.

Milly's envelope for above card.  It includes a picture of her and me, more love hearts and some butterflies.

Anyway, back to my favourite Mother's Day moment.  As I said it was a few days before and I had picked up the kids from school and preschool.  They were hiding things in their bags and I knew it was Mother's Day related.  The excitement on their faces that they each had a secret to keep from me was really sweet.  I could hear them whispering outside their bedrooms about where they were going to hide their gifts and cards..... and that's what made my Mother's Day special.

Henry's card.  It might be a bit hard to see but he has drawn me and him playing Uno together.

The reverse of Henry's card reads "I love you because you love me", and "Thank you for the love you give me".

Torturing Grandad

A few weeks ago Michael's parents came to stay for a few days.  It's always lovely to have them visit.  The kids especially love getting to spend some quality time with them.  Grandad Peter is very popular with his grandkids.  Milly loves sitting on his lap while he reads her stories and Buster likes pretending Grandad's head is a road for his toy car to drive on or he's a trampoline to jump all over. 

But once Grandad grabs our cheeky boy he finally get's his own back.

Mister

Just had to share with you Henry's school photo taken this year.  We are so proud of him and the little mister he is. 

I love this photo.  I love his dimples, his brown eyes, his missing first teeth, and his big smile. 

He looks so happy and that's all a parent could ask for.

Things Buster says #1

It was a typical morning in the Bartley/Hobson household.  The kitchen was bustling with three young customers deciding on what they would like for breakfast.

Me:  Buster, what would you like for breakfast?
Buster:  Toast
Me:  What would you like on your toast?
Buster:  Cold poo!

Enjoy your day.

Things Milly says #2

It's the night before Mother's Day and I'm in the kitchen tidying up after dinner.  Milly enters and the following conversation takes place.

Milly:  Mum, why is Mother's Day planned?

Me:  Well, it's a special day for mums and for their kids to show their mums how much they love them and appreciate all the things they do for them.

Milly:  But I love Dadda more than you.

Me:  Oh.....well.....thanks for that.

Milly:  Why is Father's Day planned?

Me:  It's a special day for Dads to show them how much you appreciate all the things they do for you.

Milly:  But Dadda doesn't do anything.  He does nothing!

Me:  speechless and mouth open

Then Milly skips off.

School ready

I've been asked a few times in the past weeks if I've enrolled Milly yet for school next year.  The answer is no.  What's the rush?  We live in zone of the public school so she's in for sure anyway.  Yes, she will eventually be enrolled.  We'll probably 'officially' do it in a couple of months.

We are also already the lucky recipients of some second-hand school uniforms.  This is the school's summer uniform for girls.  Milly was excited to try it on for size and looking at these photos she really does look grown up and school ready.

Me, on the other hand, has some work cut out to get myself school ready for Milly.  As you can see below, my ponytails or bunches need a lot of work.  My hairstyling is limited to ponytails and plaits.  Much practice is needed.

The little apprentice

There is a great little relationship between Buster and Milly.  With Henry at school he gets lots of time with his sister and he really gets the best of her.  When it's just the two of them she includes him in her play and games and he loves, as well as often plays up to, the attention.  He learns so much from her, good and bad.  He has her playfullness and cheekiness.  He also has her determination, strong will and stubborness.  While Milly has pretty much grown out of her tantrums, he has taken up the baton and when he "puts on his parts" as my Nan used to say, he really puts on a show.

Buster is also quite the chatterbox.  Something else we attribute to spending time with Milly.  That's not to say he hasn't learnt things from big brother Henry also.  He picks up a lot of his language from his older siblings and it's when he starts calling people "poo head" or using the words "hate" or "bum" that we shake our heads.

Playing fairies on the windowsill.

Playing dinosaur families in Buster's cot.

He's also growing up.  He no longer wants to sit in his high chair when we sit down to eat at the dining table.  He sits in a dining chair like the rest of us.  Well, he kneels on the chair really, he is so little, but refuses to do it any other way.  He is also refusing to have his midday nap in his cot.  He will only have it in Henry's bed.  We guess this is an ok thing, as it gets him used to a bigger bed for when the time comes.  Until then he is still our Buster Boo and Henry and Milly's little apprentice.

Birthday festival Part 3 of 3 - Cupcakes and more

Don't you just love it when your birthday lasts more than one day?  I know I do.  Spreading out the celebrations over a couple of days really makes it feel special.  So our little tribe kept the party going with the promised trip to the cupcake shop.

First car trip in only a seatbelt.  Now that he is seven he is no longer required by law to sit in a child restraint. 

Cupcake shop.  Henry chose a Turkish Delight cupcake.

Milly's choice was a Triple Chocolate.

We had never been to the cupcake shop Cupcake Espresso before.  Why would we?  I love to bake and always make sure my muffins etc are healthy versions of otherwise sweet cakes.  This really was a special treat.  It was a cute little galley-style cafe with mouthwatering cupcake flavours on offer.  The kids tucked into their cupcakes but after a few mouthfuls they had had enough and wanted to go home.  The cupcakes were yummy but very rich for them and they wanted to save them for later in the day.  Michael and I took some home for later too (a Lemon Meringue, a Salted Caramel, and a Peanut Butter Chocolate).  I have to say these cupcakes were the best I've ever eaten.

Once home it was time to get Buster to bed so the play could begin.  Milly was keen for me to play Barbies with her because Barbie was going to get married.  Henry was keen for me to help him build his Lego Star Wars spaceship, but when he realised Michael wasn't working and he was free he wanted his Dadda to partner with him.      

The Lego build marathon about to begin - 679 pieces to assemble.

Three hours and 15 minutes later - an exhausted and relieved Michael and an excited Henry.



Posing in the new birthday clothes.

The three kidlets.

Done and dusted until next year, with Boo turning three in November.  Happy Birthday H&M.

Birthday festival Part 2 of 3 - Mister

Henry's birthday started very early.  Too early.  It was still dark and when he was standing by the side of our bed and I looked at the clock, it wasn't even five am yet.  I wished him a happy birthday and told him it was still night time and to go back to bed.  He shuffled back to his bedroom but all the subtle noises had woken Buster, who is a light sleeper.  I got up and put Buster in the bed between me and Michael and hoped he would go back to sleep.  I don't think he did, nor Henry, but I must have.  The next thing I remember is Henry standing by the bed again with a desperate look on his face wanting to open his presents, and daylight poking through the blinds.  Don't know where Buster had gotten to.  I looked at the clock and it was 7:20am.  Milly was still asleep, so knowing how anxious Henry was to get his birthday celebration moving I gave him permission to wake up Milly.  Poor Henry.  I know for him it felt like he had waited a century for his special day.
 

With everybody up it was time for the present opening ceremony.  Blink and you would have missed it.  Henry ripped through every present and parcel only pausing when I asked him to so I could take a photo.  It was all over within a few minutes.  Henry's special birthday breakfast request was for a bacon wrap with BBQ sauce. 

Love Lego.

So rare I get one-on-one time with Mister.  With Buster asleep and Milly busy with her Barbies, we can build some Lego together.  I love his smile in this photo.  I hope it's because he's as happy as me.

Henry's special birthday lunch request - cut up apple and pear.  I love how simple my children can be.

A blank face = playing the wii.

Henry's special birthday dinner - Macdonalds.

Birthday festival Part 1 of 3 - Poppet

April always feels a lot like Christmas in our house.  With two birthdays in succession to celebrate, everytime there is a knock on the door and it's the postman with a parcel, the excitement and anticipation from the kids builds just like it does in December. 

We had decided early on that this year we wouldn't do big birthday parties with all their friends.  Last years effort was enough to put us off and take a break for a year.  Instead we told the kids on their birthday it would be a special day all about them and they could do and eat whatever they wanted for their day.  As their birthdays this year fell on weekdays, we also said on the weekend we'd take them to a cupcake cafe and they could pick a birthday cupcake of any flavour and have a milkshake.

Milly's special birthday breakfast request - butter on toast.

Milly's birthday morning started, naturally, with opening her presents.  This is a tricky part of the day.  While we are all excited for Milly and she is excited too, poor Henry gets teary and pouts through the present opening ceremony, upset that he has to wait a day for his presents.  Milly was really sweet and considerate and asked him if he'd like to open one of her presents.  She even let Buster open a present too.  Milly likes to take her time opening her presents and carefully looks at each one and talks about it before moving onto the next.

After compiling a birthday list of almost 20 items (mainly all different Barbie dolls), the night before her birthday she said "what I really want for my birthday is a pink unicorn".  Glad we got that right.

A postal delivery brings more presents.  I think the smile says it all.

The special request of nori rolls for her birthday dinner...

 

... and a chocolate bavarian cake for her birthday dessert.

Football season

With the change of season comes the change of sporting activities.  This year there will be three of us playing soccer during the autumn/winter months.  Henry, Michael and me.  Michael will be playing on Friday nights, Henry will be playing on Saturday mornings, and I'll be playing on Sunday mornings.  Our weekends will be taken up with sweaty shirts, stinky shin pads, muddy socks, and in mine and Michael's cases, aching bones, sore muscles and plenty of bruises.

Henry's team trains once a week, my team trains twice a week, and Michael's team.....well let's just say they at least warm up before each match.





Cold mornings here we come.

The only time Buster stops running around or onto the field is when the oranges come out at half time.

Easter

Good Friday morning and it's hot cross buns for everyone.

Easter Sunday.  Come and find me!

Someone's found some eggs.

Someone else has found some too.

The hunters and gatherers show off their loot.

Eggs for breakfasts - hold the soliders.

Henry and his doppelganger.  You pick - the egg or Michael?

Happy Easter.