Obligatory cute photo

I noticed that I haven't posted a pic of the younger two kids recently. So here's one. Elora's first pig tails :)

1 day down, 15 to go

I've survived my first 24 hours with the kids without Dan. Of course with lots of help from my folks. It hasn't been the most pleasant of times, but I'm sure the time will go quicker during the week when the kids are at school/child care and I'm at work.

The weather has been incredibly gloomy (except for some sunshine yesterday - yay for clean clothes) so the kids are getting stir-crazy stuck inside. I keep trying to send the boys outside for a run-around but all Dante wants to do is sit in front of the TV. Any time I ask him to do anything that doesn't involve television, he yells at me, "No! I don't want to!" and I can't help but see red. I even looked up boarding schools this morning. There are some that take them from Yr 3 onwards...

But anyway, besides the arguing things have been okay. Tomorrow I've planned to take them all to one of those play-gym things (we won a $100 value voucher at a school fund raiser). I really hope we'll survive it. Those things are pretty fool-proof and hardy. We'll stay there for lunch (got to get our money's worth) and come home for nice long naps in the afternoon. That's the plan. We'll see how it goes.

Rockin' it at The Wiggles

At the end of last month I took Atti to see The Wiggles yet again. (I also took him just before Christmas to one of their concerts at the Sydney Entertainment Centre - big venue, lots of people. I really thought I'd blogged about that, but couldn't find the entry. Must have dreamt about blogging it!! There are some pictures of it here.)

This time it was a special concert in a much smaller venue and I managed to get tickets within an hour of them going on sale so got terrific seats (stalls, row G in the middle next to the central aisle). My sister-in-laws and nieces (Abi and Lori, similar ages to Atti) came as well.

We had such a wonderful time. The kids rocked! The Wiggles always put on a terrific show and this was so much better for the small venue. I took a few videos and pictures to show Dan afterwards. This one made us laugh our heads off. I had to share it!

Reminded

On the weekend my mother told me of my crafty beginnings. I was knitting myself a scarf while chatting to my brother and he remembered me knitting when I was quite young. About 8, I think he said. I was pretty impressed! But then again, my mother and grandmother have always been big crocheters and knitters. It's in my genes.

Then my mother told us of how one day when she was doing some sewing, I pestered her until she gave me some scraps and a (larger) needle and thread and showed me how to sew! I was only two years old at the time, and sewed a dress for one of my dolls! I couldn't believe it! How proud am I?? :)

I saw a photo on Flickr today of a patchwork quilt made by a six year old boy. Just incredible work. (His mother helped him with some parts and quilted it). I'm looking forward to the day that Elora is old enough to be taught how to sew, knit and crochet!*

* Just realised how sexist that is. I would love it if any or all of my children showed an interest in learning my hobbies!

Two sleeps to go

Dan's heading off to San Francisco on Saturday. Just two sleeps away! I'm absolutely dreading the next two weeks. So worried about looking after the kids by myself. Really, I have no cause to complain. My super helpful parents are just next door and willing to lend a hand (or more like an arm, no, a whole body)! I should be excited for Dan going off on another overseas adventure. I am. But tempered by the worry. I'm sure we will be fine and he will, too. He was having some passport issues but I'm sure it will all work out and he won't get sent home. That would be a real bummer.

So, anyway, thankfully I have plenty of crafty projects to keep me busy. Take tonight, for instance. It was a bit of a sneak peek into my evenings for the next two weeks. Dan crashed out in bed after the kids went to sleep so I sat myself down in front of a soppy chick flick (with Gerard Butler and the guy that plays Denny Duquette in Grey's Anatomy) and knitted to my heart's content.


Working on this Chevron Scarf as a gift for my niece, since her parents brought the book back for me from NY (where I had it shipped from Amazon). It's coming along nicely - has grown since I took this picture last week. I'm not quite sure how long to make a scarf for a wee lass but I reckon it should be done by the weekend. Then to start another for her sister! It's such an easy pattern but looks lovely. And they'll certainly have a use for them - the weather here in ol' Sydney town has been absolutely atrocious lately. Cold and wet. No good for laundry, but wonderful for our dams.

Teeth

Toothy happenings around here recently.

Elora has had seven teeth for the last 6 months at least but just got five more in the space of four weeks! Another one at the bottom front (four up top, three down bottom) plus her four first molars have come through. Things have been a bit miserable for her, the poor thing, but at least she'll be able to chew better.

I went to the dentist today (a follow up from an appointment last week) to get an "occipital splint" . It's like a mouth guard type thing that I have to wear at night because I grind my teeth. Erk. Hopefully it'll stop these constant killer headaches that have been plaguing me.

And finally, I took Dante for an overdue check-up as well. Eek. He has a hole in his tooth. One of his back molars that obviously hasn't been getting brushed properly. I can't believe it. He's only seven and he has to have a filling. I feel like a complete failure as a parent because of this. How could I let it get so far?

Warm warminess

Winter seems to be making its appearance around here lately. It's starting to get chilly.

But we have a great trick to ease the "climbing into icy cold bed" blues and I thought I'd share it. Because it's delightful. (Not as cosy as flannelette sheets but Dan won't have them!)

1. Climb into bed and lie with your knees bent.
2. Pull the covers over and make a cave with your arm at the entrance.
3. Put a blowy heater in the opening.
4. Bask in the warminess for a few minutes. Be careful not to block the vents of the blowy heater as it may over heat and switch off which means no warminess.
5. Once you are warm, pull the heater away and pull the now warm sheets and blankets snug around you.
6. Smile and congratulate yourself on your cleverness.
7. Go to sleep in comfort.

Some people might tell you to get an electric blanket or something sensible like that. That might work. But it's not as fun!

My heart swelled

Tonight Dante performed with a group from his school in a Schools Dance Competition. Every year our school enters a few groups. Some of them are picked for the finals, some of them are not. Only a select number of kids from each class participate and finally this year Dante was chosen to be a part of it. His dancing has become good enough for public viewing, apparently!

They did an interpretation of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Is there anyone out there in the Western World that doesn't know this classic children's book?

The kids were divided into three groups - the trees, the fish and the Wild Things. D was one of the latter. They had wonderful costumes!


One of Dante's friends did an incredible job as Max. Dressed in a furry suit of "Sully" (the main character from Monsters Inc.), he looked cute and added fun and vivaciousness to the role. When the curtains opened onto their performance, the entire audience simultaneously let out a huge "Awww..." and he certainly made the show.

We got to see the rehearsal beforehand:


And watched the actual show afterwards (at great expense - they make a killing out of us sucker-parents). Our kids were the first act of the night. And oh! they were so amazingly gorgeous up there on the stage. We had great seats right up the front. But since we got there just as the lights dimmed we stood to the side.

I giggled. I clutched Dan's arm, my face lit up with pride. Tears even came to my eyes. It was the most wonderous thing. I couldn't be more proud, not just for our boy but for all our kids.

It was a great end to a long day after a week of wretched illness.

A few more backdated posts.

Slowly getting back on top of things.

Dante turned 7.
Booked a hair cut.
Funny thing wot Dante said.

Hello, world

Seems like I've been taking quite a blog break this year. I think the trials of working and bringing up three kids have taken their toll. Just recently we got into a bit of trouble with Dante's school for being late all the time. 25 partial absences so far this year (that's what gets recorded when you're late, even if only 5 minutes). But it did give us a good kick up the bum and we haven't been late since. Heh!

Now the problem is that I've become tired and run down and have caught some nasty bug that has knocked me about for a good week and a half now. I think I'm on the home stretch (certainly hope so). The boys are okay, the girl's ill (nasty rash all over her body and extremely clingy) and Dan's coming down with it, too. Ack! Winter is definitely here. (Or, as Dan would say, "Stupid Ice Weather".)

In other news, Dan's heading off to the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco in June. For two weeks! (He's going travelling for a week afterwards). I'm so excited for him but wish I could go, too. Things will be interesting back here while he's gone.

Anyhow, I haven't been doing nothing during all this time. I've taken up knitting. I was knitting before but lately I haven't been able to put the needles down. Each night after the kids are in bed, instead of doing the dishes or folding laundry I sit down and knit. I went to a sock knitting class at the end of April and have successfully made a pair for Elora (sort of - they're uneven cause the first one was a bit small) and half way through a toe-up sock for me. I'll post some pictures when I'm up to date with my Flickr photo uploading!

Hopefully I'll get my blogging mojo back soon and you'll next hear from me within a month!