Hanging Out.

Had all the kids together this arvo, couldn't resist taking a photo of them in their school uniforms. Can't believe Jacob is in high school this year. He's so tiny! I asked me how it was and his response was, "meh"! Boys and their one syllable word answers!! Some things don't change. First week back and Nick's already hit Maria up to quit school and start work in the cafe, saying he can earn $50 a week making poffertjers (pancakes)! If only. Paigey, well she is lovin school, hopefully the novelty factor won't wear off too quickly. Not forgetting Willy, he's now a "big boy dolphin" at kindy, totally lovin, but apparently "Paigey won't be there to show me round nymore". Ohhhh, he so misses her.

I'm a new big school girl hey....

Well, my new big school girl finally got to go to school on Tuesday. I went into her room Tuesday morning to wake her and when her eyes opened the first thing she said was, "am I going to school today", I replied with a yes, and she said "I'm a new big school girl hey mum". Oh, my eyes filled with tears, already!! She was full of excitement that just oozed everywhere. Everything she did that morning was the start of a new adventure for her. As we all crammed into the car to leave, my heart started thumping, I was about to send her somewhere with people I don't really know, to a place I didn't really know. Would they look after her, I mean would they really look after her? Things got quite stressful as we turned into the school parking areas and every car park was taken. We were going to be late. We couldn't be late on her first day. I didn't want to be one of those unorganised mothers. I was freakin out, but I'm sure if you asked Andrew he would say freakin out wasn't the only thing I was doing! Finally we found a car park and all piled out. I could sense a freak out about to happen. As we walked into the classroom I was slightly lost, unsure of what to do. The teacher introduced herself and told us where to put our things. We sat and played for a while with Paige and when we were politely told to leave, my heart sank. I kissed Paigey several times and gave her many hugs before I turned my back to leave. I turned around just before getting to the door to look at her and then went back for another hug and kiss! I left crying, silently, with my glasses on. The first thing I said to Andrew was "who's going to open her muesli bar". This was after the Teacher gave the parents a little hand out of things to help your child with the transition. A list which would have served it's purpose a little better if I'd gotten it earlier!! Anyway, Paige had a great day, "better than yours" said the Teacher.

Fairy Willamina!

Went to Imogen's fairy birthday party on Sunday. I jokingly suggested to Will that if he wanted to come he would have to wear this (holding up various fairy frocks). He willingly agreed which kind of surprised me! Well, can I just say he is a very cute little fairy when he wants to be. Paige on the other hand chose a princess gown, which 5 mins before leaving decided that it was "hurting my skin", so chose something a little less princess/fairy like. Will I think had the best time there, he totally got into the whole thing. Sus suggested Will's next birthday party theme should be fairy! Towards the end of the party Will even treated us to a little strip as well, nice touch. Consensus was that it's not a good party unless you leave without your pants on! Will certainly did just that.

Mama's little helper...

This afternoon Will insisted on helping me hang out the washing, "I a big boy helper mama". Good for him I thought. Here's proof he's not one of those boys who expects the woman to do all the house work!! I wonder what he'll look like at 21 doing the laundry!!

A new beginning :-(

I've sort of been dreading this moment for a little while now, and I've sort been looking forward to this moment for a little bit. Paige's last day of kindy. Argument for, one less set of kindy fees, yeah, argument against, my baby is going to school, full time. This could be a positive! No really, what are Willy and I going to do without her? She's so excited about going to school it's ridiculous. She says to people though, "my mum doesn't want me to go school." It's kinda true. When I picked her up from kindy on Friday afternoon my eyes filled with tears as I watched her hug her teachers, Ruffy (short for Ruth) and Harley goodbye. Then her little friends, oh how cute. So here's a picture of my girl Friday morning, her last day of kindy. So to my dear Paige, have fun on your new adventure as a "new big school girl", and remember I love you. xo.

Happy New Year....

Better late than never! I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it, I can't believe how quickly time goes. I've been meaning to post on my blog, but like a 2 year old, I too get easily distracted, oh breeze!! I'm no longer addicted to facebook. Can I say it kinda sucks, brings nothing to the table and I'm disappointed in myself for giving in. I am addicted to flickr though! I didn't realise you could do so much on it.
So I shall start at the beginning. New years eve, well I didn't make it to midnight. I worked at the cafe till like 9 or 9.30ish came home and watched The Full Monty on tv with Andrew. When it finished at 11.30 I went to bed. Am I tragic? I'm tragic! This new year's eve though I've made a promise to myself that we will do something, something exciting like go out or maybe have a party at our place!! I'm not sure when my life got boring. However on Saturday night Andrew and I went out for dinner. Just the two of us. It was very weird. We worked it out that we hadn't gone out, just the two of us, alone, no friends, no kids since just before Will was born. That's like 2 and a half years ago. Wrong. It was nice though, we talked, we laughed, we drank (I did), we didn't dance, but it was all uninterrupted. So nice. No little people sticking their heads out of the bedrooms saying, "Mama can I have some water", "Can I have another bottle", "I'm still hungry", you get the picture. Oh how life has changed.
Speaking of little people, I can not believe Paige starts Prep next week. She is so excited and I am not. We went and bought her uniforms the other day and when she put them on for the first time, my eyes filled with tears. She was saying, "I'm a big school girl now aren't I Mama". I haven't been able to get her out of her uniform since buying them. She's constantly getting changed through out the day into them. It kinda freaks me out. I think the thing that freaked me out the most was that Andrew dressed Will in the uniform too and surprised me with it, oh god, I was totally trippin out!!
Some random photo's of the kids holding their beloved guinea pigs.All my works has been a bit crazy! The cafe is busy, the office is not (but I still have to go) and the cakes, well it's slightly chaotic!! Sleep is something I do very little of lately. What with Will waking half a dozen times a night and then trying to work as well. Insane. Anyway just a quick entry for now, I promise to blog again soon. As Paige and Aria say Peace Out!!

Xmas, It's just another day!! NOT.

Merry Xmas. The morning started off at a relatively decent hour with the first child waking at just before 7pm! It was the squeals of excitement as she realised that Santa and his reindeer had been and eaten their treats left out the night before.Followed by the realisation that their was a sack of goodies on her bed. It was cute, the tiny squeals as she went from room to room to see what was left behind. Will joined in not soon after, I mean who could sleep through all that squealing!! The joy and excitement just couldn't be contained. Of course the, "can we open our presents" chant started. "Can we, can we, can we....." Oh the carnage, my poor living room floor. Why did I bother cleaning the day before?!They're like vultures, they just want more and more. They haven't even barely got the wrapping paper off one present and they're asking for more. Will did get stuck on a book that Yiya gave him and he wasn't interested in opening any for a little while, Paige on the other hand was a trooper, she just kept on going and going. It's when they've got no more to open that makes me laugh. They stand there, looking round the room in hope that more presents are going to appear and when you tell them that's it their little shoulders slump and their head hangs down saying, "but I want more". Hilarious. It's ok though, we still have to go to Thia and Thio's house, there will be more. Their faces light up with hope again, beautiful, then it begins, "can we go, can we go now". So it's off to destroy another lounge room!!Xmas with my family is very casual, there are no formalities and it's just do as you want. There's always too much food especially of the sugar kind!! Which my kids just love. It was just an afternoon of eating, swimming, lazing about, chatting, and arguing with the kids. Just what xmas is all about!! These are a few of my favourite photo's from today.
As we head home at the end of the day with screaming children in tow, the realisation that there are no more presents and my sister's words of, "give them their santa sack at the end of the day, trust me" are ringing oh so true. The downer, she warned me. All the months leading up to xmas, the excitement just building, then in a matter of hours it's all over. Why didn't I listen. Next year. Now they sleep, totally exhausted and overwhelmed, what a day. Can't wait to do it all again next year!! Merry xmas. xo.

I'm a Facebook Whore!!

I admit this is the reason I have not blogged. I can't believe it, I'm now one of those people who have a facebook, if that's the right term. For so long I have gone without, not felt the need to join, there are other ways I can ignore people without adding facebook to the list. What have I done? It's like the only thing I can do right now, I live it and breath it. I don't think that's right, surely it's not normal. I'm constantly looking at what others are doing, if people have accepted my friend invite, if people have sent me a friend invite, oh the rejection, the pressure to find more friends, I only have 12. I'm sure it's all about quality and not quantity though, right? The novelty will wear off, won't it? Now I originally posted this photo on facebook, the kids with Santa. Why, when I would have usually posted it on my blog? I would spoken of our day, the excitement in the kids, how joyous they were when they finally got to run up to Santa to tell them what they wanted after waiting forever in the line. I don't understand what's going on. Is facebook my new blogger? Maybe I should start a Facebook Anonymous group. Hi my name is Leoni and it's been 5 mins since my list hit!!

**WARNING** This is a fart story!!

Ok, we all know the old pull my finger trick. If you don't you've lived a sheltered life!! Anyway, Andrew has been doing the whole pull my finger trick with Will for a couple of weeks now. He cracks himself up laughing when Andrew farts. It's hilarious. It's such a boy thing or is it... He always wants Andrew to do more, however, Andrew's always worried that something else might come out!! Ok, slightly gross, but you get the idea... Well, the other day Andrew says to Will, "pull my finger", of course Will runs over all eager and waits in anticipation, Andrew farts, Will pisses himself laughing. Well, Paige says, "my turn Daddy", Andrew says, "I don't have any more left darling", Paige, "but I didn't get a turn and Will did". Yep, followed by an outburst. I stand there in disbelief, my daughter, my princess is having a mini meltdown cause she didn't get a turn to pull Daddy's finger. Tragic, I know, some might consider this to be slightly distasteful, I think it's freakin hilarious.

Things that annoy me at the moment....

• Elderly people who feel it's their right to push in front of you in the shopping queue, then pretend they didn't see you standing there when you say something.
• People who walk in front or behind you when you're trying to park or reverse the car, then they look at you like you're the idiot. I wonder if they would think I'm still an idiot if I accidentally hit them cause I accidentally didn't see them!
• Shopping centres that charge to have photo's with Santa. Is there nothing free in this world anymore? I love Xmas, but I hate that it's so commercial. Last year photo's were half the price they are this year and the year before that they were free. Can't they just give something back to the people?
  
• The fact that I have two hand basins in my bathroom but I can only use one! Since moving into our house nearly a year now, we haven't been able to use it cause it leaks. I think it just needs a bit of plumbers tape wrapped around it or something. Love if you're reading this, could you please fix it?
  
• My house (not all of it). I just can't stand all the brown eighties features. Yuck.
  
• I have these friends, I know I do, but there just seems to be this thing in the way that stops us from seeing each other more often, I think it's called life!!

On the flip side, things I love at the moment:

• Watching Will and Paige play together. They get so absorbed in their world of play and imagination that's it so cute to watch.
• Johnny Throbber!
  
• When I say goodnight to Will he repeats after me, I love you, Nicta, Sweet Dreams and in answer to Are you mama's little baby he always answers yes.
  
• Paigey is so excited to be going to school next year she's already in the zone. Lately she's been asking if she can do her homework! She's all astute and proper about it too. I wonder if she'll be this eager come her teenage years. When did she turn into this little girl:-( I think that is something that annoys me, time, can it just stand still please??
  
• I love watching Paige and Will give each other hugs and kisses, it melts my heart.
• Stopping by the cafe to get a coffee each morning on my way to work. It's really just a cover so that I can spend 10 or so minutes chatting to my sister. Just the two of us!
  
• Cupcakes!!
• Our new family portrait!

Kids say the darndest things...

Scene
Will is misbehaving, again. Can't remember exactly what he was doing, so many acts of misbehaviour that they all roll into one!

Dad
Blah blah blah, "you're very naughty" (voice raised and supposedly being serious!)

Will
"I not naughty"

Dad
"No, but what you are doing is very naughty"

Will
"I very angry at you. Don't you talk me"
Walks out of room.

Dad
Turns away rolling his eyes with slight smile

Will
Walks back into the room. "I not naughty, you are naughty. I call Santa"
Will picks up his mobile phone, dials Santa's number
"Santa, yes, no presents for Dadda"
Will puts the phone down, looks up at Dad.
"I told Santa on you. No presents"
Will walks out.

Dad
Shakes his head and pisses self laughing

SCCM! (Sorry, only SCCM's will understand)

Went over to my dear friend Jen's house on Sunday. It was in aid of her new kitchen. She required ooh's and ahh's. I get that, I really do. I just hate gloaters! I now have total kitchen envy. I'll let her describe her new kitchen on her blog, which I'm sure she will do, but I'll say this, Jen tis very sexy! Can't wait for you to return the favour of dinner, soon I hope!! I was just glad to hang out for a couple of hours with friends whom I rarely seem to see lately :-( Paige and Aria, slipped into their role of best friends quite easily, ganging up on poor Imogen and locking Will out of the room. Here's a picture of the two together. They truly are little girls, it's just so very cute.Here's a picure of little Will, all covered in dirt. Such a boy.

Tis the season...

I'm not sure of the exact dates of when you're meant to put your xmas tree up and pull it down. From when I can remember we always put the tree up on the 1st of December and took it down before new years, something to do with bad luck. Pish posh. Well we're screwed then. Since having my own tree I don't think I ever put it up on the 1st and I sure as hell didn't take it down before new years. Actually I think I've still had my tree up in February! Anyway, I think I'll start my own family tradition of, whenever. On Saturday Paige out of the blue begged us to put the tree up. It's not like we had anything else to do! Here's a couple of pictures of the kids putting the decorations on. It's funny, Paige now wants us to take the tree down, because Will is constantly getting into trouble for taking the decorations off and turning the lights on and off.I love how the decorations are all at child height!

Cooking Lessons.

When I grew up we dined on authentic Greek food. From when I can remember keftethes (Greek meatballs) were my most favourite meal. Now, I love chargrilled marinated baby octopus. I hardly ever have it, I think the last time I cooked this was at a group gathering a couple of years ago with friends. Tragic and wrong. I'm not sure why, but now I want to learn these dishes my mother use to serve us as kids. I want to be able to make these most yummy meals for me and of course my family for years to come. So I've asked mum to start showing me and teaching me the ways of Greek cooking. We've made Sunday our cooking day where mum share's all her tips and advice, and not just on cooking. Today while I was mixing the ingredients, mum says, "show me your finger nails". Odd I know, but one should never question their teacher! As I flip my hands over to show mum, she says, "it's not ready, keep mixing". She says, "if the fat sticks to your nails it's ready. That's how you know it's not dry". I know it's weird, but I'm going with whatever she tells me, cause the way she cooks is divine! I've also learned in my short life not to question my mother! Well today is week two of my cooking lessons, and I thought I'd start capturing some pics of these most yummy dishes. Tonight we dined on Yemista (stuffed capsicums).Husband Rating:A+
"Look I think the sweetness of the capsicum is finely balanced against the texture of the mince and rice inside. Capsicum is tonight's signature ingredient on iron chef isn't if?"

Me Rating: A+
Just the way I remember them.

P.S If you don't know, my husband is an idiot who watches the Iron Chef on SBS!!

Well hello there...

Well, where do I begin? Maybe, hello. It's been a while since I've posted anything. Not through lack of trying or wanting. Days just seem to roll into weeks and weeks just roll into an oblivion lately! Nothing really exciting has been happening, it's just been boring, well no, it's just been life. I wish I could be typing things like, went on an overseas holiday, saw the queen, got a tattoo, got a piercing (!!), the kids are angels, went to this nice restaurant etc etc, but truth be told it didn’t happen, probably never will!! I think I started this post like 3 weeks ago (actually it's been about another 2 weeks on top of the 3 weeks since I started this post!), that’s how busy (um slack) I’ve been. I think I can honestly say busy this time. I know I’m slack a fair bit of the time, but working 3 jobs and maintaining (trying) the family is certainly keeping me on my toes.

Now let’s see if I can remember what’s been happening lately:

• Will went to the toilet for the first time on the weekend. I said I would start sooner with him, ah well. He hasn't gone since, but it's a start. Now this was written 3 weeks ago when I first started this entry, and he still hasn’t gone since. (Another two weeks on and still nothing!)
• He slept in a bed for the first time last night. When I say "a bed" I mean Paige's bed, cause we haven't gotten around to buying him one yet. Don't think that he's had no where to sleep all this time, he has happily been residing in his cot. Well, maybe not happily, seeing as he still doesn't sleep through. Paige, well she sleeps on the floor in our room, cause, well, I don't know, no real reason! Again, this was written 3 weeks ago (don't forget to add another 2 weeks on top of the 3 weeks!) since then, Will alternates from the cot to the bed, depending on how much of a little terd he’s being! Basically it goes like this, if he can’t stay in bed (quietly) he goes to the cot, and if he’s not quiet in the cot we close the door. If either of those fails, as they more than often do, I give in, being the sucker/pathetic/not strong mother I am and give him a bottle/dummy/whatever/soothing conversation to lull him back to sleep. Yeah, that whole sleep thing is so not happening for me. And occasionally, he sleeps like this.

• Paige, rolls her eyes at us now, it’s funny. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the way she does it. She will stop whatever it is she’s doing at the time, turn around as if to leave, flick her head around to face you and say, “I’m going to roll my eyes at you now” and then does. It’s hilarious and also quite rude. You can tell I’ve got a handle on my kids can’t you! She’s also right into saying, “whatever”, whereby she strings out the ever part. But she doesn’t have an attitude problem… No seriously, my kids are perfect!
• Paige says to me the other week when I was baking, “Mum you never make me any cupcakes, why?” Now if you believe that than you’re a bloody idiot. She’s known to a lot of people as being a “cupcake whore”! Trust me family services won’t win that one! Here's a picture to prove how much of a cupcake whore she is. I was baking the other day and to avoid being busted by her brother, which would result in her sharing, she hid in the kitchen eating the damn thing till it was gone. The couple of times Will did come into the kitchen I had to stand in front of Paige so that Will wouldn't see her!! Tragic I know. First step is admitting you have a problem and if you ask her she doesn't get any....

• Paige is going to marry Toddy. They love each other so much. It’s funny, I swear Toddy blushes and gets all embarrassed around Paige, it’s very cute. She asked me the other day if I could make their wedding cake. She was very specific, I can see this one being a bridezilla one day. She wants pictures of her and Toddy on the cupcakes and then she wants a pink ice cream cake. All class my girl. I know some might say that she’s already been promised to Lucio, but I feel I have to keep her options open! She is only young after all. Both Lucio and Toddy would make fine husbands for my Paigey, however, I am a little concerned about Toddy though. He told his mum that he was going to wear the dress on their wedding day…
• Paige watched Legally Blonde the other week. There's this scene in it where this lady is at a day spa lying on a bed with cucumbers on her eyes. That evening Paige insisted on having cucumbers on her eyes. This is her lying on the couch. Whilst she was relaxing and enjoying the cool cucumbers on her already supple skin, I was vacuuming. Yeah, I totally drew short straw, she says to me, "please keep that noise down".
• If you haven’t already gathered, I’m slowly (if I haven’t already) losing control of the children!
• I walked into the kids rooms the other day and the entire contents of Paige's shelves were on the floor and bed. If you ask Paige, "Will did it", and if you ask Will he says, "not me". Without yelling, I asked them to pick up all the clothes and put them away. I hear them talking, I hear Will crying, I totally ignore it all, until Paige comes out and says, "mum, Will's stuck". I was intrigued. Here he is stuck on the third shelf, crying his little heart out.
• Will can name most dinosaurs by their actual name and can also name a lot of marine animals. Not just general names either ie fish, shark etc, more specific than that like the type ie angelfish, hammer head shark. The kid is obsessed with aquatic animals. He'll hold you in conversation for ages about the "dolphins, fish's and a sharks". He will talk to anyone that will listen to him about his animals. If he's not a marine biologist when he grows up I'll be surprised.
• Will's going through a phase of not liking daddy. I know all kids are attached to their mothers, I mean who wouldn't want to be, we are the cool parent. Anyway, Will is taking this a little too far, possibly to the extreme. For example, Will wants a bottle. Andrew and I can (and we've scientifically proven this) be standing next to each other with Andrew holding the bottle. Will will not take the bottle from Andrew, so Andrew passes the bottle to me whereby I hand it to Will. End result happy Will. I think in some cultures they call this manipulation!
• But then he does his happy dance. How can I stay angry with him. Like we keep saying, "he's lucky he's cute". He's quite often saved by just being cute!
• If you haven’t already gathered, I’m slowly (if I haven’t already) losing control of the children!
• Will's been a little trigger happy lately with the camera. Admittedly most of his photo's are shit, but he took this the other day of Paige and I. Not bad. Maybe all the practising is starting to pay off.

Well I'm not sure what else blog worthy has been happening, besides, this entry is probably way too long as it is. Oh, I've started using the if you're not good, Santa won't come line, I figure I'll try to get as much mileage out of this as possible. Apparently, if you're talking to Andrew, the reason why my house can never stay clean is due to "entropy". I think that's a whole other entry all on it's own which I'll leave to him to explain. Um, I think that's it, so till next time, which won't be too long, bye. xo.