Food lists and battleship games.

Isabella handed me the cutest letter this morning. It was in an envelope labelled "food I like"
and inside was this gorgeous list to help me plan what to feed them. Every month or so I ask them for what they want to eat as I can get brain dead and stuck in ruts with food for them. They eat quite a good range of foods, but there are things they will not eat and it has to be approached the right way to get them to try new foods. So I need to have a idea bank to turn to, especially when I don't want to deal with the stress of trying to get them to try something else.

The cutest thing though is Bella's phonetic spelling, it makes me wonder how she hears things, and also how well I pronounce words. My favourites from this mornings list being
'fish and vechdurboolz' (vegetables)
'tarco and rapz'
'buter chickon (with ris)'
'bakbinz' (baked beans)
I have to sound the words out loud sometime to get some of the harder ones, I think this next one
'icecrems and semcherees' (I think that's with some cherries), which is so cute because she loves cherries but has never had them with ice cream. But I could find out that it is something completely different that I just wasn't getting!

Anyway, so cute. The others were pretty straightforward, but I just love how she thinks like this, I'll give Mum a hand with dinner plans.

Also a miracle has occurred with Micah, I nearly died last night from shock when Micah and Bella got out Battleship and were playing together last night. Micah got it for his birthday last year and has played it once under pressure from me to give it a go. He is hard to get interested in new things, and is obsessed with pokemon, and computer games and dsi games. We have had to limit it so much because he wants to play on any of them constantly. He has been hard to get outside, hard to try anything new, he even escaped from after school sports and snuck to catch the bus home because he hated going! He is a really fantastic reader when he is interested, but sometimes I have read the fist couple of pages with him until he gets interested, and then he takes over and I don't see him for a couple of hour til the novel is finished! Anyway, I'm sure you get that he is hard to get to DO anything new, or sometimes just anything that doesn't involve computers!
So to see that he had got it down and wanted to play with Bella. They were so cute and I told them how lucky they are to have each other to play with and that they can always be good friends for each other and have fun together. Then Micah said "this is such a fun game Mum", and I said "isn't it more fun than playing the computer?" Micah said "Yeah, heaps more fun." He looked up at me with the sweetest smile. I ended up letting them stay up an hour later as it was just so gorgeous and I was just so happy that they were getting it!!
There has been a change is Micah in the last few weeks, which has been leading to this sort of attitude, and it makes me so happy. I was feeling so lost with what I could even do to help him as he wasn't really happy and involved, and nothing I tried seemed to be working.
I love my sweet kids.

Halloween party

The kid's school had a halloween party which was much anticipated as the teachers were doing games and the girls planned what to dress up as. I tried to steer them away from the witch idea, which Bella was so keen on as nearly EVERY one of her friends was going as. I have issues about being the same as everyone else. I want the kids to think about what they really like and are interested in. Amalie went as red riding hood, and Bella after many, many suggestions was excited to goo as Cat in the Hat. I made that hat for her and when I showed her she said "That doesn't look like Rat in the Hat!" Seems like we had a communication problem, or at least an understanding problem! But she won second place for best costume, and she looked so adorable, though I can't find a decent photo. They had lot's of fun with the slime and other games. Micah had a great time too, but didn't want to dress up. I don't have to worry about him doing things to please his friends, he doesn't even like to wear free dress on free dress days at school!

Swimming Carnival

Last month the kids had their school swimming carnival. It rained on and off during the day, mostly the kids didn't even care. Amalie was so funny because she just wanted to swim all day and Micah wanted to come home with me instead of on the bus, but we couldn't get Amalie to come. She made friends with a year six girl who gave her piggy backs around the pool and swam with her wand was just so sweet!

Anyway, Micah was the only one who competed and he got first place for the first race. I always feel bad for Micah because he is always competing against kids older than him because he is in a higher grade plus he is not interested in sport at all, unless it is bike riding or swimming. Plus the cute guy is not competitive at all, he is either interested or not. Anyway, he came first in that first race and said "I've had enough, I don't want to race any more."

Ballet with the kids

I'm going to have to get the hang of this again! My photo's came out in the wrong order and I can't get above this photo! James surprised us with tickets to see Swan Lake for Bella's 6th birthday in October. He got tickets for all of us which I wasn't really sure about. The kids were really excited, even Micah asked if there was a ticket for him and was so happy that there was. It was performed by the Tasmanian Classical Ballet Company and was very beautiful. We went for the matinee and it was probably half full of children, there were big groups of little girls who I'm sure were attending with their whole ballet class. It was very cute. But it was soooo long. They had three intermissions and it went for almost three and a half hours! The photo above is Micah glad to get out between act two and three. The below photo is what Micah looked like during pretty much the whole performance. I was hoping he would fall asleep so he would stop complaining! But it didn't happen. The girls absolutely loved the dancing, loved all the ballerinas, but even their enthusiasm didn't make it to the last hour! Amalie and Isabella came home and copied the dancing they remembered, it was gorgeous to see their interpretation and to see them still dancing from it two months later now. So it was worth it, at least we are opening up their mind to some culture.

Hello hello

Hmmmm, you probably thought that you would never hear from me again. And I don't know that I thought I would come back, but I have such cute kids who are doing things I just don't want to forget. I went to a Stake YW activity about journals and felt so bad that I have not recorded enough of my children's life already. Sometimes it's hard, and I make no promises, but I'm doing this for me and them, so I'll try to do what I can.

Nap time?

The last four or five months have been a fun game of trying to work out what on earth we can do about Amalie's naps!! Micah hasn't napped since 18 months, except a couple of times he was sick. Isabella lasted a little longer, about 20 months, with the occassional nap til she was about two.

So I was open to the fact that naps may not be long lasting, especially as Amalie is very active like Micah. She got to a stage when she wouldn't go down for a nap. She didn't sleep in the day for a few weeks, and I thought naps must be finished! Then she started falling asleep. She wouldn't sleep earlier in the day, but she would fall asleep on the way back from getting Micah from school, or in her high chair at dinner time, only then, with a few minutes nap, to stay up TWO or THREE hours later than her normal bed time!!! CRAZY!!

So it has been a balance of ocassionally getting her down for a nap early, maybe once or twice a week, or sometimes not for weeks, and trying at whatever cost to not let her fall asleep anywhere!!!

It is all pretty up in the air parenting sometimes. You think you have something worked out, but they show you!!! They are all so different!!

Hastings

That first photo is pretty interesting!!

James planned a nice trip for us down to Hastings in April. He had a day off, had never been and thought it would be great fun.

It is a misapprehension to think that it is not too far a way, I mean it was supposed to be 90 minutes, which I suppose isn't too long, but when you have two car sick family members, windy wet roads, stops for threatened vomiting and trips to whatever shop we could find for ginger ale to settle the tummy's!! Hmm, I think it took us about two and a half hours to get there.

We did have a lovely time there, we went for a swim in the thermal pool, warmed up in front of the lovely open fires, though it's pretty funny really that they go together! Then we went for a tour of the caves, which the kids really enjoyed.

The trip home was a lot quicker and smoother, especially with the requisite stop for hot chips in Huonville!

A quick trip to Orford

We had a quick trip up to Orford, obviously, not a lovely summers day, but it was nice to be out, the kids had a fun time and were amazingly pretty good for the drive .

Cute kids!!

James took this pic of Micah, it's a bit out of focus, but pretty funny. He did not go to bed like that, or even with the goggles, he must have gotten down from the top bunk and accessorised to go swimming in his dream, or something! They are quite funny and sneaky. Sometimes I can't find Bella and she in in the cupboard, she has climbed up the top and is eating treats! She knows to be quiet, and closes the door more if she hears you coming. She was even telling her aunty the other day how she tiptoes in, and if she hears me coming she is super quiet!! Super sneaky!!

Amalie

This is completely typical of Amalie, running, going, going, running, she doesn't really know much about being still or quiet, or listening, though she is getting there a little bit!

She is very funny and stubborn, determined and affectionate, at least with Mummy who she is still pretty attatched to, at least when anyone else is around! She has a lot to say and she thinks she is five like Micah, she can do anything anyone else can do, especially her big brother and sisiter!

"I'm off again!"

Isabella

My pictures are going on backwards. This is about Bella. I will now start with how she is great with her little sister. She looks after her, makes sure she stays with us, much against Amalie's will. Isabella is kind and thoughtful, she wants to help, and if I count she will do most things before 18 or whatever strange number she thinks of. It has to be her number, her choice, with everything!

She is happy and easy going, as long as you let her choose certain things. She is very creative and thoughtful.

And very adorable, loving and spontaneous, and she does a killer wiggle dance.

Micah

I think Micah is so big, before I had kids I wouldn't have thought five was as big and capable as five really is. He can be so helpful and caring and spontaneous. I love how he asks me things and you can tell he has been thinking it over for a while.

This is so Micah, "I'm just relaxing, I'm a bit tired!" He is cute and a mini Daddy.

It may just be me, but he looks about eight in this photo. Micah is so delightful and funny and enthusiastic.

He is loving Prep, though some things are "boring", and he has a best friend which is really lovely, and he is very happy.

I have been very slack.

I thought things would get easier as the kids get bigger. Well, in some ways it has, not that they are really that big. Amalie has been through a very clingy stage, at least a year of it, and at not yet two, that seems like a long time. Also being the third child in a reasonably quick period, everything seems to drag out.

At the same time I am feeling a little jealous of the time I have with the kids as Bella will go to Kinder next year and with Micah at full time school this time has really snuck up on me!

This pic is a few weeks ago now, but at least I am putting something on. This is as good as it gets to have all three in the same shot!

A bit of catch up!

Sack race

Egg and spoon race

Bella and Amalie had a great time.

I didn't realise what a good pic of the other boy picking his nose, and you can barely see Micah, he is turned away,(next to the nose picker, closest to the camera) but he had a great time.

These are from Micah's athletics carnival a couple of weeks ago. He had a great time, they were practicing for weeks doing 30 meter run, egg and spoon race and the sack race. The little boys were so cute and all had a fun time. They had an obstical course and parachute games and heaps of other games and activities organised in between races which was great so they didn't go crazy!

Bella, Amalie and I went along to watch and the girls had fun on the obstical course themselves, and enjoyed all the fun of the afternoon.

Micah only has a week left of school for the year, I think he is really going to miss going to school during the holidays, but he has made some greeat little friends which has been fantastic and I think he is going to love Prep next year, he already wants to go every weekday this year!

We put up the christmas tree on Saturday. I have been excited that this year the kids will be more involved and that it will be so much more fun, but Saturday was crazy. Micah only wanted to put the star on and went on about it from when the christmas tree box was opened, and didn't do one other thing! Bella was great and put on nearly all the baubles, very densely populating the lower branches of the tree, with some branches four or five heavy, and I am talking the one little branch of the many on each bigger branch. But she was so enthusiastic and helped til the end. Amalie fulfilled her toddler role of pulling off every bauble on any branch she could reach, causing a fit from Bell who was frustrated by the constant upsetting of her masterpiece. Fun fun! But at least I have learnt not to have any expectations of my children! They all have their different strengths and abilities and interests! And they are all darlings, but I have enjoyed their bedtime, well after their bedtime, this last week!

My little Smarty Pants

We got Micah into Kinder early this year, because he was so ready, there were a whole bunch of reasons, and he has been so happy, made great friends. He started two days a week, now does three, and would go five days a week if he could. But because his birthday is January it looked like he would have to do another year of Kinder, which I think would drive him crazy, he would be the oldest in the class and would be bored not long into the year.



So I organised for him to be assessed by a child psychologist, to see where he is at to see if I should push for him to go up, or at least know that it would be the best for him to do Kinder again. Firstly, people made out it was a stressful and traumatic thing to put your child through, well Micah loved it, he had fun. Anyway, I got the results back on Friday, and they were fantastic! My little 4 year 8 month old boy, ranged between 5 yrs 7 mths and 6 yrs 10 mths with his assessment, in the top 2 percent, and they certainly recommended his grade acceleration, and extension activities, and I talked to his teacher, and it's not all official yet, but it looks like he will definatly be going up.



The other great thing about the assessment was that the last page was full of recommendations for him and his learning, and it is fantastic, I think I will get the girls assessed at a similar age, just for the great resouce. It also had information about the Tas Association for the Gifted, which is just classic! I am so glad I got it done, he is going to be so happy to go up with all his friends.

Micah

Micah dressed as a knight for the book parade at school.

Playing Diago on the computer

Micah is growing more delightful every day. He has been a bit bored this holidays after being so stimulated at school, he would love to go every day! He is really growing into a boy, a school boy, an intelligent, active (although amazingly less active than he used to be, I never thought that would wean!), creative boy, though in a different way to Bella.

He loves music, he loves dancing, he makes up these fantastic dances that are a combination of tap and breakdancing! They are so good, he does little performances for us. The other day I unusually had some of my music on and he was helping me cook, but when each new song would come on, he would have to go and dance to it, and he danced differently depending on the song and tempo. It was gorgeous.

He has a great imagination, he loves inventing things, mostly from box work, but he makes all types of thing. He told me that when he is five he will be an inventor, because he will be grown up then, and he needs tools and a desk! He worked out the other day that he can make the letters of the alphabet with his body, so he contorts it some very creative ways to come up with his letters.

He is competitive, he is affectionate, and he looks after his sisters. He loves Scrapheap Challenge, which starts at his normal bedtime. He loves using the camera, and he has pretty good composition too. He is charming. He is a wonderful boy.

Isabella's towers

I may be a bit biased, but Bella is an incredible girl. Maybe the contrasts between her and Micah really point me to her virtues. The other day she spent hours making these houses and towers, she made them, then would make more, often after Amalie had been past and played her let's knock everything over game. Bella has amazing concentration, se can sit and do things for hours. She often sits at the table and draws for hours also. When we drop Micah off at kinder, we don't leave until he has written his name in a special book, and every morning Bella has to do a drawing at the table with the boys. Her drawings are fantastic, she does people, Micah's teacher raves her drawings, she even called the other teacher to show her, and couldn't believe she wasn't even three yet. She also does these pictures with patterns, circles in lines, in all colours. Anyway, I think she is very clever. The thing that is really nice is that she gets so involved, she does it with most things, she is a little thinker. I often find the blocks sorted into colours or shapes. She is gorgeous.

Excuse the red on the carpet, our red shag mat is driving me crazy as it constantly sheds

Holiday Fun!

I was so looking forward to the school holidays, not having to rush off in the morning, and to enjoy spending time all together.

We had promised the kids they could camp in the back room, so Friday after school the kids and I set up the sun tent with their sleeping bags and all the dolls and teddies they had to have with them. Then Daddy set up his sleeping bag out there too and told them stories by torchlight. They had a great time, and slept there for four or five nights, though one night was enough for daddy. It was gorgeous how much they enjoyed it. Amalie loved it too, and even though she didn't sleep out there she would climb right in the back of the tent and find herself a spot. We found Isabella almost out of the tent most nights because she had made room for her "children." They are so much fun!!

I remember sleeping in a tent in the lounge when I was a kid, we loved it too.

Man Flu!!

James was sick this last weekend, really sick. He has been on and off for a couple of weeks, better and worse, then Friday he was really sick, slept the whole weekend, day and night!

He found this great clip, which I am sure you will all relate too. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvWKioLtP-0

I will add that like in the clip, he caught it from me!
Thankfully he is finally better now.

Mornings

James got up this morning early with the kids, so I could have a little sleep in (Amalie was up sick again last night!). Well when I got up, he had dressed Micah ready for school and Isabella was dressed in a cute outfit, though it was a little tight. The pants were only 3/4 length, and the top quite short and tight. It was Amalie's outfit! He had got it out of the clean washing in the basket, and I suppose just thought it was Bella's. I had taken pics of Bella and Amalie in the outfit so you could see, but I am having trouble getting my pictures to attatch.

Though I want to add that I really appreciate the effort, and it was quite entertaining. Because I was a little overtired, when I saw Bella I started to laugh in that uncontrollable way that is almost hysterical. I'm sure it let out some of that built up craziness and tension. It was great!

Also on the things cheeky husbands get up to when they get up early. I think he had a plan when he got up early. We started a diet today, just cutting out a lot of junk and eating lots of natural foods, lots of veg soup. I found him when I got up, in the back room (hiding!!!) eating microwave pizza, though just half, he told me!! And a bowl of rich chocolate ice cream!! Though he did point out that it had banana chopped in it too! I don't know if he was having a last binge, he was the one who really wanted to get back on track!! I suppose it can only get better from now, if that's how it started!!