Very Proud of PJ

Just recently the Preps have had literacy and numeracy week and have been working with their buddies in Yr 5/6. Today at assembly, Paige and Mason, who is in her class, spoke in front of the whole school about what they had learned. Apparently when their teacher asked for volunteers, Paige and Mason were the only 2 to put their hands up. As you can imagine I was terribly proud of her, she learned her part of the speech really well and was not at all nervous, although, I didn't once ask her if she was so I wouldn't induce a case of the "wriggly tummy". It wasn't until we were on the way into school this morning that she told me she was a bit scared and after some encouragement, she was fine. She did really well, she got a bit quiet towards the end of her speech, but it was the first time she has ever spoken with a microphone so WELL DONE Peach, Mummy is very proud and I am sure Daddy will be when he gets back.

Here it is:

Another Award

I am not being blase when I say that either. This was Paige's second award for the year so far. The first was in May for her contributions during guided reading and now she has received another for her "super dooper writing". I was and am so proud of her. I know she is a little "distracted" at school, but she is doing really well and I am very proud. I am constantly surprised by her reading ability and when I say constantly, I mean like every night. She comes home with a new reader each night and can pretty much breeze through it, if she gets stuck, she can generally figure out the word when she sounds it out. I am not really shocked due to the fact that both her mum and dad are big readers, but I am just surprised by her progress which seems to go so fast.

End of brag :)

The Wonder of The Farm

I wrote this awhile ago when we went to visit "almost family" who have a small farm about 2 hours out of Melbourne. We normally try to visit them about every 2 months or so but this time it had been 6 months. In between the last visit and now we had school starting, they had to deal with the bushfires. Basically, we all had alot of stuff going on. So now we come to the visit.

I find it amazing that we can drive for 2 hours to get to a friends house and feel like we are in a different place. It is really not that far away and yet, mentally, it is as far from home and the city as you can get. It is incredible the overwhelming quiet and relaxing quality that you get there. When I say quiet, I am not so much referring to the noise level as together we have 5 children, 3 boys, 2 girls ranging in age from 13 to 3 so quiet is not really something that happens with them around, oh and I forgot the mention the 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 cow, chickens, various sheep, fish and a turtle. Although, I must say, Franklin doesn't make all that much noise, or not that you can hear from outside his tank.

Something happens when we go to the farm, it is almost like a really deep sigh when you are at the end of the day and you know that you can just put up your feet and take it easy for a while. Only it is not sitting down and putting up your feet that does it, it is just the whole feel of the place. No traffic, no crowds, nowhere that you have to be (except local kids footy on Sunday) and nothing that urgently needs doing. Even the girls are different on the farm, or rather, Paige is different. Her and Charli will kick off their shoes and chase the lambs through the paddock with no care for the fact that their feet are getting covered in manure. They run until their cheeks are pink and their noses running and then they run some more. They get up early in order to go and plant trees, they go to the football and cheer on their friends, they barely argue, they play make believe rather than watch television even thought it is on. They have fun and behave like children rather than small semi-adults.

I love what the country does to my girls, it is a wonderful thing to see. It makes me smile to see them having so much fun without a care in the world and know that they are creating memories that they will look back on with fondness when they are older like all the memories I have of when Mum and Dad took us to the bush for holidays and camping. Places where we didn't have to worry about fitting in, we could just be free. I think that is what it comes down to, being in the country is a freedom that you don't get in the city. You worry less and they can feel it.

Every time, we have a ball, we love our friends, we love seeing our children grow up together and we love to get out of the city, even if it is just for a few nights, it is definitely worth the drive.

Cuteness

This afternoon when I left the house to pick Paige up from school, I left to a chorus of quiet snoring emanating from the lounge room. J was in the recliner quietly snoring and Charli was on the couch doing a really good job of synchronised snoring with her Daddy.

So cute, I quietly shut the door and when I returned home some 45 mins later, there was no longer any snoring, but there was no awakeness either. Some things are just too cute to mess with.

Oh Dear!

J: "Charli, go and say please to Mummy."
Charli: hands on hips "I don't care."
J: "You don't care about what?"
Charli: "I don't care about please."
J: "Right! "

Football....Again

On Sunday we took both of the girls and me to the football. I have only been to the football once and that was in Adelaide when I was pregnant with Paige....so, a while ago. At the time, I think we were more concerned with our car being damaged due to the VIC plates than the game itself, although, it was an Adelaide v Port match so luckily there was no losing to a Melbourne team.

After Charli's protest over not going to the football last time J took Paige, we decided this would be a family outing so we booked tickets for an afternoon match and off we went. The major issue being that the only afternoon tickets we could get before J went away were for the St Kilda v Essendon match. Anyone who follows football will understand this, St Kilda have not been beaten all year and there was no way that the Bombers would win this match. So, we went knowing that it would be a disaster match, but the girls would have fun being at the football and getting "football food". When we got there, we bought a scarf for everyone and just as we were about to start walking down to the gate, it poured, not just rained a little, but poured down. Lots of people and not much undercover room, means that lots of people get quite wet and I was one of those people, luckily I had a hooded jacket on so whilst it got wet, I didn't. Once we were inside, I was able to take it off as we were at the Dome and the roof was closed.

Now, once again, if you follow football, you know where this is headed and if you don't follow football, you have probably figured it out by now anyway.

The first quarter started as predicted and while we watched and Charli continuously yelled "Go Bombers", St Kilda kicked goal after goal. At the end of the quarter, we were down by 1 goal and the girls were hungry so we went to get some food. We stayed downstairs to eat so the girls could have a bit of a run around and we sat at a table that had a view of the big screen. Well, what do you know but I looked up at a cheer and found that Essendon was actually in front. Not long after that, they kicked another and we decided we should probably go back to our seats. Lots of yelling and clapping ensued, Charli was so excited, she fell off her chair. Actually, that is not what happened, she was being her usually wriggly self and fell off her chair and hit her chin on the chair in front.

We ended up leaving at 3/4 time (the Bombers were up by 5 goals) as we needed to get the girls home to bed as PJ had school the next day. We knew that if we waited till the end of the match it would be 10pm or so by the time we got home. On the way out, we stopped at the 7 Eleven to get Slurpee's and then headed to the tram to catch it to where our car was parked. Only problem was that when we got on the tram, it went around the corner back to where we had come from. We got off the tram and caught a cab to the car and then headed home. I checked the score on the way home and we were pleased to discover....THE BOMBERS WON by 2 points. We got home at about 8pm, had some noodles and the girls went to bed.

All in all, they had a really good time and now they have Bombers scarves to wear when the football is on and for when we go again as I have a feeling that this will become a semi-regular thing.

Smell-O-Web

UPDATE:
I have now eaten the Chilli and had to come back to confirm that it was, in fact, totally AWESOME! That recipe will now be going on the frequently made list. It is really good as you can fry it all up and then pop it in the slow cooker and leave it there all day. You can find the recipe at Exclusively Food and just so you know, everything I have made from this site has turned out great.

Original Post:
Boy, do you wish that there was such a thing as Smell-O-Web, kind of along the same vein as smell-o-vision. At this very moment I am in the middle of cooking an amazing home made Chilli con Carne. At the moment it is minus the beans as it still has about 4 hours to cook before they are added, but is smells SOOO GOOD!! It even smelled good enough to get J out of bed and that is an achievement, especially since he went to bed so late.

We are all, well except PJ who doesn't like spicy, looking forward to dinner tonight.