Back Again

It has surely been a while between posts, but I realise I still want to keep track of the crazy, funny, cute things that often happen with my girlies. Today is camp day, PJ is headed off to school camp today for 3 days to Sovereign Hill. She started organising and packing her camp stuff on Sunday and when I say packing, I mean making a pile of the things she needed to take on the lounge room floor. She couldn't start packing her back as her camp bag was still being used as her school bag. Monday night she went through the list and made sure that she had the minimum of everything and made a list of the things we still needed to get. Last night we went off to Kmart and got her some singlets, new underwear and socks as well as a travel toothpaste, deodorant and body wash. She went through her list about 57 times to make sure that she had everything she needed and we had to convince her that it was ok to take more socks and underwear than was listed. At one point there was a conversation about how she would not be refused entry to the bus if she had 5 pairs of underpants rather than the required minimum of 2. 

Paige went to bed quite late after getting everything organised and showering so she was all clean for camp. I talked her into putting her pyjamas on instead of going to bed in her clothes and we were all done. When I got up this morning and went to wake her up she was dressed in her clothes. Apparently she had woken in the middle of the night with "camp nerves" and decided to get dressed as it would save time in the morning and she would get ready quicker. We left the house at 8.36am and were halfway to school when she mentioned that they were supposed to be there by 8.30am, whoops. After that I couldn't resist teasing her that the bus had left without her when we saw it driving laps around the school waiting to get a park, such a mean Mum.

When I left, she was with her friends being sorted onto buses and extremely eager to get going. She will have so much fun and I look forward to hearing about it when she gets back on Friday afternoon. In the meantime, I am sure Charli will take advantage of the fact that she has Mum and Dad all to herself. Although, as she said this morning, she will miss loving Paige while she is gone.

It's a Snail's Life

Last weekend, Paige found a snail in the front yard and decided that she wanted to keep it as a pet. She brought it around the back, got a shoe box, gave it a jar lid of water, some leaves, called it Delancy and left it in the backyard.

A few days later after some very warm weather, I checked of the snail and found it rather dried out. She saw me throw it in the garden and was not impressed. She was even less impressed when Daddy informed her that it was dead and she couldn't get it out of the garden.

Today when I was brining the shopping in from the car, I saw a snail on the pathway and called Paige out to see it.

 "Delancey" she cried. "I've found you!"

 She then promptly marched inside and declared to her Daddy "See! I told you she wasn't dead!"

There is now another snail in the shoebox.

Folded Up

Tonight after making a super awesome dinner for the boy and the little girls, I crashed on the couch while they "tidied up" in the kitchen. When I stopped resting my eyes and came back, the girls were in bed. Judd was telling me that while I was sleeping, Charli decided to hide from him.

She hid in the cupboard under the laundry sink. Not a good hiding spot if you ask me, cold and hard and very tiny. But Charli had a plan, she took a cushion so it wasn't so uncomfortable. Once she was found, the boy asked her to get out, apparently she was taking a very long time and when he told her to hurry up the response was:

"I'm trying Daddy but I my muscles are all tight because I've been folded up"

Falling Apart

Charli started school this year. For her it was really exciting, for me, not so much. I am happy that she is going to school as she was so ready for it and I am happy that she loves school, but I am sad that she is not here anymore. I am sad that they are both not here anymore. That year of 1 day a week of childcare and the the following year of 3 half days of kinder still didn't prepare me for the total and complete silence when she is not here. She sings, ALL THE TIME, she talks, she plays, she watches TV or bounces on the trampoline. When she is here, there is the noise of another person in the house. When she is gone, there is silence. I don't have to constantly help her with stuff or watch her do stuff or make her stuff....I just have to look after me. She is not here.

I think now, more than ever, I will look forward to the school holidays and yes, after 4 days they may be making me insane with their constant needs or fighting, but they will be here with me. Charli is home today and it is the second last Wednesday that she gets off of school. She is tired and resting, barely making any noise at all, but every now and again, she will ask for something or tell me that she loves me and that is what I miss the most. I have work to keep me busy, but it is not the same as having a gorgeous, adorable, annoying, crazy person around all the time.

I know that this is all about Charli and you may say, what about Paige? The thing is, I went back to work full-time when Paige was just 5 months old. I worked full-time for a while, then part-time and then I had Charli. Paige is now in Grade 3 and is doing really well. All of this with her was exciting, she was ready, she is doing well at school and she was the oldest. When she went to school I still had a little one at home, someone to take care of and do things for. I missed Paige, but I was occupied. Not any more and work doesn't take the same energy as looking after a child.

So, Monday night I fell apart. It was messy, ugly crying and The Boy was not sure what it meant or what to do but we got there and I feel better now. I miss Charli and I miss Paige (not enough to keep them home with me forever) but enough that when I pick them up in the afternoon, I look forward to it. I push myself to get my work done so that I wont have to be working after I pick them up, I try to spend time with them, helping with homework or just talking. I yell less as I try to make the most of the time we have together and I try to be more organised so that we can do that. I may or may not buy them treats sometimes on the way home just so they know that I care and am happy to see them and I most definitely hug them A LOT!

I love both of my amazingly wonderful girls and I realise even more now just how much I love them as they get older and more independent.

The Great Waterfight of 2011

This morning after it raining for almost 2 days, we got up to sunn and a very warm day. We went out to breakfast and after deciding that we could have done better at home and that in future we just will, we went to the shops. On a spur of the moment decision we went to Toys-R-Us and obtained some water guns. A small one for Charli and myself, a bigger one for PJ and the biggest one for Dad. We then went to Good Guys and got me a brand new, super awesome food processor (totally fantastic).

We made our way home and the girls ran upstairs to get themselves changed into their swimmers and open their new water guns. Then followed a process of spray everyone, refill, run away screaming, squirt everyone some more, refill, repeat. By the end of it, everyone was dripping wet, the Boy had water dripping off his glasses, water all over the back yard. Hilarious.

The best part was Charli, she would walk up to you squirt and as soon as you started to squirt her back she would run away screaming - "dont squirt me, I don't want to be wet, don't get it on my face....." I think she missed the point of a water fight. Oh well, it turned out fun and everyone had a ball.

Must do that again some time.