It's Strange and Disconcerting

It is strange and disconcerting to think that my little Paige who, it seems was a baby just yesterday, is already at school. I know I had a whole year of Kinder to get used to it, but Kinder seemed more like she was going off to play with her friends for 1.5 days a week, not so much like school. School is a whole different kettle of fish. She gets up everyday (except Wednesday), we put on her school uniform, do her hair up and she eats her breakfast while I make her lunch. A few things have surprised me, first, I was positive that she would be a school dress girl. They have the option of wearing either a school dress or shorts and t-shirt, admittedly, the school dress is cream, green and gold tartan and the t-shirt is purple with a green collar, but the thing that really surprised me was that she wants to wear the shorts. They are green with a skirt flap across the front and called a skort and Paige loves them. She wants to wear them all the time, so I guess I will take back one of the 2 dresses I bought and swap it for something else. The other thing is that all the other little girls were wearing their dresses on the first day and then on day 2, tada, skorts and t-shirts everywhere....funny how things work out. The second thing that surprised me was that she wants Weetbix for breakfast every morning, apparently it is healthy and gives her lots of energy so that is what she wants. Even this morning, Saturday, she wanted Weetbix, that is until the mention of pancakes.

So I guess, my days are quieter as Charli is not very loud when she is by herself, she is also really good at entertaining herself. Paige has turned into someone who likes to debate everything she is asked to do which is extremely frustrating. I am sure we will all get used to the new routine and things will settle down, but at the moment, everytime I see her in her cute little purple and green uniform, I get a little misty. Imagine how bad it will be once Charli is at school. Then I will definitely go back to work :)

YAY!! for Charli

Today was a big day out, we had to walk to the bus stop, catch the bus to the train station, catch the train to the city and then catch the tram to the Children's Hospital. It took an hour, but it was actually fun despite the heat, although it wasn't as hot as it was supposed to be which was great. The girls had fun as always when using public transport, they think it is a wonderful adventure and considering the state of the transport system at the moment, they are half right. The Opthamologist that we saw today told me that Paige's eyesight is 20/20 with her glasses and she was very impressed not only with her very cool frames, but the fact that she could read all of the letters asked of her and insisted on doing extra just for fun. She was in a much better mood this time and I think it may have had something to do with the lack of drops to freak out her eyes. No massive pupils today.

Once we were done with that, we went to the evil, but totally convenient, McDonalds and the girls were both suitably excited by their little toy poodles. They had a play in the the playground for about 1/2 hour and once they started to get pink, I thought we should possibly go and buy some sunblock since I had run out and their hats were not quite sombrero enough to stop the burn. Once they had purple suncream (which dries clear) rubbed all over, we ventured back out into the sun on a quest back to the train station. We stopped at Flagstaff Station for the girls to have a bit of fun looking at the water feature out the front, but unfortunately for them there was no touching due to the reclaimed water. Then home.

The moral of this long-winded story is that we were out all day and Charli was only wearing knickers....YAY!! No pull up pants, no accidents. So it seems that we (well she really) are not doing too badly at all with the whole toilet training. Now lets see if is keeps going this well.

Maybe I am Clever :)

UPDATE - Pics added

I had some left over material from when I made a dress for Paige. I thought I might make something up for Charli since she doesn't have a lot of dresses and....well, just cos. So I made her a pretty little dress with a bow at the top and she loves it. I also had enough material left over to make a skirt for Paige. Now if I can just figure out how to turn some Tweety Bird material into a painting smock, I will really impress myself. (Pics to follow.)

So Much Fun

The past two days have been so much fun. We went out for lunch to the amazingly gourmet McDonalds yesterday with friends and then spent the afternoon at their place. There was dressing up, make up and performances. Lots of fun both for the kids and us adults. 

Today was fantastic. We went to visit some friends who have moved to the other side of town and just 5 minutes from the beach. We had lunch together, the kids played, we went to the park, the kids played, we went back to their place the kids played, I think I see a theme here. We ended the day with a 2 hour trip to the beach which was great. Charli even managed to get in the water by herself, sure it only came up to her cute little ankles, but still an achievement for someone who hasn't been in the water since the Christmas drama. Paige, of course, spent the whole time in the water having lots of fun. I think she could be a beachaholic, maybe there is some sort of program she needs to go to.....or maybe not. Anyway, we finished the day as all good beach trips should end, with fish and chips and then not 5 minutes after getting into the car, the hobbits were asleep and I had a quiet trip home.

Now I need to wash that salt right off of my skin and maybe rest for a bit. Hopefully when I wake up in the morning, some of that sunburn will have turned into tan. At least I remembered to suncream the kids and my face so it is not as bad as it could have been.

Hot, Hot and even Hotter!

Yesterday I decided that I would finally get around to using some of those lovely berries that we  picked over Christmas and that are currently sitting in my freezer urging me to use them everytime I open the door. I did a little research on the interweb and came up with a recipe that looked like a winner (http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2006/10/strawberry-raspberry-and-white.html) and what do you know, it actually was. The muffins turned out wonderful, although I will admit that I added a little more chocolate than was suggested by the recipe. Seriously though, how can you not?

Upon arriving home, my lovely husband taste tested them and gave them the "can't talk eating" seal of approval along with the observation that he thought I was a little mad for finally deciding to bake on only the second day this month that the temperature was above 30 degrees. Oh well, thank goodness for that ducted airconditioning and the fact that it actually works. At least I didn't decide that today was the day to bake considering that it is currently 40 degrees outside.

Oh and an update on the toilet training. We have yet to test this on a trip out and about, but we are looking all good at the moment. We did take a short trip to the supermarket the other night and she was ok so we shall see how she goes.