Possum's in his prime

Possum celebrated his 11th birthday with an extra six children sleeping over last night. Rather pleasingly, they did all sleep. Last one was asleep by 10.30pm, with the first one (Ginger Rose) awake at 5.45am. We still had 50% of chidlren asleep at 7am, which I thought was a good sign for ten children sleeping together!

We took them indoor rock climbing for a couple of hours, before settling them down in front of a good movie (Howl's Moving Castle ) which we projected onto the dining room wall.

Possum seems to be enjoying his party, and with time to blog with one hour and forty minutes of party still to go, so am I! 

Postcard from the trenches

It's been one of those weeks - or two! We were all home sick last Monday for the first time ever! Of course, the Ginger Ninja, not having to go to school, wasn't at all unwell, and Possum could've gone to school except that he thought he might be missing out on something!
Poor Ginger Rose, apart from being badly in need of a haircut, fell and bruised her face. After a week, she still has a chesty cough and has now passed conjunctivitis on to DH and I.

I have also included a gratuitous nappies on the line shot - just to demonstrate the glorious spring drying weather :).

Oh, and the oil burns on my arm - I have six rather nasty looking marks from splashing oil on myself! It was a very good reminder to me - I often cook dinner with a toddler on my hip, but have now realised that I need to be more scrupulous with my kitchen safety.
A friend offered me some cream to prevent the burns from scarring, but I am pleased to say that I have now reached that stage in my life where scarring concerns didn't even enter my mind! The burns have been surprisingly painless so have been rather good value from a shock perspective!

 

Ginger Ninja in concert

I missed the Ginger Ninja's first flute recital today because Dh was away interstate, and poor Ginger Rose was too unwell with a cold to come along. I thought it was very brave of the Ginger Ninja to go along and play without his own fan club in front of 10 other families! And I'm very grateful to the parent who took some photos for me!

His teacher was very pleased with him, and I think he'll be much less stressed about playing in the Christmas concert.

Homeschooling has been great for his flute practice, so he was better prepared than he might have been previously. 

Disco queen

We arrived at Briar Rose's school disco a little early - it was still daylight, but that didn't seem to stop them having fun in the school chapel!

This is the second weekend in a row that dh has been away interstate and missing a school disco. And Ginger Rose has a nasty cold and high temperature, probably due to my partying her too hard last weekend - so I think I'll be a little less social this weekend.

Of course, we're already committed to an extra couple of boys sleeping over tomorrow night, so with half a dozen children in the house, I don't think I'll have a problem keeping my social life tame!

I think we'll BBQ. For any doubters, I proffer as evidence of global warming the latest school newsletter which allows children to wear summer uniform for the last two weeks of term. As opposed to the previous system of having a choice of summer or winter uniform for the first two weeks of the following term - so we're changing a whole four weeks early! 

The new sport

Even Briar Rose has decided to join in with the indoor rock climbing fad - and she's pretty good at it! Not to mention thrilled that while the rest of her group, the Rock Rats, have to wait to be belayed by one of the two instructors, she has a big brother on hand to give her extra climbs in between!
 

Grandad's visit

It's been a while since I took a photo of Grandad - he's here regularly, so I'm afraid we might sometimes take him for granted!

As you can see, he and Ginger Rose have a great relationship - even if it's a month between visits, she runs laughing with joy as soon as he arrives! 

A Monday afternoon

Ginger Rose and Briar Rose helped me with the grocery shopping, so we rewarded ourselves with afternoon tea at McDonalds. Yum!

While we were out shopping, the Ginger Ninja and Possum were enjoying themselves at the local rock climbing centre. We recently signed them both up as members of the rock squad - I think they're enjoying it.

Briar Rose was so impressed that she's joining the junior rock squad tomorrow. Thanks to all the basketball finals on the weekend, we have now have time for activities other than basketball training and matches! 

Girls' night out

Briar Rose and I enjoyed her first evening trip to the theatre for a spot of "Swan Lake on Ice". We were very rushed getting there, and my expectations sank when Briar Rose said "Katie fell asleep in the middle of Swan Lake, but she's a real earlybird".

It was a good but not great performance - we had third row seats to the side and were almost able to catch the chipped up ice, but the sound wasn't great - it was my first time at a "ballet" without live music, which I hadn't anticipated.

Anyway, at the end of the performance, Briar Rose's initial comment was "I don't know how Katie could've fallen asleep during that!". I was thrilled that she had enjoyed it so much - until she added "It was far too loud for sleeping in".

Fortunately, she later added that she was looking forward to telling Katie about all the good things she'd missed, so the evening wasn't a total non-event! 

Gratuitous toddler and baby photo

The title says it all :).

Our friends have six ragdoll kittens - that huge monster being strenuously cuddled there is only about 7 weeks old! And cute as a button. The toddler, too!

And perhaps I should just sneak in the comment that this week we brought the Ginger Ninja home from school. We'll be homeschooling him until he learns the skills to learn in a less supervised environment (so, perhaps when he's 21...).

We have had some encouraging words from dh's side of the family, but my family are rather discouraging. About what we expected from them!

There were three in the bed...

I love the way Possum is so good at reading to the girls! Ginger Rose is so keen to sleep in a big bed - and very keen to do anything that her big sister does! 

Market Day

Briar Rose became a butterfly when we visited the markets this morning. Local farmers have been struggling with the drought, so it was particularly cruel to have the markets closed because of raging winds and rain. 

New hens

Today my wonderful dh spent Fathers' Day building an extended yard for the hens. I'm thinking we'll be getting many more eggs in gratitude, because it's 100% better than the old run!

To celebrate, we bought a couple of Eiser Brown pullets, seen eating from Possum's hand. 

My baby's growing up!

Guess who turned two this month? Not really a Bubs anymore . And she can SingStar just like the rest of them!
My little gorgeous Grace :).

It's the first day of Spring, and the weather has been stunning. I went for a walk with some friends and got a little more exercise than I planned after walking down the wrong mountain path - then needing to walk back up again!

But after spending the morning with two newborns I'm definitely clucky again :).

Is this healthy?

At the ripe old age of seven, Briar Rose has attended her first ever makeover party at a local party venue. Just check out their "products catalogue" for some great tips on making your child look like a working girl.

Ugh.

But, of course, nothing could make Briar Rose anything but beautiful - not even an oversized pink suede cowboy hat *with* a tiara attached!

And such a brilliant idea - they hold their parties in their shop, so that when you come to collect your little princess she's ready to present you with her very own wishlist. Really.

And can you believe they ran out of kitten ears with only two children? If you're only going to offer four "looks", surely it's not too much to ask that you actually stock them all in reasonable quantities?

TV is the opiate of the masses

Otherwise known as the July 2006 photo ;).

This is what we look like on a Friday night in winter! Kind of cosy all snuggled up together - as well as the futon couch we're sitting on, the family room has a 3 seater, 2 seater and a rocking chair - so it's nice to know that we like sitting together.

Oh, that's right - the green couch has the best view of the idiot box! Note roomba peeking out from under the couch and a trace of brown dog on the floor in the foreground. 

June - Photo of the Month!

And what happened to the blog, you ask? Mothers' Day!!! My wonderful DH gave me a simply gorgeous tiny compact new digital camera with a simply enormous memory card! So far, so good - except that it took me three months to then work out how to transfer photos from my camera to my laptop!

So, here we are - My toddler with the Ginger Ninja at a hotel in Sydney. A matching pair. 

Why did I wait?

Wow - I love this blog! Her first child was born the same year as mine. If only we'd worked just a little harder at it, we could've had a set of seven by now too!
The Big Yellow House

Instead, we'll just have to work hard to catch up ;).

Interior design gene...

Oh, that's cute! Bubs spent her sleep time today arranging her soft toys. She didn't get that gene from her maternal lineage! 

Paint and Play

Bubs and I went to Paint and Play this morning. Poor thing had a bad night's sleep, so I was grumpy and she was miserable and grumpy.

I had been thinking that it was good for me to get out and about so that Bubs could interact with other children and I could interact with other adults.

Today it just didn't work. I met my friend, Michelle, and her beautiful little girl, who is about 6 months older than Bubs. It drove me crazy that her baby was picking up foam numbers from the giant puzzle and naming them! I felt so inadequate with my little darling who doesn't even speak yet. All that playing classical music, reading stories and restricting TV appears to have done nothing, because little Bronte spends hours in a playpen watching Nic Junior and is streets ahead of Bubs developmentally.

And it drives me crazy that that drives me crazy. I thought I was doing so well being non-competitive and comparitive with Bubs! I think it's easier to be happy with a non-intellectual toddler when the toddler is happy and content. When she's demanding and grizzly, I feel as though she should show a little intellect to compensate.

But I think I'm also feeling angry with her because I feel insecure about her safety - in the past few days she's been incredibly defiant about holding my hand in public, and has shown a complete disregard for traffic and other dangers. And the healthy eating thing has come to a complete halt - today she emptied her fruit cup out onto the ground so she could pick out the sultanas and ignore the rest.

Domestic appliances

Is it just me, or do all roombas have a wicked sense of humour?

Roomba #1 used to finish up hiding under our tallboy far more often than could be coincidental. He'd lie there blinking until I went to bed and noticed the strange glow. Now Roomba #2 has *completely* disappeared on me! Five bedrooms, a hallway, three bathrooms and a laundry - he's got to be there somewhere but darned if I can find him...

...and I want him *working* while I take Bubs to Paint & Play ! He should be charging himself, not hiding under furniture...

...not that I'm in a tetchy mood or anything after failing to successfully juggle a whining toddler and a glass jar half-full of sticky stuff with the lid left half off so it slipped out of my hand and the non-sticky glass spread to the four corners of the room while the sticky stuff, well, stuck...

...and looking for a lost roomba is a lot easier without a grizzly toddler velcroed to the hip.

Mother's Day 2006

...was terrific! It's going to be hard for them to top this one :).

I wasn't expecting a good night's sleep, because Bubs had been sick, but I wasn't expecting the Ginger Ninja to arrive in our room shortly after midnight with a cyclist's rash in a place so embarrassing only dh could give you directions. A couple of wakes from Bubs before we were joined by Briar Rose with a bad dream.

Actually, I was expecting her - she was sooooo excited about all my presents she was planning to be in bed with me pre-dawn. I did make a case for letting sleeping mothers lie, but I could tell I wasn't convincing enough.

At any rate, I was almost sad that Possum didn't make an entrance early so that I could claim a full family's worth of Mother's Day greetings pre-dawn. Almost sad.

The presents were wonderful - and a complete surprise. Briar Rose had bought a lavendar bath scrubby thing from the school stall. Possum and Ginger Ninja had bought thoughtful treats from Oxfam. But the best of all was a new handbag sized camera from dh! A complete and utter surprise, but something I would have really wanted had I realised it was an option - can't do better than that!

We headed out to the new mega-hardware for the free kids' kitemaking workshop, that only Briar Rose enjoyed (such activities being beneath 10 and 12yo boys), and dh and I bought more than enough to keep subsidising the free kids' activities. The hardware has a kids playground inside - how civilised is that?

Due to a sudden seasonal influx of leaves, I bought a very generously sized compost bin and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to fill it. I should note that Briar Rose surprised and impressed me with her willingness and ability to hop inside the bin to assemble the 16 odd screws that needed screwing! I hadn't realised my almost-baby was big enough to do semi-serious construction work!

Thin-sliced thinking...

I read Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, last night (I had nothing else to do as Dh unexpectedly whisked the Ginger Ninja and Possum out to a late session of Mission Impossible 3 after Possum played a rather exciting basketball match).


It was a good solid read :). It turns out that facial expression is an incredibly powerful communicative tool - autistic people can't read facial expressions, and people who are good at reading faces can make very quick accurate judgements about the people they're looking at. There was also mention made of signals experts who can identify other operator's morse code signals in a few seconds. So - where's the aural component? What about people who have a highly developed aural sense? Is there an equivalent universal "aural" language?

This is of personal interest to me - my myopia means that if I'm not wearing my glasses, I'm going to miss a lot of facial expressions and hence be socially as well as visually impaired.

Gladwell proposes that many significant decisions can be made in "thin slices" using much less information than is actually available - information overload can prevent effective decision making. The trick is to identify the most effective information for a given situation and then to give yourself enough time in the right state of mind to assess that information. Sounds sensible, eh?

Bubs is home sick today with a cold and fever, so Dh has had to take the older three off for a belated 12th birthday party for the Ginger Ninja. We've booked ten computers at a local LAN cafe so they can counterstrike each other to their hearts' content. I wasn't sure if Briar Rose should be playing M rated games with her big brothers, but when Possum said ever so sincerely "But, Mum, she's a really talented first person shooter" I couldn't resist the thought of all three of them venturing through cyberspace together...

Psssst - wanna hear a secret?

We're hoping to start baking another baby later this year! Woohoo - I'm so excited I could burst! I hate delayed gratification, but I also much prefer having a child on the older end of the school year, so I'm just going to make this feel like one looooong pregnancy!

Today was a typically hectic day - big kids to school, playgroup with Bubs, lunch with Michael, home for Bub's sleep, out to pick up Possum and Briar Rose, home for changing and snacks, into the car to drop Possum at district basketball try-outs, Briar Rose to basketball training, Bubs and I to the supermarket, then back to collect Briar Rose, then home to check that Ginger Ninja's homework and practice have been finished while we were out. Then dinner - of course, my 3rd or 4th stick blender for the year chose tonight to die, leaving me attempting to blend tomato, spinach and lentil soup in the blender - with a resulting enormous mess cause by boiling hot soup bursting at high velocity against the tiles and windows. Ugh.

Set the table and attempted to arrange freshly bathed children decoratively around the edges, but had to leave to put Bubs to bed. Returned in time to have soup en famille, before serving chops and three veg.

It's now 8.47pm and all children are in bed. At least one is asleep. Clearly, I have too much time on my hands :).

My true coffee preference...

...is for a decaf mocha. And I like my decaf to be swiss water decaffeinated, my mocha to be organic cocoa, preferably Green and Blacks, and my milk to be organic non-homogenised full fat!

Jessie likes a babycino with plenty of milk, not too much froth, and a hefty sprinkle of chocolate on top.

I'm not REALLY a coffee addict...

You Are a Soy Latte

At your best, you are: free spirited, down to earth, and relaxed At your worst, you are: dogmatic and picky You drink coffee when: you need a pick me up, and green tea isn't cutting it Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Education Styles

With four children (and possibly more someday) to raise and educate, my mind has turned to the cost and limitations of our tertiary education system. If our children want to become chiropractors, they'll need to study at a recognised tertiary institution, which will mean living and studying interstate.

Our education system is getting better at acknowledging and responding to different learning styles at a primary and secondary level, but what happens at the tertiary level? And why is it that *anybody* can sit for an exam and gain a recognised secondary education qualification, but there isn't the same option at a tertiary level.

There are so many subjects that could be self taught, or learnt under an apprenticeship system or within a mentor relationship, but the only current option at a tertiary level is to pay increasingly large fees and enter the sausage factory of tertiary education.

I know that recognition of prior learning (RPL) is difficult for institutions to administer, but I think they need to become more responsive to the possibilities of alternate education styles. That, or we, as a society, need to recognise the benefits of making tertiary education more available to all our members and need to insist on tertiary qualifications being more widely available outside the mainstream institutions.

There are so many people without the financial resources or free time to complete a full university degree for a qualification they need to practice in a particular profession, but who would be willing and able to "fill in" their knowledge gaps if their existing knowledge and expertise was acknowledged. I'm thinking of nurses looking to upgrade to a medical degree, teaching assistants looking to become teachers, and rural workers who've worked with a health professional in a peripheral role but would like to formalise their knowledge and build on it to become a full health professional.

At the moment, there is such a limited role for self-directed study, practical experience or mentoring in our tertiary education system. It would be to our advantage to broaden this role so that we can increase our society's access to the skills and knowledge these alternative learners may possess.

Mini-mini Apprentice Domestic Goddess

Awwwww - my mini-mini ADG is so cute! Yesterday she woke up, grabbed her handbag and hat, before heading out to take her baby for a walk. All before getting out of her sleepsuit.

Of course, I don't wear a hat (much) or carry a handbag (much), so don't know where she's getting it, but it's CUTE!