A lovely catch up

How special to have a lot of my favourite people in one crowded noisy bustling coffee filled room.


It wasn't a Kareoke bar - even tho it looks like Tristan is belting one out. Isn't that a sweet picture of Nerida and Caitlin!


Now young lady what song would you like to hear?


That's enough kareoke son plenty of time for that when you are older - just put your dummy back in.

Seriously. A lovely morning a brief catch up a flying visit.

More photos hopefully from the night before to come
-written from here

We made it

I have been struggling with Elliot and his 4 year old ness and possibly a testosterone surge since Tristan's birthday. The tantrums were explosive and angry. The words that came out of his mouth were unkind and hurtful. And he would flare up at the drop of a hat. We have been working on helping him with this and he has been praying about it. As have we. We made a behaviour chart - one particularly bad day I was feeling very low humiliated, embarrassed and defeated by his anger and it's outworking that I thought return to what you know. So we put a chart on the bathroom door and he had to get ten days In a row of not exploding at me and he got to go to chipmunks indoor play centre. If he stuffed up we were back to zero. The Stakes were high but to his credit he rose to the challenge and did it. His behaviour has been great. Not perfect but great since.


Here we are celebrating.

-written from here

Pretend prep

Elliot was up at 545 this morning bursting with excitement. He dressed himself in the school uniform replete with hat. He was ready to go.



Cute matchy Matchies


Elliot engrossed in what the principal was saying. He looked so little and so grown up all at once. Notice the hat dangling by the cord.


Playing in the classroom on the computers- his first choice of activity. Also notice no hat here. Somewhere between the library and the classroom his hat got lost. A brand new - well labelled hat. I fear this is setting a precedent, at kindy we are constantly looking for shoes and monkeys and sheets and lunchboxes. They all turn up eventually - as did the hat. After going back to the library and the office and lost property then the classroom again it was returned to seb before school finished.
Elliot is pumped for school. He wants to wear the uniform again tomorrow to preschool.
I'm sure going to miss him next year. He is the constant companion. And he is good company for the most part bar testosterone surges and tantrumy behaviour that a good behaviour chart has helped with. But I will dedicate a whole post to that once we make it to ten days without a tantrum - waiting with baited breath.
-written from here

The new cleaner

I have come across a new cleaner


This boy loves to vacuum. He loves the noise, the vibration, taking the tube off turning the switches on and off and pulling the cord out and sucking it Back in.


It keeps him occupied for ages.


The only thing is... It's a little slow, he needs to be a bit bigger to do anything effective.

- I wrote this somewhere

Best seat in the house

I walked in to the toilet tonight and found this



Yes, it's a chair next to the toilet, which I will confess to putting there. Not to be sat on, but to get it out of the way of a 1 year old mad man who climbs a top everything. But now it seems to have become a coffee table of sorts. Not one but two books have found their way there / the ikea catalogue from 2012 and 365 days of awesome jokes. Now I think it's only fair to point the finger at the most avid reader in the house - the number one eldest son. I know he is responsible for the ikea catalogue cause he has been inspired by josh f and would like a loft bed in his own room with a desk underneath it and an office chair. So he has been perusing the catalogue to find items to his liking. But a cup? Who takes a cup into the toilet? Ew!!
There will be words tomorrow.



-written from here

Masterchef

Inspired by my niece Amelie I thought is get seb to cook some thing all on his own -pikelets



Let's see how they taste

-written from here

Good old fashioned church picnic

Down by the river.


Egg and spoon races


Dressed up like a crazy Hawaiian cowboy.





And yet another weird cowboy superhero in the foreground.

- I wrote this somewhere

Zoo

We had a pupil free day a few weeks ago,an d on the spur of the moment I took the boys to the zoo on one of those great internet deals. We hadn't been to this zoo since seb was 1. It's little but there is enough to see and do for 1/2 a day. They all had a great time, the monkeys and baboons and macaws were particular favourites as well as the peacocks and snakes and crocodiles.



Elliot decided to put his hat on a cow.
The cow doesn't look particularly impressed . Elliot does however look very pleased with himself.
- I wrote this somewhere

Reading

Tristan is loving books at the moment, he got some lovely ones for his birthday. This one tho is mem fox, ten little fingers and ten little toes. I put it away for over two years cause I couldn't read it without it making me cry! I still get a little tear welling up -Elliot notices and he wells up too.






- I wrote this somewhere

Cartooning workshop

Seb went to a cartoon workshop at the end of last term. He loved it and has really taken a hold of the things he has learned. He drew this for Elliot before school last week. It's seb on the left, boomer Elliot's possum in the middle and Elliot on the right. He got the colours and the clothes all perfectly right - they were both in their pjs.


- I wrote this somewhere

A new start

We made the decision to change school for the boys this term it was not made lightly but I think it was the right decision. So far the transition has been remarkably easy, possibly too easy, all pointing to it being a good decision.


I've been impressed with the principal and the way he loves kids and respects them and treats them well but also command respect and has control.


Tristan likes the playground.


Seb got an award in his second week for being a welcome addition, nice touch!


This was a sneaky pic of seb in the second week joining in blue shoe and tiggy uninvited before school . Tell me he was feeling comfortable enough to join in.



And this is a small section of the big trees we walk thru to get there -excellent climbing trees. Just a little nice part of the journey.

- I wrote this somewhere