a happy childhood is a uno-filled childhood

We introduced Josh to a childhood classic game last weekend - UNO. And he LOVED it. So awesome seeing your little person learning to enjoy things that you loved as a child, especially the bit where he got a thrill out of making his dad skip a turn or pick up 4 cards!

The day of school starting for Josh is getting closer and closer now. Still not sure how I feel about it. I think more than anything, I'm excited for him, and interested to see how he adjusts to it all. Zoe will be starting at preschool too, and I'm totally not worried about her at all. She can't wait to go and I'm not expecting any tears from her the first morning I drop her off. I think she'll be shooing me away at the door I'm afraid....

that christmas present just paid for itself!

Zoe shows great interest in copying me with cleaning duties around the house. You should have seen the clothes line this morning. I had to attend to Mr 4.5 in the midst of hanging clothes this morning and I came back to more clothes hanging (albeit very wonkily!)  on the line. Impressive!!

So we bought Zo Zo, the ambitious 3 year old, a mini cleaning set for Christmas - mop, broom and dustpan and brush. Here is the girl herself putting the set to good use cleaning the crumbs up from breakfast. Now I could get used to this.....

hello, goodbye

Memories last forever, never do they die,

Friends stick together and never really say Goodbye
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

{sunday citar}{image}

peonies

Peonies. My most favourite flower ever. These sat atop our tv unit for about a week.

And since they are only available for a short window each year, here they are for me to enjoy just that little bit longer.

week 1 - #janphotoaday challenge roundup

Have you been doing the fat mum slim January photo a day challenge? I have. It's not too late to join in if you are inspired!

Here are the photos from my first week.

Day 1 | You | Photo taken by Josh, 4 years old

Day 2 | Breakfast | Coffee and a sick daughter's abandoned toast

Day 3 | Something I adore | The view and peacefulness of our backyard

Day 4 | Letterbox

Day 5 | Something I wore | new Country Road thongs arrived

Day 6 | makes you smile | the squeals from the back seat of the car when we drive up our street and see this purple hot rod

Day 7 | favourite | coffee & chocolate

that four letter word ..... LEGO

I'm not sure how or when it started but Josh some time this year became OBSESSED with Lego. So obssessed that he got wind of the Lego website from his dad and would wake every morning and look at all the different sets you could get, watch the little video ad for them (which he memorised, I love hearing him muttering "each set sold separately"!) and made a list of all the ones he wanted. It finally got narrowed down to a few that we said some he could save pocket money for, and others he could get as Christmas presents. His favourite Lego was mostly Lego City police sets, but he has now branched out to Ninjago and Hero Factory Lego too. For Christmas he was lucky enough to get the Lego City Police Station (I got the last one on sale at Target!) and the Lego City Police Boat. These were added to his growing collection of the rest of the Lego City Police vehicles and figures. I think we worked out today that he now has all the sets in that Police category! Outrageous....

So now we have the problem of storage. Our house is not huge. We don't have a separate play area, nor are the kids bedrooms very big. At the moment Lego lives in just about every nook and cranny around here. On the top bunk in Josh's room, in several containers, lounge room coffee table. I set up a little table and chairs in his room to house the police station (see above) so it would be a good place to play with it too. Inevitably though, the sets get broken up and we end up with bits of the stuff everywhere. My latest threat is that if there is any on the floor that doesn't get picked up, it's getting sucked up by the vacuum cleaner (which lucky for him is not happening too often at the moment with my time taken up with a newborn!). I don't know where to start with organising how to store the stuff. When I was little, it all just went in the one big tub. But I didn't have a lot of 'sets', mainly just bricks and my imagination. Josh has lots of sets. We keep the instructions, so do I store each set in a ziploc bag with its instructions? Or do we just throw it all in one big tub and refer to the instructions when we want to rebuild? Or do we organise and store pieces by size and colour? What do you do with your Lego (besides moan and curse when you step on the damn pieces on the floor!)? I need some help with this from all the Lego experts out there!

happy new year 2012!!

Phew.

This year has been a challenging one.....one where I have been pregnant, in hospital, tired and unwell for most of it unfortunately. In years gone, I have wanted to focus on ME for the new year, but I have to say, in 2012, I want to focus on FAMILY. With baby #1 starting big school and baby #2 starting preschool, all the focus will be on them and helping them settle in with the big changes ahead. I'm looking forward to having two days to spend just with baby Ben, and having time off work. This year I was really juggling too many balls with parenting and trying to work at the same time and it just wasn't working. So not having work in the equation finally is such a relief. I feel unburdened and free to focus on my children which is a lovely feeling indeed.

So, tomorrow I should be able to have myself a glass of bubbly to welcome the new year in! Hurrah! Otherwise, my new years plans are pretty bleak. I'm so tired at the moment that even the thought of socialising or doing anything that requires taking the children anywhere or even entertaining them leaves me feeling exhausted! Wish it wasn't so, but is to be expected I guess for only 6 weeks post bubba. And the bubbly plus the tired mama will probably mean I will be passed out by 8.30!

I hope your plans are much better than mine and that you welcome the new year in with much joy and with renewed vigour for the coming months!

Happy New Year! Here's to a fab 2012.

PS. One thing I do plan on getting involved in is fat mum slim's photo a day challenge. Read all about it here, and check out the challenge below. Let me know if you'll be joining in too!