sob!

Jordy really needs a haircut- especially after i just hacked off the front section while he was asleep a few weeks back cos the hair kept getting stuck in the cream for his burns. So i borrowed Tim’s clippers and figured it would be easier to start with Darcy.

I think i should have chosen a bigger cutter so it did not cut it so short! His beautiful blond hair is now laying in a pile on the porch and he has a horrible buzz cut on top and a mullet up back cos he lost it and ran away half way though. It looks sooooooooo sad! I want his long blond hair back! sob.

Oh, and Jordy refuses to come near the clippers so all for a wasted effort.

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update- you know there are times when in hindsight you really should have quit while you were ahead…. well this was one of those times.

Jordy decided he wanted to setup all the clipper bits on a table and i could be the hair shopkeeper and he could be the customer. So i thought YAY! i can cut his hair after all. I chose the biggest clippers!!! So it would not be too short. It was STILL too short!!!!

His cowlick bit now sticks up like lord knows what and it looks like someone hacked it with the lawnmower.

He thinks it looks ‘just perfect’ and wanted me to do the back as well. I said no. I think it’s best for all involved if i put the clippers back in the bag and walk away before someone really gets hurt.
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I’ll be phoning the hairdressers first thing Monday and this time the kids are getting a haircut no matter how much they whinge about it….

 

let’s go fly a kite

Jordy saw a kite on tv and asked if we had one. We didn’t. So we made one! I just cut a piece of paper into a sort of hexagon and marked on it where he should glue the paddlepop sticks. I put the glue on the sticks for him (although i’ll put a cloth on the table and let him do that bit himself next time) and i put the stickytape on the string and tied the knot, but he did everything else himself- He decorated it, put all the paddlepops in the right spot, matched up where the tie had to go and wound the string onto the handle.

I was not sure how well it would hold up, especially seeing as Jordy insisted that we not wait for the glue to dry and that if anything fell off we would just glue it again! So straight outside we went.

And it actually held together! Nardia, that glue you got for us must be magic! Jordy ran around for ages with the kite flapping around and getting stuck between his legs and learning how to make it stream behind him properly. It was a surprisingly good kite!

 

glue!

I gave up looking for that pot of clag paste that Santa bought and stuck somewhere before christmas! No idea where it is!! So i bought some more.

And the kids had a ball pasting and drawing. Thanks to Aunty Lala we have years worth of cutout animals and flowers and all sorts of things to glue!!

And we managed to score another swimming lesson for Jordy this morning that ended up being a one-on-one lesson! So the instructor was able to do all the things that Jordy enjoys and get his confidence up again. I slowly moved from him sitting on my lap or having to swim to me, to sitting on the edge of the pool next to him, to standing a couple of metres away and just watching – and by the end of the lesson he was totally happy and smiling and not the least bit concerned that he was having to do it without me. yay! And i thinking having his Dad along to watch was a bit of extra encouragement.

He still would not dive to the bottom of the pool to pick up a toy (which he was totally happy with doing a year ago) and his goggles stay on for about half a second! But hopefully next week he will be happy to swim without me and he can pick those skills back up again.

 

Homeschool update

we went to the Wauchope pool for a homeschool swimming day on Friday for a BBQ. The boys have not had much time in a regular pool in ages so they had a ball swimming and playing with the other kids. We are all going to the river next week for a swim and a play in the rapids so that will be fun too!

But this week we are learning all about LIONS!!! roar! So Jordy made a big grassland with the african animals and a little cave for the lion. Look at the plastic rocks all lined up- they are actually rock spy-cams! (we watched the Spy in the Den doco video with the lion cubs and Jordy thought the rock camera was pretty cool!)

And here they are looking at a funny big bug, and proud-as-punch- of the tracing that he did all by himself (ok, so i had to help hold the stencil in place!).

Started back at swimming lessons today. It was their first time at lessons in about a year, and they have really done very little safe swimming where we could continue with lessons (not the same in the rivers and waterholes up in the Territory, just could not go in without a life jacket) so we have to get Jordy’s confidence back up. Although he is still in the class where he goes in without me he wanted me with him all the time where before he was just a fish and goooone! straight in to play. Not so much now so fingers crossed he enjoys his next lesson more.

 

no phone

just to let anyone know who cares! i’ve lost my phone connection for some reason so you won’t be able to call me on the home phone until i can figure out what’s wrong…

 

the last few days….

Jordy just saw the photos of bowling on the computer and wants to go back. But this time he is going to be BIG like me and use the blue ball and not use the rolley thing- he wants to THROW IT!!!

Here’s some more photos of the last few days. Nothing earth shattering! But here’s a drawing that Darcy did. And no, it wasn’t cold. It was actually about 40′C outside and not much better inside but he insisted on wearing his football beanie anyway.

And here is a castle that Jordy made for his animals with his construction set.
And sitting on the lounge with Aunty Lala looking at the photos we had taken of the weekend.

 

ten pin bowling

Nardia and i took the boys Ten Pin Bowling! It was their first time and they both had a ball. We had the lane bumpers up and the ramp thing for them to bowl down so it was nice and easy (and no gutter balls for us either!)

They looked really sexy in their bowling shoes too

The ball popping back up in the returning machine thing was just as exciting as the actual bowling. We were convinced a ball was going to pop up and bang Darcy fair on the forehead cos he insisted on standing right over the lid that opened. But we escaped injury-free. And Nardia even managed to get a strike!

 

little Mr big thinker

The big questions have begun! So it’s time to get the old google searches going i think!

We were driving in to town on Friday and Jordy started talking about the solar power billboard signs. We had talked about them before and about how some things draw power from the sun to work…. anyway! he was off! I had to explain HOW they converted light energy into power? what did the panels do inside? where did the energy go? did it hurt the sun? and would it run out of power? and what kinds of things you could run off those batteries? !!!! and then that led solar heated water and he wanted to talk about the different pipes in the house and the ones that went to the hot water and the ones that came out cold, where did the pipes come from? did everyone have pipes? where did they go to? and then we looked at the storm water drains on the side of the road and talked about how the water soaks into the earth if it falls on the ground but how it can’t soak into the road so it runs down the drain and into more pipes and into the river or ocean…. after lots of discussion he agreed with all that cos you don’t want water on the road because you have to keep the road black so the aeroplanes can see to land on it. Lucky it is a long drive to town.

So that was our science and nature lesson for the day!!!

Art class went just as well. Jordy only wanted to use the little seed-head leaf stick things cos the other bits of string and leaves that i had would get his fingers dirty. Darcy was more than happy to get his fingers dirty and even to eat the paint (from the expression on his face it did not look like it tasted any good).

I think it is now safe to call it- i reckon Darcy is left handed. Wait and see?

 

a bit bored!

A bit sick of holeing up in the house. The kids get out and play of an evening around 6pm when the sun is not so harsh but apart from that we only have short forays out to the chooks or the trampoline and then back in again.

Jordy has been asking to go somewhere different and to go to a museum…. i know he was really wanting to go to something more interactive and inspiring than the local museum but i figured we’d head in anyway. But then once we were in town i figured i’d never been to the new gallery in the Glasshouse so we headed there instead. Typical that we would turn up on the one of the few days that the main exhibit rooms were closed as they were setting up for a new display to open the very next day! LOL!

But we checked out the ruins and the little history display downstairs (which they thought was good) and checked out the photography (not completely appropriate for kids, a bit confronting / dark), the highlight was probably the elevator that had massive 3D mirrors so they saw a hundred versions of themselves going back back back. We had to ride in the elevator about five or six times!

Jordy has discovered Wow Wow Wubbsy on tv. ?? They have lots of robots that fix things and collect eggs and stomp so it sounds like a cartoon made in Jordy-heaven. He wanted me to teach him how to write the names of the robots, i think perhaps he made the names up! I’m not sure. But here is his first actual real sit-down-and-write attempt at drawing and copying letters.

 

tough biker dudes

Been slow with the updates this week! Darcy had his first sleepover with Dad!!! yay!! He is still a bit unsettled and wakes looking for me but i know it won’t take him long to get accustomed to it and now he won’t mope around the house looking for Jordy and waiting for “Dad come soooooon. Darcy Dad’s truck!”

And then my parents arrived for a visit and i for the first time in *years* i went out for dinner with friends with NO KIDS!! I should have then felt all rejuventated, and i probably would have if i was no so darn hungover…. !?

Didn’t get too many photos this week for some reason. But here’s a good one of the kids on Tim’s new bike. They went for a little roll down the slope out the front of the house which they thought was pretty cool.

 

fun out of the sun

We’ve been stuck in the house this week which has been a little trying for me. I will admit that i am close to loosing it with them cos the house looks like a bomb hit it with ALL the toys ALL over the house and all they want to do is jump on the trampoline or chase the chickens or play in the playground and i have to keep saying no no no no no all the time.

So Jordy is grouchy and he still is totally freaked by water and the cream he needs so we have several screaming matches a day which leave me totally exhausted and upset. But on the upside, when we saw the paediatrician on Tuesday he said he is healing really well and that it was my quick first aid that made such a difference with cooling the burn and preventing damage to deeper layers of skin (so if i could ignore the fact that i burnt him in the first place i could probably give myself a pat on the back!)

Tim bought another Thomas train to go on their track. Which you might think would end the fights over whose turn it is, except that the new one is a remote control Thomas with a carriage which apparently trumps the battery operated Thomas without a remote. So now the fights are over who gets the remote. I feel like the referee in a boxing match.

I have loved watching them both play with the wooden construction set (it just has holed blocked and pegs and wheels etc). When we first got it out at xmas we had trouble making the actual ‘things’ that are shown on the picture so although Jordy wanted to play with it we could not build the things he wanted to build. But then he just started getting it out and not looking at the pictures and instead created his own inventions and he has made some great stuff!

Even Darcy loves it. He likes the wheels and the rods and he made this ‘dog’ all by himself (imagination required!).

It might look like the boys are always half naked. They’re not (ok, maybe they are!) It’s just been REALLY hot here the last few days. It’s lucky we got even MORE xmas presents and a care-package from Nanny & Poppa cos i have needed all the diversions i could.

Here’s a few more photos with what they have been up to- Darcy with an aeroplane mechanic toy that you totally pull apart and screw back together with a little screwdriver. Keeps him entertained for ages until he has pulled it all apart and then he gets the shits cos he can’t work out how to put it back together!

And Jordy with a dinosaur model that had to be assembled as soon as he saw it. He was really interested in all the parts of the skeleton which prompted a discussion of our bones and vertebra and how we have a spine like the dinosaur does… it was really cool the questions he came up with! And then he growled around like a monster.

And, finally, i got a bloke out to fix the tv!! (calling in the big guns for re-enforcements to keep the boys entertained so i can get at least some housework done!) so now we don’t just get channel 10, we get ALL the channels! And they have invented more channels since i last had free to air! How cool is that?!?! But the coolest thing is kids programs all day long!!!!! Seriously, it was either that or i was going to have to resort to childcare! LOL! I’m beat. Dr thinks it will be another week or two before we can go out in the sun at all and even then we have to be super careful.

 

a visit from friends

I had been looking forward to friends visiting with their little girl who is in between the age of Jordan and Darcy cos i just knew they would have a great time playing together and their mums could all chill out and relax! yay! And for me it ended up being perfect timing cos it really helped to have someone else in the house to occupy Darcy while i was busy caring for Jordy a few times and also to keep Jordy’s mind off his burns.

We were a bit house-bound but had a great time anyway. The kids did lots of playdoh and music and played out on the deck and i got to have a real conversation with people and enjoy a drink or two.

We headed to Ricardos cafe for lunch. I’ve never been before so that was really lovely. The kids went strawberry picking which was a bit of fun. The berries were not all that great because of all cloudy wet weather we have had but i think i might head back one sunny day.

i’m a bit limited with photos for this week. Jordy likes to look at the blog and i am conscious of not letting him look at the burns because it looks a little frightening to him so you’ll all have to make do with these!

 

going to the carnie

Tim and i took the boys to the carnival on the night after new years. They both really enjoyed it and went on a couple of rides each, had a go at the clowns (won a bubble blowing set) and then Jordy hooked a duck out of the floating pond thing (won a frisbee watch that i think was almost broken within an hour of being played with! Quality carnival merchandise!)

But i think they found the music and atmosphere a bit of fun, as well as watching the bigger kids scream and scream on the scary rides.

 

so, you think you can dance?

The Hogsbreath dancing pig ad was on tv last night and i had to rewind it again and again and again and again so rap-boy could get his moves on.

 

buuuurn!!

Darcy can pretty much get into everything. He pushes the stools around the house so he can climb up to reach things, he climbs up the bookshelf, he climbs through the window and jumps on the couch. He also loves pushing buttons….

Most of the time i just have to let it be and watch him, and generally he is ok… at least he has not killed himself yet so i figured we were doing fine. Until last night.

I could hear lots of beeping and button pushing on the microwave but figured he was just pushing the buttons and opening the door and watching it bang and then pushing more buttons… until i heard the excited calls of “Burn! Buuuurrn!!!” and i thought “Holy CRAP!”

He had pushed the stool over the the bench where the microwave is and was sitting up there happily loading plastic object after plastic object into the microwave, turning it on and happily watching it all melt and catch fire. The house stank like you would not believe.

Mum, the flames are the little plastic key from that car thing that has been played with all over the country. Gone, now! And Jordy was devastated because his scissors had been turned into molten goo.

The child is going to send me insane. Seriously.

 

so many new toys, so little time!

Both the kids have been in toy-heaven this last week. There are so many things to play with that nothing ever gets put away and i am spending half the day trying to tidy up only to have everything back on the floor again 5min later.

The one thing i have not even bothered to pack away is the Thomas set. I will admit that in all the present opening frenzy i missed who it was that even gave the train set to the kids but it has been the best present. Funnily enough it is not something that Jordy has ever asked for before so i would not have thought to buy it (he has always been crazy about rockets and helicopters, rather than trains) but the tracks go through a hundred configurations in a day and Thomas is on to his fourth new battery! God help me! And both boys are forever setting up a little town or wildlife park with all the animals alongside the track or the helicopters set up as an obstacle course, or they build towers and bridges out of lego to go beside the track and they play with it all day long. Seriously.

Darcy also has a little wooden train set that he is having heaps of fun with. He loves to swap the animals around so each of them can have a turn and he yells “my turn!” on behalf of each of the animals as they wait watching the train go past. Rather cute.

The trampoline has been great too! Even in the rain they still want to be out there jumping.
And the paints and playdoh! I have actually left some paper and brushes and paint out on the back table so Darcy in particular can just go outside and paint whenever he wants to. And being really brave i have left his new special Darcy-proof crayons and paper on their new little wooden table in the bedroom so they can both draw whenever they feel like it and that is working really well. Darcy is forever just taking himself in there and sitting down and drawing a horse or a cat or whatever and then he comes back 10min later all content – and he has not drawn on the walls!! yay!!

I took a heap of photos of them painting the other day and then some of Darecy showing off his latest creation- I could not choose a favourite so here they are!

 

merry christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas day!!

This felt like the first year that we REALLY did santa. Although Jordy was excited about santa last year, this year he seemed to really get caught up in the magic of it and asked lots of questions about him and the story of santa was more real and exciting for him- which makes it more exciting for us too!

Jordy wanted to write a letter to the reindeers, and we left out a plate of food for them in the front yard where Jordy thought there was more room for them to land and take off again. We hung their santa sacks on the fireplace mantel and put out a few presents for family under the tree.

I had done my absolute best to wear them out during the day so that they would be in bed early. But Dad arriving that afternoon to stay got them all too excited to go to bed early! They kept at in until 8:30 when they finally ran out of energy. But even then Jordy lay in bed and kept nattering away until i reminded him that santa would not come until he was asleep. He was pretty insistant about wanting to get up and see santa when he came so i told him to listen out for the jingle bells and to look out the window if he heard them.

With kids finally asleep santa’s elves could set the spotlights up out the front and start assembling the trampoline. We got a massive 15ft one! cos it was actually cheaper than the 10 and 12ft ones and i figured i had plenty of room. But it only just fits on the driveway between the orange tree and the path down the side of the house. It took us 2hours to set up which i think was pretty good considering.

Santa sacks were filled, bikes were wrapped, cheesecake was eaten, and then time for bed.

Darcy woke first (he slept in with Tim and he settled quite well when he woke overnight so that was nice). So we had time for a quick breakfast while we waited for Jordy to wake. In the end we sent Darcy in to wake him up!

I had expected him to be all excited and up and out of bed to look at the presents, but instead Jordy got so upset that santa had been and gone! He had wanted to talk to the reindeer and ask them how they could take off and fly. (i now how the norad link!! too late! but i’ll show him that later). So we had to go outside and see if the reindeer had eaten their food, they had!! (actually, Bundy ate the apple! but i fed the radish and carrot to the chickens) and then he saw the trampoline

Time for a quick bounce and then inside for presents. He wanted to open the santa sacks first and so found the helicopters he has been asking for for months. (thanks Ebay, thanks Nardia!) Thankfully they were a big hit. BUT!! i committed the ultimate xmas sin by not checking the batteries. aaarrggghhhh!! And Jordy’s big cargo helicopter takes 3x C batteries. Who has C batteries!?!?!

Then onto the bikes. Darcy was straight on his, loading his fish into the cargo tray and trying to pedal around. Tim assembled Jordy’s bike, a two-wheeler with trainers, and Jordy is still insistant about needing to be pushed (lazy arse!) We are both convinced that Jordy won’t start pedaling on his own until Darcy does it and shows him up

Then soooooo many other presents. Darcy loved his little wooden train with zoo animals, and Jordy liked the playdoh squeezy toy, glitter paint, and his cricket bat. We had a hard time getting them to open presents. They both just wanted to play with the toy they already had so in the end we left several presents unopened and just went and played.

We had a hit of cricket in the back yard and i just figured i’d chuck the ball a bit but Jordy was actually really good at it. I don’t remember playing cricket with him since being at Alf’s almost a year ago unless Tim has done it so i was a little bit surprised when he hit almost every ball (well, every one that i bowled half decent! i’m not Brett Lee). I like the photos i took as well cos you can actually see his eyes following the ball.
A hurried breakfast, another quick jump on the trampoline, a little building with the wooden construction kit, some drawing with our new super Darcy-proof crayons (that have an amazing colour and i am really impressed with!) and then time to head to Nanny and Poppa’s for lunch.

Lots of family to play with and the elves had been crazy busy cos Nanny and Poppa’s xmas tree was overflowing with presents. With their older cousins setting an example the boys found their present opening mojo and Jordy was into more and more and more and when he ran out of presents he came looking for Darcy’s so he could open them as well!

Then they got into the water pistols. Darcy was a cheeky sod and just loved squirting everyone with a devilish grin on his face. A massive lunch and then into the pool.

Darcy came home with me, fell asleep in the car and slept for two hours he was so exhausted! i had to wake him at 5pm cos i was afraid he would never sleep overnight if i let him go! Jordy stayed over with Tim and was up until 10pm he was so hyped.

Darcy then spent the afternoon playing with his farm and jungle animals. And the Thomas set! My god! They have never asked for a train set or seemed overly ‘into’ trains but Thomas has gotten a huge work out. I am actually going to have to go and buy another Thomas train for Darcy the same as the one that came with the set cos the fights are incredible!

Darcy actually woke last night and instead of asking for boob he asked for Thomas! And as soon as they were out of bed they were straight back into the train set.

Mum and Dad arrived on Boxing Day and now it’s time for MORE presents. And i will have to come back to this update soon!

 

hurry up, christmas!

i made the kids a little mini calendar to count down to christmas because Jordy was wanting to know how far away it was. And i made up little things to put on each day so that they could see a flow to the days and what we did as christmas approached (like one day was for putting up lights, and another day for baking gingerbread etc).

Darcy is obviously in a hurry cos i walked into the loungeroom and he had taken the calendar off the christmas table and was busy crossing out all the days.

 

messy man

yet another reason not to leave the kids unattended at the dinner table.

Use the spoon, crazy boy!

And, yes, he had already had his bath.

 

yoghurt

i made yoghurt for the first time in the thermomix yesterday. I was not sure how it would go because you are supposed to pour it into a thermos so that it stays insulated and warm for several hours but i don’t have a thermos! So i improvised.

I poured it into two of my thick glass fowlers jars and then sat it in the slow cooker which i had filled with warm water. Then i covered them with a few heavy tea towels. Every now and again i would put the slow cooker onto the ‘keep warm’ setting just to keep the water temp up.

The bottom section of the yoghurt (where it was actually immersed in the water) had a different appearance to the top of the jar which i was not sure about and suspected that it might not work. But i stuck them in the fridge before i went to bed….. and….

yay!!! delicious perfect yoghurt the next morning. We stir through some of the fruit preserves i have made in the thermomix and it’s really amazingly good.