It's getting hot in here!

I'm having a rare moment of solitude right now. Both the Bear and the Butterfly are fast asleep, knocked out by this sudden and intense heat I think. Poor little Butterfly feels it the most, last Summer she was only 3 months old so didn't really notice much but this time round, at the grand old age of 14 months and with all the walking, running, jumping and climbing that comes with it, she is noticing it BAD. Her little curls stick to her forehead and her neck in a sweaty mess, her chubby cheeks are continually flushed red and her little hands clammy. She's been living in a nappy and singlet, quite often ditching both to run around naked (which amuses the Bear no end - if you can hear shreaks of "Nakey Baby Bottom, Nakey Baby Bottom, I can see a Nakey Baby Bottom!" it's coming from my house).

I'm determined to embrace the heat this year though. Normally I start whimpering as the temp creeps closer to the 30s, hugging my air conditioner remote close and taking a hell of a lot longer to choose things from the fridge, simply for the blast of cold air it provides. This year though, with two little ones watching every move I make, I'm going to tackle it head on so they see that Summer can be fun (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say). We've got an awesome sand and water table on the back deck which is filled and refilled multiple times a day, we've got a water ring that connects to the hose and shoots water a metre or so high and we've got a freezer full of iceblocks. And you know what? So far it's working. The Butterfly has added "deck" to her never ending list of words and now calls it out as soon as she wakes, jumping up and down with excitement and inevitably empting the entire water table over herself within a few moments.

One thing I do love and have always loved about Summer time is it's promise of Christmas just around the corner. Have you been in the shops recently?? When we first walked in and saw all the decorations all three of us gasped (much to Hubby's amusement). We have already been and visited Santa and are planning a great deal many more visits (he was on first-name basis with both little ones last year) and Christmas arts and crafts have started with earnest. Hubby insists that we can't put up the tree untll December 1st so instead I'm hanging up all the kids Christmas craft - just being a proud Mumma, nothing to do with decking the house out festive style of course ;)

Speaking of which we went to the video shop this afternoon and Bear picked out three Christmas movies. To anyone unfamiliar with us this is a BIG deal - we don't really watch tv in our house so him getting to choose and then watch movies? Big time baby! I must say I'm as excited about them as he is. I can remember a certain Christmas movie from my childhood, well actually I can only remember one scene from it. There is a little boy standing in front of a barn, to the left of the sleigh as it's being loaded up. There is a stripy pole behind him and naturally, lots of snow. I have no idea what the movie was, what its plot was or who was in it, but I remember I loved it! I'm hoping I might just stumble across it, you never know!

Oh and in other news, I've finally decided what I'm going to do study wise and what career I want to have when the little ones are in school! I don't want to go back to teaching, I want a totally new direction and I think I've found it. Wahoo! I'll go into detail later, right now I'm off to check my sleeping babes. xx

A shot of Life

I had a moment with the little ones the other day that I will treasure for the rest of my life. When I am old and grey I know I will hold onto this memory and it will give me warmth and a feeling of life and love. It was just that good.

The kids had eaten dinner and we were outside playing in the last light of the day. It had been raining on and off all day long and the air was that fresh, crisp kind that makes you want to breath in till you burst. The Bear had been busy digging and building and the Butterfly had been playing in the sandpit whilst calling out for "BUBBLES!" at random moments. I had gathered them together and we were sitting on the front steps taking off our shoes when, right before our eyes, a rainbow appeared. As I started singing the rainbow song (you know the one, "red and yellow and pink and green..." etc etc) the Butterfly leant back, rested her head against my shoulder and wrapped her little hand around mine. The Bear slid over closer, wrapped his arm around my waist, rested his head on my shoulder and in his clear sweet little voice started singing along with me.

If I could have kept on singing for the rest of my life I would have, just to keep that moment going. It was pure bliss. And then to top if all off? To make it a real gift of love and life and all things good? When we stood up to say goodbye to our rainbow we saw that it was actually a double rainbow, and it looked like it ended slam bang in the middle of our roof. You know how they say rainbows have a pot of gold at the end of them? Don't believe it for a second - this one had something eternally more precious.

It's not a great photo but I quickly snapped a pic of the rainbow, just so I could always have it. Was it the words most beautiful rainbow? Nope. Was it the biggest? Na-ha. Was it the most precious one I've ever seen, thanks to the little ones around me? Hell Yes.

A Change is A Coming

Wow. I have been really really bad at blogging lately. Funny thing is I've been THINKING about it a lot, just never actually getting to do it. As I run out the
door, scooping up clothes and nappies on my way, I'll see the computer and wish I could sit down and type something out but alas, too many things to do. And now I do have time I'm totally distracted - the people across the road are having a party and all I can hear is a rather drunk man singing at the top of his lungs and strumming a guitar. Quite poorly. And did I mention that the people across the road are in their 50's? :D

Anyway the winds of change have been blowing in the direction of my family recently. Lots of little things like new hobbies, new friendships, the end of an old friendship (looong story that one), but mainly in the form of a serious intent to move house. And not only move house, but move state. Yup yup. I have never lived anywhere but sunny QLD but we are seriously thinking about moving to Melbourne. I'm just ready for a change, you know? I've only visted Melbourne a couple of times, and only ever the city, but Hubby has been there a lot and he says I will love it. I'm really excited about the thought and spend every spare moment googling suburbs and schools. We're trying to make a short list of suburbs based on reccomendations and the results of my manic googling so when we go there early next year we can spend a couple of days in each short-listed suburb. Sounds very logical doesn't it? Given I'm likely to be the least logical person you will ever meet in your life I'm quite proud about that :D

The typical thing is I love the house we are currently in. And we've said that before we think about selling we need to do all the things to it that we've wanted to do since we moved in (new tiles in the sunroom, new coat of paint, etc) which means that we would make it just perfect - only to sell and move away! Argh! Can we move a house to melbourne I wonder? ;)

Speaking of painting Hubby has just carried all the painting gear into the middle of the living room so I think I've got my night planned out!

The man across the road is onto "Throw Your Arms Around Me Now". I'm contemplating singing along with him.

Nothing We Can't Do

image by Jomphong


I was going to come back here and list my woes, to have a good little sulk session about what's not going right and what has been making me grumble lately, but you know what? I dont want to anymore. After having a week of feeling sulky and grumpy I'm done with it. Done with letting other people bring me down, done with doubting myself and my actions, done with feeling sorry for myself! Grumble no more Lauren, I am OVER it!

Which leaves me a happy little place planning adventures and activities for my little family for the next week. I always do this, start planning the week before it begins. The things I think up aren't always logical or practical but I love the blank canvas that is a new week. There is nothing that we couldn't do. Load up on wood, nails and a hammer and build our very own cubby house? Sure thing! Go snorkling at the beach? Yup! Get in the car and drive, letting the Bear call out 'left' and 'right' at random and see where we end up! Let's do it! All these little activities don't always get done (I've been wanting to go hot air ballooning for a while now, not exactly practical with a 3 year old and 11 month old but hey, one day we will) but it leaves me with a nice feeling just planning them, knowing that in the next 7 days we can do anything.we.please. Pretty cool thought hey?

Another cool thought is one that my hubby had today. I have always loved making things, especially for the little ones - decorations for their rooms, jewellery, head bands, toys, dress up clothes, etc. You name it and I have probably made it. Or want to make it. There isn't one specific thing that I like best, if it involves a glue gun, great fabrics, googly eyes, glitter, a camera, a paint brush or anything of the like I'm bound to love it. Today hubby suggested that I make up a bunch of my 'stuff' and put them up on Ebay, or start an Etsy store, or a facebook store. I really liked that thought and think I'm going to do it! I'll probably just start with a little selection, make a couple of gorgeous headbands for little girls, some fabric butterflies to hang from the ceiling, paint some pictures in little hand painted frames, make string of bunting. Just to put something out there. I'm fully aware they may not sell, but hey, they might! Someone might see them, love them and want to make them a part of their child's bedroom or playroom. And how cool would that be? To have someone look at something I've made and say yes, I'd like that for my child!

So that's my little personal adventure for the week, start collecting materials and fabrics and what not. Woohoo!

In other news it's Dad's Day tomorrow. The Bear went to bed tonight whispering "one more sleep...one more sleep!" He has been counting down the sleeps since he chose his present for hubby - a new fishing tackle box and a little fishing rod for himself. Can you guess what we are doing tomorrow morning? :) I dont even like fishing but I will happily go down to the jetty with my boys and my Butterfly tomorrow morning and watch them. The Bear has never been fishing before and hubby hasn't been in so long, even though he loves it so much, so it should be a lovely morning. And provided we dont actually catch any fish I will be happy - teeheehee. Though I think we are going to make a sneaky stop at a fish shop before hand and purchase a couple of small, non-scary looking fish to hook on the end of Bear's line when he isn't looking to ensure he gets the buzz of catching something.

Have a great Dad's Day, whatever you are planning on doing!

Ups and Downs

(image by Teerapun)


I'd neglected this poor little blog of late. Life has been busy and although every night I promise myself I'll hop on here and jot down a few words by the time I get everything done I tend to flop into bed exhausted.

Life is a bit strange right now. Family-wise things are wonderful. The Butterfly turns 1 next week and she is turning into such an amazing little girl. She is bright as a button and is so much fun to be around. While the Bear remained pretty quiet untill after his first birthday the Butterfly has decided to be a chatterbox and says Muma, Dada, Pa (Grandpa), Bear (yep, the Bear isn't just a Blog nickname I have for my boy, it's what we call him at home), More, Nana (banana), Uh-Oh (whenever she drops something, something breaks etc etc she'll make a little 'o' shape mouth and say so sweetly uh-oh") and Erro (as in Hello). She also says Bubba and delights in waving to any baby she sees shouting out "Bubba, Bubba!!" to try and get their attention. She refers to herself as bubba too and will say 'Bubba' then point to her drink, or 'bubba nana' if she spots a banana lurking in the fruit bowl. She started walking when she was 10 months, not great big marathon lengths but a metre or so, and delights in playing games with the Bear. She will hide between the couches or behind a wall and giggle madly untill the Bear finds her, squealing with delight when he does then madly heading off to hide again.

The Bear is doing well too, I swear he has grown since his birthday last month. He has shot up in height again and has become so thin, we're back to attaching belts to every pair of pants he owns as they tend to fall down around his ankles if we dont. That happened to him recently, we were walking down the main street of our local village, chatting happily, when he stopped in his tracks and burst out laughing. I looked down and there he was, jeans around his ankles, little jocks on display to the world, laughing his head off. So yes, belts are a big feature in his world right now. We've found the world of work books recently aswell. He was given a few for his birthday and he loves them. He sits himself down at his little ddesk, announces that he is working and asks for some "quiet please" and fills out pages and pages of them. He's really good at them too, zooms through the counting, matching, shapes and maze activities. He's currently working on writing his own name. It's still a bit wobbly but he'll get there!

Yikes, I just realised how much I've blabbed on already. I've got a whole drama to go into about the Down side of recent events so I'll save that for next time. It's nothing too major, just these few nagging issues that keep dragging me down. Urgh.

So yes, if anyone is out there reading this stay tuned, I'll be a better blogger from now on, I promise! x

Let Them Eat Cake

So Bear's third birthday has come and gone. He had a wonderful day, hubby and I lept into decorating mode as soon as he had gone to bed and decked the house out with millions of streamers and balloons which if your anything like me, instantly makes a house feel party like. We madly wrapped up his presies (a big boy bike complete with training wheels, a helmet, a horn and a police siren and flashing lights, a wheelbarrow (he's been asking the Butterfly to get him a big boy wheelbarrow for ages now, his other one is a little kid version and he was desperate for a proper one), a soccer net and ball, a frisbee and a Wiggles DVD. It was really fun, we were sitting on the floor surrounded by wrapping paper and sticky tape (do you have any idea how MUCH wrapping paper it takes to wrap a bike?!) trying to whisper and be as quite as possible to avoid waking him and giggling like little kids.

Once the house and pressies were done I shifted into cake mode. Now birthday cakes are always a big deal to me. When I was little my Mum would give me the Woman's Weekly Birthday Cake books and I'd be allowed to choose anything I wanted. My gosh, I poured over those books for weeks and weeks, tossing up the pro's and con's of a castle vs a jewerly box, a duck vs a teddy bear. It's one of my happiest memories, made all the better by the fact that the book was covered in stains from previous cake making adventures. So cakes have always been important, they are the major event in our birthday celebrations and I promised myself when I became a Mummy I would lovingly hand make my babies cakes every single year, making whatever they wanted. Sounds nice but in truth of the matter is I am no cook. Hubby cooks all the dinners in our house, and on weekends takes over breakfast and lunch duties too. So this is actually a bigger deal for me than it may sound :)

For his first birthday I made him a train cake. He adored trains and was thrilled to be able to actually eat one. It was my very first attempt at making a cake so I was pretty nervous! He liked it though :) Not a great pic, and excuse the whited out patch where his name was, but you get the idea.

For his second Hubby chimed in a begged for a number 2 covered in m&m's. It's what he had for his second birthday and he wanted to share that with the Bear. How could I say no?! So this was cake number 2:

This year he's getting two cakes, he had one on his birthday on Saturday and will have one on his party this Saturday. Following tradition I made a number 3 for his actual birth day cake, but as per his request decorated it with snakes and spiders. It didn't turn out how I wanted, I only started it at about 10:00pm the night before so no big surprise there really, but oh well. This is the final product:

For his party he has requested, wait for, Muck. As in the dump truck from Bob the Builder (it's a fancy dress and he's going as Bob). I'm not yet sure how I'm going to make him, but bygod I will! Somehow. Lol.


knife and fork image by Carlos Porto

Party Plans

Image by Danilo Rizzuti



I can't quite believe it but my little Bear turns 3 next week. It's actually a really tricky thing to wrap my head around. First of all I just can't believe that he's growing up so quickly - this is my baby we're talking about here, the one that I was told by two doctors and a sonographer that I was loosing when I was pregnant, the one that proved them all wrong and stuck with me and grew into a perfect little baby. The one who stayed breech for the entire pregnancy, his (big!) head sitting under my right ribs. When he would stretch he would push his head out so far you could SEE it clear as day. That was quite a party trick, it would freak people right out :D This is the bub who turned dark blue as I held him after he was born, who was rushed away to special care and hooked up to countless tubes and monitors. This is the baby who fought to get better as he lay in his little humidicrib, the baby I stared at for hours and hours, my hand holding his through the special cut out hole. It was the only contact I could have with him for a couple of days and it near killed me. This is the baby who they were about to send away to a dedicated children's hospital to get him further help, but who that night fought on and got out of the danger zone. This is the baby who they finally wheeled into my room, announcing they had someone who wanted to see me. From that moment he has just blossomed. I know I keep saying it but he is amazing. He is so clever (and I'm not just being biased, at the age of 1 1/2 he had the comprehension of a 3 year old), so sweet, so kind and so burst-your-sides-open funny. He's such his own person, an entire lovable, complex and amazing human wrapped up in a little body. How can he already be 3??! Three seems so grown up, it's so far from being a baby and so much more of a big kid.

But then on the other hand if I think of how long it feels he's been with us, how long he's been part of our lives, it feels like forever. When I think of three as actually only being 36 months, it seems tiny. 36 months. Doesn't that make it seem like a blink of an eye? How do little ones grow so much, learn so much, become so much in a mere 36 months?!? My overwhelming feeling about him turning 3 though is pride. As I watch him run around, play games, sing songs and make up dance moves, cook cakes or clean up his toys, tickle the Butterfly or nestle in a corner looking through a book I could just burst. He is doing so well. He is so happy. Which means I am so happy. God help me when he turns 13. I'll be an emotional wreck.

Anyway, he has requested a fancy dress party this year and wants to go as Bob the Builder (he's also issued instructions as to what we are to come as - apparently I'm to be a princess (complete with crown, a big special dress and a wand), Hubby is to be a cowboy (which I think he was secretly thrilled about) and the Butterfly is to go as Wendy, Bob the Builder's sidekick. His costume was easy peasy - a pair of overalls, a red and yellow checked shirt, a Bob the Builder tool belt complete with tools, a hard hat and a pair of boots! Woohoo! He's asked for a Muck cake (Muck is Bob's big red dump truck) which I'm really looking forward to making. I ADORE making and decorating cakes, I spend so much time on them and the perfectionist in me rears her head, but god it's fun. I'm planning on making the dump truck itself out of a number of different cakes then hollowing out one big piece to be the dumper itself which I'll fill with different types of lollies. I've ordered a Bob the Builder candle which I'll stand in the dumper amongst the lollies to make it look like he is riding in the back. Fingers crossed it works out!

Activities-wise we'll be having a treasure hunt, pin the hardhat on bob, pass the parcel and biscuit decorating. I'm also contemplating making up a few tubs of slime (he adores it) and letting them get all messy, or giving them balls to try and throw into the tubs (which will then in turn make a huge mess when they splash in). The food will be pretty standard - mini sausage rolls, sandwich triangles, fairy bread, fruit kebabs, jelly cups with chocolate frogs stuck on top, mini spring rolls, veggie sticks with dip and a bucket full of poppers.

I'm making the decorations (yep, I'm a sucker for punishment) so will no doubt have a few late nights coming up. I'll take some pics when they are done. It should be great fun though! Have I mentioned that I love planning parties for my little ones?! lol.

And the best thing is when it's all over and done with, we'll start again. The Butterfly's first birthday is in September :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

I know I blogged about Tassie last night but I just have to dedicate a post to the glorious stuff that is snow.

Now to give some background info (and perhaps make my reaction seem a tad more understandable), before this holiday I had never been near snow. I'd seen it on the Swiss Alps, bu never actually got close to it. Since we've been here however I've got to experience it in all its icy cold goodness. We always had to go up the mountain though, and it was mainly snow on the ground (as opposed to falling snow).

Today however, that changed. This morning we were all munching on our breakfast, planning our day, when Hubby looked out the window and announced that it was snowing. I didn't exactly believe him. The conversation went something like this:

Hubby: "Look Bella (one of my millions of nicknames), it's snowing"
Me: "No it's not"
Hubby: "Yes, it is"
Me: "No it isn't, that's rain"
Hubby: "White rain?"
Me: "Yes. But it's not really white. It's just fat rain"
Hubby: "White, fat, floating rain that is making the ground white?"
Me: "OHMYGOD IT'S SNOWING!!"

I then promptly scooped up the Bear and ran outside (the Butterfly was half way through her toast and would not have been very pleased if I had taken her away from it. She takes after her Mumma that girl, nothing gets between her and her breaky!). So I raced outside, Bear on my hip, and started dancing and cheering and spinning and trying to catch as much snow as possible on our hands or in our mouths. I wasn't aware exactly how much noise I was making until the man next door opened his window, leaned out and called "Yes Lauren, it's called snow". Smarty pants :P After returning Bear back to his breakfast I resumed my snow dance and soon noticed that my feet, legs, hands, arms and face were burning. In all the excitement I had run outside exactly as I was - in my pj's of boxers and a shirt (it's a heated house, a must-have down here). I had stopped to grab Bear's coat but nothing for myself so I quickly learnt a very important thing about snow. It's cold - not gee that's a bit chilly, but seriously seriously COLD. And yes, I am aware that snow is in fact ice, but I had somehow glossed over that fact when I raced outside.

Anyway, after lunch we decided to head up the mountain and see if we could find some more snow. There wasn't too much on the ground, just a light covering, but we decided to hop out anyway. Within about 5 minutes snow started pouring down. It was so thick the sky was literally white and we couldn't see our car about 10m away. It was freaking awesome. If you looked up you could see thousands of flakes falling down to you, and if you tracked it carefully you could watch one fall from the highest height then catch it in your hand.

We all had a ball. When we were so cold we'd nearly turned into snowflakes ourselves we piled back into the car, cranked the heater then giggled the whole way back. I think this trip has converted us - we are a family of snow bunnies :)

Some piccies for you - they are hardly the best quality but I wanted to spend time playing in the snow, not photographing it!! Apologies for the scenery only pics, I don't feel comfy putting photos of my family up on the net.  xo

Tassie Tassie, oh Beautiful Tassie

Told you I'd come back sooner this time :D

So I thought I'd use this as a bit of a travel diary tonight and recap some of the amazing memories we've been making on our holiday so far.

I have to start with the plane ride. The Bear was oh so excited about flying down, his Grandma and Grandpa gave him a pilots cap a while ago and the moment he woke he scrambled out of bed to find it and plopped it on his head. It stayed there the entire trip down, an event made all the more wonderful by the fact that two actual pilots commented on his hat - one saluted him and asked if he was going to help fly the plane today, the other said he preferred the Bears hat to his own and did he want to swap. It makes me so happy to come across lovely people like this, willing to take a moment out of their own busy days to make a little boy smile. A rather amusing moment occurred though after we had taken off when Bear looked out the window then,  quite shocked, announced to the entire plane "Mummy Mummy, we are up in the sky!". He has flown before but apparently he only just noticed we weren't driving along a road :) The Butterfly took the whole thing in her typically chilled out-cheerful stride. She loved having an audience to goo and coo to, and took to batting her eyelashes and smiling at anyone who walked past. Her one moment of disapproval occurred when she desperately tried to make the mini TV screen scroll, touch screen style. She eventually gave up with a grumpy 'humph'.

Since we've been here we've done so many wonderful things, I'm filling up my camera's memory card every day and wishing I had more. The parks down here are amazing, they just kick the pants of the ones back home. There is the "Lighthouse Park" which features a great big lighthouse, a HUGE wooden boat filled with ramps, slides, tunnels, sand toys, mazes, rock climbing walls and anything else you can think of; then there is  Princes Park which has a huge slide (Bear's jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw it), rolling grassy hills perfect for the Butterfly to crawl and roll down to her hearts delight, and a really fun spiny wheel-circle thing (yea I know, a great description. It's a great big circle on tracks that the kids can sit or stand on. As they climb onto it it starts spinning around, sending them flying into the sand or squealing with delight as they spin around and around). And not to forget the Train Park, a gorgeous little corner park with a bike track, a big train to play in, wonderful climbing equipment but best of all two great big slides, side by side, perfect for Mummy-Bear races.

We've been out to Richmond and raided the lolly store, driven through some gorgeous countryside calling out hello to the millions of cows, bulls, sheep, geese and chicken that we passed. We've feasted on ice creams while wrapped up in millions of coats, beanies and scarves. We've played in the snow, making our very first snowman and snowballs, the Butterfly bursting into laughter as she watched it dissolve in her hand. We've feasted on beautiful cheeses, the Bear making his preference for Blue and Brie clearly known. We've visited Oatlands and huddled under a huge old windmill, danced in the rain through the markets, cruised the streets picking out houses we'd love to buy if ever we win the lottery. We've given up counting the rainbows, they seem to be a daily occurrence here, instead just launching into a family rendition of the rainbow song whenever we spot one.

All in all we are having such a lovely time. There is nothing quite as nice as waking up on an icy cold morning, all snug and warm inside your bed, pulling your little ones in to join you and laughingly planning what new adventures you should have that day. The Butterfly is loving this holiday tradition and happily points to our bed when I get her out of her cot, gleefully pulling the covers over her head and giggling like mad while she waits for the Bear to "find" her.

Life is sweet. So very, very sweet. xoxoxoxox

Hello, I am still here!

I know I know, I've been very slack with my poor little neglected blog lately. I have a good reason though - we are currently in Tassie!

We are spending our days playing in the snow up on Mt Wellington (we made our first snowman and snowballs today, woohoo!!), checking out all the convict buildings, playing in all the millions of fantastic parks, shopping and doing all sorts of fun things.

Now I know this will make this the shortest blog entry of all times, but I am going to go and dive under my doona and try and stop my teeth chattering. It's 3 degrees people!! Woohoo!!

(I promise I'll write again sooner this time)

xo

Shopped Till We Dropped

Image by Digitalart

 

 

I am totally shattered. I'm currently on the couch and I don't think I could move even if I wanted too (which really isn't a problem as I really and truly do not want to move a single muscle!)

Today the little ones and I hit the shops. We left the house at 8:00am this morning and walked back through the door at 4:30pm. Some good friends of ours are getting married this Friday (at the same place that Hubby and I were married, ceremony venue and reception venue!) and the kids and I literally had nothing to wear. The plan was to go to one certain shopping centre (it's huge) and get everything done as quickly as possible, being home for lunch. Pfft. That didn't happen! We walked every square inch of that centre and looked in every single shop and found nothing. Urgh. I did learn a couple of things though, firstly that certain shopkeepers have a very inflated view of themselves and their work. The moment we entered a couple of shops the shopkeepers lips literally curled in distaste. Granted, they were rather exclusive shops and I was pushing a trolley with the little ones in it, but give me a chance people! It was all very Pretty Woman (you know that scene where the assistants won't serve her?). The second thing that I learnt was my children are amazing. Okay, I already knew that but it was reinforced today. The Butterfly sat happily in the trolley seat the entire time we were there, chattering away happily and waving to random people as they walked past. When she got tired I transferred her into the the Baby Bjorn and she sleep soundly for an hour or so, then went straight back into the trolley, happy as pie. The Bear alternated between walking next to the trolley, tightly holding on to the bars, and sitting inside reading a couple of books. 7 hours we were at the shops, 7 hours and there was not one meltdown, tantrum, or tear. In fact, despite the fact that my legs and feet are killing me, it was a lovely day.

Anyhoo, we ended up giving up and driving to a smaller shop, our hopes very low. After all, if we couldn't find anything in a huge shopping centre what hope did we have of finding something in a little one? Within 1 hour of walking into the smaller centre we walked out, arms full of bags. Mission successful, woohoo! Wish I had gone there first! I'll take some photos tomorrow and put them up, but oh, they are both going to look so gorgeous. The Butterfly has the sweetest little dress, navy blue with white spots on a full skirt with a plain navy blue bodice with blue and white striped long sleeves, a little white cardigan, white stockings to keep her little legs warm and divine silver shoes with a silver ribbon bow. Oh, and a gorgeous white flower headband. The Bear has long black pants, a grayish blue and white striped long sleeved shirt, a silver/blue tie (yep, a teeny tiny tie!) and new black boots. He was so excited about his clothes, the moment we came home he begged to try them all on again then proudly strutted around the house, asking if he could sleep in them tonight :)

And as for me? I randomly grabbed a pair of long black pants and really pretty shirt, only to realise when I got home that I'd grabbed the wrong size for both. So guess what? It's back to the shops tomorrow! Arrrgh! We will have to be really quick tomorrow though, because in addition to the wedding on Friday night we are all on a plane first thing Saturday morning, flying off for a quick holiday! Woohoo! I think I'll need a break after all this shopping ;)



This Weeks Fun Five

Image by Luigi Diamanti

I've got my personal Fun Five sorted for this week......1) Toy Shopping   2) Toy Shopping  3) Toy Shopping  4) Toy Shopping and just to be different, 5) Toy Shopping! I love the toy sales, I have so much fun trawling through  the catalogues picking out what my little ones would like, all the while trying to think of as many reasons as I can to give them the pressies as soon as possible. I was never very good at the whole 'waiting to give gifts' thing, as soon as I buy something for someone I want to give it to them right now. An example is Hubby and my Christmas tradition - the first ever Christmas we were together I was just bursting to give him his gift early but I was determined to wait and I got really really close, I caved in and gave it to him at midnight on Christmas Eve. Since then we always give each other our gifts at midnight, although each year I try and bring it earlier but the party pooper wont let me *sulk*.

I also love the toy sales because they take me back to my childhood, as I look at everything that's on offer I can't help but oooh and aahhh over the things I would have LOVED as a kid. You know those little art and craft packs where you make your own jewellery? And all the new Barbies with their little houses accessories? And the toy animals that make little noises and look oh so cute? They would have been on my Santa list for sure.

Anyway, back to the Fun Five for my little ones (though in all reality they would probably be happy with five days of toy shopping too!)

- Have a Green Day: Equipment: Green food colouring, green food, green clothes, green paint, etc.  Activity: Tell your child in the morning that you're going to have a Green Day, where everything you can possibly think of will become green. Add a small amount of green food colouring to the milk for their cereal, make a green platter of food with kiwi fruit, honey dew, avocado, green apple, snow peas, celery pieces, etc. Select green clothes for everyone to wear, or even help your little one dye a white shirt green, Do some green cooking (green jelly, green patty cakes with green icing); Make green play dough by mixing yellow and blue so they can see it turn green as they play; Add some yellow and blue food colouring to their bath water and watch it turn green; Collect as many different types of green leaves, flowers etc as possible and make a Green Chart.

- Garden Obstacle Course:  Equipment: Garden chairs, Hoops, Broom, Rope, Cardboard boxes, Ladder, Old pillows, anything else you can get your hands on. Activity: Get your little ones to help you set up an obstacle course in the yard. Try to use as many different ways of moving as possible - crawling under garden chairs, jumping on or over pillows, jumping through hoops hanging up or in hoops lying down, walking along a curvy rope, running around a tree, hop through the rungs of a ladder laid flat on the ground, etc. We do this one a couple of times every week and the Bear never ever gets sick of it.

- Marble Painting: Equipment: Paper, Cereal boxes or a large plastic box, Marbles, Containers of different coloured paint; Teaspoons. Activity: Put the paper in the large box. Put a few marbles into each different coloured paint and use a teaspoon to lift out one marble at a time and put it in the box on top of the paper. Show your little one how to lift the box and roll the paint-covered marble all around until all the paint has come off and made marble tracks all over the paper. Repeat with a different coloured marble. Makes great wrapping paper for gifts!

- Wind Chimes: Equipment: A coat hanger or sturdy stick, String, Anything that makes a nice sound! Activity: Discuss sounds with your little one, specifically all the different types you can hear. Go on a sound hunt around the house, clanking things together to see how they sound. Collect the things that sound nice, i.e., keys, spoon, etc. Tie the items onto pieces of string and attach them to the coat hanger - instant wind chime.

- Homemade Finger Puppets and Puppet Theatre: Equipment: Old gloves (washing up ones work well), Permanent felt pens, Strong glue, Wool, Sequins, Buttons, Other decorations, A Cereal box or Shoebox. Activity: Cut off the fingers of a pair of gloves and get your little one to decorate them however they like. Use pens to draw faces, glue on buttons or sequins for funny mouths, wool or fabric for hair or beards, etc. Stand the box on its end, cut a window out, and put on (and be the audience) some funny puppet shows!

We never got round to making the place mats last week so I'll be tucking that up my sleeve for a rainy day. The house is however filled with pet rocks and balloon heads of all shapes and sizes (and hubby now has one of each proudly sitting on his desk at work). If you haven't yet made the balloon heads do yourself a favour and do it outside............. I didn't and am still finding traces of flour around the house!

Now back to those toy catalogues ;)

Hear Me Roar

Image by Rob Bonneywell

We were at the park the other day and a child pushed the Bear over. For no reason, with no provocation, nothing. I think it came about because the Bear walked past the other kids castle. He didn't knock it over, he didn't even look at it, he just walked past it. And this boy pushed him over.   That by itself isn't what got me so mad (although my first instinct was to rush over and push the child over myself......no, don't stress, I didn't actually do it), kids are kids and do things like that. The thing that really got my blood boiling was that this child's Mother watched the whole thing and didn't do a thing. Didn't reproach him, didn't check the Bear was ok, didn't even glance at me even though it was blatantly clear I was his Mum, didn't do a thing. She continued to learn up against the fence, looking bored out of her brain, and kept typing on her phone. That got my blood boiling, got my inner Mummy Lion roaring.

That inner Mummy Lion is a powerful thing. It's such a strong, overwhelming and fierce desire to protect your child. I normally hate confrontation but by god, mess with my little ones and I'll march in claws bared. It's not even a voluntary reaction, it's an immediate instinctive thing, a desire to throw back my head and roar "do NOT mess with my babies!". And I don't think that's a bad thing, as long as it's kept in check. I don't think it would be helpful or healthy for anyone involved to have a Mum follow her child around snarling at anyone who upsets them! Although I used to see a fair bit of that when I was teaching - parent's who would call up demanding an interview, furious because their little Johnny didn't get the first pick for something, or wanting another child to be kicked out of the class because they stole their child's pencil and made them cry (and yes, that is a true story).

I think my inner Lion is amplified by the fact that the Bear is really gentle. He doesn't push, he doesn't shove, he will happily stand back to let other people go in front of him in a line even if it means he ends up waiting AGES for a turn on the slide. He happily shares his toys, voluntarily offering some if he sees somebody missing out. He is a true gentleman. Trouble is he expects everyone else to be the same and is quite shocked when they don't behave the same way. He doesn't speak up for himself if some snatches something away, or hurts him. He just looks at them with big wide eyes, not comprehending why they are behaving that way.

So my current mission is to pass some of my Mummy Lion strength onto the Bear himself. Give him some Baby Lion confidence. I'm teaching him to respond if someone snatches something away from him, that he has every right to say "No, I'm playing with that, you can have it when I'm done" and to take it back. That if someone is doing something he doesn't like can absolutely tell them to stop it. I'm encouraging him to keep his place in a line so he doesn't always get shoved to the back, to stand up for himself when needed. He'll get there. My Bear will learn to roar. Or should be be growl, a sound more appropriate for a bear? :) Either way he'll get there, and in the mean time I'll be there to help when necessary.

Roar :)

Baby Season

Image by Sura Nualpradid



Apologies for never come back and writing about our trip to Dreamworld, things have been crazy busy lately.  Days are finishing before they have begun! I think it's because the Butterfly has pushed her first day sleep back to 10:30am - by the time she wakes up, we all have lunch then finally get in the car it's around 1:00pm. Arrgh! Goodbye half the day! On the upside it's bringing a new routine into our day, the first half of the day is home based, just for us, while the afternoon is out and about time. It's quite nice really.

Anyhoo's, today was busy for a lovely reason. I visited a gorgeous friend of mine and her equally as gorgeous three week old baby boy. Ohmygosh. Cluck cluck cluck times a billion! He is just adorable. He is teeny tiny with these big, serious eyes and a really wise little face - he looks like he's been here before,done it all before. The Butterfly was quite taken by him too, she reached out and stroked his little hand so gently and kept pointing to him with this great big smile on her face. It was so sweet.

I think it must be baby season actually. So many people I know are pregnant, or have just had bubs. Another gorgeous friend of mine is pregnant with her third and talking to her the other night made me really really wistful. I miss being pregnant, so very very much. I loved every single thing about it. From the very first moment I see that second line on the test I fall head over heals in love with my baby. Actually, to be totally honest, that isn't true. Being the true emotional sap that I am, I fall head over heals in love with my baby before I actually fall pregnant. I love morning sickness as it's a clear sign that the bub is there and is growing. I love watching my belly grow, feeling those first fluttery kicks turn into great big take-my-breath-away thumps. I love the doctors appointments and the opportunity they provide to listen to that little heartbeat racing away. I love the anticipation of meeting them for the very first time, and then that amazing moment when you get to hold them, kiss their little head, whisper hello.

But we have decided to wait until the Butterfly is in prep before bringing a new little person into our family. Logically it makes sense - we want a new house by the time they arrive, we'll need a bigger car, a few more years can never hurt financially, I'll have finished my Master by then, etc. But emotionally? Oh it's going to be hard. Especially because the Bear keeps asking if there is another baby in Mummies tummy yet, and can it please be another girl and can it please be another Butterfly. And especially because I keep getting all choked up as I pack away the clothes both the Bear and Butterfly seem to be outgrowing on a daily basis.

So in the mean time I'll just keep clucking and keep getting all misty eyed over all the adorable little babies around me.

Cluck cluck :)

My 'Fun Five' list

Image by Digialart

Today we went to Dreamworld which was great fun, but I'm too exhausted to write about it. Seriously. I'll do it tomorrow, I promise. Instead I thought I'd share my Fun Five list.

Basically, my Fun Five list is a list of five new activities to try with the Bear and the Butterfly during the week. The plan is to have one new activity for every day. Obviously this doesn't always work out, some weeks we do them all in one day and other weeks they love one of them so much we just keep doing the one over and over again.  Ideally the list is made up of things we haven't done before, or otherwise it's things they really love and get all excited about.  I thought I'd share my thoughts for this week. Please note these aren't all my ideas, I search everywhere for good activities!

Things I've come up with or come across for this week:

- Sponge Targets:  Equipment: Chalk, a wall, sponges, buckets of water. Activity: Draw a clowns face or some other target on a brick wall in chalk. Fill a bucket with water, dip a sponge into the water and take it in turns to throw them at the target and 'wipe' it out.
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- Balloon Heads: Equipment: Balloon, funnel, plain flour, water, felt pens. Activity: Blow up a balloon then deflate it. Put a funnel into the balloon's mouth and carefully spoon in as much flour as you can. Add a little water to make the flour pliable and tie up the balloon. Draw funny faces on the balloon and play!

- Pet Rocks: Equipment:  Rocks, art and craft supplies. Activity: Collect rocks of all shapes and sizes and glue on googly eyes, wool hair, make funny hats, etc.

- Make a Place Mat: Equipment: Thin card, crayons, pens, pencils, magazines, scissors, glue. Activity: Give the little one a piece of card stock and crayons, felt pens etc. Together draw pictures of as many different foods and drinks as you can both think of. Go through magazines and cut out different pictures of foods and drinks and glue them onto the page. Laminate it and use it as a personalized place mat.

- Flying Saucers: Equipment: Paper cup, paper plate, scissors, glue, sticky tape. Activity: Cut the cup in half. Keep the bottom half and cut small slits along the cut edge. Bend the slits out to make flaps and sticky tape it onto a paper plate. Cut slits around the outside of the plate, folding each flap alternately up or down. Go outside and fly the saucers!

So that's my five for this week. Do you have any ideas for activities? What do your little ones love doing? I'd love it if you left a comment and let me know what they are!

That's is from me tonight I'm afraid. Must go sleep...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Then and Now

Image by Danilo Rizzuti

Today has been one of those lovely Mummy days that you read about in story books. Both little ones woke as happy as can be, the Bear opening his eyes and instantly chatting excitedly about the theme park we plan on visiting soon, and the Butterfly giggling to herself as we opened the door to her room.

The little ones happily rolled balls back and forward to each other (well in all fairness the Bear rolled the balls back and forward, the Butterfly scooped them up with delight and refused to let them go again), we had egg and spoon races around the front yard, we hung balloons from the ceiling and danced among them, bopping them with our heads and hands as we went, we curled up on blankets and read stories, we pulled funny faces and laughed until our sides hurt. It was just lovely.

These are the types of days that make me burst with happiness at where I am in life. And this is coming from someone who never, never EVER wanted children. I had my life planned - I would travel and experience life in as many different countries as possible. I would meet so many different types of people, glimpse life through their eyes. I would study, I would work, and I would end up with an academic career. I would be free.

I knew exactly what I didn't want as well. I didn't want to be tied down. I did not want children.

And then I met my hubby, and then I got clucky :)

But you know what? Somehow, somewhere along the lines, I've got the best of both worlds. I have traveled, both by myself and with my husband. And I am so looking forward to travelling with my children, to showing them all the hundreds of different ways life can be lived, of introducing them to the countries, the cities and the villages that make my heart sing. Through my children's eyes I see everything anew. I meet old friends for the first time as I watch my son shyly introduce himself then slowly relax as he recognizes the lovely people they are. And my dream of being free? I have never felt more free in my entire life than when I am holding the hand of the Bear and running, running with all of our might, along the beach. Or when I'm dancing with the Butterfly and she's laughing so much she throws her little head back and closes her eyes. These people, these tiny little people, have added more to my life than I ever knew possible.

I'm not saying every day is perfect. Some days leave me in tears, or wanting to soak in a hot bath for hours on end. But today? Today was bliss.

State of Origin

Image by Digitalart
 

I'm currently sitting on the couch next to my hubby. Literally next to him, my elbow is digging into his side as I type. However, for all the interaction I'm getting from him we may as well be on different planets. Yep, the State of Origin is on.

I just don't get the whole Origin thing. Or the whole football thing really, it just seems to be a lot of stopping, running for a few miliseconds, then stopping again. The Bear saw a few moments of a game once and proceeded to ask why the men keep hugging then falling over. A pretty good summary of the game I thought. Anyway, what really confuses me is that Hubby isn't even a huge football fan. He'll happily watch a game if he stumbles across one, but he's never been the type to set aside a day for going to the footy or to ensure he's at home at a certain time to watch a broadcast. But there is something about the Origin that brings out his inner Aussie male-ness and when it's on nothing can separate him from that screen. I think I could strip off naked and do a dance, potentially throwing handfuls of flour across the room while I was at at, and all I'd get was a momentary glance.

I must admit though it's not all bad. I've learn to embrace these nights for what they are and use it as a chance to get all the things we love best but never see a reason to buy. Tonight we're feasting on M&M's, chips, pineapple lumps, jelly snakes, lollies, soft drink and other random yummy things. Oh, and of course hubby has some beer (a quick side note - I went into our local bottle shop when I was about 38 weeks pregnant with the Butterfly to get some beer for hubby and left feeling like the worst Mother in the world. No one said anything, but oh god, the filthy looks I got! I wanted to climb up on the nearest stack of cartons and yell "It's not for me! Don't look at me like that, I'm not going to be actually drinking it!!" Anyway ever since then I've always felt so guilty going in, like I'm being a horrendous Mummy even being in a bottle shop! I know I know, paranoid much? The ironic thing there is I really am the most paranoid person when it comes to what I eat and drink while pregnant. If there is any possible, remote, slightest potential of a chance it might harm my bub I run the other directions!).

Anyhoo's I'm considering gathering up all the other State of Origin widows I know and having a girls night out next time it's played. Something fun and just for us, pampering, or dinner and drinks out. I'm also considering not telling our hubbies and waiting to see if they noticed we were gone......

I'm guessing not :D

Thinking about Schools

Image by Felixco, Inc   

So I was talking to a friend today who has a son the same age as the Bear and we got onto the topic of schools. We've both recently realised that next year is the last year we will have our little boys at home with us -  in 2013 they will be off to Pre-Prep, then in 2014 its Prep. I can't really explain how I felt when I realised that. It sounds dramatic but it felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. All of a sudden the hundreds of little moments the Bear and I share during the day suddenly flashed through my mind. Curling up on the couch to read books, making lunch together then deciding where to have it (the current place of choice is under the dining room table, all squished up and giggly), playing on the swing set and pretending to fly up with the birds, 'cooking' in the play kitchen, dancing around the living room playing mini guitars, making obstacle courses through the house, building roads and spending hours playing cars, impromptu dashes outside because we heard a helicopter, and oh, so many many more. All these little moments, the things that I tend to take for granted because they happen every day, suddenly became like gold. I'm so very glad all this dawned on me now and not in a years time, or even in a weeks time, because by god I'm going to make sure I treasure every single one of those moments with my boy!

So after that emotional beating we moved onto the topic of schools themselves and how on earth you  go about choosing one. It may be the Primary Teacher in me talking, but schooling is such a big, life changing thing. Everyone has stories to tell from their school days, some positive, some not so much so. Is there any real way to ensure you choose a school that will provide your child with more positive experiences than negative ones?! Yeah, I already know the answer to that as well. I guess all you can do is choose a school that offers a safe, supportive and challenging environment, one that has an academic program and pedagogy that you agree with, one that has a behaviour management plan that mirrors your own, one that offers a wide range of experiences and opportunities to their students. Easy hey? Pffft.

The good news is we are spoilt for choice with regard to schools in our area. Religious schools, state schools, private non-religious schools, co-ed schools, single sex schools, single campus schools, multi campus schools....the list goes on. Thankfully I have a few more years to ponder this, and to be honest I think I'll need them as the Bear currently insists that the main point of going to school is to get a sausage sizzle (the highlight of our most recent visit to an open day).

In the mean time I'll keep playing trains and savour every moment of him being with me 24/7.  I'm not quite ready to admit my baby Bear is growing up ;)

Happy Birthday Queeny Baby, thanks for the weekend!

 Image by Simon Howden

Ohhh I had fun this weekend :)

We planned to use the three days to tackle the house. You know those jobs you keep putting off and putting off until you don't really even notice them anymore? Well those were our challenge - to reclaim the backyard from all the overgrown plants, to get all the laundry done, to strip back the deck and re coat it and to start painting the living room. Guess what we got done?

Nothing :)  

Instead we made pancakes for breakfast,  played on the swing set with the Bear, tickled the Butterfly till she was squealing with laughter, made cubbies under the doona, hula hooped for hours on end and generally pottered our way through the three days.  Both little ones made a discovery though - the Butterfly discovered her true love, the vacuum cleaner. She spent ages searching the house for it, then let out the happiest squeal of delight when she found where we'd stashed it. She then proceeded to rest her little head on it, coo lovingly and look so incredibly happy we didn't have the heart to move it away.

The Bear made a discovery of his own - having been toilet trained for about 6 months he's never had reason to pee anywhere but on the toilet, but today he discovered he has the ability to pee outside :) While gardening he announced he needed to pee "right now Mummy!" so I let him go and good god, the gleam that came into his eyes was hilarious! He then kept on ducking around the corner with a mischievous grin declaring he needed to go again and again and again. Such a boy. I'm just praying he doesn't decide that's where he wants to go from here on in!

Meanwhile I made a discovery of my own, an online shop called Creative Butterfly Designs. They sell handmade hairbands and clips and they are oh so pretty and girly. I went a little crazy and ordered these for the Butterfly, what do you think?

Pretty hey! When the Butterfly grows enough hair I'll probably go mad with the clips, but until the I'm pretty chuffed with the headbands :D

So what did you get up to on your long weekend?
x

Oh What a Night

Image by Maggie Smith

Oh what a night. Butterfly woke at about 11:00pm screaming her heart out, and by god do I mean screaming. None of the usual tricks worked, I sang, I danced, I stomped, I swooshed her around like a plane (this usually fixes everything and gets her to drop off to sleep. Strange one my little girl, traditional lullabies have never worked either, she likes fast paced, heavy beated songs as loud as you can go). Nada. In the end I kicked hubby onto the couch (he is a seriously heavy sleeper and I never feel safe with a little one in bed with us if he is there) and pulled the Butterfly into bed with me where she fed all night long. Even then she grizzled and whimpered in her sleep, little hands reaching out for me and patting me in her sleep.

I "woke" (I don't know about you but I can never sleep properly if I've got either the Bear or the Butterfly in bed with me, I'm so paranoid about them getting caught under the blankets or something I stay in that half awake state) to her little nose pressed against mine and her bright blue eyes peering intently at me. She was fine, no sign of the night's horrors. I however was shattered and have been all day. Hubby was lovely enough to look after both the kids and send me back to bed for a couple of hours but geez, it really pointed out how much I need my sleep.

BC (Before Children) I would be in bed, fast asleep, at about 8:30/9:00pm every night (unless I was out partying in which case I'd go hard all night long then sleep all the next day) and would get up at about 6:00am. I would then have a nanna nap for an hour or so in the early afternoon. I loooved my sleep. I needed my sleep! Then the Bear came along, and with it his inherent dislike of sleep, and all that went out the window. I learnt that if I need to, I can function on very little sleep. I'm grumpy, clumsy, emotional and generally narky, but I can survive.  Five hours worked out to be my magic number. If I could get five hours straight, I was a human the next day. I still craved more, would walk past my bedroom and cast longing looks at my bed, but at least I was moving.

As the Bear grew I started getting more sleep, then the Butterfly arrived and blessed us with her love of sleep. Seriously, this girl took after me from day one and slept perfectly for hours on end. By six weeks old she was sleeping through 10 hours a night. Apparently though, that's changed :( I don't know what has happened but she's waking a few times a night now, and once again I'm back in the land of glancing wistfully at my bed. I know she will grow out of whatever is currently causing her grief and all I can do is keep reassuring her that everything is ok when she wakes during the night (I just don't have it in me to do controlled crying. I figure if I woke up during the night, desperately unhappy, I sure as hell would want hubby to give me a hug and tell me it's ok. Surely then my children deserve the same?!) but ohhh...... I hope she goes back to her old ways soon.

So tell me your hints or tricks people out there in blog land - how do you survive on little sleep when sleeping during the day just isn't an option?

xo

Welcome!

Image by nuchylee

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the blogging world! This is all quite exciting really. When I was little my favourite type of Christmas pressies were the things that I could do - a game, an art kit, a colouring in book, you get the idea. That excitement of starting something new, of having a fun little project just for me - that's what this little blog has given me. So welcome!

I'll give you a rundown of me and my life. I am a stay at home Mummy to two gorgeous, amazing and wonderful little ones. Bear, my son, is nearly 3 and has me in stitches (the laughing variety, not the physical type :D) every single day. He is oh-so-clever, cheeky as can be, increadibly loving and sweet and just the best little friend. Butterfly, my daughter, has just turned 9 months and melts my heart with her devine smiles (if she's really happy she scrunches her nose aswell, a huge treat for anyone who is blessed with it), fantastic sense of humour (seriously, and yes I know she's only 9 months but I'll explain more later), and leaves me in awe of how quickly and beautifully she is growing into her own little person.

My husband is the love of my life and my best friend in the world. We've got the type of marriage I dreamt of when I was little. He is my partner in everything. One of the things I love most about him is that he recognises that right now my job is to be a Mummy and he does everything he can to support me in that job, including letting me know that he thinks it's a hard job to do! Told you he is amazing :)

Throw in two fuzz heads (one big black dog and one little white one) and our very own house by the seaside and you've got the cast and setting of my life!  Let the fun begin :)