honesty

I left my hand bag at Alyssa's gumnastics club last night. I hadn't even missed it, even though it had my wallet and phone in it, when Alyssa's coach knocked on my door this morning and returned it. She even had to step over puddles in my increasingly flooded front yard. I think its great that there are still good honest helpful people around, (I sound like a hobbit) and in the gym club especially. Julian said what was I doing leaving my bag behind

Wet days

I have had enough of this rain, and it's supposed to go on at least one more day, if not all week. Alyssa said being inside all day and all the kids squealing gave her a headache. She had a playdate with Holly after school. They came in shouting and excited, and play well, if noisily, even saying it was the best play-date ever. Then decended into whining and crying and giggling and chaos. Plus they didn't want Ella-Rose to play with them, and she erally wanted to, of course. At the end when Alyssa went sillly Holly decided she would play with Ella-Rose instead. Wonder if she will ever want to come back. If the rain goes on too long Alyssa might need a day off. I'll ask fre teacher if she can take her umbrella and have a bit of a braek outside tomorrow. At least we can have a quite afternoon tomorrow. I guess she was already tired from bing stuck in a crowd all day. The room was really steamy after school.

Open home

I went and looked at the open home that Mum told me about. She said it was a lovely house, so I arrived pretty excited. It was quite nice, but probably not nice enough to be worth the effort and expense of moving. It had a big private back yard, and a double garage, and a lovely new shower, but otherwise was a similar size to here, and a bit fourther from school. Heaps of people were at the open day, so it might get a good price at auction. It had a ladder to an upstairs loft that Alyssa loved. It was quite warm, with a new kitchen, but our kitchen is half done, or at least a quarter, and will also be nice and new once it is finished. They did their bench with a square edge, which I know is the cheapest option, and would be disappointing after seeing our curved one. Anyway, I feel like our house is not finished yet.

Ella-Rose's birthday

I just found the photos from Ella-Rose's 1st birthday. I can't believe I haven't looked at these before! I wasn't looking at them in a good browser, though, so will have to have a closer look, but I think there are some lovely ones there. I'll put some of them on facebook over the weekend

photo book

I had an email today that said that digital max have 2 for the price of 1 on photo books. I've been thinking of making a photo book for some time, and this sounds like a good deal. At least the best one I've seen since I've been getting their e-mails.

I'm just waiting for an old photo collection to come online, so I can pick a few photos to use, before I go searching through my photo collection for more to upload. we have taken something like 20000 photos since we got our fisrt digital camera , so it is hard to choose the best from so many. Fun though

I have to go and read Alyssa a story now. Apparently daddy has lost his voice after reading 2 chapters of a fairy book. She has also just told me she is taking her new Tupperware bottle to bed. Weird

Mother's Day

So, mother's day started well enough. I woke first. I woke first and thought I'd have a shower and a quiet read before the others woke. Alyssa woke and got up while I was still in the shower, so that didn't quite go to plan. Then I got a cup of tea, made by Julian. Alyssa seemed to have forgotten the order she took for me a couple of days ago for a muffin and cup of tea. Anyway, she is too young to make tea. Then we went off to church for the famous hot breakfast, which Ella-Rose thought was a bizarre and crazy experience, and refused to eat anything. The rest of us had a nice meal though. After lunch I put Ella-Rose to bed, and all was well. And that's when Stacey turned up. Stacey is the loud-mouthed 5 year old "child" from next door. So Julian and I spent the next hour telling ALyssa and Stacey to stay outside, chasing them outside, and generally trying to prevent them waking Ella-Rose. Needless to say she didn't get a very long sleep.
We also got a visit from big brother Cody, who demanded disposable gloves so he could clean out his rabbits, but he told me they were for his parents to use.
When I got tired of Stacey marching round like she owned the place, and felt her and Alyssa had played (faught?) long enough I sent her home. Alyssa continued to be cheeky for awhile after she left, and then Stacey came back and I had to send her home again, and put ALyssa in timeout.
Fun
And I didn't get to read much of my book. :-(
Never mind, there's always next year.

Alyssa's plan

I thought Alyssa was keen to take Julian shopping today for a mother's day present because she's been talking about mother's day at school, and that she had thought of something good she wanted to choose for me, and I thought 'how sweet, we should encourage such thoughtfulness and enthusiasm'.
It turns out her plan was to tell daddy to get out $30 and then to buy me any old thing worth about $10-15, and then for her to buy herself a zhu zhu pet toy with the change!
Daddy didn't fall for it, so she had to leave all the toys in the shop. Never mind, the shop has more room to store toys than we do

The Science of Parenting

I believe every parent, potential parent and person who works with children should read 'the Science of Parenting' by Margot Sunderland. The modern parenting philosphy that uses research to enforce the natural maternal instincts - i.e. what I feel I should do has bee proven to be the best method for looking after babies. Pick them up when the cry and feed them when they want feeding.

New Blog

I thought I'd start a blog after watching that episode of House where the patient was a crazy blogger lady (Donna from That 70s Show), plus my friend Demelza has one. I'm not sure what to say yet though. I would like more time for art and sewing like Demelza does. I think if I think of it as craft with material I'll get more things made. the whole pattern thing makes sewing seem harder than it really is.