Confirmation Ceremony

We attended Kit's confirmation service and first communion at St Marks this morning, and it was a truly blessed day. Kit was amazing, he spoke so well and had no nerves at all as far as I could tell. I will admit to a few tears as he said his creed and knelt for the blessing....the last time he was the centre of attention at church was at his christening!! It makes me so proud to look at Kit and see how he has grown from the baby I held in my arms at his Christening into the exceptional young man who knelt at the altar this morning. Love you son xox

Confirmation

Tomorrow Kit will be confirmed and will take his first communion. He's not terribly impressed as I am forcing him to wear a collared shirt and a tie, but I figure after attending church in jeans and a t shirt since he was out of nappies, God will appreciate the effort. In the spirit of which, I conned my family into dressing up and posing for pix today, because chances are by the time I've photographed him with grandparents, godparents and assorted rellies tomorrow, my chances of getting some nice shots of us as a family will be slim to none. Don't we all look swish?? All I need now is a group shot, which I'm hoping some good samaritan will volunteer to take at the church tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Music Man...

Tuesday night was the All Groups Concert at Cav Rd. Kit plays in the Concert Band and the Stage Band, so we got to see him perform twice and it was just amazing.
I love seeing him perform, 'cos I'm a total stage mother, lol, but apart from the bragging rights, it's always a big thrill to watch him get up and do his thing, it just shows how far he's come.

So here he is in his band uniform, cleverly containing his excitment at having his picture taken.


Performing in the Concert Band. He's happier now, 'cos the auditorium's dark and he can't see me with the camera, heehee.

Brag on, mama.

The Way It REALLY Happened.....

as told to yours truly by #2 son, aged nine.

ABEL TASMAN

Abel Tasman came from Dutch to discover New Holland in 1969. Only he couldn't find it, so he discovered Tasmania instead. And it wasn't joined to Australia. Which he named Van Deimans Land after his boss. Then it started snowing and his ship turned around and went South instead of North and they went to Antarctica. On the way back they discovered New Zealand. Only it was called something else. And it wasn't joined to Australia. And all the Marys lived there. And they had canoes. And then they went North and discovered Papua New Guinea. And it wasn't joined to Australia. Then they went Dutch. After one hundred years James Cook came and discovered Australia.

Questions, anybody???

Panic Button.

This week we are flat out busy at Casa Hartwell....tonight Kit is playing in the band concerts at school, Thursday is school photo day which makes today "buy a new shirt for Seb" day, since the three new ones I bought him in January all look like something you'd use to clean the car with. Sigh. Kit is armpit deep in assignments, which means that everyone at Planet Hartwell is taking a refresher course in Year Nine. Seb had another nosebleed in the night, which makes for extra washing for the maid. Since we don't have one, I guess that makes it my job. SIGH.
Kit is getting confirmed at Saint Marks on Sunday, I have yet to pick up his confirmation present or find myself something suitably restrained and holy to wear.
I'd make a to do list but I'm already hyperventilating, and it's a shame to waste a good panic attack. Paper bag, anyone???

Gettin' Real

Time for an update....things are pretty even ATM, although I'm struggling a bit to keep from spitting out a few things that I REALLY want to say but that won't do any good and will probably just cause trouble. I'm biting my tongue so hard I'm in danger of chewing the damn thing off. But so far, so good....plugging myself into my MP3 is helping...if I don't hear it, then I'm not tempted to respond, lol.
The boys are fine, although I've had to come down a bit hard on Kit...he's starting to get a bit slack with his organisation at school. I've had a couple of phone calls regarding lack of required equipment in classes, which is his responsibility, NOT MINE....the upshot being he is restricted from computer/videogame use for a fortnight apart from schoolwork. At the end of the fortnight we'll have a look at his progress and go from there. His work is all up to the mark, but if he doesn't get his head around the organisational issues, his grades are going to suffer as a result and none of us want to go there.
Seb is cruising ATM, he's got an OT workup coming up plus his Kids in Mind appointment at the Mater. His typing is coming along a treat, he has four sessions a week at school which are really starting to pay off in a big way. I'm hoping to have him fully computer integrated by next year, which means getting another laptop but since Kevin 07 and I are on such good terms, I figure I'll send him the bill(!!)
So, here we go...
REALLY I need to count to 50 before saying anything that I'll regret later, even if it feels like my head's gonna explode. I know that some things are being said with the express purpose of getting a reaction. I won't play....I'm bigger than that. REALLY.

REALLY, I am dog tired ATM which is stopping me putting my best effort in with the important stuff. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I got exactly what I asked for in my life, and I also got the tools to deal with it. Nuff said.

REALLY, I miss my mates. It's hard to lean on someone when they're 1500kms away.

And the goodies....
Music
Cool Weather
Baking with the boys
Books
My tribe of three xoxox

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to the mother of all mothers....mine!! We're not really big party people at Casa Hartwell, so a sedate weekend lunch is on the agenda, followed by bungy jumping and a trip to the tattoo parlour. Yeehah. Love you Mum xoxox

Beyond Stupid

Today was the teachers strike, so two thirds of the tribe of three stayed home with me. BIL was planning to spend his non-teaching strike day playing golf so I had a bit of a private HA HA this morning when I woke to hear VERY heavy rain hammering on my roof. Hey, at least I wasn't asking for a lightning strike. Strike or not, all the ladypops were on duty, standing in the rain, looking stupid and answering stupider questions from supposedly educated people who should have had better things to do. And it continued this afternoon, minus the rain.

STUPID PERSON: Hey, aren't you the lollipop lady?

ME: No, I'm the pope, I'm just filling in.

STUPID PERSON: Hey, there's a teachers strike y'know.

ME: That explains all the wet stroppy golfers.

STUPID PERSON: So how come you're here if all the kids are at home.

ME: I came to kiss the bitumen. It's a pope thing.

STUPID PERSON: I'm going now. Have fun. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

ME: Note to self. Purchase a taser before the next strike.

and that was the high point. Oh Yeah.

A Girl's Best Nightmare.....

Sigh....

The Day the Cable died.....

Just to add a nice dose of tragedy to my already crappy day, I turned on my TV to find 60 odd channels of green confetti. I'm already skating pretty close to the edge, and removing my entertainment does not help. I'm experiencing severe cable withdrawal.... not to mention the fact that tonight is Pie Night....how am I supposed to cope without my fix of Pushing Daisies???? Life is cruel, peeps. I rang up Foxtel and threatened gory self harm if it wasn't fixed pronto. They put me on hold. Where is the love???? Dammit, I need my cable....it's not like I'm going to get any reasonable facsimile of entertainment from the tribe of three. The only things they watch are Jurassic Fight Club and WWE wrestling, both of which they have on any number of DVD's.
Philistines. Troglodytes. Neanderthals. Where's the remote?

Two for Tuesday....

This morning has brought me a double barrelled headache....Kit was up all night coughing up a lung, so no school for him, and Sebi brought home a free sample from the Lice Fairy so no school for him. The timing is woeful...Kit was due to start his NAPLAN testing today, so I'm hoping the school can postpone it until he gets his germs under control. Sebi won't miss much although I'm ticked that there is still someone at school who is obviously not being treated....it just makes for a truckload of extra washing for yours truly, not to mention treatments and combing and all the other associated crap that goes with it. GRRRRRR. I feel like hanging a big sign on the front door, like they do at daycare centres....
"we have a case of......enter at your own risk". BLEAUGH. The only upside is that Bruce has had to be treated as well, so he's taken a family day to help with the washing and keep an eye on Seb while I get Kit to the doctors. You know what they say...the family that itches together......

The Motherload....

Ok, so behind one of these pix is my beautiful clean car....I couldn't get a good photo because Seb wouldn't put the hose down....



Tucking into a lovely roast pork dinner cooked by dad......

Told you we looked like the Pajama Mafia.....so comfortable!!

15 minute challenge update

Well, surprisingly it was easier than I thought to get Kit to join me for some basic Zen. He's right into astrology and the movements of the planets, so I guess the whole Zen mind thing has a place in there somewhere. Anyway, we did learn a couple of things. Kit is WAY stronger than me....he nearly flipped me over his head when we were doing resistance stretches. He's also WAY more flexible, dammmit....something for me to aspire to. He's also a surprisingly relaxing partner, which made for some very relaxing meditation at the end of the session.

Mothers Day

This is definately my favourite day of the year, it involves all the people I love most....my mum, my husband and my kids. I got woken this morning with tea and kisses....always a good start. Bruce and the boys got me a new dressing gown (from the men's section, lol) it's grey and black and fluffy and gorgeous, and my husband and kids have matching ones.....we look like the pajama mafia!!! Will post some pix later. I also got some Winnie-the-Pooh toe socks and some argyle knee socks...SO cute. The boys are cleaning their rooms ATM (!!!!) and this afternoon they're going to clean my car (!!!!!!) Bruce is cooking today, so we're having a pork roast for dinner. Bruce offered to take us all out somewhere, but I really love the idea of spending the day at home with my family. Mum is still in Townsville visiting Ingrid, so we had a chat this morning, she'll be back on Wednesday.

Apart from the pampering and gifting....there are so many other reasons to celebrate today. I firmly believe that I was put on this planet to be a mother. It's my calling. There are things that I get wrong every day, and will probably continue to get wrong till the day I move on, but the motivation remains the same. The knowledge that one day my sons will take their places in the world and live happy and productive lives. And if I can be responsible for even a tiny part of that, then I've achieved what I wanted.
This post is dedicated to all the mothers in the world and to mine in particular.
Love you mum xox

Scream Ow/ Birthday Bashing/Happy Dance

Today is not a good one for me....I slipped on the stairs at Massons while I was taking Seb to drum lessons on Wednesday evening and it's taken 24 hours for my back to realise that I've done something nasty to it. I wasn't too bad yesterday afternoon, but today has been something else. I worked Morella Street this morning and I could not keep warm.....my back and my right side have grade A toothache, and I've taken some fairly serious painkillers which have taken the OW factor from 15 out of 10 down to about 9.5. I'm not seeing double or anything, but I have that slightly buzzy floaty thing going on, which I hope will wear off before I hit the road this afternoon. I probably didn't help things by vaccuuming and mopping the floors this morning, but my tolerance has stretched as far as it will go...not helped by the look on DH's face when he comes in after work and the house resembles Bomb Drop Central. I want him to hook up a web cam in the lounge so that he can see what the house looks like at midday, as opposed to what he sees at 6pm after three hours of Kit & Seb dropping their stuff in piles and playing lounge footy.
Tomorrow is Razza's 30th birthday, so I'm planning on adding serious amounts of vodka to my pain meds and hoping for the best. We all clubbed together to get her a Pandora bracelet, with a "30" charm and a heart charm with her birthstone in it.
I have decided that a Pandora is definately at the top of my wish list....I have recieved some lovely jewellery over the years from DH, but it's all very dainty and fragile and I'm definately into chunky....I like beads and leather and stone and wood...helps me feel grounded.
On the happy side of today, the new SC mag is out featureing a layout by yours truly...I haven't got my copy yet, but Nay has hers and she's promised to bring it up to school before I start my shift so I can have a squizz. Nice.

Beware of Preps bearing cash.......

Today was round two of the Wishart Mothers Day Stall, which is why I spent last night up to my armpits in rock salt and bicarb soda, making bath salts. Apparantly yesterday was a bigger than expected hit, with lines of very small children bearing very large bank notes. Which meant that there wasn't much left for the older kids to buy, hence the late night beauty binge in the kitchen. I stayed for an hour to help serve at the stall this morning, and it was quite an eye opener....
Firstly, no matter how old they are, men cannot shop. Even the little ones. It was kinda interesting watching their eyes glaze over as they stood in front of the hand lotion and covered coathangers, clutching five dollar notes and mentally wishing themselves anywhere else, while the girls tag teamed their way through the $3 table.
One boy was asked if he thought his mum would like some bath salts, only to reply
"nah, she doesn't bath". Hmmmm. Body lotion was also regarded with suspicion....although a few boys wanted to know what the strawberry and melon variety tasted like. The way to a man's heart, peeps.... The cutest performance of the day had to go to the preppie who came in clutching a $2 coin and wanted to know if I had any diamond rings. Someone trained him right.

And that says it all......

Number two son....

gave me this today....


For those of you who can't read fourth grade, here's the translation, typos and all.

Dear Mum, thanks for being there for me for all these years youv helped me with a lot so this card is for you so thanks anyway your the best

and you make the best meatballs
FROM SEBI

See....told you I could cook.
Thanks Sebi....love you to the moon and back, buddha xox

Gettin' Real some more.....

So...another week...another reality check....
REALLY, I was so stoked that the boys let me photograph them this morning...they really don't like it, but were very patient and the end results were SO worth it.

REALLY, I was dead impressed with Kit going and finishing his math homework without even a nudge from me....

REALLY, we all had the best time watching the 1970's version of King Kong last night...I can't remember the last time we laughed so hard....

REALLY I am going to sign off now and make vanilla cupcakes. MMMmmmmm.

Wish List

It's officially May, peeps, which makes it Mothers Month. A day is just not enough for me....I have no shame in making this statement, because I don't consider myself a terribly high maintenence person, but there are a few things that are pretty high on my wish list, and it will probably take the better part of a month to talk the tribe of three round to my way of thinking, so I need to get in early.

1. I would like a couple of hours to get some decent shots of the tribe of three....the last really good shots I got were taken in 2006!!!! It's hard to schedule because there's always something going on somewhere, but I am determined to nail them in front of my backdrop and get the shots I want or die in the attempt.

2. I'd like my finer 50% to put some of my massive collection of music downloads onto cd's for the Cookie Monster....I'm way over listening to the boys choices.
I drive, therefore I choose.

3. I'd like the tribe of three to clean out the Cookie Monster....it's full of game chargers, coke cans and various items that defy description but are apparantly neccessary to the male species, regardless of age.

4. I'd like a day trip to O'Reillys. No biggie, everyone loves it up there.

That pretty much covers it, although I'm keeping my options open for last minute additions.

A New Challenge.....

This one comes from Alaine and it's about doing 15 minutes a day of something that will have an impact on your life.
Which I'm trying to do anyway, but it never hurts to have help.
My choice is yoga/meditation....I manage it semi-regularly and try to do at least 15 minutes after getting home from the gym, because yoga is brilliant for flexibility, and a few minutes of quiet reflection can really set you up for the day. My challenge is to get Kit to join me. He has gym three times a week and Tae Kwon Do twice, but I am keen to get him to work on flexing his mind as well as his muscles.
So, my challenge is to add three sessions of yoga stretches and meditation to Kit's weekly program, which we will do together to the accompaniment of much whining and general moaning. Remind me to charge my MP3.

Northern Exposure

Tomorrow Nanna goes to Townsville to see my sister & her family in Giru, which is kind of a wide spot on the road between Townsville and whatever you run into before Australia finishes. She'll be gone for 10 days which is approximately how many lectures I've been given about remembering to feed the kids/animals, wash the clothes, fuel the car, check the mail, and you get the picture.....and it's not like I need reminding. Much. I mean, I did give birth to said children, y'know. I'm not likely to forget about them anytime soon. Not with my stretch marks. And running out of petrol with a car full of hungry naked kids is not something I aspire to on a regular basis. Although there's always a first time. And if I do run out of pet food, I'll utilise the emergency food chain. Cats eat rats, dogs eat cats, kids eat dogs.....I believe it's a delicacy in some countries. A little organisiation is all it takes...