little day out.
We’re goin’ on a little day out,
We’re off to somewhere!
It’s a big surprise,
won’t know till we get there.
It might be inside,
it might be out.
Won’t it be great,
when we find out.
That’s what we like about…
our Little Day Out
Little Day Out
LIttle Day Out.
When I heard Justine Clarke was coming to town, I knew Cassidy and I would have to go. Cass is what you would describe as a Justine groupie.
I didn’t let on to Cassidy that we were going (or even tell her Justine was in town for that matter). Steve and I concocted a cunning plan which involved Isaac leaving early for school and Cassidy wagging it. I wish I could have captured her face when I said to put on a pretty dress because we were going on a LIttle Day Out (one of her favourite Justine songs).
Off we went, with just a quick stop in for Pa to take some quick photos of us in our frocks (thanks Pa!) She questioned me all the way and was getting pretty ticked that I wouldn’t tell her where we were going. I continued to sing ‘LIttle Day Out’ to her; inserting words in the annoying way only a mum can do…
“We’re off on a little day out…we’re off to somewhere…it’s a big surprise…Cassidy can’t know till we get there!” This, as you can imagine, ticked her off even more.
Into the theatre we went and again, where was the camera when Justine came out on stage. Cass shrank back in her seat in a “good grief, she’s alive” kind of way. She stayed there for the first half of the first song, then was on her feet and didn’t sit down for the rest of the concert. When the final number was announced, she turned to me aghast and said “but mummy, it can’t possibly be over already!!” like the fate of the free world rested on Justine singing on.
I was all ready to give her the rest of the day off school but, by hook or by crook, she was going back to school to terrorise prep with a Justine themed show’n'tell with the starring prop being her souvenir Justine t-shirt.
From a mums perspective, make sure you give Justine Clarke a try if you haven’t already. She seems very normal which can be hard to find in children’s entertainment. Her music is fun and the kids love it, yet manages to avoid making you want run her CD’s through the shredder after 67 rounds in the car.
father.
I was the first grandchild in my family. As the first grandchild, you get certain privileges. One of these was creating a namesake for my grandfather. My Nonna would try in vain to get me to say “grandfather” but all I would ever get out is “Father”. And so Father he was to all of the six grandchildren that followed and to his three great grandchildren as well. I remember him saying one day he wondered how it sounded to strangers when he was out somewhere with the grandkids and they heard an old man being called ‘Father’ by a gaggle of kids.
Early this morning, Father passed away after suffering a massive stroke yesterday. He and Nonna are away on holiday in their caravan but my mum and her brother and sister made it up there in time to see him. All of the grandkids got to talk to him on the phone and we know he heard us.
I count us all as blessed. Blessed that his children made it to see him, blessed that we all got to say goodbye and blessed that my Nonna didn’t have to endure watching him decline further. Blessed that my own children have known and will have memories of their great grandfather – not many families have that.
Blessed also because something made me stop during the frantic-ness of Christmas morning last year and take this photo of Father, Nonna and the kids. This photo is worth so much more to me now than when I took it. In fact, I didn’t even blog it at the time because it was posed, Isaac looks forced and in general I didn’t think it was that great.
There will never be enough photos and I will forever regret the ones I didn’t take, but today, to us, this one is just perfect.
kooky kookas.
I’m not usually one for wild life photography. Usually by the time I fetch the camera said wildlife has flown, scampered, hopped or slithered away ( or is slithered to creepy??) just to tick me off.
I do like the kookaburras though and the way they always seem to be checking you (and your sandwich fillings) out. These guys came to visit on the verandah while we were visiting Nanna and Pa in 1770 for a couple of nights. We had one kooka visit first and the kids fed him what seemed like about 300 grams of deli ham and half a barbecue chicken. He left but soon returned with a three-strong flock of backup.
I like to wonder what he ’said’ when he went to find his mates….”okay boys, there’s small humans and we have a confirmed ham sighting. We want to do well out of this so remember – cute and cuddly!!” 
ridin’ along on my pushbike, honey.
Master William’s mummy wanted to attempt getting Master William on the back of a bike. Master William wasn’t so sure about this development.
Uncle Steve got him strapped in (screams and all) and as soon as the bike was in motion, this was his expression. Pain before gain.
After a couple of soothing laps in the culdesac, the next step in our dastardly plan was to get a helmet on him so they could go for a ride up to the shop. At first, more screaming ensued but it could have something to do with the fact we only had Cassidy’s old pink helmet complete with fairies for him to wear. If we tried to strap a pink helmet with fairies to Isaac’s head, I reckon he’d scream too.
the snow pilgrimage.
We were more than ready when our yearly snow holiday came around a couple of weeks ago. The countdown had been on for weeks and the kids were beyond excited. Their mummy and daddy weren’t far behind them in the excitement stakes – we both love the snow and everything that goes with it. I’m sure my American and Canadian friends are now convinced we’ve completely lost the plot, but when you only have to put up with wet clothing for two weeks of the year (and pay for the privilege), it makes finding the fun in being wet and cold a lot easier!
As a side note, prepare yourself for some of the dodgiest holiday pics you may have seen in a while. We realised (way too late) that somehow my camera had been left at home. I know, don’t ask, and yes there were tears when I realised. That’s what packing at 2am gives you. My darling husband arranged to have it shipped down to us, but we did survive a fair amount of the trip on our point and shoot and our iphones – known for fitting in your pocket, not their quality. Please also excuse the frozen, lifeless photos of my children. Taking photos whilst in the snow is purely an inconvenience to them. I restrain myself from running after them with the camera yelling “you’ll appreciate this when you’re older” when other people are around.
Here’s the kiddos in the car on the way down. It was a tough trip – DVD players, an endless selection of DVD’s, travel packs that mummy put together specially and a constant supply of food that doesn’t have a place on the food pyramid. Being the troopers that they are, they survived 
You pass some amazing scenery on the way down to Victoria. One of the not-so-amazing scenes would be a park in the tiny town of Moree. The kids however will forever remember it as the park with the bigger-than-Ben-Hur rocket slide. They exploded out of the car and ran liked caged anaimals up and down the thing for twenty minutes. Suddenly I found the dodgy park quite attractive when the kids were exhausted after five trips up the four storey ladder. The standard “when are we going to the snow again” questions has now been edited to be “when are we going to the snow again so we can go on the rocket slide on the way there”. I do admit, it is a cool slide but I did have to restrain myself from thinking of all the local teenagers that probably use it as…..hmmm, probably best I don’t ponder any further.
On the way down we stopped for two nights at our friends Dave and Renata’s. Dave and Renata happen to be mum and dad to Isaiah (hero to Isaac) and Ellie (hero to Cassidy) plus twins Judah and Elijah. They also happen to live on a farm. Dave also happens to work on aeroplanes at a special aircraft museum. Say no more. Here’s the boys having a soft drink and looking at fighter planes – does it get any better for eight year old boys? Zai is quite the expert on planes and gave me a fantastic five minute informative talk on the one they’re standing in front of (cutest thing ever!) The pilot that flew for a display also let the boys climb on his plane – it’s who ya know in this business.
Among the multitude of animals on their farm, the kids also have two kittens. One is called Softie and one is called Caramel Ice Cream. At least, they did have two kittens. I’m quite sure they’ve since run for the hills since they experienced Cassidy’s form of smothering ‘love’ in full force. I don’t think either cat placed any of its four paws on the ground for the entire time we were there. I can’t make up my mind which photo below is more disturbing; the left or the right. And yes, the kitten is actually asleep. Either that or hypnotised by the spirals in Cassidy’s eyes.
One night, this smart kitten decided the boys were the safer option (the kids all had their own beds but it ended up like this every night )
Our pretty little abode. Pay no mind to the sweet looking children on the left and the right – it’s the same ones pelting their dad with snowballs in the middle.
My snow bunnies. Don’t you just love the “if we stand still she’ll be done quicker and we can go play” expressions.
Mr. Isaac is a seasoned skier and was off and away after one slow trip down the slope and we honestly didn’t see a lot of him after that! He did get talked into one day of ski school and came back able to ski backwards. Awesome. Not exactly what I had in mind, but awesome. One of my favourite memories of the trip is him skiing past me grinning and said “Mummy…m’lady!” in a voice resembling a sleazy guy from a bar. I have no idea where he got this from, but I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants. Not good when it’s -2 and you’re on skis.
If anyone was like us and raced to Aldi to pick up one of their el cheapo toboggans recently – be warned. It’s lethal and you’re completely at it’s mercy whilst on board. I went down a few times and screamed like a little girl. It’s impossible to keep the thing facing forward and you spin in uncontrollable 360’s whilst reaching speeds unnatural for the human body.
Cass-a-dass did a mammoth three days of ski school and would have gone back for more. She began the trip with buckets of determination but little to no skill and by the end was catching the chairlifts with us and doing the green runs. This is the best we can do of a photo of all four of us on the chair lift – we were so proud of her!
Cass and I also spent a fair bit of time together hanging out in the coffee shop or waiting for the boys. She was high as a kite after ski school each day, brimming with her own success. I always loved the day’s update – “I’m in the Junior Joeyths (Joeys) group now mum and I got all my tickths (ticks)”.
Some randoms. What’s a holiday blog post without randoms I say. We had our lovely friends the Walsh’s come visit us for a couple of days and all the kids had a great time ’sleeping’ in the bunk beds and playing. Master Jesse is a bit of an Evil Canevil and came of second best to their toboggan after a wild and somewhat icy ride down. Despite the blood, there was nothing drastic and by the time he had milo and a bikkie all was forgotten.
Some favourites to finish with.
1. Pretty, pretty snow on some pretty, pretty steps. I would like a set of stone steps. The steps I could work on; the snow in Brisbane not so much.
2. My favourite spot in the house. I have told Steve in no uncertain terms that if he truly loves me, he will find a way to build me a window seat. I’ll keep you updated on that one.
3. Isaac wrote a postcard to his ‘girl’ Ebony. It says “Hi Ebony. You know I have been at the snow. Here’s what I have been doing. Skiing. See you on Monday at school. From Isaac Austin”. Be still my heart, is he not the most adorable boy ever?
Now to make myself delete the Snow Watch off my desktop and try not to count the days till next year…xoxo
petite princess parlour
One night recently, we had dinner out. Emma had taken Cassidy and William for a walk outside the restaurant as William was getting a bit restless. Cassidy went because William went
Shortly after they left, Cassidy ran back into the entry of the restaurant and hollered at the top of her voice, “Mummy!!!! Come quick and see!!!!”. It was a nice restaurant. My daughter was very uncouth. I went so to shut her up as quickly as possible. I walked outside, ready to marvel over the pond of goldfish that’s right outside the entrance. But no.
Opposite where we were having dinner was a new shop front called Petite Princess Parlour. Doesn’t the name just speak for itself. They hadn’t opened as yet, but apparently Cassidy pressed her nose up against the pink tissue paper covered doors and said, “Aunty Em!!! It’s all pink in there”. The lovely owner whose name is Katrina, heard her (I’d say most of the suburb heard her) and came and opened the doors so she could have a look. Katrina and I got chatting (as you do!) and their opening night was going to be the following evening.
The rest is history: I offered to come by to take some photos which I did. Then we arranged another mini party-themed shoot. Cassidy came along with me and, being the sweet lady that she is, Katrina popped a tutu on her and invited her to join in with the other girls. Cassidy may as well have little princess shaped spirals going around her eyes.
Not only that, Katrina offered for Cassidy to have her birthday party there this year. Cass is evolving into a bit of a hair/makeup/all-things-sparkly addict and we had already talked about having a beauty parlour themed birthday. As you can imagine, when Cassidy heard this offer laid on the table, my suddenly dodgy idea of a party at home was given a big shove into the back seat. I would sulk, but one can’t compete with a princess themed room, glitter hair spray on tap and nail polish in two dozen shades of pink.
See what I mean. There was no hope for me really. I’m taking pills and having injections to get used to the idea of not doing a party myself. I have thought of one major advantage though – if I’m not running the party, I’m free to take photos (I’m sure other photographer mums will understand this is a yearly birthday party struggle!)
So, in summary:
1. Make sure you go to the the Petite Princess Parlour website and plan to take your own princess/es sometime soon (it’s linked above but for some reason I can’t get it to show up in a different colour). Katrina doesn’t just do parties, you can go in just because!
2. My blog commenting is finally fixed!!! Feel free to test it out and leave me one listing the benefits of not having ten screaming six year olds run through our house brandishing make up and nail polish.
winter sunshine.
These two are mine. Am I not the most blessed mummy in the world.
I love the first two of Cassidy, I was trying to fix her fringe which she insists on constantly brushing to the side. The second photo is her anticipating another attack from the Fringe Fixer Monster as she calls me. This is a daily event.
My boy is getting so big and so handsome. He lay down on the grass first. I was setting up to take a photo of him when miss-no-show-without-punch lay down too. He proceeded to reach behind his head and swat her like one would a fly. She swatted him back. It turned raucous. They have an innate talent of going from the sublime to the ridiculous within moments.
We laughed a lot that sunny afternoon at home. It’s hard not to when these two self-taught comediennes are around.
the booth bracelet.
This past weekend was a busy one. The boys went to Mackay and Cassidy and mummy had a couple of days at home. We did the shopping, we did drawing, we did activities that rate high on Cassidy’s list of “things I like to do with mum with her undivided attention”. On Sunday, Cassidy had the day with Nanna and Pa as I had to go to a wedding expo.
As a little background, I recently bought a ‘make your own words’ cheapie necklace. I put the letters “booth me” on there (our catch cry for the booth). I have been wearing it a lot for work and get quite a few comments. Cassidy had noticed this. So while she was at Nanna’s, she made me a booth bracelet to go with it. She drew pIctures of the booth, hole punched them and tied them together with one of her hair ribbons.
I’m sure you’ll agree that there can’t be many things in this world more adorable than that. My favourite bit is the mis-placed hole punches where things obviously didn’t go to plan and she put them on the other side. If only I could figure out a way to wear it without ruining it (it’s already had several near misses dangling into my cups of tea) so I’ve kept it on my desk until I can find a frame for it. Thank you my beautiful, beautiful girl xoxo
crossth country.
(Note to self: I wonder if I’ll ever stop hearing Cassidy’s voice in a lisp. I can picture myself when she’s twenty still hearing her “sth” everything in my head. Her teacher assures us she will grow out of it…but in all honestly I hope it lasts a little longer – it’s only the cutest thing ever).
Sorting through random snaps tonight I found these, remembered, and had to blog the memory right away.
The kids had their cross country day at school recently. Isaac thought it to be rather old hat, but Cass-a-dass was most excited. She told me in the lead up to the day that she thought she had a pretty good chance but she “was a bit worried about Drew because he has very long legs”. I told her that I was pretty sure the boys run a separate race from the girls. After this reassurance, she came to the conclusion that she was a shoo-in for the girls. Steve and I looked blanky at each other; both anticipating the horror of the day when our daughter, who most certainly does not have very long legs, straggled along at the back of the pack and had her hopes of cross country prowess dashed.
The day came and her steely confidence continued. She started off well and then 50m on was….still was going well. 100m in and she was three yards clear of the pack in a 200m long race. I wish I had photo proof of this, but Steve and I were so hysterical (in a supportive parent kind of way) that I was too far away and helpless to take pictures. She continued her ridiculously long lead right up to the 180m mark and then stopped dead. I ran over to her and she said “I’m tired mummy”. The tears came after the the other kids ran past her and she realised she hadn’t made it right to the end. We told her she was amazing. Which she most certainly is.
There’s the theory that some sort of freak gene has crept into her bloodstream since birth – neither Steve or I are what you would consider ’sporty’ people (insert snorts form my friends and family here. So I don’t like sweat. So what). I personally think what she lacks in leg length she makes up for in determination. Somehow I know our baby will always go a long way.
all the single babies.
Wiiliam’s available 
Aunty Kate was having a tough morning yesterday but when a little package of moosh in a stripey shirt and jeans showed up, I suddenly felt a lot better! Em went to set up his porta cot (would you believe I got all these smiles five minutes before he was due to go to bed) and I decided to break out the camera, considering Will has been rather weary of it in recent times.
It’s amazing how a few short weeks can make a difference because yesterday all he did was flirt with the camera and come over and “ughhhmmfhh” at me which I understood as “show me the back of the camera so I can see how cute I am”. I was then rewarded by a huge grin.
Aunty Kate loves ya baby and is very glad we’ve resolved the weirdness between you, me and the camera….that just wasn’t gonna fly. xoxox
