Videos

Now that I have a newer version of my Mac browser, I can finally upload video on blogs and youtube. Yay. So here's a few random ones - mostly for my family who have yet to meet Nick, and who haven't seen the kids in ages. :( I did it the easy way and uploaded them to youtube. You can copy and paste, or just go to www.youtube.com, search for 'sypkes' - I put that label on all the videos I upload. Nicholas or Necklace? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPYOxHjC4Fs The kids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WpbSzHh8y8 All mummy's kids are growing up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlMqyzqM7qU\ Brothers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmj9VhYo1FM

Nothing

That's it, I got nothing. Keep wanting to blog, but haven't got the stuff. Where's the funny quotes and silly antics? Guess I'm too busy sticking to THE PLAN. ;)

Don't be fooled

I've never done this before, so don't get any ideas that this is my norm. I often have ideas about the day in my head, but I've never written it down like this before (although my sisters may not believe me about that). Okay, I admit, I have WANTED to, but I've kept from doing it because: 1) I wanted to do it right, you know like maybe using stickers with pictures since the kids obviously can't read, or magnets or something, and I had never gotten around to organizing that, and 2) I like to be flexible and see how the day goes (as in, what if I don't FEEL like it, and the TV is doing a PERFECTLY good job entertaining them at the moment?!! :) But I spontaneously wrote this up on the whiteboard last night, and true to form, Daniel LOVED it. I told him it was just a plan, and it might change if we needed to do something different (to which he was not impressed, and at lunchtime even said to me "so we HAVEN'T had to change it!!", kind of like 'I told you so...'). He referred back to it multiple times and even wanted me to cross them off as we went. I've probably done myself in, but then, in a strange way, it was fun to work to a plan (no Andrew it's not a schedule!). They didn't mind turning the TV off when it was time for the next thing, and rest time even started quickly because that was THE PLAN. So here's to "Plans for the Day". May they not be my undoing. ps. when i wrote 'get dressed to music' i just thought it was more interesting than writing 'get dressed', and figured I'd put on the ipod. but daniel took it to heart and 'played' the guitar and sang his brand new single "Let's get dressed" to Laura while she chose her outfit for the day (red and pink together nonetheless!!!). gee I love them.

A crazy beautiful day

Congratulations Shaz and Stu on a crazy beautiful day. My sister-in-law, Sharon, got married last Saturday, and in typical fashion, nothing was traditional. Well, the 2 bridesmaids (of which I was one) WERE wearing the same dress and shoes and hairstyle, but that's about it cause we came down the aisle on scooters (yes, really), the best man absailed from the ceiling, and they had a digital screen as the backdrop which had animated stick figures of a bride and groom who mimicked much of what was happening. Hilarious. And then at the reception Stu played Deal or No Deal for things to take on his honeymoon, and they had a 'Great Debate' about whether the Bride or Groom was the better catch. Serious fun. Sharon just ready and not knowing what to do?!!! Being the good bridesmaid that I am... Fun hair Crazy silly matching girls! Seriously beautiful. Gee they scrub up well! Getting stuck in contruction on the way to the wedding. Sharon's plans to NOT BE LATE were sufficiently thwarted. Excited brothers waiting for their sister to get out of the car Here she is You'd think the 3 of you guys could get this thing going...?!! (this was one of the scooters we rode into the ceremony!) Married and enjoying the reception I haven't yet gotten photos from other people of the ceremony, but stay tuned...

I like this

Maybe I feel like some validation, I don't know, but I like this. I don't have anything against my friends without kids, that's not it, I just like how she describes my life...

Teachers V Mothers

It's started. Daniel came home a few minutes ago saying "Mum, Mrs Caglayan said that we're not supposed to lick our fingers and then turn the pages of a book... but you do that sometimes." Ahhh, yes, Mrs Caglayan is more right than me, I'll get used to that in good time.

What's funny...

...watching both D & L eat an entire raw carrot each while watching Bugs Bunny! ...a 4-year old running to the bathroom pulling his pants down prematurely while telling himself out loud, "make it, make it, make it!" ...a 2-year old using the word "otherwise". "It wouldn't be good if he wee-d on the floor, otherwise we might slip."

Little Milestones

Nick is now 4 months old, and his big brother started Kinder yesterday (that's the australian word for preschool). Daniel loved it, and really didn't look back, barely even said goodbye to me (he did do a 3 year old preschool in the U.S.). Laura would have stayed if I had let her. I told her we could go get her a lunchbag too, and go home and paint too, all like Daniel. She felt proud after that. But everything we did at home had a mention of Daniel in it, from the painting (I wrote her name on a painting -and she wanted daniel's name on it too), to lunch ("I'll save one for Daniel"). She misses him. Not the sad teary kind of missing him, just a natural tendency to include him in everything since he's normally there. Very sweet. I think she and Nick will become good friends during the time Daniel's at school (2 full school days per week), so it'll be fun for Laura to get to be just the big sister. They wear uniforms here at most schools. Kinder/Preschools are often actually at a school, so they wear the same uniform as all the other kids. He is pretty obsessed with any clothes that are dark (to be scary) or stripey (to be a tiger), so the uniform didn't get a huge reception, but he wore it without too much issue. After school he was sitting on the porch waiting for me to unlock the door, looking pretty spaced out, and I asked him if he was tired. "Yeah, but I sure did love it mum." Gotta love that. 4 months old and able to hold himself up much better for these photos now. Very proud of himself for being able to roll onto his tummy and look around! Falling asleep copying Laura's doll... Yeah, smart kid, waving at 4 months. :) I'll take the smile behind the blanket though! The kids with Big Opa and GrandMarie (great grandfather and grandma)

A morning's entertainment

Spray water bottles - who knew?!

Random

It's so lovely to watch sleeping kids, particularly when these 2 quiet times [pictured below] started with, "I'm definitely not going to sleep, mom." (a sleep is actually rare now, but I love the way he just can't help himself sometimes). This is how I found Laura one night at midnight. She hadn't wanted her jammies on, so I guess she was trying to prove the point that she could indeed sleep in her dress. All power to you girl. She must really love him if she shares her dollies with him. And the best part was her sitting there chatting away to all of them... For our 10th anniversary we had 3 nights away (thank you Oma!). we brought Nick, but then the place we stayed -surprisingly- offered to watch him during dinner! So we enjoyed 3 dinners **in a row** without kids. Luxury. The first night was our actual anniversary - pictured is dessert. Yum. I reckon Nicholas is the happiest of all our kids as babies. He's so ticklish, waits for people to look at him, and loves cuddles. Gotta love that. Parents are probably the only ones who can love this type of picture of their kids... but I really do love it.