Just some random photos of the kids in Feb...
My two favourite photos of Eloise taken this month...
I didnt get a chance to Take any of Talia, she has turned into a tween and doesnt like her photo taken...hopefully next month.
Megan....
Matthew has hit the age of pulling funny faces every time the camera is out....funny boy
Joel is now walking more than he is crawling, he is getting more and more confident every day...clever boy
Eloise has been moaning for a while about sore eyes and I have been meaning to book all the kids in for eye tests before school started but the girls were up in Kununurra and only got home just before school started. However I did book both myself and Matthew in. I went first to show Matthew was was going to happen and as suspected my eyes are fine.
However Matthews test showed that he has a problem in his right eye. A slight stigmatism and he is slightly short sighted. He is to go back in six months for a check. There is nothing they can do at the moment.
I managed to get the girls eyes checked and Talia has perfect vision much to her relief. Eloise also has perfect vision however her eyes are having problems focusing (causing the sore eyes) so glasses were ordered.....
Today we went and picked them up.
She only needs them for reading and in class...she looks so cute. We go back in six months for a check up as well.
Matthew now takes the school bus to and from school. He gets picked up from out house at 7.34 am and dropped off again at 4.14pm. He is one of the first to get on and one of the last to get off.
It becomes quite a long day for him. In the morning he is given a small snack before going to class and in the afternoon he comes inside and the first thing he says is "mum I am hungry" He just loves it....
He races out side every morning to wait on the drive way and quivers when he sees it driving down the road...
Joel is now 21 months old and its time for him to get out into the big wide world and start to socialise with other kids...to learn those very important social skills.
Now that I am studying, I need time to do my assignments and to study..
Its time for Joel to go to daycare. All the kids at one stage or another have been and its good for them. So Joel is booked in for Thursdays...
He had his orientation yesterday, he got to stay for an hour and played and I got to stay....he thought it was the greatest....
This morning I dropped him for his first day.....and he cried....and cried....but mummy didn't....
I only left him for a few hours and yes he cried when I picked him up....other than those few emotional moments he had a great time....he loved the play dough.
In the last few weeks a few big decisions have been made. One of those I have been contemplating for a while and mulling over my options.....going back to work and how to do this while keeping balance with the family.
Most of you know that I am a trained dental assistant, and even though I have been out of the scene for a while its the kind of job you can jump back into. How ever its not family friendly as its a 9-5 job and putting 4 kids into daycare/after school care is not an option....and I really really don't want to go back to dental...
So my other option that we came up with was to study ....and if I was to study ......what to study...
I need something that I can be home for the kids when they come home from school....I need to be home for school holidays. I need a job that is flexible...
So I have decided to do an correspondence course and become a Teacher Assistant.....Perfect solution....I could become a teacher but I really don't want to study for 4 years...I am after all getting long in the tooth now...so this way I get to have all the fun.
So I signed up and have started back studying...scary but fun...
After 18 units and 3 weeks of practical I will be going back to work...but only part time....
The girls flew back from Kununurra on Friday and we had the weekend to get ready for school....
I cant believe Talia is in year 7 already....my baby is growing up
Eloise a big year 4 girl....
Everybody was excited and I dropped off the girls at school, walking them each to class before driving Matthew to Pre-primary..he will start taking the bus next week.
Today was Darian's day off and since the weather has cooled off...we have had 2 days of 30 degrees which have been bliss after the stint of over 40...
Anyway we decided to take the kids out for a few hours and what better place than Hillarys Boat Harbour....
We sat and had calamari and chips at Sharkies, the kids had a strawberry milkshake each and then we had a quick walk around. We bought Megan her first pair of sunglasses
We then headed down to the beach for a swim...
Joel loved the water, he wanted to get down and crawl and when he did he just kept going.
I am sure if we hadn't of got him he would have just kept going to Africa...
Matthew was having a great time in the water, I must do this more often....
More random snaps at the beach
After drying off we headed up to have an ice cream at Cold Rock. Megan had cookies and cream with gummy bears
Matthew had Strawberry with boysenberries and Darian had Mango....yummy
Joel had a bit of everyone's...
It was such a nice day...
It has been so hot here over the last few days..all over 42 degrees Celsius...
In the evenings after Darian gets home from work we sit out side have a drink and catch up while watching the kids swim. Joel just toddles around getting into all sorts of mischief
Standing at his walker
The bear crawl to the fence as he doesn't like the feel of the grass on his knees
Laughing at his brother and sister in the pool....
In his little red wagon that he got as an early Xmas present
We invited Mum and George to spend Christmas with us and they arrived Christmas eve. We also had a BBQ so we invited some friends around to celebrate. We had all 5 kids Christmas eve so it was really nice to be surrounded by family.
The kids didn't have a late night...about 9.30pm and they were sooo excited. We on the other hand didn't get to bed until 2 am and only then did Santa get to visit our house..
5.30am Christmas morning there was a very excited knock on our bed room door "SANTAS BEEN"...yep we were awake....just...
We managed to keep the kids calm until 8 am then we told them yes you can go wake Gran and George...
Then the present opening started...love this bit....the girls all got a R4 chip for their DS....each has over 80 games and you can delete and add. They also got a fluffy pillow each and some new clothes...
Matthew got a worm farm and from Gran and George the kids got a crazy crab each....happy kids
At about 10.30 Megan went home to her Mum and the girls were picked up shortly later....the house was a lot quieter...
The afternoon was quiet, we had a bbq and I made my first Christmas pudding which turned out yummy...
The boys were tired and went to bed very early...but very happy
Talia being her beautiful self and thinking of others bought a bubble machine for the little kids.
Joel was fascinated by the amount of bubbles that were coming out, we often blow bubbles but this machine filled the room up.
Look mum trying to catch them
Watching the bubbles come out of the machine
Time is flying by and our baby isn't a baby anymore...he is growing up fast...even though he is not walking yet he is extremely fast at crawling...he is also pulling himself up to stand and pulling himself up onto the coffee table and lounge...
His favourite song is catch a falling star and loves to play open, shut them...
Matthew finished school on Wednesday but the girls finished today. They have slowly been bringing home work books, art and all the various projects they have done during the term. I love sitting down and looking though all of it. I always keep some and the rest goes into recycling or rubbish..
They also bought their reports home...Talia has done extremely well this year and we were blessed to have such a great teacher for her, with all the trouble Talia has gone through this year with one particular girl I am grateful she has made it through. There is also news that that girl wont be going back to our school next year. Talia has learnt many lessons this year and not all of them were academic...I am so proud of her. Year 7 here we come
Eloise's report was surprising, she is a bright girl however she has struggled with her reading and because of this Maths. This year things have slowly started to come together for her. Her reading is 100% better now we just need to work on fluency. I am just hoping that she gets a teacher next that she gels with as this will make all the difference in year 4 for her.
The Kindy kids have been practicing their Christmas songs so that they could perform for us parents.
They sung the ABC, and sung Rudolf the red nose reindeer...I video taped the whole thing. Each child was also presented a Kindergarten diploma....
After the concert the kids sat down and had a small party to say good bye to Kindy and their friends for the holidays.
Matthew can't wait for Pre-primary...
I had my case conference with Matthews Kindy Teacher, speech therapist and head master today about where to place Matthew next year...if he should stay at the language centre or go to main stream school.
I was really hoping that he would stay at the LDC...and yes he will be...he is doing really well apart from his attention or lack of...we will speak to the pediatrician about this before next year...
So he will be going to pre-primary at the LDC and be reassessed at the end of next year again..he will also be taking the bus to school...they pick up and drop off at our house. No more driving ...YAY
I also applied for passports for both Matthew and Joel...they arrived and we have booked a holiday to Bali for next April....just before Joel turns 2...saves us paying for him...I am so looking forward to it....
Joel is starting to cruise the furniture now..the physio wants his hips and knees to get a bit stronger before he walks ...so lots and lots of cruising
Joel is now 18months old..he is 10kg and 81cm long.....
For the first time ever we let Talia go out trick or treating with some friends...she decided to go as a dead cow...
She came home with quiet a stash and very happy...there were quiet a few groups of kids out and we even had a few witches and vampires at our door...
