Now Thats Skill

Doing the washing up with a 2 year old on your shoulders.

Taylor's Class Picture

Taylor goes to school with a lot of cute children, but I have to say she is the cutest. What a little angel I have!!!

The Time is Near

Our England trip is only 2 months and 26 days away. We are unbelievably excited, I think its a little early to start my intense lists of what to pack for the plane, the trip, what we want to do there etc etc. Don't worry I'm sure I will bore you with the lists in about 2 months, I know you cant wait but you will be fine,lol.
We haven't been home for 2 yrs now and we are very ready to see everyone again, our time is limited but we are going to try and fit everything in if we can. We are spending a week in Ireland with my sister, brother in law and my sweet little niece's and Nephew, Olivia, Claudia and Jack. They live right on the beach and have built their very own huge house, so we are looking forward to spending some quality time with them. I am yet to meet my gorgeous new niece Maddie and she is without a doubt on the top of my list of people I *need* to see right away. We will be staying with my Mum and Dad and I couldn't think of any other place I would rather be. My parents are like my best friends, we get on so well and I just love being with them. We are also going up North for a few days to see all the family up there, (OK this is turning into a list so I will stop here). Masie and Taylor talk about the trip every single day, we got them a Illustory box each so they could take the time before they went to bed and write a few words about what they got up to that day, and draw a little picture. When we get back I will send them off and it will be published into a book for life long memories of their trip. The question is, do I get Hailey one? I know she is too young to really know what it is or what she is doing but maybe we could all help her do a page so she has a book too, what do you think? (I'm full of these dilemma's,lol).

Anyway, Masie and Taylor were eager to get started so I allowed them to do the front cover of the book. I think they did an amazing job. This one is Masie's and she really worked hard on this, she was up the table for almost an hour thinking, drawing and coloring. She wanted it to be just right that she practised on a piece of paper first so she could get the size perfect. I love how much she loves her Nanny, she even put 74 (her house number) on her front door. The aeroplane in the sky completed the picture nicely.

This one is Taylor's, She also loves her Nanny very much and they are both the stars of the front cover. My kids have some serious skills!!

England we are coming, please warm up a little bit, please!! My kids really dont know what cold is, they think they do, but they really dont.

Need To Smile? Watch This

The Wall

Taylor has been practicing at the park, she loved the idea of climbing the wall but was a little scared to go all the way to the top. The other day she was ready and wanted me to take pictures and a video clip to show Nanny and Daddy, so they are. Such a brave girl concurring her fear of the wall.

Hailey with Welly and Boots

Hailey just loves the tortoises, Masie and Taylor do as well but Hailey shows so much excitement when I get them out. She loves to bath them and boy if you try and feed them without her you would be in 'big' trouble. They are inside still because it still gets a bit chilly at night, but the day time is warming up slightly. Today I brought them outside for the first time this year so they could run around and eat some of the grass. Hailey wouldn't leave them alone, here are a few pictures of her playing with her pets. Apparently boots talks out of his bum, I wonder what he is saying.

Family Time in the Bush

As you know we love to be outside, the weather is starting to get a little nicer so we can be outside more. Masie and Taylor wanted to go Hiking in the bushes this weekend, so off we went. Blue sky, Lovely mountains and happy children, what more can you ask for!!

Well Hailey was happy until a snake jumped up and bit her on the hand, well this is what Hailey said happen. In fact she got a *tiny* cut on her hand from a twig, look she is showing you, isn't it huge? After that all we heard was "ouch my hand" and "look, look at my owie".

Pablo and Rex love to come on our adventures, this is Pablo saying "Can we hang on a second, we have been walking for miles" and Rex saying "Lets get moving, this is F.U.N".

What happens when you try and use the dog as a resting post?........... You fall on your Bum.

Masie and Taylor were really happy to be out in the bush, they were working together and getting on so well. They wanted to get to the mountains but I informed them that they were not as close as they looked, but they still tried. They lead the way and even after walking a long time, they managed to get us back home.

Pyjama Day at Pre K

Today was very exciting for Taylor, she got to wear her Pyjama's at school. Taylor is really happy at Cornerstone and has made some lovely friends. On the left is her good friend Ella, and in the middle is her very best friend Hannah. How fun to be able to wear your PJ's at school.

Saturday

We had a busy but lovely day on Saturday, we went up to Cloud Croft for their Annual Mardi Gras which was really fun. They had a huge tent with live music, games and stools. After having a little walk around the Parade down the main street was about to start so we headed out there. It was loud, wild and full of beads, people were throwing beads and candy all over the place so we all had a great time. After that was over we took the girls to this lovely little shop that made homemade ice-cream, it was so good. We decided to go to Las Cruces for Dinner, our favourite restaurant is Texas Road House. We had to wait a while for a table but it was so worth the wait. For those who have never been to one, it is cheap, happy environment, Great food and the best part is: you get a bucket of Monkey nuts on the table and you throw the shells on the floor, something so simple yet so fun, it makes you feel like a rebel for a little while. Taylor is such a Daddy's girl lately, he is leaving to train for his teaching job at the end of this month for about 5 weeks. Taylor seems to be having a hard time with this and is going to miss him terribly. The other two don't seem to be worried that much but my little Taylor wakes up everyday and asks if Daddy is coming home from work today.

Little Cute Girls

How Embarrassing

So Hailey decided today was the day that she was going to Embarrass the hell out of me. Three scenes all in the space of an hour.

1. Walking to my appointment, this lady walks past us in a bright red suit ( I know) and I have 4 little ones with me so people feel the need to approach us and tell me I have cute children. Well until they meet Hailey,lol. She shouts in the most clear speech that has ever left her mouth, "look Mummy, SANTA". The woman's face turned the color of her suit, she smiles and walks on.
2. Next, I'm waiting to sign in to my appointment, Mason and Hailey are sitting on the chairs a few feet from me. Hailey feels the need to bring her feet above her head and shout "look at my butt", oh but not just once, as everyone was laughing she kept on saying it.
3. About 30 minutes later we are still in the waiting room and they were getting bored so to make Peyton laugh Hailey, Mason and Giada were running up and down pretending to pick stuff up and feed it to him, Mason was finding bee's and bugs, Giada well she didn't really know what they were doing but was running with them. Hailey for the most part was picking flowers and ice cream, until she climbs under a chair and shouts :"eww, poo". Again attracting the attention of the whole waiting room, I calmly walked over to her and see something under the chair, not poo but it didn't look nice, I just pick her up and tell her it was just paper. But Hailey being Hailey wouldn't let it drop, and was totally disgusted and let everyone know it.

Now Thats Cool

The girls and I were playing around with some of the experiments we found on the Internet. This one was really quick, very cheap and so much fun, It was amazing to watch the different stages I heard so many wows during this experiment. First we got a baking tray and they each took a turn to fill the bottom with milk (full fat, the others will not work well).

Then they each chose some food coloring and put several drops around the milk.

Looks cool huh!

The above picture is what got the most Wows! We dropped 2 drops of liquid dish soap onto the milk and immediately the colors started swirling and making gorgeous patterns.

Just for a little extra fun Chris gave them a straw and they gently blew the colors around the tray.

Masie's Results

Masie got her results today from her urology tests a few weeks ago. It wasn't the best news but it wasn't the worst either, I just wanted it to be over for Masie so she could put all this behind her. The Doctor said that she was still refluxing a little, really little in fact but it is still there and could cause problems if she is not careful. Her right side is completely healed and her left side is the side with the small hole. It was huge before the surgery so it wasn't a waste. As long as she doesn't get a UTI she should be fine, he has kept her on her long term meds to keep them away (hopefully) and he will re test her in 18months. His hope is that her body will fix its self as it is so small, but only time will tell. She needs to carrying on with her peeing chart which is going every two hours, not holding for long periods of time and keep up with her fluids.

Another One Bites the Dust

So it's official, Hailey no longer attends Cornerstone Pre school. I thought it was going to be ok when we pulled up and she was reasonably happy she even opened the class door. I think it hit her then that she was staying, she started crying and telling the teacher she didn't like school. I asked for advice on what to do, and they said keep going with it and she will soon settle in. I called 20 minutes later and they said she was still unhappy, I wanted to pick her up but she asked if they could keep her until after circle and snack time. I agreed. An hour later they called me and say she needs to be picked up as she was now crying consistently. When I got there her eyes were all red and puffy and she looked so sad, she ran to me and gave me the biggest hug. In my heart I wanted to pull her out there and then but I again asked the teacher and they assured me that she would be fine in time and they see it often in the little ones. I said I will give it a few more weeks and she if she adapts. A few hours later we went to pick Taylor up and while in the car park the director runs out after us and said she needed to speak to me about Hailey........ I immediately thought well this is it, she is being kicked out again. The director is lovely and she was really kind and sweet to Hailey, but did indeed ask me if she should go ahead and dis enroll Hailey from the preschool program. At that point I agreed, I was a little disappointed that it didn't work but I guess she just wasn't ready, she can take a few months and hopefully she will be ready to start her speech class in August.

We Made Our Own Slime

This was a really fun science project that would be great for any child that enjoys hands on activities. We are always looking for different things to do and my sister in law Kristi found this cool slime recipe and was kind enough to share it with us. All you need is:
Warm Distilled Water- 2 1/2 cups
Borax- 2 1/2 Tbs
Elmer's Glue- 3/4 cup
Zip lock bags
Food coloring First whisk together 2 cups of the warm water with the Borax powder until it is completely dissolved, be patient it takes a little while but it gets there.

Next, in a separate bowl mix the rest of the water (3/4 cup) with the glue until it is mixed really well.

We stole Kristi's idea and I gave each child a zip lock bag so they could make their own color and be proud of their creation, but you could just knead it all in a bowl or however you want to do it. In each bag put 1/2 cup of the Borax/water solution add a few drops of the chosen food coloring and then add 1/2 cup of the glue/water solution.

The next step takes the longest but stick with it and it really works. Chris came in at this stage and told me that I messed it up as it was taking forever and looked really watery. I kept my cool and said "ye of little faith" (but secretly thinking, damn Ive messed it up). Basically you just knead it, play with it and squish it in the bag and it will form into slime after 5-8 minutes.

Now for the best part, take it out of the bag and play with it, it might be a little sticky but the more you mess with it the better it forms and will no longer be sticky.

Watch your little ones use their imagination and just listen to the giggles.

Please note, try to discourage your child from doing this, slime loves hair and it takes a really good hair wash and scrubbing to get it out.

Here's a little video of our slimy fun