Tag Archive for kids

Bonfire Night and the weekend

13/11/2011 Joh family, gratitude, home

This weekend has been full. We had the kids this weekend and they went for a swim with their dad on the way home whilst I was still working. I got to have a quick beer with Cath and Scuzzi whilst admiring her new wood carving in her back yard. He’s done a great job transforming a tree into a sea eagle. I want one!!

Yesterday whilst I worked Darin and J(10) prepared a garden bed. I am really pleased because J knows a lot about gardening and often tells me about what he’s growing at home. I’ve always wanted a vege garden, so I have enlisted his help and enthusiasm. I am happy to weed and water when he’s not here. I’m very excited about that.
When I got home we went for another swim for a couple of hours. We arrived home famished and had a great meal of plum chicken and fried rice. We strolled down to the bonfire night and arrived seconds before the brilliant fireworks display began. It was perfect timing.

This morning we finished planting the vege garden, to be honest I just watched and enthused. After lunch we went for a drive to the beach to collect shells, we played in the waves. The kids slept on the way home and I am looking forward to my bed tonight.

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The Great Expedition by Peter Carnavas

24/07/2011 Joh reading

The kids are with us for the weekend. Last time they were here J(9) told me about this fantastic book his teacher had read him. He told me with enthusiasm how funny it was and about how it was a kids picture book about the explorers ‘Burke and Wills’. We ordered it at the local library and it was in, just in time for this weekend.

He read it to us. He’s been at a new school this year and I have seen an impressive improvement in his literacy skills and confidence. He genuinely enjoys learning. It’s great to hear what he’s doing at school.

‘The Great Expedition’ is as he promised a great story. I enjoyed it.

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Almost Done

08/07/2011 Joh Business, family, gratitude, learn, love, work

This week were are cleaning up and removing all our stuff from the shop. We’ve made quite a few trips. I didn’t realise how much stuff we had taken in from home and bought along the way. It’s empty of our stuff now. I just have to go in and clean up. I want to do it on the weekend so everything will be ready to go for handing over the keys early next week. I have felt a bit sad a couple of times, but most of the time I feel quite positive about it all. It’s been a great experience and I’ve learnt a lot. Although it was a brief time, it was a significant one for me.

The kids are here for the weekend. Tonight as they were going to bed, I headed for a bath and R (4) found this very strange. She thought the bath must be for her. “Only kids have baths, grownups don’t have baths”. I just got to her in time before she started peeling off her pjs for another dip. I said to her “But they are so lovely I’ve never stopped having a bath.” I think she agreed with me about baths being good, but I’m not sure she things adults deserve them, especially when it’s time for bed:).

After my bath they were still restless so I took a picture book upstairs to read to them. I read the first one, then E (6) competently read the next two. She is a great reader. I love watching them as they grow and learn. She is quite literate and even asked me why there was a ‘K’ in front of knew. I was very impressed. I love that she asks what every word she doesn’t know means and she looks at it carefully like she’s found a new mystery.

I feel very blessed right now. There are so many helpful people in the world and I am finding support in many places I didn’t expect. It has been challenging to let go of something I really believe in and love. I think we have made the right decision though for lots of reasons and I am thrilled with all the goodness that is coming from our venture.

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Bike Riding in the Sunshine

26/06/2011 Joh family, random

Today we went on a long walk along Traralgon Creek with the kids in the sunshine. It was beautiful. I love Victory park on a sunny winter day. It is a great park and the creek was running well from all the rain we’ve had. The kids enjoyed riding over bridges and along the paths. We stopped and watched some kids in the skate park. There were some real littlies on scooters, they were very brave. I enjoy watching our kids improve thier confidence on their bikes. The weekend’s weather was very enjoyable. We had long walks/rides both Saturday and Sunday and it was great to be out in it.

I have my laptop back! I haven’t spent that much time over the weekend on it, but it is good to have it back. It was too sunny to be couped up inside this weekend – have to get my vitamin D whilst it’s there:).

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So, I still don’t have a laptop- grrr Acer!

27/04/2011 Joh family, film, gratitude, holidays, home, learn, love, random

OK, so what I have learnt about being without a laptop and the internet by association, is that I rely on it for a lot of things. It makes life easier and more enjoyable for me. Perhaps I’ve come to take it for granted, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it:). Yeah I have learnt how to do a lot more on my phone, and I appreciate that too, it makes me even more connected than I was before. Actually I don’t know if I do appreciate that! The thing is you can’t know less and I’m sure it could be useful.

Grrrr… the latest news is that I have to pay for recovery disks because my laptop is out of warranty now! In the space of a couple of weeks of being without a laptop because of a fault that was under warranty and getting it back and then not creating recovery disks, I have found myself without a laptop again for an extended period of time. I use my laptop a lot. I’m bloody annoyed. I can’t even begin to say how annoyed I am and how much I’ve learnt from this experience, so I’ll just get on with saying what I need to say.

I’ve had a great Easter. We had the kids for most of the break, which was lovely. We went fishing twice. The first time we got rained out at the sandbanks. The next day we went out along the creek and had fun skimming stones but no fish were to be lured by our noisy and fun loving party:). Next time! There were some great stone skimming feats and I think that was the more fun activity of the day. I would love to share the photo’s, but alas the laptop I am borrowing doesn’t have the software! 

We got to watch some great films due to the bad weather. Up! What a classic. I will never forget seeing it at the cinema in 3D with Darin and J(who was about 8 at the time). Darin and I kept looking at each other and at Jack. I cried and laughed. It’s a great film. We watched ‘Holes’. I love that I get to share all my old favourites again with Darin’s kids.  The kids went home to their mum’s cause it was her turn this year for the Easter bunny, and they returned the afternoon to have the hunt here. It was lovely to spend time with them and enjoy the chocolately indulgence.

I did manage to work on the clip for Tom’s 21st using my expandable hard drive and Darin’s laptop. I am not a big fan of lengthy speeches(particularly if I have to make them). I made a clip for Asha’s 21st of photos and songs that I felt were meaningful to her. People asked for a copy of it, so I felt that it was effective. I got good feedback:). I find times like that very emotional so I find it easier to just press play on something I prepared earlier, than to speak. I am so excited about Tom’s 21st. I haven’t been to Hamilton Island before so that’s exciting in itself. I hope he will let me publish it to the family once he’s seen it, cause I know many won’t be able to make it to the party and yet would love to enjoy the occasion. I know I have loved seeing photo’s of events I haven’t been able to attend.

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Blogging Holiday

13/04/2011 Joh blogging, family, gratitude, home

I’m having a bit of a break from blogging because I don’t have my laptop right now, so my time online is minimal. I expect it will be back before Easter, so it won’t be for long. I’m spending very little time online right now, just checking email, making payments for the business, updating ‘The Butchers Dog’ facebook page and the bare minimum really. I’m using my phone to check all my email accounts and feeds and when I get online I only follow up the important things. I am reading heaps more and my house is in much better order than it’s been for a while.

We are having Darin’s children overnight tonight because they are on school holidays and it’s an opportunity for us to spend more time with them. That is one of the primary purposes of creating our business, so it’s great that we can take it up. Asha is also coming for dinner. We are having Roast Pork!

 I have this little snippet of time when the house is quiet and Darin’s laptop is free. I’m not complaining though, he’s very generous with his laptop and not on it half as much as I used to spend on mine. I think that will change now that I’ve had this break. It’s helped me to become aware of some of the time I waste online doing unecessary but time filling things.

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Loving Autumn

20/03/2011 Joh Business, family, food, home, learn, love, reading, work

Here today it was one of those fresh Autumn days where the sky is blue and the air is comfortable. I walked the kids to the park. I enjoyed the smells of lawn, roses and a variety of trees that met me each corner I turned. We met a lady with two dogs on our way to the park. The kids had a ball throwing balls and having them retrieve and return to them. I think the lady was happy with that, because it saved her lots of energy. Energy the both the kids and dogs had, but she and I perhaps didn’t. When she asked me if they were my children, cause they were so delightful, I really wanted to claim them, but honesty got the better of me.

I spent some time today washing. The clothes dried quickly and I got most of my laundry done. I had piles of it because I had a big clean-out upstairs and changed all the linen in the house. So in between reading Pamela Allen picture books, playing hide and seek and reading some of my current reading obsession, I washed, dried and folded clothes.  It was really convenient the day was so good for drying clothes.

When the kids returned to their mum’s we went to work to do some preparation for the week ahead. I love our Sunday nights in the kitchen. I learn heaps because there is no-one around and no pressure, so I get to ask more questions and Darin tells me heaps of interesting information. Like tonight I learned that a potage is soup that is thickened with it’s own ingredients. I watched Darin make chicken jus tonight. To be honest, before I met him I didn’t even know the word jus. We tested out our new menu item – hamburgers! –It’s a whole new world to me and I love it. There are so many things to learn about food. I had no idea. We can also have the music up much louder cause there is no one around:-).

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Full Moon in Virgo – Sunday 20th March 2011

19/03/2011 Joh astrology, family, gratitude, home, love

The moon will be full in Virgo early tomorrow morning. I think I have caught the Virgo love of cleanliness in a small way as I totally vacuumed and dusted my bedroom today and changed my sheets. I felt compelled!  My room is now this pristine space waiting for me to sleep tonight. I have thought about how good it will be throughout the day! I also had a long bath, ridding myself of rough skin, hair etc last night whilst Darin was collecting the kids. I think I have been Virgo Tripping.

So some of you may have read about this moon being a ‘super full moon’. Eric Frances: Full Moon in Virgo:Turning a Corner explains some of the finer points of the time, astrologically.Lynda Hill’s: Secret Knowledge from a Ancient Scroll: March’s Virgo Full Moon has some great quotes about knowledge and is a grounding and reassuring read. I joked with a past student who asked me if the world was coming to an end recently. I told him that no, I didn’t think the world was coming to an end so yes, he would still need to decide what he would do with the rest of his life. He smiled and said that I could read his mind. It is a strange time right now with so many opinions and predictions being thrown around, most of them based on fear. We all respond in our own ways. I try to keep my focus to what I CAN do in my own life. Live!

We have the kids this weekend and visited the local school fete. Most of the time spent there, was lining up which was a little dull. They were really good though and I hope they enjoyed the rides once they got there. I got to see some past students playing in a band, which is was great. Darin is now cooking up a feast and J(9) is creating a chocolate self saucing pudding. My contribution was going to the shop for ice-cream:-). I love these ‘family’ weekends.

 

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Normal is a Cycle on a Washing Machine

20/02/2011 Joh family, gratitude, health, reading

I just heard someone saying that to someone else and I like it!

Anyway I’m reading ‘The Winner Stands Alone’ by Paulo Coelho, and one of the characters Javits is making a list of ‘What being normal means’. He has 46 so far….here are some of my favourites:

“1. Normal is anything that makes us forget who we are and what we want; that way we can wrok in order to produce, reproduce and earn money.

7. Believing that power is much more important than money and that money is much more important than happiness.

8. Making fun of anyone who seeks happiness rather than money and accusing them of ‘lacking ambition’.

9. Comparing objects like cars, houses, clothes, and defining life according to those comparisons, instead of trying to discover the real reason for being alive.

10. Never talking to strangers. Saying nasty things about the neighbours.

15. Believing absolutely everything that appears in print.

18. Keeping a smile on your lips even when you’re on the verge of tears. Feeling sorry for those who show their feelings.

19. Believing that art is either worth a fortune or worth nothing at all.

27. Never laughing too loudly in a restaurant however good the joke.

32. Eating three times a day even if you’re not hungry.

38. Always saying ‘I tried’ when you didn’t really try at all.

43. Blaming the government for all the bad things that happen.

In conclusion, I am not normal even though I have tried some of these things. It’s a good book. I’m enjoying it.

We still aren’t smoking. Darin has actually rid himself of the patches due to the excessive dreams and broken sleep. He’s doing really well, although I’ve seen a little irritation and recognised how I’ve been cold turkey before. I’m not ready yet, I like the edge being taken off by the patches.

We had the kids this weekend and it was lovely. They beg to be taken to the library now. How gorgeous is that? We go most weekends when they are here. I love that they love books.

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Gifts from the weekend

25/01/2011 Joh family, gratitude

I have to say I love surprise pressies. On the weekend I received two late Christmas presents and they were both spot on.

My friend Cath brought me some magnetic poetry on Friday night. I had such a lovely time unpacking them on to my fridge and playing with the words. I have enjoyed them every day, plucking a word and pairing it with another to see how they fit together. I should have had them in the classroom when I was teaching, I imagine the kids would have a great play with them. I’m glad I get to play now though.

Tom and I went shopping for Kristy’s 21st present and I saw a delicate nightlight that had dandelions as a pattern on the white ceramic cover. I admired it and Tom bought it for me. I found a great book for Kristy for her birthday and I was glad I had Tom there to tell me it would be right for her because if I’d been alone I would have been uncertain and possibly would have left it. She liked it so that pleased me.

I enjoyed the 21st and having the kids on the weekend. It was busy and fun. Tom left in the early hours of Sunday morning. It wasn’t long enough, but it was lovely. We had brunch together and a shop on Saturday and I got to spend some precious time with him. It made getting one arm sunburnt on the trip to collect him worthwhile;-).

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