Perth's big storm

Ok, on Monday we had a severe storm hit Perth. I sat on the trampoline with James as it rolled in as he hasn't had much opportunity to see lightning as most of our storms are at night time here. He loved seeing the clouds rolling in (and they were amazing!! twisting and surging every which way), the lightning flashes and then exclaiming at the volume of each crash of thunder!

The kids loved the storm, running around in the rain and hail! We had some damn big hail, getting close to golf ball size in some instances, thankfully, the car only received a few dents on the roof and apart from the garage flooding, we escaped unharmed :)

So, here are some pics - pretty crappy but you get the idea :)

James collecting 'yummy ice' to eat heheh

The view from our back step as the storm hit

Doing a jig after the hail has stopped

Scooting down the river hehe

As the water recedes....

The big kid got in on it too!!

The toy room is done!!

Ok, so last week I finished the toy room but I couldn't find the camera to take pics. Well, I've found the camera :)

So here are the pics! I'm really pleased with it, especially the fact that as everything has it's own home, it all get packed away really easily and the kids have been keeping it tidy with NO help from us!! Woooohoooo!!

View from the door. The cabinet in front of the window I picked up off the side of the road (Thanks Donni) and is just perfect for the toy room! In the drawers, we have (L-R) matchbox cars, littlest petshop animals and bits, random small toys and figurines for the dolls house (the dolls house is folded up and slid in beside the expedit bookcase). The expedit is in the robe recess and we have Taylor's books and other special books on the top shelves, communal books on the bottom shelves, James' books on the second and Ellie's books on the third shelves.

James' little workshop bench is in between the bookcase and the sofa bed (which I also picked up from the side of the road with Donni's help). It keeps it kinda out of sight out of mind for Ellie as she doesn't see it as soon as she walks in the room so it all stays together MUCH better than it used to!

The kids love the sofa bed (please ignore the knickers and makeup on Taylor). James slept on it over the weekend when we had Lilly here for a sleepover. I need to make a cover for it as it's such horrible fabric to sit on!

Beside the sofa bed is the toy box, fan and heater. All necessities of course!

So glad the James and Taylor are sharing a room now! Life is much easier having that extra living area.

the start of a new week

I've been thinking about making little weekly planners for each of the bigger kids so that in the morning I'm not constantly reminding them what is happening. I was browsing blogs earlier and found this post and went ooooh that's a nice simple idea that should work well!! So, I've made the pages and now all I need is to print them :)

Let's see how we are going for the meal plan :P

* Thursday - Richard made the kids and his dinner and I had fried rice
* Friday - possibly going out...... I did indeed go out!!
* Saturday - something simple - bacon and eggs? I made fried rice instead
* Sunday - lamb korma roast with baked veggies I didn't get it out of the freezer in time so we had fajitas!!
* Monday - fajitas so, I need to come up with something else for tomorrow cos we had it tonight lol I'm thinking spag bog (will just have to cook the pasta for the kids as the sauce is in the freezer) and I'll have left over fried rice from last night!
* Tuesday -savoury mince
* Wednesday - chicken and veggie stir fry with noodles
* Thursday - fish, chips and salad
* Friday - lasagne and salad
* Saturday - savoury mince
* Sunday - silverside and veggies
* Monday - burritos
* Tuesday - sausages, mash and steamed veggies
* Wednesday - curry with brown basmati rice

Tomorrow I will be........
* finishing the toy room - vacuum, organise remaining toys
* go through kids drawers and get rid of everything that doesn't fit (both sets of drawers are in the one room now)
* 3 loads of washing to be washed and hung out (after I get the clothes off the line and hang the nappies out)
* sweep whole house
* fold and put away all clothes
* get to school for 2:30pm appt with James' teacher :)

Half the week is over

Hump day is now over!

Today was a big let down. The air con people came around to install the new split system but alas, we are still without said air con. And so....... I got cranky and went out instead of staying home and sorting out the kids bedrooms!

So, today I have;
* dyed Donni's hair (and then she dyed mine)
* made play dough with the kids and then played with it for ages - it turned out pretty crappy though :( dry and crumbly even following Donni's recipe which is always so fab when she makes it!
* washed the nappies
* swept the floors - omg you wouldn't believe how much crap I swept up even after sweeping and mopping last night and the kids being at school/daycare ALL day!!!
* played banana drama with the big kids

I am now thinking about sewing!! My table is nice and clear so I've got plenty of cutting space but what to make first!!?? The challenge for March in the 2010 Challenge is to make a softie and god knows I've got enough cuddle fleece/minky to sink a ship so I might make something for that. James has also put in a few requests for blankets for winter oh and I have Gen's birthday next month and I've got plans for that hehehe. Caitie's birthday is next week but that one is all sorted :)

Richard is working so damn hard at the moment! He is doing a lot of 10hr days and is coming home REALLY exhausted. I really need to start having dinner organised to be ready for 6pm. And so, here is our menu plan for the next fortnight (Thurs-Wed also fits in with the supermarkets sales);

* Thursday - Taylor has dance -  fried rice and thai fish cakes
* Friday - possibly going out......
* Saturday - something simple - bacon and eggs?
* Sunday - lamb korma roast with baked veggies
* Monday - fajitas
* Tuesday -savoury mince
* Wednesday - chicken and veggie stir fry with noodles
* Thursday - fish, chips and salad
* Friday - lasagne and salad
* Saturday - savoury mince
* Sunday - silverside and veggies
* Monday - burritos
* Tuesday - sausages, mash and steamed veggies
* Wednesday - curry with brown rice

Looks good..... now if only someone else would cook it all for me too lol.

It's a good day :)

This morning, after taking Taylor to school, I took James and Ellie to the shops to get a quick few things before coming home and putting Ellie to bed. After that, I asked James if he wanted to do some painting and surprise surprise, he said YES!!! He generally declines the offer so I was stoked!

So, we got the paints and the new canvas we just bought for him to paint on and went out the back and started to paint. James decided we were painting Dora, who then proceeded to hide "ahind the bushes". James was pretty pleased with his efforts which I will have to take a photo of tomorrow!

Not too long later, after lunch, James came up to me and gave me a big cuddle and said "I had very good fun". I felt very loved!!

The plan for tomorrow is a play dough free for all after school pick up which I'm sure will be enjoyed! Hmmmmm, where is that play dough recipe I had bookmarked??

I think tomorrow I'll also do some baking - gotta do something while tradies install the air con lol.

So, all up today I have;
* spent my vouchers I got for managing Taylor's teeball team for the season (I got 3 new tops and a new purple handbag - so pretty!)
* painted with James
* tidied, sorted, chucked in the dining room
* swept and mopped - dining, kitchen, lounge and hall
* organised my sewing corner - FINALLY! :)
* taken James to dancing

All in all, a good day!

Tomorrow:
* finish dining table and wipe
* take kids to school/daycare
* put away all folded clothes
* wash nappies
* change James' room into the new toy room!! This will involve moving Taylor's expedit into his room which in itself will involve a LOT of chucking and sorting!!
* Taylor's desk sorted and put in James' room
* James' drawers sorted and put in Taylor's room
* find recipe for play dough play in the afternoon

Looks like a nice productive and busy day!

Plans for the week...

I've been feeling like time is simply passing me by without actually accomplishing much at all. So, I've decided that I'm going to list weekly goals for what I want to achieve in all different areas of life. So, for this week, my goals are......

Health & Fitness
* walk or ride kids to school daily (I won't be able to do this on Wednesday but can every other day) failing miserably at this - Ellie keeps sleeping in lol
* redo week 2 of the couch to 5km program before embarking on week 3 next week
* swim 45mins at least once this week
* get back to into my healthy eating - I was feeling MUCH better when I was eating healthy (less tired, more energy and happier/less moody)

Organisational
* dismantle James' bed and set his room up as our new toy room (planned for Wednesday afternoon)
* sort through/chuck the crap on the expedit in the dining room (not until the rest of the dining room is done)
* sort through Taylor and James' clothes and chuck/sell/give/op shop stuff that is too small (planned for Wednesday afternoon)

Creative
* get all the bits and pieces I need to make the items I plan to next week (will need to make a list for this!)
* do a different craft activity each day with the kids - Tuesday will be painting, Wednesday we are going to make play dough, Thursday will be some drawing (possibly on fabric to make some simple stuffed toys) and Friday we are going to do some simple embroidery like this. Will put my thinking cap on to decide what to do over the weekend :)

Housework
* tidy up the dining room table - sort, chuck, put away and wipe table
* tidy up the dining room floor - sort, pack away fabrics, chuck crap, sweep and mop
* keep on top of all the washing - nappies every second day, towels weekly, sheets fortnightly (unless soiled)
* do a 15min tidy of all living areas before dinner time so far so good :)
* do a meal plan for the next fortnight and ONLY buy what we don't already have to fill the meal plan

It's been a while.......

So, I haven't been doing a lot really. Was working but have stopped now and getting back into just being Mum :)

We are having a new air conditioner installed Wednesday this week so I'm not allowed to sew until after then (my sewing area is where the air con is being put lol). I am however going to make a note of all the items that I want to make or do in the near future :)

* chunky crayons - as seen here I think these will be a hit with Ellie!
* shower curtain car mat - found here I think all the kids will enjoy this :)
* snail painting - found here I think James in particular will LOVE this one!!
* cardboard lego cars - found here might even convince James to colour in :P
* a whole themed scene - like this not necessarily the ocean but something :)
* some generic painting in the back yard!
* some random drawing turned into stuffed toys - like this
* paint some rocks to make some rock pets - oh, do you remember the days!!!??

That's enough for now I'd say lol.

I am also going to clean up my dining room tomorrow!! It's been needing to be done for so long now........ will be back to update after I've done it! :) I'm part way there lol

I'll also be doing 3 sessions a week with James with speech games (other times will simply be including it in everyday life). This week we are focusing on categories and using three key words to describe scenarios. I'm hoping that getting James into some more craft activities will help improving his speech too :)