Thoughts of a Pre-Schooler

Andy has a colleague from Holland who recently arrived in Canberra for a 4 months sabbatical. To welcome Henk and his wife Julia, we decided to have them over for dinner during the week. Ella, Katy and Pippa to an instant liking to them.

Ella was quite chatty over dinner especially to Julia. At one point she began talking about the chickens. So Julia asked various questions about where they lived, slept and did they lay eggs. The conversions went something like this -

Ella - Did you know that one day we went to look for the eggs and they weren't in the laying spot. Do you know where the egg was?

Julia - No

Ella - It was in the poo!!

Julia - puzzled look

Ella - Yes (beginning to become quite animated) It was in their sleeping side in the poo. I think the chicken went to do a poo and out popped the egg!

We all laughed as we hadn't heard this version :) Ella looked slightly confused - I think she thought we were laughing at her for a moment.

Then the following conversation occurred today in the car when Andy gave half a banana to each girl for morning tea.

Ella - Did you know you can't share germs as you'll get sick? (germs is a recent idea obviously spoken about at childcare)

Daddy - Right

Ella - Do you know we have different germs because we have different names.

Daddy - So if we had the same name we have the same germs and we could share them?

Ella - Yes

Hmmm......

Adore Tea

Caught up with the girls for some quality kid free time! The destination was a new cafe called Adore Tea. The menu for tea was very impressive and long - I didn't realise that there were so many different types of tea. The tea lovers amongst us (I'm not one of them) were in heaven. Cherry Ripe, Heavenly Earl Grey and Queen Mary were the chosen teas, while the non tea drinkers opted for cinnamon and mint slice hot chocolates. Of course you couldn't have afternoon tea with out something nice to accompany the hot drinks so apple and rhubarb crumble, citrus tart, scones and sticky date pudding were ordered.

A Feast for the Senses!

Commonwealth Park comes alive for the next month with Floriade. This year the theme is 'A Feast for the Senses' uses more than 1 million bulbs and annulas to provide a kaleidoscope of colour. Flowers including tulips, irises, daffodils, hyacinths, violas, chrysanthemums, ranunculus and daisies are arranged in garden beds that represent a drop of wine, cheese platter, cupcake, ice cream swirl, watermelon wedge, chocolate paradise, citrus basket, spice market, red hot chill pepper, bento boxes to name a few...

But it's not all about flowers. On the walk to floriade, we couldn't help stopping at the rock castle for a play! Then it was straight to Matilda's Farm - a free animal farm. A really popular place which meant we had to line up for a few minutes. There were rabbits, sheep, goats, ducks, piglets, a calf and geese. No handling animals this year meant there was lots of patting going on. Katy's favourite was a very fluffy and funny eared rabbit while Ella was happy patting everything.

Next was lots of playing in the kids tent which is run by the Tafe childcare students. A wide range of activities kept the girls entertained for nearly an hour. By which stage it was time for a rest and picnic!

Once lunch was devoured we wandered between the many garden beds admiring the flowers. Ella commandeered the camera and with it on the flower setting began happily snapping away. It wasn't until the photos were downloaded that we realised she had actually taken some excellent shots.

With the beautiful weather and fun morning there was nothing better to do than top it off with an ice cream! It's a pity that we couldn't share it with Nana or Grandad who usually visit us while Floriade is on.

Sunday Orienteering

An absolutely stunning day on Sunday spent orienteering at Stromlo West. First it was a warm up setting up the string course with Abby & Zoe's Grandma, then doing the string courses and finally onto bigger things - the blue course! With Katy in the backpack, Ella and Abby on bikes we were off.

Our adventure tested out the girls strength, endurance and patience. It was a tough, not so bike friendly course right from the beginning with the first 2 controls along a fence line slightly up hill. I was amazed this first bit didn't dent Abby and Ella enthusiasm.

We picked up Zoe and Belinda en route to#3 but the union lasted only a few controls before they headed back to the assembly area. At control #6 we had morning tea and a much earned rest. From #7 it was a taped route to the final two controls. Katy was out of the backpack by now which was in one way was quite helpful as I only had to carry the 2 bikes, however the terrain was very rough for a wobbly 2yr old. As luck had it we were rescued by Andy on the approach to #8.

I was hugely impressed with the girls efforts. They were real troopers and finished the 2.1km course in 85mins only 45mins behind first place! Despite numerous falls from bikes, logs and rocks there were no major injuries but I will need to remember to bring a larger stash of bandaids for next time!

Katy on the string course

Falling over in the grass

Ella, Belinda, Zoe and Abby

Snack time

Wait for me Ella!

It's over here guys!

Almost there

Katy's Dilemmas

Recently, Katy has become interested in everything related to the toilet - undies, wees, poos and bottom burps. Some mornings like this morning, she stubbornly insists on wearing undies. The problem here is that she freaks out when the smallest drop of wee wets her undies. So off we charge to the toilet where she is happy to sit, however if the tiniest drop happens to drip into the bowl, it sends her into another frenzy at which point she wants a 'muppy*'. I can see toilet training is going to be interesting...

Another dilemma has been swimming lessons. Unfortunately we forgot about re-enrolling the girls and subsequently missed out on our regular 'same time for both lessons thursday morning' spot. The only two options we were offered were thursday morning with one lesson at 10.30 and the other at 11.30 or otherwise both lessons at the same time on wednesday at 5.30pm. As I didn't want to hang around the swimming pool for 2+ hours on a thursday morning, we opted for the witching hour of 5.30pm!

For a girl who normally loves swimming, Katy's first lesson was a disaster - she was inconsolable halfway through the class and ended up getting out. The second lesson was slightly better - we stayed in for the whole lesson but there were tears for the last 10mins. And as for last night her confidence returned and she decided she could swim! Great except she can't!! She'd struggle to get free from my grip then sink like a stone! Funny to watch but at least there were no tears :)

On the food front, macaroni cheese - which I would say up until recently, was an essential staple food is slowly being replaced by pasta with stir through basil pesto.

*Katy's word for nappy

Beginnings

....hopefully of our vegie patch. Today in the beautiful sunshine, the girls planted butternut pumpkin seeds. Now we just have to remember to water them...

Together with the pansies and snapdragons we planted on the weekend, our garden should be soon blooming with flowers and vegies just in time for a visit from grandad.

Families

A snippet from yesterday morning.

Ella - Mum can you play families with us?

Mum - Sure. Who am I?

Ella - You can be the mum, I'll be the sister and Katy can be the baby.

A few minutes later...

Ella - Mum lets play a different game.

Mum - Ok

Ella - Let's play rabbit families. You be the mummy rabbit, I'll be the sister rabbit and Katy can be the baby rabbit.

A few minutes later...

Mum - I'm just going to go and get the washing so I can fold it up.

Mum leaves the room and returns several minutes later...

Ella (to Katy) - Ok Katy lets play wombat families - you be the baby wombat and crawl around and I'll be the sister wombat.

Mum quietly chuckles to herself!!

A Change is as Good as a Holiday

It all began in mid June while Andy was holidaying in the US (sorry typo there...working in the US) and Dad was visiting, the washing machine broke flooding the house resulting in the floorboards warping. After investigating our house insurance we decided to pay $250 (saving ourselves $4750) to have the entire house sanded and resealed.

The downside was the floor guy giving us 3 days notice to start the job. So with Andy arriving home from holidaying (oops working) in Rome on Saturday morning we had exactly 48 hours to move house! Floorboards are throughout the house except for the bathroom, laundry and toilet so it was going to be a massive job shifting. We packed as much as we could into the bathroom and laundry with everything else going into the double garage.

Sunday night saw us settle into Andy's parents house for the week. It was really lovely staying with them. Having dinner cooked, washing done as well as playing with the girls. On one day cousins Mia and Josh came over for a play resulting in Nana whipping up some beanbags!!

The floorboards were completed by Thursday and the painter came in on Friday to paint the skirting boards. In my wisdom I decided that while the furniture was out it was a good time to paint the lounge which I've wanted to do since moving in 4 yrs ago! Andy then suggested that perhaps the dining room oh and the hallway could be done!!!

For 8 hours on Saturday it was all systems go - tape, paint and clean - enjoyable but tiring. We also managed to move the majority of stuff back into the house once the girls were asleep. With the gym extravaganza on Sunday morning, the afternoon was taken up with more shifting, unpacking and reorganising. The finishing touches were complete on Monday night.

The floorboards were sealed with a different finish than before which allows the variation of colour in the pine to show through. It is also much lighter resulting in an airier feel to the house. So we're really happy with the change but boy do we need a holiday to recover!!

Father's Day

For Father's Day this year Andy's was treated to watching the girls displaying their newly acquired gymnastics skills in the gymnastics extravaganza! It was chaotic with lots of kids and just as many adults. Ella and Katy enjoyed completing the 6 circuits which involved balancing on many beams, swinging on bars as well as the rings, jumping on the trampoline and into the foam pit with lots of other fun stuff in between....however the gold medals at the end of the day were pretty special too!

Haircut Happenings

As requested a photo of Ella's own haircut followed by the hairdresser's 'fix up' haircut.