just hanging

Lots of things happened in the last week of school term.

Like ballet concerts

And school plays - Gab was a lion hunter.  Guess she caught a lion.  But it's not lyin down.

And raspberry white chocolate tarts made by husbands for dessert night. Mmmmmmm.

And sports day.  Gab refused to take off her jumper or tracksuit pants and won her race.  Guess it helps when one of the competitors is doubled over leaving the track 40 metres behind you.

Run Gabby Run!

Annika threw a shot put.  Check out that style!  The lines!  The length!

And did her best in a race.

We chalked up the new driveway.  I don't think my girls often look like sisters, but when I took this quick snap I could totally see it.

And now holidays are here.  Yay.

I have five puppet shows lined up for next week in the council libraries.  Every time I think about it my tummy does a flip and I start making panic lists in my head.  Breathe in out in out.

I'll tell you how it goes!

out of the box!

Yesterday I volunteered at the Out of the Box Festival for children at QPAC.  I wanted to check out what was happening in children's performances and get some ideas for when Wide Eyed Stories puts in a submission for next time!

I helped out in the Sticky Maze.

It was amazing.

Juliet and I and a random other volunteer.  We bonded for a day. 

I also helped deliver fruit to everyone, carry newspaper, be on pram security, be a front of stage bouncer to stop toddlers crawling on the stage, handed out maps, chatted to kids and swept up paper form the grass.

It was pretty fun and super tiring.  And now I have a really red out of the box t-shirt.

Cool.

Books books books

So off we went to the Lifeline bookfest today. We took our rolly suitcases - having learnt from past experience that the books mount up quickly and your arms start to ache carrying them. Last year I took the laundry basket and trolley to put books in, and Gabby refused to walk with me. She walked an embarrassment free twenty metres away.

It is quite an overwhelming experience. SO many books - it is almost impossible to find a particular title. But last year I managed to pull out the missing title of a series in exactly the same edition as the one I had at home. This year no such luck.

Two years ago I requested a particular book from one of the lifeline staff. They said they would keep an eye out and took my name and number. 18 months later I got a phone message 'we have your book'. What excellent service! From all the recycled books all over Brisbane they had found it.

When Annika was a baby we went to the bookfest. She ended up being carried while her pram was filled with books.

I always think about all those authors who have poured their heart and souls into these books, hours and hours of labour and dreams, the thrill of getting it published - only to be shuffled and handled by the booky masses at the recycled bookfest. It makes me think of eternity - what is temporal and what lasts forever.

And this year we also found this book



I think the creature on the front of this book is sucking it's bottom lip just like my Gabby. It is very fun when there is random stuff like this.

Bookfest. Love it.

little wins

So I have been going to the gym for a group training session three times a week for about 8 weeks now - 6.30 AM (still not sure that is a real time) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  My fitness and strength has been slowly improving, for example the first time the trainer said 'let's run' I said 'I hope there is a plane to catch cause that's the only time I am running', to now he says 'let's run' and I can do two whole minutes running at a reasonable treadmill speed.  I can also now do push ups without my arms shaking like jelly being poked - and yesterday I even tried a push up on my toes not my knees.

A person from google images demonstrating the awesomeness of Catriona's push up yesterday.  It was exactly like this.

 Bam.  Little win.

At work I have been encouraging communication with all the kids using PODD books as a strategy with some of them.  These books are full of pragmatically organised symbols and have lots and lots of vocabulary eg a page of pictures for family, for animals, for feelings - so you'll be playing with blocks using the blocks vocabulary and then be able to say my brother had a birthday and my foot hurts.  You know, random stuff kids say, except the kids I work with can't say it out loud, they have to use other ways to get their messages across.  These books are a little bit labour intensive to make, and I would like ten at my school for kids to use from, um, yesterday.  So I asked if there was any time available for a teacher aide to help me with construction of the books.  As it turns out, a rat had eaten through the heating wires to the pool and so the kids couldn't go swimming, so there were two spare teacher aides for a WHOLE DAY yesterday to help me make communication books.  It is worth being cheeky sometimes and asking.

This is a kind of PODD book.  It is amazing watching kids communicate.  It blows my mind.

Bam. Little win.

I have just realised that after months/years of having children that find it difficult to go to bed that for  the last month they have been putting themselves to bed, not coming out, reading a book and going to sleep.  It is amazing.  Especially because I pretty much stop parenting after 8.30 pm.

Catriona's children realised it was really not worth the trouble coming out of bed past 8.30 pm, as their mother really DID turn into an ogre.

Bam.  Little win.

spot

The girls have been playing a game in the car for the last few weeks.  It is called 'Spot'.  The rules are fairly simple - when you see a yellow car you say 'spot'.















So we will be driving along somewhere talking about something when suddenly they will say 'spot' in the middle of a sentence eg 'Mum when we get home can spot you  help me with my spot project'.

It has got to the point where now I am looking out for yellow cars even when they are not in the car.  Just to get my score up.  Not that I am competitive or anything.  It is just an observation game we play.  All the time.  And I am losing because I am concentrating on driving, not spotting yellow cars.

So I need to have a tally sheet.  For Spot.

In other news...

Check out the size of the egg top left.  One of our chooks laid this.  All I can say is...ow.

It's dancing concert time.  Our dancing school switched the concert to the middle of the year to save end of year pain.  So now it is mild middle year pain.

 But oh she looks pretty in her costume.  She is supposed to be 'water'.

And this dog is a joy to have around.  She is a giving giving creature.  We can learn a lot from her.

Spot.