AFL Girl

Miss Lilly at AFL. She is so proud to be big enough now to go to AFL classes and to have her own ball and bag!

She is fearless and runs around with her eye on the ball.  I think she will be a force to be reckoned with...

Lillys Second day

Just could not wait to get back to school and learn and play!  I'm so delighted.  I've bitten the bullet too - am volunteering one day a week there - so tuckshop in the mornings, Lillys class in between breaks and Morgans class in the afternoons.  Might as well -  think of all that story fodder I will uncover!!

Miss Lilly Off to school

Well - here is my big girl off to school

Off to the Ballet

How lucky is Miss Lilly? A wonderful neighbour has just called to say that her son has decided that seeing Snow White at the Ballet is not on his list of musts today. 

So, they had a spare ticket and Lilly was the fortunate princess they called early this morning.

She was so excited and rushed about getting her hair washed and blow dried, selecting an appropriate gown, with jewelery, bag, shoes and of course sparkly nailpolish and make up.

Can't wait to hear how she went!

and yes - I went a bit crazy on the happy snaps and then couldn't decide which one I liked the most!

Dreamworld Conquered

A bit of a reprieve from my NaNo writing today and the real official start to the silly season. This weekend is just the beginning of schedule clashes and running from one thing to another. From 8 on Sat morning we were at dance concert rehearsals, a quick lunch at home, change of uniforms and then off to Little Athletics. Sunday - we had a number of schedule clashes and just had to work around them to choose the best outcome.

Generally, I will be one of the supervisors for Morgans Age group at Little Athletics. This normally involves me organizing the kids into lines and ensuring they get their turns on each activity and recording times or distances. I bribe the kids often with lollies and cut up fruit as the waiting times between activities can be a little wearisome. They were training for the big competitions this week, so for the second time this season, I was handed the tiny tots to ‘play’ with as thier normal teachers were teaching relay races. We had a lot of fun teaching running ( how to start, when to run) - the kids like to just runn of in mobs - so its quite a challange to get them to line up and go at appointed times. discus - basically - “hit that dad over there with this rubber ring” ( not such a good idea - as Morgan - who was not training with the bigger kids as he was not competing, actually DID), then over to long jump were the kids ran like mad and hopped over a rubber rope to give them some focus to jump some distance. So

me just didn’t get it and just ran straight into the sandpit and fell on their faces. Its a laugh a minute!

Today - Sunday - we had to choose between Dreamworld and competing in the regional Little Athletics comp. As much as the kids are enjoying their time at LA, its really not a focus for me for them to compete - nor do I think they are really that inclined or gifted in that way…..we shot off to Dreamworld - it is the first of the Christmas Parties we have this year - Celebrated through the Social club at Adrians work - and the only one which anyone from Energex will be allowed to go to. How rough is this? Bah Humbug Energex, under the guise of concerns for public finances and accountability in the current financial crisis has all but canceled Christmas. The staff has in the past had an afternoon or an evening staff appreciate party - sometimes a big BBQ and entertainment, other times a theme park has been hired for a few out of hours session times - but this Christmas - not even an office party will be allowed. to make matters worse - a letter was sent home saying that they still appreciated the hard work staff members undertook - and understood the impact that long hours and on call hours have on people with families…. and STILL they canceled Christmas. ANYWAY.. best not dwell too much on that…

Today was about getting out of the house ( and all the jobs piling up) away from my writing, and away from Brisbane. Morgan is tall enough now to go on most of the rides - and Lilly is not too far away either. One of the sadder things about being overweight has been missing out on going on rides etc as I simply couldn’t fit. I was so delighted to be able to do so today. I’d been hanging out to get on the Mick Dohan motorbike one and it didn’t disappoint! Lilly and I went on it twice ( she was very disappointed to find she was too small to be on the bike so was consoled with the fact she could be in the sidecare beside me.

We are so proud of Morgan for making his own mind up about things! at first he was unsure of wanting to go on any of the bigger rides - so we honoured that decision - until he was really bored with the kid ones… THEN he got a taste for thrill - and there was no stopping him. His favourite is the Claw.. I was able to ride on the cyclone for the first itme as well - and gald I don’t have a neck problem as it really tips you about. Miss Lilly is desperate to be big enough to go on some of those stomach churning rides - but its still a good 15 cm away for her yet! After 3 consecutive goes on the Enterprise (one that rushes you round and round then then upside down) - I was really queezy - thankful I had nothing in my stomach - and glad to have the excuse of sitting down for a bit.

We had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon - which I am glad of - as by the time it was time to leave in order to get to it in time - I’d really had enough.

So - what were the clear favourite memories of the day at Dreamworld? For Lilly it was the tiny pink lollies she was allowed to have… For Morgan - he wanted to claim the big six te-shirt - however, he is not tall enough to go on two of them - plus the t-shirts were not his size - so he chose a trophy to go on his desk - a tower of terror one..

Of birthdays and AFL games

Lilly’s birthday and Morgan’s experience plying half time at the Gabba dominated this weeks events. If she had not already totally embraced it – turning 4 has plunged Lilly into the world of pinkdom, of Barbie and Dora, princesses and butterflies and dollies with tea parties

As outlined in Dear Peeps – where there are some photos of Morgan’s foray onto the field – we are so proud of him – having set no expectations of him – other than for him to just have fun, I was impressed that he wasn’t overwhelmed in the crowds, the lights and the total experience. Although he didn’t get to meet the Lions or have training session beforehand with them – the older ones who play fixtures quite fittingly went to do that – he was still buzzing with the what he did do.

I hadn’t appreciated what fun and what an incredible atmosphere foing to a match really was. The chanting the oohhs and ahhs – in the first quarter – even though this was my first match ever. I was shouting instructions to the players and leaping to my feet as they scored another goal.

I’d love for our whole family to be able to go along and could see this as part of ones life – as it is for so many – how cool would it be to have season pass or be members. I did have fantastic seat – 5 rows back from the fence – it really brought he action right to my lap.

I am impressed with Morgans willingness to introduce himself to the other children who were also playing that night – so much more outgoing than either Adrian or I were at that age.

We continue to use our wonderful passes into the theme parks and although have 3 months left on them, are starting tow wonder how we are going to cope with out this freedom. No doubt we will be totally sick of themes parks by then. I think for Christmas this year we will have to ask everyone for donations so we can either get a theme park pass or a footy season pass!!

I continue to write my articles each week for Write Anything and Type A mom. I’ve been working on my websites and designs – and have just redone Jamies for his Mammoth Sheds. I have 2 ‘real’ clients – but not stressed with time frames – which suits me fine – so much to still learn..

Although not a focus, I have conducted a few Book workshops and will keep doing it to get my free and discounted books – if you ever want anything – I get 20% off most of the stuff - some more. Just let me know.

Age is doing a workshop all weekend and if you are wondering why he is not mentioned much – its because he is protecting his online identity and profile - so if you want to know what he is up to you need to call him.