Rugby league player of the day

Joseph got player of the day for his efforts at tackling and running with the ball. He is playing rugby league this year and Josh is playing rugby union. Tane will think this is sacrilege, but I don't even know the difference, except that league seems to be more popular in NSW. Also the union teams do not start until Joshua's grade, which is the under 9's so the younger kids have to start out playing league or soccer. That is a little sad that they have no ripper rugby here because that was really fun watching the little kids rip off as many tags as they could sometimes even from their own team-mates.

 Ella-Rose is such a cutie. Here she is when she came to visit me at lunch-time at work.

The three big kids after church, Ella-Rose was asleep of course.

 We took Ella-Rose to the park while the kids were at school. It was the windiest day we have had in Australia. Luckily for Ella, she was wearing a hoodie.

Ozzie update

We had a great time yesterday. The weather was beautiful - 18 degrees in winter. We went to Crescent Head, and spent time at the beach and the playground. The kids loved it. Ella-Rose and Joseph went for a swim in the estuary, but the other 2 were not so keen, so just played in the sand.
The kids enjoyed spotting Rainbow Lorikeets and watching 3 pelicans have a fight over a massive fish head - and then attempting to swallow it.

Me trying to look pregnant.

Ella-Rose getting herself comfy on the driveway eating a pear.

resisting a smile for the camera

Anna-Maria wearing her '100 days at school' hat and necklace

Anna-Maria had fun digging a hobbit-hole. We are reading 'The Hobbit' together as a family... and it is amazing to see their little imaginations run wild as they incorporate what they learn into their play.

Megacrunch

On Friday the kids did Megacrunch at school. I was an event to promote fruit or veggies and water as the snacks of choice at school. The kids participated in a series of activities from making vegetable people, to potato prints, to racing grapes across a table by shooting water at it with a water pistol.
After the activities all the kids (and parents) came together in the cola and we did a countdown and then everyone took a bite into a fruit or vegetable.

They took photos and are submitting it to the guiness book of records for the most people eating fruit or veg at the same time.
When Ella-Rose and I went back home for lunch, she spent the whole afternoon crying and standing by the door wanting to go back to school.

When 3pm came around and I asked her if she wanted to go to school and get the kids she grinned, nodded and ran straight to the door with her Pooh bear. She was in a much better mood.

She is such a cutie!!

kids

Joseph says to me first thing in the morning: "Hey mum your hair is a bit scruffy, but you are still beautiful".
He is so lovely and tells me I am beautiful a few times a week.

Anna-Maria and I were singing 'head, shoulders, knees and toes'.
We got to the part 'and eyes and ears and mouth and nose'.
She did all the actions and then says with a cheeky grin... "which part is the and?"
I pointed to my hand and said this is your 'and'. She just cracked up laughing.

Easter Holidays

At school before the end of term, the kids had to design their own Easter hat. They then were able to wear it in the Easter hat parade. Anna-Maria is developing a creative streak. She loves anything arty. Colouring, drawing, crafts. She spent a long time cutting out shapes to glue onto her hat.

I thought I would include a few pics of the what the kids have been getting up to over the holidays. It has been great only working 2 days a week and spending lots of time with the kids. They have been pretty busy, going biking at the local skate park, body boarding at the beach, reading and watching Lord Of the Rings and Huckleberry Finn, and generally having a good time being together.

Ella-Rose is such a cutie. She makes me laugh with all her little antics.

 So the kids got a book out from the library and wanted to make their own potato and carrot chips (crisps). Well they were very enthusiastic about peeling the veggies and even more enthusiastic about eating them.

 Why do we have tyre tracks in our garden???
Ask Tane. He and the kids decided to wash the car in the garden while I was at work. The problem was, they left the car there afterwards, to sink into the lawn. We had to get friends to tow our out of the sticky mud. At the end of that, the car was heavily covered in mud and Tane took it down to the garage to give it another wash.

While I was getting showered and dressed, Anna-Maria was entertaining Ella-Rose by pushing her up and down the hallway in her toybox, toys included. Ella-Rose loved it.

Last night we had chips, pies and mushy peas for dinner. Anna-Maria did 'thumbs up' (see photo below) and said "Thanks for the dinner mum". Joseph quickly followed of course.

The kids also wanted me to put the pics on which show them running around the house with undies on their heads. I told them i had to save some in reserve for their 18th birthdays.