I now officially feel like I am on school holidays. Emma fell asleep on the lounge at 4:30 and is running a temperature. You aren't having a proper school holiday unless the grey clouds come pouring in and one of the children is sick. Of course I should be grateful I'm not a Jackson or that statement would have to be upgraded to a trip to the hospital. Otherwise the children have been very lovely and I shouldn't complain. We did an action packed trip to the fruit and veg store today. Normal people would feel sorry for the kids having to drag them around the fruit market. Not my family. Emma got to read the list and check I hadn't missed anything and Alex got to push the trolley and put as much fruit as he wanted in bags and then in the trolley. He did a marvellous job and we managed to set a new record for fruit and veg expense. $75 for fruit and veg and I know it will only last for 1 week with the kids home. The upside is that I know it will all be eaten and that it is good for them. Considering how cheap the local produce is (eg 39 cents for spinach and 99cents for asparagus) it was a damn fine effort to get to $75.

Angel

For those of you following the adventures of my kitten here is yet another photo of her in a stupid place. Any time I go to the fridge I have to check before I close the door to make sure she is not in there munching on the veges. On the right is a photo of her sitting on the exhaust above the stove. I was worried that she would fall off while I was cooking so Ben put the black non slip mat up there for her. She enjoys watching me cook and has the occasional affectionate swipe at my head just to let me know she loves me.

Ben has just been informed that the best position to sleep in, for spine care, is on your side. Not sure what he would make of Emma's sleeping position. Good to see that the Tucker Temperature Tester is working. For non family members, down Ben's Mum's line of the family are Tuckers and they are notorious for needing to have one foot out of the covers at all times. I am told that it is so that they know what the temperature is like outside the bed so that they are comfortable with the temperature in the bed. No, it doesn't make sense to me either. I do know that if in a moment of kindness I try to tuck Ben or Emma's feet back in they chuck a hissy and kick all the covers off.

little mistakes

The word has got around. When one of the year 4 teachers was running a lesson on debating skills she chose the topic of "should big brother be banned". Now as far as controversial and thought provoking topics go this should enable a great debate amongst adults. The problem I suspect started when she had to show a part of the program content so that the kids knew something about the program. Apparently I'm not the only person that thinks it is highly inappropriate for children or anyone wishing to retain their brain. The piece of programme was supposed to have been edited for the age group. Unfortunately the term "turkey slap" got through. When I told my husband this he laughed and said that if Emma asks me what it means I should tell her it's a new lunch meat, as in you go to the deli and ask for "200g of turkey slap". He then proceeded to run the whole gammit of jokes available to this topic. That was a bit of a cock up. She must feel a bit of a dick. That was a hard mistake. I'm sure you get the picture and I don't need to give you anymore. Bless the school they always provide so much material for mirth

Memories

My beloved Narelle, knowing that I get into trouble if I am not kept busy, has given me a quest. To leave but one fond memory on her blog spot. Having achieved step one I am now challenged to invite all who know me to present me with a memory. There are rules, as with any worthy challenge:

1. Play nice or I will get even.
2. It must be a memory involving both of us, if you aren't equally guilty it doesn't count.
3. Set up a section for others to share their memories in your blog
4. If you share a memory in my comments section I will assume you want to play and will happily return the favour (hence the importance of rule 1).

Looking forward to seeing what comes my way.

Dan

I swear this cat has a death wish. I had only just rescued her from the washing machine and she jumps in the dishwasher.

I had filled the washing machine with clothes and pressed start. All the water started to pour into the machine. Angel was standing on the front edge of the machine and decided to jump in to play in the water. Fat little cats sink straight to the bottom when they are all small kids clothes. There was this little panicking face sinking into the clothing, I managed to get hold of her before she hit the bottom and without being clawed to death. At least I was only packing the dishwasher and there was no water happening.

Nice moments

I have had a lovely afternoon cooking with Emma. I made the bolognaise sauce while the kids were at school. When Emma had finished her homework we started making a lasagne. It was great fun. She rolled the pasta dough through the pasta machine and we layered the sauce, pasta and cheese. There was a little bit of dough and sauce left over so I showed Emma how to put the sheet through the extra roller to make fettucine. Emma loved taking the long strands out of the machine and dropping them in the boiling water. She felt very proud that she was allowed to work with the pot of water because that was a first for her. Then I showed her how to test the pasta was cooked and she took the whole process very seriously. We put the sauce over the freshly cooked pasta and Emma proclaimed that it was good. The fettucine was put aside for her lunch tomorrow. She is very excited about the idea of going to school with pasta she made for lunch. Her two closest friends both love pasta and I think she is looking forward to a bit of a brag. Ben, Emma and I had lasagne for dinner and it was very tasty. She had a nice big helping, which is great because it was full of vegetables I had cunningly hidden in the sauce. Alex rejected it outright and opted for leftovers. Maybe I'll get him next time.

Another Alex moment

Alex asked "Mum is milk good for me?" and I replied "yes dear, it helps your bones grow big and strong". There is a brief moment of quiet thought and Alex says "Do I grow too?", response "yes Alex", "That's good, I wouldn't want my bones to wreck my body."

It is very hard at moments like this to not say all the rude responses I would like to come back with. Positive parenting really sucks some days.

Alex came home from school this afternoon and walked into my work area, which is attached to the kitchen. He took a look at the cake and said "wow that looks so cool, how did you do that?". I love a bit of unsolicited praise. The kids are so used to my cakes that to get a big response from one of them is really nice.

nightmares

Our household is quite used to the problem of nightmares. Emma has at least one most nights. She has them about everything from falling off cliffs to shoes chasing her. Alex had a nightmare last night and while it was obviously very upsetting for him it was very hard to keep a straight face when I worked out what was the problem. He had a nightmare that they weren't going to do maths at school any more. Yep that was the whole nightmare.....no more maths. On a gut wrenching scale I wouldn't have thought this would rate very high for most children, but he was in tears at the prospect of no more maths. I had to speak to his teacher this morning and have her reassure him that they would be doing maths every day and there were no plans to avoid it. As a parent you expect to be dealing with little hurdles through their lives, but if any one had asked me what I thought I would be dealing with as my children were growing up the fear of a lack of maths would probably not have been on my list.

Hope this makes everyone elses world look a little more normal.

Dan