School Photo Day

I've decided that taking school photos must be the job to have. The prices they charge for school photos is insane and more often than not we end up with a terrible photo of the boys posing with this fake, horrible smile on their face. This year we have three boys to get school photos taken of with Harri being in Kinder. Luckily the third child in the family gets a discount with their photos being half price.

This year I made a decision to not waste my money and pay for Noah to have an individual photo taken. At first I felt really bad about it, but I would much prefer to just get a photo of him with his class. Every photo that we have of Noah taken at school looks so awful. They always get him looking totally dopey, and last year they were so bad I didn't even give any out to anyone in the family!

Today wasn't actually Noah's day at Punchbowl, but I took him up to have his photo taken with his class. We had to wait for half an hour, so we did his usual routine while he is at school and gave him his neb while his class were out at daily P.E.

Jalen was walking past and spotted us in the classroom. I told him I caught him wagging class, but he insists he was just on the way to the loo.

The best thing ever was that Noah was actually awake for his class photo!!! He has been really sleepy lately. I think it's because he is having so many seizures every day again and is a bit postictal, so I was expecting him to be asleep like he was in last years class photo.

It's amazing how different things can be when you have a child with a disability. You aren't hoping that their hair looks good in the photo or that they smile nicely. You are happy just to have a photo of them awake!

Grand Final Day

We were lucky in Tassie to have nicer weather for the AFL grand final than in Melbourne. The boys were excited to have our usual 'footy party' with the works - pies, sausage rolls, savs, hot dogs, potato chips, fizz and lollies. I think they enjoy the food more than the actual game - some of them anyway! As usual Aaron is totally into it, yelling and getting very stressed.

Thank goodness Hawthorn aren't in it this year again - I don't think I could handle the stress again. It's nice having Chrish here as well as Aaron's Dad who always joins us to watch the grand final. I'm sure Chrish will think twice about watching the grand final with us again - Aaron can be pretty intense!

Before the game started and at half time the boys went out for a kick on the street. After Harri started stressing about getting run over by a car they had lots of fun. We even had to fight the neighbours for a bit of the street to play on during half time. I love the atmosphere on grand final day - seeing all the houses done up and everyone out buying their savs, pies and drinks.




The neighbours were having a grand final BBQ with their friends and some guy kept calling out 'see! They are still loyal' (to his girlfriend) as the boys were in their Hawks gear.

Footy Colours Day

Today at school it is 'footy colours day'. At Punchbowl the kids get to wear their footy colours and have savs for lunch. The money they raise goes towards the Grade 6 leavers dinner. At Aaron's school they are having a BBQ lunch as well.

This year's footy colours day is a big contrast to last year with Hawthorn playing in the grand final. Everyone was very excited and very stressed all at once. I'm actually glad they aren't in the grand final this year as watching the grand final tomorrow will be a lot more relaxing.

The boys were keen to get their Hawks gear on this morning but they were of course feeling sad they aren't in the final.

The kids in Noah's class were so excited to see Noah in Hawks gear this morning. It seems like half the school goes for Hawthorn now with the team coming down to Tassie so often. There was definitely a lot of brown and gold at school this morning. We went up to the hospital to pick up some meds for Noah this morning and lots of people were commenting to me about the boys in their Hawks gear, saying they go for the 'right team'.

Hopefully next year we will have happy faces back on for footy colours day.

Swimming Lessons

Having a baby really changes everything in your family for a while. Before Kobe was born Harri was having regular swimming lessons every week. I had to get in the pool with him, so I knew that when Kobe was born we wouldn't be able to do them anymore as it was going to be too hard having a newborn, and trying to work out how I would do it all. Now that my 'newborn' is almost 16 months I started feeling bad that Harri hadn't had swimming lessons for so long.

Supposedly we have shares in the Aquatic Centre (or so Collette thinks!) so we knew the perfect place to do swimming lessons was there - especially as it means Harri can have a swim in the bucket pool before and after his lesson, I can also go for a free swim at the same time, and if he is sick we can get back the amount of his swimming lesson to put towards a family swim.

The best thing is that now he is 5 we don't have to get in the pool with him. He was very excited about his first lesson. There were only 4 in his group (hopefully it will stay that way), and he had two teachers which is great.





Sometimes it's so hard to feel like you are doing something with all the boys individually, so I'm glad he is back having swimming lessons again. Hopefully by the end of term he will have learnt a lot of skills to get him ready for lots of swimming in summer!

Imogen

Early last Friday morning I got a text message. I was in bed and wondered who would be texting that early. When Aaron grabbed the phone we were excited to see it was from Anna, and she was letting us know that she had just given birth to a little baby girl - Imogen. I was so excited for her as she was only a day overdue and I know how she wasn't looking forward to going overdue again.

On Saturday Kobe, Mum and I went up to visit Anna and Imogen in hospital. Imogen is so cute and chubby.

Anna looked great, but wasn't keen on getting her photo taken. I don't blame her as I remember how yuck you feel after just giving birth and I now hate looking back on photos just after having a baby. I did get a photo of her holding Imogen's hand though - I love these photos that show just how tiny they are when they are newborn.

Kobe wasn't too fussed by it all - he would have a look at her and that was it. We did get him sitting still enough for a quick photo, but Imogen wasn't too keen then :) We were trying to work out what relationship Kobe and Imogen are and we think it is third cousins. It's so nice to have cousins who are having babies around the same age as my boys. I remember how fun it was growing up with lots of cousins and 2nd cousins and hope that my boys have the same experience growing up.

Youth Recognition Dinner

Last night I was lucky enough to be a special guest at the Launceston East Ward youth recognition dinner at church. The night was planned by their leaders to recognise all the things they have achieved throughout the year. Both the Young Men and Young Women have a program which encourages them to set goals and when they turn 18 they are given a special award for all of their achievements. The leaders thought it would be nice to recognise all their efforts at the end of each year as it is a long time to wait for 6 years to receive something for all their hard work, and to celebrate with a special dinner for them, their parents and the leaders.

The youth had set up the hall with displays of all their achievements and things they have done throughout the year.


Aaron was again the MC for the night. We were saying all night that we needed to take the mic away from him as he kept getting up there cracking corny jokes all night.

Annette and her troops did a great job in organising a beautiful three course meal for the night.




Throughout the night there were short talks by a couple of leaders and a couple of youth.


The youth were each given a certificate with how many goals they had achieved throughout the year.


The Young Women also received a beautiful necklace and the Young Men each got a tie pin.


For some fun Kym taught the youth a line dance during the week and they then got up and taught their parents. It was hilarious to watch.


The night finished off with the youth and leaders singing 'Come Hold Your Torches High' and then an awesome slideshow by Kym of their recent trip to Sydney.

It was a really lovely night and a really nice way to recognise the youth and everything they have done this year.

Monochord Table

Yesterday as part of the school holiday program with Family Based Care, Noah got to have a session on a monochord table. It is often called a 'sound bed' and has lots of strings underneath it which are played by a music therapist who also does 'toning' along with it - she sings the same tone as she is playing. I had seen it before with some other clients for work, and was interested to see how Noah would go on it.

The therapist who does it just got back from a 5 day seminar in the US and was very excited to tell me me how it is often used in psychotherapy and has helped people with a lot of things, not just for relaxation.

Noah really seemed to like it. At first he was sleepy as he hadn't really woken up properly yet, but after about ten minutes his eyes became very alert and aware and he seemed really relaxed. I guess you could describe it as sounding like a harp, but while you are lying on the bed you can feel all the different vibrations it makes, right through your body.

Noah had about 45 minutes on it and even I was feeling very relaxed just being in the same room as it! I also had a short go and was amazed as to how fast it made me feel totally relaxed.

I was thinking how great it would be for Noah's school to have one for all the kids to use every day. It's a pity they cost so much to make or buy.

School Holidays

We LOVE school holidays. It is so nice to be out of routine - to not have to get up at 6am every morning and get the boys ready for school. It's so nice to be able to hang out in our PJs till after 9am if we want, and so nice to not have to to drop boys off, pick boys up and run them to things after school.

I'm sooooo glad that 6 years ago Aaron decided he wanted to become a teacher. I really don't think I could survive (or enjoy!) school holidays without him home as well. I know we wouldn't be getting out half as much if he wasn't home as it's just so hard to go anywhere for long with Noah at the moment.

We have been trying to do something most days so the boys can get out of the house so we don't all go insane. Kobe was definitely the cutest shop keeper at Kids Paradise last week.

Earlier in the week we went tenpin bowling. The night before I kept asking the boys who was ready to get their butts whipped and they were all giving it back to me like they were going to win, but I was pleased to whip ALL of their butts - including Aaron who thinks he is the KING of bowling! :) Kobe actually LOVED it and decided that using Noah's ramp to bowl was pretty fun and wanted to have a go himself.

The best thing we did was buy a $50 family ticket for the Aquatic Centre for the school holidays. It gives you unlimited access to the aquatic centre for the two weeks, and a minimum of two people in your family have to use the pass each time. We figured we only needed to use it four times to get our moneys worth, but have already been 6 times and will probably go another couple of times before the week is up. The boys love it as they know they can go up every day if they want to. They quite often see friends from school there and when I asked them if they are getting sick of it they looked at me like 'are you crazy!!!?'. I don't think they will ever get sick of it.

Today I asked Kobe if he wanted to go swimming at 'the bucket' and he was soooo excited and said a big 'esss!' (yes!). We drove up there and he spotted the pool and I had to do a U turn to get a park and he started crying - thinking I was turning around to leave!! He was so devastated. He just loves it up there so much now and is such a water baby.

School holidays go way too fast, but before we know it we will be enjoying the summer holidays! Can't wait!

Pajama Party

We are already into the second week of school holidays and I still haven't caught up on my blog with stuff that happened last term! I have been very slack lately!

On the last day of term for Harri they had a 'Pajama Party' in their kinder. All term they have been learning about letters and the different sounds they make had recently learnt about the letter 'P'. On the last day of term they all had to wear their pajamas and didn't need to bring their lunch as they were going to have a party with pizza, popcorn and pancakes. Harri was SO excited. He thought it was hilarious to wear his pajamas to school. Even his teacher and the teacher aide wore their pajamas!

The kids all looked so cute in their PJ's and were of course very hyped up!

It was such a fun day for them and a great way to end off the term.

The Possum Tree

Today was the annual photo taking day of the boys in front of the tree at the front of our house. All week I had noticed that the tree was finally in blossom and kept saying to the boys that we had to hurry and take photo in front of the blossom tree.

I hadn't got around to it yet and this morning Harri asks 'what about the possum tree Mum!!!?'. I couldn't stop laughing when I realised he was reminding me we had to take a photo with the blossom tree. After church we went out to take a photo.

Last year it was a disaster as Kobe was just tiny, but it was a LOT easier this year as he is such a poser and just stood and smiled for us! Noah wasn't actually asleep, but shut his eyes because of the glare from the sun.

This year

2008

2007

2006

I love seeing how much the boys have changed and grown over the years. When we finally do move from here I will have to make sure we still come back for our annual photo. I'm sure the boys will absolutely love me for it in a few years time!

Double Digits!

Oh boy am I feeling old today!! My firstborn turned 10 today - at precisely 3.35pm. Jalen has been super excited for his birthday. Last year he didn't have a party with his friends, but just a sleepover with his best friend Brayden. This year he was telling me that he HAD to have a party with his friends as he was going to be turning 10 which is 'double digits' and therefore a VERY important birthday!

The other day he asked me if I had already bought his card and if it was one that had the number 10 on it, it is very special as it's your first year in double digits, but it would be even special if you got a card with triple digits on it! Maybe one day Jay!

Jalen desperately wanted to have a sleepover with a few friends, but we can never plan how Noah is going to be on the day, so we told him he could have a sleepover with one friend and then a small party with just his best friends the next morning. Of course that meant Brayden came to sleep over last night. It felt like we were celebrating his birthday for two days in a row! Jay requested to have an early birthday tea at no where else but Maccas of course. Noah wasn't having a great day and we thought it was going to end up like last year with just one of us taking the boys out for tea, but Noah settled down just before we were going to go, so we all got to go together which was nice. Brayden seemed really surprised that Noah was coming and kept saying to Jay 'Noah's coming too!'. While we were eating Brayden asked us if Noah ever eats anything (I think he thought it was mean that all of us were eating and Noah was just sitting and watching us) and we explained how it's too dangerous for him to have anything in his mouth and how it makes him choke and he was happy then.

After tea the Jay and Brayden settled down to watch a DVD. Kobe thought he was going to join them. Brayden cracked me up as he seemed a bit worried that I was going to leave Kobe there all night and kept asking 'is Kobe going to bed soon!?'.

Jay woke up early this morning, but not too early which was nice. He was SO excited to open up his presents as he has been saving up his pocket money all year to go halves with us in a Nintendo DSi.

We kept teasing him that he may not get it, so of course he was very happy and relieved when he opened it up, and he played it for the rest of the morning.

I heard Michael Jackson blaring out of the boys bedroom and went in to find Jay and Brayden doing the 'Beat It' dance together. They were so cute! Supposedly a group of boys in their class do it every morning before the bell goes.

Jay decided he wanted to have a party at the Aquatic Centre which suited us as it meant the kids would be occupied just swimming and playing together and we would just have to worry about food. The only thing we weren't sure about was how Noah would be, but we were lucky to have Alison come along to help out with him. I warned her that it was going to be warm in there, but I don't think she realised quite how warm! It was great having here there as she could feed Noah for us and also took him outside for a little while to cool down. He actually ended up sleeping most of the time, which I figure is better than screaming.


Nicki and Alex and the kids drove up from Ulverstone. It was great to have them with us as Becky and Jared couldn't make it and Steph and the kids are away in Sydney.


Jay has some really lovely friends. When I asked him who he would invite if he could have between 5 and 7 friends come to a party, he told me about 5 boys names and then said 'and Katherine'. He often talks about Katherine and a few months ago he was telling me that Katherine was going on a holiday to Bali. Acouple of weeks later he came home with a lovely necklace that Katherine had bought him in Bali and a postcard. Jalen is obsessed with anything to do with Mario Kart and calls himself 'Yoshi' and the rest of his friends all have names from characters in the game. Supposedly Katherine is 'Peach'. In the postcard from her it said 'to Yoshi, I'm having lots of fun and miss you, from Peach.

I thought it was so cute and of course we were bad and started to tease him about his 'girlfriend'. He got very upset and insisted that she wasn't his 'girlfriend', but just a friend so we really tried to not tease him about it. His teacher later told me how 'lovely' they are together and just work so well together and get along like best mates, so she ended up putting them on the same table together and now they are like an 'old married couple'.

I asked him if he was sure he wanted to invite Katherine as she would be the only girl and she may not feel comfortable coming on her own, so he said he asked her if she would still come and she said she didn't mind being the only girl coming. It was so nice seeing them together, and even though we love to tease him that he has a 'girlfriend' it is so nice to see him have such a great friend who is a girl. I hadn't met her Mum until today and she was lovely and was saying she is a real tomboy and she just loves to do things that boys love to do.


All of his friends are really nice, and it was nice to have them all with us there today - especially as it's school holidays as they were really happy to all see each other.

I'm sure Jay won't think his Dad is so cool in a few years time if he keeps doing this during photos! ;)

Aaron was very pleased as he got to make his dream birthday cake! It was the perfect year to make this cake as Jalen's favourite Hawks player is Chance Bateman who is number 10 and of course Jay was turning 10.


Jalen said it was the 'best day of his life'. Lucky for us he is pretty easy to please! All day he has been thanking us for a great day. We are lucky to have such a great kid - one who is starting to make us feel very old as he is growing up way too fast!