I have new kitchen friends

Thanks to my Grandma, and some money she was lovely enough to leave me, I have some new kitchen friends!

Meet Davros, my Thermomix!  And the as-yet-unnamed coffee machine of awesomeness!

See, they like each other...

My A-Y-U-C-O-A grinds beans and has twin thermoblocks.  I don't even know why, but am guessing it's awesome!

I *heart* you both, kitchen friends!

Ikea, or, The Place of Happiness.

We lurv Ikea round these parts.  [Well, I do, and Lolly.  Not DinnerDad or Smash.  Snail is neutral, but always loves a day out...].  Lolly and I found ourselves there couple of weeks ago at a gathering of lovely friends.  Here are some iPhone shots. 

With our "new friend" on the front of the trolley.

The kids played for AGES in the children's section, while some of us chatted.

Blurry but cute. Just after waking up from pretend naps.

Playing at the dining area.  All restaurants should have a kid's section!!

It was lovely to catch up with old friends.  And I got some cool stuff.  Ikea, I *heart* you!

Birthdays

Seems we're off to a birthday party every second week lately!  The lovely J turned 3 this week, and we had a park gathering, with cake!, to go to on Monday.  It was a beautiful day, and all the kids played together while their mother's chat.  So, basically, awesome. 

Bad shot of an amazing dinosaur cake!

Roar!!

Oh joy, we all said, some taps right near where we sit (can you hear the sarcasm?).

Little friends, so gorgeous.

Happy birthday, J, and here's to many more as Lolly's dear friend.  xo

Bouncy friends, now with more babies!

When friends come over (to help with books), kids bounce (pants optional).

"I'm a cat, and the puppies are bouncing me!"

Kids and babes assemble and are super cute.

Smalls regard each other carefully.

"In case you were unaware, this toy is mine."

Sandpits are awesome.

Party time!

Seems like everyone we know is having birthdays, lately, including a lovely friend with daughters turning one and three.  They had a party a weekend or so ago to celebrate.

One of the birthday girls in the sandpit.

L is only 6 months younger than Lolly, but less than half her size, it's super adorable to watch them.  They are the best of friends.

Look out L, it's gigantor Lolly!!

Big and Little.

Lolly had a fantabulous time with her friends, J and L.  Here they are being puppies in the giant sandpit.

Tasty!?

Just before jumping off a rock, with J.

Happy birthday, you two!  Here's to many more years of friendship for the girls.

Things that make me a better parent: Part the Second

Pile of bouncing children.

We've had a few days quiet at home lately, and had lots of lovely friends to visit us.  We bounce on the jumpoline, and play in the shell pool.  By we, I mean the kids (mostly).  It's lovely, relaxed, and Lolly goes to bed tired and happy.  Friends are good to have.  They make so much of my parenting seem normal.

It's good to debrief, and confess, between ourselves, to our parenting fails (and parenting wins, which can feel like a confession, too).  And to get advice (or maybe just normalisation) on things that, perhaps, some parents would be shocked and alarmed at.  Like breastfeeding (not just for babies!), co-sleeping arrangements, how to get your kid to do stuff without threatening them, alternatives to traditional schooling, and all the rest of that hippy-arse stuff.

Oh and we always spend a goodly amount of time being angry (and hilarious in our venomous critiques) about the patriarchy.

Good times.

I come away being relived that, just maybe, I'm doing a decent job at this, and that at least I'm not alone.  Oh, and that losing my temper is not the end of the world.  And that my social critique does not go in vain.  I always feel better after getting my rant on.

It's like group parenting therapy, but free.  It's ace.

Parks and Puppy Shoes

On Friday Lolly and I caught up with some friends at Queens Park, which has a fantabulous play ground [which would be made even more awesome by a fence, the eternal lament of the parent].  It was a cracker day, beautifully sunny. 

Lolly priming the pump for our friend, S.

It was the first time Lolly made a friend at the playground, and ran around with her, playing imaginative games.  It was lovely!  Naw, growing up...

Random friend!

Working hard to get water out of the pump.

And I can't resist, her latest insistence is an extra pair of shoes for her hands, all the better to be a puppy.  Here she is about to head off to the park.

Puppy Shoes

Honestly, the child can't really get any cuter.

Seizures, and A BABY! comes to visit

Just before we went away, when I had the Snail, she had a home day due to some seizures, which was sad, and, frankly, kinda inconvenient, I had appointments!  I also loved that I had her completely ready for school before her first one.  My sleep deprivation would have preferred a civilised just-before-waking bedtime seizure so we could all stay in bed. 

And yes, when you have a kid that seizes a lot, there are the thoughts you have.  You spend time hoping to avoid some seizures, like the at-the-shop, or in-the-car, or just-before-going-out seizures, in favour of the sleep-in, staying-home-anyway seizures.  I mean, if you have to have seizures at all, that is.   We're getting an average of one home day in a school week from seizures at the moment, so I just cross my fingers that it's a day Lolly and I don't have much on.  This is one of the unseen costs to families of this kind of disability, and if I was to request respite, it would be the dream of someone who could come at very short notice on days when I have competing needs, and a seizing girl, to help care for her.

Anyhoo, a lovely friend came over to keep me company, and when Snail was awake, she was loving to see "a BABY!", a BABY! who had no fear of the Hands of Crushing.  I love this shot of them both!  Thanks, a BABY!, and thanks, V, for keeping us company on a bit of a stressful day.

A BABY!

Bounce!

We had friends over last week, and had to bounce!!!  Lolly did her first successful bum bounce and back to standing bounce :D  Don't they both look so free!

Fun with Friends

I hosted a meet here on Friday and had a just lovely time :D A couple of shots from the day...




On Friday night we drove to Toowoomba to pick up our NEW CAR!!11!! We went with the Kia Grand Carnival (06 model) to fit all our kids and the wheelchair in it. Now we don't need to take two cars when we go grocery shopping - lol! It's awesome! (though the drive back with a stubborn-ly not sleeping babe who cried most of the way was definitely NOT awesome).

I'll snap some pics today and post em soon.

Today, we are off to the beach :D

Pool Party!

Today, Lolly and I went to a pool party with some lovely friends for an end of year/solstice gathering.

It was a long drive for Lolly and I, but we got through it just fine (with the help of some chips and a large coffee for me). Lots of our lovely friends were there, in particular Lolly's favourite toddler pals, Damara and Darcy.

The yard and house are awesome for kids!! A huge run around area, with everything a kid could want to play with. It was meant to be a pool party, but it ended up being dark and stormy, here is the storm coming in.



Lolly and her friend, Darcy, thought this was great fun! Here they are playing in the rain... "It's raining!" and "Where's Darcy?" says Lolly.


Hello over there!



Here they are catching rain pouring off the roof.








Watching her friend.


Just gorgeous, Darcy.



I bought you some rain, Mummy.