A Relaxing Weekend Away

There's nothing like a weekend spent at a beachside resort to relax you, except when that weekend is spent with young children!

So Carla (Mackenzie 3mths, Charlotte nearly 2), Meegan (Owen 21mths) and I (Caitlin 10yrs, Mim nearly 3) packed ourselves into 2 cars and headed for Portobellos, at Dicky Beach, Caloundra.

Disaster struck quickly, and without warning. In the carpark called the Bruce Highway, we had a flat tyre so pulled onto the muddy side of the road. Meegan had only had the car for 3 weeks, so we consulted with manual to discover the location of the jack. Meanwhile, Carla decided to continue driving, in the hope that Mackenzie would stop screaming and fall into an exhausted sleep. Luckily a good Samaritan, who happened to be an ex-mechanic stopped and helped us change the tyre, all to the accompaniment of Owen's screams to be released from his carseat. Just as he helped us put the now useless tyre onto the back of the car, the rain started. His timing was impecable! Within 15 minutes, we were back on the road again.

Portobellos was lovely but with a few obstacles. When Carla booked, she was told there was a lift to the 3rd floor ... what they didn't tell her was that after you got out of the lift, you still had to negotiate 8 steps down to the landing. Whilst this isn't a problem for most adults - you try transporting portacots, prams, suitcases and 4 small children down these stairs! But we managed it.

Friday night we took a trip to the beach and let the children run on the sand whilst dusk fell. It was lovely and the kids enjoyed it. When it got dark enough that we couldn't distinguish Owen's clothing from the sand, we knew it was time to go home. Most of the children went to bed on time - except Owen, who would not let sleep claim him. He sat on the couch, glazed eyed and clutching his bottle, fighting sleep!

On Saturday, we spent time in the pool and then time down on the beach. Caitlin and Mim had a great time on the beach, collecting shells, playing in the sand and swimming in the waves.

I took Caitlin and Mim down to the beach on Sunday morning for a swim, before we had icecreams and then upstairs to pack. The trip home was a lot less hectic than the trip away.

The girls and I are going to try camping in the backyard over Easter, might be a bit less stressful.

My Kitchen Floor

Well, I did it.

I had one weekend only to transform the kitchen floor from bare wood to a lovely polished surface, so the men can finish putting in the kitchen cupboards, appliances, etc. Spent Friday night filling in the nail holes with putty, sanded it back on Saturday morning, vacuumed it, rubbed it down with a damp cloth to remove dust, put on the first coat of Cabot's CFP, walked around high on fumes, sanded it back on Sunday morning, rubbed it down and put on the second coat, sanded it back last night and put on the third coat!

It looks bloody marvellous!

This was all down whilst trying to convince Bub that I did not need help painting the kitchen floor! Thank you for the loan of the baby gate Carla, it came in very useful!!!!!!!

Can't wait until the kitchen is finished - will enjoy having a sink again, as well as cooking appliances and a dishwasher!

Home Sick Today

Bub has a lovely chesty cough, the kind that carries through closed doors in the middle of the night, ensuring that nobody gets any sleep! Coupled with a slightly raised temperature and runny nose, it ensured that she was not sent over to Mumma's today (her grandmother). I have advised work that I will not be in - what a hardship, no loonies today!


She was Vicksed and tucked up in a blanket in front of the TV, when she decided she wanted an apple for breakfast. Sounds wonderfully healthy doesn't it, so of course I said yes. She helped herself to a Granny Smith and proceeded to take random bites from it. After ensuring that the whole surface of the apple had been marked, she decided she didn't want it anymore, she wanted the red apple. Being the tolerant parent with a sick child, I acquiesed, wrapping the Granny Smith in plastic - I guess that'll be my morning tea.


So, she settled down to munch the Red Gala, happily watching Little Einsteins. I felt safe enough to go downstairs to hang out the washing ..... when IT appeared before me with ANOTHER apple with numerous bites taken out of it!

"Is that another apple, Mim?"
"yes, Mima not like that one"


So upstairs we trudge (after rescuing the third apple), to discover the second apple only partially eaten. Bub then decides that she wants a banana and helps herself to the fridge whilst I'm wrapping Apple III in plastic (afternoon tea for me, I guess)! Before I can snatch it off her, she has partially peeled it and taken a bite. So my fruit count for this morning is one partially eaten apple, one partially eaten banana and two more apples to consume throughout the day! Who said parenting isn't healthy!!!!

Eewww, Gross! Sex Education

Have just gotten back from taking C and her classmate (a boy!) to ballroom dancing. We tend to go once a fortnight, sometimes a group of girls, other times some boys join in.

As we were consuming the obligatory Baskin Robbins afterdance treat, C and M were talking about a book that their teacher read to them called All About Me. "It's about S...E...X, eeeww gross! They mentioned the P word and the little wriggly S ... oh yuck, I don't like talking about it!" (Had to stop myself from laughing out loud!) Apparently it is aimed towards a Grade 2 level and names all the relevant body parts. And talks about cats copulating and the male thingy getting, you know, hard. (How can you not laugh out loud!)

Woggie

No - we're not referring to anything Mediterranean. Beezle Bub loves woggies (froggies) whether it's the Cadbury variety (extra large of course) or this disgusting contraption found at Mum's Bakery! Green meringue?

Shopaholic

I must tell you about last week's shopping near disaster.

I had popped up to the local shops whilst C was at her piano lessons. BeelzeBub was with me, dressed in her pretty fairy dress. We called in to the dry cleaners to pick up the dry cleaning that I had assumed was still there, after all, His Lordship had not removed the dry cleaning ticket from the front of the fridge. Didn't need to as His Lordship had picked up the dry cleaning three weeks ago. Anyway .....

Called in to Crossroads to look at some shirts that might be suitable for work. Little Fairy Girl decided to play peek a boo around the clothing racks. Then she just disappeared. I wandered around the whole store, which wasn't very big, calling her name and even stuck my head into the change rooms and called for her.
Nothing.
Went to the front of the store and asked some ladies if they had seen a little girl in a fairy dress. Nothing.
Looked again in the store and then, getting a bit panicky, went out into the hall and quickly walked up and down a little way, looking into shops.
Nothing.
Almost sprinted back to Crossroads .... and saw a flash of pink and blue - the fairy dress!!! thank god!! Walked to the back of the store, where the sales desk is, and as I rounded the a clothes rack, what do I see? I see Bub, dressed in only her nappy and shoes, with the sales lady holding the fairy dress over the counter. Bub had decided, in her wisdom, that she wanted to try on some clothes. So she had taken an item from the clothes rack, gone into the change room, taken off the fairy dress and tried on the shirt .... but then couldn't get her dress back on! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! She was most contrite when I pointed out that Mummy was very worried 'cos she had disappeared.

Guess who'll be wearing a leash until she's 20!

Well, it's about time

I thought it was about time to start a blog site about the adventures of BeelzeBub, our resident little evil (angel). To introduce you to her, she is nearing the end of her terrible twos, has the face of an angel and the mind of a devil, at times. But we all love her dearly, despite her elder sister C saying at least 3 times that she hates her, usually after Bub has gotten into the Barbies, doll house or whatever other delights her elder sister's room holds.

We are having our kitchen replaced as I type. It has been rather difficult keeping Bub away from the poor workman, who just want to get on with their jobs, not try to decipher the little chatterbox who will stand in the doorway and regale them with intelligible stories about her beloved sister C. I encouraged her to stay downstairs for half an hour, during which time she played "Little Einsteins" on the piano and drew on her chalkboard.
"Mummy, look at hopitas"
"What is hopitas, sweetheart"
"It hopitas" (accommpanied by swaying of arms and then various low chords on the piano)
"Sorry, sweetie, I don't understand?" (This was repeated for 10 minutes)
"You know, Mummy! Hippy hopitas!"
"ohhhhhh, Hippopotamus!" (what the .......)

Then she proceeded to make some of her sister's junk jewellery (pilfered from aforementioned room) "misappear". Let's hope I can find it again and replace it before school gets out!