An exhausting week

Michael had a week at 'retreat' last week, which meant I was solely responsible for the well-being of two children, three dogs, one cat, six chooks, eight sheep and one lamb! And they all lived through the week!

We drove Michael to Geelong on the Saturday to catch a midday flight. It's only a three and a half hour drive to Avalon airport. Caitlin elected to stay home and catch up on sleep. She was still exhausted after three days at school camp.

Mim at Avalon airport

Jemima and I waved Michael off then headed into Geelong to grab some lunch before heading home. I played Jemima's favourite CD over and over again so she could practise her songs for karaoke. She also got to take some photos with my camera, to alleviate her boredom, and didn't do too badly with some of the shots. Arrived home at 5.30pm to find that Caitlin had coped well on her own all day.


two of the photos taken by my backseat driver

A lovely friend had offered to look after the girls whilst I worked - I arrived most nights to find dinner had been prepared for me and the girls had already been fed. Thank you Jenny, you are a life saver!

I even managed to whip up two delicious quiches in our new oven, using donations from my six girls.



Caitlin had a podiatrist appointment on Thursday to see what could be done about her ankles (being sore and giving out on her). Turns out she pronates, her left foot more than her right. She has some foam inserts for her school shoes to trial for two weeks and then she'll be reviewed. We also need to get her new school shoes as her current ones were too loose/stretched (and the elastic on the strap broke on Friday).

Jemima had a playdate at our place with her friend, Edward. They happily played Barbies for a number of hours, and helped crack the eggs for a lunch of scrambled eggs.

Jemima and I drove back to Geelong on Friday afternoon to pick Michael up. Caitlin, again, elected to stay home and look after the animals. She did call me to ask how to turn the oven on. I'd shown her how to do it before I left, but she thought that it wasn't working properly because it wasn't screaming at her the way the old oven did! Driving back was exhausting. It was dark, cold and wet. We stopped at Mortlake for 15 mins so I could have a powernap. But we made it home safely.