I think we have made some progress...YAY!!!!!

Ok it is now Day 3 of the new school year.

After Mr6 having an awful start I am pleased to say that he came out happy on Day 1.

Day 2, he went to school happy and came out happy (I just about did the happy dance on the way out from drop off lol!).

Day 3 he was really great going to school, until his "friend" who is just constantly in his face and is a great kid but knows Mr6's weaknesses and likes to tease from time to time (don't you hate it how some kids are like that, friends one minute and total horrors the next), annoyed him before the morning bell even went. He started to go into sook mode and my heart began to sank. Thankfully by the time he got upstairs he unpacked his back fine and went in ok, only to have a look at the board to see what they had on for the day. I looked too and saw the word "Assembly" and cringed (he just freezes at the thought of assembly and it is enough to push him to instant tears and onwards to make himself sick). He was looking through the rest of the day and I conveniently skimmed over that word. Then he said "what is the word starting with A", I said "oh look you have fitness this morning, that will be fun", trying to change the subject. Then his "friend" comes up and says in a laughing tone "oh look we have got assembly this morning",,,,Yep thanks for that mate! Instantly the tears started and it took me to drag him to the teacher and ask in front of him if they were singing etc up the front of the assembly, to which thankfully the answer was no. Straight away the tears stopped and he was happy, sheesh my child could just about win an Oscar with the way he can turn moods on and off I swear!!!!!!!

But overall, I think we are doing pretty good for the year so far lol. This is progress, many other parents wouldn't agree but for me this is pretty darn good!!!

As for my other little stress head, Mr9, he is going great. So far he loves his class and has been having "fantastic" to use his word, days. I hope this keeps up. After seeing a couple of the kids that have previously picked on him being put in his class I am a little apprehensive, but for now at least, it is all good!!!

Now if I can just concentrate on getting this house organised and neat things would be rosy lol!!!

First Day Back At School - We Welcome the 2010 School Year

Well here we are at the beginning of yet another school year. I so wish I could say that my morning went smoothly but alas no, I still had one very upset little boy this morning.

Mr15 went off to Year 10 without a problem.....until he sees the amount of homework he will get lol, but he was eager to find out what choice subjects he has ended up with.

Mr13 was fine for his first day of high school. He is pretty much a cool as a cucumber type of kid so he was unphased about it lol.

Mr9 went off to start Year 4. After a really horrible year with him last year I was surprised that he went off so easily this morning. He was eager to see who was in his class and what teacher he would get as they weren't told at the end of last year. Normally they get to go to their new classrooms and meet the kids that will be with them and their new teacher but the classrooms were getting revamped and they had no teacher allocated for his class so they all just got told which room they would be in. I was a bit upset to see two of the boys who he had had problems with last year were once again in his class after me asking for them not to be. I have let it go for the moment since he was eager to get into class but they will be hearing about it if there are any problems! There is only 1.5 classes of year 4 so I do understand that this limits the amount of separating they can do but still!

Mr7 was the hard one as usual. We had an awful time with him last night when he went to bed, but finally he went to sleep and got up this morning and got dressed without an issue. The issues began the second I said it was time to go. All of a sudden he is in tears saying he didn't want to be sick. He tends to work himself up to such a state that he makes himself ill. I calmed him down but he said nothing all the way to school and when we got to his classroom he was a mess. The only way I got out of there was when one of the SSOs came up and took him in for me.

I feel so stressed out thinking that this year may just hold more of the same from last year. I don't know what to do about it at this point. I am beginning to think I may have no choice but to either try a different school or else homeschool them. I will wait for a couple of weeks and see how things pan out but I think it has hit crunch time where I will have to make a decision. It can't be good for either of them getting so emotional all the time.

My ex was amazed on the weekend when he asked if I was looking forward to them going back to school and I said "NO". He said they must have been really well behaved all school holidays, I just looked and said "well yeah they were pretty good, but its not that, I just can't go through another year like last year", his answer was "well you just have to be tougher on them".....sheesh he took them to school 3 times for the whole entire year. His answer to anything to do with it is "be tougher" he said to the kids that if they refused to go to school maybe he would have to say they couldn't go to his house for the weekend.....great so punish them by making them stay with me,,,,who is getting punished here???? I don't mean that to sound like I wouldn't want to have them lol, I just think geez I go through hell all through the week and then you want to take away my weekend off by making them stay with me for that too. I politely looked at him and said "that won't be necessary!!!",,,,,,MEN!!!!!

Thank you I'm so chuffed!!!! My first ever blog award.....

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Kelly over at Kellyansapansa
for awarding me with my very first blog award. I am really chuffed.
This little award is aptly named because it makes me feel happy just looking at it lol.


Now in accordance with the award, I need to list ten things that make me happy...so here we go...

1. My hubby and I spending time together, we get about 1 night a fortnight where we don't have children and I always look forward to this time. Sometimes it is only a 24 hour period spread over the two days of the weekend, so after lunch Saturday till lunch or so on Sunday but it is "our" time to just relax and enjoy one another's company.
2. When my children achieve goals in their lives, such as my eldest boy getting his first part time job last month at KFC, my Mr13 graduating from primary school and looking so grown up in his suit for his graduation, my Mr9 achieving his yellow belt in Karate back in November, and my youngest managing to do his part in the class Christmas Nativity play and overcome his extreme anxiety.
3. When my autistic stepson looks into my eyes and stares for that brief 20 seconds or so, when it feels like you have made a connection and he really understands.
4. When my stepdaughter enjoys herself while she is with us. At times we feel like she only comes here because she has to, so when she chooses to really forget about her "other life" for a bit and just enjoy herself it is such a relief.
5. Logging in to my Blog and finding new followers and to see my little counter numbers climb.....it always amazes me that people actually read my ramblings lol, and I love to explore other people's blogs and feel inspired and feel connected to so many wonderful people.
6. When we spend time as a family and just enjoy each other's company. I don't care where we are, but as long as there is no electrical equipment involved I am happy!!!
7. Planting new plants in our garden and seeing them grow,,,,,our garden is definitely a work in progress and we have a long way to go but coming from two people who definitely don't have green thumbs, we are beginning to get there I believe.
8. Accomplishing things off my to do list....I have so many things I want to do and achieve that I become overwhelmed so often. So to achieve each little thing makes me very happy.
9. Watching our little kittens playing together, they are so funny!!
10. Being the best mum that I can be and being there for each of my children's special moments, I wouldn't trade that for the world!!!!

Ok now to pass this award on to others......this is so hard!!! I read so many blogs that I love so please don't take offense if your name doesn't come up in my list,,,,,and please don't leave me :-)

Here in no particular order are my "chosen ones".....

This is the Story of our Journey... I love reading your adoption story. I waited in eager anticipation for you to bring your little boy home and I look forward to sharing his life as he grows up. I find this blog an inspiration to me as we would love to expand our family further and adoption strikes a huge chord with me.

down---to---earth Rhonda lives the sort of life that I strive to. I love reading her blog to find ways to just do simple little things that help me to live a simpler life. There is such a peace and calm to her blog that I enjoy reading it when I am feeling stressed, I find it helps to calm and slow me down.

Romi Jade This blog inspires me to want to teach myself to sew. I mean I can do the basics but you truly amaze me with things you make, and your little girl is so cute. This blog always puts a smile on my face.

Jessicawatson.com.au If ever you need inspiration to follow your dreams Jessica will surely provide it! This is one girl who never let the doubting people stop her and she is achieving what most people only dream about.

Keepin up with the Joneses Another lady who has four boys. Yes I have my step children too but it is so nice to "meet" someone else with four boys lol. It is like peeking into my own life in a way.

Welcome to my life! - Mel always has a good outlook no matter what she is going through. I love taking a peek at her blog!


Sugar Pie Farmhouse This is the place I go when I want to feel warm fuzzies, the pictures and just good old American goodness shines through. I have always wanted to go to America and I have always felt that in some past life I must have lived there because I just long for so much that is American.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/ I can't get this link to work properly for some reason but please go and have a look at this blog. I love the pictures that Ree puts up of her life on her farm/ranch. Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is an inspiring blog for me and it is guaranteed to always put a smile on my face.

getting thrifty Leslie strikes a chord with me. The name of her blog is what drew me to it but once I started reading I was hooked. I love the way she writes and yes a smile is never far away when I read this.

and lucky last......

Elissa Is Achieving Her Dreams - because like me she is trying to lose weight this year, and also like me her aim is 30kgs.......my aim is at least 20 but more towards the 30. 20 would make me pretty darn happy but 30 would make me ecstatic lol.

I just about had to play eenie meenie minie mo lol but finally I got to 10. There are just so many blogs that I read that make me smile.

Have a great day everyone!!

2010 resolutions

With school holidays almost at an end and the beginning of a brand new school year which sees my kids in Years 10 (yikes! how did that happen????), 8, 6, 4, and 2 and new challenges for all of us, I thought it would be good to really set some goals for this year. These aren't hard and fast rules but things I would sincerely like to reach by next Christmas.

I have been feeling really unsettled for the last year or so, and never totally happy. I am happy with my family, I love them to bits but the unsettled feeling within me just won't go. I think it is because I just have so much I want to do and achieve that I just don't know where to begin.

This year my goals are:
To lose weight and get fitter. I don't need to be a supermodel with perfectly toned body, I just want to fit back into my clothes and look nice and just feel fitter and stronger. I have my nephew's wedding coming up in mid April and by then I want to at least fit into some of my nice clothes again.

To declutter our entire house and give alot to charity and sell the really really good stuff online to earn us a few extra dollars. We desperately want to save up for another trip with the kids to Queensland before my eldest gets to the stage where he doesn't want to be seen with us anymore lol. So if I can make a few extra bucks from our clutter all the better.

My plan is to go through the house room by room. and paint and decorate each one to make it more homely. My ex and I bought this house just over 8 years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest. We had wanted to redo the kitchen and paint it then. Well my new hubby and I have done the kitchen (except the tiling lol....just can't make a decision on that bit!!) but it still hasn't been painted!!

I have decided that decluttering is going to be done bit by bit. My aim next week when the kids go back to school is to tackle one shelf/surface/drawer each day and no more. I tend to want it all done at once but I realise that I am driving myself crazy with that approach so one shelf a day it is. I will only be keeping things we are using/things we love. All the stuff I keep for "just in case" can go. Surely if I haven't needed it in a year I won't be needing it and I'm sure most of it I could easily find something close to it in an op shop if I need to.

I also want to try to live by need instead of want. Even though we do that more or less now due to financial constraints I do believe we can cut down even more, particularly when it comes to food. Food seems to take up so much of our weekly budget its ridiculous. We don't eat alot of takeaways, but I think home baking needs to become the norm for me rather than buying biscuits and cake. The kids prefer it anyway. I finally found a really nice banana bread recipe that my family (well all except two that don't like banana lol) love, so I now don't throw out bananas!! Yay!!

I will keep you updated on my missions.....lol there you go maybe if I make it sound like a game I may just succeed!!!

A morning of twiddling thumbs.....the joy of 13 year old sleepovers

Well here I sit actually for a change wanting to get some housework done but not game to incase I wake up the sleeping "monsters" lol.

My just turned Mr13 had a birthday party sleepover last night with 4 of his best buddies. There were originally only 3 but then while playing XBox on Monday he met up with a friend he hasn't seen in a year due to said friend moving schools. So of course I was asked if we could just squeeze one more in......well why not lol, one more won't make a difference when we will have 7 boys in the house anyway!

Hubby and I did begin to wonder about our moving around of rooms that we did over the christmas break though. We moved into Mr13's room which was the largest room and the room where we used to regularly host sleepovers and be able to close them off to the back of the house where they had the big bedroom to sleep and the family room and a bathroom. We put the eldest and younger two boys down the front of the house and closed it off with the sliding door which blocks out majority of the noise and then we had the joy of only having a door closed between us and "the gang" lol. We didn't go to bed till about 12.30 ourselves and I had trouble getting to sleep because no matter how "quiet" 13 year olds try to be, they are never quiet lol. I dozed off then woke at 2.30,,,yep they are all still awake and playing XBox. Finally I dozed back off at 3.30 or so, only to wake again at 5am,,,,,yep you guessed it, all still going. Finally at 5.45 just as the sun was beginning to brighten the room, it went quiet. By this point I couldn't sleep and lay there until the alarm went off at 6.30 for hubby to get ready for work and for my eldest son to get ready to go to his part time job at KFC. Three of the boys were asleep with two still playing. Five minutes later one of those had dozed off and that left one boy standing lol. He said he had caught a couple of hours shut eye during the night thats why he was still up.

Now here I sit at 9.57am and there are four of them asleep and I am wanting to run the vacuum.....lol but I can't be that mean.

Hubby will be picking my eldest up from KFC for me at 11 then coming back here for the birthday cake which no one felt like last night so in my wisdom I said we would do the candles and singing for morning tea today.........in hindsight maybe that wasn't such a clever idea???? Oh well at 11 these boys will be getting woken up so that we can sing and I can take some photos of the gang together. Three of them will be catching up at high school but this year sees the other two going off to different schools some distance away, so I want to get some photos of them together for potentially the last time before they all make new friendships etc.

Aaah well looks like we will be having birthday cake for breakfast at this rate lol........

Its amazing how your views change as you get older.....

Sitting here today, I am looking at the calendar and it has suddenly dawned on me that the kids only have 15 days of school holidays left. I can't believe it, it seems like only yesterday that a couple of the school mums and I were counting down the days till school holidays began with looks of horror on our faces lol.

Today I wish that I still had weeks ahead of me before the beginning of the school year. I am dreading the school routine kicking back in. Back to the early mornings and before school rush. Making lunches and recesses, and the hassle that becomes with 2 kids who hate sandwiches. Making sure everyone gets the fruit that they like lol. The after school mayhem when they are hot, tired and cranky and you are guaranteed to be yelling before you even complete the 5 minute drive home. The joy of having tearful children as they are sent to their rooms to calm down for 5 minutes for hitting their brother or saying words they shouldn't. The homework help that is required by the high school kids and the battle to get the younger kids to do theirs. The list goes on!

I am also dreading the younger two starting back at school because last year was anything but enjoyable, dropping off crying children and spending way too much time with the principle as we try to devise a way for kids to settle better.

AAAAGGHHHHHHHHH I don't want holidays to end!!!!!

I really do wonder if home schooling the younger two at least would be more beneficial to them. I don't know if the stress that goes with schooling for them is worth it......but then again they don't like to mix with kids so I know that if I was to do that, then I would have that battle to contend with anyway. Parenting some days is just so hard lol.

I remember just a year or so ago when school holidays just gave me the horrors. When I used to count down the days with joy while the kids would count down with horror. Now I join them.

Maybe I am just getting older. I look at things with so many regrets at times,,,regrets and guilt. Should I have done more with them when they were little, is that why they struggle with their learning. Should we have played more games, did more colouring etc etc. Should I have had a bigger age gap so that each child could have been given more one on one time with me.

I don't know the answers. I so wish I could have a "do over" of the last 16 years and just start from scratch. How I would have done things differently and not taken one second of their lives for granted. I would have let the small things slide, do they really matter. Does having a tidy house really matter?

Today I sit here in a house that is very lived in. It is by no means perfect, it is over cluttered, not to the point of being a total mess but just not up to the standard that alot of other mums I know would really approve of. We have too much stuff, something I hope to fix this year in a series of major decluttering and redecorating.

This year is the year for me to get fitter, lose weight and to get my house turned into a home. To make it a place we love to come home to, instead of a place where I constantly feel stressed and feel pressured to be cleaning up. I want to be able to relax and enjoy my family in this home not be rushing my times with them so I can get the coffee table wiped down or the floors swept. Right now all the cleaning feel like it takes forever because there is too much stuff. I want to be able to wipe a surface down without having to move things all the time.

This has turned into yet another ramble. I haven't posted in a while lol, so you have all my whinging to enjoy at the same time!!

Ok I am off to clean the kitchen benches and then there might be time to squeeze in a board game with at least one of the kids....(as you can probably guess they all like vastly different games as well lol)

Pssst,,,BTW do you like the new look? I signed up to the blog frog and of course it refused to fit into my old layout so I changed. Still not 100% its the one I want but it does make me feel kinda holiday like, or at least of where I dream of being sort of....you know the view, beautiful beach with no housework for miles around lol.