My Son the Diplomat - Not!!!

Today I ventured out with the kids to do the (well overdue) grocery shopping, which had been neglected seeing as last week was ScrapCamp. Both Jayden and Taryn (in between mucking around and play fighting) were moderately helpful, which made a nice change. At the checkout, Jayden wanted to be helpful as always (as so many ADHD kids are when they feel things are just not in 'order'), so he sorted the confectionery that had been turned the wrong way or put back in the wrong place, then proceed to help the checkout lady by passing her the items. I told him to just let the lady do it, but she insisted he was fine and just helping. I bet she wished she could eat her words as Jayden started handing them to her right in front the scanner and she had to keep checking which item had scanned, the one in her hand or the one in Jayden's. I could have stepped in again, but hey she said he was fine, so I figured okay lady I did try, so you cope with it then!
Then came my embarrassing karma for leaving her with Jayden - Jayden looked up and down the outside of the checkouts and promptly announced - hey look mum, all the checkout people are brown! Hmm! Yes Jayden, thanks for that and thanks for saying it in a loud announcing sort of way that turned a few heads from 2 checkouts in both directions!

Book Of Me

At ScrapCamp we were discussing the fact that many of us were always behind the camera and so weren't featuring in many of our own scrapbooks. Tania had decided she was going to do a mini album all about herself and her life. Several of us decided to follow. Titles were quite varied and included: Me Me Me Me Me, Pieces Of Me, Book Of Me, It's All About Me and more. Mine was originally going to be Me, Myself and I, but Tania and Wendy thought it reminded them of the movie Me, Myself and Irene, so mine is now called This Is Me. (photo attached). We brainstormed a few layout themes and came up with a theme for each month of the next 10 or so months. It will be great fun to do and we can reveal progress at each weekend workshop or ScrapCamp, so will be neat to see how others are progressing as well.

I created my mini album with my new Bind It All machine. Love it, love it, love it. So easy to use. I used precut covers and pages for my first album, covered them in KaiserCraft paper and bound them together. Couldn't have been easier. I highly recommend this tool and they can be purchased at Spotlight stores for a very reasonable price.

What the @#$%

Coming home to see this is not a good sign. Basically, we had 4 computers in the house. My office one, the kids old one (too old to load any current programs or games so was just sitting there), the kids current one (although it was having some issues and kept shutting down) and my laptop. By last night, it was 3 down...1 left standing!

The kids old one was basically from the Jurassic era, lol and so I was never concerned about that, but the kids current one was playing up and my brother said he would have a look when he came over (to NZ). In the mean time, Jayden opened both of them, unscrewed all sorts of things, moved cables, plugs etc and both were basically a total mess.

So, with the kids unable to use theirs, I offered them my laptop (under supervision) at the dining room table. Jayden managed to somehow lift it up, (partially by the screen) and turn it around to show us something. I told him to put it down. Then I went to use it - wouldn't open more than about 1 inch before the whole base started to crack open. The hinge was snapped off inside.

So, my brother arrived in NZ sunday for business, then came over to my place Monday (for the autopsy). Kids computer 1 - barely alive, but so outdated, can no longer get components for it, so basically DEAD. Kids computer 2, very screwed up, but once all cables etc returned to their rightful places, still wont power up anymore. Hums when the mains are switched on, but as soon as you press the on switch, it dies. Power pack fried and as it was also an old model - hard to replace that part and probably not worth it, so basically - DEAD. Laptop. (was a secondhand one, but still), will need replacement case - basically not worth it. Totally frustrated, I take a deep breath (and a stiff drink). Then the light goes on and ask my brother if it is possible to get a docking station (like my dad now has) for the laptop, so we can use the kids monitor and set them back up. Yes is the answer - then we find one on trademe for $60, so seems like we might be up and running for the kids sometime this week, but now Carrie has no laptop. That means no more working upstairs at night, no more laptop at camp. Carrie is sad!!!!!

The boys thought process

I really had to laugh at this. We had a meeting at the school, the Mike came straight home and I took Jayden to collect Taryn and Samyson from the library, stop for an icecream and then headed to Sam's place to drop the 2 older ones off. finally we drove into our driveway. Jayden saw Mike's car, looked at the house, looked back and me and said "Hmmm Dad's been home all alone!.... He could have gotten up to a lot of mischief, if he was a boy like me"
His thought process was awesome and it also told me that he knows himself a lot better than he lets on too.

All Black in the Making?

Well he sure thought he was, when playing at Eden Park this weekend! Jayden's team played the curtain raiser for the Blues vs Sharks game on Saturday. My goodness they looked tiny out on the field and they were only playing on half of it. They got the full proper referees to come out and do their game to, with linesmen and all!!! It was their first game of tackle (previous 2 years they played rippa rugby) and so we thought it was going to be a bit of a mess, but Ken the coach did an awesome job with them and the ended up winning 7 trys to 1. How cute is that 5 man (boy) scrum?

Jayden didn't score a try himself, but he was right there backing up and managed a try saving tackle against the largest guy in the other team (a whole head taller than Jayden) , just 2 metres short of a try. What an awesome day!

Bully No More

Over the past 2 weeks, I have made the odd trip down towards Taryn's school to pick her and Sam up, rather than wait for them to walk to Jayden's school. Twice in the first week I came across the bully (mentioned in the post below) and gave her the 'Yeah you better believe I'm checking up on you girl' look. Two weeks down now and no further reports of bullying from this girl. Seems sometimes you just have to go straight to the source!

Cautious Carrie

Cause it's been wet the last couple of days and my shoes had been worn so much that they had all but lost their tread and whoops, down I went. I was walking into the school hall just before the bell (luckily there was only 1 other person in there at the time), and as soon as I stepped off the safety of the mat, one foot went one way and the other one buckled and basically I ended up half kneeling down (hard). Damn those 'slippery when wet' type floors. Home for the ice pack! So the next day, I'm 9carefully) walking with Taryn in Birkenhead Mall, and whoops, down I go again, this time, straight onto the other knee! Really hard. Damn! The mall was full, double Damn! Taryn quickly asked if I was ok and getting up (which wasn't a pretty sight and I can assure you) and reassuring her I was fine, made way for her to giggle and say how funny it had looked. Oh thanks babe!!!
So I'm on the lookout for a nice cheap pair of summer shoes (with aqua tread) for those 'it looks like it may rain' days and at the moment, I'm super cautious. If it even looks like a slippery floor, you can bet I'm walking at snail pace and like one of those beautiful Japanese ladies who take the tiniest of steps.
Knee number two is currently being iced!