Omnitrix

I have always baked and iced the kids birthday cakes myself. We've had castles, fairies, Winnie The Pooh, Bob The Builder and loads of others, mostly with the aid of a shaped baking tin or some good cake book ideas. When asked what he wanted for a birthday cake this year, Jayden replied "Oh just a plain cake, with a picture of Ben 10 wearing his Omnitrix and the words Ben Ten Alien Force across it".....'just'.... Oh, OK. Not! I couldn't find a cake tin to help me with this one, and I certainly was not going to pay the outrages prices for s hop bought one, so looked up some pictures on the net. There was just no way. I suggested an Omnitrix with Jayden 8, instead of Ben 10 would be quite cool - yeah he went for it. So here's a picture of Jayden's birthday cake. To be honest it doesn't look too much like the real thing at all, but Jayden just loved it and that, after all, is what it's all about anyway.

Generations Gone By

A while back I started looking into our family history and it wasn't long before I discovered my Aunt had been doing the same for some time and had way more info than I had, which was really exciting. So, the smart thing to do, join forces. We are now spending a day a month working on our ancestory files. A few weeks ago I found a photo of the ship some ancestors travelled on when migrating and my aunt was blown away with the picture as she had been unable to locate a photo previously. In the files so far, the family has been traced back to 1620. I can't wait to get my teeth into this project. I think we'll make an excellent team and I'll keep this blog posted on what sites we found useful as I know many scrapbookers like to dabble in tracing their ancestory.

New tricks for an old dog

When I was growing up, there were pretty well defined roles for mum and dad in our house. Mum did the house stuff, dad played sport and did DIY stuff around the house and basically never the twain did meet. Dad's now retired and mum works part time.

Yesterday, my washing machine went on the blink and I desperately needed to get 2 loads of washing done. I called Dad to see if I could swing by and use their machine. Upon arrival I set the first load in motion and asked how long their machine cycle was as I needed to go to the bank and do a few other things and would pop back in time to put the second load on. Dad said at least and hour, but not to worry about coming back in between as he would put the second load on! OK I said, a little fascinated by this fact, as I'm not sure my now 72 yr old dad had even touched a washing machine before retiring! So, off I headed and did all my banking and other bits and pieces. I was gone probably 3 hours. On the way home, I swung by mum and dads to collect the washing so I could take it home and hang it out and at least get it partially dry before nightfall.

When I arrived, there was dad, folding the last of my washing! He had not only put the second load on, but had dried both loads and folded them as well. This was weird. Really nice and greatly appreciated, but a weird sight all the same. My first thought - 'Who are you and what have you done with my father?' Never in a million years would I have ever dreamt of seeing my dad even partially domesticated.

I guess an old dog can learn new tricks after all!

Helpful???

We just had Jayden's parent teacher interview. Mostly it was very positive, with Jayden now reaching all required levels with school work and being in the 2nd to top maths group! What does he have to work on then?-managing his distractions and perhaps thinking a bit more before he follows through on an idea. Example: An icecream container of bits and pieces had fallen off the teacher's desk (according to Jayden when we asked him why he did it), so he decided he could fix that problem and promptly glued the container to the teacher's desk. Helpful??? I'm sure Jayden thought that was what he was being, but not sure the teacher had the same opinion!

ANZAC weekend

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest we forget."

We spent a quiet ANZAC morning watching the dawn parade and other memorials on TV. We talked to the kids about ANZAC cove and tried to give them some insight. Taryn baked the most scrumptious Anzac cookies I've had in ages. Ken (Jayden's rugby coach) came over on Sunday morning to pick Mike up for a coaching seminar. Ken and Mike thoroughly enjoyed the better part of an entire batch! Here she is making them and then the final results (batch 1 of 4).

What he packed in his overnight bag...

I forgot to mention, when I took the kids up to camp last week, I waited while Jo dropped her two kids off, then she said she would stay there while I went and did the grocery shopping. When I came back, Jo was untangling some rope. "Where did that come from" I asked. "Jayden brought it with him" was Jo's reply. "Oh" I said "That looks like Mike's tie down rope, I hope he doesn't need it today". "Well" says Jo "the rope was one thing, but when he produced the hammer and the axe, I was a bit shocked." "What" I said. "He packed a hammer and an axe in his overnight bag" said Jo - "cause he was going to build a hut up here at camp didn't you know." Well, I quickly checked his bag to make sure there wasn't anything else I didn't know about (like perhaps a stick of dynamite!!!lol). But there was nothing else. I asked him, "so what were you going to build the hut with" "Oh" he said, "I was just going to chop some branches with the axe." "And tie them up with the rope?" I asked. "No" he said, "I brought nails to hammer them together." I quickly found the nails and we then had a discussion about tools, trees and other people's property. The rest of the time at camp went just fine.

Basic math is Okay but....

The more complicated stuff seems to still be a bit beyond Jayden. I took 6 kids to camp with me. My own two, a friend's two and my sister's two. Yeah I know some might think I'm crazy, but 6 actually worked way better than just having my 2 up there. Anyway, Jayden is on a nightly tablet that helps him calm down and drift of to sleep a bit better (usually about 8.30pm now, rather than previously finally going off at 11.30pm, thanks very much). It is a slow release tablet given 2 hours before bedtime. I knew camp was going to be an exciting time with all the kids, so I opted to give him 2 tablets on our first night (he can actually have up to 3, so no I wasn't overdosing him). He asked why I had given him 2 instead of his usual 1 tablet, to which I replied, well I know you'll be very excited and might find it hard to go to sleep tonight and you need lots of energy for our games and scavenger hunt tomorrow, so you'll need your rest. He promptly swallowed them, then added: while that's a bit silly really, cause 1 helps me go to sleep in 2 hours, giving me two will now take 4 hours!!! Oh - of course, how silly of me!