How I just spent $28 on a dog blanket

I went to get an old blanket for the dog's bed. Hastings is well-endowed with Op-Shops. First I tried the Cranford Hospice Op Shop. There I found some terrific old army blankets, far too good for a dog though, and at $4 a piece I bought two, as well as three old teatowels (nothing beats an old teatowel - I would happily pay someone to wear in my new ones for me, same goes for towels) and on top of that a pretty wonderful hand knitted stripey wool blanket ($10) also far too nice for a dog, and then I bumped into Grace N* (Z's sister who used to live next door). Now anyone who knows the N* sisters will know they are lethal in a bargain situation, so before I got out of the Cranford I had spent $22 on all sorts of stuff including three metres of black and red striped canvas I didn't know I needed - "That will be really handy for something Jess!" Said Grace as she left me.

Shaken, I drove over to the Red Cross Op Shop and there I found a pile of old tatty blankets ($3 each) I bought two because they are so so good, even though I only needed one.

Now I have a boot full of blankets and it's about 33 degrees here today.

And remember when we looked like this...?

Proof!

Karin, Miles, Tim, Alice, Em, G

Tim and G and kids at the beach

The Gr'ups

Begging for snacks at the kitchen window after a swim

Pictures

Mouths of Babes

We've had 13 year old G staying with us which has been a real treat. And fasanating listening to the way "The youth of today" speak. For instance he was telling a funny story about a woman getting mad at him and he said "I just wanted to say "Lady Chill-ax!"" Which is obviously a meld of Chill out and Relax. G and I laughed in that way adults who think kids are quaint do.

Almost as funny as Bax and Izzie doing their Bob the Builder performance in public places. Bax sings "Bob Builder can we FIX IT!?" And Izzie just squeezes the whole song together and yells triumphantly "Bo...lll...sh...it!!"

Wonderful PJs arrived from Nana Anna in the UK today

And we love them all - the dots, the stripes, the dogs and the flowers and also the socks and knickers. The Friday socks say "Friday finally!" on them!

Little Old Two-some

At friends' house for tea last night. All six kids aged 12 down played so well together. When the littlest (not ours) went to bed bax and Izzie took over the little playhouse with the little chairs and table outside. They sat in the chairs looking out over the 'estate' - a very large front lawn of an even larger sheep station. Together they must have decided the view wasnt quite optimum so Bax picked up the table and Izzie picked up a chair and as we all watched from the verandah they carried the assembled across the lawn to a little rolling hill on the other side. Then Bax ran all the way back again for the other little chair. Then the two of them sat there like a little old couple at the golf, watching the sun go down.

Did I mention...?

Bax has toilet-trained himself. Well done him! Lucky us!

Picture this...

Bax wanders into the dining room before kindy this morning. Izzie and I are eating breakfast. Bax is dressed in his kindy shorts and t'shirt (no nappy because he's toilet-trained himself, did I mention that?) and on top of the shorts he's wearing a tutu and he's got his Indiana Jones hat on his head, he's carrying his ukulele:

"I'll sing you a little song, alright?" he says.

And then he starts strumming his uke and humming loudly.

He finishes and Izzie claps.

Our morning concert is apparently over. He bows and leaves.

Also: My Aunt (GAS) is part of a Ukulele troop who go around playing at events, their stage is the back of a truck. They're called Ukes on Utes. On Sunday they're playing at a fundraiser for the Buddhists.

I can't decide which is funnier, Bax' version of a concert or GAS' version of same.

Work

I said to Bax when he asked what Daddy was doing: "He's doing the washing"

Bax said "But that's your work"

I corrected his gender specific alignment of domestic duties: "Well it's Daddy's work too"

After a little while I checked that the message had got through: "What's Daddy's work Baxter?"

"Doing the washing. And hammering in nails" he replied.

I didn't want to say anything, but...

Bax has now slept through the night IN HIS OWN bed for three nights in a row...and wakes up a bunch of birds full of new language and thoughts and adventures, and he's using the toilet and somedays he's so hungry he eats all his dinner (carrot included) and has another dinner later before he goes to bed. Plus there is no crying, no screaming, just a happy little "Night night mummy" and an hour or so of chatting and singing, then sleep.

Izzie is back in her portacot.

Can't win 'em all!

Christmas princess

Peachy and Charlie Moon take on the world

Backwards reminder

To my blog-buddies: Remember blogs go backwards so the entry at the top may only be the very latest of a lot of recent posts you may not have seen. Just check under the most recent to see if there are others you may have missed!

More camping pictures

Camping pictures

What I did on my holidays

Izzie and I went up the coast to stay with my Aunt and Cousins. We went camping. Bax and G stayed home to finish the bed project.

Izzie loved camping. She particularly liked playing in the craypots. We ate sooo much crayfish and fresh fish and smoked fish and tuatua, which are like asymetrical pipi.

We went for a walk along the beach and Iz played in all the rivulets and got so sandy she was caked and we had to give her a gubba bath like we did all last summer. She even stuck her face in the water so her fringe got sandy too.

She slept really well with the sound of the waves and the wind. And she slept through even big gusts that pushed the tent flat against her trusty portacot and then billowed the sides in a big dramatic gesture.

We had a great day in town with my Aunt, shopping and eating cake and having coffee and bumping into various cousins.

Then Izzie and I drove home again. We were so excited to see Bax and G. When we came in the door Bax rushed up to us "Izziebella you have grown, You're even bigger than me!" he said giving her a cuddle.

Then last night they both slept right through in their brand new bunk beds.

Musical beds

I have written a long and over-the-top salute to the year but it's on the computer at home, the one upstairs with the dodgy space-bar and not here where I am so instead of all that I will tell you a bit about the bed situation...

After much chatting between us(Bax included) about how to solve his sleeping arrangements - to catch you up he is now sleeping in our bed every night because he finds his room so spooky and he just sits there crying sometimes til midnight at which time he is so shaky and upset that he ends up with us anyway...what with him sprawling and G snoring I usually debunk to the spare room or into Bax's bed which I don't find spooky in the least.!

So we have a picture in a children's book that Nana Anna sent us of a sort of hidy hole bunk bed with curtains and so currently G is in the shed til all hours building bunks like you've never seen bunks before and I am inside making the curtains...and last night we got so caught up in it that we skipped tea and forgot to put Bax to bed (he is very good at playing quietly when he wants to be) and so there we were at 9pm sitting around my sewing machine drinking hot chocolate and easting vegemite on toast. Meanwhile Izzie had woken up and was whimpering so I went up and there she was covered in fluff because she had made a little hole in her pillow and had picked all the insides out. I scooped her up and she sat on the floor half asleep as I made her bed - she is so cute with her big blue eyes and her blonde curls and her soft pink PJs with the built in slippers and her rabbit.

Izzie's bed is a special one. It is still the Argos Portacot we bought for 40pounds and which is small enough to fit on Nana Anna's canal boat when she had it - we bought the cot for Bax and he hated it but Izzie loves it. Then inside the portacot goes the purple patch work quilt our lovely Ali B made then on top of that the sheep skin Ann gave us when Bax was born then in one corner the fairy pillow Gran bought before Bax was born - so all together it is very special this little bed and I'll be sad to see it all packed up...But when Izzie woke up again at 3 because she just couldn't lie straight I thought that maybe she would like a spot on the great Ark that's being built in the shed - maybe the bottom bunk.

So at the C of D this am Izzie and I were all stretched out in the spare bed - Izzie luxouriating in the space - then G and Bax came in and curled up too and I thought - Geez it's a good thing we have so many choices of where to sleep in this house.

Even Django has a new bed. I put it together myself . (That;s a lie actually, I tried to put it together but it's a terrible design and I didn't have the right tools and I was working under pressure and the bolts were a bit too fiddly and and and in the end Bax said "I'll call Geebs" and off he ran inside to tell G that Mummy couldn't put the dog bed together and needed help....)