Granny Tribute! (oh, and Daddy's birthday)

Well as the title suggests, Grandparents are awesome and Granny {MIL} came to visit us over the Easter break!

Really, I'm just going to brag about my MIL so you will be envious of how good I've got it! [insert smug look]

Mr R on his birthday with 'Mummy'- He is such a ratbag and I wouldn't want him any other way...

We've had an 'eventful' week... I could lie and say it's been 'fabulous', but the truth is it sucks when you're unwell. Yep, I think I had the dreaded.... [whispers] 'man-flu' - for the life of me I couldn't stop complaining!

Poor Granny, she was stuck here for 5  l o n g  days, with myself and Mr R sick. I have to say it was nice to have someone here to justify my need for chocolate. Husbands just don't 'get it'.

It was a bit of a bummer, Mr. R had his birthday on Friday, which turned out to be pretty lame, because we were unwell [and poor]. 

We did stop off at the 'beach', which is, come to think of it, more like a mangrove.




Anyway, having Granny here was a great excuse to pull the camera out and start clicking....

'Deception Bay' - looking very... deceptive.

In my defense, I was sick, it was about 11am, and the sun was in full swing. I don't own any fancy filters or lenses - only my trusty 50mm and two zoom lenses that came with the camera.

That isn't sand, that's mud - so soft and fine,
you could shovel it up and use it as a mud pack

We also did the "stock standard" photos in the back yard, of Granny with the kids. As you do.

Granny with her 'minions'

Ms 13 and Master 9 have had Granny and Grandad in their lives since they were 7 and 3. It's nice to think that Master 9 wouldn't remember a time without them in his life. Very special.

Granny is one of those people who genuinely loves children (well, to some point). Granny is a kindergarten teacher, so you can imagine that some days she probably loathes school and snotty little children.

One thing the kids and I love about Granny, is that she is a firm believer in 'play comes first and housework comes later', so it's always fun to have Granny around.

Yep, I must have the only MIL who doesn't check for dust! Really, it's just like having another big kid here. Awesome! 

Miss [almost] 2 is their first paternal grandchild, but they've already built up their grand-parenting skill set years prior to little missy coming along. 

Aside from my immediate family (husband and children), I really only have my mother left - all my grandparents passed away when I was younger, and I never grew up with aunts, uncles and cousins.

I can't stress enough the importance of extended family, especially grandparents.

We would love to drive down sometime this year to visit Mr. R's Grandparents 'Nanna and Pop', so they can meet Miss [almost] 2 in person - not just by photos...

Everyone's sad when Granny has to go home...

Teaching The Kids How To Vandalise, Yay! {Window Painting}

Who would have thought vandalising could be so much fun! Can't take credit for this, I 'yoinked' the idea from Childhood 101 - Christie and the team over there are just amazing!

Miss [almost] 2 working her magic.

Master 9 "In the zone" - He is such
a character...

We had so much fun as a family painting the window, it even felt a bit rebellious!!

This totally gives away I'm Virgo right?

Mr R and I dug out some basic poster paints from the craft cupboard and set Miss [almost] 2 and Master 9 up to start being little vandals.

I'm still unsure if the paint will actually come off the windows, but it's our house so we don't care if it does or not.

Wasn't long before Ms 13 joined in the fun after her morning walk with Granny

This lovely family activity will more than likely backfire on me, I'm certain I could see it ticking over in Miss [almost] 2's mind, pondering what she could deface next.

Ms 13  Geez-Whiz I love that girl to pieces!

One day there will be no more cheery
pictures being drawn on my windows,
they'll all be grown up

Eat your heart out  Michelangelo

Master 9 - Epic Saga {part one}

Okay, so long story... [err] even longer? I'm on a mission! August last year, we were woken by Ms.13 at 3am in the morning, alerting us that Master 9's bed was in fact, on fire! Yes, that's right, on fire! 

 Turns out Master 9 was indeed still secretly afraid of the dark, and had placed a halogen lamp under his covers with him, which ended up setting light to his bedding and mattress. Master 9 sustained superficial wounds to his hand and legs during the ordeal. Needless to say it was a very scary event for all involved.

Of course, in moments of pure panic and trauma I shine through, with really bad taste jokes and humor. Whilst in the emergency department I was trying to reassure Master 9 that "chicks dig scars", so all's good? And when Ms 13 mentioned she was feeling hungry, I cheerfully suggested some "Kentucky Fried Carter" [used fake name, but you get the jist]. 

Of  course, my family know me well and find the 'humor' in it all, including 'bad arse', 'hard arse' Master 9 -  However I don't think the hospital staff saw it that way! I'm a bad mother right? Perhaps next time I should panic and follow it with some sobbing in a corner?

Master. 9 sporting the bandages on his hand... [Photo compliments of Ms.13]

The offending lamp...  [Photo compliments of Ms.13]

Anyway, the only way I can describe the winning combination of burning electrical, bed linen, mattress,  melted plastic, metal and burning flesh, is putrid. All his bedding was ruined, including the mattress and the bed frame. We could not rid the those above mentioned smells, but lets face it, it could have been a lot worse! 

 

One of Master.9's pillows... [Photo compliments of Ms.13]

 I'm sure you're all wondering what the moral of this story is? The moral of the story is, "If you want Mummy to do an awesome make over in your room, you should set fire to your bed!" - OK, perhaps not? 


I did realise however, that my little man.. I mean, Master 9 was still just a little boy, and surrounded by GIRLS 95% of the time [insert violin music here]. So I wanted to make his room an escape - plus as non-scary at night as possible. So long, scary jolly rogers!

So in order for you to fully appreciate what's been done in Master 9's room, we must jump inside my metaphoric time machine of photos  and journey back to when we first bought the house 4 years ago... [insert twilight zone music here]

 

Very Very Bright Blue!!! 

OK, now jump back in the photo time machine and we'll jump forward two years, to a period in time known as the "Pregnant, hormonal and nesting" era ... 

Master 9 loved the feature wall the previous owners had so we kept it, and just painted over the blue and removed the blinds. [which were on every window in the house] This is the bed and linen that were ruined by the fire.

Faults with this room:

1. Umm bed burnt and unusable? Not to mention it took up way too much valuable play space.
2. Computer desk pointless, since he doesn't have a computer or drawers?

We painted one side of Master 9's wardrobe with chalkboard paint - this is the part where you're in awe of my awesome transformer chalk artwork! Right!? [you'd better be!] It took me 1 1/2 hours to draw, and when asked what he thought of it, he was like "oh. yeah. it's pretty good.". Meanwhile I sobbed.

Anyway so this time instead of me taking over [Warning I'm Virgo and practical!!], I sat down with Master. 9 and asked him what HE would like in his room. We talked about what type of bed, what 'cool' things he could have, and managed to compromised on some of Master 9's ideas, like painting the ceiling red with green polka dots. I know, there I go being all practical again! Of course, almost all were my fabulous ideas but in the end it's still Master 9's choice...

In the end Master 9 decided to go for a bunk bed, and I thought "Awesome, I always wanted a bunk bed!!". Master 9 requested a timber one. I suggested we replace his desk too, with something a tad smaller and more *cough* practical. Except when I mentioned it to Master 9, the suggestion was more like "OH MAN! You know what'd be soooooo awesome!?! A desk with drawers and a hutch so you can put cool stuff on it and in it!!! Whoaa!!". 

You know how the common catch phrase is "Google is your friend", it's a lie, a stinky, horrible lie! I searched and searched, and search some more on how to make a bunk bed tent, to no avail. Yep, not one tutorial...well... if there were, there wasn't any with pretty pictures or diagrams to show me how to do it!! So after whinging about it to anyone who would listen, my 66 year old Mum had to show off by finding something that was really good, and even without diagrams would be pretty simple to make. Thanks a lot, Mum!

So make sure you check back in to see the latest installment of Master 9's - Epic Saga [part two]. I'll  post the after pictures of his new escape as soon as it's all complete! 

[Shit! Supposed I'd better make a start on it then...]

A Chryssie Carol

Ok, so I had this grand idea for a post! A massive gripe about Christmas, lots of spoilt little brats, along with parents buying their kids love out of guilt. I was inspired after reading a great post by aussiebum mummy.  

Oh yeah, I had it all mapped out in my head and my post started with an awesome 'photo-shopping' of our tree and the kids, got part way through, [oh, and of course I forgot to SAVE IT!!!] the editing software froze on me!!! The horror! OMG I was on the verge of tears!  Lots and lots of swearing! I figured if I didn't at least do a screen print, none of you would believe how awesome it COULD have been! 

 

*SIGH* I guess you will have to use your imagination: Picture Miss 18/12's legs dangling out from under a parcel and master 9 looking sad calling for 'mummy'. Of course we can't forget the essential bitchy and neurotic pattern lady in the corner saying something catty that's along the lines of "Well, my parents spoiled me at Christmas and I turned out fine!"

Would have been awesome!!

{Now lets just pretend that the photoshopped picture worked out and you were in histerics because it was just so darn funny!}

So back to the point of this post, spoiled little turds and annoying parents who flake out on parenting and opt for the 'quick fix' of LOTS of unnecessary, expensive presents.

What better place to start than with my Christmas memories from when I was a child... 

{queue Ghost of Christmas past}

No wonder she drinks...

❋I remember waking up early, I mean REALLY REALLY EARLY!! {In fact I still do!!}

❋I remember eating lollies, chips and rumballs for breakfast! {as far as I'm concerned it's not Christmas without Rumballs!}

❋I remember playing cricket with my brother down behind my grandparents house

❋I remember my Dad always drinking beer and making rude jokes

❋I remember my Dad and brother fighting over stupid stuff

❋I remember my Grandma getting tipsy

❋I remember the tree in all its 4ft something glory

❋I remember seeing family

❋I remember feeling sick because I ate too much pavlova {hehe STILL do that too!}

❋I remember making gifts for my family, as dodgy as they were! {I still make presents, heh, they're still dodgy too!}

❋I remember we always had the same bar-be-cue, with the same salads  
❋I remember not being much older than a kid myself and celebrating christmas with my first born

You know what I don't remember.. 

{{ THE STINKING PRESENTS!!! }} 

The only thing that I remember out of ALL the presents I received over the years that was so awesome, was my first BMX bike which I begged and pleaded for, for a whole year! [yes I was a tomboy, heh still one of those too!]. It was my first 'non-hand-me-down' bike and I was in grade 7. Though I'm STILL waiting for that freakin pony I asked Santa for.  

{queue Ghost of Christmas present} 

Anyway you get the picture, it was never about the presents, kids don't remember that shit! It's a part of it but certainly not the important part. It's about being with family and tradition - more importantly wasn't some special person born on this day? Umm was it Santa? Nah that doesn't sound right... Umm, oh, that's right, Jesus! 

I mean that's the main reason we celebrate Christmas right? Now I'm not entirely sure, but from what I read at Sunday School I got the impression that this Baby Jesus wasn't a spoiled little brat. *shrugs*

What will the kids of today remember? Mum and Dad fighting non-stop about bills and credit cards being maxed out because too much was spent, on crap! 

{queue Ghost of Christmas future}

She doesn't even have to say anything and she still comes across bitchy...

 What's wrong with spoiling our kids? Nothing at all - do as you like, but don't come crying and whinging to me when they expect everything under the sun and are ungrateful little shits. Or worse still when they grow up, and then rely so heavily on material things to make them happy. I'll be all like "HAH! I told you so!". :P

We're all guilty of doing it from time to time, but how about we keep Christmas special!?! Maybe you know there are a few too many toys under your Christmas tree, perhaps donate one {or three} to your local charity or to children in foster care?


Wishing everyone a safe and merry Christmas for 2010! 

Dedicated to my father John Bentley 

26.09.1938 to 04.02.2010 

{Missing you heaps at Christmas time!}