Birthdays birthdays birthdays.............

Last Thursday was daisyboy7 birthday (henceforth daisyboy8). He is a fantastic little boy who gives us no trouble - even if he does get up at 4am on a Saturday dressed and ready to go to rugby - peeling our eyelids back and asking us if it is time to go yet or do we wait until the sun comes up! No seriously every Saturday...

Saturday was "the birthday party" for daisyboy4 we asked all the kids in his class and they all came bar about three!! With their mums and/or dads and siblings what a riot!! there were kids everywhere it poured with rain just as I was wondering how on earth to get everyone settled to cut the cake! The sun came out and all the kids went and played in the puddles (the invite did say "get dirtiable clothes') We had just packed up and were ready to jump in the car to head to Toowoomba for my BIL 60th birthday party when a kid arrived at the gate his mother had gotten the time wrong! He was in tears so we did more cake, more lollies, shoved some chips and soft drink into him, opened his gift and promised he could come and play one Saturday. Then packed up and left for Tba.

We were so exhausted I need to apologize to my sister and her husband for going to bed so early we went to be when the kids did!!

Today is daisyboy4's actual birthday (henceforth daisyboy5) - yes I get the irony of it being Arpil Fool's Day believe me if you knew the story of how he came to be it would be even funnier.

So after another cake tonight at about 7:30 when everyone gets home from rugby training, netball training, league training and meetings - I will be over birthdays.....until the next one in two weeks.

Have a fantastic day

daisymum

Tuesday is Gardening day!

With so much rain around ( sorry to all those not getting any) the garden is really getting away from me. But it looks like today I will get to spend most of the day in there weeding and planting and cutting back. I cut all the plants in my garden back by a half to two thirds twice a year

once in late October (so I get a full flush of flowers for Christmas) and then again in April to help them get through our dry winters. This year I am cutting back earlier than I usually would because the growth has been staggering, so I will have bundles of cuttings of pentas, lavendar, daisies, hibiscus, plumbago, duranta and some roses to give away and to replant in the few bare spots that have been claimed by the weeds.

For those who follow the Catholic way of thinking you will know it is Lent our children have given up all kinds of things for lent - playstation (no big deal there as it is packed away during the school term anyway) chocolate (this is a biggie daisyboy7 LOVES chocolate he wouldn't even take a lamington to school for morning tea today) - what will power and strength of conviction he has for a 7 year old he can't even have a chocolate cake for his birthday.

I keep thinking it must be luck that I have these great kids but more and more I see that we live very differently from other families. We have always expected our children to pitch in and help, we have always expected to be respected by our children, we have always done everything we can to encourage them to chase and catch their dreams ( as opposed to doing it for them).

Now that I am working my greatest fear is losing some of that of letting them down because it is easier to give in than stand your ground and watch them fail (which is after all how we all learn - from our mistakes) I see more and more guilt ridden parents doing everything for their children to make up for the fact that they are working and have less time to spend with them. One mum told me the other day that it was easier for her to do her year 10 sons homework assignments and have him pass so they can spend more time together on the weekends - what she fails to see is that he leaves home at 7am Saturday morning and goes motorbike riding all day getting home at 5pm and then Sundays he spends locked in his room chatting on msn and grunting as he passes anyone on the way to the kitchen - how is this spending time? how is he learning anything?

She then went on to tell me that she pays a lot of money in school fees and couldn't afford for him to fail and have to repeat....... apparently he gets enough marks from his assignments to assure a pass ...I wonder if she will do his uni assignments as well, and fill in his dole application??? I was so angry when I left that conversation and I wondered if time will turn me into one of those parents?

But the thought of turning lose on society an adult who can't read, write, cook, clean, dress themsleves and get themselves organised is repugnent. Surely a parents job is to nuture a whole human being not stunt them into a childlike dependance for the rest of their lives.

end of rant have a great day

daisymum

New look!!

I am so excited I finally worked out how to change the look of the blog. So expect a different one every now and again until I find the one that screams ME. I really like this one though. The one on the weekend was a bit too bright.

In the yard...................

Yesterday was spent mulching more gardens, mowing, planting out five Hedgerow roses in pink....I get these from Diggers at first I wasn't convinced they would grow in Qld but after putting in 10 (and only losing 1) 4 years ago I am a convert. I didn't water them at all they have survived on what nature provided (not much considering we have been in drought since I planted them) and look at them they do need the sun though, the ones on the other side of the drive are in the shade of a pine tree and they aren't as lush. They only flower once a year but they are so beautiful and form a great soft hedge.

Then I decided I am putting more vegetable gardens in the orchard paddock and we are going to take back the weeping paperbarks we bought for the front area and exchange them for some fruit trees perhaps avocados. And I finally got my head around where I am going to build the trellises for the cane berries.

And we got a trellis up for the luffas so planting them out today.

Up until this point the garden has been largely my baby, daisydad hasn't been that interested, but that is unfair he has been studying a law degree by distance ed for the last 8 years so every weekend has been full of study, assignments and the work he has to do for his real job. But now that his study if finished he has been out helping me more and yesterday's decisions were "us" not me. So it was a turning point I suppose.

Busy Sunday....................

We usually have a cooked breakfast on Sunday after Church but this week we got into the garden first then had a late brunch, then back out to the yard to get some more done. We did some weeding and then had a swim in the dam with the daisies, and then played gin and go fish with the kids for a while we even got to sneak away and do a bit of grocery shopping on our own and pop in to the local pub for a quick drink on the way home. In a busy full household it is these little moments that help to remind you that one day there will be just us.

That bedroom.............

Daisygirl13 sorted out the boys bedroom on Saturday it looks great apart from the fact I really wanted the drawers painted before the clothes went in them but never mind we can do that in a few weeks when everyone is home on holidays. For now the floor is empty of clothes and everything looks neat and tidy - a room to think and plan in at last.

Kids are home.................

So we are off to the library and then we need to buy daisyboy7 a pair of goggles for school swimming. So while we have to be out of our valley and over at the shopping centre we will get some meat to put in the freezer. Then home again to drop the kids here while I choof off to another job interview then back here to pick them up and off to the nursery to swap those trees over and pick up a punnet of lettuce (no forgot to plant out lettuce seeds!!!!) and a play in the park in the village with a coffee for mum and a walk to the local take away for a 50c packet of lollies for the daisies. And then home to plant lettuce and luffas!!!

Enjoy your day whatever you are doing and whatever surprises it may bring.

daisymum

PS: My potatoes are up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But my cucumber have gone not died not shrivelled just gone...... possums??