Call me crazy.....

... but I've obviously on a whim decided that my life isn't busy and hectic enough these days.

You see, I've finally decided now is the time to get back to my studies. I was only about 3 months into a two and half year course when I fell pregnant with Charlie. I struggled and persevered to continue with study whilst dealing with morning sickness, pregnancy brain and the all out exhaustion of growing another actual human being inside me, but in the end threw up my hands and told Mother Nature that she had won. No more study.

And you know how it is. Once you stop, it is just so darn hard to get started again. Procrastination fueled by sleep deprivation sort of got in the way a bit.

But now that Charlie is getting all good and grown up, I felt guilty enough about slacking off for so long that I rang and organised to start back again.

I opened my workbook yesterday for the first time in almost 3 years, tried to ignore the noise and sweat of Kaiden's Muay Thai class going on around me, and I got down to it.

I read a whole 3 pages.

But I loved it. So that's a good thing, right?

I plan to try to study in my odd moments here and there, as at present I don't have the 1- 2 hour time slots to study that they recommend (are they for real?). My biggest challenge will be attending the seminars which run on a Saturday for the whole day. I'll have to ponder on the logistics of achieving that, what with a toddler to look after, sporting commitments to run bigger boys to and, you know, a weekend to use for doing absolutely nothing.

I suppose you're all wondering what exactly I'm studying. I'm doing a double degree in Counselling, specialising in Relationships and Children & Parenting, as I would love to one day work with children and their families.

Right now though, I just have to figure out how to work within mine.

School Daze

Yep, we're in a daze.

Well, I am anyway. The kids are back at school after 2 months off. Back to having to be organised and on top of things again. Way too much pressure if you ask me.

Too much pressure for me, that is. Not for the boys.

I want to go back to the lazy days of summer where breakfast was whenever we felt hungry and there was nothing more pressing to do than figure out if we wanted to swim in the pool that morning or that afternoon.

Or both.

But as change is the only constant in our world it was inevitable that wonderful summer holidays would be well and truly over, and the new school year would begin.

And by the end of the first school day the boys brought home a bazillion notes for me to read and sign, and organise, complete with dates to write on the calender.

Again, way too much pressure. I want summer holidays back.

This year (finally) they are both at the same school again, as Corey has started Yr 8 and moved up to High School.


Corey : 13 and growing up too fast.


Kaiden has started Yr 11, which is his second last year of High School.


Kaiden : Now at Senior School and Mr Cool.

Of course I had to take the obligatory first day photos, especially on the occasion of Yr 8 and Yr 11 starting.

And as per usual, Charlie had to get in on the action.



He even insisted on wearing his little back back and stated he was going to high school too. He was bitterly disappointed when Kaiden and Corey jumped out the car and went into the school without him.

So we're back to having to get up and ready by a decent time, and having to pre make lunches again. Gone are the lovely days of lounging around in pajamas and playing xbox half the day.

Time to study. Time to work.

But time to have a little fun too, I suppose.

As they say "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

But I must say, life is certainly not dull around here. Not by a long shot!

School life

Kaiden has had his Yr 10 exams all this week, and I've been so proud of him. Last week he planned out his study schedule.

Kaiden and schedule. Two words I thought I'd never put into the same sentence.

In a positive way that is.

He has been focused and studied hard each afternoon, without complaint and without procrastination.

The only problem is the music.

VERY LOUD MUSIC that emanates from his room whilst he's studying. Apparently it's the best way to study as the loud music drowns out any other distractions. Okay.

Charlie, after hearing the 'doof doof doof' resonating from Kaiden's room, innocently asked "Kaiden stomping?".

Yes, darling boy, Kaiden may actually be stomping in there. Who knows?

After a recent debacle regarding Corey applying for the Academic Extension program at the High School next year, all has ended well (so far). I rang the school and luckily the teacher in charge of the program was a very wise man, and had ordered extra exam papers just in case of late applications arriving.

I breathed a very big sigh of relief, that I hadn't ruined my son's future.

So bright and early one recent Saturday morning, Corey showed up at the High School to sit his exam. He wasn't nervous at all. Cool as a cucumber my boy.

But there was something that was bothering him a little.

3 1/2 hours of exams about to begin?

No.

It was the fact that he had to show up in school uniform.

ON A SATURDAY.

How is a boy supposed to cope?

But he felt confident, so we shall wait for the results and see.

Both boys have also applied for the Soccer Excellence program at the High School next year, applications are due tomorrow. And yes I checked the date this time!

Multiple forms had to be completed, one of which was to be completed by the boys themselves. Question 4 was "Why do you wish to join the Soccer Excellence Program?'.

Relatively easy right?

Ah, not so. It was like pulling teeth trying to get them to articulate a decent answer.

Somehow the following two initial answer weren't quite right:

"I want to join because I'm not in any special programs and I want to be".


"I want to join because I like soccer".

Somehow I think they're looking for a bit more than that.

Trials commence next week, so once again, we shall wait and see.

At 20 months.

Charlie turned 20 months old just the other day.

Everyday he blows me away with how much he is learning.

Each day he learns new words and will practice them out at every opportunity.

His chosen word of today is : Streetlight.

I'm not sure why. I don't ask questions.

Yesterday it was : Windscreen. Go figure?


Charlie has a drawer that's full of educational toys and books. We play and learn with these things together most days.

Between 18 mths to 2 years, children have the most synapses firing in their brains than at any other time. The rate they learn at this age is amazing. So I'm taking this time to expose him to as many things as possible.

And he just soaks it up like a little learning sponge.

He seems to love it, and is always asking for more (both verbally and in sign language).

At 20 months these are the letters of the alphabet that he knows.

We're currently working on the remaining 6.

He can count objects up to 6 unaided.

And does so quite frequently.

Just the other day, he walked around the entire perimeter of the park, counting the fence posts as he went. He would count to 6, and then we would help him the rest of the way up to 10.

Then he would begin again at 1.

Over and over.

Then just to up the ante, Del taught him 1 - 10 in German.

No problem.

We were now counting fence posts in German.

He loves this rainbow learning card. He stares at it for ages and sings little bits of the song "I Can Sing A Rainbow".

It's just adorable.



This kid amazes me each and every day.

I love him to bits.

A Morning at School

Today we went to Corey's school for the assembly. Corey was triply excited about this one.

He was receiving a Merit Award, as well as reading a speech he had received top marks for.




And his class were putting on a short skit in which he played a minor role as a policeman.

He did so well at everything and I'm so very proud my Angel (in disguise) Boy.




During the assembly Charlie busied himself playing with his Thomas train and charming everyone in the crowd. He clapped as each person received their certificate, clapping loudest of all for his big brother, shouting "Yay Corey" over and over, much to the amusement (or annoyance) of those around us.




After the assembly parents were invited to the staff room for tea and coffee, and not yet having had my morning coffee, I took them up on the offer. Plus there were chocolate biscuits.

It would of been rude not to, right?

Whilst I was drinking my coffee, Corey had to go back to class, and he asked if he could take Charlie with him.

Now Charlie has a long history with Corey's class. Corey loves to show off his little brother to the teachers and all his friends at any and every opportunity, and Charlie loves the attention and likes hanging out with the 'big kids'.

So off they went to class together without even a backward glance.

15 minutes later, after my coffee and a chat with the principal (who I found out calls Corey "Ice-Cool Corey" as nothing fazes him) I made my way to the classroom.

All the kids were hard at work when I arrived, busily writing in their books. And and guess who was sitting up the front of the class, with his own pen and paper?

Yep, there was Charlie, busily working just as hard as any of the 12 & 13 year olds around him.

Three chairs had been stacked together for him to sit on, so as to be high enough for him to reach the desk. He had not only drawn on the paper with a bright pink highlighter, but all over the desk and himself as well.

And to top it off, the teacher was sitting next to him, 'teaching' him things and Charlie was loving every minute of it. He had the biggest grin on his face.

Deciding it was time to minimise the disruption to the class, we packed up his 'school work' and made our way to the door saying goodbye to the teacher and all the children, Charlie giving lots of high 5's as we went.

But Charlie didn't want to leave. And the students didn't want him to go either. Even the teacher seemed a little sad to see him go.

Maybe I'll start to use this school babysitting service more often. I'm sure they won't mind.