Family!

I have not been very good at keeping up to date with my blog!  But I refuse to make something that I love doing so much into a task and another thing that I have to put on my to do list.  It is meant to be a diary and a reflection on our life to look back on and to share with family, friends and the amazing family I have made online, so I don't want to be a slave to it and I don't want to put that pressure on myself to set a date and make it a routine thing. I know I would end up hating it instead of it being the thing I love and enjoy doing. 

To me it is much more important to live life and enjoy being with my family rather than put some kind of pressure on blogging regularly. Don't get me wrong I love blogging and I love and look forward every day to sitting down and reading all the blogs I follow, it is the highlight of my day and what gives me so much joy and inspiration to try new things and discover all the beauty and wonder that is in the amazing world we share!

I am not the best at time management and I never have been.  I feel like so many parts of my life are filled with expectations, to keep up with this person, or too look a certain way, to keep fit and look after myself, that my house should look like some sort of show room or that my children should be learning this or doing two hundred activities or they will some how slip behind, and so on and so on.  It is really hard not to get caught up in everything and loose sight of what means the most to you.

I think I realized this year that all those things are just obstacles and a certain type of pressure that no one is putting on me and that I am only putting myself through this pain. We are surrounded by so many things these days telling us what we should do and can't live without, so it is not that difficult getting caught up in what is supposed to be societies norm and it is just not achievable or even real and never will be because each time I achieve something the bar gets raised again and that is the whole point.  I feel so caught up in this silly cycle sometimes thanks to what is written in a magazine or on a t.v. show that dictates to us that this is normal and what we need and must have.

I have realized this year that the most important things in life and the thing that our children want most is our love.  There is no such thing as a perfect household and there is no one right way to raise your children as we are all individuals and we are all unique and that is special and amazing and I want to grow and nurture that in my children, I want to embrace what makes them unique and celebrate that and not get caught up in the blur and expectations that life can bring.

I know that I am not going to get this parenting thing right every single time and that is ok because I know that the most important thing is to not shy away from things and just give it a go.  As my mum always used to say to me, just sleep on it and it will never same as bad the next day or as important. 

I guess I have lived so much of my life trying to please everyone and feeling that I have totally failed but what I have noticed while teaching my daughter about English is that it is ok too not get things right the first time and it is ok to fail as that is part of life, it teaches us to keep trying and work harder because the reward on the other side is worth all the effort. 

Life is an amazing gift and we need to not sweat the small stuff and know that we are going to slip up as parents just like our children will do also, but that is how we learn and grow to make us who we are! 

My house might not be perfect all the time, and sometimes I might get a little lost in all the expectations and pressure I put on myself, but I am determined this year that I will take the time to enjoy my children and take the time out to enjoy there company.  Because as a friend once said to me, what will you remember in 10 years time, that you had a clean house or that you went out and made those special memories with your children and friends. 

So I am going to try and throw caution to the wind and go and make some memories! 

On a lighter note, a nice little slice of family life was made when my husband's sisters family came up for a visit just after Christmas from Sydney.  Although we only managed to share a handful of hours together, it was a truly lovely afternoon and evening spent together.  You realize when you have children just how fast time goes.  Riley and Ella just seem so grown up now.  The kids had a wonderful time catching up and it was lovely waxing lyrical with Lisa and Shayne about the commonality of our life with children!

 It was very relaxing and the perfect way to spend a summer day catching up with family!

 All I can say is with the above photo, that if a photo could express and show the true essence of a child's personality well this one has it in spades and is Aidan all over!

Hope you have a nice day filled with lovely memories made!!!

Some one got their ears pierced!

It was slightly premature, but as a nearly big eight year old, I broke down and gave her that special something she has been holding out for, for a very long time, to get her ears pierced! 

I can't believe how excited Amber was, and brave, I almost couldn't look!  We decided that because her birthday was in a couple of weeks, it would be a lovely experience and early birthday treat to have them done before she went back to school! 

She is already counting down the days to when she can take them out and put in her special butterfly dangly earrings from the butterfly house in!

I can't believe my baby is only a week away from turning a big 8!  Her excitement is contagious at the moment.  She unfortunately has spent the first part of this week and her second week of school at home with a pulled groin muscle.  I am praying she is back to full health by her birthday next Thursday.

She will probably miss the big athletics carnival that is on this weekend,but I don't want to risk further injury and drag out her pain, as they say you have to be cruel to be kind sometimes.

Circus magic!

 It has been a long time since I went to a real circus, and what fun we all had.  It has certainly changed as there are no Elephants or Lions and that is a good thing, as the thought of those poor animals being dragged from one city to the next is just down right cruel in my opinion. 

Amber had been pleading for us to take her from the moment she saw the huge blow up clowns that were inflated in every possible spot that you could fit one as you drove along the road.  I am so glad that she talked us into it though, as it has been a long time since I have been thrilled and amazed like that!

 

Yes the kids had too much sugar and they talked us into those over priced glowing swords and wands but the looks on their faces were gold and just made me get all excited and giddy all over again.

 So if you are lucky enough for the Moscow Circus to roll into your town, grab your husband and the kids and go!  We all had a ball and was lovely to sit back and be entertained and to enjoy the thrill and magic or pure entertainment.

 

Aidan spent the evening gobsmacked, that alone was worth the price of admission!

The look on Amber's face says it all, when she tried to talk daddy into a ride on the carousel,  I am pretty sure you know what the answer ended up being!

I am not sure whether it was the light sabre or the circus that made him the happiest!

 

Sorry I had to include the last photo, the look on Amber's face just cracks me up!

Our little ballerina!

Well Christmas is over and the new year has begun!  I'm still wondering where 2011 went, but that is getting older for you, the years keep coming and the blur just keeps getting stronger and stronger!

2012 was a difficult year, but it was a year of change and of learning to let go.  Some friendships disappeared and some forged a stronger bond.  It is the hard times that make you appreciate and to be thankful  for the things that you have and I have never been more thankful of an amazing partner, two beautiful and ever so loving children and family and friends that live near and far that have been my rock and that have challenged me to be a better person and love me no matter what.

There were a couple of little highlights that I am more than a little proud of though and a couple that I could happily erase but what fun would that be, so just in case i forget here they are:

This was the first year that Amber went for her Royal Academy of Dance Exam, and I cannot tell you how nervous I was for her!  Last year we were all geared up to do the exam and I mixed up the dates and we arrived a day later, to say I was devastated would be a slight understatement!  Lucky my girl was ever so amazing about the whole thing and gave her mummy a big hug and told me that it is not the end of the world (famous last words she has heard countless times from me!) and that life will go on, and so it did!

Well I am so proud of my girl as she went in this year with such confidence and poise.  She amazes me with her love and joy of performing and with her lack of nerves, she leaves me for dead in those stakes. We had too wait way to long for the results to come back from London but it was well worth the wait!  I couldn't open up that envelope at first, things were running through my head about what would I say if she failed, how would I hide my disappointment, I should of had more faith in my daughters abilities because i couldn't have been prouder in the end.  She always tries so hard in everything she does and on more than one occasion in the many things she has done she has learnt to be graceful in defeat!  And that is such a hard lesson to learn.  So in my eyes she is a winner because of her amazing attitude to life and for giving it a go and never giving up.

She ended up receiving a Distinction in her graded Exam and I have to laugh because every time she has told someone about her results she struggles with the pronunciation of the word, thankfully she knows what she is doing with her feet otherwise people might think that when she is referring to her results that she is actually a dinosaur and heading towards extinction not a distinction lol!

That wasn't her only achievement this year, she also earlier in the year won a trophy at Little Athletics for the most improved athlete for the under 7's and under 8's.  There is that never give up attitude i was talking about, she is by no means perfect though and we do have tears sometimes over certain performances, but it is a wonderful lesson about life.

Amber is absolutely loving art at school and did very well on the arts and sports side of things on her report, she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up, so I guess she is on the right track.  She loves reading and I can't believe how far that she has come since the beginning of Year 1 when she could only read a handful of words to full blown chapter books now.

Aidan is like a little sponge and enjoys trying to keep up with his big sister.  We have just started him on Reading Eggs and he is loving every minute of it!  Watch out Amber here comes Aidan!  He is certainly an active little boy and is always on the search for a good looking stick or rock to poke things with or throw.  He is such the little investigator and such the little mess maker while on his investigations.  I guess we need to prepare ourselves for another busy year.

He loves telling everyone how bad they have been when they do something they shouldn't and that they are naughty! He so makes me laugh and to be ultra aware of what comes out of my mouth because you know he is going to redirect his newly aqquired opinions onto anyone that will listen, don't you just love little parrots!

Toilet training has not been too successful this year just past.  He has the ability and has proven on many occasions that he is more than capable but, he is just so darn lazy.  He will go and find a nappy and tell me that he has had enough now and would like me to put one on him.  Going to the bathroom is such an inconvenience when you have sticks and stones to search for!!!!!

So as we head into the unknown future of 2012 I am excited and just a little bit nervous about what we are about to face.  But isn't that what life is all about and truly I wouldn't want my life mapped out for me, because what kind of fun would that be any way.  And just think of the adventures that you might miss out on.  The beauty of life to me is the surprise element, the unknown, the excitement in what is hiding around the next corner.

So I wish everyone a 2012 full of love, surprises and maybe just a little sprinkle of fairy dust.  DREAM BIG AND LOVE EVEN BIGGER, THAT CORNER IS AWAITING!