365 2015 Week 18

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Flora on Friday

 

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365 2015 Week 17

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365 2015 Week 16

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Wordless Wednesday

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This Week on the Web...

An interesting article about a school in Norway.

Teacher Tom of the week: Talking, listening, and thinking.

This makes me feel sick, and sad, and so very very helpless.

The importance of Playing, Puttering and Pretending 

Teacher Tom on Obedience.

Sitting and standing desks... not my usual read but still interesting and I had to laugh at the concept of 'Big Mother' technology: "like George Orwell’s Big Brother, only with more nagging."

Etsy picks of the week....

Monsuier IV print from Blancucha. 

Not sure there has ever been a cuter chameleon! From SuAmi, you should see the Narwhal too.

I thought the idea of a ceramic coffee travel mug was pretty cool... and this one is pretty. Seems like it would be nice to wrap your hands around. From Sarah Welch Pottery.

Sweet black and white nesting dolls from Wee Gallery

I'm not much of a jewellery person but when I do I like imperfect and rustic and out of the ordinary, like this ring from Cinnamon Sticks.

I could see Kieran getting this for me both because it would make me laugh and piss his sister off.

 I found the most amazing creator of dolls house miniatures "L Delany accessories for the well appointed dolls house". Am now totally wishing I had a dolls house to 'well appoint'....... 

They're made of paper!

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'You've had a good day son....'

This was a good week....

Because....
... Will and Robert went Rollerskating.
... Les took the kids on a successful shopping trip.
... Kieran and I had an awesome full day of Hockey.
... The Ones drew their game and are still top of the table.
... The Ladies twos won their game.
... We finally had school on a Monday- a much better day to start the week!
... Mrs Mulligan gave me a cool old book from the BSS.
... Robert came to play on Tuesday.
... Salvy and I had a catch-up about leavers.
... Merenia had an enjoyable excursion to Curtain.
... We had a phone catch-up with Glenys.
... Will and Tama and I had a boying session at John Oldham Park in the city.
... We dropped Will shoes into Orthotics.
... I scored a cool shelf from the hospital skip bin perfect for my scrapbooking room.
... I had a lovely Mothers Day afternoon tea with Tama at Kindy- completed with painting each others nails.
... Robert came to Hook in to Hockey with Will on Saturday morning.
... Tama once again enjoyed the full session.
... we had a fairly relaxed Saturday no real Hockey games- makes for a chilled day.

"You've had a good day son"  is the punchline of a joke my dad used to tell about a father, his son, a bear won in a side show at a carnival and a Mini Car... it's a great joke and the one liner punchline has stayed with us for a very long time. This weekly post is about being grateful for the little and big things in our lives and celebrating success the grand and everyday kind.

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Flora on Friday

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Wordless Wednesday

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Together Tuesday

I'm writing this post in the future! I've been pretty busy lately and so didn't get a chance before now to write a post for last Tuesday. So I'm writing today (Friday) and I'm going to back post which is perfectly ok and utterly perfect.

Our mornings generally flow fairly smoothly. We move through a fairly standard routine each morning. Les leaves, the TV goes off. The kids realise they are hungry- but need to get dressed before they can have the food pay-off. I make lunches. They move about- trampoline to get some wriggles out before the school day. Shoes, bags and out the door.

Yesterday when Will woke up he stayed in his room rather than coming out to the TV and worked on some Lego Heroes. Tama joined him after he got up and I decided just to leave them. If they had have come out foraging for breakfast before 8am we probably would have got back on the school train. But it was 9:10am when Will came out.

W: If I go to school now, won't I need a late note?

G: Yeah you will. Why, do you want to go to school now?

W: Um.... no.

G: Ok then.

And so we didn't, after a crappy week of Hockey drama. Tama a bit out of sorts and the weather generally cooling down and slowing us down we were all ready for a break and so we took one. The boys had breakfast in PJ's. Worked on the Lego some more. Came out late morning for more food. I suggested they get dressed while I made an extra big morning tea and we'd head into town to drop something off and take Will to the Park Tama and I recently discovered. And that's what we did pulling into the drive way back home  just as the 3pm bell went at school. 

It was lovely.

At school they are looking to build children's resilience. The children are not coping physically and mentally with the increasing demands of the poorly designed curriculum and over the top school achievement aims. So rather than make the school work for the children they are treating the symptoms of the problem and encouraging resilience.

I've never heard of something so bizarre. Our physical bodies are not particularly resilient and when they protest we lay off. We rest ourselves. Skip a training session. We don't just heap more training on our injured body in an attempt to strengthen the weakened area. Why then would we attempt to do that to the precious minds and spirits of children? 

So before anyone calls the truancy officer I'm just saying- yesterday was a sick day... sick of the school treadmill and in need of a mental health treatment that really works.

Time and space. Dirt, water, sticks, sliding, splashing, birds, trees, sunshine, snacks, and love.

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This week on the web....

I'm a doomed hero. Five out of six ain't bad but where's my Obi Wan?

As a story person I loved this quote from Australia Poet Joel McKerrow that Eden posted.

 “I have heard it said that the best way to destroy a people is to take away their stories. To make them forget. Get lost in the smallness of their own predicament. Like a child who cannot find their way home. It was Milan Kundera who said, ‘The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. To destroy its books, its culture, its history.’ If this is the case, that the first step in the destruction of a people is to take away their stories, then surely it is true that the first step in the restoring of a people is the restoration of their stories. As a poet, this is what I do. This is why I do what I do.” - Joel McKerrow

Built in Dunedin is a very cool little blog that looks at the history of some of Dunedin's older buildings.

Simple rules for healthy eating- I like that these don't just address what we eat but also how we eat.

A great post on Get it Scrapped on 5 ways to take inspiration from a single LO. These could be translated to work for any LO.

Damon's answers to the top 10 Questions about 'That Sugar Film' are interesting- most of it is pretty basic but I liked question 9 about mood and related matters. Especially with regards to helping people who are sick, and incarcerated.

Glennon's Key Jar for the dinner table and maybe a set for the car could be a good idea for connecting with the kiddos- you could also look at incorporating the 20 questions from the Do You Know Scale.  For an explanation to those and the statement: “The ones who know a lot about their families tend to do better when they face challenges" have a look here.

This is a shocker: The Shirt on your back.

Top fashion labels ranked on use of slavery.... imagine the F's??

 

I love pretty much everything The Black Apple does!

 

Cute Garden Stamps.

 These are simple and sweet.

Stunning print from a paper cut.

 Funky Flowers that never die!

Does it ever.

 So cool!

I'd like this as Be Kind or leave for our dining room wall.

The little animals can pop up and down- interactive broach! I'll have the bunny.

 Very cute mobile.

 Hello Foxy!

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'You've had a good day son....'

This was a good week....

Because....
... Les had a game of Golf on Monday.
... the littles played so well on Monday.
... I got a great deal on Lollies for hockey.
... there was a digger outside of Kindy.
... I did a decent load of scrapbook pages.
... I got a couple of new tops.
... Jo and Doug brought me back a Next Magazine from New Zealand.
... Robert came for a play.
... The Governor of WA came to Will's school to announce a new initiative and the school got cool stuff.
... Jayme came over and I caught up with Bel and Tony.
... we got a giant box from the library.
... the dinner for the players tea was easy.
... the guys look good in their new shirts.
... I did Parent help on my own terms and Lucy and I were both happy.
... The 17's had their first game of the season in Joondalup... a draw.
... Kieran umpired the 7/8's.
... Tama enjoyed a great session of H2H.
... I watched Merenia first netball game- a win.
... Will went for a sleepover at Roberts.

"You've had a good day son"  is the punchline of a joke my dad used to tell about a father, his son, a bear won in a side show at a carnival and a Mini Car... it's a great joke and the one liner punchline has stayed with us for a very long time. This weekly post is about being grateful for the little and big things in our lives and celebrating success the grand and everyday kind.

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Flora on Friday

 

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Round-up~ April 2015

Enjoying....L- Good Wife, MKR, GOT
G- Survivor, Grey's If you are the One, Good Wife, GOT, Bitttersweet,
K- Survivor,  If you are the One, GOT, Trainspotting
M- Comedy Fest, ANZAC Telly
W- Home @ the movies.
T- Play school & Prehistoric Park.


Well that was fun...
Tama and I have been enjoying Library afternoons on his Kindy half day. And Will is most happy that Robert is now coming over every Tuesday after school. Tama and I went and watched Will in the Easter Hat Parade (mindless school tradition). The big kids had their fun run at school and Merenia got a prize for Lower school costume. Ehren and Shannon came for 5 days that were both long and very short. Easter happened with all it's chocolatey madness and Easter Egg hunt. Les took the crew to Kings Park, The Volcano Park and Belmont Oasis. AQWA and Hillary's Beach. The kids played an awesome game of shops. Playing Cards against Humanity with Shannon. Peel Zoo, Ice Cream store and Quarry Par in Mandurah. Scitech. Dinos on Ice, I love you party. Dance Party and games night all rolled into one. Aviation History Museum for Les and the kids. Ikea and the Scrapbook Store for Shan and I. I took the littles to a Library school holiday programme with the Lorax and Science. Kieran hung out with Nadya. Will had a sleep over at Roberts and they went to the Movies. Robert had a sleepover at ours. I took the kids (all 4) to Carousel to do some shopping and it was exceptionally good- despite being all 4 of them, at Carousel, in the school holidays for hours! Pam stopped over for a visit. Les went in the RSA section in the Perth City ANZAC Parade. Will went to Josh's Karate Party. Kieran and friends met up for lunch. Les went out for a game of golf. Jayme came over and the girls practised their dance. We had a players tea at Hockey.

Yum, yum, yum...
Kiwi food and girl on the swing fudge. Cheesecake and such for the I love you Party. Chips from Burger Edge are yum! Froyo in the holidays. Holiday Cereal- I'm not sure how often we'll do this again because cereal= sugar+grains and all the associated crap but we have a new champion in dragging stuff out. Tama chose coco-pops and still has some left 4 weeks later, much to the annoyance of the other 4 who all finished their box of choice.

For you...For me?
We got new bar stools so we'd have one for Ehren when the boys were having breakfast. New Pillows and clothes for the boys. Easter presents for the littles from the Radice's and from us to Robert. Kiwi gifts from the Corsans and Wendy. Easter Eggs, Lego Heroes and sticker books. Made Will a book bag for his bunk. We scored some cool games from the CWA op shop. A cool new ANZAC picture book. We donated some money to Bella the puppy, and Taryns robotics trip. Next magazine from Jo and Doug.

Bugger!
Tama hurt his toe once at home and once at kindy and ended up losing his toenail in the process.

Hooray!
We took cool family photos with Ehren. I finished the Hello Photobook (at 2:20am one day). Did some paper scrapbooking finally!

Etc...
We borrowed a bed for Ehren from Dave and Cathy. Hockey Practice continued on. Kieran and the team had an early training session with Doug. Will had OT and Physio appointments and I managed to knock over a lampost. LOTS of Hockey. Netball Practice started for another year. Set up the bunks- and the kids created a Tall tower and a cosy cave. Picked up a lady on the side of the highway who had recently lost her baby.

Seen and Heard...

Will: "Mum when I was in the toilet I could make the noise of a frog with a really deep croak by pressing in my tummy like this and pressing out with my rear end."

My darling 7 year old told me this morning:
"Mum, Dad said I can take just one pair of his medals and his poppy for news. I have to have them in a plastic bag and I have to leave them in the bag."
Then I said I was going to ring Dad to check and Will informed me:
"I might have misheard him".
Needs his hearing checked I guess because Les said: "No way, too precious!"

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