The things that matter

Last Thursday afternoon,  just before 5pm a little huge ray of sunshine came into our lives!

 

Alexis Margaret made her grand entrance.

 

 

 

My little brother Joel and my gorgeous Sis Krys are the proudest parents in the whole world and this precious little bundle of happiness was so so so patiently waited for by her beautiful parents.

Of course Alexis Margaret is perfect. She texts her Aunties every day modelling a new outfit.  

 

Krys is a champ at feeding and Alexis is a champ at eating so it's a match made in heaven.

Welcome to the world baby girl ... we are so happy you came to be part of our family and we will love you forever and ever Amen.
Ex

Riddle me this...

I have opinions and I have questions, this post is a bit of both because I need answers so:
Lets Go

Inception

I am the last person on earth to see this film, I put off borrowing it from the library because I thought I would be too dumb to understand it and thus confirm what I have always suspected. Huh turns out that I DID understand it and it WAS a great movie ... but the end was lame. Part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I had to concentrate on it (and I was sort of smug that  half way through the DVD I wasn't completely  LOST)  but I thought that for all its cleverness, the ending was predictable and flaky. Do you agree?  

 

 

Sister Wives

 

 

 

I have just finished reading a book about the above pictured women all being married to the same bloke. What the?

They also have a reality tv show (that I haven't seen) so I guess its all above board but really ... why?

The book is a corker in that they are all pretty snarky with one another (the wives that is) and they don't actually even live together anymore. I wouldn't call that multiple marriage or polygamy, I would call that family dysfunction. I know some of you may actually have a bit more insight into these peeps (in that you live in Utah, not that you have 4 husbands lol) so what gives? Is there a lot of sister wives out there or is this family just making a motza out of being different?

 

 

Sibling Rivalry

   



Why do my kids fight like they are honestly cant stand one another? They are driving us batty right now. On Saturday afternoon Lucy was gone for 3 hours to her friends house and Riley was like a different person. He smiled and talked and was so amiable, but the minute I picked Lu up they both started  behaving like toddlers. We have since separated them at the dinner table ... like we did when he was 5 and she was 2, its ace.

Don't be fooled by their smiles... they are just thinking up ways to torment their parents.

 

 

 

 



The freight train called Christmas
Its coming for me and I am not ready ... I say this every year and I never learn to plan /stress more efficiently.


The commercialisation crassness called Christmas
There is a shop at the plaza that has a huge sign painted in its window that says


"Cant be stuffed??? Get a voucher"

Words fail me... Every year it seems we get further away from the tenets of what we are celebrating and it makes me feel sad (and old).




Blood noses (at 2am)
Lucy suffers from blood noses (she gets it from her mum)we have been to a few Dr's and a specialist because it can be full on and take her out of class etc.  The specialist told us it was going to get worse around puberty and yes that would be correct. Most nights for the past week she has come into our room because she cant stop the bleeding. Ice packs on her neck seem to help a little bit.  Last night she wandered into Riley's room looking for a bit of help/compassion/ an ice pack. He starts screaming and her -I'd say he was half asleep but still he carried on like a pork chop and then we are ALL awake at 2am. Plus I had blood to clean off both Lucy and Riley's carpet. It wasn't ace at all. 




Lastly I just finished reading this book

Still Alice  by Lisa Genova

and now I am petrified of getting Alzheimer's ... and  going batty and not knowing I am going batty ... you get the picture. Just one more thing to worry about!

Yeah, sorry about that

Just wanted to apologise to all the people who were in the general vicinity of Myers last night at the plaza.

Sorry if you walked past and witnessed me completely losing my shite with a 12 year old who will remain nameless (its Lucy ... I'm a dobber) in the perfume section. Sorry if you heard me screaming the following ... and I quote  "I am not buying you a strapless dress to wear to your YEAR SEVEN graduation. Your YEAR SEVEN graduation involves a liturgy at Church and the nice priest from Maroochydore giving you a blessing... At no time during any of that do you need to be dressed like a hooker ... I repeat I will not be buying you a dress that makes you look like one".

I also apologise to any one who hung around long enough to hear my 12 year old state the following:
"Mum you are so gay. Everyone will be wearing strapless dresses AND I will be wearing one too".

After that I have nothing to apologise for because I left the shopping centre and drove home (with a  silent and grumpy 12 year old).

A couple of things about this trip to the plaza:

It was miserable

Lucy will not be wearing a strapless dress to her graduation and I will win because I am the parent (and I have the money)

and lastly

It was miserable.

Fan or Not

I have ripped this post off Brooke's blog 'cos its an ace idea and I like stealing other peoples ace ideas.

The deal is to list things I am a fan of, and then not so much.

Lets go:

I am a Fan of Ben Afleck directed films.

I saw Argo on the weekend and I loved it. The man is a great film maker. Argo is a slow burn and by the closing scene I was gripping the sides of my chair. I love modern politics so the story behind Argo was interesting to me .... but its a great drama regardless of your interest in geopolitics etc. But I am going to go on record and say: as fab as Argo is - its no  The Town.
The Town is hands down the best of Mr Afleck's work - and he has a way better hair cut in The Town than the 70's shag of Argo.



Not a fan of the 70's shag



Mos def a fan of both Ben and Jeremy

 

 

 

 



 

I am a fan of Generation Kill

This TV Series was made by the peeps who made The Wire ( I am a fan of that too). Generation Kill is derived from the book  written by  journalist Evan Wright, who was embedded with a group of Marines during the first assault on Baghdad in 2003. The series has some of the best dialogue I have watched on TV,  second only to The Wire.  If you liked the Hurt Locker (or The Wire) you would probably enjoy Generation Kill. Be warned the Marines have no handle on political correctness (I was a fan of that too).

 

 

 

I am a fan of The Gaslight Anthem's new album

I was introduced to TGA by my mate Bruce Springsteen. Both hail from New Jersey and sing a lot about the human condition. This is TGA 4th Album and its making a bit of a splash in Oz. Maybe they will tour here and maybe I will drag Dave along to see them... stranger things have happened.


OK as I only seem to be a fan of  American pop culture perhaps its best I move on to what I am not a fan of.


I am NOT a fan of Lame School Photos

Check out this shocker! Both Riley and Lucy's school pics were crapoloa this year. I have no idea what they were both doing to their hair but I am pretty sure they never left the house with the tragic hairdo's both were sporting for the $50 money shot.


I am NOT a fan of Sunrise at 5.15am. Why is Qld so backwards? The rest of Australia can cope with daylight savings and yet here in backwardsville we have sunrise at 5.15am and sunset at 6.30ish. SO DUMB. It would be a dream come true to have sunset at 7.30pm ... even for just part of the year.


I am NOT a fan of Sharing my perfume.
Because I am thick, I could not work out why all my perfume was disappearing. When I caught Lulu in the act  of using my Chanel like deodorant ... the penny dropped. I am also not a fan of choosing a new scent so please tell me WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PERFUME? I love Issey Miyake and Ralph Lauren Romance ... but I would also love something new and different ... so leave me a comment!

 

 

 

 

and here endeth the whinging. Tell me what are you a fan of (or Not)?

 

Hey, everyday's a revolution *

I still have laptop issues. In fact said laptop is now dead. We are thinking of jumping the shark (incorrect metaphor alert) and getting a Mac ... Dad can you research that for me ? Ta Love you.

OK this is a quick and dirty recap, as well as what's happening in our world right now. It's going to be boring (for you)  but I miss blogging so here goes.

Lets start with:

David
David is playing cricket again. He is Captain of a colt side that Riley and his mates are playing in. I think he is enjoying it although he is still flat out trying to finish the house reno, so devoting time to training and games makes him very time poor. Thank goodness he and Riley are in the same team, one of his kids gets to see a lot of him.  He is about to turn 40! He wants to celebrate with his family when they are all together at New Year so I think his actual birthday will be a  quiet affair. He became a Godfather again (that sentence sounds weird). Whilst we were in D town on holidays Stevie and Davina asked him to be Matia's GF. The christening was gorgeous (more pics to come).


In the tropics you don't get the babies dressed for Church until the very last minute.

 

David's work situation is the about the same. The company he works for just won a large contract for 2 years worth of work in Brisvegas. He wants to study in those two years with a view to moving into design or drafting. Two years also gives us time to get Bear through high school at Siena and finish our house. Who knows after that.

 

Lucy Lu

Is still gorgeous and smiley and happy 98% of the time. She turned 12 in July and is doing all the normal 12 year old girl stuff. She made the School Netball Team and is competing in a carnival in Toowoomba this weekend. We were proud of her for trying out for the team (truth be told all her friends were doing it which was the big draw card!) and for being organised in the mornings for the   early morning before school training sessions. She has just lived her dream holiday. For two weeks she held, fed, changed, rocked, pushed, carried and dressed Matia. She was so happy the whole time we were on hols (except when she was fighting with Bear). Lulu is doing about the same at school. she worries about going up to the college next year and keeping up with her peers academically. Its a fact she is going to struggle and have to work very hard (especially in time management) to achieve good results in secondary school, but I just know in my heart she will be ok. She has so many talents and strengths to offer the world (and I hope high school doesn't knock her around too much).

 

 

 

Lulu also started back at Nippers this Spring. We have changed Surf Clubs and now belong to Alex Heads Surf Club (which reminds me I really must get some white linen caftans and a black 4WD BMW stat).  The kids wanted to move to Alex as the surf is much better for all the swims, boards and rescues they have to do (what could we say? D and I aren't the ones  getting pummelled by surf every Sunday).  Of course the fact that lots of their friends are with Alex was a major plus. Lucy LOVES her friends at the moment and would spend all her spare time on the phone or at their houses (if we let her - which we don't - cos we are mean).  

 



 



 

 

Riley

 

This kid is growing up before our eyes (that phrase makes no sense when you break it down). Riley turned 15 in July and is still living life large. He finished up Club Rugby and had a good season (except for the parents who are still trying to relive their youth through their sons) but I think time and school commitments next year will see him only doing school Rugby. He is doing gym training 3 days a week at his school gym (at 7am ! In the morning!)  and loves it. He also had the best holiday in D town and ended up going to  the gym almost everyday with Stevie or Davina. He did a pump class with Davina and I and cracked us up the whole time. He has picked his courses for next year (Maths B, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English and Sport). He is a great kid (who we run around after way too much probably) and we still work on the toddler principal with him (ie lack of food and sleep lead to tantrums  so avoid both). He likes a girl called Amy at school whose biggest asset for him  is "she doesn't wear those tight short denim shorts". It makes a mothers heart soar when your son says stuff like that. (especially because I have a 12 year old girl who LOVES wearing "those tight short denim shorts").

 



 

 

 

 

DTown

 

Did I mention we just came back from two weeks in D town?  It was THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER, well all holidays are good, but this was lush. We spent the whole time just being together and hanging with family. We ate and ate and ate and some of us went to the gym and then ate some more. I have 500 odd pics that I am dying to post of the food, family dinners, day trips, baby showers and lunches we got to do. Stay tuned.   



 

Ethan - aged 5 took this great pic. Well done Ethie!

 

Bear having a chat to his new cousin :-)

Elizabeth

I am great, thanks for asking, how are you?
Apart from having to get up at stupid o'clock to take my kids to gym and netball training, life is pretty cruisey. I am still really enjoying work and the people I work with are just wonderful and mature and I think myself very lucky to be here most days.
Below is a pic of us having a pink morning tea to raise money for breast cancer research. Miss Brooke, do you see your pink cardi? It's having a ball here in Oz.
The only other thing of note about me is that I am still tyring to  Eat to Live (Dr Joel Fuhrman, best book on eating clean evah) get some decent exercise and stress less.
Also I am on instagram so if you want to stalk me a bit more (like I do to all of you) my user name is bearlulu.

So that's it in a sort of nutshell. I'll be back when we drop a chunk of change on a home computer.
Take Care
Ex

* I wonder how long I can keep ripping off Brad Paisley song lyrics for post titles.

Wherever we were going, well we're here

I am determined to do a post before July ends!

Winter school holidays came and went without too much activity. We are going away for the whole of the September school hols so the kids  had to stay put and amuse themselves this time around. They did a few sleep overs and we had their friends to visit. We also did one trip to Mooloolaba Beach.

Poor Dave fell asleep watching tele ... so I took a pic of him for Instagram :-)

Whilst Riley was in Northern NSW for his Rugby trip, we took Lucy out to Breakfast. The food was to die for and I am still dreaming about the maple Cinnamon butter they put on the pancakes. 

 The other (stupid) thing that consumed July was our couch purchase. We were always going to buy a decent leather lounge as part of our renos. In fact the catalyst for starting the renos was having a decent size lounge room to the fit the couch in!

 Of course parting with a small fortune for a dead animal covered piece of foam nearly did me in. I stressed so much about it... it wasn't until the day before the 25% off Sale (just had to sell one kidney not both) finished that I rang Annie to ask her to tell me what to do. "Do it" she said so we did. Now we just have to wait 5 months yes that would be 5 months for the Italians to finish their Summer vacation and make our lounges.

This is the colour we went for. I am so over mocha and chocolate and navy and this lighter colour was not cream or beige or yellow if that make sense. Now can everyone please find me cushions, throws and a rug to match it all... thanks.

My beautiful neighbour (who has 3 month old twins!) started selling free range eggs, now if she would just start selling milk, bread, veggies and meat my life would be ace (and I would never have to go to Woolies again). 

Lucy and David went to the cinema to see Man in Black.

and Dave continued the demo for the new bathroom, toilet and entry.

Lucy helped by painting the walls before they were demoed.

Well that was a few things that happened in the first half of July. The second half we had both the children's birthdays and a trip to Movie World. At this rate I will be blogging about Christmas in the blink of an eye.

Take Care 

EX

Dear Riley

Today you turn 15.

This open letter is all about you and its my attempt at recording all the small details of your life at 15 (as I see it).

You love being you: you are comfortable in your own skin and you mostly like your everyday life. You have some close mates and are in the last couple of months girls have made an impact on you. You did have a “girlfriend” for about a week until I suspect school/rugby/homework time pressures made it all too hard and you told Dad “it’s off move on”. You like Siena and admire some of your teachers. You have a personality conflict with Mrs Chutcuti (whose strengths and personality you won’t value until you are much older)  but even then she thinks you are great to teach and you manage to keep your impatience with her in check (as Dad and I expect you to do with teachers and coaches).

You and your board at Mlooba Beach

You are FUNNY especially to me and Dad. Your sense of humour is dry, a combination of Uncle Joel and Uncle Stephen at times.  Your humour is the quiet type, one liners and witty comebacks are your specially (when you are talking and laughing … you're 15 … sometimes you just grunt).

You are starting to exert your independence. In the last couple of months you completed work experience at Brisbane Airport and stayed the week with Nick and Tracy and travelled to Northern NSW for a Rugby tour. You like being your own person without Dad and I nagging you with all our bothersome rules like bedtimes and homework.

Rugby Trip 2012 - why are you being cuddled?

Saying you eat a lot is putting it mildly.  Your favourite foods are still meat and potatoes, curries and roasts. Every Sunday you tell me off for only cooking one packet of bacon and last weekend when we went to Nanna and Poppies I took a kg of bacon that Nanna thought was over the top. There was none left J . You love cookies and cream ice cream but only the ultra-expensive brand of course and you like to eat it straight out of the carton with the ice cream scoop. This causes Dad and I to scream at you. You are a little bit finicky about food at the moment … if someone else touches your food you won’t eat it needless to say this gives Lucy great pleasure in annoying you.

You love the mirror. You love going to the Uni gym and you love skateboarding in Ptown. You ask me to take you to  Ptown on the weekends to skate and I walk. I love these afternoons with you.

You are learning to be a man by wrestling Dad! Well at least that is what the Parenting book tells me. Lots of your interaction with Dad is trying to get Dad to submit in a wrestle or seeing who can give the other a dead arm. There is lots of biffo going on. It’s important that Dad doesn’t back down and I guess you will get that one day when you have sons of your own. We know we ask a lot of you with chores and helping around the house. You are a gun lawn mower and whippersnipper as well as helping Dad rebuild the house.  Believe it or not this will stand you in good stead later in life and compared to lots of kids you have it great.

You have just started a class at school call Program Challenge where you work on a project with a community mentor. You were chosen to do this class by Mrs Bolton and it’s a privilege. Your mentor is Mr Pat O’Dwyer a retired Mining Engineer who will guide you in putting together a feasibility study for a new open cut mine.  I took you to the meeting with Pat and let me tell you I was a little bit worried. Especially as on the way in the car you said and I quote “This meeting better be good I washed my hair for it and its mint”. I have to say that in the meeting you blew me away with your maturity and intelligence and manners. Pat also commented to Mr Height how switched on and prepared you were. This sums up your 15… some days are golden some days we want to sell you on ebay.

You, Pat and your mint hair

Other small details that will fade as you get older are: you like Quarter Pounders, Gansta Rap, very plain t shirts, Nike dress shoes, Facebook, skype, nutrigrain, black skinny jeans, surfing magazines, going to the beach and the uni gym.

Your bedroom is always a mess, you never want to get up for school, you are always late getting to the bus, you argue EVERY time its your turn to do the dishes and to our knowledge you have never voluntarily picked up a towel off your floor.

Rugby Trip 2012

Happy Birthday Bear, we love you and you love us and that is all.

Mum & Dad xxxx

June (sucked) Summation

Oh June 2012 how I hated you, let me count the ways...

But first to the good things that happened.

My niece DJ came to stay with us as her Mum had horse camp with Georga. DJ has an apprenticeship as a chef in a tavern & restaurant and she works split shifts. She got her drivers license in July so until then she needed lifts to and from work four times a day. It nearly killed my poor sister Cath, and hence why we needed to babysit and take over driving duties whilst she was away.We LOVED having Dana Jo. The first night we had tea at the tavern  and the next day she came home with the entire  desert menu. We were all set for her to bring home the entire entree menu when Cath pulled the plug on horse camp (due to torrential rain) and picked her up... RUDE! And just like that our personal chef and Bear's bestie (I really must do a post on DJ and Bear one day ... they share a "connection" and are so close its something to behold) Anyway it was so fun whilst it lasted. Came back anytime Babe.

Chocolate Mousse, Lime Cheesecake and Sticky
Date pudding

The only other good thing I have photographic evidence of for June is Lucy's school project on Eygyt. This project sums up what is great about Lulu. She did it all herself, all her own ideas and well before it was due in. She knew her friends parents where building Taj Mahals  (mixed metaphor alert!) for their kids to hand in - and get better marks than her no doubt, but she didn't care - she just got on with it. The project ended with her class going to Brisbane to see the Mummy Exhibition at GOMA. All she had to report on the exursion was the bus ride was too long and they had lunch too late... no mention of the amazing artifacts or history on show!

Now to the whining and whingeing part of the post. I struggled to get myself through June. If you have no idea what that wankerish statement means ... I guess it means that for most of June I was sad, frustrated, lonely, tired  and a little bit despondent. I cried a lot (cos I am a loser) and  I struggled to see all the great things and people in my life.  

So why? (we all love the details). Nobody who reads this will be surprised that all my issues were First World Problems and that a teaspoon of cement was needed on a daily basis to harden the freak up in most cases.

Firstly I was just sad that my family and friends  weren't around me. My birthday was so good because I got to see them and hug them and then just like that they were gone... I hated it. 

Then my iphone camera stop working because it needed updating or some such thing... why oh why am I so crap at technology and why oh why do I live 100km from a capital city and  cant get internet access faster than dial up? I hated not being able to take pics everyday. I hated that we have no access to wifi, I hated that the ereader I was given as a gift from my GB's doesn't work at home and I cant read Nie Nie's book (that I paid for) and I hated that our laptop decided to die at the same time.

Then the reality of my job kicked in. I went full time at the University at the end of May. I also moved on to doing some higher level "stuff". Yeah that is one big old can of freak out at times. Anyone who has ever had to learn a new organisation's rules and regs as well as actually get some outcomes from your job  knows how tiring everyday is. For the last ten years I did a job I knew back to front for a company I knew inside out... that is a very comfortable zone to be pushed out of. The other thing about being in a new position or being the new kid is that you have no street cred or good will. You are asking strangers for info or requesting work from peeps who don't know you and certainly don't want to add another thing into their busy day for you. I reckon I will have every one on side and the policy's worked out  about a month before this project winds up ;-)

And finally David started ripping out the last of the rooms upstairs that are being renovated. June saw us back to living amongst the chaos. It takes a bit of getting use to and I grieved a bit for my tidy and quite house.

  

This is the bathroom minus its floor.

Anyhoo that was the pathetic mess June became, thankfully July has been lovely. We celebrated Lucy's 12th Birthday, had a weekend in Witta and caught up with Cath and Vyc. All is right in the world.

Ex