Huckleberry Kids

I’m so proud of you Morgan and Lilly! Today, you caught your first fish.

We visited some dear friends Margie and Mike on their gorgeous hinterland block in the mountains today. After a delicious lunch - all sourced from their garden or swapped with neighbors, we wandered down to their dam, a picturesque waterhole edged with purple lillies and large stone blocks.

Mike had put in several generations of fingerlings in the last few years so knew it would be teaming with fish - but whether they would bite is an entirely different thing.

Morgan and Lilly have had fishing rod kits for a few months - but never had the chance to use them. Mike was very patient in teaching Morgan to cast out and gave him a number of tips about where to cast and what to avoid in the dam ( the weeds!) After setting everyone up with rods and using only fresh bread as bait, we stood and watched the burley ( a few slices of bread thrown at different parts of the dam) They fairly quickly were attacked with some ferocity from underneath the muddy surface.

Morgans line was the first hit and with a calmness I am sure I couldn’t muster in the delight of such a momentous occasion, he reeled the fish in by himself. Although not a legal size, it was a good sized fish and gave a good fight on the way in.

Lilly was overcome with squeals and delight when her bait was taken soon afterwards. Daddy helped a bit when the line started to get tangled up when she forgot to reel it a

nd tried pulling it in physically. After gaining some composure, she reeled her first fish in and then proceeded to wave it round the bank, the poor thing getting flung about like a rag doll.

Even though Lilly then went on to catch another fish, sh

e was most put out that fish didn’t leap onto her rod every few mins and kept asking -” when will a fish come onto my rod?” ahh patience dear grasshopper!!

IT was a leisurely way to spend a sunday and one I know the kids won’t forget easily. It was so special to have shared the first fish moment with Mike - as he had promised in Morgans Blessing Book to teach him to fish.

Well done Morgan and Lilly - so proud of you!

Bookworms

Been a while since I put in an entry -not for lack of things to say or be grateful for - just been so busy with work and stuff!!

Heres a little photo and entry from Total Learning I sent in a while back - just showing hwo you love your books and love to share with one another.

thanks for beings such great kids and getting along ( mostly!!)

Under 8s Craft and activities

Dear Peeps,

This week, childcare centres and schools celebrated "Under 8s", by hosting craft and activities for the community children during school hours.

Morgans group did a little dance performance at parade - so PROUD! and then I got to shepherd 6 children under the age of 6 around the school for 2 hours - amongst hundreds of other frantic people. It was quite an interesting morning attempting to visit every stand and activity, trying to make sure everyone had a 'go' at the things they wanted.Thank you Morgan for being so considerate to others wishes and helping me find the lost kids, reminding me if I had left one behind at the lego or in the dancing area. Thanks Lilly for being so bubbly and making friends with the others and just getting in there and having fun.

Heres a picture of you two at the Box Construction area - where we made robots.

It reminded me of how little craft I now do with you both at home. Since that day I reinvigorated our craft box and have started a special project board - one for each week. A great reminder to me too of how much fun messy craft can be.

Lilly Lou the dancing Queen

Dear Peeps - so proud of you especially Lilly - your first Dance concert and although you had some major costume malfunctions on stage - you kept smiling and kept dancing - go you!

For anyone who wants to see part of the show - I have captured some of it and posted it on Lillys Blog

http://lillylousays.blogspot.com/2009/05/lilly-on-stage.html


This has lead to Morgan now wanting to dance - which I am delighted with. How wonderfully innocent and insightful kids are. Morgan 6, after going to his first dance lesson says "Why don't boys come Mummy? that was so much fun!" I will be encouraging him to dance, and go to his gymnastics classes, his football training - it all helps with the other. I couldn't be more happy with your choices.

Thank you both for keeping your options always open and taking hold of life with both hands and enjoying it.

growing up

Dear Peeps,
I see both of you growing up so fast becoming so independent. Its hard to think that you are both so small with some of the classic things that you say and do. See LillyLou says – or check out Morgans photography.

I ‘m very proud of you both so helpful and confident in the kitchen. We made gluten free muffins – especially for Daddy. You are capable of making toast in the morning – though a few days ago I am still not sure on the choice of raspberry jam and spray cream for breakfast.

Thanks Morgan for showing your decisive nature this week and for telling me the truth even when you though you were going to get into trouble about it. It showed a real maturity in your actions.

Its so hard not to compare the two of you and I keep forgetting that you Miss Lilly are nearly 2 years younger. I’m still coming to terms with strategies to deal with our little storm cloud, passionate, furious and chaotic one moment bright sunshine and butterflies the next. I hate that it seems to be so much easier to deal with you Morgan than it is with Lilly… I fear for the teenage years.. and we haven’t even gotten out of preschool years yet.

I’m so proud of you both for marching last week at the Anzac Day parade, for asking questions about the medals you were given to wear and for giving the appropriate level of dignity needed during the ceremonies. Here is a photo of us in the park after we marched – with the medals still on ( well mine was on my coat which I had to take off – it was unseasonably warm that day)

Proof is in the.... prints

Dear Peeps - what a wonderful Easter Sunday we had together- and we have proof that the Easter Bunny visited our home. - just look at those dirty paw prints he left all over mummys leather couch. what a naughty bunny. Its just as well he left those tiny easter eggs around the place for you to find.

It was delightful to hear you helping each other to find the eggs and to see that you shared them out together so it was all fair.

A lovely tradition to have a formal breakfast together - so thank you for helping me set the table and behaving so wonderfully though it.

I am very proud of you both for eeking your Easter treats out over the week. Thank you Morgan for recognising when you have had enough sugar for the day and asking to put it up high.

Miss Lilly - I know you try so hard too - and you have your parents sweet tooth something bad. its not an admirable trait and we are all working on eliminating sugar from the house and everyday life.

Thanks for supporting and being so enthusiastic about our food choices and for asking for healthy things for snacks. Mummy is having a bit of a hard time with it all at the moment.

I am looking forward to reporting back on our week of picnics and theme park visits over the school holidays.

Easter Hugs

Dear Peeps,

We spent a gorgeous morning at the local cafe precinct. As part of their marking strategy, they hosted a ticketed Easter activity session - 2 hours - for $5 per child.

We sat and had pancakes ( kids) and coffee ( mummy) whilst exploring the goodie bag we had been given on the way in. After colouring in the pictures and solving the word puzzle you took them back to the Easter Bunny and Alice and were rewarded with some beautiful books.

I was so proud of both of you for taking part in the games they had organised. How excited were your faces when you won some of the silly races!

The balloon man made some great shaped balloons to play with and Mummy loved to watch you as you danced with the characters on the dance floor.

We are setting up our own traditions for these public holidays and I am so proud of both of you for being willing to accept other peoples beliefs, whilst happy to include the familys as well.

Thanks for being such great company when we went to the movies later on. Even though we missed the first sitting of the film - you wer eboth gracious enough to understand that we would still see it - but needed to wait. It gave us a great opportunity to watch a team practicing before thier big match in the nearby AFL field. After the film - wasn't it fun to go and sit on the side lines and watch the teams playing the game? Even the rain didn't damned anyones spirit - thanks for always seeing the fun part of the days.

I am looking forward to tommorrow - which I am sure I will have to blog about later on...!