Competitions - who wins?

Dear Peeps, I am so proud of you both and for different reasons.

Firstly, Congratulations Miss Lilly!

We always enter lots of colouring competitions and both of you have been so lucky this year to be recognized in one and getting a prize each.

Yesterday Miss Lilly won her age groups colouring in comp at the local mall.

When Mummy got the call about it , she was so torn as what to say. Morgan had put in such alot of work with his entry and although its not to say Lilly didn't either - his heart was set on winning the big toys prize. With Lilly at 4 years old, she was still in the youngest category, Mr Morgan has bumped up into the bigger ages and competing with much older children.

Mummy decided that it would do no good, nor benifit to either of you to pad it down - or pretend this sort of thing doesn't happen all of the time. Sadly - not everyone can be a winner and Mummy doesn't agree with the whole philosophy of giving every entrant a prize. ( don't get her started on the pass the parcel fiasco)

Mummy is so proud of you Morgan, and of you Lilly. Lilys first reaction was to put her hand on Morgans and say - "I'll share all my toys and lollies with you."

Although a split second on sadness crossed your face, Morgan, you were congratulating Lilly and excited for her.

Daddy took time to talk about how competitions run and sometimes the best person - in one person mind - doens't always win - its up to the judge and what happens at the time. Its just the way of the world and its a good lesson to learn early.

Dissappointment is so hard to handle - and I am so proud of both of you for meeting it with grace and love.

Here is a picture of Miss Lilly and her Prize.

The Best Day Ever

Dear Peeps,

What a wonderful reminder on what is important.. really in our busy lives. I was so touched at your announcement that today was the best day ever in your whole Life Morgan - I just had to share it.

Lovely big sleep in - in the morning - unrushed waking and snuggles in bed. We then went to the local shopping precinct where there was a colouring and craft station with Ben 10 things to do. Meeting Ben was such a thrill for you both! Heres the photo of Morgan and one of Lilly meeting him.

We then went over to Donut King, a place we literally NEVER go to as its just full of evil sugar and food colourings; but its Christmas.. and they had a special promotion where you guys could decorate your own donut.. Mummy got over her guilt and thought why the heck not? Matched with a (supposedly) fruit slushy, Mummy ignored the fluorescent fruit content and you guys just soaked up the sugar rush.

When you were given Free Balloons - the shiny faces! What joy a balloon on a stick will give a child - a reminder to enjoy the simple things in life.

A few sushi rolls cut into pieces and shared at the food court and you two were in heaven......

Just to completely top off the day - we went to see "Where the Wild Things Are", but I don't think it would have mattered what we saw - snuggled up in the soft cinema seats, with a paperbag of sweets packed at home and a shared chco top icecream; the two of you were blissed out ( and completely fueled with sugar)

Our evening was completed with a drive around our suburb, window wound down so we could shout out "Merry Xmas" to people sitting on their lawns or having BBQs and Christmas carols twittering the background of the car.

simple things - stuff that doesn't really cost that much - but shared times and experiences.

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)