Australia Day at Loch Sport...

I'm way behind on my blog so here goes my attempt at starting to catching up. We headed off on Australia Day weekend to Loch Sport for a weekend at our friends the Paulls. 

I was so looking forward to getting to hang out with such a great family.  I'd spent the week before getting the kids new school bags and making sure uniforms were ready so that upon our return they would be all set to go!

We started off on our journey and decided to stop an hour and a half into the drive for dinner at Hungry Jacks.  The kids love the playgrounds and often hardly eat a thing, however this time they scoffed everything down before a quick play.

I think there's nothing better than heading off for a trip.  The kids love all of the excitement and anticipation of new adventures and usually a higher than average chance of eating junk food! 

Love a good action shot!

The boys were great in the car.   They are such awesome travellers!  We didn't arrive until late though so our adventure had to wait until morning...

India loved the boys, particularly Louis.  Maybe because he could do all the cool stuff like read stories?

We headed down to the foreshore for the annual Australia Day BBQ. 

Enjoying a sausage in bread - does it get more Aussie?

Lucas and India

Me and Bean (Justine) - we've been friends forever! 

Have I mentioned that I strongly dislike photo's of myself? I'm trying to get over it because it is a bit sad when I look back at all our goings on and wonder if I was actually ever there...

After some food we packed up and headed to the beach, lakeside to take the boat out.  

I was so proud of Louis for having a go at the tube behind the boat!  Dylan had a try as well and loved it!

We all had a great time at the beach minus the march flies...

Bean and gorgeous baby Ivy

I'm kicking myself for posting this so much later as I'm forgetting all of the little details.  Bean and I had a great walk back to the house with baby Ivy (who had well and truly had enough by this stage). After dinner and the kids were in bed we had a great game of Monopoly with just us adults.  Wow, did that bring back memories.  Lots of fun, and then you remember how long it goes for!  I was grateful to lose so I could go to bed (although I'm still not convinced that Lucas should ever be banker again - LOL)

The next day we loaded up and headed to the surf beach.  The boys think that's just about the best thing ever created!

Gorgeous India

Such a great family! So much fun to hang out with!

Ethan was non stop all weekend!

We had to keep our eyes so close on the boys as it's a non-patrolled beach with some pretty wild waves.  

Sunset on the way home...

It was a fantastic weekend and we were so grateful to Bean and Lucas for having us all down there! It sure adds to the craziness when the 6 of us arrive anywhere and they were such great hosts.

A moment in time...January

A few thoughts on blog posts for this year.  I've been super inspired by a blog I'm reading called 71 Toes.  This Mum is amazing and I have no idea how she manages to do all that she does in a day.  I honestly am grateful my life is not that hectic.  I love how she documents her family as well as the parenting wisdom she shares. 

So on that note, I just wanted to record a few quick moments of the boys and our family life, because it all goes so quickly that I want to be able to come back and remember the little things.

I've been really enjoying having my boys home for the holidays.  I've also had moments when I've checked the calender to see how many days left until school starts. 

Louis is such a nurturing big brother, he loves hanging out with his little brothers (he also likes to be in charge and tell them all what to do as well).

Dylan is computer game crazy - he's all about Skylanders and he's actually really good at it!

I love turning the TV and electrics off because they all find the most interesting things to do and games to play.  I LOVE them using their imaginations!!!!!! They also spend more time playing all together (which makes me wonder why I am so soft not to turn it all off more often?).

(excuse all the mess in the background!)

Ethan is loving music right now.  His favourite song of the moment is Iron man by Black Sabbath.  He loves to sing, unless he catches me looking at him and then he gets super shy.  He is also the Ipad king.  He keeps all of the apps organised and is forever asking for new ones.  He basically spends his pocket money each week on Itunes, as much as we encourage him to save it!

Speaking of money, Louis found $2 while we were on holiday and I thought he would spend it on a skill tester game or some kind of rubbish.  He informed us he was going to save it because he wasn't guaranteed to win anything so it would just be a waste of money!  Wow - this has reinforced my view that giving pocket money to kids is so important.  What a lesson to learn so early in life. 

Jayden keeps us entertained all day long.  He is the cutest little thing.  He pulls the most crazy faces and loves to be the centre of attention.

Ethan can be so independent.  Both he and Jayden decided to make chocolate milks for their big brothers.  They did a pretty good job actually. 

Ethan has a super temper at the moment that included punching me in the head the other day.  Ouch.  We're working on it and seem to have found a new method that seems to be helping him handle his frustration without lashing out.  He sure can be one angry little boy sometimes.  I'll also be making more of an effort to give him plenty of postive attention and see if that helps also! I can see that he gets such a fright himself when he gets so angry.  He needs plenty of cuddles to calm down. 

He wouldn't go to bed the other night and came out to sleep on the couch.  We checked him a while later and found him like this: 

We had a little visitor the other day...yuck!

All of the boys wanted to have a sleepover in the little pop up tents in one of the bedrooms.  Jayden and Ethan ended up in their own beds because they just couldn't settle down, but Louis and Dylan were determined and spent the whole night half in and half out of  a tiny uncomfortable pop up tent.  I'm quite proud of them for sticking it out though! 

I love when they all get the giggles.  Dylan seems to be able to get Jayden going like nothing else especially.  I love those belly laughs. 

The boys have been doing really well keeping their "zones" clean.  Wow, what a difference it makes when they are packing up their toys each night before dinner.  We're also just beginning to implement them helping with after dinner cleaning.  Louis did a great job of drying a few dishes last night and the other 3 were taking it in turns to put the dishes away.  Yes, it's a novelty right now but we're off to a good start! 

Jayden rehearsed for Kinder this morning...cutest thing ever!  He was feeling so proud of himself, however I was feeling torn between feeling amazed at this grown up boy and sad that he was this grown up. 

Our dog Daisy got out on Thursday afternoon.  That's not unusual because she is a crazy dog that can escape no matter how much we keep adding to the fence, however she didn't come home.  That's not normal.  I told the boys the next morning that Daisy had not returned and braced myself for the emotion.  Instead Ethan yelled "YES" and Louis happily replied "Now I can get a cat" . Hmmmm not quite what I was expecting.  We found out on Friday that she had been picked up by the pound but that we couldn't pick her up until Monday which we found a little strange.   Anyway, needless to say Jayden and Dylan are quite pleased she's coming home, Louis and Ethan though are not so happy...

As much as we're enjoying holidays everyone is feeling super excited about the new adventures that Kinder and School will bring them this year.  It's now up to me to stay on top of everything and keep my enthusiasm up also. 

I love my boys, I love my family and I'm just so so grateful.  We are far from perfect but we are all perfect for each other.  During those stressful times I remember that those boys are just what I need to stretch me and help me become a better person. 

Mt Buller

Last week Nanna came up for a visit and we all jumped into the car and headed to Mt Buller.  We've never been up there in the summer so we were up for a mini adventure. 

It was so great you could drive right up high on the mountain and then it was just a short walk up to the summit. 

 Starting to head up to the summit

It was obviously bright with me squinting like that...hehe

 Louis and Dylan off exploring...

Had to have a family photo with that view...oh and a breather from hiking up the hill!

 It was just so beautiful up there...

 The boys were carrying rocks and flowers and would not hear any suggestions to pick some on the way back down!

 The fire lookout tower...right at the top

Mum and I...how nice it was to have her share the trip with all of us.  

 Love this photo...It was quite windy up the top so Dad was the perfect windbreak for Dylan

 Heading back down...lucky no-one is scared of heights!

 We had a yummy picnic lunch...no prizes for presentation but it filled the hole!

 Then we all had a turn on the chairlift.  Except for Nanna that is...

It was calm all the way except for the very top where it was so windy.  That's Ethan, Michael and Louis in the chair in front.   

It was just such a nice day.  I was certainly in my element out and about experiencing something new with the boys, and to have Mum there was such a bonus. 

Now we're looking forward to heading up in winter!!