Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.....

It's that time of the year again....where is time going! I love Christmas, my parents always gave us the best Christmas, I seriously thought I was the luckiest kid in the world, I remember my brother would be so overwhelmed on Christmas morning, he often shed a tear. Our family holiday after Christmas was also very special, when I reflect back on my childhood, I begin to realise just how lucky we were. My parents had a holiday house on the coast, we had many friends down there, and plenty of family and friends who would pop in and stay for a few days over the period of six weeks, those days were carefree and fun. How things have changed now....I can't imagine holiday homes for the average 'working family' would be very common, nor would a trip away for six weeks every Christmas. While our girls are growing up in a home filled with love and parents who adore each other, we don't go on family holidays....we go up to my parents from time to time, but that is not the same. Perhaps in future years we will :) But then again, you don't want to try to live in the past and try to do the same things you did as a child, it can often end out in disappointment. I think if we were to ever get a holiday house, or caravan, I would not go back to the place we went growing up....it would just not be the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think it's best to create our own memories as a family, new memories!

So, the old tree went up today....the girls were most excited and begged me all morning to start. I like many other mum's wanted to give the house a really good clean before we started! Sorry there are no pics of Maisie....I forgot to take some of her.

The girls are five, but act like a pair of old ladies!

I have to either laugh or cry at times when it comes to my twin daughters. The way they carry on together, anyone would think they were a couple of eighty year old ladies sitting in a bingo hall, add to the mix Maisie. I wanted to share this pic I took the other day, they had swimming lessons through the school and were most excited!!! I think the pic speaks for itself ;)

Study, stress and a little plug!

Before I start...my word for the day is 'temporary'...I shall come back and explain that some day soon ;)

Things sure are busy around here in the lead up to Christmas. We have parties and concerts to attend in the coming weeks, which will be fun. And hopefully Poppy will get the all clear for her hips. We have an appointment at Westmead mid December, we haven't worked out if we will take a break from then until Christmas...N is unsure with work at this point :) I will be happy if I get my few days 'away' from the kids...we plan to use our SCG membership and spend some time in Sydney alone. I want to go shopping, swim down at Bondi, eat out and drink lots of wine! And maybe watch a little cricket (or read a book).

It certainly has been a great year for us, but extremely busy. I have been reflecting on it a lot in the last week, whilst I drive the car, or sit here procrastinating :) In summary I am so happy right now!

However.......

I am in the process of preparing for an exam to be held next Friday..I have no idea if I'm doing enough. This unit sure has been a great learning experience, the essays and weekly work all seemed to flow. I love to write, so even though my essay topics were bland and boning I still enjoyed the process. The exam is another thing, I think it will take a few goes at it before I start to feel comfortable with the process. My office is currently a mass of papers, coffee cups, large pieces of cardboard sheets with my crazy mind maps outlining the unit week by week (I have a strange way of doing things). I am one to thrive on stress, but this stress is different! Anyway, by next Friday I will have entered the unknown zone and will be able to report back ;) Did I mention that my next unit starts next week too LOL.....

Business has been busy, it was this time last year leading up to Christmas. There is always more that I would like to have done, but then again there is always next year. I am finding a new motivation for it all as we are having a back end makeover...it is needed and I am looking forward to seeing the results.

I want to finish off this boring post with a plug for my friend Tea!!!

http://www.babblebaby.com.au/magazine/work-20/2008/11/the-accidental-entrepreneur.html

A new handbag for me......

It was my birthday the other day and my mum gave me some money. I decided to get a pair of shoes and a new handbag. The shoes were easy because I knew what I wanted....it was a great surprise when they scanned for much less than the original price...gotta love all these sales with the world financial crisis, well it is one good thing to come out of it, right? **opps**

So I decided to buy a new handbag with the remaining money, the same afternoon that I bought the shoes I dragged all four girls around the shopping centre to no avail....actually we lost Poppy's beloved dummy chain with the two dummies attached, which I talked about in an earlier post hehe.

Today I decided to venture out once again, I had some ideas of what I wanted, I prefer red and brown bags, preferably with no 'brand' showing...for example, 'Jag' urgh! I found a perfect bag, but it had this 'Jag' badge on it! I actually found this one in the first shop Jess and I went into. Of course there were plenty of perfect bags but they had a price tag of $500 plus....unfortunately that was price was not in my budget this time ;) Even though Nick has a business bag worth more nah, nah, nah :)

So Jess and I wondered from shop to shop, looking, looking **sigh**. I promised Jess a 'treat' at the end of our trip, so that was making the adventure more bearable. I actually like to take one of the older girls shopping with me, as I feel naked going on my own. So we walked around Civic, inside and outside in the freezing cold (can someone please remind me that we are a week off summer).....

I think we wondered around for about three hours and I had given up! We were on our way to get something for Jess from Michel's Patisserie, but decided to pop into Target on our way there. We walked down to the bag section and would you believe, there was the most perfect red medium sized bag sitting right there in front of me. The original price was $40, which is pretty cheap, but it had been marked down to $12!!!! I still have money left, I might buy a book LOL.......

Who would have thought!

Perhaps next year Nick can buy me the $500 bag ;)

A new way to carry a handbag!

I had to laugh just before when Poppy came out to the kitchen, she was carrying her handbag in an unusual kind of way. I couldn't help but take a photo of her.......So the dummy chain is OT, but I don't care :) It's a funny thing when you get to your fourth child, you tend to not give a hoot about these types of things or what anyone else thinks! I have wasted so much time in the last five and a half years of motherhood worrying about sleep, food and all that jazz. I was walking through the shops yesterday with Poppy in the trolley, a headband on and the dummy chain with two dummies...I can only imagine what others probably thought haha........It has been so much easier with Poppy....I think we have a happy medium and everyone is happy. She is a clingy little thing who does not like me out of her sight for long periods and loves to have cuddles with Nick and I. She is starting to learn what 'No' means LOL..the sooner the better I say, as she gets into everything. I can't remember any of the others being this curious.

Good times ahead I think :)

Blog in need of some urgent TLC!!!!!

I have had friends making comments to me on my lack of posts.....my answer is, that I have discovered the new world of Facebook and started a university degree. So for the last few months I have not given the blog a second thought. I have decided to keep this blog going, only it will change a little. I am going to write more about my life and this journey through study. I must say, since the last time I was in here posting my views of the world have change somewhat...amazing that it can happen in the space of a few months. My world of thoughts are changing daily and evolving at a mad pace.

The girls are all doing well, Sophie and Jess are reading well, and enjoying school. Maisie is her usual self, although, some attitude has developed of late. My husband calls her 'gorgeous', and has done for some time, only now little Miss 2 with all the attitude insists that her name is 'gorgeous' and we all call her that!!!!! Poppy is into everything, and has started to take her first little steps.

Life is good, and we are all healthy.

I will sign off with a quote I found last night, whilst I was studying. It kind of sums me up perfectly at the moment. I can relate to it with writing my essays and avoiding the day to day things I do around here.

"The writer wandered to the water cooler, washed his hands, looked up the weather report, made some unnecessary phone calls, looked at his tongue in the mirror for symptoms of fatal disease and, when he had at last exhausted methods of killing time, went to his typewriter."
Russell Baker