Acorn Collective

Umm, hello?

I think I just closed my eyes and lost three months.

Ahem.

I have been busy though, flying halfway round the world and back.

And let's admit that 42 hours in transit with a six year old was not as much fun as I had hoped.

Hmmm. Just thinking about it is making me going all funny in the head again and dammit there goes the eyetwitch.

Houston was fun, cos my friend was there, and her kids were there, and they had a big shopping outlet called Katy right by them.

A shopping centre so large in fact that it requires it's own train. Who knew?

We also went to another load of shops that had an ice rink right in the middle of it.

An ice rink?

Seriously.

Matilda was super excited until we actually got on to the ice and she realized that it was pretty tricky. I of course fell back on to the months of training I had as a young thing and managed to zip here there and everywhere.  (that is probably not true)

We took a six hour road trip with the four kids to New Orleans. Don't laugh.

The kids traveled brilliantly, no complaining or fighting, for which both Min and I were thankful. We thought we might have to resort to drugging them. Which we were prepared to do. Yep. Read it and judge us. We would've done it.

 

Getting ready to drive off in Min's gigantic beast of a car.

We stayed right in the centre of New Orleans and made the most of the room service. We got food for the kids and beer for us. I don't care if that makes us bad mothers, we needed those beers.

Then after only six days together we said goodbye and flew all the way home.

Yes, it was a long way to go for only a week but boy did we cram some stuff in. Drive thu coffee rocked my world, IHOP filled out bellies and Katy filled our suitcases.

Thanks Min, for an awesome time.

 p.s. it is only days until series three of TrueBlood. Days I tell you. Yippee!

Catching up

February has drawn to a close, bringing April that much closer.

What's so special about April? you ask.

ALOT of exciting stuff is planned for April.

What kind of exciting? you may wonder.

Well try this on for size-

Matilda and I, just the two of us, are heading half way round the world to Houston Texas for a fortnight.

What the what?!

Yep, us girls are having a road trip. Figuratively speaking.

{Now would be a good time for any suggestions on how to entertain a six year old on a 32 hour flight}

We are flying over to catch up with my friend and her three kids (her daughter met Matilda at Kindergarten two years ago) who have moved there for her hubby's work. So Matilda and Sharni will have a play date, and Min and I will have a play date. Yippee!

So, what shall we do whilst in Houston?  Any suggestions?

Mike is taking some time off work to care for the little ones (yes, I am nervous about leaving them and start to freak out if I think about it too much but I will just keep on breathing in with Johnny Depp and out with anxiety...) and my other friends will help out - I hope.

Matilda and Sharni were born only two days apart (26th and 24th of Feb, respectively) and so have just turned six.

Six!

What happened to my tiny little 6lb 13oz baby?

She is getting so tall - and so full of darn attitude. Sometimes (not often) but sometimes I secretly wish I had a cellar I could lock her in. A sound proof one. With more than one lock. And a chute for the food. And a plumbed in toilet.

Not that I have thought about it much.

Anyway, she requested a birthday cake out of an old book of my mum's. How could I resist?

A Sleeping Beauty cake.

Have to say it was pretty easy to make. You know the saying, 'any old fool could do it', well I is the fool, and I could do it. Although, you have to kind of squeeze the food colouring into the fondant icing with your hands which is kinda painful when you have torn ligaments in your little finger and said finger is strapped up to its neighbour to keep it from sticking out at a funny angle*.

That gold and silver icing paint stuff sure does stink. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. The kids scoffed it down though. They were intrigued as to whether it would make their poo gold.

Of course. It always comes back to poo, doesn't it, with kids. Poo, vomit and snot. The most interesting things in the world. Hmmmmmm.

Matilda had her very first 'drop off' party, where the mums were not invited.

It was fabulous. Seven little girls, glue, glitter, sequins, pom poms, feathers, shiny pipe cleaners and a wooden wand to stick it all on. What more could you want?

Happy birthday beautiful girl xxx

*After my race two weeks ago, which went very well thank you very much, I got up to leave when my cleats slipped on a gum nut which caused me to fall over onto my bike, skinning my knees (again), bruising my thigh and pulling my little finger half off my hand. Yes. I know. I am an idiot. I need protective clothing. Who falls over on their way home? I mean, SERIOUSLY??

I did it!

I did it, I did it!!

I finished the race and didn't die trying. Whoopee!

All photos are courtesy of my mum whom came down and supported her 'crazy daughter' in this event.

Here I am getting in the water.

Can you see me anyone?

 

I am in there somewhere...

The swim was a bit choppy but luckily there were no jellyfish.

This was the turn point where we hung a left and headed back the way we came; it was lots easier swimming with the current than against it.

Trying my darnedest not to slip over on the super slippery astro turf exit chute.

One lap down, only three more to go!

There was quite a strong sea breeze which made the bike leg hard work.

For me anyway. All those skinny young things on their super duper snazzy bikes managed to sail pass me just fine. Humph.

(Next time I may take some drugs. Just so I can keep up. Recommendations anyone? The alternative is training for longer than two and a half weeks - but hey, who can be bothered with that?)

Finally!

I came through it on such a high, I thought I was going to take off. But then I stopped running to take off my timing band and realised,

I.

WAS.

KNACKERED.

KNACKERED.

KNACKERED.

That's me, knackered.

I was covered in dirt, had a touch of sunburn of my shoulders and a blister on my left little toe.

That was all.

And I done did it.

Final times were:

1.5km Swim:    36:30

40km Bike:       1:27:15

10km Run:        1:11:57

Total:               3:19:31

Not recorded breaking.

Not even all that impressive.

But all me baby, all me!

p.s.

The other thing that has kept me away from the computer wouldn't be the fact that in less than a month I have watched four seasons of The Wire.

What kind of sick and twisted person would watch that much tv in such a short amount of time?

Not me.

Much.

(bring on season 5 - yes, to all my friends, that is why I have not returned phonecalls or emails. I have an obsession. Not like me at all really.)

2010

So already we are over half way through January.

Where has that time gone?

It seems like only last week I was freaking out thinking I wasn't gonna get my quilts finished in time for Christmas.

Of course I did :)

I was so happy with how this turned out, I may just have to make another. I mean, a girl can never have too many quilts right? Or is that shoes? Quilts and shoes? Quilts shoes and handbags?

I forget which it is. (I can hear Michael in my head saying 'well isn't that a convenient saying'. Yes Michael it is. It works for any number of things.)

Ah Christmas, the time that brings family together, only to be pushed apart by petty squabbles. Don't you just love it! And no matter how much I try to organize myself in order to have a stress-free time, it never works out that way. I am still the one buying all the pressies, organizing the kids, cooking the food, doing the washing and the vacuuming.........yep, I'm having a little post Christmas moan.

But not to worry, we did have a lovely time. The kids were in a pre-Santa frenzy the like of which I have not witnessed before - luckily we managed to pry them off the ceiling at a reasonable hour on Christmas eve. Time enough for me to gulp down a glass or five of Sav Blanc before duty called.

We spent Christmas morning on the beach (how Aussie is THAT!) with my family before heading up to the hills to spend the rest of the day with Mike's lot - a mere forty or so relatives to say hello to...that's what you get when your mum has six brothers and sisters. 

My fab bro sent me some fancy cupcake wrappers for Christmas and required proof of use - so Sam my man, here 'tis:

Yum. You should've seen how big the kids eyes got when they spied these yummy treats.

Two weeks after Christmas Miss Eliza turned two. Two!

She was suitably shy about the event - either that or she was totally freaked out by the big yellow duck cake. So that is how lifelong phobias are created. Hmmm.

We bought her a tee-pee which has been a huge success. It has come quite a few places with us recently; the beach, the park etc. Always a hit.

Eliza was lying down behind the kids and would not sit up for a photo, I swear she mumbled something about not getting out of bed for less than ten thousand a day - these toddlers man, they are SO demanding.

And finally, the real reason for being away from the computer for so long is that I somewhat impulsively in the spirit of all things New Yearsy and Resolutionary (my new word for 2010) decided to enter myself in an Olympic Distance Triathlon on the 31st of January.

What the?

Consequently all I have been doing lately is training.

Training, training, training.

1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run.

If you don't hear from me after the 31st, you know I didn't make it.

Like, as in, died.

Doing it.

Or not.

I might be totally fine.

Hmm.

We all gotta have a dream, right. Susan Boyle had a dream.

And look where she is now.

And Tiger. He had a dream. Although his was a different kind of dream. And I bet it had a different ending to how it played out.