April Fools

An impromptu sleepover started our April Fools

So our visitors became the recipients of our April Fools day pranks too

Everyone woke up with a moustache. It was funny to hear them telling each other

 "ÿou have a moustache"

"So do you"

"No I don't"

"go check the mirror then"

and then hearing the giggles as they saw their reflections.

They came down to have breakfast to this

Munchkins thought it was funny. Visitors just thought we were a little crazy!


Last trick of the morning was jelly in their cups instead of juice.. Munchkin 3 just couldn't understand why his juice would not move. He was not impressed, so he wasn't even going to look at the camera.

Other tricks were played on each other all day, a lot of them ending in tears.

Final trick of the day was letting them have dessert before dinner.

Surprisingly we had no tears at this trick!

20 hours of freedom

So, with a little LOT of help from my Mum having the four munchkins, I planned a surprise getaway for Curly Haired Husbands Birthday. Just for once he really had no idea of my surprise, which made it all the more fun!
I had planned to go 'kidnap' him from work, but when I got there he had left the office for an appointment. So Í called and tracked him down, left our overnight bag in his car while he was in his appointment with a note and headed home and waited.... thinking I'd hear from  him soon. I waited some more. then I started the messages.. this is just a snapshot.

impatient, obsessive, stalker-ish ( is that a word?) .....-hey we only had 20 hours!

He finally came home and we headed off for our 20 hours of freedom. We stayed at the Novotel Twin Waters, it is only 10 minutes from home. I thought if there were any problems with the kids we'd only be a few minutes away. Did someone say neurotic Mum? hehe.
 We arrived to this

We had a lovely buffet dinner. Had some delicious food, but our favourite treat hands down among all the  delectable desserts.....

We were just like a couple of school kids...- eating our killer pythons as we walked along the lagoon back to our room.


The next day we had so much fun.

We went out in these

so we could jump on this ( yes, it's a trampoline in the middle of the lagoon!)

Then I layed in the sun, while the birthday boy chauffeured me around the lagoon on a Catamaran

( He took it very seriously )

A swim, and lazing by the pool

- and our 20 blissful hours were up....

But we didn't even mind,- we had had so much fun!

St Patricks Day Fun

17th March is always fun. It's the Curly Haired husbands birthday. Having his birthday fall on St Patricks day, we have in the past tried to embrace and celebrate both. . It's never quite the same trying to celebrate both occasions.
This year I thought we'd dispense with St Paddy's day altogether, Then Monday afternoon I was trying to work out what we'd do for our family night and I realised we could celebrate St Patricks day that evening. So a quick search of  pinterest ( how addictive is it?) and I was armed with a heapload of printables, ideas and dissapointment that our celebrations weren't quite going to be 'pinterest pic' worthy. But decided to embrace what I did have, organise myself for the next hour before school was out and make it the best St Patricks family night I could.
It turned out to be pretty fun.
I didn't have time for all the cute invitations I had seen like here and here, so I used our trusty kitchen blackboard to spread the St Patricks party fun.

The kids excitedly looked for green clothes and readied themselves for fun. (which actually means running around like maniacs driving me crazy)

 We had a very Irish dinner ( well the most Irish we could with the ingredients I had in the fridge)

Irish Spuds with toppings galore was the order of the night. Dinner was pretty much a FAIL. My kids hate potatoes unless they are chips or hashbrowns. Obviously they were neither, so they didn't eat anything.

Family Night was better. I decided our lesson would be learning about who St Patrick was. After a quick check with my friend Google, I was able to talk to the munchkins about St Patrick teaching the people of Ireland about Christianity. It is said that he used a shamrock to teach about the Godhead, so we talked about the same.

We then played a treasure hunt game using a cute Bingo template I had found on Pinterest

Go here to http://preparednotscared.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2011-03-21T21:56:00-06:00&max-results=20 to check out some other cute St Patricks day printables

Together the munchkins had to find every symbol on their cards around the house somewhere.  Once all the bingo pieces were found they all won some gold chocolate coins to share. This game was a hit!

 We then all headed downstairs for the treat, which the munchkins had helped make and decorate after school.

The munchkins were so proud of their efforts and we had the most peaceful moment of the whole night while they ate their masterpieces.

Beach Magic

Not Sure whether  it's the salty air, the sound of the surf, the feeling of sand between your toes or the cool water. But there is definitely some sort of magic at the beach.
As a family we LOVE going to the beach. We try to go often, after all, that's why we chose to live on the coast. Our closest beach is Mooloolaba Beach and so we often head there late afternoon to relax and wind down.
Yesterday I was a little tired and cranky, and so were the munchkins. So when Curly Haired Husband got home from work, he suggested we all go to the beach. I really couldn't be bothered, and I almost didn't go, nearly convincing myself that I needed 'me' time without any kids. (Why was I blaming the kids for my grumpiness?)
So being the awesome Man that he is,- Curly Haired husband gave me the option to stay home kid -free. As soon as he did, - I realised that I would be missing out on great family time, and I would probably still be miserable when they got home anyway. So I quickly got ready and jumped in the car with the excitedly noisy munchkins. I am so glad I did. As soon as we arrived,  the magic of the beach took over and those waves washed away the cares of the day.

 I loved watching my munchkins play and enjoy nature.

Miss  9 has recently been inspired by Soul Surfer  and is learning to surf with her Daddy.

She is so fun to watch!

Now, my other little Miss enjoys the beach for other reasons........

See in her hand? She has a yummy pile of sand ready to pop in her mouth when I am not looking! She is sooo crazy, she just loves eating sand!



We enjoyed the beautiful colours of the sky as the sun set, and finally convinced the kids to get out of the water as it grew dark.

With take-away on the way home ( no cooking -yay!), I felt refreshed, renewed and grateful for another dose of the rejuvenating and calming powers of the Beach.

holidays

usa holiday

Holiday planning.....

So there is a lot of organising, planning and excitement going on in our house at the moment, with the pending overseas holiday! I have a list a mile long that needs to be done over the next week