Spring Has Sprung

 And it sure feels good to be out in the thick of it!

The kids played very well in netball and soccer, and were thrilled for their medals, plaques and "golden boot"s...


 but we are very pleased to have our Saturdays back!

 While waiting for spring, we still had a raucous time indoors.

Yes, Summer AND Des are asleep on Dad.

Obstacle courses were assembled. Many a gymnastics meet was hosted and judged. Playdates were had. Desmond was blessed. Twister was played. Freezing dips in the neighbor's pool for the brave of heart.

First smiles :)

That Twister mat kept them occupied for hours.

 But for the most part, we've been living outside and loving it. Stromlo Bike Playground is the best. All sorts of ridges, logs and skinny raised platforms to test your biking skills on. Great place to prove your balance, agility and courage. It takes guts, man. Many tears spilt and triumphs claimed. (Bless those kind gentlemen who offered to spot brave Kenna on her first go at the tipping see-saws. Dad was home with Sums, so me with Des in the Bjorn was obviously no help at all for that imminent disaster.)

U.S. Labor Day enjoying Dad's sunny nap on the grass outside Questacon

Memorial

The Embassy hosted a very nice memorial for 9/11. They always honor each casualty individually, represented by their country's flag taped along the front gates. It's a beautifully humbling reminder I'm grateful we could be part of. Ambassador Bleich spoke eloquently as he honored their memories and then candles were lit out on the front lawns for all to see.

the news cameras caught Sums helping put up flags

 My kids may never understand why I "drag" them to these things, but I doubt I'll ever stop attending such memorials.

Birthday Weekend

 Turned the big 33 last Friday. Fairly under the radar, seeing as it was full of last-day-of-term excitement and parties (but I pretended those were for me so it was all good.) We did head up to Sydney for the long weekend and my fam was gracious enough to let me call most of the shots - like following our friends to the Olympic Aquatic Center for a swim, and hitting the beach on the way home. (How on earth do my kids all of a sudden not like the beach?? It was just me and Summer in the waves... Dad's winning them over slowly, darn it all.)

 Bless that Krispy Kreme. We fairly got in an accident trying to maneuver out of the turn lane when we saw the sign. Then we bought an extra dozen for our friends, only to discover in the parking lot that they'd just done the exact same for us! So awesome. Sign of a true friendship :)

 Highlight of the weekend though was getting to accompany our sweet friends, the Klenkas, through the temple and witness their sealing afterwards. What a sweet and special privilege. We love them. (Still waiting on a pic...)

Will getting swarmed with the bucket'o'gelato

 Hot day. Can you tell? This guy stole an hour of our lives that we'll never get back. But the last five minutes when he juggled fire, knives and apples on his bike was cool.

new view of the Opera House and Bridge from far side of RBG

Of course the kids love staying at the "temple hotel" and were thrilled when the Sorensons stayed as well. They hosted games in the rec room and even sleepovers at their place - what a fam :) I'm a nerd and didn't even snap a pic of the pj parties. Maybe because I was running back and forth trying to nurse two babies and a sick child to bed. First night was the worst, got in late, settled down later and Summer bed-hopped until dawn. There is simply nothing like trying to keep a 2 year old occupied or even remotely quiet in a room full of 5 other sleeping people at 5am. You know what I'm talking about. Brutal. I kept snatching cat naps between 10-minute episodes of Curious George on Youtube because I was too delirious to think of any brighter ideas. The next two nights everyone slept through until 9am though, so no complaints. They were so zonked that Annie fell off her top bunk and Kenna "sleep-barfed" into the bucket by her bed - neither of them remembering a thing in the morning. Now that's running 'em ragged.

 So yes, we swam, bungee-tramp-ed, hit Darling Harbour and the Royal Botanical Gardens, then showed them the Nan Tien Temple and beach on the way home. Great weekend. Loved it all, especially quality time with the kiddos. Darren's fond of blasting the music during long drives (mostly The Killers new album this time, which is mega-awesome) and rolling down the windows - all enveloped in it together. Good times. I think their favorite part was actually the buddhist temple, though. Annie said, "All these Chinese people were saying stuff in another language and sitting down in strange positions and looking at us thinking, 'what are these white people doing here?'" Too cute, that girl.

It was a lovely weekend and I'm so glad I got to share it with the fam in an awesome place. :)

Mmmm. First tumble in the waves and right back at it.

Day One

Sleep in and lazy cartoon morning
Shattered honey jar on the kitchen floor
Baby's blow-out all over our bed
Bleeding foot from aforementioned glass
120 nails clipped
25 snacks dispensed
16 nursing sessions
9 raisins retrieved from Des' choked up vomit (which Sums so kindly "fed" him)
5 bodies in Mom's bathtub
4 loads of laundry
3 family time outs for fighting
2 games Settlers of Catan
1 empty fridge
0 chores done

Welcome to the first day of term break.
Here's to 12 more....

Aussie-isms

I'm either too used to them now or have recorded most of them already on the blog (search my Australianisms-tagged posts) but the latest ones on the list are:

"fussed" (worried)
"wee" (small)
"clean your teeth" (brush your teeth)
"fierce" (harsh)
"braces" (suspenders)
"lie-in" (sleep-in)
"busking" (playing an instrument on the street for $, what's our word?)
"bag it" (claim/call "I call that seat!")

and this funny one...

My kids were offered "chickenburger, hamburger or cheeseburger" on the latest Special Lunch at school (it's a fundraising thing each term) and of course they checked "cheeseburger." Poor darlings were sorely disappointed when all they got was cheese, lettuce and tomato!

Highlights

Just had to record some of the highlights of the past 2 weeks for posterity:

 - Summer paints herself, her crib and everything in it with poop during naptime (twice)

 - Mommy forgets Desmond at church, running back to the chapel halfway through Primary time to retrieve him from the pew (still asleep like an angel)

 - Summer hands Mom half her braid after deciding to cut it off herself

- midway through Mom taking son on a date to the shops, he sincerely (and unsolicited) asks, "Why are you wearing that embarrassing sweater?" 

 - Summer poops in the bath three times (what's with all the poop?!)

 - family stranded at church and has to get a ride home in two other family's cars because Dad fell asleep after taking Summer home early for a nap

 - 3 ear infections

 - Will sleepwalks to the bathroom but misses the mark (once in the trash can, once on the bath mat)

 - Kenna discovers her forgotten Primary talk assignment during Sacrament meeting and writes it real fast while Mom and Dad are prepping last minute lessons for missing teachers (I shouldn't admit that)

 - very next week Will does exact same thing as Kenna 

 - Annie's hair & face are smudged with black for 3 days dues to Book Fair costume/hair fiasco

 - Mom finds interesting things in the garbage: shoes, markers, toys, apples, and yep, poop.

 - Summer gets a shiner from trying to reenact her favorite book Ten Little Monkeys Jumping On (off) the Bed

 - Will wakes up distraught about his bloody pillow (apparently from the ear into which a friend shoved a wire the day before... what the??)

 - our living room is still a series of makeshift "shops" and tonight the kids are sleeping in the hall (pulled their mattresses out and everything - again, we are a zoo.)

(Seriously though, "Will's Service Committee" check out that advertising prowess! Not only can you purchase <or rent> all his old hats, silly bands and joke books, but he hires himself out too. Every time I walk into the living room he chirps, "Welcome to WillMart - where your dreams come true!" The kid's gonna be a used car salesman someday.)

LIFE IS GRAND.

Big Families

Life is slowly settling into a new normal. People ask how it feels to have 5 kids and my response is usually, "There are just so many of us. It's a lot of bodies." Kids are everywhere.

If you're not nursing one, you're being climbed on by another or moving a few more over to grab a spot on the couch. Lots of needs for attention and conversation and snuggles and policing. And shoes. I think Will and Annie both had toes sticking out of the holes in their shoes for weeks before I could get out and buy new ones recently. Putting them all to bed takes hours. I don't even know if they've used soap in the bath or toothpaste on the toothbrush - it's a victory if they are all under the sheets by 9pm these days. Not to mention the food. These guys are LITTLE and we're still going through 5 gallons of milk, 2 trays of eggs, and crates of produce a week. I can't actually fit the whole week of groceries in the Costco cart along with the two babies. (I must have been a spectacle: simultaneously nursing the 3wk old, fetching the toddler's hotdog from the floor, and eating my lunch next to an overflowing cart of groceries precariously balanced atop the carseat in the cart.) It's a zoo. A crazy zoo - but we love it.

They are so affectionate and helpful and funny and sweet. They need us so much still. And I know we need to soak it up because that won't last. Someday soon they're going to start thinking we're not that cool and want to hang out with their friends all the time and roll their eyes when we try to hug them. After 9 months of having to be gentle with Mommy, Will just about died of joy when I agreed to a wrestling match last night. The bruises this morning are so worth that exhausted, sweaty, super satisfied smile that was pasted on his face. And those amazingly tender moments of sibling love that take your breath away: Will changing a diaper or snoring in bed with Des asleep on his chest, or Kenna piggy backs Summer around the house in a fit of giggles then puts her to bed without help, or Summer sings to Des face to face and nurses her babydolls next to us, or Annie gives baby a bath or reads to Sums. Summer will often go to a sibling rather than me for comfort after an owie. When they want to share beds or dress alike or make each other breakfast...we even woke up the other day to Kenna singing Alleluia and Country Roads downstairs, accompanied by Will on the guitar.

they spent hours constructing a "store" in our living room

It's times like that when your heart bursts a little and you think "how can we not have 100 more??" Being the youngest of 6 kids myself (and Darren smack in the middle of 7) we dig the chaos. (Although, not the perpetual pig-sty - how is it that this is how the floor looks less than 24 hrs after vacuuming??)

We always joke that it doesn't feel like family until it's a circus show. Well, I think we've arrived. Seeing as Summer typically shows up at church without shoes and it looks like our kids don't know what a hairbrush is, I think those around us would agree. It's kind of awesome.