calm...breath.....calm.......

WAH!!!!!! STRESSED!!!! WAH!!!!!!

Ok...off to meeting at the hall about planning the Christmas party...because, you know, I have nothing else better to be doing this evening...like PACKING....remembering the million things I am sure I am forgetting.....like attending Chris's award ceremony at school.....

WAH!!!!!!!!!!! did I say I was STRESSED????????!!!!!!!!!

Another lesson learned...

That spinning around in one direction makes you very very VERY dizzy!!! :)

Moon spinner....

A couple of weeks ago we bought a really great series of books called 'Simply Science' a series of ten books for beginning readers by Nora Gaydos. These books are tiny but so great as a starting point for science.

Today we read 'Blast Off' which is a book that introduces the planets and solar system. At the end of each book there are some questions to ask to see if the child understood the book as well as a few interesting facts and then a science experiment to match the book content.

Todays experiment was a way to explain gravitational pull and how the Earth keeps the moon from flying off into space!

You tie a piece of string to the handle of a bucket/ pail. Then you find some space and spin around with your arms outstretched...you feel a force tugging it outward but the string stops the bucket from flying off...just like the Earths gravity holds the moon in its orbit!

Abigail held her 'Earth' ball in her hand with the string so it was really like the Earth was holding the moon :)

Festival of Leaves..

Last night we attended the 'Festival of Leaves' at a local rural community. It was a wonderful evening and included wagon rides, musical statue games, marshmallow roasting, colourng and playdough, a chili supper, bouncy castle....and a wonderful guided nature walk that involved a scavenger hunt. The hunt was ideal for Abigails age group. She had to find homes for creatures (we found the above hornet nest as well as holes from a woodpeckers home)! We also had to find things such as a plant still flowering, signs of porcupines, noise from a wild creature...a mammal and an insect....

The weather was just perfect for an outside event and Abigail really enjoyed it. Three cheers for Parentlink who arranged the festival!

Wagon rides

The 'driver' was a miserable bugger though.......if he's going to work with children surely he could lighten up a little!

Driving me nuts!

www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html

Are you a leftie or a rightie????

This dancing lady has been driving me nuts for the last half hour :)

Thanks to Kathy for sending me this!

Festival of Leaves.....

A few more pictures of the festival of leaves........

I tried to get pictures with not many people in the background as I was cnscious of th efact that many may not want to be in the pictures...hence the fact that it looks as though not many were there - actually it was a really good turn out :) I think they did well :)

Thursday and I need to get ready...

I need to pack. I can't pack until I do the last of the laundry. So I need to do the laundry.

Tonight I have a meeting at the hall about organising the Christmas party here..

I want to blog about yesterday though as I am not sure I will have time to blog much later.

Yesterday morning we went to Parent link - I think we will make that a regular weekly thing through the winter. It was great to see Samantha, the kids had fun (despite Sams bad mood), good coffee, great snacks for the kids and I got to use the resource centre to get some die cuts done. For $4 I got a big bunch of die cuts from that special paper that pops up into foam shapes. I gave some scrap shapes to Sam and Abby in the bath and they had so much fun watching the paper pop up into big sponges! They stick to the tiles too so they have had fun!

Samantha gave us some coupons for free ice creams at Mcdonalds, so after parent link we went there for lunch and the children ahd ice cream for dessert - Abigail was thrilled to go up to the counter alone to get the ice creams for her and Sam.

We went to the dollar store for a few things for the children to take on the plane and to keep them busy at the hotel. Then I went into Reitmans to try on some clothes - boy was that ever an experience! I tried on quite a bit so I can understand Sam and Abby were bored, but then Sam pooped so his stinky diaper made the changing room smell REALLY bad! Then he kept hiding under all the clothes stands and racing about with the toy car he got at McD's....

I did manage to get a few pairs of pants and a shirt though - oh and their jewelry is buy one get one free, so I got some ear rings to wear with my dress to the Presidents Dinner.

After that we raced home as the kids were already home from school and Susie ahd a friend back. We got home about 5 minutes after they did which was great....I ran around like a headless chicken, warming up cinnamon twists for an afer school snack, emptying shopping bags so things I had for Christmas gifts were hidden away fast, tidying up and getting us ready to go out 40 minutes later!

Last night was Parent Links 'Festival of Leaves' - it was held at North Cooking Lake and it was so much fun! I'm so glad we went! They had a bouncy castle, bowling, play dough, bricks, fire pit with marshmallows to roast, a nature walk and scavenger hunt, swings, slides and climbing frame, horse drawn wagon rides, colouring, all kinds of games and fun like Musical statues.....a supper of chili and bun, bowls of chocolates to help yourself to, and a big cake served to everyone! It was $5 a family and was just fabulous...they even had the local library there discussing programs and ideas for Fall stories for children......

We were getting off the wagon ride when I saw a friend of mine who I haven't seen in AGES!!! She looked wonderful but I couldn't help but notice her jacket looked a little tight!! I was sure she was pregnant but didn't like to ask! So I casually asked her how she was and she told me she was 6 months pregnant! Wonderful news but 6 months - by 6 months I am always the size of a house! C just looked fabulous!

We got home around 7pm and I soaked in the bath with my lovely new Avon bubble bath.....then Lloyd and I finished the evening with a nice cup of tea and some girl guide cookies MMMmmmmmmm :)

It was a great day, all be it busy. Abigail and Sam were tired out but had had so much fun!

Next time we go to Parentlink, it will be Halloween, so Sam and Abby will be wearing their costumes and they are turning the PL centre into a pumpkin patch complete with hay bales and pumpkins - I can't wait :)

The pictures above are from last nights Festival of Leaves....