Fly on the Wall

If you were a fly on the wall in my house the last 24 hours you would have heard such things as

~ Is that wee? or is that juice? No don't lick it to find out!

~ Please stop licking the window

~ Mate, it's 3am, go to bed already

~ You just had a bath and you've put on the same dirty t shirt you just took off? Are you freaking kidding me?

~ Yes I would totally think that is a satchel like Indiana Jones and not a handbag

~ Seriously, I can only handle so much conversation involving Transformers before my brain starts oozing out of my ears, no offence.

~ Gah who farted (This said more times than I'd like to admit. What is is about boys and farting?!)

~ No the baby is not saying she likes that she is saying get your finger out of my freaking eye!

~ I had no idea trolls can regenerate

~ Sigh, I'd love to be a troll

~ I remember the good old days when there just me and you (said by 2nd son to oldest son. He was 2 when his younger sister was born, but yeah, good times)

~ That guy is 12 and he is an alcoholic.

~ Not alcoholic, alchemist.

~ Mum (at least 400 times)

~ Poo bum stinky poo head ( I know, all class in our house)

~ Me to 4 year old "Off the computer"
4 year old to me "I yogging off gimme a bwake"

~ a Robin Hood costume? sure.

~ You licked the icing off and want me to have the cake? I'll pass thanks.

~ No it's not an antique, it was mine as a baby, it's only 30 years old! Sheesh, how old do they think I am!

~ Yes, when I die you can all fight over my jewellery. Your love is overwhelming.

~ Dare no monster in da bath, it jut bubbles, don't be scared Mummy.

~ Mummy, Mummy, Mummy, Mummy! Yes? You name is Mummy.

Blogtoberfest Day One ~ Chores/Learning responsibility/Child Slavery

All on a par really, yeah?

Today is day one of Blogtoberfest. I am looking forward to the challenge of posting every day, hoping I ahve enough to write about!
My theme for today is Chores!

As the children grow we have tried several ways to implement chores.
It always ends up failing. Mostly because...
~ I suck at implementing them
~ I suck at reinforcing them
~ My eye twitches when I watch the child attempt to do said chore
~ It's just easier for me to do it and do it right

Yes, sorry kids, Mummy can't do everything so she tries to delegate chores, but then you all suck at it so get out the way and just let me do it.

I am getting better at this whole chore thing, but we still have a way to go, mostly on my part, I'll admit it.
I need to learn to let go, accept the children are not as good/efficient/right in doing the chore as me.
I need to take deep breaths and increase the patience when I am showing them for the 24th time, how to do a chore.
I also need to remind myself to remind them, as much as I don't want to, that they need to do the chore.

In theory all children can do some chore. My 2 year old can pack up toys, put clothes in the laundry hamper and even help me do the veggies for dinner each night.
This is something I remind the older kids whenever they start whining about chores and what a great mummy I am throwing the fact their 2 year old sister can do more than them.

My eldest 4 children know how to clean their room. We have been doing it for years now, it's not that hard. Pack away toys, books and any clothes on the floor that were worn for two seconds. That is it. Really, it could not be any easier. You'd think so anyway,right.

We have been in this house a few months now and are settled in. Our chores don't really change much day to day. Our day in chores goes something like this.

~Eldest son is on dishwasher duty. He is to empty the dishwasher every morning before breakfast
~ After breaky everyone puts their dishes in the sink.
~ I wash dishes and wipe down kitchen
~ Lunch and dinner is same as breaky
~ After dinner we have the whinging/crying/yelling/crying/begging hour (most of that by me) One cleans down the table then sweeps the floors. Eldest stacks dishwasher. And everyone cleans up the loungeroom.

This is how it goes on a good day.

Something we don't do, is tying an allowance to chores. I know it works for other families and is an incentive for kids to complete their chores, but in our family my kids are immune to incentives.
"Clean the floor and I'll give you some chocolate" "Yeah, um, I'm going to pass on that Mum"
Little buggers.
There are also times when while they may not do the said chores every single day, they do help me in other ways and with free will.
My 8 year old will often come in my room when he hears the baby is awake and take her, telling me he will play with her while I have a shower.
My ten year old last weekend made me eggs on toast and brought them to me in bed. (While these may not be under the 'chore' umbrella, they are things that help and are very much appreciated)

While we don't give an allowance, we do want the children to know we appreciate their help in running our family. Every few months hub will take the kids out and they will pick something they really want. Something they have been thinking about or talking non stop about.

What do you do in your family? What chores system or rhythm do you have? Do you have all kids of all ages help out, or is there an age where they start?
Id love to hear about it.

Homeschool Freebie of the Day

Grab it quick before it goes!

Taming the "Homeschool Information Overload" Monster.

Information overload is a factor of life. At times we all get tired and stressed, and either stall out or stray from our plans due to too much information. But it isn’t enough to just know what causes information overload. You must actively guard yourself from it, and take strategic steps toward taming it and getting back on track as soon as possible. In this report, discover practical strategies for dealing with "homeschool information overload" and learn how to free up more of your precious time for what is really important in your life. MUST reading for every online homeschool mom!

Wordless Wednesday

Funny things my kids do

Squeeze into clothes that do not fit them. They never believe us when we tell how them how they have grown and clothes do not fit anymore. Nope, they have to struggle into said outfit to find out for themselves.


Falling asleep, anywhere and everywhere. My children never cease to amaze me how they can sleep, especially through the noise!


My son who surprises me now and then with notes. Most have pictures cut out of catalogues and the notes say 'for Christmas' or 'for birthday'
Recently I went into to my room and found this. The box is a jewellery box my mother was given in the 60s. She never used it and gave it to me. My son asked if he could have it as it has a lock and he liked that he could lock up his treasures. (Lego)

The story goes that son left it on the floor, and other son stood on it as he didn't see it there in the dark. Son who broke the box knew it was 'antique' (his words) and felt bad and wanted to let me know via note, maybe he thought I would be mad being told face to face.
Either way I laughed out loud when I found this.



Yes, another funny brought to you by the 2 year old. She is hilarious at the moment. She puts together the funniest outfits. Here she is modelling bathers that are too small for her now and goggles. She insisted on wearing the goggles everywhere, outside playing, at the shops, but not at swimming lessons.

My 6 year old loves to dress up her younger sister. Oh how I would have loved a younger sister to dress up!

Twice a year I take all the clothes that don't fit the kids anymore and spread them on the floor. I do this right before Spring and Autumn. Clothes that are still good and can be passed on, stay. Clothes that are beyond repair, get tossed.

I then break out the big bags full of clothes to reshuffle. Anything that does or is very close to fitting comes out. Clothes from the first big pile that will be kept go in.

The great clothes reshuffle is not an easy job. I loathe it. My 6 year old daughter loves it! All the clothes that I get out of the bags she goes through. Several times while I am sorting she will grab something and run off. A few minutes later the 2 year old will emerge and say 'ta da!'

I love how they do this. It is fun, keeps them busy and is lovely to see them both enjoying time together.

Some fun amongst the boring, big job of the bi annual clothes reshuffle.

Fun at the Dairy Farm!

Today Hub and I made a trip with friends of ours to visit mutual friends. Our friends are currently house sitting, and the house is on a dairy farm.
Hub and the children were lucky enough to go over to the milking and feeding sheds for a tour and some educating!
The people working were keen to tell the kids how everything works, and our kids were just as keen to fire off lots of questions.

Here they all learning about how much different dairy farming is from 100 years ago. Machines and technology have come a long way!

Learning about the milking machines, and how nowadays they only need to be attached. Each pump has a sensor. When it senses the milk flow dropping it releases and the pump attachments are pulled across and up out of the way by a cord.

All the calves being fed. While I know this is common practice in dairy farming I do not agree with it. Calves are fed from fake teats that are attached to big mixers, that mix the powdered milk.

The children did enjoy seeing calves up so close though. One calf in particular was not very shy and came right over to the children.

Having a lot of fun in the bales.

One thing about farms, the mud! Ooey, gooey, sticky, wet mud! The kids loved it! Especially this cheeky monkey who ran straight for it. He ended up covered completely, with a bit of skin showing so I knew it was him.

Good thing kids are washable!

They had such a wonderful time, and I am so thankful for our friends for hosting us and taking such an interest in our children, and showing them not only the cows and milking, but also about the other animals on the farm. The children especially loved the chickens, and are looking forward to when we can have our own.

For a more thorough post and lots more pics about our weeekend go visit Hub

A day of food in numbers

I have been asked a few times about how much food we go through. So here is a rough estimate of our day. I will use yesterday as an example.

~ 3 litres of milk, includes cow and rice milk

~ One loaf of bread

~ 20 rolls

~ 1kg carrots

~ 2kg apples

~ 20 weet bix

~ muesli sprinkled on weet bix in cereal

~ 500grams of small steaks

~ 18 sausages

~ 2 cups of corn

~ 1kg of potatoes made into cheesy potato bake.

~ 2 dozen home made biscuits made by the junior chef

~ Bananas


Yesterday was a below average day. Usually there is cheese, strawberries and yogurt too. More often than not there is also broccoli, cauliflower and pumpkin with dinner also.

We are looking forward to the warmer weather because it means BBQ!! Salads, staying outside later, sitting on the deck with hub. Sigh. (Remind me of this in 3 months time when I am whinging and bitching about the bugs and heat)