Potty Training

Well we have started the task of potty training our little Thomas. He is such a good boy and would really like it if we would just put his nappy back on. We only started 2 days ago and as long as we don't put any pants on he is happy to pee in the potty. It is the number 2's that have us in a bit of a quandary. He won't wear undies so it just comes out. Gross huh? Well just imagine having to walk around the house looking for where he has gone. We will still put the nappy on if we are going in the car for a while.

Yesterday we went to visit Davids cousin who had a beautiful baby boy two weeks ago. He slept the whole time we were there. Babies are so good like that. When no one is around and you have a million things to do they seem to be up and screaming the whole time. When you have company and they all want a cuddle they sleep beautifully. Crazy.

Only two weeks until David comes home. He is so looking forward to it. We are all looking forward to seeing him too. Thomas is excited because he is getting his best friend back for his birthday. He gets all excited when we talk about his birthday. He can't wait. Three already. Where has the time gone.

Well I think that is all for now. Keep smiling and Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Helene

PS Any tips for potty training are welcomed.

Well here we are another week gone by. The time seems to be moving quickly which for me is a great thing. 6 weeks and David will be coming home and then another 4 after that and we will be moving home again. We won't have a whole lot of furniture but we will be home.

So the boys are getting on with school. They like the new school and have even made a few friends. Only one more school hopefully before going off to High School. Don't you wish High School could be like the new movie and everyone was walking around singing and dancing? ow much more fun it could be.

Thomas is changing every day and all things are for the better. I don't think he is sleeping real well at night because by 11 am he is or wants to be back in bed. We don't go out very much and I really think he is getting bored with being around just us. Next year he will be back in school 2 days a week and that will be good for him and very good for me.

David is very happy to be coming back home and the best bit is they are paying for the move and giving him a car too. Now I will need to get a car so I can get out of the house.

I am looking forward to the few outings that have been planned over the next few weeks and before we know it it will be Thomas's 3rd birthday and then Christmas. My how the time flys by.

So happy to be home.

Love to you all.

Helene

Ok so it has been forever since I have written but I thought it was time. Well here are back in Sydney and would be loving it but... Ok so I am really happy to be back in the land of OZ. I get to have conversations with my friends and have even gotten a social life if you can call it that. I am not aloud out of the house unless my mother-in-law goes with me, I can't spend any money because they want to know where the money is coming from and ask a million questions. I miss my privacy my space and my house. Is it January yet????



Well I have been home for 2 weeks and I have been by myself twice. I think I may have a melt down before to long. I just keep smiling and think of the diet I will have to put Harrison on when we leave because he should be 20kgs heavier once we leave. She is not happy unless she is fussing over them and feeding them up. I never fuss. Maybe that could be a bad point but at 10 and 8 should I still be dressing them and doing everything for them? I ask you this how do you ask your mother in law how to stop mothering??



So when is the Mamma Mia sig along now the DVD is out? I will be getting it on Monday. I will wrap and present it to myself. The children can give it to me. They sometimes still love me.

Well I think that is all so happy days.

Love,
Helene

Another Day

Today is yet another day. For the past few weeks the water board has been digging up Albany Hwy to put new water pipes in. Well over the last few days they have gotten to the front of our house. Well it is every little boys dream to have big diggers right outside the front door. Thomas loves it. David is up there looking in the big hole with him now.

Lately I have not had a car so the boys have learned to take the bus. They love it. I don't mind much either because then I don't have to fight the traffic back and forth to the school. With Thomas at preschool 2 days I have been walking down to the preschool and then catching the bus with the boys home. They think it is brilliant. Thomas loves no car days but only if he gets to take the bus too. Next week is school holidays so the boys will get to relax. I am happy about school holidays but ask me at the end of next week.

Today I decided to bake some cookies for the boys when they got home from school. Jonny was so excited and Thomas just wanted them to be cold so he could eat them. I thought I would share this recipe with everyone because it is dead easy and tastes YUMMY! I used to make these cookies with a friend of mine when we were in grade school and now I get to make them for the boys. Hope you get the time to try them. Enjoy.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 Tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (less for fan forced). In a mixing bowl, beat the

butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in Egg and Vanilla until well blended. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, and stir in the remaining flour. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Combine the 4 T sugar and 1 1/2 t of cinnamon. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinn/ sugar mixture to coat. Place balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are beautifully golden.

MOTAT

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and so David and I took the boys to the MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology). We had one of the best days out that I can remember in a really long time. The boys got to ride on a tram, go in an old sea plane, play with toy tanks, go to the centre of the Earth, see model trains, have an egg and spoon race, fly an air plane, and ride in an Army truck. Well the list goes on but it was just great. The best part of the day was that it was an under 50$ day. With life so expensive we are really trying to make our outings interesting and as cheap as possible.

It was nice to be out and about doing things that not only interest the children but is interesting to us also. Well I can honestly say that it was a great day out.

I hope everyone had an interesting Sunday with their families.

Helene

Friends Long Ago

Over the years the Internet has changed the way we see the world. It can be an on-line dating service, an encyclopedia, a weather channel and a place to find friends from long ago. Not to long ago I joined Facebook with the prompting of a few friends this opened a whole new world.

In June 2009 I will have been out of high school for 20 years. I got an e-mail from a girl that I went to school with a few weeks back telling me that they are organizing our reunion. I can't believe it has been so long. I look back at my yearbook and what people wrote to me and I can't imagine that I have not seen more 5 people out of all those people that wrote we would be friends forever. I laugh now but if you asked me 20 years ago what I would be doing now I don't think this would have occurred to me.

Well with Facebook I am now in contact with a dozen people that I went to school with in either high school or college. It made the world so much smaller. I started to look up other of the people that I went to school with. I got an e-mail from a friend that works as an editor for a big book company.

It is just amazing that with Google you can find people that you haven't spoken to. I do realise that not everyone is out to look for friends from the past and that the Internet is also a bad place for people to be but today mine is a happy story.

Wishing everyone a happy day.

Helene