Author: Renae

Living life as a wife, a stay at home mama of 3 kids under 5, a marriage celebrant, a craft and sewing amateur, a cooked breakfast lover, coffee enthusiast, extroverted socialite, and most recently, someone who is trying to keep a tidy house. It's tough I tell you!

The Fart Festival

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Okay so obviously that’s not the actual name of where we went today, but it’s what Hubs affectionately called Emu Park’s “Festival of the Winds”. There were kites galore!

Apparently it wasn’t “windy enough” for the really big kites.

But the kids didn’t seem to mind.

Yes my kids are adorable in their “town hats”. Watching the kites was just lovely. Being with my family and enjoying the kids excitement makes my heart burst.

But.

I was a bit hesitant about going along to the festival, and when we arrived I knew the reason. Well, the three reasons: expensive rides, rubbish toys, and overpriced food. And my kids wanted it all. It’s not that Hubs and I don’t like having fun, it’s that we’ve forgotten how to.

No wait, that’s not right.

It’s that our idea of fun doesn’t necessarily match up with what our kids think is fun. Fighting crowds to buy tickets to go on dodgem cars? Um no thanks. Spending $5 on a single duck game where all the toys you can win are complete crap? No again from me! All Quinn wanted to do was get her face painted, have a slushie cup and get a whirly-wind toy. I could get behind those things. And Chance wanted a toy of some description, a slushie cup and a ride. And I could get behind two of those things.

Hubs and I had a discussion and decided that he would stay with Darby and watch the kites on the beach while I took the older two back into the mosh pit.

We found the toys (with a bit of drama), bought the slushie cups, but we couldn’t for the life of us find the face painting stall. And I had decided there was no way I was lining up for ride tickets. So of course the kids were disappointed!

I don’t know. I think ever since we moved away from city life I just hate crowds so much! And I feel like no matter what we get the kids, there will always be something else they want as well. It’s just a constant negotiation that I don’t feel is worthwhile.

Perhaps when they are older and have their own money to spend on whatever they like, it will be easier. But I guess that creates a bunch of challenges in itself.

Look the day was fine, there were actually no tears, and at least the kids were happy with their toys.

But.

Give me a nice shady creek for the kids to play in, a packed lunch, a drink or two, and a few other families around and I’ll show you my idea of a great family day out.

They can’t all be winners

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After yesterday’s amazing effort by the kids, today kind of sucked. I had to keep reminding myself that the kids weren’t deliberately trying to make my life hard, that they were just being kids. And if course there were some lovely moments in between the mayhem.

Tomorrow is a full day with renovations, a wedding, a play date or two, and a bit more solo parenting. And I’m feeling pretty good about it all which, at nearly 36 weeks pregnant and a very active baby in my tummy, I’m pretty pleased about.

Today was a good day

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A fairly good night sleep last night;

Beautiful weather;

Hubs was around for a few hours during the day;

Happy kids who were lovely to each other and shared and cared and didn’t fight;

Me with a bucket load of patience;

Good yummy food that we all enjoyed together;

A clean house;

A mowed lawn;

A calm story time;

Absolutely no fuss at 7:30pm bedtime;

All asleep before 8 and looking like angels;

Dinner and TV show with Hubs to cap it off.

It was just a good day. Nothing extraordinary or mind-blowing. Just content kids and lots of family time. I’m hoping this has filled my tank up for tomorrow as Hubs has a long day coming up!

It broke

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I told Hubs that KFC was bad for him. But did he listen? Nooooooo.

One broken pisiform later and maybe he’ll believe me.

(He was riding his bike home from picking up cheap Tuesday KFC) when his bike seat fell off – yes that’s right, his seat fell off – and he took a nasty spill. Luckily the pisiform, a small bone in the wrist, is considered by some orthopods as “the most useless bone in the body” so no permanent damage done to his operating hand! Good times ahead.)

Them’s fightin words

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Have you ever just been in the mood for a fight? Been so pissed off by something that you are just ready to give the offending person a serve about it? Look I’m not going to lie. I’m a little frazzled, generally, at the moment, and certainly not as tolerant of people’s bullshit as I usually am. And I’m a pretty placid person generally, and if it actually came down to it, I could never throw a punch. (Ha ha. This is getting serious!) And even if I want to have a verbal altercation with someone, I’m not particularly articulate when I’m fired up, so my argument usually ends up less than well constructed and more teary and gibberish.

Today though, I was so ready to give someone a piece of my mind. I went to the servo to put diesel in the cruiser, and there were only 2 pumps of diesel, both being used. I pulled into the one that I needed, and watched the person, who was facing the wrong way, so looking straight at me (this is an important piece of info) finish up. He went inside to pay at the same time as the other diesel-user. The other guy came out first (the one that would be on the wrong side of my car) and drove off, and I sat and waited. And waited. And waited.

There was no one else at the servo so there would have been no wait to pay. After another 5 or so minutes I was fuming and ended up reversing around to the other bowser. I filled up the car (over 100L) and the guy STILL hadn’t come out. I got Darby out of the car and went inside to pay. By this time I had rehearsed my speech about being inconsiderate and so on and was ready to unleash.

I spotted the guy. Sitting down in the cafe bit. Eating hot chips and and Ice Break.

Holy crap was I mad. Why the hell couldn’t he have moved his truck before getting his cholesterol-filled lunch????? But I was so mad that I couldn’t string a sentence together. I went up to pay (I wasn’t about to go over and confront him) and instead took it out on the poor person who served me. “Inconsiderate! Unbelievable!” were just a couple of the words I used.

Who the hell are these people??? Gosh I wanted to give it to him, but I decided just to leave in a huff instead and hope that he got the picture. I’m sure he didn’t. Some people just don’t give a shit.

Have you ever?

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… felt like you have a 10 pound bowling ball sitting in your pelvis when you walk around?

… had to stop mid-stride to cross your legs when you sneeze?

… picked a fight with your husband because you’re so tired you can’t even think straight and then gone back to him crying five minutes later to apologise and tell him you love him?

… been really lovely during story time with the kids and then turned into a snappy monster as soon as they don’t go to sleep immediately?

… been unable to roll over in bed in less than a minute and without huffing and puffing and cursing like a sailor?

… wondered how the hell you’re going to get through two weeks of school holidays after just one day?

Welcome to my life people. It’s not pretty, it’s not quiet, it’s messy and it sure as hell ain’t for the faint at heart. But somehow I wouldn’t have it any other way.

A High Tea

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These ladies. Honestly. How did I ever get so lucky?

A couple of months ago my friend (far right) said to me “so what are we going to do for your baby shower?” And I was like “ummm my what now?”

I mean it’s the fourth child. I’m lucky if people a) know I’m pregnant b) remember I’m pregnant and c) really care either way! So when she asked the question and insisted an event take place I was really quite chuffed. And I may have leaked a bit out of my eyes. These girls really are the sweetest damn things.

We decided on Delizie for Sunday afternoon high tea and just invited a few people. Mum and I came here about 18 months ago and it was so memorable then. And it certainly impressed again today.

I had a light brekky and only a coffee for lunch in anticipation. Oh the food!

So much deliciousness.

Such lovely company and beautiful atmosphere and some very thoughtful gifts which were even more unexpected! And it took quite a lot of organising with the three kids at three different places as Hubs was working so thank you to everyone who helped out with that.

The only thing left now is to have this baby! 35 weeks and counting.

Pro Shots

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Got some pro shots done of bump #4. Just for fun. Haven’t told/shown Hubs yet. Going to get some printed as a surprise. Really happy with them! Will share more laters.

It owes me nothing

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This is my dishwasher

I’d say we bought it two years ago but we actually acquired it through a Gumtree ad. For nothing. In fact I think the “seller” may have even dropped it off to us. We were advised that it should work once the control panel was fixed. Challenge accepted by Hubs and we had a working dishwasher.

It also needed a thorough clean out that thankfully I was not involved in. Apparently it was a little gross but it did the trick!

Guys this dishwasher is awesome. If you’ve ever come to stay, you will have been treated to my raving about its awesomeness. The heat that this thing produces means everything comes up sparkling clean. Either that or melted – some things just aren’t meant to go in the bottom rack.

It does have its quirks. You have to use a toothpick to turn it on and choose the cycle. There were screws in place as buttons but they have since fallen out, and to be honest the toothpick gives it a child-proof function that I like. Because Darby likes buttons.

Unfortunately it is is starting to play up a little. The latch is broken so now I have to use sticky tape to close it for each wash.

And it sometimes comes up with an F4 error which, after a Google search is something to do with the temperature. The troubleshooting for it? Switch it off and on again and it should work. It does.

I’ll be so sad when it does eventually die. If it lasts the rest of the year it will be a miracle! Maybe I should start keeping an eye out on Gumtree for our next bargain…