My head is feeling quite fuzzy at the moment. We’ve had a wonderful start to the year with a visit from friends, a trip to Brisbane, the kids have settled in to their routines again, and Quinn’s 4th birthday which included having mum and dad here for a few days. This is always very helpful for me – my kitchen becomes self-cleaning, my clothes get magically washed, my children get clothed, fed, bathed and read to regularly without me lifting a finger, and I get extra sleep.

Oh and my kids get dropped off and picked up from school/kindy.

It’s a win for me, that’s for sure!

Is it just me or does anyone else hate and dread the school drop off and pick up? I said to Hubs today that the only way I’m going to succeed in that arena this year is a) get a new routine or b) change my attitude towards it.

You see Quinn finishes at 2.30 and Chance finishes at 3. I like to walk and push the pram because it really is crazy close, but even if I drag it out as much as I can, I still get to the school with over 10 minutes to kill. And with a very energetic 2-year-old who wants to run run run it’s quite exhausting. The whole process from start to finish takes an hour. And I think it’s about a 1.2km round trip.

I was absolutely exhausted when I got home this afternoon! I have no idea how I’m going to manage with 4 kids.

Like I said, new plan or better attitude. For now I’m working on my attitude but also getting a plan together to kick off from term two.

In the mean time, the kids and I are finding our feet with a daily/weekly routine. We are at night #1 of Darby in a big boy bed – transitioning for when the baby comes and we need the cot. So far so good!

I really have to go to sleep now. It’s just been a day!

After last night’s rant, I’ll take it down a notch. My boys at bedtime in their matching pj’s thanks to Aunty Heather. Too cute xx

I’m thinking I might need to actually plan some blog posts if I’m going to be keeping up with this daily publishing. So for the month of March, I want some inspiration.

Give me a word, a phrase or a question that can be my inspiration for a month of blogging in March.

It can be anything – something you want to know about me; a random thought or word that you think might spark some good content; or just something completely non-sensical to really throw me.

Give it your best guys! Inspire me!

Mum and Dad, aka Gran and Grumpy arrive in the morning and it’s not a moment too soon let me tell you. It’s been hot up here this week and normally I can just accept it, ignore it, and power through it, but the school and kindy run, which features an excited two-year-old running away from me has just about undone me. Who decided that 2.30pm would be a good time for kindy to finish?? Seriously! It really does cut the afternoons short. You know what would be a better time? 3:30.

I know it’s not all about me but that would really make my life a hell of a lot easier. At 2.10pm it’s just so hot to put Darby in the pram and walk down for pick up.

And I need to get into some kind of morning routine when Quinn has kindy and Chance has school. The places are only about 500m apart and there is a 10minute start time difference but trying to get out of the door and get there on time has proven difficult so far. I even drove this morning and that’s just ridiculous.

After a late start and cupcake decorating for kindy, followed by insistence of spelling and reading practice that I could hardly argue against, followed by teeth brushing, sunscreen application, everyone getting down to the pram, a forgotten bag, a case of upturned cupcakes and subsequent tears (mine) I admitted defeat and grabbed the car keys.

Sometimes you just gotta take the easy option. And with my parents here all weekend, I’m looking forward to some hot coffees, uninterrupted showers, maybe even a nap or two. Oh yes. Bring it on.

I just had a rather animated, and rather one-sided discussion with Hubs about The Bronze Medallion, and other WWII books that I’ve read lately, and how I’m so intrigued by it all. Halfway through said discussion, I said to Hubs “I should be blogging about this!” And here I am.

It absolutely fascinates me that so many people died in this world war, and yet so many people survived as well. So many people, like my Nanny, were marched from their homeland with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. No passports, no papers. Nothing. And then to have not only survived, but thrived post-war; marrying, having a family, owning a house; it truly astounds me how they have gone from having absolutely nothing to “having it all.”

I know that Nanny and Grandpa always felt very blessed and grateful and lucky that they had such an amazing and different life after the war.

I exclaimed to Frith how crazy it is that we have only ever known one way of life, and will most likely only ever know this way of life. A life of safety; a life of abundance; a life full of family and friends who are not in imminent danger. We will most likely never know of any real hardship the way that people of war have known, and currently know.

I’m not going to go into the fact that war atrocities are happening right now as well, as I just haven’t educated myself enough about it all. I’m sure in a lot of ways it’s different, but I also know that it’s all the same as well. Greed; power; arrogance etc etc. It will always be a part of our world. I am just choosing to see the abundance and good people who do good things.

(Side note: I had been telling Hubs that this is a WWII Historical Drama, which is exactly what I thought it was. I googled the book title to put the link in and Hubs walked in and saw “The Bronze Horseman is a deeply erotic romance novel…” And was like “No wonder you can’t put it down!” I have only just gotten to the first erotic part – I honestly had no idea! Not that I’m complaining 😉 )

Unfortunately for Payless Shoes, they are closing their Rockhampton Stockland store. Fortunately for me, this meant I picked up $640 worth of shoes for $202.

(Note the single Spiderman shoe – Darby took off with the other one. Should probably go and look for it…)

This haul includes three pairs of $80 school shoes that were all $20 each. I know it’s a bit crazy to buy school shoes for Quinn that won’t fit for years, but the savings were just too great!

The funny thing is, this happened 3 years ago as well. About a month after we moved to Mount Isa, the Mathers closed down and I bought $40 pairs of shoes for under $10 and stashed them away. Every 6 months the kids have a trying-on session to see if they had grown into any pairs. I think I bought about 7 pairs, a couple that the kids are wearing now, a couple that they have grown in to and then grown out of, and these three that are still too big!

The kids had a great time trying on heaps of shoes. Darby only ended up with one pair as he has quite a few pairs already. His were reduced from $40 to $10!! I really like buying good quality kids shoes but I don’t like the full price tag. Quinn really hit the jackpot and I couldn’t say no to the $12 Spiderman shoes.

I’m pretty happy with my haul. The trick is not to forget about them!