Huge Update

So it has been 2 weeks since my last post. Lots has happened, life has kept going and I have just been trying my best to keep up.
I feel like I am in confession here "forgive me father, it has been 2 weeks since my last confession/post....!"

Anyway, here are some pictures and info about what we have been doing, decided to do a large post rather than sit and write many posts.

 At the beginning of June, Alex turned 6. Sometimes I am amazed that he even makes it to his birthday each year!
We had a great time and as usual I made a cake, as requested. I am at present, eternally grateful that neither of my boys have ever asked for a specific type of cake with a theme. They always want a chocolate cake, which is easy to do but they have never asked for a particular shape.
So for his birthday this year, he had a round simple chocolate cake, with frosting and sprinkles. That was it, nice and simple. No staying up half the night building trains and shunting yards with liquorice straps here.
Last year he wanted Ben 10 and again I happily helped by making a round cake with blue/green icing on top with a Ben 10 figurine. It was greatly accepted and loved. What more do they want or need?

 His request for his party this year was to go rock climbing.
Every year, for the first 5, we have done a party and it usually consists of family and some dear family friends. Never have they invited actually friends because up until then they have not really had any that were not family friends.
So I always said that their 6th birthday could be big as it was going to be the first one that they would have school friends. Ben happily agreed and had a big party for his, Alex however wanted 2 friends from school and his 2 cousins, total.
No matter how much we told him he could invite who ever, he stuck with those 4 and that was that. But then that is Alex for you, decision made end of story, no moving an inch yet alone a mile!
He had a great time so that was all that mattered.

 The first Judo fun day of the year came around in June and the boys were all excited about that. However Alex came out in a huge rash and did not feel great so he didn't compete but Ben did and he worked hard all day.
Which, if you do, then you get rewarded for your hard work and that for Ben was rewarded by winning the Gold medal in his class. He fought hard in all his fights, had some great fights (I wish I knew how to upload video because there is one I would love to show you all) he won everything and deserved that Gold medal.

However, as previously posted, a week later he broke his foot.
He got put in a backslab for several days which he managed with very well, however on day 4 it needed to be replaced and they placed him in a 3/4 cast (back and 2 sides, front left open) however this did not stop him in anyway. He took over the settee and played Wii all day.
2 days later the doctor decided that he actually was doing great and needed to not have a cast just a splint shoe for 3 weeks. So he is now walking on it (and running and jumping!! however much we try to calm him and get him to be gentle) and it is doing well. The swelling has reduced and so has the lovely blue/black/green colour from around his toes etc.
He doesn't complain of any pain so hopefully all is healing well. Soccer and Judo will be started again sometime in the new term but it will be a good 6 weeks after the accident to ensure all is healed and well ready.
However, with the fact we are in the middle of school holidays, then soccer and judo are not being missed as they are not happening, so all worked out well.

We are also doing some changes around the house, pulling a chimney down, flattening the back garden etc. I do have pictures but that is one thing I will definitely leave to do in a post by itself!

Crutches

Ben has had the joy of learning how to use crutches this week.

Luckily for him, he is at Grandma's house at present, so not many steps to climb. We on the other hand have a flight of 18 to get upstairs, so guess we will be carrying him to bed each night.

Apparently he has been doing well on his crutches and his learning to keep his balance better.
After 4 weeks of this he will probably be very fast on them.

Just Perfect! The Joys of Parenting

This time last week I was ranting and raging about having time off work due to a sick child. He by the way is now fine and we really don't think he was ever that contagious, but we will not argue that point now!
So yesterday life finally got back to normal.
Everyone went to school and I got to go back to work.

However that only lasted until 5pm last night.
Ben jumped down of the stage at after school care last night (like he has everyday practically for the last 2 years) and then complained his foot hurt. Apparently he walked across the hall and then mentioned it hurt.
He could walk on it and move his toes and said it didn't hurt too much when touched. We decided that a pulled muscle was probably the best and left it at that. He had shoes on at the time so we felt his foot was supported so expected nothing sinister at all.
This morning his foot was swollen and sore, so Steve took a couple of hours off and took him for an x-ray at 9am.
I on the other hand called in the cavalry (aka Grandma)
They diagnosed a sprain and sent us home telling us to keep him home for the rest of the week. So Grandma came and did a snatch and grab and whisked him home to her house till Saturday.

Don't you just love Grandma's?

Unfortunately I wish it was all just that simple.
Turns out someone else reviewed his x-ray later in the day and they called us at 5pm to say he needed to be seen again due to actually having a broken foot.
Slight problem, he is now 1hr drive away.
So Grandma took him to local clinic and they called our clinic who advised of the diagnosis.

Now we have a back slab, non weight bearing with crutches for 3 days, then a visit to fracture clinic and then 6 weeks in a cast.
So soccer season, which he is loving has just disappeared along with Judo.
Not sure if he realises this but then seeing as he is not at home at present, still at Grandma's, then we will discuss this with him when he returns!

So here we are, 10pm and I still am not exactly sure what is happening. I never saw the doctor, we haven't really spoken to anyone proper about the phone call because no one has spoken to us yet! Grandma knows more than we do due to being told directly at her clinic what the Hamilton clinic told them, but even then because she is not in town, then they don't know who, when or where.

My day off tomorrow is obviously going to be spent getting to grips with everything and when we have to be places and what for.

The joys of Parenting.

Challenge #3

I have finally finished another challenge. Really should get more of these done as I do only have 4 1/2 months left and I have well over, well almost, most of them to complete!

Anyway, a few weeks ago I managed to finish #3 - Buy some wool and knit a friend a scarf.

Started the scarf not really knowing who was going to be the lucky person to have it, but then decided that the perfect person was my mum for Mother's Day.

As I have already mentioned, I have lots of challenges left to achieve. Now I am not about to set myself a challenge to achieve my challenges, as otherwise I may be going in circles, but seeing as my study does not start again for another 2 weeks then I will try and use my Wednesdays to plan and achieve the challenges I have to complete.

My 3 Guys

The beautiful guys in my life....

Frustration Again

Yet again I am writing a post entitled 'Frustration'
I last wrote one just over a year ago and now I am writing another on exactly the same subject.

Frustration at being home from work with a sick child.

Now don't get me wrong...I love my children and they mean the world to me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for them.
I also know there is nothing that can be done when they are sick, you just have to love them and help them through it.
BUT that doesn't help work!

In January I was off for a week sick, I had a medical certificate to back me, so no worries.
In March Alex was sick and I had a few days off with him.
Ben got sick somewhere along the line and Steve happily took time off.
Alex also had another 2 days off somewhere else and we both shared that time, taking 1 day off each.
In May I got a nasty viral chest infection and ended up with a week off again.

By now you can guess that I have used up all my sick time from work!

Unfortunately on Saturday night the babysitter informed me that Alex had redness on his back. Thought nothing of it and promptly forgot.
On Sunday morning Alex informed me that the redness on his back was bigger, like all of his back, he had a nasty rash.
It wasn't chicken pox (no spots) and it wasn't measles, German, English or any other nationality!
It started to fade by the end of the day, well it was still under the skin but just not so prominant. The dose of Phenergan also helped I feel.
Monday there was still a hint of rash but nothing else. He went to school and I to work.
Last night unfortunately Alex looked like he had done 6 rounds with a mosquito, hive type bumps all over his legs and back!
So another quick visit to the emergency doctors only to be told he has a viral infection and that .....wait for it......you guessed it........it is contagious! So no school.

So here I sit, at home with Alex who is feeling fine apart from so itching.
I got so frustrated last night I actually called the emergency doctors and demanded a medical certificate for Alex that I could present to my work, because it just made it much easier to swallow knowing I had something in writing from a Doctor.

So today, before going to see my manager, I went and saw the manager above her. Felt I really had to talk to her first before my direct manager informs her yet again that I am away sick!
She was understanding, grateful for the medical certificate and even asked if there was anything they could do to help me?

It makes me feel so useless, so unreliable. I hate that feeling of not being able to support the team and feeling that they may feel I am not a sure thing, cause you just never know when I might take a day off sick! In fact last time I was sick I actually went back to work way too soon and practically killed myself in the process and got sent home being told not to return until I was well again.

Oh well, life goes on. Got a week off in July for annual leave, aren't I lucky!

P.S - this is when I wished we lived next door to Grandma!

The Egg

Ben's class are egg sitting or more to the point egg caring.
Yes, they have an egg each and they have to care for it during the week.
Unfortunately some eggs have already cracked under the pressure of being cared for by 7/8 yr olds.

They do not have to do anything special with these eggs, just still have them in one piece on Friday.
I learnt today that apparently they do have to look after them during lunch break but they seem to have devised a plan to get some of the girls to egg sit so nobodys egg gets broken.

Not sure what happens on Friday when all is finished but we will wait and see.
Not actually sure even what they have learnt from this but will wait with baited breath to hear what Ben has to say when it is over on Friday.

Comments

I know that lots of people are having trouble commenting on their friend's blogs, some blogs will let you comment whilst others will keep asking you for an account sign in?
I don't know what the probloem is anymore than you guys do but I have worked one thing out.
There are 3 ways that comments can be shown on a blog. The blog writer can decide to have the comments show up in one of the following ways:

1. Seperate page - this way when someones comments, the comment field pops up as a balloon on the page and when finished you close it and you are then still at the blog site.
2. Full page - when you comment this takes you to a new page with all the comments down the left side and the comment field on the right. To get back to blog you are reading you ahve to hit back key.
3. Embedded below post - when you comment, you are taken to another page where the comment and comment field are at the end of the post.

I have worked out that all the sites I am having trouble commenting on all have their comments set as "Embedded below post"

How do I change this so friends can continue to comment, I hear you say?

Easy - go to settings on the dashboard, click on the blue word comments within the settings tab, (do not click on the comments tab next to settings tab)
3rd down is the 'Comment Form Placement' here you can choose how your comments field shows when someone wants to leave a comment. If you have embedded below post, consider changing to one of the other styles.
Go to bottom of page and click Save.

People should now be able to leave you a comment

Hope this helps

Shoes

I do not have a fetish with these, never have and never will.
I am not a girl who has oodles of them in her wardrobe waiting for that special moment when 1 pair will have its moment in the spot light and proudly get worn with that one all time special outfit.

I have shoes, don't get me wrong and usually I live in the same few pairs. So I am usually gutted when that pair dies and I have to scour the town to find another that suit my need.

But, I do have shoes and so do my children.
Unfortunately what gets me is the amount of children I see wandering along the street on their way to school in the morning....without shoes on!
We are in winter folks, it is cold outside, yet I can honestly believe these kids probably do not have a single pair they can wear.

It annoys me even more when you see these young mums in the supermarket, walking along in the latest designer outfit, complaining they have no money for food and their kids are wearing next to nothing with the blackest feet where they have not been wearing shoes ever!
Why do people seem to think that shoes are optional? To me they are as inportant as clothes are, yet I see so many people wandering around the hospital with no shoes on and their kids are following suit.
People seem to think shoes are not needed for children, they seem to think they are a waste of money as you have to buy new ones every 6-12 month. I am lucky in that my boys manage to make a pair of shoes last for a whole year. We usually buy new sandles at the beginning of each summer and new trainers at the beginning of each winter, these then last them until the next season they are needed.
Even if we could only afford one pair of shoes, then they would still have 1 pair and they would sure be wearing them in the wintertime.

My moan and groan is over now!

Birthday

Alex has gone from this

to this

6 years old today

Happy Birthday to our gorgeous little boy

Can't Live Without

I can't live without.....my freezer.
I have got in the habit of cooking chilli and spag bog in bulk and then freezing, thus giving us a simple easy to serve meal for some of those nights when you need it easy.
All we have to do is take out of the freezer when going to work and when we come home, it is defrosted. Then we cook rice or pasta to go with it.
Easy and within 20mins dinner is ready.

My freezer also gives me the ability to buy in bulk when I see a great deal.
Chicken is the main deal I love.
Currently it is selling at about $18.99 / kg, I remember fondly when it was always $9.99/kg.
So the other day I happened to come across some chicken on special at the supermarket.

I worked out that it was just under $9.99/kg, so I grabbed 4 lots.

Each packet will do 2 meals in our house, so for the grand total of $40 I have meat for 8 meals.
Thank heavens for my wonderful freezer to store it all in.

Hit for 6

I am sick.
Now don't panic, nothing terminal just your typical winter stuff that goes around when you least want it.

But I wouldn't mind, I gladly accept my share of it, if it actually eventuated to something.
The sore throat started last Wednesday, the general feeling like crap and no energy started late Friday and now the doctor has put me off work for 2 days, seems the tightness in my chest and the lack of energy are not condusive to work. Funny I could have told you that without paying any money.
If the cold was going to come out...then I wish it would, at least I know it will pass. But the light head and the tightness are driving me nuts!

I feel ok, but then after trying to do something for too long I realise that all I want to do is sit down and rest, must admit the doc got that part right.
He said that I probably feel good when I am at home because I get to sit when I want, eat what I want when I want and rest if I feel like it, whereas at work (in my dept especially) it is busy and continuous and there is no stopping. I can't ask the patients to not 'get sick' on me whilst in our dept, unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

However, I have noticed today that I have 'dropsie' yes you read that right, in general terms it means I keep dropping everything, my reactions are not quite up to par.
In the OR we often talk about dropsie, the day you are for ever dropping the instruments!
So that is me today. I dropped the car key whilst at the doctors, I dropped my handbag whilst in the supermarket carpark, I dropped pegs whilst hanging out the few pieces of laundry that had been in the tub for 2 days! Sure it hasn't ended yet.

And to add to it all, the sun suddenly disappeared and down came some rain, so the washing just stayed on the line because I didn't have the energy to rush and grab it all in.

Don't you just love being sick?

Soccer

Until now, we have always been able to get away from Saturday sports, we knew that one day our day would come. However, the boys have been happy doing Judo, which just so happens to be a very nice indoor sport!

Sadly that time has now ended and we have been entered into Saturday morning sports, although we were happily welcomed with blazing sunshine and nice warm temperatures for our first morning on the sidelines!

Ben has discovered soccer and wanted to play this year, so play he is.....
This weekend saw the teams first game of the season



Someone had to play goalie for the 1st half, sadly he never saw the ball! Due to the score!



He had a blast and his team even won their first match 3-0.
Well done little ones, look forward to watching you next week.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mums out in cyber space. You are all awesome and I hope you have had an awesome day like me.

To think I got woken at 8am with some wonderful presents. I must say Alex has great taste in choosing presents. He goes into a shop and once he decides on something there is no changing his mind, maybe that is the stubborn side of him showing through again!

My ring holder from Alex

Alex (6) then decided that mummy wasn't allowed a morning in bed alone, so went and found a movie he wanted to watch and he happily sat in bed with me and watched it, well he watched it and I listened whilst doing some knitting. He also attempted to do some knitting, but has only mastered putting the needle into the stitch not wrapping the wool round to create a new one. So everynow and then he would look at mine and ask why his wasn't like mine? I had to inform him that he needed to keep his stitches actually on the needle for it to do anything!

The rest of the day has been a total rest fest. Steve has done some work in the garden and the boys and I have played Wii all day.
Well I played Wii and they helped me and suddenly it was 4 hours later and time to sort dinner.
I can't quite believe we, as a family, have had such an awesome relaxing day together. Ok, so I haven't been feeling so great for several days now so a day of rest has been just what I needed.
The boys had decided also that because it was mum's special day then they needed to hug and kiss me at every possible moment. It has been so great.

I actually had 3 little quotes sent to me throughout the day and thought I would share them both with you guys tonight.

"I have carried a baby within my body.. I have slept with a baby on my chest.. I have nurtured a baby with my breasts..I have been puked, peed, and pooped on and spent sleepless nights in a rocking chair.. but I wouldn't have it any other way. My body is not magazine perfect, but when I look in the mirror, I see a mom and there is no greater honour.. "

"Motherhood's the toughest 24 hour lifetime job. No pay, no days off, no qualifications or training given and most often unappreciated and yet resignation is impossible! So send this to anyone who's a terrific mum and let her know she's absolutely wonderful"

"Before I was a Mom, I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom, I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom, I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom"

Happy Mother's Day

Clarification

After announcing how happy I was to have passed my first essay, I got the feeling that some of the people reading my blog thought I was training to be a nurse.

So to clarify this, I thought I would just let you know what I am doing.

I am already a nurse, have been for 16 years. Although I trained in England and came away with a nursing qualification that was only at Diploma level. Doesn't actually make any difference to nursing as to whether you have a diploma or a degree, but nowadays when you train you do come away with a degree if you pass the whole course.
However I am bored with nursing, it doesn't hold my interest anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love helping people, I love being able to be there to support them and to educate & help them. I haven't given up nursing I just know that this is not what I want to be doing for the next 25 years of my working career. I want to try something else. Ok there are no guarentees that the something else I choose to do will fit, but then the same could be said for the career choice I made at 17 years of age!

Unfortunately when investigating other options it became very clear early on that any other profession would involve getting a degree. Sadly this would mean having to train in something else for up to 3 years fulltime to obtain a new qualification. We don't have the resources etc needed for me to become a student fulltime for 3 yrs. So we had to look at other options, like how could I train in something else in a shorter amount of time?

Answer..........have a degree and do a 1 yr fulltime course in my chosen profession.
Problem........don't have a degree!
Solution.........get a degree.

After investigating it made sense to get a degree in nursing as it is only 4 papers and I can do them parttime. Thus I can continue to work, which works well for our family.
So for the next 2 years I am doing 1 paper every 6 months. Sounds really small amount but it is 2 essays to be completed in the 4 month period of the sememster. Sounds easy but you throw in 4 days of work, boys activites, family living and suddenly the time available to study with is not actually very much per week.
I know it will be slow, but it is the best way to do it for this family. We can justify me being a student fulltime for 1yr but not 3yrs.

So I have another essay due in in 12 days time and then I will have completed paper 1. In July I will start paper 2. Next year I will complete papers 3 & 4.
Hopefully in January 2013 I will commence a 1 yr course in my chosen profession.
In the beginning of 2014 I will be newly qualified and either working back in nursing because I can't find a job or starting on a new path in my life.
I do wish things were different and I could do 2 papers a sememster because then I would have the degree by the end of this year and start training next year, but sometimes life doesn't allow you to do exactly what you want when you want, so you make the best of what you do have.

For us, this is the best we can do at present, so I am not saying no to it and running with it happily.

Loving Your Family but Needing More?

Once the boys came along, then I have not worked full time since. I mean, we never had the boys so that someone else could look after them for us, we wanted them and we were prepared to put in the hard slog. We were happy to have them in care but not fulltime.
I went back to work when Ben was 7 months old, only 2 days a week, but it did both of us good. It gave me interaction with adults and made me have to use my brain again and it gave Ben time to interact with other people and create great people skills.
When Alex came along 21 months later, well I took time off from work and when he was 7 months old I went back to work. This time however I went 3 days a week.
I have kept 3 days a week right up until I started the current job I am in, 18 months ago I decided that with Ben now at school and Alex 4 yrs old, then I could manage 4 days a week, which is kind of what the job was asking anyway.
It has sort of worked, even though the boys are out of the house from 7.30am until 5pm on the days that I work. However, getting a student home helper for the boys 2 afternoons a week has made things way easier.

Life however, is still very rushed, lots happening and loads to do. Work is not a breeze, it is not time away to interact anymore, it is work, it is hard and somedays I come home more tired than when I left in the morning, wondering how I am going to get everything done in the evening, still go to bed at a decent time and still manage to wake up the next morning. I also want to try and get things done in the evenings as well so everything does not get left until the weekend therefore encroaching on family time.
With doing my current study then I am using the one day a week that I am not at work as my study day. I take the boys to school, then spend the day studying, then pick the boys up at 3. It works, although I do love the quietness when I don't have any study to do and I can just dawdle along for the day having some me time.

Because out of everything that we do as a family, craving me time, is still there big time, and I know from a lot of the blogs I have read that I am not alone on this either.
People are always trying to help others understand how to fit in quality "me time"
Whilst surfing the blogs the other night I came across this post on this blog, she talked about time to ourselves and shared a link to a post she had found.

I love the idea, I think this could so work, even if you shared it around so that it wasn't every week but maybe it was taken in turns. Making say Wednesday the night off and then 1 week it was mum's turn and the next dad's, then back to mum etc.
Although I think I may crave this more than Steve does, but currently he is out twice a week at Judo, now I know this is an organised activity and there is sweat, blood and tears involved, but maybe that is enough for him?
I do have the PTA Meetings, but these are once every 6-8 weeks, so not regular.

However, being able to disappear for a couple of hours and just hang would be wonderful. I know the main library downtown is open until 8.30pm, would be so cool to just sit there and read, or watch the world go by.

What would you do?

Result Time

As many of you know, I am studying to get my Nursing Degree.
Well I succeeded in managing to get my first essay in last month. Huge achievement for me seeing as last year I got all twisted with the course so pulled out of it half way through.
So a big achievement just getting my essay in this year and an even bigger achievement in that I managed to pass it with 79%.
Yep, a whopping 79%, makes me believe even more that maybe I will manage to get this degree after all.
Don't you just love getting a boast to your ego everynow and then like this?

More Teeth

My little caring soul of a big boy has finally had more teeth fall out over Easter.
You may remember in August last year that he had his first tooth fall out and he was not ready to surrender it to the Tooth Fairy. Well that tooth never made it to the fairy until October, when another tooth fell out and then he was happy to give them both over for the grand sum of $4.

Finally 6 months later he has had another 2 fall out......

When the first fell, he happily told us that the fairy would bring him $2 for it, however because he had a very wobbly 2nd tooth he decided to wait until that fell out before giving his teeth away. He did not have to wait very long, like 3 days. He even once again informed us that he would be getting $4 from the tooth fairy.
Well he will be getting $4 when he decides to give over his teeth, once again!
For now they are sitting in his little pot that Grandma gave him, on his bedside table waiting until he is either ready to give them over or when he remembers, because it has now been a week and I secretly think he has forgotten!

Challenges

I have managed to achieve 3 more of my 100 challenges over the last few weeks, which when you put it that way is not very many at all.

The first I achieved was challenge #31 - walk on the beach in the dark and take your shoes off and paddle in the water.
Whilst at the caravan for Easter I dragged the whole family down to the beach one evening at 7.30pm. They all thought I was crazy but they had fun. The boys were a little aprehensive when we first got there as we made them turn out their torches. But this allowed them to look around and see the lights from the boats out at sea. After a while they were happy without their torch. Although they were not too sure about the water, so we sadly did not take our shoes off and have a paddle, but I am accepting that I have achieved this challenge as the boys actually enjoyed this mission and even learnt things from it. They thought it was weird that everything was louder at that time of night when there was no other nioses around. they enjoyed walking on the beach and finding things. They enjoyed being able to see the stars in the clear night sky.

I also managed to achieve challenge #88 - have a family meal by candlelight.
The boys wondered what I was doing when I started setting the table with tablecloth and candles.
However when it came to dinnertime, they were the ones who wanted to turn off every light in the house!

The 3rd challenge I have managed to achieve is #59 - read a magazine that you normally wouldn't read.
This one has been hard to achieve. Not that I read loads of magazines just that I couldn't come across anything that didn't interest me that I wouldn't be happy to casually peruse through at any time. Now I probably could have managed this with any magazing really because I do not have a regular one that I would normally read, so anything classes as "not normally read".
So I ended up reading 'The New Zealand Classic Car Magazine'. Although secretly coming from a family where my dad and brother were into motorsport, this is as the challenge says not one I normally read, but I had no problem reading it as motorsport is something I have grown up with and actually enjoy, so an easy read for me, but not my normal read!

Another Birthday and Family Fun

Take one crazy family ......... hum, think that would have to be my one!
Take another birthday, which we seem to have lots of in this family.
Mix it all together with ...........a duck race!

Yes you read right...a duck race.
And what follows is a mad series of pictures depicting our fun filled afternoon in the sun throwing plastic ducks down a small stream leading into a lake!

The birthday cake

decoration of the ducks was desired

some people have wonderful ideas, but will it help them win the race....?

 

Some ducks were spoilt with flowers

others were prepared for a long ride with supplies

luckily none of them sank!

however some did manage to find the bushes

so out went the cavalry

No duck got left to float away on the lake!



And at the end we all celebrated with gorgeous cake

It was a wonderful family fun filled afternoon, with lots of laughs and crazyness. Apparently there is talk of an annual event, so watch this space for next years adventures.