I can't believe I forgot to post about the Lily concert! I went to see Lily Allen in June with two girls from work, and we had the most awesome night!! I was a little apprehensive about socializing with colleagues...not so much going out with them, but that we were staying together in a motel, so basically spending 24hrs together..I dunno, I just worried it would go badly or something.

Anyhow, I needn't have worried, as we got along great, and just had a fantastic, fun, chilled out night. Lily was AMAZING. Really awesome. Her concert was held at the Forum Theatre on Flinders Street, which was a gorgeous venue to start with, and Lily herself was really relaxed and not at all showy, which I loved.
Instead of sitting around like the bigger concerts @ Rod Laver etc, we were all seated at booths where we could have drinks, or stand in front of the stage. We chose the booths, so we weren't so close, but comfortable.

Afterwards we went to crown just to chill in some of the great bars, and tried some fancy cocktails :)

Anyhow, it was great fun, and i have a couple of goodies to look forward to. Belinda and I are going to P!NK for her Birthday in August , now I'm really not a Pink fan, But B really wanted to go, and I heard that the show is pretty good, so I think that it will be OK.
Also, I was lucky enough to secure AC/DC tix, so we're off to Rod Laver to see them with my parents in Feb next year!!

"In the 'Ocean of Waves', Bambi sat in the woods nibbling grass.
Then he saw a big bad wolf. Then they set off to the 'Forest of Creatures' and sat in the woods to hunt the creatures.
Then the Ocean of waves splashed at Bambi so Bambi set off to the woods again, but all that was there was the Big Bad Wolf, who went to his house and cooked Bambi for dinner"


Word for word, as fast as Gez could write!

From the mouths of babes!

Love Charli xox

I never actually left, it's just been a madhouse here lately, and every time I think about posting, I simultaneously think of several other things that really-need-to-be-done-right-now.

We have had a really huge couple of weeks, and the best way to catch up is probably to do a little update on everyone..smallest to biggest :)

Riley 'Ratbag' - My baby is just soooo cute at the moment! He's the cheekiest little monkey you ever met, and he's got me wrapped around his little finger at the moment, I just cant get cross with him, no matter how naughty he is! He's learning to write at the moment, and he writes his whole name, ending with 'Ratbag' lol! He probably thinks that's part of his name :) This morning he was sitting at the table, and he says "mama, how do you write Ratbag?" So i told him, and he tacks it onto the end of his name lol!
He's got such an amazing imagination at the moment, and has been telling these crazy stories lately, which Gez transcribes as fast as he can! I will post one soon, so I don't forget, cos they are just the sweetest thing, and not something Jack ever did. It's school holidays now, so there's no Kinda, and Ry is spending some extra time at Gerards parents, and will have a vist with mine next week, so he's in his element!!

Jackson - Jackka got his report last week, and I am sooo proud of my big boy!! He is just flying through this year, and some of the problems he had at the beginning of the year have improved 100%, so i'm just bursting proud at the moment. He's been a little difficult at home though, and I have to work very hard to be patient and not snap at him. He had a couple of days with my mum and dad on the farm this week, and today we had friends over, Andrea has three girls, and one is in Jack's class, and another goes to kinder with Ry, so they really enjoyed that social time, we dont do it much with me working now.

Tegan - I could fill up the whole screen with this girl at the moment. Gez and I are on a very steep learning curve in many ways, but were tested last week when Tegan came home from school and told me that she had been caught shoplifting. It took a lot of thought and discussion to decide the best way to approach the issue with her, and in the end we decided to come down very firmly, but not hard, as she has so much on her plate at the moment. We had a huge talk about stealing, trust, peer pressure etc, and had her write a letter apologising to the store manager. We took it there the next day, and she apologised in person. He was great, but now we've got to take her to the the police station, as the incident was reported, so they have to caution her.
We felt pretty awful for her, cos we know that she is a good kid, and she was so scared that we would make her leave. I really thing she's learnt a big lesson, and it might not have been a bad thing to have happened, as it taught her a few things, like consequences for actions, taking responsibility for your mistakes and that in our home, if she is respectful, she will be respected, and that we understand that everyuone makes mistakes, and everyone deserves chances to make amends and be better.
I took her to the snow with me, on a work camp I was running this week. She had an absolute ball, and I'm so glad I took her with me, as she has really started to show signs of feeling at home here with us already, thanks to some quality time. It's a bit rocky for the next week or so though, as she hasn't seen or spoken to her Mum for a month or more, but we will both see her next week at a Best Interest Plan meeting with DHS and other parties. I can tell she's very scared.

Gez - Poor Gez has been so busy! on top of working full time and helping me with the house, cooking and kids, hes also been re-plastering our hallway. It looks lovely now, all fresh and cream, instead of a cacky yellow! He's loving spending tme with Tegan, downloading her songs and teaching her mechanical stuff to help her with the Auto elective she got put in a school. he had a day just with the boys on aturday, which was really good for all of them.

Me - I'm ok, i'm really enjoying having three to enjoy, and have really been loving reading and knitting with Tegan (she got given some cook wool and big needles to make a scarf) and spending time cooking with the boys today on my day off work. I am feeling a little like i'm starting to split at the seams though, so I'm going to have to watch that I take some extra time for myself this month. My mamager at work had her last day today, and I organised a send-off for her last Friday, which was lovely. I cant sleep tonight though, as even though things are supposed to just run 'as usual' tomorrow feels momentous and very daunting, and I'm running all the things through my head that I forgot to ask my manager!

That's going to have to do for now, I'll post Ry's little stories next, along with some recent photos!


Love always,

Charli xox