A gorgeous day, lovely friends, lots of cups of tea (or juice) and yummy cake!

Perfect!!!



....and now my house is tidy for when we get home from holidays on the 3rd :)

Love,
Charli xoxoxo

Wow, it's been a while since I had anything of significance to post about, so I'm here for a little catch up post.
We're off to QLD for 9 days on Monday morning bright and early. Our flight is at 7.30am, and we're 2.5 hrs from the airport in Melbourne, so we're going to stay over in Melbs the night before. The kids are sooooo excited, especially Riley, as it will be his birthday the day after we arrive (Tuesday) and we're going to Seaworld on his birthday!! Riley loves animals, so we're going to try and organise for him to swim with the seals or something similar for his birthday, cos he won't be getting much in the way of gifts.
We are having a little party for him o saturday though, so he will get a couple gifts from his friends and our families. We just haven't got the extra cash atm, so all he'll get from us is the party and Seaworld, but I'm fine with that, and he will be too.

I cant believe my baby boy is already 5, that it's been 5 years since I was pregnant and gave birth. It makes me think about having another little bubba, something I really have not seriously thought about much at all (after a not-so-lovely experience with feeding/PND when Riley was small) and certainly not felt any 'cluckiness' or that real 'need' that I felt when we concieved Ry. We really have not been in any situation to be able to afford another child until now, but I can kinda see it working.....Hmmm strange!

Anyhow, work is really dragging me under at the moment, and at the same time as I am absolutely itching to get away for a holiday, I'm a little stressed out at all I have to complete before I go, and making sure things get done while I'm away. We're planning to visit the theme parks while we're away, and also take a trip to Brisbane and maybe go to a market there on the weekend, as well as a trip down to Byron for a day. Really looking forward to some down time, so might let Gez take the kids back to one of the theme parks without me ;)

My fitness thing is going pretty well, and I get weighed and measured on Saurday after six weeks of working out at leat three times a week. I don't really think I'll have lost weight, but even if I haven't, I'm not stressed, cos i'm sure I'll have lost cm's, and mostly, I can really see and feel the difference in my body. I feel so much more energetic, am eating better, drinking more water and can see that I am starting to get toned. Yay! I want to try and stay healthy and exercise regularly, and am going to try to set myself little challenges.

The first challenge is coming up swiftly in March.
I have entered the Royal Children's Hospital 'Run for the Kids' on Sunday 14th March. It's a 5km or 14.6km event which you can walk or run, and a significant amount of the entry fee goes to the Hospital. I feel like it's a great opportunity to support an amazing and incredibly important cause, as well as challenging myself to keep fit. I chose to do the 14.6km course, because you get to run through the domain tunnel and over the Bolte Bridge, which will be amazing. I certainly can't run the whole course, but i'm hoping to run maybe two thirds of it. I've been doing some practicing in the evenings and can jog 5km straight, so I think I'd like to think I could run 5, walk 5, run 5 on the day. I'll write about it afterwards!

Not sure I covered everything in this post, but will be back to post some holiday pics when I get a chance to use the internet on our holiday!

We had little M for respite on the weekend. He came Thursday evening with his doting foster 'Nana' and went to childcare Friday, then back friday afternoon for the weekend. He's a great kid and while he's very spoiled by his foster Nana and Poppy at home, he's really good for us, and hardly any tantrums or anything, which is great for a 2.5year old!!
We took the boys to the playcentre in Wangaratta for the morning after babysitting a friends two littlies for an hour or so.

We are just at the beginning of establishing contact with Jackson's biological father 'B' at the moment, after not seeing head not tail of him for six years (I have posted about this here and here in case you want to play from home).

He had asked to see Jackka this week after a month off, so I arranged to meet him at the play centre as he lives in Wangaratta.

I. was. so. nervous.

Not because of B, I'm getting used to that, but because he brought along his girlfriend who i'd not met yet.

I haven't had to much trouble getting used to B spending time with my boy, after all, he IS his father, and they both deserve the chance to get to know each other. Throw anyone else into the mix though, and I start to feel uncomfortable and agitated. I hate the thought of Jackson seeing his Paternal Grandmother, and the thought of another woman apart from me and my Mum in his life just messes with my head.

I know, I know, it's all unavoidable, and of course B is gonna go get himself a girlfriend...i mean, I did (get a husband...not a girfriend lol) and it's not about 'him and her' its about some other woman playing a parenting role to my son, sometime in the (possibly near) future as the relationship grows, that I struggle to feel OK about.

Anyhow, It went rather well. She's a nurse (that almost won me over then and there) and she seems quite genuinely interested in jackson. She was pleasent, and well, she came. That in itself was positive and showed that she's supportive of B getting to know Jackson.
It was good for Gez too, as he has been finding the whole situation difficult, so it was nice to be able to sit at a table and realize that we are all just 'normal' people, and for Gez to feel a bit less like someone is just coming al0ng to 'steal' his boy away from him.
It was good for Jackson too, to see his Mummy and Daddy normalizing the situation, and helping him feel like we're all on 'his side'.

I feel so lucky that this is working out ok. It could have been a nightmare...but it isn't, and I'm glad!

I am finding it hard to comprehend that all my children are now school aged. Does that make me old...at 25? It sure makes me feel old!

Riley started Prep on Monday, so has now completed his first week of school. They have Wednesdays off for five weeks, and then commence full time. I feel so strange making three school lunches every day, dressing my bubba in a school uniform and dropping three kids off to two different schools.

I am still unsure about what we're going to do about school next year, I am just not 100% settled with the education system. I'm certainly not trying to get up on a soapbox and say that they are doing it wrong, I could do it better, but there are just particular areas of our system of schooling that do not quite sit comfortably with me. I am very keen to continue to research homeschooling over the next year and see if it is an option for my children and I.

In the meantime however, I am pleased with both of the boys classes and teachers, Riley is settling in quite well and Tegan has made a great start to Year 9 at her new secondary school.
We have Ry's prep test interview next week, and Gez and I are looking forward to knowing how he went and seeing how his teachers are feeling about him being one of the younger Prep students (he turns 5 in a fortnight).
We decided to enroll him this year as he was bored at Kinder, but made it clear to the school that we would be happy for him to repeat if he needed an extra year, of which the school was very supportive.


I am happy for the moment, seeing as I really haven't much choice but to keep working for the rest of this year (I enrolled for a Diploma course for this year). Of course, the most important thisg is that at the moment, they are happy...and that's all that matters right :)

Oh wow, I'm feeling so honoured at the moment, I got my very first blog award!!!
Totally unexpected too, as I think I am a rather inconsistent blogger/commenter.
However, I do follow some incredible blogs religiously.

It might be because the person has something in common with me, or they make me laugh. It might be because they are an incredible writer, and I am inspired by each and every post, or maybe because I have something to learn from them.

My *awarder* Being Me over here at Sunny Side Up writes an inspiring, funny, sad, thought provoking and all round beautiful blog. I read her posts every day for ALL of the above reasons. I am so honoured that she chose lil'ol'me for this award, but THANKYOU K, you really made my day :)

So, without further ado...My Award!


So, I'm supposed to pass this on to all my commenters, but I only have a couple. If you have EVER posted on my blog, Thankyou so much, your kind words inspire me to keep sharing, even when I start to feel like a tiny speck...(hmmm maybe I've been letting the kids watch a little to much Horton!)

Kirsten, you have followed me right from the start, and endured sometimes weeks or a month between sometimes boring blog posts...and still kept right on commenting and encouraging me. I adore your blog, you have such a gorgeous family, and I love the way you 'do' life so magically with your gorgeous children.

Penny, I love your creativity, your drive to succeed with your new business and lets be honest, how could I not visit your beautiful blog when you post all those pics of your most stunning creations, Xav, Frankie Rose and Luca!!

So girls, step right on up and collect your award :)

Love Charli xox

PS. The kids are all back at school, been meaning to post since Monday so back soon with pics!!