6 ways to support your kids' school

Inside - 6 ways to help your school community, without always buying something.

It's no secret that I love volunteering. Being of service to others is my primary love language, which often manifests as helping people my kids are involved with.

I've been a P&C volunteer, Scout leader, family support worker, and classroom reader over the years.

And this year I've stepped into the treasurer's role with the P&C Executive for our primary school.

Stop with the Spotto!

Inside - my kids are caught up in the SPOTTO craze, and it's contagious!

As I pull into the carpark, I spot a yellow car

"Spotto" I mutter to the empty car

"Argh, now they've got me doing it!"

Us in April

Inside - Us Right Now captures the family and individual stories of our right now.

We are slowly working out how we'd like to renovate our house in a way that works best for everyone.

Nit Prevention Spray (and bonus hair detangler)

Inside - the recipe I've been using for 15 years to help prevent nits taking over our heads

The note was in Sophie's folder on Wednesday evening.

I knew it was coming. I know the mum who found nits in her daughter's hair.

Sibling Secret Santa - how to save money but lose your mind

Inside - how we include our children in the gift giving experience, without breaking the bank buying lots of gifts

One of the best Christmas presents my sister ever gave me was my Granny GloBug. We walked around the shops together, telling each other what we wanted and stood side by side at the register as mum paid for our "secret" gifts.



We failed at actually keeping the secret, though.

Gumnuts & Giveaways - Celebrating 100 years of May Gibbs

Inside - a review of the new Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books, and a chance to win your own copies.

This is a sponsored post in conjunction with Brand Meets Blog and May Gibbs Foundation. 

Consisting of tan brick buildings, called units, the primary school I attended in Country Victoria was located at the end of our street. With a series of offices in the middle of these units held together by the scariest, darkest walkways, I quickly found comfort through the library door in the middle of the tunnel. 

Mrs Newton, the librarian, with short grey hair and glasses on a string around her neck, was the epitome of school librarian in looks alone, she made reading more fun for the strugglers and supported the precocious advanced readers equally in my young mind. 

3 tips for dealing with Santa-non-believers at Christmas time

Our household walks a fine line at Christmas time.

With kids aged from 16 down to 4-and-a-bit at home, Christmas is a big deal around these parts.

They are all believers in the magic of Christmas, and some still believe in the reality of Santa.

Updating Family Photos

Us Right Now is a monthly series of photos + words, sharing our right now stories.

Since way back in 2009, I have taken regular photos of all the kids. Whether that's the memory keeper in me, or the adult that has no photos from their childhood, I have my big camera or phone at hand all the time. But getting professional photos taken isn't something we've done in the last 8 years (and in all honesty, our last set of "professional" photos were taken at Portrait Place in a room over-stuffed with silly props and a white background.)

We need to talk about Douglas

I have a violent teenager in my house.

There, I said it.

I keep getting told not to talk about it, not to shame him.

Dear Mama, it doesn't get better

Dear mama,

I've been there. I think every mama of a newborn remembers those days. That moment when they hand you that bundle in hospital? I remember the sheer confusion after Sophie was born - what on earth did I do with it? And she wasn't my first! I know you're struggling to find your feet, to hold onto yourself, and find your new normal. And people are rallying around you "it's ok," they say "it gets better."

But they're lying to you.

I've been there. I think every mama of a toddler remembers those days. That moment when they have a tantrum in the supermarket? I remember desperately buying a toilet plunger for Riley, because he was hysterical. And he wasn't my first! I know you're trying to find the balance in all your roles in life, to hold onto yourself, and grow these little people. And people are rallying around you "it's ok," they say "it gets better."

But they're lying to you.

I've been there. I think every mama of a school child remembers those days. That moment when you realise they talk more about their teacher than you? That smarts. I know you try not to get exasperated when Mrs Teacher is listened to more than you. And people are rallying around you "it's ok," they say "it gets better."

But it's time to cut the bullshit.

It doesn't get better.

One age of childhood is not better than the one before.

It gets different.

So different.

That mum who exclaims wistfully on facebook "where did my child go?" She isn't wishing for that stage back. She knows how hard it was. She's wishing for the strength to make it through this stage now with the same grace she breezed through what felt like torture then.

That mum sitting beside a teenager in a coffee shop? She knows how different it is. She knows that teenager isn't better than newborn. They're different. Oh so different.

So please, if someone says to you "it gets better", remind them of their journey. Remind them that it doesn't get better, but different.

You've got this, mama.

7 ways a dog is like a 3 year old

Daisy has lived with us for five months now. She has easily moulded us to fill her needs slipped into our household, and Sophie proclaims regularly that Daisy is her "bes fren" We've all learnt numerous lessons from having her here and walking her, but at just over one year old she is technically "fully grown" in body, but just like a 3 year old in spirit.

She wants your food I don't when I last ate something without a dog sitting in front of me, or Sophie trying to climb into my lap to remove it from my mouth. And forget any special treats each evening, I can only eat them unaccompanied on daycare days [because Daisy takes the kid-free time to sleep.all.day.]

She wants what you have We have bought numerous toys for Daisy over the last few month, but they last exactly 3.2 seconds before she's shredded them into piles of stuffing around the house (the chew rope took a little bit longer, 3 days of hardcore chewing.) But that means that she's often hunting around for something more than bones or wooden blocks to chew on. Whenever the kids pull out something new to play with, Daisy is the first one there, having a sniff and a lick to determine if she wants to chew it or not.

She wants to know where you are I seem to have become Daisy's people. Whether that's because I'm home more than Steve or she feels a kindred spirit, I have no idea, but she rarely listens to anyone else [see, just like a 3 year old!] But that has come to mean that if I head downstairs to the washing machine, she's on my heels; she's learnt to stick her nose into the toilet door to push it open, and checks on me every time I'm in the shower. Just like a 3 year old.

She eats everything, until she doesn't Daisy hasn't actually eaten her dinner for 3 days now. She gets served cooked mince, and sometimes I add sweet potato to it. That's it. She's gone from veggies, meat and pasta in gravy when she first arrived to plain old mince. And now she won't even eat that. Just like the 3 year old who proclaimed rice was her favourite, and ate it every time it was dished up, until last week she stopped eating it. [NB Daisy isn't starving, she's been munching on chicken necks during the day]

She jumps on furniture, even when told not to Daisy is full of energy that some days even walking with me doesn't help. And once she gets started running around, she sort-of can't stop until she's exhausted. If there's a couch or table in the way, she jumps on it without hesitation. Like the 3 year old that can't get ready for bed without jumping on it like a trampoline.

She always wants to know what everyone else is doing Sophie is currently in the chatterbox-why stage of learning language. I had forgotten how truly exhausting this stage was, but add a dog who is at your heels every time, it becomes a precarious balance of who exhausts you first!

She wants to get in the car every time I'm currently driving a sedan, which we try really hard to not let Daisy in (although if it becomes the only car she remembers going to the vets in, we could be in trouble, so I take her out occasionally), but Steve's station wagon has a cargo barrier, so it's safer for Daisy to travel in that. So if he picks his keys up in the middle of the day, Daisy is ready to walk outside with him. Just like when I put shoes on, Sophie is asking where I'm going, and whether she can come too.

And then we get moments like this, where they're so peaceful together that hearts just melt. They truly are best friends.

An InLinkz Link-up

5 things we've learnt from our dog

In case you missed all my photos on social media, we got another dog. Some might say it was a strange thing to do, just a month after we lost Molly, but we just found ourselves in the position of looking at a dog's photo online and being cranky that she was being given away, and bringing her home with us. She isn't the perfect dog; she keeps sleeping on the couch, and she digs holes in the backyard, but she cleans up any kid-food spills, and she's happy with a belly rub after the kids have gone to bed; she's best for us right now.

And we've learnt so much from her in the last month or so. I've been pondering this for awhile, as we go about our daily routine, it's kind of been a bit of a surprise that anyone has learnt anything at all from her, but while the lessons may only be little, they've been important ones.

The kids have learnt cooperation Seems like an odd place to start, but dogs poo. And big dogs do big poo. And the kids have had no choice but to remember how to work together to clean it up. They whinge and whine about every second of it (I never said they were happy about learning these lessons), but the mess gets cleaned up.

The kids have learnt to be gentle Not an easy concept to teach a 3 year old, and I've had my moments of hair-tearing-out, but all the kids have learnt to pay attention to their actions, towards each other, and towards Daisy. Daisy often comes to the defence of someone when kids are arguing (I think she's never quite sure who needs her help if they're yelling at each other) And Sophie is working on gentle patting, instead of riding Daisy like a horse (probably the only downside of Daisy being big, Sophie doesn't quite understand that Daisy might accidentally hurt her.)

Everyone has learnt to give love It's fair to say that family loves each other. But they don't always show it in ways that are easy to interpret as "I love you." With Daisy, it's been easy for everyone to show love - all it takes is a belly rub. Natalie and Riley can often be found in the afternoon with Daisy on her back, rubbing madly away at her tummy.

What goes in must come out This was our very first lesson. Daisy chewed the string off a school hat her first night here. The kids weren't home when it made it's way through her system. And we've also had to watch what food she eats. While she loves all food (and is always at the table beside the kids at breakfast time waiting for someone to drop something), mashed potato makes her sick.

Eventually everything gets chewed I've been keeping track of how many pairs of shoes or laces get chewed. The cupboards in the lounge room are piled high with items picked up off the floor away from Daisy. Steve was quite sure that tucking his laces into his work boots each night would be enough, and he wouldn't have to pick them up off the floor. Obviously, Daisy didn't get that memo. These are now hers to chew (FYI 5 pairs of laces, 3 left shoes, 1 pair of slippers, 3 drink bottles, 1 handbag strap, 1 dog leash, 1 cheap chew toy, and countless bones.)

I'm sure over the next 10 or more years she'll teach us many more valuable lessons.

Do you have pets? What have you learnt from them?

linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT
linking up with Pursue Your Project for Family Joy

Dear Sophie today you are 3

Dear Sophie

You have grown so much over the last year.

You love dancing at daycare, and jumping like a frog.

You sing loudly and proudly, 

and had the biggest smile on your face this morning when you told me you were 3 now

You love eggs and corn and watermelon and bananas and yoghurt 

(and sometimes refuse to eat anything else)

You love Daisy and Douglas, and always have hugs for dad when he gets home from work.

Last week you loved Peppa Pig, but then you discovered Dora, now you're torn between the two.

You stubbornly refuse to wear pants if you can avoid it, 

and hate having your hair brushed (but accept that it's a requirement of going to daycare)

You love it when Riley reads you a book, "The Very Cranky Bear" is your current favourite.

You're not much of a fan of the TV still, although The Octonauts and Dora have caught your eye.

The swing is your favourite place, you and Daisy often head out on your own.

You love to snuggle down in Natalie's bed with her, and watch Barbie movies 

(although you're really just pretending, and having hugs instead)

You are so very loved.

Happy Birthday Sophie

What happened when we got rid of toys

We have quite a big house, compared to current building standards. Approximately 200m² under-roof space, the downstairs area consisting of rumpus room, garage-converted-to-storage, laundry and toilet and upstairs with bedrooms, kitchen, lounge, bathroom and toilet. There's plenty of space for kids to spread out in the rumpus room, or backyard (but not so much in the bedrooms)

So why is it then that there are so. many. toys. in the lounge room space?

About a month ago, I finally got fed up with promising myself that I would sort the toys out tomorrow, and finally got stuck in to it. Unfortunately, a lot of the toys were broken, so they quickly headed out to the bin, and others weren't age appropriate any more. But as I sorted through the boxful of rubbish (why don't kids just put it in the bin?) and broken bits, and decided what to keep out and what to stash away, Sophie started to  play.

Now that might not seem mind blowing to most people, after all, that's what toys are for. But for the last 18 months, Sophie hasn't been interested in any sort of play activities, unless I'm part of it. Which has been hugely frustrating to me. And even in the last 6 months since she started daycare, she hasn't really wanted to move very far from me over the course of the day.

So what changed?

{safe to say it does not look this neat today, especially since adding a dog to the household}

I think that getting rid of broken toys, thinning out the choices, and her being able to see into the bottom of boxes meant she wasn't overwhelmed by the choices. She could see that I was busy, and close by, and she had lots of new things to play with.

She continued playing all afternoon until the kids got home from school...

When did you last sort out the toy boxes?

linking up with Essentially Jess

Self Care for the Stressed Mumma

It's no secret that our household is stressed. From the financial stress of less money coming in, but the same amount of bills going out, to a teenager who isn't quite sure how to deal with anger except to explode all over the house, there's a lot of pressure on both Steve and I. And while we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, there are some days that we submit to the stress, and wallow, and become overwhelmed by it.

Sometimes, though, people will surprise you, pulling you out of the mud in the most unexpected ways, and allowing you some breathing space. We had one such experience just last week - a work mate of Steve's offered us free accommodation on the Sunshine Coast for a few days. He'd actually offered it to us back in April, and we'd said yes, but it became too complicated to go when we realised we'd forgotten about the NAPLAN testing Douglas needed to do last week, so we'd moved the trip to the too-hard basket.

But, on short notice, with very little budget flexibility, we manage an overnight escape, which was just what the doctor ordered.

The view from our sixth floor apartment was spectacular.

The water was freezing cold.

Who cares if you can't swim, it's water!

We managed to move away from the pool long enough to wander across the road, check out the crab pots Steve's friend had thrown in, and paddle in the salty water.

After an early dinner of fisha dn chips in the courtyard, Steve and I sat on the balcony drinking wine while the kids snuggled down for an early night in front of the tv.

Then I got to sit on the balcony and watch the sun come up, completely free of any noise.

There were some imperfect moments, like the room not actually having enough beds, and Douglas being relegated to couch cushions on the floor, and kids bickering and tripping over each other, but moments like these, where they worked together to put the breakfast dishes away, reminded us that they're really good kids at heart.

When was the last time you went away?

linking with Essentially Jess for ibot

Us Right Now

Sunday, May 1st us right now If you've been a reader here for awhile, you know that at the start of each month, I take a family photo of everyone together, and individually. If we've got visitors here (usually my mum), I include them, and every few months I convince Chloe to send me a photo too. It's a way of capturing photos of everyone regularly, and sharing snippets of their right now. If you're happy sharing photos of everyone, great, but if not, maybe get creative with the photo you take - a photo from behind, or shoe photos can still share your right now.

we are all in need of a camping weekend

but it will be awhile before we can do it, our camp trailer needs some repairs

we are all in need of new runners

we'll be shopping this week

he got some news at work on Friday

he'll be moving back to night shift from June

he's been helping his sister with some yard work

and loving the chance to take Douglas with him

she has opted not to go to ProBlogger this year

but is heading away for a craft retreat in June

she is finding time to read books again

and always looking for more recommendations
 

he has taken over cooking dinner on Friday nights

but needs to remember to start earlier

he got good reports from teachers at parent teacher interviews

just needs to remember to make some better choices

she is excelling at all her school lessons

but needs to do her homework and return it to school

she is devouring all the books on the shelf

{her teacher has promised a prize for those who read the most}

his best subject at school is maths

{in a maths-confused family}

he needs to become more organised

he often forgets to return homework and library books

she doesn't cry when I drop her at daycare

and even spoke to her teacher last week

she is a threenager in the making

{the tantrums are endless some days!}

What's happening in your right now?

{you're welcome to link up any post you have written today}

An InLinkz Link-up

Euky Bear Blitz Nitz Review

This is a sponsored post from Digital Parents Collective and Euky Bear Australia

I don't think it's possible to have kids, and never get nits. Especially having multiple kids from two families - one gets 'em, they all get 'em! And if you don't finish the full course of treatment, before you know it, someone is infested again, and scratching madly, so you start scratching madly!

I prefer to use the natural solutions available from the chemist with so many young itchy heads to treat. I have been known to spend up to 45 minutes comparing packets on the shelf, and ask hundreds of questions of busy staff. But I always come home with a product that is clinically proven, because I know it's been tested and works.

So when I was sent a bottle of the Euky Bear Blitz Nitz Spray & Go and the very next day saw the Blitz Nitz Solution on the shelf, I knew I had to grab it and try it out, in the name of a full and fair review. (You can also buy a 10 minute Mousse treatment, as well as combs and shampoo.)

I tried the Spray & Go treatment on me - I love the lingering scent of eucalyptus and tea tree oils, but the kids (and Steve) often complain the smell is overpowering so the 5 minute wonder of the solution was perfect to use on them. They didn't even have time to play the free app you can download, by the time everyone had a head full of solution it was time to start washing them off!

Most nit products recommend retreating after 7 days, but I have found over the years that 8 days is better (eggs hatch in 7 days, so if you treat before they hatch, you have adults the next day) These Euky Bear products are suitable from 2 years of age (if, like me, you have little ones who have accidentally been infested, coconut oil works well, and a gentle cradle cap comb.) 

Products are for external use only. Always read the label. Use only as directed.

I have three (3) bottles of Euky Bear Blitz Nitz Spray&Go to give away. 

To enter, please head to my facebook page, and leave a comment on the pinned post, answering this question "how old were your children the first time they got nits?"

Competition opens on publication of this post, and closes on Friday May 6th at 4.59pm AEST

1 prize per winner will be awarded

You must be easily contactable for me to notify you if you win.

Competition is in no way endorsed by facebook. 

Useless blogging

There's this theory in the blogging world that every post has to be useful. Because how else can you make money if you aren't useful to people?

It's a tough dichotomy for personal bloggers to straddle, one that I've struggled with for a long time.

So instead of writing, you freeze, pause, over think things.

Then you stumble on a blog post that takes your breath away, and you think "ah, shit, I've got nothing to add to that, so I won't bother"

Then another blog post appears, and you think "well, maybe I've actually got something to say after all"

So you find some photos from a spur-of-the-moment park afternoon (a rarity when you're worn out from toddler-wrangling and stress), and share them with the world.

 And it feels like all is right with the world again, because the itch has been scratched today.

with thanks to Veggie Mama and Maxabella Loves for the reminder

linking with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday