Kids say the "darn-dest" things ! :P

This is a conversation I overheard at breakfast :

Madi : "Guess is my brudda from another mudda" (imagine this being said with an Amercian rapper slang!)

Michaela : (looking puzzled) your WHAT?

Madi : Oh ! Whatt is my brudda from another mudda too ! (big grin on her face!)

Michaela : soooo...like dont we have the same mum if he is my brother? (still looking confused)

Madi : NAH ! They are like : both FURRY budda's from another mudda ! (she is trying VERY hard to keep a straight face at this stage)

Michaela : I dont get it?! (and she seriously doesnt at this stage)

Madi : Well DUH Michaela, they come from FURRY mudda's cos they are puppies and kittens! DUH?! (at this point she is rolling her eyes and cackling)

Michaela : oh. yeh. right. (embarassed faced)

Madi : (pointing to Julian) he's my brudda from the SAME mudda! (more cackles of laughter here)

Michaela : I doubt that !

I LOVE MY GALS ! They make me laugh every day ! :p

Madi & Michaela

ps. In case you havent figured it out yet : Guess is the puppy, Whatt is the kitten, Julian is their 11yr old sibling ! ;)

All Grown Up...

WOW ! TWO blogs in one day...I thought Madison deserved a blog all on her own...

December was also the month Madison graduated primary school ! Yes, Mum was a "little" emotional about her little gal being all grown up. (I cried at Josh's and Michaela's graduations too...must be tradition?) Madi did us proud by winning the school "Art Award" for her graduating year. She is now almost ready to head out in the big, wide, world of HIGH SCHOOL !

Madi is a bubbly person who amazes us with her talents. She is  usually helpful and has a wicked sense of humour. I was presented with an amazing scrapbook that she made and dedicated to me. I had another "moment" when it was presented and Mr Mattock (her year 7 teacher) said "Oh no! It wasnt that bad was it? I edited her spelling mostly!". Ha ha ha ! I had to explain that ONE DAY when he got to be a dad - he would understand.

The FINAL assembly item was themed "I'm On My Way". Each class/group presented an item from somewhere around the world. The idea was that the students would  one day, have the opportunity to travel and see the world and explore life. What fantastic costumes! Some of the more talented mothers (not me cos I cant sew a straight line) made the most colourful and bright costumes from around the world. It was truly a spectacle and all the students did their families proud. The closing song was dedicated to all their families was titled "On My Way" by Phil Colins. Beautiful. Not a dry eye on any mother and some dad's too!

That night, Madi went to a special graduation dinner. More presentations - this year the group were given professionally bound "Year Books". Very swish ! Dinner and dancing WITHOUT the parents after the presentations.

Sigh, where did all that time go? Here are some photos of her big day....(If I'm clever enough...I'll add a video I took on my camera of her item too)

Receiving her art award from Mrs Barrett, her art teacher.

With her BFF's, (LtoR) Evy, Frieda, Taleah.

Her costume for the FINAL assembly of the year....She did a "bollywood dance" !



Christmas

We had a quite Christmas this year. Mum and dad had their usual Christmas Eve "do" at their place and Michael kindly allowed the children to go - even though it was his weekend with the children. Mum and dad had mostly church members as guests and we had hilarious fun doing karaoke...

Michaela decorating.

Christmas day was an early start - and not because of the children! Harvey had volunteered us to be chauffeurs to Wanita and Lee who were off on holidays to Brisbane. At 5:15am..the banging of the door woke us up with a fright ! (they weren't due for another 15mins and the alarm hadn't done off yet!) They were very excited to get going so within 15mins we were setting off for the domestic airport. Lee taught Harv a new short cut via the international airport. Pity their plane was delayed another 2hrs !



Santa Harvey



JB got a camera & cover for it.

Back at home, "Santa" came to visit and the children excitedly opened their gifts. Santa was extremely kind to all with many happy smiles and excited giggles all around. Even Guess and Whatt joined the excitement - with all the ripped wrapping !

We LOVE each other...truly we DO !

LOOK what Santa brought us for Christmas !

Breakkie was waffles with all the yummy toppings. By 9:30am we got our first phone call of the day...Lindi and co were wishing us a Merry Christmas! Yay ! It was lovely to hear their voices. Then it was back on the road again...to take the children to their fathers place. By the time we turned around and headed home again, the traffic was building as all the Christmas revelers hit the highways.

Harv and I spent the day watching movies and eating junk food til 5:30pm. Then it was off to mum's to drop off a few things and then onto Ben and Leonie's for Christmas bbq dinner. Awesome food again ! Dominic had a blast.

Boxing day was HOT. Harv and I headed off to church and hung around chatting. The children met up at home again. It was too hot to venture out much so we turned on the air con for the first time this summer and watched DVD's and drank lots of liquids in an effort to remain cool.

All in all, a quite and uneventful Christmas. Time for all of us to reflect and enjoy each others company. :)

The Countdown Begins !

Only FOUR days of school left ! EEEEEKKKK ! Only TWO weeks til Christmas!!!! EEEEEEKKKK !

Its with a little sadness as I begin my good-byes to those I have worked with for four years. The tears have been ever-so-close with each "see-ya" and "I promise to come visit". I look at my students and see how far some of them have come and I feel proud of the many long days and sometimes sleep-less nights I have shared with them. It's been a long journey for some. I feel like a proud "mama bear" who is letting her cubs go...I've written copious notes to hand on and then in four days it will be all over...:( Most of the boxes are packed and I'm good to go !

Today, is Julian's 11th birthday ! I cant believe that my "baby" is 11 ! How time flies !  I think he's grow a few centimeters just this week alone. Being the un-organised mother that I am, I had to swap his Christmas and birthday presents around....So today he got to unwrap his new camera! He was most thrilled ! He's taken it fishing with his dad today - he's hoping to capture the "catch". More cake for him tomorrow when we go to grandma's house! Yay !

So time is marching on...Christmas in two weeks ! Woo hoo !

Furry Tales...

While everyone was busily sorting themselves out for the day's work...the furry children decided to fit in some playtime...I was walking past the games room when I saw Whatt climbing the curtains. He was looking around and just "hanging" there waiting...just as Guess ambled past....POUNCE ! What a crack up !

Madi came hurrying into the games room when she heard the raucous - she witnessed   the two babies tumbling about on the floor... I explained why I was laughing so hard and then said : " I guess that GUESS didnt know WHATT hit him!"  It was SO funny ! Madi thinks I'm slightly mad but I thought I was pretty witty at the time !

Stay tuned...more funny stories to follow ! :)

ps. Whatt got a cat scratching post today...in an effort to save my curtains...got a bargain...price sticker said $30...but scanned at $20 ! WOO HOO !

Welcome to our Family Babies !

After MUCH deliberation and debate, Harvey and I have "taken the plunge" and become the proud parents of two furry babies ! The original plan was only for one...but...yeh....hmmm....

One morning, about seven weeks ago, one of my students came to school with an "exciting" story about his dog having puppies. This student's mother and I had had a previous discussion about the possibility of this event happening in the near future...so thus, we have a Laha Apso x Maltese x Shiz Tzu puppy called GUESS ! He is very adorable ! Furry with very, very short little legs...and he hasnt quite worked out how to walk on tiles yet - so very entertaining to watch! (yeh...i know it...i'm MEAN) When we went to pick up Guess, we were offered a FREE kitten, which was born the week before. They were an "unexpected surprise". But since Harv and I had not discussed this....we had to say "no thanks".

Five hours later...Harv and I maid a return journey to the same home that Guess was born and got him a "litter buddy"....Whatt ! Harv said that it was meanie to leave a young puppy all alone all day while we were at work...so now they are bestest buddies and all is well. They play SO NICELY together !They sleep curled around each other and are just plain lovely to watch.

GUESS

WHATT

Michaela & Guess

Yes, the names - Guess (puppy), Whatt (kitten) was deliberate! We get LOTS of laughs and smiles when we tell people !

The children are so excited to have their Christmas wish fulfilled. They have all the "fun" jobs of potty training now !:)

Proud Mother Bear...

Julian, our almost 11yr old, had his third lot of grommets inserted today. While they were at it, they decided to remove his adenoids too.( With previous consultation of course!) The hospital staff were really awesome and Julian was well prepared with diagrams and questions answered etc. We had to be up super early though. At hospital by 7am but didnt actually go into theater til 10:50am. Poor darling was starving hungry by then because he had to fast from the night before. I was hungry too - because I could eat in front of him - that would not have been fair ! (The lady in the waiting room said it was part of the "mummy clause" ...in the fine print!)

I was able to walk into theater with Julian. Gowned up and rearing to go - they couldn't find a good vein to put the cannula into. So Julian got stabbed multiple times while the anesthetist did his thing! Poor boy. He was SO stoic and tried very, very hard not to shed a single tear. I was SO proud of him. My job was to distract him with a bucket of stickers (I held them up to his eyes and we decided which characters looked like members of the family....funnily enough, the cow sticker reminded him of his sister...?!) Julian fought a hard battle with the anesthetic and the Doctor kept saying..."he'll be out in a few seconds...now...now...now". Julian's last words were : "still not working...yet...." Ha ha ha ha ha ! I was very brave and didn't cry neither - very proud of myself ! I made a super quick dash down to the cafe to eat because my sugar levels were crashing out !

Twenty quick minuets and we were done ! Ta dah ! In recovery, Julian kept waking up and asking if we were done yet. We reassured him three times, of which he does not remember. Just before he asked the fourth time, I was texted by Karen Schokker to say that Aaron had won a medal for ballroom dance...and I said out loud, "hey Julian, Aaron won a ballroom dancing medal!". My very sleepy reply was "Did I win a medal?" Ha ha ha ha ha ! The "recovery nurses" had a giggle too. :P

Once back in the room, Julian slept a good 40mins. He was offered food and drinks and once post-op care was explained and medication dispensed, we were good to go! Yay ! Parking cost $8. How rude !

So now he is happily tucked into bed after eating a good dinner. Five days off school for him now. No "rough housing" allowed so that his ears can heal. He thinks that is the best bit. :) At family prayers tonight he thanked Heavenly Father for allowing him to live (bless!) and for letting the surgeons have good hands to work on him. What sweetie. I am SO relieved everything went well and had to say a few words of thanks myself !

New Job, New Beginnings

Life is busy !

This week has bought blessings of knowing that a have a full time, permanent job next year at Cloverdale ESC. What excitement ! I think I ran around the house for a good hour or so bouncing around yelling "I GOT A JOB" ! As the second hour past, it occurred to me that with a new job - I will have to leave my old one ! Uh-oh. And so the tears began..... I text my boss to let her know before announcing it to all on my Facebook page...then I emailed all the family and made various phone calls. What an emotional day ! Harvey thinks I'm slightly bonkers going from happy to sad to happy to sad. That's just tough. I've got a whole bunch of emotions to work through !

How blessed I am to have good friends  and awesome family around me. After talking to my new boss, Linda, the feelings of inadequacy kicked in. Oh my did they kick in ! I will have a lot to learn over these next few months and I am so thankful to have a wonderful and supportive husband who put it all into perspective for me ! The next few weeks are going to be crazily busy with all that I have to do. Sorting and packing four years of "stuff" in my classroom is so NOT going to be fun !

Getting Old and all that Stuff

I have a 98yr old grandma. She has been living with us since the dawn of the dinosaurs ...or so it seems! Through all my growing up years I dont think I fully appreciated all the things she did for me because she annoyed me more that I could possibly put into words. She was always shouting - because she refused to wear her hearing aids - she was always criticising - because I wasnt a "good girl". Sigh. But, when the chips were down and things "came a-gusta" she was there...quitely in the wings ...lending me support.

On Thursday last week, she went for her quarterly check up at the doctors, and fainted while attempting to sit down to wait.The doctor did the "once over" and said that she would be sore and sorry for a few days and she had to come back on Tuesday (today) when the swelling and bruising went down. Thus, my patient and long suffering mother, and her sister, my grandma's other daughter, diligently took her in to the doctors. It was decided that the injuries sustained (two black eyes, upper and lower left cheek, sore ribs and mightly bruised left leg) required more attention and an X-ray was deemed necessary....Six hours and several x-rays later, she has been told that she has x3 cracked ribs and a broken eye socket ! What to do? She is too old and frail to go to surgery for "patching up".?! The doctors sent her home with PANADOL for the pain..and told her to see a specialist ?! WHAT THE?! SIX HOURS at the hospital and she gets panadol and a referral for a specialist at some undetermined time. Sheesh ! So the saga continues.

My heart not only goes out to my grandma for her sad and sorry state, but to my poor mother who is her full time carer. Not enough credence is given to carers who save the government gazillions of dollars in caring for their loved ones. My mum cooks, cleans, washes, chauffers, medicates, bathes and now changes my grandma for a measley sum of $95 per week. When you consider her earing potential as a paid worker, the money is nothing really. So sad. My mum tells me she is obligated to care for the woman who gave birth to her and provided for her while she was growing up - and because she loves her. That I understand. What I dont understand is how the government can come up with a "number" out of the air and say to my kind and caring mother  - this is how much your services are worth. Thankfully, we have the gospel that teaches us to love one another and to serve one another. NO dollar worth given in the scriptures - but a promise of blessings. Who could put a price on blessings?

Watch this space for further developments.

Changes, a what nots...

They say that a change is as good as a holiday....Well whoever said it obviously liked change!?! I'm not big on changes - I like routines and knowing what is happening, having a pattern to my life. This weekend, our oldest child, Joshua, is going back to live with his father again. Sigh. I will miss him. Letting go is SO hard. Children should come with instructions at birth. In the instructions and/or warnings  should  say something along the lines of : this little being will grow up - and at some point in time will want to be independent of you. This little being will have thoughts and feelings independent from yours. This little being will have the potential to make decisions that you may not agree with and live a life contrary to what you have raised them. Sigh.

The seasons are also changing. I dont like the heat ! :( I get whingy and whiny...and cranky cos my chocolate melts ! I cant sleep at night because its hot. I have to lose weight to look decent in bathers..ewwww....Winter is much awesome-er...you can get warm by "layering up"...but summer...you can only take so many layers off before they arrest you! What's with that?!

Madison only has eight more weeks of primary school before she graduates. More change. She is going to high school next year. Scary ! Only Julian left at South Thornlie. Madi is looking forwards to going on school camp.

So changes....its supposed to make us "grow". The only growing I'm doing so far is sideways! Oh well. time to "suck it up princess" and take in on the chin and just roll with it.

A Reminder of How Fragile Life Can Be

Joshua, our darling boy, recently lost his close friend Nicole. What makes it so sad is that she was at the peak of life...17yrs old. Josh has known Nicole for many years a he introduced her to the gospel. When Nicole moved to be with her family to the USA, they maintained their friendship via email and MSN chats. Working hard, Josh earned enough money to meet Nicole at EFY Utah, in 2009. It is hard to see my son so broken hearted, but we are comforted in knowing that we have an eternal plan of happiness - and we just have to hang in there and be the best person we can possibly be, to be with our loved ones again. What comfort it gives me as a mother, to be able to comfort my son and to share my comfort, knowledge and strength with him.

Over the past few months, many of our friends have also experienced the lost of loved ones. Other friends have endured financial hardships, faced some very challenging health issues such as cancer, had close calls or were in car accidents and all manner of stresses. I am so grateful that my issues are only minor compared to what others have had to endure. I am mindful that I have nothing really to complain about as I have my good health - despite the hay fever ! My children are happy and healthy, I have a roof over my head, food in the cupboards and recently enjoyed a holiday with my most favourite people.

I am eternally grateful for those special friends out there - who have loved me and my family through the thick and thin of it all. I am blessed. If you are out there in cyber world reading this - thank you for being part of my life.

My First Attempt...

Hiya !
This is my first attempt at blogging....I hear its a great way for family, friends and loved ones to keep in touch with each other....share in ideas and the journey each of us is on ...called life !
Well, the Chan Oates family has had an awesome two week break from reality. Tomorrow marks the beginning of 4th Term - then 10 busy, hectic weeks til Christmas holidays ! These two lovely weeks saw us going down south to Dunsborough and having lots and lots of fun. We were blessed with amazing weather - so we went to the beach every day ! BLISS ! Our discoveries included meeting a Dugite in the middle of the road in a national park....playing in a maze, eating lots of chocolate at a chocolate factory, enjoying icecream at Simmo's, fudge at the Candy Cow and walking, walking, walking ! A great time was had by all.
Week 2 of school holidays included scrapbooking days, fun with friends and whitewater rafting, and canoe-ing for the older children - who went to Dwellingup. We have all enjoyed sleeping in and just pottering around doing everything and nothing. Its nice to not have a schedule sometimes.
Already the schedule is looking scary - with doctors and dentist appointments, school camps, Relief Society annual events, ward conference, ward activities, RS additional meetings, art classes and what ever else I've missed. Ahhh....life !