and so it begin

Arthur has started preschool. I love Arthur, he wandered round all morning, (when I say all morning I mean he was walking round from 5am), "is it time for preschool yet?". That lasted till 7am when he said "I don't wanna go to preschool". So only 2 hours of trying to coax him back in. back we got him in the car and got him to the entrance," OHHHH playground. Bye mum.", and off he went! He had a great time and the teachers told me they didn't realise he was Timothy's brother cause some other kids got the opportunity to speak when with him.

Jake has headed off to school. School is just all wrong. So his starting back didn't go as well as perhaps it could have. But the teacher says i can drop him off again if I let go off him as soon as I get there and don't try and push Dolcie into the class. it's just Jake is so lovely and it's just so nice having him at home so it seems a shame to send him when the one I'd like to get rid of at the moment is Dolcie. She could learn a lot form a pack of not so pleasant 7 year olds.

Timothy starts kindy tomorrow but he had his "early start program" interview yesterday. That's where the school puts aside time for the teacher to interview Timothy one on one to see where he is at. At least that's what they think it will achieve but i was pretty sure Timothy was just using the time to break in his teacher and make sure she knew who she was dealing with and how things were going to work. So Timothy tells me his teacher read him a book but then he had to "help her get it". I guess her comprehension is not so good. i did meet her and was convinced for some time she was a student in mufti playing a joke on me. She could not be any older the 14 and a half, and is very cute, think a cute looking young Bjork. (Obviously in the sugar cube days when she dressed in odd clothes cause it was themeing for the band and not cause she is clearly a fruit loop.) Anyway I explained to Aaron that Timothy has a hot young cutey Bjork looking teacher. He has since very kindly offered to pick up the boys most days, just to help me out. He's very good to me. So Timothy's teacher asked if he got his starting time. They have staggered the time they arrive so one can stop crying as the next one entered, but Timothy told he's teacher has has a handball game with some year 5 kids at 8:30 before a quick chill out with the year 2 and 4 girls on the oval so he'll be there when he'll be there. She just asked if she could join them on the oval.

So tomorrow Timothy starts school, Arthur goes back to preschool, Jake heads back to school, and unless Mrs Richardson changes her mind about Dolcie. it looks like tomorrow I'll be home with Dolcie and Molly, and they both have day sleeps, so what do I do, I mean apart from cry? I guess you might get a blog more then once a month.

Get set to get bored of me.

Thanks for reading. How do you like me so far?

easter soon!

So Santa has come and gone. Being my husband is a minister we often get asked if we "do" Santa. The big annoyance Aaron has with Santa is that if a big hairy man is going to get the credit for the presents we've bought it should be him! I just think its weird we spend all year telling our children to not talk to strangers and avoid weird men then Christmas comes around and we say go sit on the oddly dressed mans lap and tell him your deepest desires! So now we are just trying to clean out some of the old toys that are no longer needed due to the fact that the kids are busy breaking the new ones. Excellent opportunity to pass the old broken ones on to more deserving kids, I mean less fortunate kids..... Anyway its over for another year, well actually a little over 11 months. But don't worry the Easter stuffs already in the shops so we can all just start getting stressed over that.

We have just come home from summer school. No Jake didn't fail 1st grade. We have just come back from a week of a missionary conference. Coming from the "Shire" I feel like I know what being a missionary is like. Anyway the kids got to go to a brilliantly run kids program when a missionary comes and speaks to them each day about what they are doing in various parts of the world. On the 3rd day a lady who is running a girls brigade in Tanzania spoke to Jake and timothy's group, Timothy now knows what he wants to do when he grows up. Run a girls brigade group in Tanzania!

Josie has lost her phone. Josie is my sister who has possibly the busiest social life in the known world. It is impossible to reach her on the land line and silly to leave a msg cause she is so technology inept that she can't figure out how to used her voice msg. But Tully her daughter is very good with technology and loves me so Tully if your reading this, (Nana-formerly-known-as-nana-library swears although only 21 months Tully is very advanced and can read and comprehend to a 21 year old level.) tell mummy to go to a mobile phone shop and get a new phone. in fact better if you do it Tully just make sure you get her a good deal!

So what about news years hey. We celebrated in the usual fashion, making it the only night of the year we hit the bed before 12. Tragic. I have so far not managed to achieve any of my restolutions. I even aimed low this year. Like restolution number 4 to go to the toilet once a day by myself. But haven't managed that one yet. Or number 17 to clean and moisturize my face daily, haven't managed to do that. But I'm re-thinking that one anyway cause my eyeliner always looks better the next day. Oh and i know your thinking 17 how many you got? 43, its my favourite number and I get to 39 so easily may as well go to my fav? ( I'm a very average person and am in need a lot of improvement!)

Anyway hope the festive season was good to you.
Thanks for reading, how do you like me so far?

Christmas

So we have started Christmas decorations. Well when i say we have started, we first started in May same time as our local Coles, but we have got serious now. Christmas tree done, advent calender done, Nativity done. So lovely having kids to help, maybe the word help is not appropriate. But I have always wanted a lovely nativity and it may not be willow but.... well I'll let you have a look and see what you think of the kids effort......

Before you say anything, it took about an hour of solid work with Aaron, Jake, Timothy, Arthur, Dolcie, And myself working nonstop, so no we won't make you one. but if you have 2 adults a 6 5 3 and 2 year old working solidly for 1 hour I'm sure you will be able to make something just as unhygienic and disposable!

So with Christmas on the way we've be preparing. I did all the kids shopping in the July when the great sales were so i was feeling totally at ease about Christmas approaching! I was even thinking smugly about wrapping them all and making a status update on facebook about how I'm all wrapped and ready until Jake told me today he's asking Santa for some Mighty Beans. Mighty Beans? What the hell are Mighty Beans? Dolcie wants a special limited edition Zhu Zhu which gets realeased on Thursday week, Timothy wants a sleep over at nanas, and Arthur wants to be king..... So if anyone is on the market for a set of Captain Underwear books, 2 Tech deck starter kits, a Princess tent, a Dora make and play doll, or a In the night Garden Pontipines piano go to ebay site Clark_7.

Enjoy Shopping

Tully visited

So last week we had a sleep over with Tully. When I say a sleep over what I actually mean is we all tried to sleep while Tully..... well Tully thinks sleep is over rated. The night started with me trying to tell Dollcie she's a big girl now, (actually huge. A hair shorter then her 3 year old brother and therefore 2 hairs taller then her 5 year old brother.) and she needs to move into her big bed now. Not only would it be helpful to have the cot for Tully for the night but for Molly in a more permanent way. It would also probably alleviate the crick she has been experiencing in her neck. Now it was a tough ask but Dollcie eventually gave in because that meant Tully would be in her room and they could talk 2 and not quite 2 year old girly stuff all night. You know like which wiggles the hottest and which my little pony has the best mane. Anyway so Dollcie moved into her bed and thus the night began. Dollcie in her bed Tully started in the cot, but apparently that was only good till 9:15. Then as I found out it is Tully's tradition to spend a good 2-3 hours crying, well Josie calls it crying in our house we refer to that kind of noise.... well we just ignore it and go back to sleep, but apparently it means Tully gets in and out of bed till Josie caves in at midnight and puts her in bed with her, or as the case was at our house her ensemble of lounge cushions on the floor. Then Tully only has to pull her mums hair if she's wants something. Makes it much easier, well at least it was quieter. So Dollcie eventually got back to sleep after repeating over and over "it's ok Tully i love you". Anyway the week has passed and we have all made the most of opportunities to catch up on sleep. Not sure how Josie does it.

Thanks for reading.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

we're back......

So we haven't had a computer, so I have been baking and cleaning, and making craft and spending lots of time with the kids. Thank the Lord Aaron has invested in a very small but usable laptop. Things were getting a little stepford there for a moment. (Actually I'd never admit it but I dream of being stepfordish...). Its not that i don't enjoy baking or cleaning or making craft or spending time with the kids. It's just we have all put on about 10 killos each, I've cleaned the varnish off the floorboards, there is no more room in the "pool room" for my masterpieces, and the kids are starting to get bored with me. Thus I am back, problem is so much has happened I couldn't possibly catch you up. Ill try a point form debrief....

- We went on holidays to Kingscliff, near the Qld boarder. Took the kids to Wallyworld....I mean Dreamworld where we had a great day going on rides, meeting the wiggles friends etc, we did have to invest in hats for them at 1 million dollars each because of my lack of organisation with packing but a great day. We went to the beach everyday, had fathers day dinner at sizzlers, went to lots of different parks, visited some old friends. Just a great time. And when Arthur was asked what his favourite part of the holiday was he exclaimed " I got a new hat!".....

- Dolcie had her adenoids out and grommets put in. Oh and i foreign object removed from her nose.....

- Timothy had his first orientation day for kinddy next year. He was apparently voted school captain last week.....

- Jake has lost his first tooth and Aaron and I have realised going ahead with the tooth fairy thing long term with 5 kids is going to cost us about $40 000....

- Molly has started solids. Not my idea, but one day when I had very briefly headed to the toilet, (which I try not to do during the daylight hours as to not leave the kids alone, you'll see why). When I returned Dolcie had decide Molly was ready for solids and was shoving large spoonfuls of yogurt into her small mouth. Which would have been fine if it was lovely pot set natural yogurt. But of course it was that kiddies yogurt which is a lovely blend of gelatin and sugar, yummmm......

- Aaron.... umm..... has been busy i think..... We sleep in the same bed, he snores, that's about as much as I can tell you at the moment.... No he is a great husband and dad.

So that's us in a nut shell. A big nut!!!!! Yes that is a very accurate description, a nut house....

Thanks for reading, how do you like me so far?

"Yes i'm timothy's mother"

Ok so Timothy (5) is very popular. When I say "very popular" i mean that when i drop him at preschool there is a line waiting for him, all wanting to ask important questions like, " Is this shirt cool?" or " will you play with me today?", and that's just from the preschool teachers! But this popularity does have its draw backs. Like never have a weekend free of a birthday party and Timothy never knowing the person who invited him. I kid you not, last term we went to a party where when we arrived I said. " Timothy go and give Cameron the present." Which was met with " Ok, who's Cameron?". I love that Timothy is confident, " Cameron tell your mum it's time for the pinata.", what bothers me most about his abundance of friends is the awkward moments I face when Timothy's "friends" mothers think cause their child and mine are"friends" we should be too. And look they are all lovely people I'm sure, (well actually that's not true some of them are bitchy and horrible), but I don't have to be friends with my children's friends parents do I? No more then I expect my children to be best friends with my friends children, oh wait I do expect that, but that's because I have awesome taste in friends and they all have heaps cool kids! Anyway I figure I'll just let them all have Timothy over for afternoon play dates like they all want and then the mothers will back right off.

Dolcie turned two this week and got some lovely things like the beautiful bag with babooshka dolls printed on it from aunty Josie and Tully which has gone everywhere with her including bed, or the My Little Ponies which she has put in the bag to take to bed, she also got lots of lovely hair clips, a tea set which has been popular, Library-nana bought her a big girls bed, so lots of lovely things. Oh and an ear infection, with a side of infected throat which comes with wickedly bad breath. But she has been able to console herself with some lovely cups of lemon tea. Two seems quite old which is silly really, I know people who have had coughs longer than that, did turn out to be emphysema. Still she seems to have grown up. She has this whole girly attitude going. Bossy as Aaron calls it, or divaish it has been refereed to as by Library-nana. It manifests its self in many forms, but mostly just telling the entire family where they should be sitting or what they should be doing from moment to moment. Like yesterday when she mentioned in passing, while taking dolly for a walk round the house in her pram, with her bag and a pony trailing behind tied to a piece of string that I can only imagine she told Jake to do for her, that it was time to get Jake from school and I should wake up Molly and put her in the stroller. The thing is she was right and I did. Anyway she's growing up.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it but Arthur and Timothy, although 21months apart are very close in height weight and stature. They both have the same short hair, Arthur's has a tinge of strawberry but nothing I can bleach out eventually, but they really are quite similar to the unfamiliar eye. I don't get shocked anymore when passer byers ask if they are twins because I know in they're heads they are just really trying to figure out how I have 5 in 6 years with no twins. I just politely say no, or if I have the time and inclination I say no they are my largest gap. However I was surprised when at swimming lessons, which started back this week, Arthur and Timothy when asked by their new teacher "Are you twins" and they replied" Yes". What kind of 5 year old says he is a twin of a 3 year old? I guess the type that also has the confidence to mention he has pee'd in the pool......

Ahhh yes good times in the Clark house. Have to go now, got to wrap up the presents for Timothy's birthday parties lined up for this weekend, Dulcie told me.

x

A horror house

My children make up all sorts of "spooky" stories, but nothing can compare to the horror that has taken place under our very roof this week. Have you seen Aliens. Where the alien rips open the stomach of its host to get out. Well this week I had to deworm my children. That's right, worms were in bedding themselves in the stomach of my children and laying their eggs on their bums! I can not think of anything in any of my childrens horror stories that is as bad as the reality of having worms wriggle through your body and mate in your backside. True horror.

Now if that doesn't make you feel ill, I have also been scratching my scalp incessantly wondering if I have small insects living in my hair. This has been my concern since we had my niece Tully over who, for these hair living mites, has a bountiful jungle of hair. I 'm hoping my 5 fair, sparsely haired children didn't make the cut for these creatures.

So I have watched alot of Hitchcock, read Stephen Kings, but really having a house full of kids can create far more horror then any of these!

Thanks for reading, how do you like me so far?

ps. Aaron has asked me to apologise for misspelling Dolcies name in the last blog. Just goes to prove my point!