The Eyes Have It

My boy Joe, that's how I think of him, My Boy Joe.  Even when I'm saying Joey, Joseph, or just Joe..in my head, he's always My Boy Joe.  He's like a creamy, melty, soft, yummy toffee.  He smells of warm clean woollen socks, he looks like an overgrown Labrador Puppy and he has the sensitivity of somebody well beyond his years.  He's a thinker, a worrier and our little Professor.  I can't describe my overwhelming protectiveness towards him and when he's sad, there are shadows in my heart.  He doesn't really get upset or sad about the usual 8yr old stuff.  He gets sad about the world, and about people in it who don't care like he does.  He wants to stop and change all the misery and suffering and he truly believes that one day he will.  If ever I believed in anyone, it's him.  In reality, of course I realise that it's not possible to make all things Unicorns and Rainbows, but I love that this is his ideal.  That this is what he is reaching for. 

From the moment that he was placed in my arms, I melted.  I think I will always think this about My Boy Joe. I remember gazing at his innocent wide open face with my nose, my smaller features, his Daddys expressions and exclaiming at his eyelashes.  I had never seen eyelashes like his before.  Golden blonde at the top and dark at the tips.  Surely it would be the other way around, it was really sweetly strange.  He still has them and when he looks down, they remind me of  sticks on a beach.  Sandy at the top with the striking darker colour at the ends. Little sand-dunes.  Lovely thick multi-coloured lashes, has My Boy Joe!

And as if that wasn't gorgeous enough, he also has the most beautiful eyes that I've ever seen in an eight year old called My Boy Joe.

My little fluffy overgrown Labrador boy with the weight of the world on his very small over grown Puppy dog shoulders, and his very serious expressions.  He is happy most of the time, I promise! ;)

I hope that in twenty years, they'll still be there, those sandy/dark tipped lashes, that are so much a part of  My Boy Joe!

THE WOODS IN OZ: Seventeen Sweet Months!

THE WOODS IN OZ: Seventeen Sweet Months!: "That's how long my little Doll has been in my arms. And, literally - that's pretty much the way it's been. My little look-alike has been g..."

Seventeen Sweet Months!

That's how long my little Doll has been in my arms.  And, literally - that's pretty much the way it's been.  My little look-alike has been glued to me from the moment she was placed into them.  She and I, we're a team.  She's happier now then she was, to spend up to 20 minutes at a time away from my side, but that's about as long as she'll go before she comes toddling over to me, for some more 'dat dat'.  Or just to to be picked up, to  lay her sweet soft curls on my shoulder for a moment or two,  and to feel safe and secure in her position of Mamas little shadow.   She's determined, stubborn, happy, funny, crazy, kooky, emotional and sweet all rolled into one.  She has a low husky little laugh that is extremely infectious and a little crooked smile, just as I used to have as a child. 
She's not me though, she's more confident, more goofy,  more chilled and I'm so very glad of that.  I hope that as the years roll by, I can continue to make her feel safe, all the while giving her the confidence to be who she is,  and who she will become.  It's like watching a beautiful portrait being painted before my eyes...each day is a new brush stroke, a fresh streak of light, a different shading, another detail added.  It's amazing.  She's amazing.

Such a busy little Bee she was in the garden today.  She loves the feel of the grains of sand between her fingers, and mixing it up in her bucket.

Why can't time be kept hold of just a little longer?  Why is it so bitter-sweet to watch my last little one become less and less of a baby every day?

I'm so proud of you little one, I'm so very thankful to have you in my life.  I'm so very grateful to be your Mummy.  You are my little wonder baby Lucy, and I just hope that I can let go of you gracefully, one day!

Just one more....Freddo Frog

Something I hear often during the day.  When she's sad, when she falls over, when she misses her Daddy or just when it feels like the 'right' time.  Just one more Freddo Frog, please.  You see, the constant and ongoing food battle is something that I come across in my world every day.  Teaching them to eat better and to choose the healthier options. It's not always easy but it's part of my job, or that's how I see it.  And sometimes, now and then, they are allowed a few vices, just like the rest of us!

  My kids have had their favourite treats over the years, and it's depended on where they are in the world.  In England it's Cadburys milk chocolate buttons, in the States its Milky Ways Little Stars and in Oz, it's Freddo Frogs.  I guess they really love their chocolate!  Poppy in particular, has a passion for them and I actually have to limit her intake, or she'd probably live on them.  Nom Nom Nom!!

Today as usual, I heard the familiar.. 'Oh Mummy, just one Freddo Frog, please'....and who could resist that sweet little angelic face, with all that naughtiness hidden behind it? Obviously not me...

It amuses me, watching her eat one of these, and all the expressions of pure delight in that transparent little face!

Ahh, Heaven in the shape of a small brown frog with a silly name!

And who is this with a Freddo in their grubby little hands?

Ahh, she's learning from her big Sister..

Although I think she might need a few lessons in unwrapping it first!

Biff in the Burbs

This is our second year of attending Biff in the Burbs, and it's just such a fun evening for the kids. Free outdoor cinema, popcorn, and a bouncy castle.   This year it was at our old stomping ground, the Brookfield Showground and Ice Age 3 was playing.  Huge picnic blankets were spread on the ground, yummy food was shared and passed around and kids were snuggled under blankets. 

My lovely friend Vanessa and I drove down there in convoy, dropping David off at the busstop on his way to Brissie to watch the Broncos, with my lovely friend Vanessas equally lovely Hubby, Gerard.  Hope they find their way home from the pub ok.....Mmm, maybe, I should have slipped the directions for the way home into his pocket...

I wasn't surprised when I had to leave an hour before the others....there's only so much fun a 17mth can take - and Lucy had come to the end of hers after a little while.  She did love racing around with the bigger kids though, and trying to sneak her way onto the bouncy castle when nobody was looking.

All tucked up in their beds now, and my lovely Daisy-Woo has just walked in the door, after her Yr 7 Canberra trip.  She's been talking non-stop since she flopped herself down on the sofa, and her voice is almost gone now, so I've packed her off to bed.  Night night crazy ditsy blonde girl of mine, sweet dreams! Night night tired sleepy little ones...sleep well and give your Mama a lovely lie-in will you please?

First day of Spring!

This house, this garden, this little sanctuary that we all live in.  I still can't believe that we own this place sometimes, this little piece of land, this tiny part of Australia.  It's totally ours and I feel so lucky.  The garden is the best place to hang out right now. Spring has arrived, along with growing chicks, flowers on our strawberry plants, and little shoots pushing their way up through the soil just about everywhere.  The birds are singing (loudly, its pretty deafening sometimes), and there is a warm breeze caressing the whole of Queensland, it's just magic.

Apart from the fact that she always seems to want to go up and down the bloomin big stone steps, (touch wood, no accidents yet), and we're always trying to guide her away - the garden is the place that Miss Lucy wants to be.  She runs around, the wind blowing in her curly curls, chasing her brother and sisters, and it's just the greatest thing for me to take a seat, (with my Canon, of course) and click away...ahh heaven!  Poppy drags out her princess dolls, teddys, crowns, fairy wings and enters the make believe place that only Poppies can go, singing away quietly to herself as her imagination takes her on a journey.  And Joey is a little fireball of energy, bouncing on and off the trampoline, chasing Poppy and running from Lucy.  It's a busy hive of activity around here at the moment, and so fun just to sit back and watch them all...

And when Daddy comes home at the end of the day, it's another race to see who reaches him first..

I'm going to make the most of this Spring, and from me over here in Oz...G'day! :)