Words+Pictures...a family update

Wow has this school year ever flown by! Week One is over and only 7 more remain for the year...well 5.5 if you take into account the kids will miss a week and a half when we head to QLD in November for a wedding! Can't wait...a whole week staying a broadbeach, visiting theme parks, chilling out & catching up with some of my favourite girls!

We had 2 lots of visitors during the holidays which was great and then I packed the kids in the car and headed south, we turned right at port augusta (usually we turn left) and spent a few days taking in the sea air and view in Port Lincoln & stayed with my dad. Most of the pics of the kids were taken by my baby sister Jess when I handed her the camera and told her to go for it while the kids played in the playground.I love love love this photo...it's imperfect I suppose, but it's them, a perfectly posed photo wouldn't capture them as they are and their different relationships and personalities but to me this does and the more I look at it the more I love it. I can't wait to scrap it...I have just the layout planned!

The kids were playing with the dress ups one day and came across the tiny santa hat and put it on J who posed for us. She is growing so fast...this photo was taken 18days ago...the white button up thing doesn't fit any more...those buttons don't reach each other by a few inches...and she only just had it on last week!
My baby boy is growing up too, that has really struck me in a few of the photos I've taken recently. He's toilet trained...day & night...he took to it like a duck to water once he had decided the time was right. He talks non stop and comes to me saying 'i need a hug' about 50 times a day...i love that because i know before long he won't be wanting those constant hugs anymore. He loves going to the library...so much...tuesday is library day, he had his lunchbox packed monday morning 'go library mum?'...'No Bastian, tomorrow mate'...tears :( ... Friday we had the same routine except we avoided the tears because were off to the park for a picnic lunch instead. He ran around like a mad thing with his mate Matthew for 2 hours and then fell asleep in the car when we were picking up the girls from school. His day sleeps during the week have been few and far between...he catches up on the weekend with 2.5-3 hours both days...but I would love it if he'd spread it out and give an hour or 2 a couple of times a week. He has also started some very boisterous boy behaviour...that can make it tough to put J down to get things done. She's his #1 wrestling partner and she is pretty tolerant to a point...problem is that point is about 60 seconds after he first starts 'hugging' her. When he is doing silly things, especially dancing & singing, she watches him with THE most adoring expression on her face, you can see her thinking 'i want to be JUST like him!'
Charlotte is kind of driving me crazy at the moment, don't get me wrong I love her to bits but man o man has she had some challenging times over the last few months. She is developing a certain level of perfectionism that she didn't used to exhibit and that in itself causes problems...she is fine until something goes wrong or doesn't go her way and then things might build up a little and then meltdown....she's not all that keen on change and doesn't like being taken out of her own environment very much, especially if we are somewhere and Steven is at home. When she's got it together she is kind and loving and helpful and the total opposite to all the tough stuff. The talking back from both of the girls has got me a bit of a loss...the pair of them can be quite a formidable force! I guess that's one of the things about kids they grow and change and there are tough times and there are great times.
The sweet fairy baby...she has a teeny tiny bottom tooth now, she cut it on Wednesday or Thursday...it's sharp! She will be 6 months old this week...that time has just flown by. She can sit. She loves to weight bear and will jump up and down on your lap for longer than your arms can manage it. She has a few favourite toys and I swear that her arm span is a good 2 metres all around from the point she is sitting...nothing is safe. She grabs everything, she especially loves faces. She loves having a couple of pieces of paper to shake and scruch. She passes items between her hands and, of course, gives them a good old suck & chew. She's not so keen on her tummy but she doesn't get a whole lot of time to try it out becuase she is usually joined by one of her well meaning siblings fairly shortly after she is put on the floor...that can be pretty frustrating because she will sit and play happily for ages by herself as long as she can see me. She has some serious separation anxiety going on, lots of crying when I leave the room. She is developing a fairly husky voice...she squeaks and squeals alot, very very cute. She doesn't laugh all that often still but when she does it is beautiful.
Beautiful Lil, see that top middle tooth on the left...it's days away from falling out, I am going to cry when it does. I have never cried before when a tooth has fallen out but I'm not going to take this one quite so well. Lil has had the most perfect, straight, white baby teeth...and after how the bottom 2 have come through I am a little worried about the top ones...crooked city! She's reading level 19/20 at school, can out-maths Charlotte alot of the time and is quite the skipper. She loves craft activites and can sit and concentrate on them for quite long stretches. She still doesn't cope with being tired...so tired lil+moody charlotte+boisterous bastian can make for some crazy crazy days...luckily it isn't often that they are all in a bad mood!

Steven is busy at work, that never changes...i'm busy too...that to do list never seems to get any shorter lol! I've started teaching my classes, so happy with how they have been going. I have set up my class blog here. Some peeks at the Flyaway Birdie class in a bag I have put together and had on sale today at market day...there are still a couple left if you are interested.

I won embellished idol...when i entered i seriously never entertained the idea that i would, it was an awesome comp, i had a ball! Thankyou again to everyone who participated and voted and made the comp what it was!

I've been shortlisted for masters, along with my fantastic sister, so so proud of her, and lots of my scrappy friends from all over the place. The top 10 are going to be awesome whoever they may be judging from all the talented people on that list!

The 12 weeks of christmas has started on the Addicted to craft blog, a new fun challenge and awesome inspiration each week for 12 weeks and lots of great prizes to be won!

That's enough rambling for now! Will have some more scrappy shares soon.
Have a great weekend
Tatum xx