Just you and me baby.

The big kids returned to school yesterday, and now I am back to hanging out with my little man. He is good company, laughs at my lame jokes, and doesn't complain much.

Uni starts back in 2 weeks. I have transferred into a straight BA as there was no way I could complete 3, four week pracs in the next 2 years. A combination of 4 young children, no grandparents in Sydney and a husband who travels (he is on a plane home from Malaysia at this very moment), meant this was going to be impossible, particularly if I wanted to maintain my mental health, lol.
This way I can finish my BA and do a Dip Ed later on down the track, maybe when Ben is at school.
I had to pick a second major and have followed in my mother's footsteps and chosen Sociology. It looks very interesting, although some of the theories have me a tad worried.

Can you believe it? My little man turned 1 last week.
He is such a sweety and totally adored by his older brothers and sister, and of course his mummy and daddy.

We made a second school holiday trip to IKEA last week and picked up a few of these wooden magazine holders. I find the cardboard ones don't hold up very well.

Sarah gussied hers up a bit...

Organisation with school age children (Part 2)

Homework and School bags are two potentially stressful things that enter the house once your kids start school.

We use the trusty IKEA Expedit storage unit to store our kids shoes and their school bags. School bag above and shoes below hidden away in a box, very simple but stress free!

I got sick of the "I can't do my homework because I can't find a pen, pencil, rubber, sharpener, glue stick....blah blah etc etc", so I devised the Homework Tin. It's just an old cannister filled with all of the above. I make sure it is well stocked, and there is no excuse for not doing homework.

Am I creative??

This is a really good question, and in the past I would have said, "sometimes" or, "a little bit". And if comparing myself to some wonderfully talented people out there, then the answer would probably have been, "No!".

I am beginning to feel a bit differently about all this though, thanks to a wonderful book that has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. My mother gave it to me for my second to last birthday. I decided to pick it up and start reading it after a chance encounter in Borders Bookshop this week.

A man was rifling through some travel guides in the sale bin, and his girlfriend said to him,

"Don't buy that. You're never going to go there!".

My heart broke for that man. Just because he may never go to Mongolia or wherever, whats to stop him imagining and dreaming about it?

And just because I may never make a living as an artist, why shouldn't I enjoy the pleasure of drawing, of creating something, of being creative...

I have been reading it in bed at night, and drawing things from around the room, often using my ipod touch instead of paper. The above drawing is a pile of folded laundry on my dressing table.

I would show you the portrait of my sleeping husband in his undies, but this is a G rated blog.

School holidays....

are in full swing. It seems getting time to blog, is hard to find.

We had a lovely Christmas and New Year, celebrating with various friends and family, and have spent most of the holidays being social, sharing meals, and trading children for sleepovers and playdates. Last week I actually went grocery shopping with 6 children!, and lived to tell the tale.

Sarah received some plain t-shirts and fabric crayons for Christmas from her Nana. This is her first design.

School goes back in 2 weeks, and Monday Craft will start up again, so maybe I will actually have some craft to blog?