football legend

Today I played a whole hour of Aussie Rules Football.

ok so I kicked a ball around...

with and eight year old.



hmmm...


Well I was proud of myself.

I remember the days in high school when I was far too cool to be good at football.
The boys would make fun of us for throwing the ball up in the air before kicking it.

But not today.

I must admit I was actually terrible at it. But at least I didn't throw the ball in the air. I even caught it a few times.

But (incase my mother is wondering) I didn't wear myself out and took a rest midway through.

I am so awesome at sports.


Image Credit: Sunshine Coast Daily

buttons

When I was little I owned a little cardigan called buttons.
It was my special friend.
When I was lonely at night i would suck my thumb and hold buttons.
It had these little buttons on it that I would rub on my upper lip.
It would calm me down.

Well...

I now have a new button.
And you can have it too.

If you look on the left side of my blog you will find a link you can copy and paste to your blog/website. Anywhere that will let you view html text.
It will link you straight here anytime you click it. Cool huh?

It looks like this



So cute so fun so easy.

Let me know if you are using my button by posting a comment.

Books for the Bobbin - The Chronicles of Narnia.

Image Credit - Fantastic Fiction

I grew up reading these books, watching the BBC adaptations and playing Narnia in my backyard.

The family favourite is 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" the story of four siblings sent to the country in World War Two. The youngest, Lucy finds a magical land in the back of a wardrobe in the country house they are living in and at first her siblings don't believe her but later are forced into hiding in the wardrobe and entering Narnia.

In Narnia there is a witch who calls herself queen who has made it always winter but never christmas. Legend has it that she will be defeated by four humans who will become kings and queens and replace her. They will be put in power by Aslan the king.

The four children are reluctant heroes but find that they must enter Narnia and help it to be rid of the White Witch.

When we used to play Narnia my brother was High King Peter, My sister was Susan, I was Lucy and our Dad was Mr Tumnus the friend of Lucy. Our dog was Aslan. Mum did not often play but we would sometimes give her the role of the witch. I'm sure she loved that. Nobody wanted to be Edmund so his role was sometimes taken by friends who came to play.

It is a happy story about children who are able to make a difference in a magical land and become kings and queens. There are beautiful creatures and scary villains. The white witch certainly is formidable but I think it is necessary for children to see such characters. Our world is not full of good things and misunderstood things. There are some things that are dangerous and some things worth being scared of. I can remember being terrified of the Witch.

But in the end good triumphs over evil.

As a child I was totally unaware of C.S Lewis using the story as a parallel to the story of Christ. I have read that he did not intend the story to teach children about God but merely to see what it would be like if Jesus came in a land inhabited by talking beasts.

I remember watching the Disney/Walden Media film of Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and was all at once struck with the beautiful image of Aslan being killed on the stone table just as Jesus died on the cross. It struck me that Aslan was not caught, he was not a fool. He went willingly and suffered pain and died knowing he would be alright and he would be victorious.

I don't really think it matters if you can't make a connection between Christ and Aslan. I think the stories standalone as wonderful works of fiction. They encourage children to believe and use their imagination. To trust in good and turn from the bad. They have memorable characters and are written in a way as to encourage children to read more and more.

These books will no doubt be read to the little one over and over again.

Fathers Day - Part II

Well it struck me the other day that Myl is a father. Even though our baby is 2 inches long with a one inch long head he is still a dada and I'm still a mama.

So I decided to get him a fathers day present.

Have I mentioned before that I'm not really all that into surprises?

One fathers day we had got dad a shovel. It was the biggest secret and mum said we were not to tell dad what his present was.

I agreed. But when later talking to dad about his present I said,

"I'm not going to tell you what it is but you can dig holes with it."

Some things are just too exciting to keep a secret. no?

Myles first ever fathers day present is one of these surprises. Its the book Man with a Pram by Stephen Mitchell and John Ferry.

The blurb says;

"The concept for Man With A Pram was born (excuse the pun) from the authors' observations that most men were not interested in the current pregnancy literature on the market. Added to this was the observation that many a pregnant partner seemed to be frustrated by this perceived lack of interest in pregnancy literature."

 I must confess that the second part is just a little true for me.
While Myles is extremely interested and excited he has not been scouring books and the internet like a maniac for information about babies. He has not lived his entire life for this moment. He does not have a baby-lovin midwife mother.
Yes it is a percieved lack of interest.

Nevertheless. He loves the book. He read a couple of chapters last night after I gave it to him and had a good giggle. It seems to be a pretty easy to read book and it was so nice to have him tell me facts about our little one.

Fathers day Numero Uno WIN!

Fathers Day

Its Fathers day on Sunday.
What a great day that reminds us where we come from.

My dad has his birthday five days after fathers day so while we have always celebrated both days now that we are no longer under the same roof its harder to visit for both days.
We are going to visit my dad the weekend after (his birthday) which will be really good.

I love my dad.
I have such great memories of growing up with him.

I don't remember him from when I was a baby but I have video footage of him changing nappies and giving me cuddles.
He used to make us baby pancakes on Saturday morning.
We used to play narnia. He would be Mr Tumnus and I would be Lucy.
He took us to violin lessons and listened the whole way through.
He watched our violin concerts and clapped the loudest.
He took us to sunday school.
He taught us about Jesus and always wrote the christmas play.
He read to us every night and in between as well.
We planted trees with him out in the yard and now there is a forest.
He is the best tickler I know.
He taught me old family sayings;
"If that's the worst you have to eat you'll be lucky."
"I beg your pardon Mrs Hardon the chooks are in your garden."
"Wherever you be let the wind go free."
He played a galloping horse game with us on his knees that was sheer bliss.
He danced with us and took us to bush dances.
He shared with us his love of beautiful folk music.
He cooked us rolled oats cookies and chocolate biscuits.
He made lasagne and shepherds pie.
He took us to art lessons.
He put up with teenager tantrums and silly boyfriends.
He listened to me as I cried about my friends.
He took me to soccer and basketball and cheered when I got the ball.
He tried to teach me some hard truths about life... with love.
He got pretty upset when I left home but helped me move to Sydney and carried my boxes.
He came to visit and took me out to dinner.
He met and approved of Myles.
He walked me down the aisle at my wedding.
He danced with me at the reception.

I'm a big girl now. He doesn't need to change my nappies. I make him pancakes now when he comes to stay.

But I'm still his little girl and I love him very very much.

Happy Fathers Day Dad.

Books for the Bobbin #4

The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet Snape is the reason I no longer watch tv... partly.

It is the story of a little boy who watches so much television that his eyes become square and so does the world around him. To him this is such a terrible outcome that he cries square tears and begs his mother to teach him how he can make his eyes round again.

Many a threat of square eyes could be heard in my home growing up.

Mum frequently used the well-known section of the book that when you are bored you could

Read a book,
do a puzzle,
draw a picture,
look at the goldfish,
look at the sky and wonder why.

I even found myself saying this to my nanny boys the other day when all they wanted to do was watch tv after school. Its slightly scary watching children watch tv at times. I'm sure I was the same. They get this glazed expression on their face and very little outside noise gets through to them. All that can be seen is the eerie ever changing glow of the screen on their face, shining in their eyes.

I guess it's not all bad. I remember spending some time watching tv. We didn't really watch it all that much but it was interesting and entertaining and gave us something to discuss with friends at school.

Yet even though I'm pretty sure televisitis is not a real condition i still get a little worried about the shape of my eyes after watching the box for a bit. This book has served as a very good cautionary tale. I think its main message is that there is so much more to life than tv. To spend your life watching it means that you miss out on so much else even if it is just to look at the sky and wonder why.

In the end, the mum unplugs the tv. Not such a huge thing. Not such a scary thing at all.


Transcript and slide show of the book here.

Image Credit Amazon.com

Books for the Bobbin #3

"La la la la li" comes the call and Ping and his family have to come running and board the boat with the wise eyes on the yellow waters of the Yangtze river.

I remember being read this book so many times.

The last duck to board the boat at the end of the day gets a spank on his tail. One day Ping is the last duck but in stead of going on the boat he hides and has a few adventures before deciding that home is the best place for him.

Its a good book to introduce different cultures as well. I learnt about the Yangtze river and children that live on houseboats. And people who eat ducks!

In one part, Ping puts his beak under his wing to go to sleep. This became a way I would sit on my mums lap. With my "beak" under her "wing." I felt very safe there.

What is really nice about this book is that Ping knows that he has a home and that it is a safe place. The world is a scary place for a little duck and although there is the threat of discipline at home he will not get eaten there. Its the same for children and I guess adults too. While the wide world is a nice place to explore for a while it is always nice to have somewhere to come home to and see the people you love no matter how boring it may be.

Image Credit: Amazon.com

Books for the Bobbin #2

This is a book that Myles suggested but one that we both enjoyed as children. It tells the story of three children Joe, Bessie and Fanny ( I think they have now changed Fanny's name as it was rude or somthing???)

They have adventures in the faraway tree which is a very tall tree populated by numerous eccentric folk. Some of these folk include Dame Washalot who is always putting the laundry on, Moonface who's face looks... like a moon and Mr Whatzisname.

Its a magical land where everyone has their own quirks and Joe Bessie and Fanny get to meet all the strange people and have adventures with them.

When I was little we had a tall pine tree in our backyard that we named the faraway tree. It was pretty tall. At least as tall as we could climb. We would pretend to visit all the characters in the story and then we would slide down the long branches to the bottom.

Myles likes that he grew up on seven acres, four of which are bushland. He was able to go into the bush for adventures like Joe Bessie and Fanny and use his imagination.

Imagination is a precious thing and this book has it in bucketloads.

Image Credit: enidblytonsociety.co.uk