Something is better than nothing

I am not one to make resolutions at the new year. But each year I do reflect on how I am doing in life. I do make goals, sometimes at the new year and sometimes at different points in the year. When we moved to Oz I really wanted to focus on being a better parent, in the avenue of focus and structure. I realized pretty quickly after the move that I would spend a lot more time alone with Erik here than I did previously, we are not as close to our friends like we had been in Claifornia where we could just walk to someone's house. And so I know that for both him and I it would be good, not to mention I knew some parts of my life NEEDED some organization and a specific direction to aim toward to help me grow and be better.

Back in the states January marks the middle of winter, holidays are over and sales kick up knockdown prices on organizational things of all shapes and sizes to help people kickstart their resolutions. I know its summer here and the school year just started. Our school supplies sales just went on, not nearly like what you find back home but I was impressed for what I normally see here.

So with a few rainy weeks where it seemed you could literally take a bite out of the air it was so thick with humidity and not wanting to step out into it, my natural mindset of organization time, and just some projects I have had in the back of my mind I got going. Many of these things I have wanted to do for a long time but of course in my mind my visions are intricate and perfectly cute and decorative and of course I dont have time or resources necessarily to do that. I kept putting things off waiting for that perfect day when the stars would align......and of course that didnt happen.

I wanted to make a really cool potty chart for when Erik was ready to help him be motivated. Well he blew that fish out of the water, he surprised us one day by deciding he wanted to potty train, I was stopped dead in my tracks and didnt have anything prepared, and you know what that sweet little man of mine taught me something.............something is better than nothing in a lot of circumstances and that snowballed into many other projects to just get something done. I feel weight lifting and freedom from my guilt and happiness. Thank you Erik for teaching me I dont have to be perfect, I dont have to be super mommy, I dont have to do everything like they show on pinterest, I can just do something that will work well for us.

This is our little board we use for preschool stuff. In my perfect world, it will be modpodged with cute paper, there will be a weather section, a scripture, and other things to incorporate into a morning circle time type routine. For now its perfect to hang a gospel picture, some family faces, and day of the week. It sits behind his table where we often do some school stuff.

 THis is where all of this beauty started, I made this potty chart on a when we decided that we didnt want to load Erik with tons of sugar for going potty. And actually the chart motivated him better than candy because he could see his progress. His goal was to fill out the chart and if he had it filled out by friday at lunch we would go to the shop and he could pick out a car to buy. Worked like a charm. If he filled up that day and still went potty more then he got candy. Not fancy like I had invisioned, not complex, just a 30 second draw it up, slap it on the back of our front door kind of thing. He loved running to it and picking out a monster sticker(luckily I had those on hand), and putting it in the box. SUCCESS.....oh how sweet it is sometimes to be simplistic.

 This is something I made over the weekend. This is another thing I have in my mind pictured and although I dont see it clearly, it should be cute and fun. The product I made is cute and fun, not anything like I invision but the program is now in place and I can tweak or change things as we go. I figure it is better that we have this in motion now than waiting forever for the right time to make a perfect chart/program and never getting it off the ground. So we started a chore system with Erik. He has grown so much lately we felt he could handle this extra concept. He already has jobs he helps out with and so I just structured it around those and this will evolve as he gets used to the program and gains more responsibility in the family. I simply printed a blank chore chart from many options here and downloaded this font to print out the pieces. I chose super heroes that I knew he loved and recognized. Well ok he didnt know the flash, but we told him about his Uncle Alex being fast and liking the flash and showed him some you tube clips. The "x" pieces are just markered pieces I colored and put up because he doesnt have that chore on those days.
  
                   
The program we have in place right now is to put up "stickers" velcro pieces up upon completion of the chore. I also made the jobs velcro pieces so I can easily change them up. Each day when his chores are done he earns a little bit of money to put in his bank. Eventually I dont want his chores tied to money, I want him to know he has responsibility in the family regardless of pay, and he can earn money for extra chores to save, spend etc. But for now they are linked. He has already asked if he can buy a few things and we told him he needs to save his money, so I know this will be great. And now we can start showing him tithing in action. I cant believe he is old enough to learn these things, but he is such a sponge that I want to take advantage of while I can.

Here is the front of our fridge, I have major images in my head of how I want this to look, right now it displays art and work Erik wants to show his daddy when he gets home from work, a calendar, pictures, shopping list. This is something to be organized soon, but at least I have some key things on there to have an idea of spacing.

 These are frames I have had sitting around and wanted to do something with, finally figured out how I wanted them hung but obviously need to fill a couple of them.....but now they are at least on the wall and not cluttering up my floor or precious storage space.

 This is a constant work in progress. This is our linen closet, and no you will not see any linens in there other than our beach towels. This is a bit overwhelming space but honestly I just organized part of it last week and was amazed at what I could fit in there, get rid of, etc. It feels good. Eventually I would like some linens, toiletries in there. But really it is the perfect closet for all our extra stuff that we dont need out but need to store.

 A couple of weeks ago, we had a family counsel and Lindsay set up this bulletin board, we filled it out with each member having a different color marker, family events in its own color. Our family goals and to do lists. Also our saturday chores are listed and honestly this board has been amazing. It sits on top of the book case in our master bedroom and Lindsay and I just write, change things as needed. LOVE it!

so all in all I have been doing small projects here and there, nothing major but we are getting more structure and routine which we need. In turn our house is becoming a house of order, we are all happier, we are all more productive and it just feels good. So this month and hopefully throughout the year I am learning.....sometimes something is better than nothing, just put that first foot forward and take the step. I am not a perfectionist really but I still have to remind myself sometimes that I dont have to be the professional interior designer I dream to be or see on the web, I can do simple things that will work awesome for my family.

Uploading the video og christmas morning was workng but taking for.....ev.....er so that was a no go. Sorry! I even tried uploading to another site and it was the same.

But thats all right we will just move foward, it is nearly february after all. So Erik and I are doing school more and more. I would like to pick specific days and times, but I havent pinned that down yet. We do it when I take the time to prepare things or when we are really restless I pull some things together. He LOVES it which has helped me try to stay on top of keeping things planned. This day he really surprised me with a multiple step project. First we dot stamped strips, then he cut the strips - his favorite part by far. Then he glued them onto a paper....that is where he started to lose interest, we didnt get that many glued onto paper, and admittedly I ushed him a bit more than normal because I really wanted to get at least some down to send to grandparents. All in all I call it a success though.

Very attentively cutting

 One night I walked into the bathroom to find this scene. I asked Erik to tell me about it and he told me that his cars were protecting the shower for the night. He had done this on his own....I love how his imagination is growing, its so thrilling for me. I often find his cars lined up these days, he is getting to be quite a little organized little man and is so helpful with chores and things.

Erik helping defend the shower

 This is his posing and flexing his arms stance. So funny! We definitely have a ball with this kid.

I am so excited that I get to teach him at home for preschool like things. I have gotten all sorts of ideas, and while we will work on academic things, my goal is not to make him the smartest kid or reading before he heads to kindergarten. My goal is to simply aid him in his discovery of the world, take advantage of his curiosity and help to instill good habits and values. I know he is young but why not show him how things can be done and be fun or interesting and instill a love of learning to help him get through his educational years.

I am really excited. We will do other social activities like play groups and we are looking into doing a gym class. He is a very social kid and he gets lots of compliments of how well mannered and behaved he his. Yes I am tooting my little man's horn, he deserves it....he has been working hard at this experience called life and doing it well. He has adopted many good things. THats not to say he doesnt throw fits, ask us why a billion times a day, or disobey, he does, but in the grand scheme he is doing mighty awesome. Some days I take things hour by hour and some days I dont want to end, thats life with a kid who is learning emotions and how to cope, what things are or how they work. I have been entrusted to be his nurturing guide and I want to do it to the best of my capacity. I will not be perfect, but I will keep at it and try better each day.

christmas part III

Heres to hoping we can get christmas all covered in this post so I can move on to other things going on. I know I could interject other thoughts in between but I really just want to get the holiday on here and move forward. Seeing as we do have a rather fun birthday coming up next week!

So while down in Surfers they had a santa set up and you could take your own pics and there was no charge or anything, it was quite cool actually. Santa sat in a boat pulled by Kangaroos. Erik has entered a phase where he decides to be ultra shy at times and sometimes a bit anxious when attention is directed to him by a stranger. He had already gotten official pictures taken with santa this season so it wasnt his first encounter but for some reason he was really hesitant to say hello. We told him we would go up as a family. He decided to cuddle as close in to my neck as he could while in line.....can't really say I was minding, I love it when he cuddles up into and makes me feel needed and nurturing.

 So we went up as a family. Mind you this was on a whim, we didnt plan this outing, we were walking back from the beach to our rental, thus the togs (or swim attire for you americans). Erik was still not having it, trying to squirm away.

 And then we stopped posing and started talking, this is him explaining what he wanted Santa to bring him...at the very moment the picture was taken he was saying, "um...golden eggs." Yep my son was asking for golden eggs from this year, that is all he wanted and would respond with that every time. Might have something to do with the fact that Jack and the beanstalk is his favorite story, Easter this last year was his first holiday he understood and got excited about (easter eggs anyone) and his favorite candy is a chocolate kinder egg. He love eggs! So a golden one....duh mom and dad that would be the cherry on top.

Christmas eve we arrived back home from vacation. I ran to the shops to get food for the next few days (mass chaos, not something I will ever plan to do again), then we went swimming, and came in to open an ornament and pajamas. It might have been only 4 pm but come on Christmas is exciting! I think I was more excited this year than anyone, well until Erik realized it had arrived. He got an ornament with a "cocky" on it, he loves those birds. We even had one on top of our tree (it was a golf head cover) and now we have a new permanent tree topper that suits our family just right.

 placing the ornament on the tree....every time he placed one, it went in the.exact.same.spot. I didnt move them but there are about 10 ornaments within a three branch radius, mostly his favorites, like the airplanes and things. I also found cars and planes hidden in the tree when I took it down, such a boy!

 Awe, our tree. I added the bird and ribbon this year. I wanted to make our tree look just a bit fancy this year since we didnt have much space to put out decorations and that would be the major thing. But I dont have space to store things either, thus ribbon was perfect....fancied things up a bit, stores easy and small. This was christmas morning after Santa dropped off his goods

Our stockings filled with Christmas crackers and yes Erik was blessed, he did receive 3 golden eggs as a matter of fact. What a good little boy!

 We left tim tams out for santa with some milk. Santa was nice enough to leave a thank you note and a bit of biscuit. Erik thought that was the coolest to get the note and to finish off Santa's treat!

And like I said as parents we were stoked this year. The magic really came alive for us again. We woke before Erik and then went in and actually woke him up to record his

reaction. Normally I probably would have let him sleep but we needed to be done and ready to go to church by 9 so we woke him up around 6.

I am going to try to upload the video we took of him waking up Christmas morning...cross your fingers.

holiday part II

So movie world...Erik's two favorite rides are the kids bumper cars (he would literally ride it all day if I let him, he just gets off and gets back in line) and the regular drive cars....do we have a little boy on our hands or what? Waiting in line this time was hard for him, the first time we came every one was in school and it wasnt busy but this day was summer break and although they moved quite quickly he had a hard time not wanting to cut because he wasnt quite understanding the concept of waiting behind people for something so exciting. But he did well. There was another older girl at one point, she was probably 8 or 9 and totally old enough to know what she was doing who was trying to cut in front of EJ on a ride and both Lindsay and I had told her that our little guy was in front of her and she needed to stand behind him (EJ was a bit clueless to be able to stand up for himself), and yet when it came time to get on she jumped in front and he happened to have the last slot for the ride, so she got on and he had to wait for the next group to go. HOnestly I wanted to tell her off, I tried to watch where her parents were debating to say something-nicely of course like next time you really should let the little ones go first, but she ran off to another ride, no parents in sight..mmmm.

 Waiting in line again, while eating a snack. He just looked over and realized I was snapping up pics of his cute little face.

 he was hanging all around I just thought this shot was cute....ignore my mommy mushiness.

Bumper cars...ready-steady-GO! He did much better at handling the cars this trip than before and maybe next time he will have grasped the hand and foot at the same time coordination.

Driving his car around the track...in hog heaven!

 I know the drill kiddos, hands up, latch down, soar into the air and rock it to the music with mom down below!

 Erik really loves swimming and in the last month has really advanced in his skills. He does NOT take lessons (yet at least) but we just work with him on different things we think would be fun or beneficial for when he does take lessons. Water wings really gave him confidence in the water, sometimes I wondered if it was a little too much confidence, fearing he would jump in without them or without an adult present. He did pretty well. During this trip he started jumping in to where Lindsay didn't have to catch him, he would completely submerge and pop up with Lin right there and then swim back. We worked on really kicking hands and feet to move and the boys would race. Upon return Erik realized that since going under was ok and he could hold his breath for a couple seconds he could do other cool stuff. Now he doesnt use water wings, he gets torpedos off the pool floor on his own where he can stand, dives for them in a bit deeper water with Lin pushing on his back to get him down and then EJ popping off the bottom to come up, he also tries to swim on his own where he can stand under the water and will jump in without water wings and then we guide him back (he doesnt move fast enough to keep himself bouyant). He has become a little fish!

to be continued....

Christmas Holiday Part 1

I preface this post with telling you that I am not trying to drage our christmas a month late and into 50 posts, no blogger didnt want to keep uploading our pics. So I will put this in a few different posts highlighting our holiday leading up to Christmas day and the "BIG" event. It will make me want to pull my hair out a bit less. Sorry if this drags on. I realize that sometimes reading every detail of my life isnt always the most entertaining but we do live quite far from family and this is a way we get to stay in touch so sometimes posts are more for them and some are more journalings of my thoughts....which may or may not be entertaining....you decide that and keep it to your self!

We were lucky enough to score one of the Australian rental apartments down on the Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise for the week leading up to Christmas, we got to leave on Christmas Eve and that was great. I didnt have to plan a bunch of activities while we eagerly anticipated celebrating such a fun holiday (some days I think I was the most excited this year), although spending a week at the beach doesnt exactly make it feel more festive....oh well! We invited along another family to stay with us and we had heaps of fun!

The first full day there, our guests hadnt arrived and we were anxious to explore the area. We found an awesome park (Honestly I havent really found one I didnt like) that had a man made lake in the center you could swim in with exercise gear along the path going around so you could circuit train along with playground equipment = Awesome! Well towards the end our walk, Erik tooka  spill...not uncommon...he is quite a clumsly little fella. But he was un-con-sol-a-ble for TWO HOURS! Oh my goodness, we thought we were missing an injury like a broken foot or leg or something the way he was carrying on. But no just a totally skinned knee and the sight of his own blood. We finally forced a band aid and then laughed hysterically as he walked with a limp because he had a band aid on. If the band aid was off or covered to where he forgot about it he walked fine, as soon as one went on or someone asked him about the owie, back to whimpering and limping. I am hoping we can help him cope better as he gets older.

Showing his owie

 we have a park hopper pass to a water park, theme park, and sea world down here and they are close to surfers so we tried to get in some visits during the week. It was nice to go with friends too so that we could take turns watching kids to go on the big rides. Here EJ is wolfing down a sausage sizzler (hot dog)

 His favorites were the wave pool and the lazy river! Other than his traumatic skinned knee he really is quite a happy boy.

We took a little break towards the end of the day to let the other couple go on a ride with their oldest daughter, the little one was anxious about his parents leaving him so I was holding him and rocking him. Erik was unsure of that at first but then happily played near me.

 We had a great picnic at the park that evening for dinner. Most the parks around have electric grills and so we had taco bar...mmmm...I miss mexican food....like the REAL deal. We are too far from mexico to have anything really good here, but there are a couple of places to do all right in a pinch.

One morning we took off to the theme park named Movie world. This wasn't Erik's and mine first time, the first time we came is where Ej's interest was sparked for Batman. He we are watching a car show where they do all sorts of stunts and cool things. There was a little old woman of a different nationality who kept standing at the cool parts to take pictures and honestly it was ticking me off. We would miss it, cause she would stand. Myself and others kept yelling over and asking her to sit so everyone could see but she wouldnt listen. Of course my husband who is the calmest man on earth didnt really care but man we were literally packed in there like sardines. They kept asking us to squeeze in and make room, it was a hot day, add humidity, add more hotness because of all the concrete and the practising cars (*totally off side note, if I start spelling my words differently, especially replacing s with c and vice versa it because that is how aussie's spell things and my brain doesnt remember which is the correct version anymore, somethings up there are starting to go to mush and I am sick of trying to keep the two cultures seperated). It was HOT! But the show was fantastic.

 They even drove three cars on two wheels for a bit.....way cool!

And that is where blogger/our Oz internet left me hanging on uploading photos. And so we will continue this together in part II. See ya then

A morning at Southbank

I am guessing that over the next couple of years you will hear a lot about Southbank. It is by far one of our favorite places aroudn these parts. It is super easy to get to from our house. Oftentimes when Erik and I are sick of each other (did I just say that? well I would be lieing if didnt admit to that, sometimes we just start to push each others buttons couped up in our little house), or on the weekends when we are bored we seem to find our way here. The pictures below are not all of what southbank entails, there is also a man made beach, a different pool area when people can swim with cool rocks around it, a playground, bbq's to cook, different little gardens, food court, and a multitude of other things.

One morning, when I knew it was going to be hot and I didnt have much planned for the day I decided early on to head there before the crowds and before the heat got to be too much. This is part of the kids splash pad type area, but way cooler than any that I have seen.

Below you can see there are little humps that sprout water, it's on a slant that runs into kiddie type pool that gets deeper in some spots but mostly Erik can walk across it. On the other side are dumping buckets overhead and stairs. (to the left...off the picture). Erik is in the hat and his friend that happened to be there at the same time is in front of him.

 The water that spits out of the bumps changes and moves which keeps it exciting. Then below shows Erik standing in big yellow circle. Its a map of the river system of the area with different sprouting water. Behind Erik and to the left a bit is a concrete walrus (you can only see the tail) that kids can sit on, but watch out because at some point in the cycle it spits water onto you!

 The boys fascinated by all the ants (they are EVERYWHERE here)

A happy little man

We LOVE Southbank and it will definitely be a place that we hold dearly in our heart and will miss when we leave Oz.

Remember this was december....CRAZY but so nice to have a summer after so long without one due to our moves.

Christmas time?

We knew this last Christmas would be weird and weird it was. Not because the meaning of the holiday changed or anything, nope it was wrapping our head around the fact that it was christmas time. So weird to have Christmas in the middle of summer!

This is a rnadom pic that really has nothing to do with Christmas but it shows just how Erik is at this point in his life. Sometimes we wonder if we should just take his bed completely out of his room to give him more play space. We always put him to bed in it and we ALWAYS find him laying like this or on the floor. And if you ask him why he wont sleep in his bed....the response is one that will melt your heart. Grandma's are you ready for this little nougat of sweetness?

Erik's response is that he sleeps on the floor like Daddy. Now to most of you I realize that this doesn't sound oh so cute, but for those who have had the pleasure of Lindsay hanging out for a duration of time to watch a movie or when he is tired know that he always prefers the floor, no pillow, and sleeps best that way.....odd but true. Erik looks up to Lindsay sooooo much and wants to do everything exactly like him. When Lindsay is around he prefers daddy to do everything from change him, hold his hand, bath him, feed him, whatever he would need an adult help with...daddy it is. This is another way he feels like his daddy. And thus he prefers the floor to his mattress.

This partciular picture was after we went in one night to put him back into bed (we do every night when we go to bed), he often turns his lamp back on and plays for a bit and then falls asleep....noting the hand on his car.

 So back to Christmas.....since it was hot, sunny, and not seeming like Christmas at all, I put up Christmas decorations and things EARLY to have them around as reminders.

Below is an activity advent that we did. We werent great about doing it every single day but Erik loved picking out activities on the date and following through with them. Some were really simple like send out christmas mail to grandparents, picures with santa, watch a christmas movie, have a family sleepover, and we had a blast. We didn't have to think of 25 things either because one whole week we were going to be on holiday on the coast and so that made it more doable, next year hopefully we will be a bit better.

 WE also did a christmas book advent. I also didnt have 25 books but was completely fine with that, I will continue to gather a few each year. So in theory he should open a new christmas book each day to be read and enjoyed but since we had 8 I think, we opened one every few days which was great because then we could enjoy reading the new one for a while before the next one came along. It was a blast and so fun, Erik loves books and it was a fun way to continue to instill that reading can be fun. Sometimes people are amazed that Erik does so well at sleeping while we travel and I honestly think that part of it is because of books. Sounds strange, but I ALWAYS pack 2-3 books and we read them before nap and bed everyday and its a trigger for him and no it doesnt trigger him to sleep because books make him fall asleep, he often asks for more. But its something that is easy to pack and keep consistent through the chaos of traveling.

This was the night we had our family sleepover as our activity. We didnt actually end up sleeping out in the living room but we enjoyed popcorn, a movie, and some fun family time. Erik loves it when we pull out the hide-a-bed so he thought it was spectacular!

Other than that we talked a lot about christmas, we had the little people nativity set out on the coffee table to be played with at will and talk about the story of Christ. We went to a Christmas party at church and Lindsay played his guitar and sang, it was awesome! The one thing that found odd, other than not needing to dress in layers, and the ability to breath without seeing our breath, and all the winter smells (that was really odd) was that we noticed that we didnt hear as much christmas music as we would back home. The stores and shops usually played it as it got closer but we hardly if ever heard it on the radio and it was just weird.

But all in all our first christmas here in Oz was major success. I was worried about being really homesick but I was ok. The trip back in november was great for that and I was excited that since we wouldn't have lots of family things to attend that we got to make up our own agenda and start some new traditions. And while I wouldnt want to be alone every single year, it was good this year. Going back home I hope to find a new balance of things for our little nuclear family mixed in with all the family activities.

More December happenings coming soon!