Took the boys to Footy this morning, then headed down to the gym. I’m just helping Ryan do his keyboard practice. The sweet tones of ‘Hot Cross Buns’ or ‘Mary had a little lamb’ are occasionally intercepted when he breaks out into ‘rock star’ mode.

Planning to go down to the river at lunchtime, as the weather is so lovely. Had better head off and make the sandwiches! After that the plan is for an afternoon nap for all of us, followed by last night’s episode of Dr Who perhaps.

A wet, overcast day today. Everyone is looking forward to Ashley coming home tonight. The boys did a great job at soccer this morning. They played in the pouring rain and were quite oblivious to the weather. Ryan saved some goals as goal keeper and Owen dug his heels in, getting possession of the ball, and did some long dribbling stints with the ball.

I had a good morning too, reading a new book (or rather play) that I had for my birthday – ‘The History Boys’ by Alan Bennett. I’d like to read one of his auto-biographies (I believe he’s written two).

After a change of clothes and some morning tea I took them to the cinema as a surprise to see ‘Hoodwinked’. I wasn’t overly impressed with it. It’s a modern spin on a classic fairy tale (Little Red Riding Hood). Though it’s a G rating, too much of the content was lost on the children. Red Riding Hood herself had an attitude problem too! The comedy just didn’t work. I acknowledge that I am very biased towards good English movies, but I was hoping that this film might have been more in the league of Shrek, which I think is great.

My parents have a busy weekend, in fact they’ve had a busy week with various Hatt relatives visiting. Julie and Phil went to a wine tasting yesterday to try out the drinks for their wedding at the manor house where the reception will be.

Only one month until we’re off to England! Yipppeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ryan and I stayed for assembly at Owen’s School. We were intending to go out with our drawing pads and pens to do some drawing down at the river, but Ryan was very tired after a busy week. He was quite furious when I suggested that he have a sleep and promptly told me ‘I’m going to go to the Zoo to get a lion to eat you up!’

He did eventually have a sleep in the afternoon and was his usual pleasant self when he awoke. I took the boys to their gym class and we went to the Turkish bakers for dinner.

Owen’s Dr Who Tardis lunchbox arrived today. Mum and Dad sent one for Ryan’s birthday which he absolutely adored so he was thrilled when they said they’d send him one as a reward for his recent Honour Certificate at school.

Owen is delighted that his interest in Dr Who is also shared by adults, including me, his Teacher, and some of the other parents. That isn’t always the case with some of the preoccupations of seven year old boys!

Dr Who has opened up all sorts of discussions between the boys about history, the future, mind control amongst other things. Owen thinks it’s a bit like some of the fairy tales they’ve been doing at school, tackling the idea of the battle between good and evil.

Have spent the morning finishing off a job application. A Project Consultant position for a research project looking at the low representation of women in engineering courses. Whilst doing that I was helping Ryan build some of the K’nex he had for his birthday. He’s made an amazing motorised windmill. I didn’t make it to the gym this morning but am looking forward to getting back into it tomorrow.

I took the boys to football this morning for Owen’s game. It was pouring with rain. He got another certificate for his efforts. One for McDonald’s this time. Shame they reward them with fast food. So we took the boys there for a play whilst we both did some paperwork and drank coffee.

Got up very early again and went to the gym. When I got home, the boys woke up and decided to make some cards (for Nanna, Granpops, Julie and Phil, and a couple of their friends). I walked Owen to school. I’m at home now with Ryan, tidying up the house and about to head down the street to get some groceries. Tonight I have to make his birthday cake. Last night I baked two big rectangular sponges. He wants a soccer pitch cake. So l will be playing around with green food colouring and icing. Wish me luck

Today is Ryan’s 5th Birthday. I managed to get out and exercise before he woke up. He had some fabulous presents. Luckily for him, he had Kindy in the afternoon, so after the school drop off we were able to come home and explore his presents. Most of the morning was spent constructing his marble tower in various configurations and assembling Lego.

In the afternoon I was on roster duty at his Kindy. I took along some Thomas cupcakes that were very well received.

A wet and windy day. Ryan and I are tucked up indoors making Thomas the Tank Engine cup cakes for him to take to Kindy tomorrow afternoon to celebrate his birthday. He’s also making some impressive models out of K’nex whilst I try and get some paperwork done.

I clearly remember this day five years ago – pushing Owen (then aged 2 years) around the shopping centre in a trolley loaded with shopping, in preparation for the baby that I thought was going to arrive two weeks later. Baby Ra-Ra (as Owen used to call him) arrived at 11am the following day.

I’ve been meaning to start a blog for ages. Thanks Ashley both for setting it up and the encouragement!
It’s Sunday night. I’ve had a great weekend. Had my haircut yesterday and discussed options for my hair for Julie and Phil’s wedding. On the subject of weddings, had a chat to Julie and Mum about the wedding. We can’t believe how quickly it’s come round. I’m so excited. It will be such a special day. It’ll be fabulous to be back in England with all the family. I can’t wait.
Ashley and I had a lovely evening together last night. We got Chinese take-away, watched Dr Who (he remains so quintessentially English!) and Battlestar Gallatica.
This morning I took the boys to footy. I played soccer with Ryan whilst Owen played his game. I took them out for a cycle on their bikes this afternoon. We’ve had lots of discussions about dinosaurs this weekend. They’ve been talking about different theories of how they became extinct, how scientists hypothesize about what colours they were, and the differences between herbivores and carnivores.
We’ve just finished playing charades. We got the game from the toy library. It was lots of fun, particularly when I had to imitate riding a horse.