"saluto Samuel salveo" part 2!!

What is it with my kids!!

1st there was Sophie with this and then late this afternoon, the girls run in almost hysterical "Quick! quick! Samuel! Samuel's hurt!"  knowing they'd been on the trampoline my stomach dropped, went out to discover him sprawled across the trampoline quietly sobbing! Now, this boy is not known for being quiet! if he is hurt you know about it, heck 3 streets over knows about it!!, so you might guess i was a little concerned... I was looking for weirdly angled arms and feet but he tells me it's his back!! eeeek, there goes that stomach again. so after carefully surveying the situation and being relieved to know he could move his feet and legs, i carefully dragged him to the edge and helped him up. All the time my mind racing at what the heck i was supposed to do!! This boy weighs close to 50 kilos!! I was gunna have a hard time carrying him!! He managed to get off and i helped him hobble inside where he lay down on the couch. Thinking to myself, i really REALLY didn't want to have to go to the hospital with 5 hungry children on a Saturday night!!! I called a chiropractor (it was 5:08pm, i know this for a fact!) the first place i called went to message bank, but the 2nd guy i called, phew, picked up. turns out he is transitioning between offices at the moment, so was working from his car, woohoo!, turns out he was only 5 minutes away. double woohoo!! :D

 so after an examination (apparently, the boy has strong reflexes) a bit of a twisty crunch this way another crunchy twist that way, he was declared "better". turns out he sprained his facet joint via an overextension

So he was strapped (with tape ;p ) and banned from the trampoline for a month and no homeschool teamsports or rough housing with his sisters (or anyone else for that matter,) for 2 weeks , and expected full recovery in 4-6 weeks.

He's complaining the tape is uncomfortable and tight
LOL, it would be a lot more uncomfortable without it mate!!

So thank you Seb from Biotune Chiropractic especially lovely that he is coming to me for Samuel's follow up, rather then me having to drag 5 children to a dr's surgery :) AND this 'housecall' only cost me $50!! AWESOME!!

Well, I did say last time i would be back with the next blood or excitement...i just didn't expect it so soon :)

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

PS Jamie is home on Monday night...for 9 days woohooo !! :D

"saluto Sophie salveo"

Now obviously i am not a latin scholar (I got my words from here)

But  roughly (very!!) it translates into "to wish well Sophie to be in good health"

Why?? well first she did this....

Don't ask me about the shower cap...
I have NO idea??

and then less than 5 minutes later she did this....

you see the purple cheek and busted lip?? well she face planted the springs on the trampoline! :/

and her neck?? well We have a 'problem' at the moment, of certain little bottoms insisting on being on tables/bench tops and desks. Anything above regulation chair height and you will find  two little bottoms perched upon it.

So this particular morning, two little bottoms were, again, perched upon a desk, despite repeated removals and requests for them to get down. Finally when some excitement was happening outside, a slightly bigger bottom jumped down, causing the younger bottom to fall and slide off her perch :( she did a slow motion tumble - I think i was able to grab her a bit ?? - and she landed upside down, on her neck, on the chair leg brace! OUCH!! I am VERY thankfull it wasn't worse!!   She was fine after a cuddle, before she headed ouside to the excitement which caused the original trouble, but was back in in less than 5 minutes after her altercation with the trampoline springs :(

All is well now....though it's amazingly louder and messier, than when i had 5 extra children here for a last minute child-minding request!!

till the next show of blood or excitement,

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

Homeschool Bucket List

So after becoming stuck in  a homeschool rut, and after some finger freezing, late LATE night web surfing, i came across, not a new idea, but one good for us at this time. I tried to find again, where i got the specific idea from.....gone-skees!

Introducing....(as the title suggests).. Our "Homeschool Bucket List" Ta Daaah!!

Yeah alright, so it's not exactly a bucket.

So what is it i hear you ask?? (no, not really, my hearing isn't what it used to be) well I'm sure everyone knows what a 'bucket list' is, heck there was even a whole movie about it (maybe it was the original idea...nahh Hollywood can't be that clever!)

Anyways, Our bucket list consists of a heap of activities ranging from full day, half day and less than 2 hours to accomplish. We have one week to achieve our bucket list item. or...or...or else OK! The children rotate through them according to their mail day. (no coincidence that i have 5 children and there are 5 mail days hmmm..oh,... well, i suppose it is really?) 

but i digress...again.
Lily picked out a 'movie marathon/afternoon with friends' for our first item.
Now being the sometimes clever mummy, it isn't all fun and games, well it is for them because they haven't realised I'm actually getting them to do school work also - this is where the clever mummy part comes in ;D In order for us to have our "Movie Marathon" Lily had to come up with and format on the computer an invitation to our HS friends, which she did, and it was all movie themed too! woohoo plan working so far ;)

you see that mass of bodies!! that wasn't even ALL of them!!

In the end we had 14 children ranging from  2 -13years, and a popcorn covered floor to boot!! they watched Kung Fu Panda 2   *ahem* and the Road to Eldorado.  Was a great start to our bucket list.

Next up was Clairebear (whose mail day is next) She drew out.
"visit the zoo and do book report on your favourite animal" well, we only went today, so we'll try manage that book report tomorrow. We are heading back next week with friends since we bought a 'zoo friends' pass also.

We took a one hour 'zebra car' tour to get our bearings and a feel for the layout of the zoo first. I was mighty chuffed, when the driver complimented the children on their impeccable behaviour during the ride :D

Next we had a bite to eat at the huge picnic area. (we didn't get to the zoo until 12, and after the tour it was now 1:30pm) then we headed off to one of the keeper talks.

you see the puppy in the grass??

It was SUPPOSED to be at the African Painted / Wild Dog habitat, but they decided to move it to the rhinos next door instead which ended up being about 500m away!, Samuel was disappointed, as the dogs are his favourite animal.

I think there were 9 pups in the litter.

The so-called talk was a let-down, the didn't tell us anything, and were answering 'pretend' questions from their friends (other keepers possibly on their day off?)

next up were Giraffes and Zebras

You know that famous giraffe first kiss photo??

Well it was taken at the Perth Zoo!! how about that??!?!

lol,  funny story here, the children decided that these tortoises represented our family... The five children eating, Mummy on computer (see near the blue light in the 'cave'), and Daddy 'away working' (in a different enclosure). Well, yep it's pretty close, ESPECIALLY the children eating part!! :D

she's 'crawling' down the 'muddy bank'

The elephants were doing their 'tricks' showing apparently 'natural' behaviours. I overheard a girl asking why the younger (21yo) elephant was swaying, and the keeper replied  that he thought it was a learned behaviour first starting with boredom, but when keepers  tried to stop her by using food incentives, she realised, she could get extra food. Whether this is true or not i don't know, but i did notice a lot of repetitive behaviours from some of the animals. which is sad, but considering the zoo opened in 1898 in the middle of a capital city, there is only so much space available for enclosures. Did you know you could still feed the animals there until 1974? i wonder if that was early or late in comparison to other zoos?? Good news is a lot of construction work was going on for re developed bigger enclosures sorry, habitats for the animals. It will be an interesting thing to watch over time. OK off my soapbox.

yayy! finally something Sophie could see at her level

naaawwww, who doesn't love meercats :D

You see how TINY that little monkey is!!
I've never seen one of them before!
That's Kaytie's hand (and no, she's not touching)

This big boy, Dinar, shares Jamie's birthday, though is 14 years younger.

There were a few bubs about

this little fella was very curious,

in our esky! -
 that's his Mama, she was eating that blue egg carton??

I felt really awkward, I kept telling Samuel to shut the esky, because it had fruit and stuff inside, which i wondered if the little guy would've liked, were we 'teasing' him?? but Samuel resisted shutting it because the little orang was so interested in it, he did eventually, but not before i was able to snap this...

cute huh :D

There are plenty more photos, but i should probably leave it there, as this post was supposed to be about our "Bucket List" not our visit to the Zoo.

It was Kaytie's turn tonight as it is her mail day next, and she has drawn out "visit 3 garage sales" (in one day)
I'm planning to give them all $5 ea to spend. with conditions... they must not buy complete rubbish, they must figure out their own math, and whether to spend it all at the first or wait till the last or spread across all 3 plus some other things i can't think of at 12:30 in the morning!!.

so since it is so late i'll toddle off to bed, but before i do i'll leave you with one last photo. We went to an Animal Farm for a friends birthday just recently, and this photo with Samuel is a crack up!...he certainly has a way with animals lately ;D

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox

B(J)slkcs

"King of the Jungle" a movie by Kaytie age 6

So in case you didn't get it, the story goes...

"The Snake saw that the Lion didn't have his crown, so he went to the Lion to ask him, the Lion ROARED at him and scared the Snake. So he went to find the crown, and the Lion went back to sleep. The Snake went to the tree, but he knew it was a poison tree so didn't get too close. The Snake saw the Monkey and went to see if he wanted to find the crown. The Monkey did and they went looking. The Monkey went near the poison tree and the Snake said LOOK OUT! so the Monkey jumped over the tree but landed in the mud. The Snake helped the Monkey out of the mud and they saw the crown behind the wall. they had a race to the crown and the Snake won, so he was the new king of the jungle" THE END    "ooh ooh Ah AH!"  (monkey noise)


Sorry it's soo fast, but i'm new to this video sharing, and i don't know how to compress it small enough at it's decent speed - 2 frames a second :( .

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

A winter cinquain by Samuel

Despite the fact it took him FOREVER!! i think he did a good job :D

Somedays computers annoy me...

Other days they drive me INSANE!!

I'm pretty sure that when i edit a post it doesn't re-email it to you, so if you want to see the full version of the last post you'll have to click on the link below. Blogger lost it, and i published it before i realised it wasn't the full version *hand slaps forehead*


http://wevegonewacko.blogspot.com/2011/07/this-is-how-other-half-live-20.html

really going to bed this time
B

This is how the other half live 2.5

So as you might know by now - if you actually do read my posts ;P - Jamie has transferred over to Barrow Island.

He says that compared to Cape Preston, this camp is a bit better organised, and that the food is cooked a lot better! :D
so here, for your viewing pleasure, are some photos he emailed me.



I think that's his accommodation?
he has a 15-20 min drive to work each morning.





read further down, why they're not joined yet...



So why are they not joined?  Well apparently they have discovered a type of frog not native to Barrow Island, on the the little man-made island. So in order to "Save the Environment" they must exterminate the frogs!! LOL, oh that's so bad!! definition of black humour huh?! Naaawwww poor widdle fwogs :( Pity they aren't toads!! I would assume that it is a common WA species of frog, Hmmmm "somebody" didn't follow quarantine procedures properly!!



Oh and just so you know, I finished this post...than Blogger LOST it and i've just had to re-do it!!hence the 2.5 instead of 2.0 as it was. Grrr, I should have been in bed over 30 mins ago!!



How did you spend your Sunday afternoon??

Mine was spent in the Joondalup Hospital emergency dept. Nothing drastic, just an X-Ray for Samuel's thumb.

Okay, let's rewind and start from the start.
I'll take you back far, far into the past, aaaaaalllllllllll the way back to Friday morning. Friday's are our homeschool group social days and this particular day was very VERY wet. Friday mornings, we meet up at one of the families homes, and play ball/team sports in the park across the road. As i mentioned it was a very wet day, so team sports were re-directed inside. now usually it is our little family that makes up the half of the players, literally my mob, against the other 2 regular families  OK well not against, but you know. Anyway we had 2 new families join us this day, One family has just moved from Minnesota with wait for it....6 cherubs!! hurrah, we are no longer the biggest :D, oh! but pooh! we are no longer the biggest ;).

So long story short (I'm really building this up far too much!) lots of kids inside, playing rambunctious games, he tripped/fell/was pushed, and landed his knee, CRUNCH! on his thumb.

doesn't look like much huh?

So we left it, it was 'fine' he didn't complain at all.  Saturday came, we headed into Perth for the library book sale, he even managed to 'interact' with an "art installation" (see further below) without discomfort.
Sunday morning, and after over hearing me speak to Jamie about it, it was 'oh so sore and i can't bend it.'

So 2pm Sunday (today) we headed up to the hospital ED. and waited...and waited...and waited :) we were 'lucky' 2 of the parents waiting had been there since 11am! (but, to be honest i think they only had croup, and a mild case at that) Now, is it just me, or am i just completely negligent in my children's health?? The mother who i chatted with, was surprised we'd never been to the hospital before, even still, when i mentioned we'd only been here since November.  In Samuel's 11 years of life, we have been to the hospital ED twice...including today, the first time was for stitches which SHOULD have been done at the Dr's surgery. but he said the chemist would have some 'glue', they didn't, and so the hospital was closer than going back to the Doctors. Kaytie is the only other one who has visited the ED, when i fractured her fingertip, after accidentally running over it with an overladen trolley :( and they didn't even do anything for her. just washed it and put tape on the open wound...i had already done that!

So how did we spend our 3hrs? well we did a bit of this

We did a bit of that

And we made ''stop-motion" movies on the camera,
which i would love to add in, cos they were pretty good i thought! (they are all mental about that 'vodaphone/virgin' ad about the Gary the mime who can now practice his passion, because of the free txt deal??) they are always trying to be mimes around the house...good thing we've started a "drama club" with our HS friends ;D Anyway i digress (again!) So he got his x-ray, Completely fine and a finger splint, we went our merry way home. i tried to scan in the X-ray, but it wouldn't work, so here is Mr Cheez showing off his battle wounds. apparently if it's not healed properly in a week or so, he is to go to "hand therapy" Are they serious!! -bend...straighten,bend...straighten - it's not rocket science! besides, i happen to know two O.T's i could ask ;P

So... lessons learnt today, don't complain and whinge about it, unless it's actually broken, as hospitals are DEAD BORING!!!  Oh and guess who thought he had a valid excuse for not doing school work!! HA! "nope, your brain still works my dear boy ";)

Mishaps over, what else have we done, well this post was going to be about what we did SATURDAY!. We discovered also Friday afternoon that there was a library discard Sale on and that the next day (Saturday) would be the last day!! So 12pm Saturday we headed into the city to the state library, (slightly disappointing, but it was the last day after all) I did still manage to find some good looking titles, i might have found more if it wasn't for Jamie 'rubbing off' on the children who were insistent that i stop buying books and spending money!! I had promised myself i would only spend the $60 cash that i had on me, and wouldn't use my card, well that idea fell through, when she crossed over that total, and stopped at 75. i twisted my arm and said it's only 15 more, that's not so bad.... "because it's the last day, children's books are half price, so that's $37.50 thanks" "Alright!! awesome!" says I, i was tempted to grab a couple I'd culled, but i had 5 impatient (but beautifully behaved) children and a phone reminder about the parking meter to contend with so we headed back to the car - happy we'd brought along both strollers - and added money to the meter. Since they had behaved so well, we headed back inside to the children's section, i was again slightly disappointed, it was more of a play space than a library, with maybe double the amount of books we own...and we sadly don't have that many! They had an 'artwork' there taking pride of place.  They called it a 'book totem'

ppffftttt Me, i called it an abomination!!! I had a look through some of the titles they had stabbed through the heart! i cringed every time i saw one i owned/liked/wanted or NEEDED!! *sigh* some were in such good looking condition :(

after a tip off from another parent, we headed across the courtyard to the PICA where we had an 'experience' saw an "immersive installation".   Brook Andrew's "The Cell",  basically a huge zig-zagged bouncy castle, with the added fun of costumes!

Apparently they thought the suits made them Ninjas
LOL yeah real stealth-like ninjas too!

Oh believe it or not, but i also donned one of these striking outfits, mine was blue like Samuel's, from here it gets a little hazy...not because i don't remember, but because i only had the phone camera, so, well, the photos are....crap. :/

Lily is consoling Sophie, she HATED it!
even though you have to drag her
kicking and screaming from the trampoline!

that's the kid with the 'broken' thumb remember.
He looks like he's in agony doesn't he :)

After our play ahem immersion , we were able to do a related art activity, we had to make our own black/white pattern. Mine's the triangle-y spotty one ;p

To be honest, after reading the bio of the artist, i have to wonder if anyone has actually "got it" I seriously doubt, except for the pretentious lame-os.

So by now it was nearly 3pm, meter was running out again soon, so we had a late afternoon snack of raisin toast and banana bread, before we headed home, with plans for a full day next time.


Have i told you lately. I.LOVE.PERTH!!
Seriously, i do! it's awesome, y'all should come visit us sometime :)

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs