Category Archives: Muddy Pixie

Money in Mud

There’s apparently an old farm saying that says ‘There’s money in mud’, which makes sense because without it the ground would be too dry to sow any crops. In February things here were pretty dire, no decent rainfall in a very long time, feeding sheep, dams going dry and we were starting to clean them out. Then in a turn around of weather over the last couple of months we have had enough rain to sow our crop. We have so far planted Lupins, Canola, Faba Beans, and just this last week begun to sow our wheat.

We are definitely by no means out of the woods yet, but at least we have hope, enough to keep us going and smiling. The Lupins are even up and out of the ground, The kids love to go up the paddock and check where all the crops are up to. Which ones are going great guns, which ones might need to be resown or which ones already need spraying for weeds.

I absolutely love the fact that my kids are so interested and involved in the farm, they ride along in tractors and farm vehicles, help out in the shearing shed and the sheep yards. It warms my heart to know they are growing up out here and learning so much about our farming life while they do it.

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Lost in Time

A lot happens when you forget to blog. We have moved house, I’ve started my own business, my Muddy Pixie has started school and I feel like I am losing time as my kids are growing so quickly.

Oh yeah, I’ve also moved my blog, or rather my best friend moved my blog for me, as I am nowhere near tech savvy enough to do something like that!

I am hoping that I don’t forget to blog again for soooo long an interval, but you know life is very busy and sometimes it just happens that way.

This weekend we have just been doing bits of this and that, trying to put up a house yard fence, shift sheep down the highway so they’re ready to be crutched in the morning and staying as cool as we can in almost 40 degree temps. Yesterday that meant we headed down to the river (or what’s left of it) and went fishing in a small pool of water that’s left, using a net and hands Muddy Hubby managed to catch a few fish. It was good old fashioned fun and after some initial reluctance the Muddy Kids loved it, especially my Muddy Boy!

What have you been up to while we’ve been missing in action?

Muddy Pixie on her first day of school

Muddy Pixie on her first day of school

Catching fish in the river

Catching fish in the river

Caught One!
Caught One!

 

 

My Muddy Pixie

This is the year before my Muddy Pixie starts school, the year before her world opens up even more and she is no longer a ‘preschooler’ but a school kid instead. I am worried about my Muddy Pixie starting school,  the special qualities that make her her are not all suited to a school classroom, so of course – I worry.
 
My Muddy Pixie is the total opposite of me, I am all about order, routine, structure, and without those I do not function so well. My Muddy Pixie however is all about what’s happening in the moment, what adventure is happening next, what joke is the funniest or what imaginative story can she tell to crack herself up into fits of giggles.
 
She is anxious, but sometimes it’s just for show, she is intuitive, she is a dancer, a story teller, a cycling pro, a little waif, a distractable, yet focused little soul.
 
We are facing some challenges this year to help get her ready for school, we are working on things as a family, and I have been amazed at how Muddy Hubby has stepped in to do some things with her that I do not have the patience for, despite trying to remain calm and composed and do the best I could sometimes there are just things that Dad does better.
 
My Muddy Pixie is certainly keeping me on my toes.
 

The Eyes Have It…..

A little while ago a friend of mine was telling me about her little boy, he had had his eyesight screened at preschool and they had recommended that he have a full eye examination by an optometrist. Lo and behold he is longsighted and needs to wear glasses all the time.

The first time I saw him with his glasses on I made a really big deal about how cool he looked and how great it must be to see things clearly. His Mum was telling me he has been remarking on things all day like he’s seeing them properly for the very first time ‘oh wow Mum can you see that, that’s great’, ‘look at that Mum’. It was such a joy to watch the world open for him.

A week later I spoke to another friend who had just had her little boy’s grommets put in and when they got him home it was as if he was hearing things for the very first time, she put the dishwasher on and he came running up and pointed to the dishwasher and looked at her with amazement that it actually made a noise. It was so heart warming to hear such positivity.

Last week we got a recommendation that our Muddy Pixie see an optometrist, nothing major but after having both these conversations with parents I was straight on the phone to book and appointment. I got off the phone and a day later decided to also book in my Muddy Organiser just to be sure she has no problems, yes I know it’s overkill and it’s only because she’s been holding her book too close to her face, but I’d rather be safe than sorry down the track…..

The Safety Blanket

My Muddy Organiser has a safety blanket, not a literal safety blanket but a little friend who has always been by her side. Her Best Friend is the one she can always rely on, the one who has always been there to do things together with first, from preschool to school to ballet and birthday parties. Everything is always OK because she knows no matter what her safety blanket won’t be far away.

Over the last few weeks I’ve realised that my gorgeous, soft-spoken Muddy Pixie has lost her safety blanket, she had one, just like my Muddy Organiser did, a buddy who has been there since she was a baby, and she still is there, but she has shot ahead in leaps and bounds and with her extrovert personality has made countless new friends and my Muddy Pixie has found this a bit too overwhelming.

So, I’ve made it my mission to take a bit more time to help foster new friendships for her, to have some play dates with some other little friends to see if there is anyone she takes a shine to, another little girl that might be feeling lost like my Muddy Pixie is. Someone who can maybe be that safety blanket for her. It may not work, she may not like her, she may not like them, who knows what goes through their heads when they make a decision on something, but I figure it’s worth a try. It breaks my heart when I see her looking so lost and I would dearly love to put some light back into her life and give her that safety blanket I think she needs.

Do your kids have a safety blanket, a friend they can rely on? Are they new friendships or old? Any ideas for good play dates?

8/52

 
Muddy Baby Boy – Enraptured with the sheep running out of the pens after crutching.
 
Muddy Pixie – Insisted on wearing a singlet just like Muddy Hubby does in the shearing shed, learning how to pick up the crutchings and pick them, has made me so proud this week.
 
Sadly this week I only have two images of my Muddy Kids to share. I agree with Jodi when she says once they are at school, it is so hard to capture all that you want of them.
 
Joining in with Jodi from Che and Fidel for 52 – A Portrait a Week for 52 weeks in 2013.
 

When friends come to play

I have been promising my Muddy Pixie for a while now that she can have one of her ‘best friends’ over for a play date. Finally I got myself into gear and organised it. It was set to be a great day, she bought her bike and her swimmers and her mutual love of craft. It didn’t take long for things to turn pear-shaped.

You see, what I hadn’t counted on was that my Muddy Organiser also considers this little girl her friend and they would start fighting for her attention, for who got to ride their bike next to her, or sit next to her for morning tea and lunch and who got her to play their game of choice.

I tried reasoning with both of my Muddy girls, I pleaded with my Muddy Organiser to just give the Pixie and her friend a little bit of time (even a few minutes), but it didn’t stop the tears and the distress.

By the end of the day I was exhausted from keeping the peace, dancing then craft seemed to heal all wounds and keep us occupied for a good 90 minutes before we changed activities and then the day was over.

I am really not sure how to broach the play date in the future, it’s not a problem we’ve had before when we’ve had friends over to play. Maybe I try to lessen the numbers and organise activities elsewhere for one or the other, or maybe I just have to let them at it and they’ll sort it out.

How do you handle this kind of thing? Or is it something that only happens in our house?

Concert Fever

The last week has passed in a rush of pretty dresses, parties, preschool concerts and ballet concerts. We’ve had rehearsals and our scary first foray into ballet concert make-up! We’ve had costume changes and hair spray in abundance to keep the wispy bits of hair in a tight bun.
 
Through it all we have had lots of fun, lots of photos and lots of proud Muddy Mummy, tear-in-the-eye moments. Each day I wake up and pinch myself in amazement that I have 4 beautiful Muddy Kids and feel like I’ve blinked and missed the last 6 years, as I now have a little ballerina, who proudly danced on stage, accepted her cup and her encouragement trophy, all without a clingy moment or worried cry!
 
Both the preschool concert and the ballet concert were hot, hot, hot days, 40 plus degrees, and my lovely Mum (Nana) came and sat through them both, helping me to look after the Muddy Kids and take photos and videos to make sure we don’t miss a bit of it! I am now officially exhausted and we have a few weeks of school, birthday parties and Christmas parties still to come before the guy in the big red suit visits, somehow I’m not sure that the next few weeks will pass without a few tantrums from all of us!
 

 

 

Did I really sign up for this?

I will warn you in advance, this post is about Poo, read on if you like or walk away like I wished I could have at the time….

Most Days I love being a parent, no matter how hard the day is, I still feel so blessed to have 4 beautiful healthy children. The whinging the whining, the tantrums it’s all part of parenting. The messy house, the crumbs everywhere, the toilet training, it’s all good. Some days though there are things that make me stop and go ‘Did I really sign up for this?’.

I had one of those moments this week. In the midst of ‘Happy Hour’ me trying to cook dinner the Muddy Girls packing up all their hair elastics, ribbons and clips that they had spread all over the bathroom, and Muddy Bubby very proudly tottering around the house on his feet, up and walking, I heard a sentence I don’t want to hear again

Muddy Pixie: ‘Mum, He’s got Poo on his Cup’,
Me: ‘Sorry, say that again’

Out comes the Pixie with Muddy Bubby’s drink cup in hand ‘I said he got Poo on his cup’
I looked and yes sure enough it was half covered in Poo. As I was gagging I asked how it happened, ‘He put it in the toilet’ she said, ‘but why has it got Poo’ on it I asked. ‘Because I didn’t flush my poo’. There quite simply, she forgot to flush, something I thought I would have taught her as a parent and reinforced over and over again, but no, it is a parenting fail, one that won’t be happening again, I have repeated the phrase over and over to them since it happened ‘Remember to flush’.

We disinfected everyone and the toilet, we disinfected the cup, and ran it under hot, hot, water for ages, I then washed it, and then because I can never look at it in the same way again, I threw it out. Yes I felt wasteful, but at least I don’t have to look at it and gag every time I see it.

And still I think ‘Did I really sign up for this?’ Do you have those moments too? Please tell me I’m not alone in wondering if this was part of the deal of parenting?

The Bus

Time and Time again I am reminded that time passes quickly and before you know it your kids are growing up and doing things you thought were so far away. This morning my Muddy Pixie took the big step of catching the bus to Preschool. We have been talking about the possibility for a while and each time she’s seem pretty keen, so with the start of a new term we decided to give it a go.
The Muddy Pixie was practically giddy with excitement, she bolted out the door this morning (unheard of for her who is always the straggler) back pack and all, bounced out of the car when we got to the bus stop and then held tightly onto my hand while we waited for the bus to arrive. Then the time came and up she went onto the bus and off to preschool. Simple as that.

I have been an anxious Mum and rang preschool to check she arrived safe and sound (she did), I was reassured that all the staff did the big ‘Oh wow you caught the bus, how exciting, what a big girl thing to do’ with lots of positive praise and high-fives (again I am so lucky to have such a great preschool and staff). So from now on this will be how it is, two big girls catching the bus to school and preschool and home again, ‘except on special ocassions’ as my Muddy Organiser says.