Extreme sport...also known as parenting.....

Master 12 finished Grade 6 yesterday.

It's the end of an era....a new beginning....another progression in this thing called parenting.

Watching your 12 year old head off into his Grade 6 Farewell Formal....hearing him tell you about the girl he invited to dance...and the ones that asked him (those hussies)....you realise he's growing up....he's not a baby anymore.

You have managed to plot a course and lead them through a sleep deprived babyhood....you  have stumbled confusedly through the toddler years....you heaved a sigh of relief when they started school....and then cried because they did.  You navigated through the ups and downs of finding their feet amongst their peers....making friends, losing friends....and all the accompanying angst....and then we find ourselves at this point.

High School.....where the kids can be cruel....where your child needs to take responsibility for themselves...(and they still can't remember to brush their teeth and change their undies)......where the teachers are their teachers not their substitute day time parents.

Yep...lots of adjusting for them and lots of hand-wringing anxiety for Mum.....and of course it doesn't stop there.


Master 15 is off to his first "real" party tonight.  A pool party...both sexes....teenage shenanigans a certainty.  You suddenly find all those annoying, eye-roll inducing things your parents used to say falling out of your mouth.....

"Is there adult supervision?".....there had better be or there's not a snowball's chance in hell that you will be going.
"Will there be any alcohol?".....if there is there's less than a snowball's chance in hell that you will be going.
"I'm trusting you to be sensible!"....if you did end up going and some cretin...I mean misunderstood youth....sneaks in some alcohol, then you had better do the right thing.
"I don't care if I don't know them, I want names and ages"......and criminal records if applicable.
"Will the parents be present?"....what parent allows 20 teenagers into their home and then nicks off?
"Don't you dare drink....I'll know if you do....if I even suspect....you'll be grounded until you're 18!".....I'll sniff you out like a bloodhound as soon as you get home....and if you so much as gargled mouth wash.....I'll be able to tell with a more superior accuracy than an RBT unit outside a pub.

The joys of parenting in the mid teens....where you have to face the reality of underage drinking....believe me it's starting younger and younger.  Girlfriends and all that entails....no closed doors in my house!!  Driving....OMG....don't get me started on the terror of that...I break out in a cold sweat every time I contemplate the fact that in 6 months time I will have a child that is legally able to drive a motor vehicle!

Bringing up baby may seem hard....but believe me it doesn't get any easier!

If I manage to navigate my way through the minefield that is parenting and arrive safely with 2 well adjusted, responsible adults to set free into society...then I will consider it a job well done!

It's ok...I'm alright.....

I had a terrible accident this morning!!

I went out to the shops...to pick up 2 things.....both being presents for someone else to give to someone else.....I'm lucky like that!

Anyway.....that is all I had to get.....and I intended to be in and out in ten minutes!

That's when the accident occurred.....when I left it was 2 hours later and somehow.....I don't know how......I had accidentally bought myself 2 dresses, 2 skirts, 2 lipsticks and 3 pairs of shoes!

Oops!!!!!

That's the thing with accidents.....sometimes you just can't explain how they happen.

A passerby takes a photo of the catastrophe as it unfolds...

Christmas correspondence via snail mail.....

It's one week till Christmas....and I only sat down to write my Xmas cards today....oops!

Of course if I was organised I would have done this at least a week ago...but where would the fun be in that?  Come to think of it...where is the fun in it at all?

Is it just me...or have people stopped sending Christmas cards?  I'm sure each year we receive less and less....partly due to the fact that I send mine out later and later!

But in this era of social networking...have we lost the art of writing out a card and....gasp....posting it?

The present and the past.....

Master 12 had his Primary Presentation and Graduation Assembly today.

Grade 6 show off their graduation certificates

It's the end of an era.....no more children in Primary School...and two in High School!

It makes me feel......old!

I have written about the idiosyncrasies of Master 12 here.  Today somehow confirmed them all over again.

Each class teacher is allowed to present 5 awards to their chosen students.  These awards are highly sought after by both the children and their parents.  We were told that Master 12 was getting one...and there was much discussion at home as to what it might be for.  He is not known for his academic prowess...he does not top the class....he likes to participate in sport...but never wins...we scratched our heads and decided to wait and see.

As his teacher announced to the gathered assembly the winners of her awards I waited with bated breath.   There were the usual "Literacy Excellence", "Most Improved", "Consistent Effort"...she called out the names of four recipients...up they went and collected their certificates...and then last of all..."This is an unusual award.....if you ask this man any question he will answer it.....he has an outstanding general knowledge".....and then she read out Master 12's name.

She caught up with us later....and reiterated again....how amazing is the extent of his general knowledge...she has never seen the like....and the whole class goes to him when they need to know something.  I was very proud...and better still...so was Master 12.

Proud as punch

Before I go.....I just need to mention another matter entirely....one that weighs heavily on my mind and heart today.

It was 2 years ago today that I lost my beautiful Mum....I miss her more and more every single day.

I constantly find myself thinking..."I'll just give Mum a call"....and then I remember I can't give her a call.....ever again.  

There are so many things I would love to tell her...(she would have been thrilled with Master 12's award today)....or ask her.....I would love the opportunity to have just one more chat.

What I find so hard to accept is that I now have a finite number of memories of her.....I can never make a new one....and it scares me how the ones I have start to fade...no matter how often I relive them in my mind.

Losing your Mum makes you feel like a little kid...there is never a good time or a good age....everyone needs their Mum.

Miss you Mum xxxx

Beware...you are being watched.....

It's a beautiful evening here on the NSW Central Coast.

I had just finished up in the kitchen for the night and decided to take a bag of rubbish out to the bins.

I stepped outside, took a deep breath of the warm summery air and made my way across the front porch.

Rubbish deposited.....I froze.....I had the eerie feeling that I was being watched.....I could feel eyes upon me......16 eyes to be exact.......

Two huge orb spiders dangled there behind me in all their skin crawling glory.

This one had just caught his dinner and was heading in for the kill........

....while this one was eyeing me off in a menacing fashion.....perhaps hoping I would become his.....

The pictures aren't great....probably because my hands were shaking....but if they look big...that's because they were.....if they don't look big....then something went wrong because they were!!!!

100 posts and the truth about Christmas.....

Today is my 100th post.....YAY for me!!!

Master 12 had his bubble burst during the year.  He still believed in Santa Claus.  I kept waiting for him to advise me that the jolly old fellow in red wasn't real....but he never did.  He also still believed in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy....he's a very innocent and trusting soul.

As he was hurtling towards the end of Primary School, and High School was fast approaching I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.....well, Master 15 actually decided he HAD to know.  It was feared that he would be eaten alive in High School if he didn't know the reality of the matter...and so I sat him down for "the talk".....(no, not that one, though that was had this year too....but that's a post for another day).

I gave him the raw and unvarnished truth...it left him a little shell shocked.

"So all these years YOU have been buying those presents?"

He took a while to soak it all in....was definitely less upset about the tooth fairy....he always found her a little creepy anyway.....and then went on his way just that little bit less innocent and trusting.

This new knowledge didn't appear to overly concern him....until Christmas was approaching and he decided it might affect the volume of his present haul.  I explained that he would receive presents under the tree from us...not Santa.  This caused it's own concern...no more waking up at 2.00am and checking what you got....now he would have to wait until we all woke up and actually "did" the presents.

Then he told me of his friends that still "really believe".....and still get visited by Santa.

Apparently most of them already know what they're getting for Christmas.

"How do they know if Santa is bringing them?" I ask.

"Cause they know where their Mum hides them...and they always look when she goes out."

HA!!!.....those wily little foxes!!

PS.  To all those children out there that snoop...it can backfire on you.  I remember doing the snoop into my Mum's wardrobe one year and finding an electronic game I had been longing for...it was the new "in" thing and all the cool kids had them.  I eagerly awaited Christmas Day....with my secret knowledge giving me a warm feeling of anticipation.  Christmas Day arrives and no game....I was sooo disappointed and yet I couldn't say a thing...because I wasn't supposed to know about it anyway.  Turns out I had to wait until my birthday in April....of course by then something else was the new "in" thing!!!!

Oh Merlin...how I longed for you

I'm a proud Mumma.....

It's great when as the end of the school year approaches you get a couple of letters in the post.  The ones that have been sent from the Principal.  The ones that tell you it would be a good idea to turn up at the Presentation Assembly and bring your camera...because your child is getting an award.

Well I'm having a good end of school year...because I got three of those letters this year...and I've only got two kids.

Today was the High School Presentation....Master 15 received an Academic Excellence Award for Law.....of all subjects.  I can certainly attest to his ability to argue...so perhaps he can use this competence to his advantage.  I have often told him to join the Debating Team....he was born to debate.

I had also received a letter to tell me that Master 12 was getting an award at the High School Presentation.  He is just finishing up in 6th Grade....but the boys attend a K-12 school.

He very proudly accepted his Gold Award.  This is presented to the student who has, over time, received 45 commendations and who has also performed some form of Community Service.  Congratulations Master 12!

 We still have the Primary Assembly to go on Monday....and we got "the letter" for it too....and that is why today......even more than usual.....I am a very proud Mumma!