Keeping the romance alive..barely.

I have just read Tania's blog and am amazed at her efforts. I had good intentions this Valentine's day to give a little expression of love to the 5 most important boys in my life. Andrew was away for 10 days leading up to Valentine's Day, so my romantic feelings for him had had time to accumulate. He was arriving home on Valentine's morning and I was picking him up from the airport.

The week before, I had bought little noodle boxes and wooden hearts with an idea of creating something out of them and filling them with some sort of treat. They remained in the shopping bag in my wardrobe for the next week.

The day before picking him up, I went to the party shop and got a helium filled heart shaped balloon. I thought I would meet him at the airport with it, but then chickened out and left it at home as I considered the reality of me greeting him with a helium filled heart and the embarrasment he would probably feel.

I was a bit disappointed in myself as I drove to the airport (early), that the boys didn't have a special something from their Mum and that I had not really created anything worthwhile for Andrew either. I decided that I would just have to be his gift and surely my loving smile was all he would want/need?? I figured if I said it with conviction he would believe I meant it rather than it being the back-up plan.

It made me feel worse as he pulled out a beautiful new bathrobe he had bought me back as a gift. Yikes.

I was hoping he may need a nap and I could quickly wrangle something up... Nope.

Fortunately for me, football always takes priority over a romantic Valentine's meal, so that night,when Andrew suggested he could take all the boys to training to give me a break, I seized the moment and set to work.

I had had the ingredients to make home made rocky road in my pantry for a few weeks and had not used it. Now was the perfect opportunity. I grabbed the bag of wooden hearts and noodle boxes from my wardrobe and began painting the hearts red.. with my fingers because I couldn't find the brushes and was short on time. I dried them with my hairdryer and stuck them to the boxes. The rocky road had set and just as I was cutting it up I heard them all arrive home. I hid them under some tea towels and then printed off some labels while they were all showering.

Ta Da!

Just in the nick of time. I don't think they knew that I hadn't planned it that way!

I love my boys.

Open invitation

We had lots of relatives staying with us during January, so I decided to invest some time and money on the spare room. The boys have been good giving up their beds prior to this, but it seemed silly having an empty room while the boys doubled up.

I didn't paint and the walls are still bare, but I managed to get the bed and some matching lamps. I am so sick of painting, so everything will just have to stay as is for a while.

Anyway, now there's a bed, we hope we can have lots more of you come and visit!

Bikies of the Sky

Andrew has become obsessed with feeding the birds around our house. It is a nice side of him and I am glad he has an appreciaiton for nature, but unfortunately all that feeding is leading to a little too much 'nature' in the form of bird poop, all over our new deck and railing.

I have suggested that perhaps we start to wean the birds from their 'easy meals' and let them develop their own hunter/gatherer skills. After all, they managed to get fed before we arrived here.

Cockatoos, are my least favourite, as they intimidate the pretty smaller birds by gathering in a group and making so much noise. Andrew also seems to have noticed this personality trait in the cockatoos which was evident when he re-named the species, "Bikies (bikers) of the Sky."

This picture reminds me of someone keeping a look-out while the others are up to no-good.

Fruit rockets

Today we re-enacted one of Bailey's favourite ads.