After school prickle patrol.

Someone forgot to tell the prickles it is still winter!  Now I am certainly not discouraging Spring from Springing.. but I really do loathe prickle season.  Left unchecked they would basically overrun our entire 23 acres, anyone seen The Day of the Triffids movie?


Last Tuesday was a slightly warmer day (13.5!) so we headed outside for a quick play before Legoman's tutor arrived.  I was horrified to see that the prickles were once again making their move.  They certainly aren't going to let last years prickles, who went down in a showdown with Coder and his backpack poison sprayer, go un-vindicated.  If they start early perhaps we wouldn't notice... until it was too late!

Legoman knows that this prickle bush is capable of growing taller then him.

Legoman pointed it out to me and immediately got down to business. He is an expert prickle remover, well in his eyes he is. Unfortunately his methods, of whacking and stabbing with a pointed stick, inevitably spread more seeds. He decided this day was the perfect time to pass down the age old (well 2 years) knowledge of prickle whacking to his eager to help brothers.

 First the demonstration.  It was an unusual tactic, using a branch rather then a stick, time would tell if it would be successful.

They look so innocent and small but looks can be deceiving.  (I'm talking about the prickles!) 

 Following Sensei's instructions Voltorb has a crack at it.

Oshawott struggles to even lift it.

Well now you're just showing off.

Crafting a new tool. 

Testing.

Not all showed the dedication of Legoman.

Someone forgot to tell me...

Someone forgot to tell me that there was going to be a party in my bed at 6am, I usually prefer a little bit of notice.

Our first night in Broken Hill was actually a bit rough, the kids went to bed late, no way around that i'm afraid.  It's part of the territory when you rock up unannounced and expect 5 beds to miraculously appear.  Not that they would have gone to bed at their usual time anyway.  They were so happy to be with their cousins they were bouncing off the walls in all directions.  

When I finally got to bed I could feel a headache coming on, but with Oshawott asleep next to me, and Pichu asleep on the floor I didn't want to risk sneaking back out again to get tablets. I figured a good night sleep would do the trick.  Stupid of me.  Never has a headache just disappeared on its own before, why would it start now?  My nights sleep was not quality at all, I think my sub conscious was in so much pain from the headache it just couldn't relax at all.  Added to that, was knowing that Pichu was asleep on a folded up doona on the floor without his sleepsuit on (that was in the suitcase that went to Perth).  So I checked on him frequently, covering him regularly.  Then at some early hour of the morning I heard a soft thump, it was Pichu.  He had rolled off his 'bed' onto the cold floorboards and had tried to crawl back onto the warm soft spot, only partially successful.  Feeling a little guilty I scooped him up and put him in bed with me.  He slept on and off for a couple more hours.  Me, more off then on.  

At a quarter to 6, he was awake for the day, and because he is impossible to silence, so was Oshawott.  I set them up with some "i" devices and tried to get some more sleep. 

My niece was up early that morning, she normally sleeps in, but knowing the cousins were here it was too exciting to sleep in that day.  She must have heard us through the door and she came in for a visit at 6am.


So there was three of them, watching movies, playing games on the iPad and eating biscuits.  And one of me, head thumping, eyes not able to stay open, trying to doze through the 'party'.

Taken in the dark, the iPhone cannot get a handle on the focus.

Oshawott really did get attached to his Hungry Jacks party hat, he kept it on for a few days until it fell in the toilet and got wee on it.

For our second and obviously, subsequent nights, my Brother-in-Law dug out the old cot we had used back in Janurary when we squatted in our own house.  The familiar cot was welcomed happily by Pichu, I think he forgot how much he disliked it last time, luckily! Or perhaps it was the rolling onto cold floorboards the previous night... well this night he slept like a champ!  

Bits and Pieces

Sometimes it's the smallest of things (to us) that make a big difference to a little person.  This morning Voltorb opened one of the chocolate bars he had received at his party.  It was a Trolli Gummi Bear chocalate bar.  Perfect, it combines two of his loves, lollies and chocolate!  Not so perfect in reality as Voltorb does not like to mix his sugar groups.  Chocolate, yum! Lollies.. you bet!  Gummi Bears embedded into chocolate? What? That's crazy talk!  Voltorb was sad, he didn't like the Gummi Bear portion of his treat.  This is where Super Mum comes into play, she pulls off all the Gummi Bears, leaving just chocolate. Voltorb's eyes light up with amazement. 


Oshawott was playing with the voice changer toy while all of this was going on. Darth Vader was telling me "Mummy I love you, I love youuuu!".  Hm, I don't remember that from the movie.. "Luke, I am your father, and I love youuuu!" .


Another little thing the boys get a kick out of, is coloured yoghurt.  They have tried many colours, even though I have explained to them that the food colouring won't change the taste.  The best one yet has been grey! Something exciting about eating brain coloured slurry I suppose. Very boy of them. 

Little kisses from Pichu (who is still perfecting his technique) is also a must have at bedtime from the three other boys.  They have coined the phrase "miss kiss" and therefore another kiss is in order until it's hits the target, which is generally anywhere on their face.  Hair is a miss, as is an air kiss.  Because they are masters in bed time stall tactics this can go on for quite some time, until Pichu puts an end to the fun and games with one of his banshee screeches.  There are only so many kisses a little boy can give!  Well, this little boy in particular.

I saw this old picture on my Facebook page last week and it made me remember a comment Voltorb made once when Pichu was a tiny baby.  I must have been commenting (complaining) about Pichu having a short nap one day.  Voltorb pipes up with "I guess he didn't sleep so long because he loves me so much".  You know what, I think you might just be right!  What a lucky boy Pichu is, having such lovely big brothers.


Speaking of which, Legoman loves playing the big brother role, well, most of the time.  When we were in Broken Hill for the 5 weeks in January, he took it upon himself to help me get Voltorb and Oshawott into bed some difficult nights.  As coder was here in Hobart I had to get the 4 of them into bed by myself every night.  Legoman made up a bedtime story called "Oshawott Rocket" in which the rocket visits a different planet every night, either rescuing someone or collecting something.  Featuring in the stories was, Voltorb rocket, Legoman rocket, Pichu rocket and Mummy rocket.  We didn't do a Daddy rocket because this would make them sad at bedtime. :(  


End Permian News
Now this is very exciting news!  Coder was contacted by Amazon a few weeks ago about featuring one of his apps as their "Free App of the Day".  Woo hoo!  The Floor is Lava is up on their -Appstore for Android- front page, and will be for 24 hours.  For those of you jumping and and down with excitement, we aren't rubbing our hands together waiting for the cash to flow.  No.. it's a 'free' app, hence the "Free App of the Day".  But!  They did mention they usually get 150 thousand downloads, which is awesome.  Coder has made sure this app is well stocked with links and information on how to get their hands on his other apps.  Plus the Facebook page link of course.  (I saw Facebook and Twitter icons on a cereal box today!) 


You can check it out here.  Amazon Appstore for Android.  Share it with your friends!