The Dower Family

I'd like to say that all the chocolate is gone, but there is still SO much of it in the house.  Probably a sign of a great Easter.  And a great Easter we certainly had. We have had Ollie at home for a full two weeks before the long weekend and we had the company of Nanna Freddie for much of that time thanks to a bit of shoulder surgery.  It didn't dampen our plans though as it seems what Ollie really needed to do more than anything was just relax and chill out.  The first term of school was pretty exhausting but all indications show that Ol has done a great job. All that calm went right out the window when the Easter Bunny came to town.  He made a right mess with his sweet little powdery footprints but all was forgiven when the kids saw the chocolate bounty. Easter - the one day of the year when it is perfectly acceptable to eat chocolate for breakfast!! The only thing that could possibly top all of the chocolate consumption? A ...

Ol has been asking to go to Dreamworld a lot lately.  Sometimes its nice to be the parents who say yes. Enjoy.

You might be forgiven for thinking that nothing has been going on around here.  But you would be wrong.  We've been having lots of fun and games, and thankfully the camera has been a pretty regular companion so you guys can have a peek into life lately too. This little guy is enjoying school.  It seems to have switched on his brain even more, and even though they are only learning how to write individual numbers and letters he is coming home and reading the little books I'm getting him from the library and randomly telling me things like "four fives are twenty". Clever clogs. This girl is cracking me up on a daily basis.  She is chatty and loud like her brother (give me strength) and she thinks dressing up and pushing her trolley filled with little toys around is just the greatest thing. She misses her brother when he is at school and I often find her having a little cry about "my big boy" and asking if we can go and get him when it isn't ev...

You might have thought that with Ol turning five and starting school it was all about him lately. Well you might have been a teeny bit right.  But you know what?  Since Ol started school there has been a fair bit more quiet around here than usual.  And do you know what I've learned… I've learned that this girl can count to ten.  She knows all the words to "Baa baa black sheep".  She knows lots of colours.  I've never sat down and taught her these things the way that I did with Ol.  I don't have the time.  But it's great to see that by osmosis (and thanks to her daycare mum!) a lot of things are seeping in. She is doing a lot of big girl things lately.  She is learning how to ride a bike.  She has swimming lessons by herself now while I sit by the side and sip coffee.  She wears big girl undies instead of nappies, but only if they've got Disney princesses on them, preferably Snow White, followed closely by Cinderella...

This big boy now goes to school.  How crazy does that sound?? You won't be surprised to hear that he has been looking forward to this for a long time.  Lots of new things to learn, getting to hang out with his best mates at lunchtime and being away from me for five days a week, what could be better! Probably because we had been gearing up for this for so long, the day itself was a walk in the park.  Ol woke up at a ridiculously early hour and Nick and I had the joy of watching him on the video monitor singing over and over again "its my first day of school today"! The excitement continued to grow we got him into his new uniform and his shiny new giant shoes (he is a size 1 now, that is madness). With his lunch packed into his bag (with a laminated photo of all of us to keep him company) we headed up to his school where we saw about a hundred little Ollie clones, all looking so tiny in their new school clothes. Ol is lucky enough to have his two best ...

When we were kids we had this great book called "Cops and Robbers".  So when Ollie declared a few months ago that he wanted a police party, this was my party inspiration.  In typical party fashion I went completely over the top with the effort (thankfully not the $$).  But it is always worth it when they see the house decorated and check out the birthday cake.  The goody bags (made from some calico I had sitting around the house and a bit of permanent pen). The cake!!! This is always my favourite bit and is probably more for me than the kids.  But I just get such a kick out of seeing Ol and my cake plan come to life.  He really had some creative input this  year and sat down with me and drew it.  He wanted a jail inside the wall too which would have been pretty cool, but you've got to draw the line somewhere.  Thankfully he was so impressed with this creation that the missing jail never came up.  You can...

Five years old.  How did that possibly happen?? I remember clearly the moment they handed me this beautiful tiny perfect little creature (with giant feet).  It was then that my entire world changed.  Everything I did before that second meant practically nothing now that I had this completely dependent little guy in my world. And in usual fashion I want to share with you some of things that are rocking my world about this little fellow this year. - you shout "dinnertime" when Peppa Pig comes on TV at 5.10. - you can't wait to be married.  You often talk about your future wife and your 'boy' and how I will be his nanna. - you can porpoise dive to the bottom of our deep pool at home but you still get scared of the pool you can stand up in at swimming lessons. - you will NEVER need amplification.  Microphones are redundant around you. - you are turning into quite the little artist and you are so prolific that I can hardly keep up with all of your...

It's been a great Christmas.  I'll have some photos to show you soon but until then here is the moving action version of Christmas.  Enjoy.

Look at these giant children! They have grown so much since they went to see the exact same Santa last year. Thankfully there were no tears this year.  Ollie had us on edge with a weird forced and fake smile for a bit and Eve complicated things by pulling her dress up to show off her red undies.  But we got there in the end. The kids are both super excited about Christmas this year.  We have had the fairies living under the Christmas tree this month, leaving little notes and presents just like last year.  I have heard a rumour that in the morning they might be leaving new pyjamas and a special Christmas movie to watch tomorrow night. We also did our usual trip to the Kmart wishing tree with presents for a boy and a girl the same age as these two.  Naturally they are both still struggling with the concept that the gifts are for someone they have never met but hopefully in time they will understand what a lovely thing they are doing. We are lucky enough...

I started this blog when Ollie was a mere six weeks old.  Since that time I have endeavoured to update it regularly, usually once a week.  But this year it has been a real challenge to maintain that pace.  The thought of not pushing on with it saddens me greatly and isn't something I could possibly do.  But I do have a lot more on my plate these days.  An extra child and a growing business have definitely taken up what little spare time I already had. This has been even more of a problem lately as we have prepared for Supanova.  For those of you not in the world of geek, Supanova is the equivalent of Comicon, where all of the nerdiest of nerds converge upon a conference to worship their favourite actors and writers.  We were lucky enough to take Mini Mayhem along for the three day event at the RNA showgrounds.  We have been working like crazy people for weeks now to get all of our stock ready and ourselves organised for me being away from the...