The Dower Family

Another year has flown by and somehow you are eleven.  Your life has now spanned across three different decades.  Crazy.  So let me tell you some of the things that I will remember about you at this age. -         You love reheated food for breakfast – pizza, sausages, any kind of leftovers.  We call it your University breakfast. -         You played your third season of AFL.  This year you faced the challenge of moving up to a full sized field but still had the best time playing along with your mates. -         You have started to read Stephen King books.  You’ve been asking for years but finally we relented and eased you in with some more tame ones.  You are onto your third one now and somehow we’ve only had one nightmare so far. -         You wear the same size clothes as me.  A size 10 shi...

My youngest child is eight!! How can that be? Nearly three thousand days on this planet?? As I come to grips with this let me share with you some of the things I want to always remember about her at this age: -         She has a crush.  She wouldn’t tell me for ages who it was but Ollie knew and was sworn to secrecy which is super cute.  Plus I knew pretty early on anyway thanks to her writing his name all around the place with love hearts around it. -          She makes this makes this weird cat noise – like a hissing meow.   It’s sometimes accompanied by a strange claw like gesture and usually when she doesn’t like something that you’ve done.   Everyone who has ever heard it agrees that it’s REALLY annoying.   Conversely she has a high pitched squeak like a guinea pig when she is happy about something.   Basically she is just a small animal.   -     ...

I'm just going to casually mention that when midnight hits tonight I will have been a mother for the past decade.  Um, a decade?! Like TEN WHOLE YEARS??? How can that even be possible?  While I wrap my head around that crazy concept, let me tell you a few of the things that I will remember about my sweet little Ollie as he turns ten (for the tenth time, as it is a tradition around here!). Books are still his first love.  He usually leaves the local library with no less than fifteen books which might last him a week at most.  He has also discovered the 'Graphic Novel' section which means he comes home with some pretty cool comics.  Occasionally he will stumble across one he shouldn't, like "Deadpool".  That one got returned pretty quickly! He reads at a 16+ year old level.  I'm not going to lie, he probably knows words that I don't even know and I'm not that dopey.  This kid is going places.  I'm just trying to make sure those...

In just two sleeps our sweet little boy will be 10!  Here are some recent snaps of his gorgeous (and sometimes scowling) face.

Another year has flown by and we have a seven year old girl! While I wonder how that has happened so quickly, let me tell you some of the things I will always remember about Eve at this age. She is a big grade one girl now, not a little baby preppie.  She was so very proud to finally put on the big girl school uniform.  Although not the cullotes.  Definitely not the cullotes. She reads chapter books now.  Billie B Brown ones are definitely her favourites but anything with a fairy or a horse or even just a girl in it would be pretty much her style. She is a nightmare at keeping her room tidy.  She stashes things in corners, under chairs and behind toys to avoid actually putting them away.  I find dirty clothes in the toy drawers and toys in her laundry hamper. She draws all over the pathways with rainbow coloured chalk.  Sometimes she mixes it with water to make it super bright.  Last week she mixed it with glue.  Let's see how that...

Mother’s Day makes me look back on nine years of sacrifices.  Sleepless nights, major life changes, what you did to my body, not to mention my sanity.  I look back on all the hours I spent rocking you to sleep, singing you lullabies until I couldn’t sing anymore and just wishing that you would finally drift off to sleep.  Then the stealthy, ninja like moves on the floor to sneak out of the room without you knowing, only to hit the wrong floorboard and have your eyes open again, followed by a cry. But when you did eventually sleep, I couldn’t help creep back in to look at your beautiful peaceful faces, and almost, just almost want to wake you up because I missed you so much. I have taught you so much. How to eat, how to walk and to talk, your ABCs and how to read. But you have taught me so much more. You’ve taught me that I can exist on a ridiculously small amount of sleep. That I can feel unbelievably awful with illness, but your suffering with it pains me ev...

Another Nippers season is finished and these two little cuties couldn’t be more proud of themselves. Sure, we’ve had some tears when there have been big waves and Ol has had to really step up now that they are going out super far on the boards. But that is all forgotten now they’ve got their shiny new medals!

After six VERY along weeks of holidays, these two are finally back to school and we all couldn’t be happier. Eve is thrilled to pieces to be a big grade one girl, to finally wear the proper school uniform and to get big girl homework (we’ll see how long that lasts!). Ol is happy to be back because he really missed hanging out with all of his mates, he loves to learn and he couldn’t wait to meet his new teachers again. Personally, I couldn’t wait to get them out the door and back into the daily routine. I think they were really starting to miss it.  Plus they may have been driving me absolutely bonkers with all of their squabbling!!

A photo from each of the past twelve months. You are happily sleeping after a first big day of being a nine year old.  In what is a tradition around here, I want to share some of the things that I will always remember about you at this age. - you still eat like a caveman.  I am constantly telling you that ice-cream/lasagne/custard is not a finger food - you can be quite the little worrier.  You ask me every single day if I will pick you up from the exact same spot.  I do.  Every, single time.  But still you fret. - you love Harry Potter even more than last year.  I thought once you'd read all the books it might fade.  It hasn't.  A muggle like me can't possibly understand. - You struggle to tell a lie without cracking a smile.  You even cover your mouth when you are trying to convince me you are telling the truth.  A classic giveaway. - You are just the right height that I can put my arms around your shoulders and cud...

This sweet pea and I had a girl’s trip down to Sydney in October to spend some time with Aunty Alicia and Uncle Guy before they headed off on their big global adventure. I thought I was taking the easy child with me and was totally in for a relaxing trip. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The first day was alright, apart from buying her the wrong ice-cream, which she refused to eat until I bought another one which met her strict criteria. Rainbow. I should have known. Luckily Uncle Guy was more than happy with the first ice-cream. We had a great visit to the coolest play centre near Al & Guy’s place. Lots of insta worthy photo opportunities! It was also the perfect place to catch up with Aunty Tahlia.

Six.  SIX?!? How can you be six?   You started school this year. I've never seen a kid so super confident walking through those school gates. You hardly gave me a backwards glance as you settled into your new class, making new friends and learning new tricks.  You really have just rocked it.  I've missed having you around with me as my little buddy, coming with me on errands and entertaining me with your crazy antics.  The house feels empty without you in it.  You've made all the connections with reading and writing.  It's all coming together and it's so exciting to watch.  You can pick up books from your shelf and I can see the absolute delight when you can read the words from the page.  You sit at the table and write out words, asking me to spell them to you.  Sometimes you even write me notes, telling me you are sorry for something you have done, or telling me I am the meanest mummy in the world because you didn't g...

We spent Easter with all of the cousins under the one roof.  Luckily the Easter Bunny was still able to find us!

It's been a crazy start to the year with Eve starting prep AND moving house but we are still here. As a proof of life here are our two not so little ones chilling out on the couch tonight. Still driving each other bonkers but also loving each other like crazy. Xx

Wasn't it just days ago that I was writing the seven birthday blog? How are these years flying by so quickly?  This year seems especially quick.  Everything feels rushed, like if I close my eyes I'll be writing a nine birthday blog.  And I'm certainly not ready for that.  So before another year passes, let me tell you some of the things that I will remember about my beautiful boy from this year: - he has become obsessed with Harry Potter.  He is just about to start the sixth book but he is constantly going back and revisiting the earlier books.  He dressed as HP for Halloween this year (like he was ever going to be anyone else) and is constantly jabbering away about all the characters and how it is so unfair that he is a muggle.  I have said that I need to read the books too so I can figure out what he is going on about.   - We have kicked the butt of allergies even more this year, moving from taking medicine everyday to having a ...

We took an early Christmas holiday on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas.  Here are some of our highlights.

Friday's are usually a pretty good day in our world. The end of the working week, school parade and sometimes even tuck shop. But today we took it up a notch with a cheeky day off school and a trip to Movieworld (thanks to our yearly tickets it cost us nothing to go today).  The kiddos had an absolute blast going on all the rides that Eve could fit on. I basically just lined up in the heat for rides that I wasn't even going on which really proves just how much I love these two ratbags. We then settled ourselves in for a play and a splash at our favourite family secret beach. A couple of seagulls came to visit but otherwise we had it completely to ourselves.