(does it count as being wordless if he words are ON the photo?!)

*pause* (whilst you all pick yourselves up from the floor).

I have never been a coffee person.  LOVE the smell.  Oh yes – remember when supermarkets used to let you grind your own beans?  I thought nothing of sticking my nose as far into the grinder as possible, and inhaling that delicious aroma. Mmmm.  The taste – UGH.  So bitter.  Why would I want to confuse my ‘happy coffee smells’ with that awful bitter taste.  Not going to happen.  Ever.

Until a week or so ago.

I blame my friend Katie. She has a Nespresso machine (unfortunately no George Clooney).  the smell emitting from that thing – AMAZING. She whipped up a coffee for herself and another friend, and I had a little taste (I am a soy milk drinker – she only had ‘normal’ milk – so was only up for a titchy taste).  oh gosh – it was yum.  Really yum.  Since that LITTLE life-changing experience mouthful, I have been thinking about dropping in on Katie again, armed with some appropriate milk for my belly!

Fast forward to today.  Murphy invited me to her Kinder Mothers Day afternoon tea. (a post dedicated to that coming…) Much excitement.  We were offered coffee or tea.  Being neither a coffee or tea drinker (and knowing there was no soy milk!), I chose tea, and figured i could lock into stealth mode, and water a plant with my unwanted tea.  Murphy came back with a cup of coffee! How could I not take it – she was so so happy. I plopped in a spoonful of cream (!), and some sugar and had a swig.

It was OK!

I guzzled it down, (along with copious teddy-bear biscuits that had been iced with love and MANY sprinkles) and wondered at my suddenly grown-up palette.

Not being able to get the thought out of my head, I stopped in at my local deli (who know me well – after all – they kept me going in yummy ham, through three pregnancies!), and explained my newly found taste for coffee.  Could she please make me a real coffee? She was super excited to relieve my of my ‘coffee-inity” (umm – yeah – it’s ‘totes’ a real word!), and she made me a delish Bonsoy latte with her ‘five senses’ coffee beans, and then demanded that i take my first sip in front of her.

I was impressed. And hooked.  And slightly buzzy.  And a little excited.

So excited that I drove home and bounced across the road to tell my neighbour.  Then I rang Wilbur.  Then I told a friend who brought Madison home from school. The I instagrammed it, and subsequently facebooked it.  Then i made dinner in record time.  AND – I am still out of bed.  AWAKE.  I had that coffee  7 hours ago.  (note to self – NEVER drink coffee later than 4pm!).

I am ready to be all grow’d up and go on coffee dates.  So much more satisfying that saying “umm – soy milk hot chocolate please”!

Bring on the soy skinny latte!

AND……. because i can’t post without a picture – I captured this on my trusty iPhone today. This little girl is AWESOME!

PS – All Aussies – make sure you purchase the Sunday Herald Sun this weekend – we are featured in the Sunday Magazine!

This list is not a list of hints. (although…… Wilbur – if you happen to read this!), it’s just a group of wishes….

SO – here goes.  For Mothers Day 2012, I would like:

1. Wilbur to surprise me by sliding into bed during the night, and enveloping me in a big bear hug (umm – without the snoring puhlease!)

2. My girls to bounce in onto bed AFTER 7:00am.

3. The sunshine to visit for long enough tomorrow so that we can eat cake and drink hot chocolates on the beach (after we have warmed our house by baking delicious treats), and make shadow chalk drawings on the path.  Note – the hot chocolate part may be tricksy – I can’t remember where the thermos is.

4.  My grumbly self to not make an appearance, but instead be at peace for the day, and find insurmountable patience.

5.  To find the whereabouts of our book ‘Georges Marvelous Medicine’, so we can snuggle up and continue reading it together.

6. a simple, easy day full of love.

Sounds fabulous – yes? Will report back as to whether my wishlist came true.

Now, if I had to wish for actual physical ‘things’, here are a few, in absolutely no particular order….

1. watercolor painting class, with the very talented Dawn. 2. cute little notepapers 3. Poppies for Grace notecards: 4. wooden stamp set: 5. iPhone 4S: I already have an iPhone4, it is a few years old now, and it is definitely on the way out. PLUS – I want to make the most of Siri  and the camera (unlike Wilbur, whose iPhone4S is wasted on, since he just uses it as a phone!).  Needs t be white and 64GB.  My contract is up soon, and I will upgrade – yay!

It’s not a massive wishlist.  Infact, I am sure with lots of thought, I could add more, but really, Mothers Day is about celebrating being a MUM, and having a Mum.  Unfortunately my Mum isn’t here anymore, but I’ll be sending her (and my Grandma), a few Mothers Day thoughts.  I am sure they are both watching us from wherever they are, enjoying watching our little girl-tribe live life.

Happiest of happy Mothers Day for tomorrow for all the Mums, and kids – do your Mum a favour, and let her sleep in BEFORE you bombard her with love and craft goodness.

Quite out of the blue on Tuesday, I received an email inviting me to the opening of BONDS Australia‘s new Doncaster Store, to meet and chat with Sarah Murdoch, take a few photos and enjoy all that bonds has to offer.  I LOVE a bit of Bonds, and am a fan of Sarah’s, so I picked myself up off the floor (where I fell after reading the email!), and off went Milla and I today.

Let me start by saying, I was totally unsure of what to expect, having never been to an opening of anything before.  Certainly there would be no red carpet (or would there?!), nor would I really get a chance to sit down and chat to Sarah one-on-one.  Surely not.  So – I didn’t actually PREPARE any stunningly amazing questions for her.  As I was driving, I felt a wee bit of panic creep up on me.  What if I DID actually get to chat to her?  What would I say? What would I ask her? What if I got all flustery and fumbly? By the time I made it into the store (without checking EXACTLY where I had parked my car – note to self – NEVER EVER walk into a shopping complex without a tent, packed lunch and cookies that you can leave a trail of crumbs, thereby leading you safely back to your car……….), I was slightly frazzled.  I think I covered up nicely though!

After some browsing, and the obligatory two-year old toilet stop, I was introduced to Sarah, and we had our photo taken.  Oh my gosh.  She is so effortlessly graceful.  Tall.  Beautiful and NORMAL!  Such a lovely Mama. She and Milla and I were ushered to the back of the store for a chat. We talked parenting. We talked work-life balance.  We talked about snuggling up in bed with our children.  Laughed over the contents of our handbags. She pulled out her iPad for Milla to play with – not minding about the sticky banana-fingers. We talked about taking out children for granted, but then realising that they are treasures.  The feeling we get when we THINK we want to have some peace and quiet away from our children, but when we are actually AWAY, our hearts feel slightly empty. She showed me photos of her little gang on her iPhone. They are super cute. We talked about how children take stock in everything around them – they are in their own time – enjoying the little things – things we should be more mindful of. She smiled and laughed.  With me. I felt special, and that is good.

We. Just. Chatted.

It was lovely.  She may be one of the most well-known faces of Australia – an icon even – but I saw her today as a beautiful, caring mum, daughter, wife and person. Just like me.  And you. Thank-you Sarah for reminding me that no matter how busy, grumbly, tired, famous or ‘anything’ that we are, we are all CELEBRATED by our families, and celebrate the little things.

I took all of these photographs on my iphone – that ensured I captured the moment, and the little things that Milla was loving, rather than fiddling with my big gorgeous camera – so the quality isn’t fabulous – but the memories are.

Milla LOVES her gorgeous stripey wondersuit and hoodie – I think she gets a bigger kick out of parading around her own ‘baggie’!  Yes – she was wondering around nearly nude – after she tried on her Wondersuit, she felt there was absolutely no need to get dressed completely again.  How could I argue with that cute belly!  The new Store is fabulous – stocked to the brim with all of our favourite Bonds-wear – knickers galore (it was all I could do to stop Milla from tearing them from the hanger and wearing them on her head!), tees, hoodies, sloppy joes, skirts, dresses, trackies and more.  Whip on over and have a look!

Thank-you to Bonds Australia, and the lovely Sarah Murdoch.

I love my girl. Yes I do.  Sometimes though, I would like to put them in a box with an airhole and leave them there – just for an hour or so.  Yes.  I also said that out loud.

I wonder – is it to much to expect that my 7 and 9 year olds get themselves dressed in the morning and then eat their breakfast that I put in front of them WITHOUT any fighting, niggling, time-wasting, lying on the floor doing goodness knows what, etc, etc?

AND – what is with all the fighting between them lately.  All the whinging. All the back-chatting from Madison?  All the ‘I don’t know’ answers to questions where they are clearly in the wrong?

Why does it not work even when I am calm and count to a millionty-ten before asking AGAIN to do something?  It certainly doesn’t work when I yell – we all get upset.  I hate yelling – yet I have done so much of it lately that I am sure our neighbours think I am a cranky old haggy witch.  My throat hurts.

Why is it that I am swearing under my breath whilst I am yelling at them.  I do not swear.  Ever.

Why am I not feeling the love.

I put them to bed tonight just so I could have some peace. I totally had lost patience.  Totally.  I needed to remove myself from them – so to bed they went.  I sat down and had a good good cry.

I feel better.

Tomorrow is a new day.  I am turning the page on today and the last few days. A new chapter. One with a much happier ‘choose your own adventure’ ending.

Late last year, it was a warm evening, and I had done the dinner, bath, PJ’s routine, when on a whim, I took the girls down to the beach, along with Hervey the dog, for a play.  Play they did.  All four of them needed another bath before bed.  their PJ’s were rendered useless for that night.  They had fun. Both of these photographs show special qualities of my girls that I LOVE.

Madison holding her sisters back from the water – just like a little mother (this must have been BEFORE they all ran in holus bolus!)

Murphy holding her hair back with her left hand, as she ventures out into the water.

Mackenzie with Hervey’s leash around her neck – always wanting to drag him around (literally) by the leash.

Milla is just ready set go go go.

Hervey the dog is loitering and running in the background, just in case we throw his ball for him.

Perfect memories.

My Milla-bean LOVES the water.  Loves is not even a strong enough word.  I pop her in the shower with a trickle of water running, and it gives me enough time to get some stuff done.  Like cook dinner.  Now – before I get people worried about water safety – she is watched.  The bathroom had no door.  It is attached to the kitchen.  I can see straight in.  I can hear her giggling and splashing as she plays.  She is safe – otherwise I would never do this.

Check out the happiness!

No – she is not anatomically dodgy with a green dot for her ‘bits’!  Gotta be a little aware of internet safety……

Woohoo ladies – a $10 dough voucher is on it’s way to you (after I have contacted you to get your postal addresses!).

Thanks for playing along everyone – such fun!

Note to self – think twice about taking four children camping in a small tent, without husband, and when youngest child is just out of nappies, and thinks going to the potty is a game – especially in the middle of the night!

We went with a number of other families – so it wasn’t as if I was totally not thinking.  The gang we go camping with is FABULOUS – we have a ball.  We did have a ball this time as well – but Milla decided sleep wasn’t for her – night and day – and potty time was party time.  Needless to say – I was exhausted and slightly frazzled by the end of it!  Would I do it again – yep – for sure.  I WOULD prefer to have Wilbur there – but hey – I can and did do it by myself – so that’s gotta be a good thing.

I only took my gorgeous FujiX10 camera and my iphone – so photos were actually few and far between – I was too busy rounding up and feeding children…..

I took Milla for a little jaunt in the hope that sleep would come – but to no avail!

Oh how I LOVE our sparkly lights that I draped around our tent – gave a nice soft glow to the inside as the girls were ‘sleeping’.

Umm – need I say more…….

I LOVE the Prom – and am looking forward to going back super soon.  Madison is off again on Monday for a school camp – lucky girl:)

The wonderful folks at Bakers Delight contacted me recently, asking if I would like to sample some of their buns and review them.  Ummm….. YES PLEASE! I arranged to pick up some fresh hot cross buns and choc-cross buns (yep – CHOC-cross buns – since when did chocolate outsmart the sultana in a bun?!) from our local Bakers Delight bakery early in the morning on our way to Wilsons Prom over the long weekend.  (Wilson’s Prom round-up coming soon….).  Let me tell you – my Mackenzie was chomping at the bit to get stick into those buns.  Every 15 minutes or so – “mum – I’m hungry”.  I wanted to get at least half-way through the 3.5 hour drive before I relented – and stopped.  We pulled over to a ‘grassy knoll’ (not even sure what that is, but it sounds poetic…), and we had ourselves a mini picnic.  Any excuse to get out the rug!

It’s safe to say the buns were DELICIOUS.  I am not a big bun-lover (unlike my husband – wink…wink…!), but these were pretty good.  Super big and fluffy and fresh.  Madison pronounced the sultana ones as her favourite, whilst the others were super happy with the chocolate.  Yay for Bakers Delight – morning tea on the run – PERFECT!  Find them on Facebook or twitter  for some of their goodness!

The lovely people at Bakers Delight have very kindly given me three ‘$10 worth of dough’ vouchers to give away. It’s easy peasy – just leave me a note right here on the blog, and I’ll randomly generate three winners! You have until Sunday 18th March at 8:00pm (right before Homeland……) to enter!