Welcome to Australia Stanley

Meet Flat Stanley!!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine in England (who's little boy, Master C, just so happened to be Master J's best buddy when we used to live in England), contacted me asking for a favour.  Master C, who is also in year 1, was doing a class project that involved making 'Flat Stanley' and sending him off to another country where he could have some adventures and then make his way home to report back!

We were delighted to be involved and once I told Master J all about Stanley, he couldn't wait for him to arrive, and kept checking the post every day.

Stanley's arrived!  The big smile says it ALL!

Welcome to Australia Stanley

Stanley arrived all tucked up in an envelope with a set of instructions and we couldn't wait to show him around.

"Dear Master J

As part of our learning we have made ourselves a flat Stanley, based on the story of a little boy that is sent on an adventure.  Master C has decided to send his flat Stanley to you!  Please look after flat Stanley and tell us about his adventures.  Maybe he could come and spend the day with you at school or work, maybe you'd like to take him with you on a special trip and send us some photographs or information about where you have been or maybe he could find out about your home!  When flat Stanley is ready to come home after his adventure, please could you put him in the enclosed envelope, add some stamps and and pop him back in the post box.  When he arrives back to us we will find out about your adventures together as a class!

Love Master C"

Flat Stanley with Class 1R

Our first stop was to take Stanley to school.  Master J's teacher was absolutely thrilled to get involved and set aside some time for the whole class to learn about Stanley.  Master J got to do a 'special' news presentation to the class telling them all about Stanley and where he came from.  After looking at some pictures of Master C at school in England, the class learnt all about the differences between School in England and school in Australia.  (I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at their discussions and the kids just loved learning all about what kids their ages did at school in another country.  They then each drew a picture of something they do at school in Australia and we popped them all in an envelope ready to go back to England when Stanley has finished his adventures.

Poor Stanley brought the English weather with him - but he still had fun at the beach luckily.

We put Stanley in a bucket to stop him from getting blown away by the wind

Miss H held Stanley's hand just in case he was scared of the seagulls.

Of course Stanley had to visit the beach before he went home.  The first day we took him to the beach just happened to be a pretty cloudy, grey day and we all had a chuckle that Stanley must have brought the chilly English weather with him.  He didn't seem to mind though.

Stanley also learnt how to scooter and skate board and he went on the ferry to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House before we said goodbye and popped him back in the post.

Safe travels Stanley, we hope you let us know about your class in England.

The last week of January in pictures. Love Instagram!

I'm a bit late with this post, I'm afraid.  I was due to write it yesterday but forgot that we had to spend the day in the city having full medical checks for our permanent residency application for Australia!!  What a process that was!!  But I am happy to report that we are all fit and healthy with no hidden tropical diseases.  We're almost there now - SO exciting.

This week has welcomed back ROUTINE!!!  YEE HA!!  As much as I have really loved having the kids home for the holidays, I was starting to really crave routine again.  The summer school holiday really is a long one.

The last few days of our holidays were a bit of a wash out after what seemed like a years worth of rain decided to fall in a couple of days.  (My heart really does go out to all those poor families in Queensland that have been so badly affected by the rain, with some horrendous flooding).  We were lucky in Sydney to just have a few flash floods.  However living on the coast, the Ocean has given us some spectacular displays with some of the biggest waves I've EVER seen.  It was mesmerising just watching them.  Even the local surfers weren't brave enough to venture out.

A stunning display at Narrabeen Beach

Some rainy day play.  Miss H managed to stay in her PJ's the WHOLE day!  (Ahh remember those days.......)

On Wednesday morning Master J started Year 1!  They mixed up all the classes from last year so not only did he have a new teacher but a whole new class too.  He came out after his first day looking a little shell shocked, but apparently he'd had a very good day.  I had about 50 questions I wanted to ask about his day and had to be very restrained, keeping it to about 5!  Or maybe 10?  "Who was your new teacher?  Was she nice?  Who is in your class?  Who did you sit next to?  Did you recognise anyone from last year??........."  "MUM!!!  Will you just stop with all the questions - why do you HAVE to ask so many???????"  Typical boy - leaving me almost begging for information!!

First day of year 1.  He handled it like a pro

A quick swim after school.  I'm going to miss these days when the winter starts to creep in on us.

Sleeping beauty

Since Master J and Miss H have gone back to school and Kindy I've really enjoyed having my little bubs all to myself.  I'm really going to make a conscious effort to make the most it as I know it'll be gone in a blink!

Caught in a down pour after school!  Why does it always rain at EXACTLY 10 past 3?????

Poor Miss L was less than impressed at being caught in the rain.  By the time we got to the car she was actually sitting in a huge puddle of water!

Fed up of being indoors, Master J decided to brave the angry clouds take a chance of being drenched again to practice his skateboarding.

Miss H's first sleepover over.  Such good little cuties they were.

She is just so kissable!

Routine means my early morning fitness classes have resumed.  Those beautiful sunrises make all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile!

Ouchie!!

Somebody decided to start crawling this week!  With her very first expedition just when I wasn't looking!!  Typical!!!  I popped her down on a grassy patch next to car while I opened the boot to get her pushchair out, when suddenly I heard the most awful scream!  You know the kind that starts with silence.........  I whizzed round to see that she had tried to crawl off the edge of the kerb and landed head first!  Poor bunny - I think we both had tears.  Fortunately it looked far worse than it actually was!

Did you notice that I have finally got around to getting my photos watermarked??  What do you think??    I have been using an app on my iphone called "PhotoMarkr", which lets me insert my own image as well as txt onto a watermark.  It's really good, although it would be a lot less time consuming if there was an application I could use directly in iphoto on my computer.  Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Are you 2 kool 4 skool??

As a mum I'm always doing my best to keep up with the latest kiddie trends, so that I'm up to scratch with what's going on in 'their' world!  I sometimes have to work that tiny bit harder with Master J as I'm pretty useless when it comes to a lot of "boy stuff"!  I was rubbish during the Ben 10 and transformers stage - always getting the goodies and baddies muddled up!!!

Since starting school last year there has been a whole new set of trends for me to wrap my head around.  (To be honest, I'm quite pleased to see the back of Ben 10).  Now we're into skinny jeans, and cool high-tops, amongst other things!  It's so easy to forget how important it is for them to have the 'right' gear at school and from a surprisingly early age too.  I'm still getting used the fact that Master J has now got an opinion on just about EVERYTHING I buy for him.  I've been so used to choosing things for him that I'm having to dig deep to relinquish control (it's that OCD in me popping up to say Hi again!)  At least I still get to choose for Miss L.

With only two weeks to go until the new school term it's time to start getting organised again and ready for that crazy routine to start (*sobs*).  When Blog and PR contacted me, asking me if I'd like to review a new stationary range I jumped at the chance.  It was the name that first grabbed my attention - 2kool4skool!  Who doesn't want to be 2koo4skool??  I have often found myself referring to Master J and his friends as "two cool for school" so many times recently that I knew I was going to love this range.

Exciting!  Goodies arriving in the post

2kool4skool was originally started by a single, working mum of three who got fed up with trying to cover her kids workbooks in contact.  I've not yet had to do that but I VERY CLEARLY remember my poor mum with rolls of it, desperately trying to cover all our books without getting bubbles in the plastic (or our fingers stuck in it!!).  You have to ever so carefully peel back the plastic and then lay each book down without it sticking too quickly or getting wrinkles or bubbles!  What a nightmare!!  Anyway, 2kool4skool have solved the problem but designing some brilliant and funky plastic slip on book covers (of all sizes) where you can just 'slip' your book in!  Just like that. You could even do it with your eyes closed.  Or even better mums - get your kids to cover their own books!!

These are a few examples of the fabulous and oh so clever book covers - aimed at Master J, of course, who is 6.  However the 2kool4school website have a huge range of covers for both boys and girls from ages 3 to 18!!  Click here to view their full range.

2kool4skool have been so successful with their book cover range that they have expanded into all other aspects of school stationery including pencils, texters, markers, pencils cases, ear phones, USB sticks and erasers to name a few.  All of them have an exciting and cool twist that is guaranteed to get the kids talking!

2kool4skool will be donating 10% of all it's profits from sales of book covers to help support the Demazong Academy in Sikkim, which is located in the smallest Indian State on the Nepalese border.

A clever little pocket inside the 'slip-on' book cover to store your pencils (oh and that cute little leopard pencil is as furry as it looks)

That popcorn pen ACTUALLY smelt like popcorn!  It reminded me of that lovely, overwhelming popcorn smell you get when you go to the movies.

Miss H absolutely LOVED these 'double dip' scented market pens!  She had heaps of fun drawing flowers and lollies and then making me smell them all!  "This one is the bestest mummy, coz it smells like watermelon and watermelon is my favourite!!"

These scratch and sniff labels are soooooo cool!  This one smelt just like chocolate

Master J is going into year 1 this year (already!!!!) and it will be the first time he has had to bring all his own stationary to school.  He's very excited and has packed and re-packed his pencil case at least half a dozen times.  What I just LOVE about his 2kool4skool pencil case is that it's HUGE!!  It fits absolutely everything into it which means he only has ONE thing to remember to pack into his school bag!!  He takes after me and is forever losing things, so the fewer things to pack, the better!!

We LOVE IT!!

You see what I mean - EVERYTHING fits into it.  I could even get his readers in there too!

If you're about to get your kids kitted out for school I highly recommend you check out 2kool4skool.  There is nothing you won't be able to find and their website is so easy to use.  The best part is that you can do it from the comfort of home!!  With the weather being as hot as it has been recently  the last thing you want to do is drag yourself around the mall - ESPECIALLY with the kids in tow!

You can browse and order directly from www.2kool4skool.com.au 

You can also click here to 'like' their facebook page  here   which will keep you up to date with all their special offers and promotions.  They are currently doing a daily giveaway, so head over now for your chance to win!

Master J's favourite thing was this cute pair of LEGO earphones!  I love them too as he can now play on the ipad without me having to listen to all the annoying, repetitive sound effects!!

This post has been written as a review for 2kool4skool.  I would like to thank Blogs and PR for the opportunity to work with 2kool4skool and the lovely team at 2kool4skool for all the goodies they sent us to try out.  We've loved them all.  I have not been paid to write this review and all opinions and photos are my own.

A year in pictures! The db's best bits of 2012.

I cannot believe that I am sitting here "rounding up the year"!  Where has it gone??  I know the saying goes that the older you get the faster the years fly by - but am I that old already??  2012 has been our first complete year spent in Sydney and has certainly been action packed.  Here is a quick summary of our best bits.....  

January
It was a lovely start to 2012 having mum and dad stay with us for a few weeks.  I loved  having them around so much that when I dropped them back at the airport to catch their flight I sobbed the WHOLE way home.  Luckily I had been warned that this would happened and after a few days I was back in the swing of things and waiting for their next trip to Sydney.     

February
Master J started Kindergarden his month.   It was an emotional day for me as he looked so grown up, yet so small in his school uniform.  I may have shed a tiny tear, but managed to hold it together very well.  Miss H also started her little Kindy and looked so grown up.  As they both started on the same day (very strategically planned) Mr D and I decided to take the opportunity to enjoy a lovely kid free lunch.  We were having such a great time that we almost forgot the kids and ended up being late to pick them up........on their first day!  Such bad parenting!!!!

March
March was a big month for Mr D as he was promoted at work.   On the 18th March we also celebrated making our first year in Australia.

April
This month our Miss H turned 3.  She celebrated her birthday at Steve Irwin’s ‘Australia Zoo’ in Queensland.  We spent the easter school holidays in Queensland, exploring some of the stunning Australian coastline.  It was our first loooooooong drive with kids and a very pregnant me, but it didn't put us off and we'll defiantly be doing it again.

Crikey! It's my birthday!

Enjoying some of Queensland's spectacular beaches

Beautiful Byron Bay and a big bump

May
On the 29th of May our beautiful little Miss L arrived into the world. We had a couple of slightly stressful false alarms on the week running up to her birth, and when she finally arrived we only JUST made it to the hospital on time!! (and gained a speeding and parking fine along the way).   I had the most amazing 5 night stay in the most beautiful hospital (or hotel) getting to know my new little munchkin.    It was hard being so far from my family at this time but I am so grateful to all our wonderful new friends that went out of their way to help us settle in as a new family of 5.  Miss H and Master J was SOOOO excited to have their new baby at long last and we had to visit both schools to show her off.  It really is amazing to see how innately strong the sibling bond is.

June
This month was a bit of a blur for me to be honest as I was a little sleep deprived to say the least! I did however manage to get a huge parking fine and crash the car! Fortunately no one was hurt (apart from our bank balance) but it was a real lesson for me, that I can’t do EVERYTHING on my own and that it’s ok to accept help. But on a more exciting note – we got news that my little sis and her Mr are expecting their first baby girl next year and I’m going to be an Aunty!!!

Settling in as the new dB5

July
Mum arrived this month from England (just in the nick of time) to meet our little Miss L and to help us all get through the first school holidays with three kids. It was an absolute godsend having her here and even though it was the middle of winter, the weather was beautiful and sunny and we had a wonderful couple of weeks. It made me realise just how much we miss not having mum and dad down the road.

When Granny came to stay

August
This month I decided to turn my blog writing into something a little more permanent. I initially started writing it as a means to keep family and friends up to date with our lives in Sydney.  I enjoy writing it so much that I’ve decided to go a little more public with it.  I suddenly have found myself immersed in a new world of social media and had no idea how ‘big’ it was out there! I’m learning so much all the time and want to keep going (even thought I’m hard pressed to find the time sometimes). 

Mr D takes the kids on a tree climbing adventure to give me some time to write!  

September
School holidays again! Can’t quite believe we are two­‐thirds through the first school year!  We headed up the north coast on our first road trip as a family of 5. It was only a 4 hour drive but we had to make several stops for feeding and wee’s and leg stretching. Thank god for ipads – I don’t know how my parents survived without them! We stayed in the beautiful Port Stephens Bay for a week and did nothing but chill out at the beach.  I even managed to read a book!!!

Road-tripping with 3

Family time on the beach

Miss L's first swim.  What a cutie x

Beautiful Hawkes Nest Bay

October
This month Master J turned 6 – at last!! I say that because he asked me at least once a week from the beginning of the year ‘how many sleeps until I’m 6?’ He seems to have grown up so much this year and bringing with it a whole new set of parenting challenges for us. Especially now that he can read – nothing is a secret anymore. The other day he managed to get onto the school canteen app on my iPhone and order his own lunch!!!! Telling me he didn’t feel like my sandwiches that day. However we are so proud of how he has settled, not only into his new life in Aus but also into school. (Not sure how I’m going to cope next year when the homework starts to come home). We also spent a long weekend away with my cousin LCJ and MT in a beach house up the North Coast of Sydney. I love it that I have one family member that is ‘almost’ around the corner.  It was an awesome weekend with lots of laughs!  The boys were on a fishing mission and even ended up knee deep in mud just to get to a great fishing spot!!!

Master J turn 6.  What a bunch of cheeky riders!

Mr D and MT relaxing with some ocean fishing.  Unfortunately they didn't catch anything we could actually eat!

LCJ with her newest niece

All this mud was Miss H's idea of HEAVEN!

November
The Sydney weather kicked up a gear or two in the heat department this month and has given me an indication of what’s to come in the summer!! HOT HOT HOT!! We’ve had some extremely humid days making my daily job of getting in and out the car a hundred times (well not quite hundred but it feels like that sometimes) not so pleasant! Roll on the school holidays. Master J also started nippers (junior surf life saving) and ocean swim club this month. He has taken to the water so well and I think we might have a little swim star on our hands.   Miss H did her first ballet recital on stage this month and was absolutely beautiful. It brought a little tear to my eye (yes, another one!!).

Master J swimming his awesome 25m race in the big pool!

Miss H and her beautiful ballerina friends waiting for their turn to go on stage

Ice-cream at the beach after school - you know it's summer time!!

December
This month we will have our first Christmas ever with just the 5 of us! We’re going to be house sitting for a colleague ofMr D's, so will spend Christmas and New Year at a lovely Beach House just kicking back and enjoying all the festivities.

I have had loads of fun taking Candy Bows to the local markets over the festive period

Have a good chat with Santa x

Miss L meets Santa at the beach.  It's strange to think she'll never know a cold, wintery Christmas.

Master J's school Christmas concert.  It was so cute I might have welled up just a tiny little bit.

With that I’d like to thank you all, my lovely readers, for following Mrs D this year.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an exciting 2013.