Blame It On The Cards

Yesterday I had my second last Bootcamp session. It was a killer. Every part of my body hurts, my knees are feeling especially sorry for themselves. You know what though, I feel good. I feel really good.

9 weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to do as much as I did yesterday, I would have been walking between sets after only a couple of sets, whereas today I ran between most of them, it was only the last few where exhaustion was starting to win out.

Over the last 9 weeks Princess Pain has mixed up our sessions, no two have been the same, there's been cardio, strength, boxing, lots of sweat, some very red faces and at times a bit of swearing. Yesterday's session was all about the pack of cards.

Princess Pain had a pack of cards, she shuffled it at the start and that set our plan for the session. Each card had an exercise on it, including Burpees, planks, push ups, step ups, mountain climbers, dips, and the number on the card determined how long you would do that activity or how many reps. The first one she pulled out was step ups on a 6, this meant we had to start with 60 seconds of step ups. Not a great start to the session! As we groaned our way through Princess Pain simply replied 'it's not me, it's the cards!'.

And on and on it went, through 14 jump squats, 15 dips, 60secs of plank etc, etc for a full hour. It was a major workout. Each time she turned over a card and read out the set I groaned, but sucked it up and did it. At the end of the session I even asked what the session times were for next term, I'm that keen to keep going.

You see I've always had a thing about exercise, it's not my favourite thing but I know I need to do it and once I'm in the groove I secretly love it, I love the endorphin hit is gives me, I love the small changes I start to see in my body and in myself, I start to have more energy, more happy moments and if I keep it up I get to go shopping for new clothes!

One added benefit over the last few sessions is the positive message that my Muddy Organiser is picking up, she's come to the last few sessions and seen me exercising, she's been asking questions about why I'm exercising and what it does and what each activity does. I feel great being able to set a nice positive example about exercise for my Muddy Kids, one I hope to be able to continue. I'm not sure how we'll go through winter with the late evenings and the cold air, but I'll give it a shot to make sure I keep going, because the benefits far outweigh my grumbles and groans!

What's your favourite bit about exercise?

Do you exercise with your kids?

Wordless Wednesday - My Babies are Growing Up

I feel like I've blinked and missed by girls growing up! I looked at these photos after taking them and I feel like it was only yesterday they were babies!

Do you feel like you missed a few years?

Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys

Some Lunch and Weighing Lambs for a Wonderful Weekend

I'd rather ignore Saturday with 6 loads of washing and a broken lawn mower but Sunday made for a Wonderful Weekend. Muddy Hubby fixed the mower for me, so I could finish mowing the orchard, keeping the mozzies down and giving me a clear view of the snakes coming. Then the Muddy Family headed to the local pub for lunch. We set up camp on the back lawn of the pub, the kids settled down on the rug for some colouring-in and lunch, while the adults settled in for a good catch up and tasty feed.

Our local pub has been gradually restored and renovated over the last few years. It's now a meeting place for friends and family, a place to relax, unwind and have a good time. During the year they host functions, and have family BBQ's, Sunday was one of those days.

After lunch the kids had fun watching the train go by, playing make believe as trains, planes and horses, while Muddy Hubby and I played with Muddy Bubby and chatted the afternoon away.

We went straight back to work in the late afternoon, weighing lambs for today's sheep sale. Making sure we had the heaviest to send to market. The girls are getting good at learning how to shift the sheep, keep them moving into the scales and drafting them off into the heavy and light pens. My favourite bit is them getting to spend time with Muddy Hubby and learn all the workings of the farm. I also love to see a bit of fashion in the sheep yards, Muddy Organiser with her silver shoes and pretty dress and Muddy Puzzler with her bright red dress, always a way to brighten up the dusty yards.

How did you spend your weekend? Do you have a local pub that's good for families like ours is?

Linking up with the Amazing Sonia at Life, Love and Hiccups for Wonderful Weekends

Expecting too much?

This week in town they are celebrating Seniors Week. There's been lots of activities for the older members of the community and each school, preschool, day care has had an event on for them to attend also. Muddy Hubby's Grandma is well and truly ensconced in the social activities in town, she's a member of several community groups, and attends church every Sunday and is always one of the first to sign up for trips away to different parts of Australia. In other words, for 84 she's a real goer!

Muddy Great Grandma has 26 great grandchildren, lots of whom live away, but for her my Muddy Organiser is the first one to go to school in the town where she lives, the first one where she can actually go to events that are held at school, with minimal effort, just a 2 min drive down the street.

So I rang last week and left a message with the details for Grandparents day, she was away on a trip, so I called the night before to make sure she got the message. I was informed that she wouldn't be coming because 'I want to stay home and clean my house'. This is the first grandparents day she has ever been invited to and her response to me was a little blunt and a little disheartening.

I know I probably got my hopes up expecting her to say yes to her first grandparents day as a great grandma, but I know if I was in her position I'd jump at the chance. Am I expecting too much, should I have not invited her, because it's not fair if she comes to my Muddy Organiser's events but doesn't make it to the other great grandkids? Maybe it's that she's over the grandkid thing, she was grandma to 19 grandkids and now for the great grandkids she's more interested in doing some things for herself?

Muddy Hubby tells me to 'get over it' and my Muddy Mother-in-law's response was 'she didn't have to be so blunt about it'. Given I don't have any grandparents left I have kids of adopted her as my Grandma, so I thought she'd be as keen as my grandparents would have been. I think maybe next time I have to lower my expectations, at least then Muddy Hubby won't have to listen to me whinge if my expectations aren't met!

Anyway, now that I've had my whinge, I did take a couple of photos, but my Muddy Organiser was concentrating so hard on her teacher's instructions to 'stand up straight and keep you hands behind your back' that she did not smile once during their concert, only after they had finished.

I was a very proud Mum as My Muddy Organiser led the whole school out in single file

Do you have grandparents day where you live?

Was I expecting too much of Muddy Great Grandma?

Wordless Wednesday - Sunday Afternoon Sheep Work

On a warm Sunday afternoon we headed to the Sheepyards for some Sheep Work together. All the while Muddy Bubby hanging in the Baby Bjorn.

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

Back Online and On The Move

Hooray, I have a computer back! Not only that but I have my camera back. Now all that's left is house repairs and I'll feel like I'm back in business.

I figured what better way to celebrate being back on line than with some pics of Muddy Bubby on the move. All my other Muddy Kids didn't crawl til about 9 months and they were conventional hands and knee crawlers. Muddy Bubby, so desperate not to miss out on any of the action, has begun commando crawling, and over the last month has mastered the art, he can get into anything and everything and he couldn't be happier! He spies something he wants and gets a look of determination and off he goes.

I'm hoping he gets the art of conventional crawling soon, because he's showing me just how dirty my floors are as he drags himself around!

Were your babies conventional crawlers or commando crawlers?

How old were they when they got on the move?

I so want to show you photos!!

But I can't!
I'm still computerless(not sure it's really a word!) the computer doctor says it's able to be saved, thank goodness, but will still be away for a little while. Things happen a bit more slowly in the country.

So anyway, I digress, Saturday night Muddy Hubby and I headed out to the 2828 Dinner Under The Stars. This was the tenth year they've held the dinner and I don't think they've had to have it indoors once. Friday night we had 61mm of rain, our road was quite literally a river, the water had nowhere to go except straight down our road. We got all frocked up, loaded up the kids for drop off at Muddy Grandma's for a sleepover and headed out in the water to make sure we made it to the dinner, whether it was inside or not!

You know what, the sun came out, it shone happily until sunset and kept the evening balmy and lovely. They had gone with an Oscars theme this year, which meant everyone was looking amazing, blokes in suits and bow ties, ladies all frocked up, and excitement in the air.

There were some great photo opportunities, but unfortunately they passed me by! One of the highlights for me was definitely Les Schirato, the CEO of Vittoria Coffee. This is an Australian Company, that sells 1.6 million cups of coffee a day!! They are a family run business and he was utterly charming and entertaining and was happy to have a laugh at himself. You can check out a send up on their ads made by one of our MC's on YouTube, you just type in 'Dinner Under The Stars 2012'. Al Pacino made a series of ads for Vittoria Coffee, and they're the only ads he's ever done, being a serious actor and all! The YouTube send up is our country version.

What amazed me though was that Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after Oil! This is a legal addictive substance and it is traded worldwide on a phenomenal basis.

The 2828 began as a community building and has grown into an amazing story. It helps the local community and provides traineeships for local Aboriginal students. The Cafe itself is run by community volunteers and TAFE students. The staff are all trained as Baristas by Vittoria Coffee, and it has a great range of giftware. You can read more about the story of 2828 here and if you're ever traveling through I absolutely recommend stopping for a coffee and a bite to eat!

The Dinner Under The Stars is their major fundraiser for the year and as well as the dinner and dancing they had a number of auction items and Bon bons with prizes. I didn't come home with anything much to Muddy Hubby's delight, but I had a great night. I only wish I could show you photos!!!

Do you have a hidden gem like the 2828 in your area?
Is there a highlight on your social Calendar?

Time to get my Frock on!

Hooray for March! It's here! At last it's here. This month gives me the opportunity to frock up not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times! Two Weddings, One Ball and One Fabulous Tenth anniversary 'Dinner Under the Stars'. Three of these will be child free events, this is almost unheard of in our house. Can you tell I'm just a teeny bit excited?!?! I think I'm already socially excited and the events haven't even started.

The opportunity to talk to adults uninterrupted, to start and end a conversation without having to tend to the Muddy Kids Inbetween and come back to the conversation only to forget where you left off. The chance to admire Muddy Hubby all decked out in a suit and smelling of something other than sheep or engine oil. One morning to have the chance to sleep in. Three chances to not have my clothes pulled on or spewed on, or covered in sticky finger marks.

Don't get me wrong I love taking my kids with me to places and sharing in exciting events with them, but I'm feeling ready for something different. Some Muddy Hubby and Me time, some adult company time, a glimpse into 'oh yes I am still a person under all those children and piles of washing' time. I can safely say October was the last time I got all frocked up and I had a six week baby in tow, so not exactly a relaxing evening!

I have been feeling a little chaotic, a little unsettled, I'm hoping that some Frocking up time will help recharge my batteries and get me back on track, Help me remember I have some mojo in there that keeps me going each day!

Do you love getting dressed up and heading out for some child free time as much as I do?
What's your favourite outing for you and Hubby?