You jump and you jump and you jump and you STOP!

One of Jessica's most favourite things to do in the whole wide world is jump on our trampoline! When it is time to take a break from homework, housework, or just lazing around the house type of work, she jumps!

One of Samuel's most favourite things in the whole world is to jump! He jumps around the house, he jumps off things, he jumps on the bed, he just jumps and jumps. His most favourite place to jump is our trampoline. Sometimes the first thing he says in the morning is, "Jump? Jump?" He is devastated when it is raining and can't jump.

Just goes to show that siblings that are 14 years apart can still have something in common.

Sally-Ann

One fish two fish red fish blue fish

Jessica has quite a few things that she participates in over the year and as a family we attend related events to support her and enjoy her talents. Sitting through harp concerts, road shows, school open houses, parent teacher conferences, etc., can be very difficult for a active little boy. So, today, I thought it should be Sam Day.

We had yearly passes for the Florida Aquarium for a very long time when we first moved to Tampa. But after visiting it many, many times and also going there on many, many school field trips, we were "aquariumed" out for a while. Samuel has never been, so today I took him for a visit!

What could possibly have Samuel sitting so still and concentrating so hard??

This stingray was part of the sea shore exhibit. It kept swimming right by Sam and as it went by like this, it would flip water up and make a splash. This kept Sam sitting still and enthralled for 10 minutes!

Never smile at a crocodile......or in this case, a alligator!

I tried for several photos to get Samuel to look at me and say, "CHEESE".

Missed the smile

and

"CHEESE" again!

AND AGAIN!!!!

Sam LOVED playing on the big sea shells. He also loved the touch tank. Wish I could have taken some pictures of him touching the star fish and other various underwater creepy crawlies, but, if I had let go of his "gentle" hands to snap a picture, there would have been death and mayhem at the touch tank today.

These are called "Sea Dragons" and are from Australia. Ugly little critters, but fascinating!




















We had a wonderful few hours at the aquarium. Many of the exhibits were closed for renovation, so we are looking forward to going back and exploring them when they open next month. They used to have a area called, "Explore the Shore". It had a splash area and several activities for children to participate in. The last time we were there, it was getting a little tired and worn. They now have a new area that is wonderful. I didn't take Samuel there today because we didn't have a towel or swimsuit for him, plus, I think there would have been major despair and wailing from my little boy when it was time to leave! That will be another thing to check out next time.

So, I will leave with a quote from Dr. Seuss.

"One fish

two fish

red fish

blue fish

Black fish

blue fish

old fish

new fish

This one has a little star.

This one has a little car.

Say! what a lot of fish there are.........

Today is gone. Today was fun.

Tomorrow is another one.

Every day,

from here to there,

funny things are everywhere.

Sally-Ann

For all the Mothers

San Diego

Jim is out of town for the week. He is in San Diego for a business conference. Sooooo, that leaves me holding down the fort at home. Perhaps the part that is the most difficult is the mornings. We get up at 5am in our house, why you may ask?? Jessica has early morning seminary at church every school day. They meet for 50 minutes and each year they have a different area of scriptures that they study. After that, I drive Jessica to school - through rush hour traffic - only to sit in a mind-boggling car pool drop-off lane full of sloth children slowly getting out of their parents cars and then meandering across the paths of cars trying to vacate the car pool line. That is made worse by ever-changing never-ending road construction!!! All with a 2, almost 3, year-old in tow.
A part from the fact that he insists everything is a fish, Sam is very good through all of this. It probably would even be better if my neighbours had not kept me awake last night doing who knows what in their yard. Sounds like a bicycle pump on steroids kept emanating from their house. Jessica and I think we have solved the mystery and will elaborate tomorrow!

Jim told me last night that he had complimentary eye mask, ear plugs and lavender linen spray in his room. Huummph! Cotton balls do not stay in the ears very well and do not mask the noise of a bicycle pump on steroids. No time to find eye masks, I just slap a whole pillow over my face. As for the lavender spray - last night it was eau de poopy butt courtesy of Sam.

So for all you hard working busy Mothers out there, here is a little something that was sent to me quite a while ago. I know it appears that I have gone You Tube mad, but I haven't!! I bet you have all said at least one of the phrases in this piece! Enjoy!!

Sally-Ann

Hilarious!

While I am on the subject of Josh Groban, I found this a while ago on You Tube. Make sure you listen to it all the way through, because, in my opinion, the funniest part is the chorus. Even my husband cracked up!

Sally-Ann

One of my Favourite Things

One of my favourite singers is Josh Groban. In January, 2005 Jim took me to one of his concerts for my birthday. It was wonderful. I missed Josh Groban singing on the Emmys last night, so, where do you go when you miss something like this?? You Tube of course!

A little about me - or maybe to much??

Thought I would take a moment to fill you in on my family.

I was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. I was adopted. I have a brother, Graham, who is 16 years older than me, and a sister, Gayle, who is 15 years older than me. After graduating from high school, I worked as a receptionist for a trucking company until I was old enough to go to nursing school. I graduated from nursing school, and worked at the Mersey General Hospital until I was 21. Then I went to Perth, Western Australia and served a mission for my church for a period of 18 months. That is where I met my husband.

I finished my mission in July of 1985. Went back to work at the Mersey General Hospital. Wrote to Jim who was still in Perth. We got to know each other very well through letters. Jim gave me a boomerang with what would be my married initials engraved on it - SAP (Sally-Ann Purdy - not literally sap!!) - so I would always come back to him. Jim finished his mission in March of 1986 and went back to Rapid City. I flew to the USA and after a brief stop in San Francisco, went to Rapid City around 15th March. We were married 1st April, 1986

We moved to Provo, Utah where Jim attended BYU. Decided to have a baby, got pregnant, reality set in, moved back to Rapid City until Joshua was born.

Jim is from Rapid City, South Dakota. He has 2 brothers and 1 sister, Jim is the baby of the family. Jim finished 1 year at Brigham Young University before he went on a mission to Perth, Western Australia. He is an attorney, has his own law practice - The Purdy Law Group.

Joshua was born 10th July, 1986 in Rapid City, South Dakota. He is currently in Canada serving a mission in the Canada Halifax Mission. We are very, very excited because we get to go and get him the 10th October!!! Joshua attended 1 year at BYU and plans to go back next year. Joshua is very talented and smart kid. He plays the piano and tenor saxophone.

After Joshua was born we moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Jim attended undergrad at the University of Minnesota and then went on to law school.

Jessica was born 21st March, 1992 in Maplewood, Minnesota. Jim was in his final year of law school. Jessica was a bit of a surprise. We had given up trying to have another baby and had began the process of adoption, when...ta da.....I became pregnant!! Jessica is another smart and talented kid. Plays the piano, harp, violin and steel drums. Loves to read, write and draw. If you have been reading my previous posts and happened to be wondering, no, we have yet to find a harp that doubles as a car!

After law school, Jim joined the Air Force and was a JAG - Judge Advocate General. He was in the air force for 6 years. 4 at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota and 2 at MacDill AFB here in Florida.

I will mention our 3rd child from time to time, but not a lot. Emma was still born on 23rd April, 2004. We had thought that 2 children was going to be it for us. We were so excited when we found out I was pregnant. I was a high risk pregnancy, but never thought anything would go wrong. It didn't until the end. She was a full-term baby, perfect in every way. Emma is part of our eternal family, but until then, she is in our hearts and in our thoughts always.

After having such a tough time getting pregnant with Jessica and Emma, Sam was no trouble whatsoever. After bed rest in the hospital and a emergency C-Section, along came Samuel Wilton Purdy on 29th October, 2005. I have posted quite a bit about Sam already. He keeps me young, he keeps life an adventure and he keeps me exhausted.

Well, that is the outline of my family! There is of course, much more to us than these few ramblings. Hopefully, you will keep coming back to my blog so I can learn from you, and maybe you can learn something from me!?

Sally-Ann

Book Winner Announced

I am sorry that it has taken so long to announce the book winner! My youngest was sick last week and everything was put on the back burner to run him back and forth to the doctor. Now he is better and making up for the low key week he had, everything is in overdrive this week!

But, without any further ado - the winner is!!!!!!

Here is the hat we chose to use for the drawing!

Here is the hat with the names!

Exciting isn't it!

Here is Sam taking off with the hat and names!

See how quick he is? I could barely snap a photo and he was gone.......


After retrieving the hat and the contents of the kidnapped hat, the winner is......
Aimee Carter

I hope that you enjoy the book!

This is Thursday.....

The first photo was taken at "Story Book Island" in Rapid City, South Dakota this summer, his cousin, Zion, is sitting behind him. The 2nd was taken the night we arrived home from vacation. A cell phone, a "ookie" = a happy boy

I just tucked my little boy into bed. After reading 20,000 books, complete with funny voices, brushing his teeth and snuggling him in with kisses being blown to me as I go out the door - I think we have sleep-off.

Thursdays are very tiring days. I take Samuel to Kindermusik at 10:10am every Thursday. I used to take Jessica to Kindermusik when she was the same age. It has changed quite a bit since 14 years ago! Jessica's Kindermusik teacher was quite old. In fact, I asked Jessica what she remembered about Kindermusik and that is the first thing she said, "The teacher was old." The only other thing that she could remember was the extremely steep driveway that led up to the teacher's house. This was in South Dakota, so in the winter it was quite an adventure getting up the driveway! Jessica's teacher didn't get on the floor and play like Samuel's teacher! Jessica would sit on my lap, listen and follow all the directions. She would play the instruments when she was supposed to, she twirled and tiptoed on cue. They had cute hobby horses that they would ride around galloping to the beat of a song. All in all it was very satisfying and enjoyable for her and me.

Zoom ahead 14 years. Sam's teacher is not old, a mere slip of a girl (just in case she reads this). Miss Aimee sings beautifully, and has energy to spare. We don't have to battle snow storms to get to class, just the occasional hurricane. Miss Aimee makes us take an oath at the beginning of each session that we will not be judgmental of the other Mummy's and Daddy's parenting skills. Today, I felt like we needed to add, "Please, please, don't judge my little boy harshly for his lack of social graces!" Sam rarely sits on my lap, does not follow directions all that well (he occasionally chooses to) and at times has been known to throw musical instruments through the air like missiles, push his classmates down as a greeting, pull dear, sweet little girl's hair........ Though, last week I did learn that in is a milestone for children to be able to avert their eyes and ignore you completely! Every Thursday my husband asks how Kindermusik went, for a long time I had to tell him that Samuel spent the entire time galloping or jumping around the perimeter of the classroom. Miss Aimee has a post on her blog http://delightfulsounds.blogspot.com/ that another parent wrote. I just reread it and I feel much better!

Sam loves Kindermusik. When we drive into the parking lot, he claps his hands together and says, "fun, fun, fun". Even though he rarely sings along in the classroom, at home and in the car he sings the songs all the time. The books are all well-worn and he now tells us the stories.

My children joke - well, I think it is a joke - and say that Sam is the favourite. No, he isn't the favourite, I have just learned a very hard lesson of how precious and how short every minute we have with our children is. I wish I could go back in time and be more patient, not so worried about the housework or getting this and that done. As I tucked Samuel in tonight I had the familiar pain in my heart and tears in my eyes as I thought of the little girl I wish I was tucking in with Sam. I can't help but think that our little Emma Rose would be a calming salve to our wild little boy. A yin to his yang. Sometimes I look back to check on Sam in his car seat and I get a flash of "there should be 2 car seats back there." But there isn't. So, I hold my little boy a little tighter, I read 20,000 books, never tire of repeating the phrase, "gentle hands", let the housework pile up, keep a stock of Oreo cookies on hand and I just enjoy his quirks, his singing, his hugs and kisses, his joy in life. I am doing what I love the most, I am a Mum to 4 wonderful children.

This post certainly did not go the way I intended! I was shooting for light-hearted and ...Oh well, a blog is for posting what is on your mind, and I guess I had a lot of wombats in my belfry today. Thursdays are tiring, but I wouldn't change them.

Sally-Ann

Labour Day with a mouse

With the forecast predicting thunderstorms yesterday, we decided to take a chance and go to Epcot for the day. The original plan was to be up and out of the house at 7:30am so we would be there when it opened at 9am. Well, we left at 11:30am, stopped off for McDonald's on the way. Or to quote Sam, "M - fries!" When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. Not a huge crowd, we were actually parked close enough to walk from the parking lot to the entrance. It was hot, but not unbearably so.

You will notice in all these photos that we are in different clothes. Why you may ask? Camera malfunction yesterday. It couldn't possibly be because my family refused to co-operate and have their pictures taken, thus forcing me to use photos from other trips. So, I have decided to use the most flattering photos to tell of our adventures.

OK, so the above photo is cute

Sam's favourite thing to to at any theme park is to splash in the cool down areas scattered through out. This shot was actually taken yesterday just before we went home.

We all have our favourite things to do at the parks. At Epcot I enjoy visiting the different countries and learning something new. I enjoy browsing the gift shops, but rarely buy anything. I am not sure what Jim's favourite part is, but I do know that he likes the different rides. I do as well. Sam loves the water as I said above, but he also loves the Winnie the Pooh ride. Jessica loves to browse the gift shops and she also loves to buy stuff from the gift shops. Lots and lots of stuff. As for Jessica's favourite rides. She absolutely loves It's a Small World ride at Magic Kingdom! snicker, snicker, lol And Jessica loves to ride on the little kid rides with her baby brother.

Can you see the excitement all over her face? She can hardly contain herself!!!

It isn't often that you get to capture joy like that on film.

Sam, on the other hand, enjoys the merry-go-round

I may stand corrected, THIS could be Jessica's favourite ride.

It is always an experience to go to the different theme parks. It is a great opportunity to "people watch". You can always tell the people from Florida a part from those who are tourists from some other part of the U.S.A.. You can very obviously tell the tourists visiting from Britain and say, Italy. These observations aren't across the board of course, but almost! Many people are trying to cram every theme park into 7 days and the result is hot, bothered and screaming families. You see many different fashion statements and some cause a double take or at least a raised eye brow or two. Disney World needs to be taken in small increments - not all 4 parks in 4 days. I love taking the kids and seeing it through their eyes. Even a teenagers eyes as she rides in spinning teacup rides with her baby brother!

Sally-Ann

Favourite Books & A Give-Away

UPDATE - I AM GOING TO CLOSE THIS GIVE-AWAY ON SUNDAY, 7TH SEPTEMBER AT MIDNIGHT.

THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON MONDAY

Put your spell check away - I meant to spell favourite that way!! I am Australian after all and even though spelling isn't my greatest talent, there are a few things I refuse to alter in my life. Spelling the Australian way is one of them!! So, centre, cheque, theatre, colour, neighbour, favourite and many more, will not pass muster at the old spell check! All though, I just hit spell check and they didn't pop-up as being misspelled. For years I have been doing battle with spell checks and now.......is it a plot to lull me into a false sense of security?? Or has some intelligent person seen the light and programmed the spell checks to the correct way of spelling things? Mmmmmmmh.

I have digressed away from my intended subject. That never happens in real life of course! I wanted to introduce one of my favourite children's books. This was a gift to our family from my childhood friend, Angela Thomas. She came to visit us shortly after Samuel was born and this is one of 3 books that she gave us. I love all of them, but thought I would start with this one.

Diary of a Wombat

A Honour Book for The Children's Book Council of Australia

Winner of the Australian Booksellers Association Choice Award

I love this book. I love the illustrations and I love the simple story it tells. My kids love this book - the 21-year-old, the 16-year-old and the 2 1/2-year-old. In fact, I love this book so much, I have a few extras laying around to give away as baby presents. I love to give new babies and their families a book, silky blanket and a cute stuffed animal. But, on this occasion, I am going to give away 1 "Diary of a Wombat". What do you have to do for this give-away you may ask?? Just tell me in the comment section what your favourite children's book is. I will randomly draw a # out of a hat to pick the winner. You may have noticed that I haven't been getting all that many posts, so I haven't picked a closing date for the give-away yet.

Sally-Ann

Bare Butt Bunny Bowling - New Olympic Sport?

Bet that title got your attention!! I enjoyed watching the Olympics the past 2 weeks. I like watching most of the sports, swimming is my favorite with gymnastics a fairly close 2nd. My youngest son recently took-up bowling, so I wondered if this could possibly be a sport added to the Olympic line-up in the future!??

Purchase one "Bowling Bunnies" game on clearance at the local Home Goods store.

Line the bunnies up in any order desired.
Don't forget the cabbages!!

Strip naked, bowl!!

Pretty blue butterfly not included in the set.

I don't think the Olympic committee will go for this form of bowling. It is a bit difficult because they would have to lower the eligible age to participate to the age of 2 1/2. That is probably the age you would have to be to not get arrested playing this sport in public. I am not here to judge what you do in your spare time and in the privacy of your own home however.

After having his bath a week or so ago, Sam did not want to get dressed and decided to bowl instead. I think it must come from his Father's side of the family. My family wouldn't be caught dead Bare Butt Bunny Bowling. They would prefer good game of cricket or Aussie Rules football - fully clothed.

Sally-Ann

Gentlemen, start your harps!

Well, so begins another week. Last week was my 16-year-old daughter's first week back at school. Jessica attends Blake High School of the Arts. It is a magnet school that concentrates on the arts, but also has a "traditional" high school as well. Jessica is a harp major. She is a very talented young lady. Plays the harp, piano, violin and steel drums. Jessica also loves to write and draw. Jessica came home last week and informed me that her harp teacher had suggested that all juniors and seniors should consider renting or purchasing a harp. Being the ever dutiful parent, I sat myself down at the computer to research prices. After picking myself up off the floor and applying ice packs to all the parts I hit on the way down, I had to tell my dear sweet daughter - no. The cheapest I could find for the required model was $10,000 - ON SALE I TELL YOU!!

Please take note of my daughters age. She will be getting a driver's license soon and will need a car to drive herself to and from school. Her school is quite a distance from our house, so this is something her Dad and I have been dreaming of as we sit in rush hour traffic, plotting a route around all the known road construction and then inching the car through the worst car pool line in known history. When I can do it without blowing a gasket, I will have to write a post about the joys of car pool line at Blake High School.

Anyway, we have been discussing if to buy a car, what kind of car, when to buy it, etc., etc..... Told my daughter that if a Lyon & Healy pedal harp had a steering wheel, attached seat, indicators, gas pedal and brake we would consider (please note the word consider) getting one. Most teenagers ignore the word "consider" and in their mind you just agreed to something.

Teenage girls are very good at giving eye rolls, heavy sighs and when the occasion calls for it, dramatic arm movements. Not my dear sweet daughter. She gives "the look". "The look" can wilt the will and stamina of all but the hardiest souls. It can cause those not prepared to take at least 10 steps back and cower in the closet. I received "the look", not because I said no, but because I tried to do it humorously with my comment about a harp being a car, blah, blah, blah.... teenagers don't think their parents are at all funny.

Sally-Ann

Mother's Worry

My oldest son, Joshua, is 21 years-old. I know, I know, the oldest 21, the youngest is not quite 3! That is another story in its self. Anyway, Joshua is in Halifax, Canada serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He gets to write home via e-mail every Wednesday, that is their "day off". Yesterday we didn't hear from him. On Wednesdays I check my e-mail about every 30 minutes until we get his e-mails. As the day went on I began to imagine all kinds of reasons why he didn't write. Is he sick? Is he being transferred to another area? Is he injured in a ditch somewhere? Once again, I know, I know - remember the name of my blog - sometimes the wombats really get fluttering around my head! All my worry was for nothing (as it usually is). He had a meeting with the Mission President and several other areas of missionaries and that is why he didn't write until today. Joshua comes home in October and we are excited to be able to go and get him. Two years is a very long time not to see my boy! Have added a fairly recent picture of him.

Mother's seem to worry about their children no matter how old they are.

Sally-Ann

What do I say?

Well, the time has come for my first post! What do I say? Will people be interested in what I have to say? The questions are going around and around in my head! I guess my blog is correctly named - Wombats in the Belfry.

Why that name you may ask?! My youngest son is nicknamed Pokey Wombat because he likes to know exactly what is going on at all times and he likes to burrow under the bed covers, his silky blankie, his Mum's arms. So, I came up with the play on words with a well known expression because half the time I feel like I have bats in my belfry.

So, I hope that you enjoy my take on life, as wombatty as it can some times be.

Sally-Ann