threelilprincesses.com

Category: Laugh out loud

  • The Shed: The reason I ditched a date with Princess Mary

    The Shed: The reason I ditched a date with Princess Mary

    baby in pink hat
    My li'l Tasmanian princess

    By The Bloke in The Shed

    IT’S NOT every day you get a chance to snub royalty. Yep, a letter arrived inviting me and Princess Kel to dinner with our Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Princess Mary and Prince Frederik of Denmark.

    While it was an interesting offer, it did not take me long to respond in the negative – I’m enjoying spending some well-earned holidays with my own little royal family, the three princesses. There was also the little matter of forking out for the airfares to Canberra.

    Now I assumed Princess Kel would be delighted when I told her I’d turned down the chance of a lifetime to spend as much time of my first holidays in seven months with her and the kids as possible. How wrong could I be?

    “YOU DID WHAT?’’ she exclaimed.

    “Get on the ‘net and check out how much the fares would be,’’ she followed.

    “But what would we do with the kids?,” I countered.

    “We’ll think of something.’’

    Luckily, given the dinner was only a little over a week away, the airfares were the equivalent of the USA’s GDP and it made my original decision the correct one. Phew.

    It soon became clear of Kel’s motive. “That would have made an awesome blog post,’’ she sighed.

    Work, life and family commitments (not in that order) have made me a little scarce from www.threelilprincesses.com in recent months (is that the sound of cheering I hear?). A lot has happened in that time as I’ve worked hard to establish myself in a new position at work, a busy family and community life. Our little bubba Holly turned one and is growing at the rate of knots. Princess Ella has turned four and is far wiser than her years.

    After a bath-time, um, disagreement between Kel and I tonight, Ella sided with her mum and said to me this:

    “Daddy?,’’ she said.

    “Yes, darlin’,’’ I replied.

    “Sometimes I go with mummy’s team and then sometimes I’m on your team,’’ she said.

    “Tonight I’m on mummy’s team and I’ll be on your team tomorrow I will. Will that be good?’’

    “Yes darling’,’’ I replied unable to disguise my smile.

    I guess after four years I should be happy she wants to be on my team … sometimes. I’m quite happy with my own little royal family thankyou very much.

    Would you have ditched Princess Mary for your children?

  • Grateful for marrying daddy

    Grateful for marrying daddy

    baby girl with hat on

    THIS week I’m grateful for:

    • Marrying Daddy: Princess Ella was particularly upset on Wednesday, because she “wanted to marry her daddy’’. “I don’t want to marry anyone else,’’ she said, with real tears streaming down her cheeks. Over the past few months she’s been keen on marrying the boy she goes to childcare with. The reality of being locked into a loveless marriage for the rest of her life had obviously sunk in. I tried to explain that we don’t marry our daddies (no, Tassie jokes, OK!) and that it would be a long time before she’d have to worry about that anyway. After more tears and more “but I just want to marry Daddy. Please?’’, I’m grateful The Bloke in The Shed stepped in and agreed to marry her. Ah, to be that innocent again.
    • Parenting Line: I didn’t post earlier today. Did you notice? You see, there was a bit of an incident last night that I have been scolding myself over. Li’l Holly was in her cot, waving her dummy at me, while I tried to get her white noise CD playing. I couldn’t get it to work with my toe, like usual. The next thing: THUD. Then loud, piercing screams. When I turned around, to my horror, she’d fallen out of her cot and hit the floor hard. The rest of my night was spent having to wake her regularly to check she was OK. I’m ever so grateful she is and that the Parenting Line was there to reassure me. However, I’m also upset with myself that I would do something so stupid as to leave the cot side down and turn my back. Just when you think you’ve done an incredible job of keeping your children safe, a split second can change everything. There’s (some) comfort in knowing I’m not alone. But still…
    • B1 and B2: In happier news, thanks to the Bananas in Pyjamas, there’s been much hilarity in our house this week. Out of the blue the other night, Ella asks: “Do you know what I’m thinking, B1?’’. I responded with: “No, I don’t , darling’’ and was promptly told that wasn’t the right answer. I tried again. “Yes, I think I do, B2’’. It’s at this point we have to try and see if we’re thinking the same thing. The combinations have been absolutely ridiculous. Apart from the time we were both thinking about chocolate.

    I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.

  • What happened when I did the vacuum cleaning

    What happened when I did the vacuum cleaning

    I know. What a bizarre title for a post. But you will be amazed by this story. Seriously. Forget Kim Kardashian, this will be your water cooler topic for the day. I’m still totally in shock myself.

    You see, after writing about The Bloke in The Shed’s new Dyson and my excitement at the thought of him using it, I got sick of the wait and decided to just use the darn thing myself. The girls hate loud noises, so vacuuming tends to never happen. That’s my excuse, anyway. However, when my Mum came around yesterday, I thought it might be a good opportunity to get the three living areas treated with the Dyson, at least.

    This was the end result for its first outing.

    Dyson dust

    That’s from only THREE rooms.

    What on earth have we been living in all this time? Kind of says something about the quality of our last vacuum. I’m ever so thankful for our super sucking Dyson.

    Do you have a Dyson? Has your vacuum ever captured this much dust in ONE go and flawed you as much as this has me?

    Linking up with the lovely Kate Says Stuff’s Thankful Thursday. Click on the link to find out what others are thankful for this week. 

  • Grateful for Cinderella

    Grateful for Cinderella

    girl with tiara

    THIS week I’m grateful for:

    • Playing Cinderella: Princess Ella finally allowed me to play Cinderella during our make believe games this week. I always get lumped with the Ugly Step Sister role. I was so grateful she felt I could handle the lead. Then I realised the real motive behind it. “Now, sweep the floor, Cinders. Then give me a foot rub. Now do the washing’’. Ah, right. I see.
    • A HUGE giveaway coming: Some of the brands I’ve loved during the past four years as the girls have gone through babyhood are going to be featured in a pretty special giveaway on Monday. I feel so fortunate they were keen to work with me.
    • Cheap Halloween costumes: After referencing all those wonderful people in last week’s post who inspired me to get crafty for Princess Ella’s Halloween costume, I stumbled across a cheap witches outfit – complete with broom – in one of those cheap and nasty shops this week. So I bought it. I know. I’m lazy. But she loves it. So much so, she slept in it Wednesday night. Thanking goodness she didn’t wake during at midnight and catch a glimpse of herself in her floor-to-ceiling wardrobe mirror.
    girl dressed as witch
    The morning after…

    I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.

  • Grateful for pigs breath

    Grateful for pigs breath

    cheeky smile by girl
    Ella's first day of pre-kindy photo. Hmmm…

    THIS week I’m grateful for:

    • Pigs Breath: After The Bloke in The Shed completed the Skilled Burnie Ten in 1 hour and 18 minutes last Sunday, we celebrated with a dinner at the local. We were wondering why Princess Ella was downing his calamari rings so fast, till we realised she thought they were curly fries from“pigs breath’’. I’m just grateful she got a good serving of seafood.
    • First day of pre-kindy: I could write a whole post on why Ella’s first 1.5-hour pre-kindy session today was so enjoyable for her. Ella was more than excited to go to “big girl school’’ and it was made all that much better when three of her childcare friends were in her class. That is music to a nervous mum’s ears. It seems school holds just a little bit of magic for her too when, prior to arriving, she started talking about her teacher who she met during the interview process. “Miss X can fly sometimes, can’t she, Mum?’’. Ah no, I think you might have her mistaken for the lady with the umbrella and flower in her hat.
    • Halloween help: Thanks to my Twitter friends (most of which I’ve never met but are always there when I need them), I have plenty of ideas for Ella’s Halloween costume for childcare on Monday.

    I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.

     

  • Office gossip coming to a screen near you

    Office gossip coming to a screen near you

    girl on iphoneTHE other night on my personal Facebook page there was a bit of harmless office gossip going on. It was actually more a bit of fun than gossip, because it was instigated by the person the gossip was about.

    As the conversation grew, so did the inclusion of ex workmates – me included. It ended up being more like an online reunion. During the conversation, I added the comment: “Ah, I so miss office gossip. Ella whispers secrets in my ear, but they’re nowhere near as interesting!’’

    It got me thinking. While I wouldn’t change what I’m doing now for all the world (although going through the height of sickness this week did have me questioning it once or twice), some days I miss the banter that goes on in the office. The: “Did you hear she’s leaving?’’, “Did you see the size of that engagement ring?’’ or “Did you know he had a love child stashed away?’’ Oh sorry, that was Kyle Sandilands. Wrong office.

    Don’t get me wrong, I have some incredible Mum PR clients who I speak to regularly on the phone or via Skype. And because we’re all sleep and conversation deprived mums, we do tend to natter a little longer than the usual office coffee break. So in that respect, I’m pretty blessed.

    Really though, can anything compared to conversations like this one with Ella yesterday after hearing an ambulance siren down town?

    Ella: “Quick Mum, let’s follow and find out what’s happening’’.

    Me: “It’s OK darling, we don’t need to follow them today.’’

    Ella (pulling out her pretend phone); “Yes, hello? I’m on my iPhone. I thought you might like to know I heard eee-awwws. Yes, we’re on our way. To your stations.’’

    Yes, she’ll always be the daughter of an Editor and someone who watches way too much Octanauts.

    Do you miss the (harmless) office gossip now you’re a stay-at-home or work-at-home mum?  Or is there something about your old workplace you miss more?