A change of direction

Don't get too excited, it's nothing earth shattering in the slightest.  We're not moving to the other side of the world again or anything like that.  Nope, I've just decided to take a different course with this blog.

I'm sure the 2.5 people who actually read this are mildly interested in this news but I've kind of come to the conclusion that not many people are actually interested in the bumps and scrapes of my kids or the ups and downs of our household. Soooooo. I'm renaming the blog "Cupcakes in my Closet" - cute, eh?

It's going to be a kind of lifestyle/baking/fashion blog obviously based around WA.  I'm going to be writing about the things that interest me and to hell with the rest of you.

Keep following if you're vaguely interested in such things, hopefully there'll be lots of nice photos to look at and the like.

Sunday bloody sunday

Have I already called an entry this?  It rings a bill somewhere in the back of my swiss cheese brain.  There's a distinct possibility I have since when you've got 3 small children, most days include blood to some extent or another.  Today's drama occured at King's Park - Grace and Ruben were playing the usual who can do the stupidest thing on the playground and today's challenge consisted or climbing the wrong way up the helter skelter slide, both at the same time.  Ruben's knee connected with Grace's nose and voila, Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Despite this, it's a nice day out and the kids never seem to tire of going there.  There's plenty of outdoor barbeques that you can make use of, and if you get there early, you could do yourself an nice full English in the great outdoors. What more can you ask for?  Coffee you say?  Of course there's a coffee shop!  What self respecting WA park doesn't have a coffee shop...tsk.

In other news, we have a house inspection tomorrow - for that read "the Gestapo come round and check your skirting boards for dust".  I hate HATE HATE them and it's just the worst part of renting a house over here.  Even though our house is usually fairly clean and tidy I feel like I have to go over the place with a fine toothed comb.

Ruben is currently reading the girls a bedtime story.  He's practising Julia Donaldson's Stickman for a "Lamplighter's Night" at school next week.  The Year One children are reading stories to the kindy kids at 6pm after school.  Cute, eh?

They do quite a lot of stuff like this at school.  For example, next Friday at 5.30pm they're having a PJ & Movie night.  The kids all arrive back at school with a pillow, togged up ready for bed and get given hot chocolate, marshmallows and watch "Up".  Wish I could join them actually, but I'll be looking after the whirlwind, otherwise known as Agatha.

Gala Day for our little Auskicker!

Today Ruben spent the morning playing "real" Auskick against some other teams at a Gala day at Kingsway Sports Stadium.  Ruben and his fellow Magpies played incredibly well and were well rewarded with the obligatory Aussie tradition of a sausage sizzle (read "hot dog").

It was great to see the boys getting really stuck in and some great goals were scored, including one by Haydn, who was playing his first ever game.

Auskick, for those not in the know, nor in Australia, is Aussie Rules footie for little people.  It's hugely well supported over here and for boys AND girls, which is great. 

We then spent the rainy afternoon at The Beach House in Osborne Park, one of the better indoor soft play places in the Northern Suburbs.  Unlike the ones in England, there appears to be no sick stains on the carpets, nor any overly large 12 year olds tearing the place up.  Oh, and the coffee is significantly better too.

Have I ever mentioned the Aussies' obsession with coffee?  OMG, nobody seems able to function without a coffee in hand or at least one on order.  In fact, if you don't feel like you can finish your car journey without a caffeine hit, you can stop at a drive through coffee bar, such as Muzz Buzz or One for the Road.

I like my coffee, me, but don't find it necessary to balance a steaming grande skinny latte whilst driving (a manual I hasten to add), refereeing the kids in the back seat and doing a U-ey to go and pick up my gym bag that I left in the car park (true story).  Maybe it's just me, or maybe Aussies have a special coffee cup holder in their cars that I know nothing of.....

Rain, rain go away

Or not actually, as we're in desperate need of a bit of the wet stuff here in WA.  But, despite that, it makes for a horrid day when you're stuck indoors with a 2 year old.  So we decided to go to the playground, yes, in the rain, then did some puddle jumping in the garden.  Aggie's boots were FULL of water by the time she'd finished!

I can't get you outta my head

I'm sure everyone knows which song that line is from and also sings it whilst doing a very uncool robotics style dance.  WE'RE OFF TO SEE KYLIE!!!!!!

She's currently taking her Aphrodite tour around Australia and gets to Perth on the 22nd June.  My fabby friend Sam and I are going to go, looking hot, of course and ready for a boogie.

I'm very much liking the costumes on the show, though I think the "winged ears" are taking it a bit far, don't you?

The wanderer returns....

Oh Em Gee.... I'm so, so sorry for leaving you all in the lurch, desperate to know what the Thompson family have been upto.  What was that?  You mean you didn't even notice that I hadn't posted for 6 months?? Charming, I'm sure.....

Well, I'm back and promise to update this on a much more regular basis.  In the meantime, I'm going to do a few rush posts to bring you all back to speed on what's been "goin' dawwwwn".

I successfully ran the HBF run for a reason - a whole 14km of it!  Proud of meself?  You betcha.  I followed a Hal Higdon training programme which transformed me from an ashmatic uphill wheezer to a 10km/hr runner (prob should call myself a jogger, but hate the legwarmer conotations of that word).

I ran the whole race and finished in 1hr 27min, a very respectable time for my first race, so well pleased with that.

That's me, looking a bit of a nobber, but feeling very pleased with myself.

My next stop is the City to Surf run which is in August. My only problem at the moment is that I can't decide whether to do the 12km or whether to tackle the 21km half marathon - any thoughts?

The other biggie that has happened of late....my best mate Rebecca has been over to visit with her lovely family.

Bek is the hottie on the left, I'm the wrinkly one on the right.  We had such a lovely time whilst she was here, and I'm really hoping that she liked Perth as much as we do.

Here are a few gratutious shots of them and us enjoying our 7 precious days together.