About
I have been writing at Planning With Kids since January 2008. If you are looking for a place to investigate the blog further, try the Popular Posts page. It will give you a taste of what I write about here and what readers have liked.
In October 2009, I flew to Singapore to participate in the inaugural Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards. Planning With Kids was ranked as one of the top five parenting blogs for this region.
Who is PlanningQueen?
My real name is Nicole Avery and I have a beautiful husband who from here on in will be known as Mr Infrastructure. (Odd name I know, but it is based on the way we tend to organise the family tasks. For example, if we are going on a day trip, I will organise the food and the kids, he will pack the car, ensure we have enough petrol and determine the quickest route – all the base infrastructure needed for the trip.)
I have five very unique and amazing children: Thinker aged 11, Little Rascal aged 9, Possum aged 6, Babaganouski aged 4 and our baby who is 1. We live in an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne – the best city in Australia!
I love my family. I love nothing more than to whip up a quick spreadsheet, to make life easier and more enjoyable for us. I passionately believe in equality and peace and try to teach my children this through life experiences.
I love music, mainly of the non main stream variety. Genres I love include pop indie, country, folk, and electronica. I love politics and the process of democracy. When I have the time, I volunteer with an organisation which gets me closer to the action.
What did I do before I had kids?
I went to University and completed a Bachelor of Business (Finance). For the majority of my adult life I worked for a large Australian Telecommunications Company. I held a number of different roles within the organisation, including but not limited to: Regional Performance Manager, Call Centre Manager and Project Manager. I went back to work between son number one and son number two. After number two was born, I decided the corporate gig was no longer for me and have been at home ever since.
Why do I blog about this stuff?
Planning has helped keep our life harmonious and enjoyable. This my attempt to share some of the things we do in our daily life. Hopefully these posts provide some ideas to other families or stimulus for reflection on what you are doing in your life. I am always interested to see how other families cope with the everyday, so please leave a comment on the blog or via the contact form and share what works for you. ( I do most of my blogging on the weekend, so it can take me a week to get back to you, depending when when I hear from you.)
Privacy
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE your blog! I’ll be a frequent visitor. I wrote about ‘organised chaos’ in a post here. http://beafunmum.com/?p=1881
Love Kelly
Hi Nicole,
I’ve just discovered your page and wanted to say how useful and interesting it is.
I too, have a degree in Business and worked as a Project Manager for a University before children. I now have 3 boys, my oldest is 6 yrs and then I have twin boys. and I’m a SAHM.
I love the term you used in your banner ‘organised chao’s’ – sounds just like our house!
Thanks for taking the time in your very very busy day to keep a blog like this, I will be visiting regularly.
I’ve just come over from simple mom, and I’m glad that I did. There is soo much that I want to read. We are a family of 6, so at times things feel quite chaotic…but also lots of fun!
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for your blog… i am a mother of 5 as weel (4 boys and 1 girl) and i really needed a blog like yours to give me tips on organisation!!!
Congrats on being one of the top 5 blogs in the region. I can see why! And I love your name. I could really use some help in that area.
Hi Nicole,
I stumbled upon your blog from Nuffnang some time ago and thought you wrote brilliantly. Your topics are not only helpful, but inspirational (5 kids, a husband and a blog, wow!). Thank you. Also congratulations by the way for winning the Nuffnang awards.
I’m a mom of three beautiful children, Lachlan who is 4, Lucas is 2 and Lily Jade is 2.5 months, and I’m also in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. And I write every now and then on http://www.lachinvasion.blogspot.com. I must say your latest (guest) post on behavioural strategies for boys grabbed my attention because as you can guess, my two boys are at the age where they’re driving me up the wall half the time. So I started perusing through your pages. Well done! I will be a frequent visitor from now on….
Cheers,
Grace
Hi Nicole, i cam across your site whilst researching ideas for my birthday site. I was so impressed with your organising tips, I spent the evenning reading it instead of getting some work done!
As a working Mum of 2, there’s loads of personally interesting stuff on here.
I’ve put a link on my site to yours, as I think it will be of great use to my readers!
http://www.great-happy-birthday-ideas.com/birthday-ideas-links.html
I hope that’s OK
Many thanks
Sophie
What a STUNNING blog you have! It’s just beautiful! And thank you so much for taking the time to stop by my blog and leave a comment – v appreciated!
Hi, I have just found your blog. I love it. I too have 5 children, with the same age groups except the 1st one who is 17 not 11.
Thank you for starting this blog.
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