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Saturday, August 13, 2011

Out shopping

I got Dave to come along with me to do some shopping. We popped in to KMart and had a look around. Pity there are so few of them as they're pretty cheap.
Two of my gorgeous men!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Finally photos

I've finally taken photos of all the completed bunting. Here's Sammy's room: I also made matching tie backs for her curtains. As it's a rental they're not attached to the wall, but still look cute. And here's a photo of the bunting in Isabella's and Hamish's room. Isabella is not impressed with the colour scheme at all!! She says blue is for boys. I think I'm going to have to somehow incorporate pink to make her happy!!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Grandpa and Hamish

Look at that gorgeous smile!
Granny and Pa came to visit Josh for his birthday. He wasn't really good company as he hadn't had any sleep after his sleep over and I woke him from a nap to come upstairs and say hello. We only kept him upstairs for a few minutes and then sent him back to bed. You couldn't really get anything out of him other than grunts. Poor tired boy. Granny and Pa got so many smiles from Hamish today. I took a couple of really good photos with Dave's camera, but you'll have to make do with the not so great one I got with my iPhone instead.

Moocaboolla Festival

Here's Sammy ready to go on stage.
Sammy danced on centre stage at the Moocaboolla Festival held at Boronia Park. She looked absolutely adorable. See for yourself!
Sammy is third from the left with her hair standing up above her head.

Josh's 14th birthday and his sleepover...

Josh turned 14 today. Fourteen! I can't believe that I'm the mother of a 14 year old. I can remember so many things that happened to me when I was 14 and Josh will have vivid memories of moments of his life from now.
That's just so weird to me.
Josh wanted DVDs for his birthday and we weren't really keen on buying them for him. Not that there's anything wrong with DVDs, but we just didn't want to buy them for him as a birthday present. There's not really anything special about a DVD. I suggested that he use some of his money to go toward his present and then he could think of getting some technology like a new iPod or even an iPad. Well iPad it was! And we're so impressed with it. It's so awesome! We've made sure that it doesn't have internet so that we don't have to worry about what he's doing on it. He can download stuff through iTunes and then sync his iPad through the computer in the lounge room. I'm sure people with teenagers can totally relate to this. The one rule we have is that it doesn't go to school with him. I'm sure that it would disappear if it went to school. Josh has already lost an iPod on a bus. He saved all his pennies and bought it with his own money and then left it on his school bus. We called the bus company straight away and even went to the bus depot and nobody handed it in. I was so devastated for him. What an awful way to learn about dishonest people and the ways of the world. I hope whoever found it on the bus and kept it had lots of bad luck for stealing!!
For Josh's sleepover we had hotdogs for dinner and then bought heaps of lollies for the boys to eat while watching their movies. Josh had Konrad and Emil over and had invited Aiden, but he wasn't able to come. The boys were all very well behaved, but they didn't get much sleep. At 4:00am I was woken by their laughter and shortly after Hamish wanted a feed. I fed Hamish and then fell asleep about 5ish. The boys were still awake at that stage. After I fed Hamish I wanted to go and tell them to go to sleep, but I was just too tired.
Josh came and woke us up at 7:00am for breakfast and so that he could open his presents. I said that I would make pancakes for the boys for breakfast. So once Dave had made me a cup of tea I stumbled out of bed bleary eyed and made a double batch of pikelet mixture. I cooked the whole lot into big pancakes and the kids ate them with maple syrup and ice-cream, except for Josh who had his with Nutella. I really can't believe that they had any room left in their stomachs after eating all the junk that they did.
At 10am everyone was picked up and Dave and I had a short reprieve before it was off to Boronia Park for the Moocaboolla Festival and Sammy's dance on centre stage.

Getting ready to watch the movies.
Birthday cake for breakfast!
All comfortable now...
The table of  food!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Sammy's Room

I bought some more material for Sammy's room to match the bunting. I think I'll probably make some tie-backs for the curtains and a cushion cover. Today I covered three little wooden frames with the same material. I'll probably put something on top of them although I'm not sure what yet!
Heres what I did: I turned the pictures in all the frames inside out so you wouldn't see them through the thin fabric and then I used my staple gun to attach the fabric to the frames. I was too lazy to iron the fabric as you can see by all the creases. I just pulled it tight! Now I just need to decide how to finish them off...

A day of errands

Isabella took this photo!
First off was a visit to the doctors to check out Hamish's poor skin. While we were there he got weighed and measured. He's now 7.2 kg which is on the 90th percentile for weight and is 62cm which is on the 75th percentile for height. His head circumference was also on the 75th percentile. So no wonder he's now wearing 6 month old clothes (that's size 00) and feels like a ton when you hold him for too long. He's got a steroid cream and an antibacterial cream for me to put behind his sore ears. Hopefully it will get better soon. Then to Top Ryde City for some groceries, birthday card and of course a stop at Donut King for a strawberry milkshake and donut for Bella, a coffee for mum and even Hamish had a milky beverage!! Isabella got a plastic Princess ring with her donut that she was very happy with. She also took a blurry photo of me!
Isabella with her pink donut and milkshake.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

moments of twenty: Nutella & Raspberry Crepes

We made these for dinner tonight. A great recipe! I substituted the butter with vegetable oil but followed the rest to the letter, doubled it and Yummo! We had ours with Nutella and strawberries. There's enough batter left for us to have crepes again tomorrow!
moments of twenty: Nutella & Raspberry Crepes: "It all started when reading Julie & Julia (I first saw the movie but loved the book too). Julie makes Julia Child's famous crepes, describi..."

Poppy made a Rocking Horse

This is the email from Dave's Dad today. He's been quietly making the most beautiful rocking horse I've ever seen!! The kids are going to absolutely LOVE it! What a family heirloom it will become. Thank you SO much Dad!!
Here is the email...


Hi Dave and Angie
Pictures attached of the rocking horse from "Go to Whoa".
This will be for Isabella for a couple of years and Hamish later.
There is nothing preventing Josh and Sammy having a go other than getting
Isabella's permission I guess.
I have sat on it and had a small ride.
Probably will have to partially dismantle to get in car to bring down.
So looking forward to seeing you all again, seems ages. It is ages.
Love to all
Dad and Anne
XX
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Here's the finished rocking horse. Isn't it beautiful!
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Here's the man in action. Isn't he talented!!
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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Student Represenrative Council

Beautiful Sammy.
Sammy came home with her new SRC badge today. She's been chosen from her class peers to be their representative for this term. At her school they like to share the job around so each term new reps are chosen. Sammy was do excited to be chosen and I know shell do a great job. We're so proud of her! Well done Sammy!
The badge!

Player of the week

Pity about the red eyes. But a handsome boy!
The whole hat!
Joshua got the player of the week for Drama classes today and got to take home a sombrero to keep for a week. We're so proud of him!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Today I got told!

Tonight Isabella came out of her bed numerous times. Dave was out and Hamish is not well and was sleeping on the couch. I didn't want to move him to a safer place in case I woke him up and so Isabella used this to her advantage. I used counting a couple of times, which works momentarily, but then I just had enough and yelled at her to stay in her bed or I was going to come and take a favourite toy away.
Well Isabella felt that she needed to come and tell me that she loved me but I had told my friends that I was going to get her to do 'nice talking' for stars and that I wasn't doing 'nice talking'. Well I had a hard time keeping a straight face. I couldn't think of a comeback for that!! So I said that we'll try and get stars for going to bed at the right time and I did take a toy away from her. Who knows what did the trick but she stayed in bed once I got up. Probably it was me getting up to her!!

Costco

Dave bought our Costco membership on line and we've finally been to get our cards, visit the store and make our first purchases.
We got a great deal on Huggies nappies which were $58 for a box of 184, and bought a few other odds and ends which set us back $210! I read a few forum posts about Costco shopping and how to do it so that you actually save money. People suggested that you first arrive in a big enough car. People mover - check! Next you knew your prices. Other store catalogues (not a check here, but useful for our next expedition). Stick to fresh or dried, canned foods and avoid prepackaged meals that are super high in fat and are NOT cheaper. Check. We bought a big package of snow peas, some cucumbers and a package of cos lettuces. All will last long enough to be eaten. Be prepared to spend a few hours there. Check. Stay calm. Harder to do with the HUGE crowds but a check here too. Also an observation from me. Bring along a strong man to push your trolley. The shopping trollies are all suffering from a serious obesity problem and I was grateful to not be pushing one. On the plus side-you can fit two children in the front of the trolley. We also saw someone pushing a big guy in a trolley. The trolley is almost too wide for the footpath so I imagine there will be many standoffs trying to get to or from the centre. Perhaps even a bit of trolley-rage!
The cafe outside was on par with Ikea prices and meant we could feed the kids cheaply as a treat for dinner.
The only real downside of our journey was Isabella falling backwards off one of the benches and hitting her head really hard on the seat behind her. She screamed the house down and when I managed to calm her down I noticed blood on her head and an enormous egg. Poor little thing! Josh was a huge help and bribed her with playing on his i-phone when Hamish started screaming as well. I had him in the baby bjorn and when Isabella hurt herself I calmed her down and gave her a big cuddle and he woke up. I then needed to feed him and Josh looked after Bella. What a great big brother she has. He was so concerned with how she was he couldn't finish his pie. Almost unheard of in a growing teenager. So sweet!
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Police directing traffic outside Costco


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Trolleys everywhere.

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The queue.

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Josh trying out the 3D TV.

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Sammy's turn.

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Helping Isabella out.

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Sammy at the seafood counter.

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The supersized trolley.

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The crowds.

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Eating Costco Frozen yoghurt.

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Josh and his pie.

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The bill for Costco's cafe.

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Pie with mustard, sauce and green relish.

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Poor Isabella's injured head.

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On our way home.

After mothers group

Isabella had some lovely friends over to play today from my mothers group. A really nice bunch of women and really it's more about the adults than the kids I think. We all had a lovely play day and so did the kids.
I was lucky enough to have Sammy make some weetbix slice this morning before she went to school. What wonderful children I have! I couldn't have done everything I needed to do without her help. I managed to have breakfast and a shower AND feed Hamish. It's really like having a much needed extra pair of hands now that she's older.
The friends came and played monsters and also with the playdoh I made last week. There is now more grey brown playdoh after there visit, but isn't that the point of playing! Mixing all the colours together makes browny grey every single time funnily enough. I'll just make some new playdoh when we run out of the different colours.
Once her friends left we had a "face plate" lunch and then Isabella did some craft. In between her beautiful creations she decided to wash her bike. Who knew it was dirty!! Then back to craft again.
While she was washing I washed down the table top of our outdoor setting. It was so nice to be able to sit outside in the warmth today. It didn't feel like winter at all. It did remind me that we need to go and pick up the outside umbrella from my sister. It almost started getting too hot outside. Well never for me, the reptile that I am who never seems warm enough.